Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemExperiences of Russian-speaking immigrants in Australia: beliefs about language learning, teacher learner roles and learning style preferences( 2007)In previous years the Australian Government's Migration Programme focused on attracting a family member category first. Recently the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Amanda Vanstone stated, "We've aided the growing Australian economy by attracting skilled migrants who continue to make a valuable contribution to Australia's economic growth". A quarter of skilled immigrants come from non-English speaking backgrounds, for instance, from Eastern Europe. Newly arrived immigrants receive English instruction in the Adult Migrant English Program. There has been little research on immigrants with high levels of education who were exposed to foreign language learning prior to migration. This in itself constitutes a serious gap in the knowledge required for the efficient language teaching of this group of students. This study examines the English learning experiences of eleven highly educated immigrants from the former USSR in the adult ESL classroom. It explores students' beliefs about language learning, beliefs about teacher and learner roles and students' preferred learning styles. This in-depth study employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The theoretical framework behind this study is based on the situational-interpretative orientation to research, whilst the approach adopted here is a synthesis of phenomenology, sociology and ethnography. This study found that Russian-speaking immigrants take formal language learning seriously. They expect ESL courses to be highly organised and structured. This study identified the main factors that impact on immigrants' language learning. Russian-speaking students demonstrate a strong instrumental motivation for learning English. They are in favour of traditional methods of learning the language. This study concludes that students' beliefs are culturally shaped. Students' prior educational experiences contribute to their beliefs in terms of approaches to language learning and strategy usage. Russian-speaking learners have high expectations of their ESL teachers. They assign multiple roles to the teacher ranging from an authority to a friend. Russianspeaking students view the learner's role as needing to follow teachers' commands, obey the teacher, work hard and be serious. The data indicates that students' beliefs are deeply rooted in their past educational experiences gained in the country of origin. Results indicate that changes in learners' beliefs occurred over the six months measured. These changes were associated with motivational, environmental and personality factors. Changes in learners' beliefs resulted from the connections students made between their past and present language learning experiences. Russian-speaking ESL learners prefer visual and kinaesthetic learning styles. They identified individual learning as a minor preference. Russian-speaking students appear to be pessimistic about their language abilities. They prefer to use a bottom-up approach and typically learn English for personal gain. Building on these results, this thesis argues that individual voices of language learners should be heard and propose a Principled Negotiated Approach to Pedagogy which would allow teachers and learners to discuss issues central to the learners' achievement in language learning. The implications of the results are provided.
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ItemA critical genre based approach to teaching academic writing in a tertiary EFL context in Indonesia.( 2005)This thesis reports on the effectiveness of using a genre-based approach in teaching academic English writing to studnet teachers who were learning English as a foreign language in a state university.
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ItemStudents' and teachers' beliefs about autonomy in language learning( 1999-07)This thesis reports on the results of an investigation into the beliefs students and teachers in an ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students)centre hold about the value of learner autonomy, particularly in regard to fostering self-correction and critical thinking skills. It also reports on the process of change that initiation into a Western academic culture may affect in students, and students’; and teachers’; beliefs about that change. This thesis is significant because beliefs are regarded as powerful subjective factors which influence one’s judgement and perception. Given that greater numbers of international students are attending Australian universities each year and student autonomy is considered crucial for their success at tertiary level in Australia, such students’; beliefs about autonomy need to be understood. However, students’; beliefs are also affected by their context and hence the interaction of students and teachers is central. To better understand the learning process, the beliefs of both groups and the influence of the context in which they operate was investigated.(For complete abstract open document)
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ItemScientific literacy and the reform of science education in Australia: a chemistry perspective( 2006-01)There is considerable qualitative and quantitative data to suggest that chemistry in Australia is in a state of decline. This trend has been in evidence for the last fifteen years and is most evident from a progressive decline in demand for tertiary chemistry courses over this period despite an overall increase in demand for science courses in Australian universities. There is quantitative evidence to suggest that Australia is experiencing a ‘skills shortage’ of ‘trained chemists’ to support the development and sustainability of the chemical industry and, perhaps more significantly, the proportion of chemistry graduates entering the teaching profession is also decreasing. This thesis examines the reasons for this decline in the status of Australian chemistry by conducting a series of interviews with Heads of Departments of Chemistry in Australian universities to find out their concerns on this issue and, more specifically, to ascertain the actions that they are enacting to address the decline in demand for tertiary chemistry courses and the difficulty in retaining students in the chemistry major. This process also revealed numerous constraints, most significantly, financial constraints, that impede ‘change’ in the tertiary chemistry sector. