Learning Environments and the Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies: a Case Study of Chinese Learners

This paper reports a survey study of how Chinese students use strategies when learning second language vocabulary. The focus of the study is on the effect of learning environments (EFL vs. ESL) on the use of vocabulary learning strategies. The subjects are Chinese secondary school students learning English in China (EFL context) and in Singapore (ESL context).The questionnaire used in the survey was a modified version of Gu and Johnson (1996). 450 secondary school students, aged from 16 to 19, from two secondary schools in Harbin, China, and one boarding school in Singapore participated in the survey. The profile of the students' learning beliefs, sources and strategies was examined in relation to their learning environments. The t-test results showed that learning environment was significant factors in affecting vocabulary learning beliefs, sources and strategy use. The findings suggest that language environments can influence individuals' vocabulary learning profile. Thus, the combined effects of the teaching emphasis and the amount of exposure to the target language in and out of the classroom should be considered closely in order to understand the strategy choice of Chinese EFL and ESL learners

USE OF SOURCES IN ACADEMIC WRITING BY MA APPLIED LINGUISTICS & TESOL STUDENTS: TEXTUAL BORROWING OR PLAGIARISM?

The purposes of the project were (1) to enhance our understanding of students' use of sources, from the accessing of sources to the production of academic writing. This was achieved through a literature review and the student interviews based on their submitted academic assignments. We found that there was a connection between some students' approaches to the composition of assignments and their use of inter-textual borrowing, which in some cases was in danger of constituting plagiarism. A related difficulty facing students, revealed in the course of the project, was how to articulate their own voices with those of the literature.  (2) To contribute to improved guidance and training for students in the use of sources in academic writing, according to prevailing academic conventions. Training and awareness raising material has been produced and disseminated. Research articles are in progress

Love: a guide for amateurs

This eBook has been produced by the Freud Museum London to explore our collective capacity for love. It is part of a series of events on the theme of Freud and Love. Freud & Eros: Love, Lust and Longing is a new exhibition at the Freud Museum London, running from 22 October 2014 – 8 March 2015. The exhibition looks at Sigmund Freud's revolutionary ideas on love and the libidinal drive through Freud's own art collection and his passionate courtship of his wife Martha Bernays. The exhibition is accompanied by an exciting programme of talks, performance, classes and events, including this ebook, event and conference. From January 2015 we will be asking you what you know about love - from how to get on with your family to how to turn your office into a love grotto. You are cordially invited to join us on this journey which we are calling #LoveAmateurs on @survivingwk and www.survivingwork.org

The Death Detectives

The death detectives is a series of blogs about death, photography and seeing the crime written in partnership with The Photographers' Gallery and Surviving Work

Evidence of critical reading expressed in Chinese students' group discussions of texts

The purpose of this thesis is to gain insight into mainland Chinese students’metacognitive understandings and practice of critical reading (CR) in a pre-university second language (L2) reading course in Singapore. CR is interpreted as social practice that can involve a range of processes from analytical evaluations of texts to critiques of power relations and pursuit of social change. The assumption is made that CR engages students' critical stance which can be nurtured by teaching various tools that facilitate CR processes. As such, the impact of teacher intervention and other influencing factors were important considerations in this study. Data collected from various sources revealed that the students’understandings of CR changed throughout the course to include a broader range of processes. This provided some insight which was enhanced when data from peer group discussions of texts showed what CR in this context looked like in practice. The view is taken that interacting with texts and other people in a way that draws on various CR processes constitutes CR discourse (CRD). Transcripts were analysed to determine the nature and extent of CRD that students displayed in peer group discussions. Transcripts were also interrogated to explore factors that influenced those displays of CRD. Results indicate that, from the beginning of the course, these students displayed CRD, albeit often in small amounts and to variable degrees. This challenges notions of uncritical ‘Chinese learners’ (Atkinson, 1997; Wu, 2004). Conditions for displaying more CRD were, however, never fully achieved. Various forms of scaffolding, text topic, and certain aspects of identity that emerged in interactions influenced displays of CRD, but inconsistencies indicate that these influencing factors interact in complex ways, at times enhancing, and other times restricting critical engagement. Awareness of these factors has implications for facilitating CR in L2 reading courses.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A cross-cultural study of Taiwanese and British university students' oral narratives

This cross-cultural study investigates the structural and cultural differences and similarities evident in 13 Mandarin (TM) and 17 English language narratives (TEFL) produced by Taiwanese university EFL students and 17 narratives (BE) produced by British university students. This study also explores how the Taiwanese L2 learners’ identities might affect their use of L2 discourse norms within their narratives. The findings show that within the three sets of narratives, past experiences, in general, are recounted in chronological order and the organisation of narratives follows the sequential order defined by Labov (1972). In terms of orientation, there is some cultural variance. The TM and TEFL narratives underscore the importance of family values in Taiwanese society and underline the role of teachers in these students’ worlds. However, the data shows some variance with Labov’s (1972) results in terms of the relationship between complicating action, resolution and evaluation. In terms of external evaluation, the British narrators use much more evaluation in directly addressing their listeners. In terms of internal evaluation, there is significant variance within the three sets of narratives i.e. stress usage, adverb usage, and repetition. The findings suggest that there is no major difference in tellership and tellability in the three sets of narratives. In terms of learner identity, although some Taiwanese EFL students demonstrate high levels of integrative motivation, they have difficulty using L2 discourse norms in their narratives. This is evidenced by their anxiety in relation to their locus of control. It is also manifest that their learner identities have changed over a period of time and were constructed in various sites of struggle, and by relations of power, in which they assumed different subject positions.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A qualitative study of the opening phases of cross cultural in-service teacher training interaction in rural Malaysia

Interaction during the early opening phases of in-service teacher training courses in Malaysia between native speaker teacher trainers and rural Malaysian teachers involved potential cultural issues. This qualitative study of four rural sites addresses possible tensions from differences in learning cultures as native speaker teacher trainers introduced courses. There were issues of whether primary and secondary teachers accept training techniques. If teachers were to see the courses as useful there was a need for early acceptance of discourse strategies, techniques and the experiential approach. Analysis of this with teacher trainer talk, non-verbals and perceptions of early phase interaction was derived from lesson transcripts, field notes, semi-structured interviews and reflection. Interviews explored teacher acceptance of training techniques. 12 out of 16 Malaysian teachers were positive about the usefulness of training techniques. Most teachers were positive about the early phases of the learning culture when teacher trainers introduced themselves, facilitated transferable tasks, encouraged success and included bilingual approaches. Unexpectedly, humour was important in reducing reliance on the ‘native speaker’ teacher trainer and in creating convergence. While some secondary teachers valued the teacher educator as a knowledge source, for most, the pedagogic approach was pivotal to accepting techniques which were less hierarchical than teachers’ earlier training. Teacher educators stated that teacher interest at both primary and secondary levels focused not on cultural difference as expected but on transferable techniques. Teacher educator stereotypes were abated by cultural adaptation as training techniques reduced the expert knowledge dispenser role. Teacher educators reflected on this and the role of reflection as transcripts and field notes were discussed to develop practitioner knowledge. The teacher educators spoke positively of this reflection. This study provides data for teacher education practice where meeting everyday classroom needs were perceived as central to fostering interactive rural classrooms.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Information and communication technology in teaching : Singapore University teachers' perspectives

The introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) into education has received both positive and negative responses from the stakeholders, namely, the school administrators, faculty and learners, and research into online teaching and learning has also shown both benefits and limitations offered by ICT. Indeed, resistance to ICT use is common among teachers. Studies have found that teacher beliefs about teaching and learning play a big part in teachers’ adoption of ICT use in their teaching. Similarly, contextual factors have been found to affect teachers’ response to ICT use. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between teachers’ understandings of teaching and learning, their understandings of ICT affordances and their use of ICT in their teaching. The area of teacher beliefs is therefore pertinent to the study. Teacher knowledge and teacher learning are discussed in relation to conceptions of teaching and ICT use. Contextual factors are also examined to complete the investigation. Informants are sampled from among engineering and non-engineering faculty at a university in Singapore. Data are collected through interviews, and lexical choices and metaphors used by informants are examined for meaning. The themes are identified and analysed based on two metaphorical models of teaching, namely, Fox’s (1983) theories of teaching and Kember and Gow’s (1994) orientations to teaching. The findings are then presented and discussed in two parts: firstly, teachers’ understandings regarding teaching and learning and regarding ICT affordances, and their use of ICT in their teaching; and secondly, contextual factors that affect teachers’ decision to use ICT. The findings show, firstly, that face-to-face interaction, thinking and understanding, and the ‘right’ attitude are conceived by the engineering and non-engineering informants as the way that learning takes place. Secondly, the primary theories of teaching espoused by these teachers appear to be transfer and shaping theories. Thirdly, informants perceive ICT as a container, a place and a tool. These conceptions correspond to their teaching theories but only to an extent. Evident from the findings are tensions between beliefs and practice. Linked to informants’ understandings of teaching and learning and of ICT affordances is their perception of their roles and responsibilities when they use ICT in their teaching. Fourthly, informants generally perceive ICT as playing a complementary role in their teaching. They see the teacher and learner action as the two most essential elements for effective teaching and learning. From their emphasis on learner attitude and action, informants seem to value also the constructivist theory of learning. Contextual factors are also considered, as conditions can affect change in practice. These factors are found to include time, institutional support, and teacher and learner attitudes. In the discussion on how contextual variables interact with the pedagogical use of ICT, it is found that informants’ technological pedagogical knowledge needs to be developed and that support at policy level is needed to encourage teachers’ use of ICT. The implications of the findings and the contributions and limitations of the study are discussed in the concluding chapter. Also included in the final chapter are suggestions for future research. It is hoped that this study will help the education community understand teachers’ expectations and the classroom challenges they face as they work with ICT. The study can also help university administrators better meet teachers’ needs with regard to teaching using ICT.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

'People can be smarter with two languages': changing anglophone students' attitudes to language learning through teaching linguistics

With English as an undisputed global lingua franca, there is long-standing concern in anglophone countries over the lack of interest in language learning. In the UK, significant changes in language education policy, a mentality of insularity and the global spread of English have all contributed to a drop in language learning uptake beyond the compulsory stage. While the UK has seen many initiatives aiming to foster language learning, no interventions so far have aimed to change learner attitudes by raising students' language awareness of (a) the spread of English globally, and (b) cognitive benefits of mulitilingualism, and the ubiquity of multilingualism, globally and in the UK. A teaching intervention designed for this purpose was delivered to 97 students aged 12-13 in three different state schools in England and Scotland. The effect of the intervention was measured by a pre- and post-questionnaire, with questions closely tailored to the content of the intervention. In addition, qualitative student feedback was gathered after the intervention. Results show significant changes, across the cohort, in two out of three constructs studied, and effects on students' attitude towards language learning. Thus, we conclude that raising anglophone students' awareness of language through raising awareness of cognitive benefits of multilingualism, and the spread of English globally, has the potential to change the attitudes of learners otherwise not interested in language learning