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemA history of aims in printing education in Melbourne 1870-1970( 1977)Aims in printing education have reflected a tradition of craft distinction. This has helped fashion the peculiar contributions of industrial or educational groups and individuals. In the 1880s the printing union, a relatively articulate group, led the way in promoting health and education provisions for regulating apprenticeship under a factories act. Latent education ideas were evoked in the 1890s by the economic depression and radical technological change with the introduction of the Linotype. These ideas were embodied into a self-help scheme of printing education by enthusiasts, the first classes being held in the Athenaeum in .April 1898. The scheme was adopted as the basis of a course in the Working Men's College when impracticalities became obvious. Classes commenced in June 1899. Printing employee groups maintained policies for government controlled apprenticeship and for state provision and supervision of technical education. These attitudes were gradually confirmed by master printers. Printers tended to have an advanced attitude regarding apprenticeship regulation, particularly compulsory day-time training provisions, under consideration by commissions, apprenticeship conferences and in legislative bills between 1900 and 1927. Technological and economic change in the 1920s and 1930s encouraged individuals in the trade to foster apprenticeship reform, curriculum development and self-help printing education. In the late 1940s a group with printing and educational interests, motivated by a desire to control printing education more effectively, took initiatives which led to the establishment of a mono-purpose printing school under the Education Department. The Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts received its first printing apprentices in May 1950. The principal, staff and school council were pre-occupied with problems of accommodation, plant and equipment in the 1950s and 1960s. Even so, at least equal attention was given to entry and achievement standards and curriculum development in apprenticeship courses in practice, theory, design, science and “liberal” studies. Also the principal, in particular, and industrial representatives espoused technician and technologist level printing education. Thus aims and developments have represented an amalgam of traditional craft assumptions of worth and value as well as responses to the prevailing technological and economic environment.
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ItemIncorporating culture into English language teaching in Vietnam( 2005)This thesis investigates the feasibility and educational merit of incorporating the exploration of cultural meanings into English teaching and learning within the constraints of the existing tertiary educational system and practical realities of modern Vietnam. Adopting Halliday's (1978) theory of language as social semiotic as a basic framework, this paper argues that if the meaning of language in use is to be understood, then one needs to go beyond the surface meaning of what is said and written. Reference must also be made to context of situation and context of culture (Malinowski, 1923). Thus texts need to be interpreted by reference not only to linguistic elements, but also to significant social facts, norms and variations, traditions and current challenges, and more fundamental cultural beliefs and values. Data on the meaning of a set of four texts in New Headway, Intermediate (Soars & Soars, 1996a) were collected from the researcher's own experience/knowledge, library resources, eight native English speakers, and from 25 Vietnamese students. These formed the basis of a teaching program on which further data in the form of journals and interviews were gathered. The content of the texts and visuals were analysed using, firstly, Spradley's Domain Analysis (1979) and then Fairclough's (1995) three-dimensional approach to critical discourse analysis. Thus topic, propositions and omissions were categorised and a comparison was made of the understandings they generated for native speaker informants and Vietnamese students of English. Information new to Vietnamese learners was identified as needing to be taught and discussed. The outcomes of the research show that all the texts provided useful material on culture at different levels of depth. From participating in the program, students were able to construct meaning from a wider range of possibilities and began to realise the complexity of meaning construction. They were also led to reflect on their own culture, thus beginning to expand their monocultural and ethnocentric worldview and to develop their intercultural sensitivity and awareness. Although it was a little demanding, the students found cultural exploration educationally valuable. Three further outcomes were not intended, but also generally positive. They were a new program of teaching in which as agent for intercultural learning; new opportunities for students which increased interest and motivation; and, a new role for the teacher, one which made affective and social demands. Considering the research questions in light of the findings, this research project shows that cultural exploration can be done concurrently with language teaching, within the constraints of a normal program and that it is clearly well worthwhile.
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ItemMeeting the needs of engineering students in an ESP EFL Thai university context( 2008)This study takes into account dissatisfaction with the English ability of Thai engineering students. Based on theoretical and practical perspectives, outcomes of ESP instruction could be improved if the students' communication needs and learning needs were seriously responded to, and needs analysis extended to curriculum development. Consideration led to three research questions: what are the students' communication needs and learning needs, as perceived by key stakeholders; how can the identified needs be built into a new curriculum; and how successfully were the needs incorporated, after the curriculum was implemented? The investigation was based on a course run for civil engineering students, giving importance to perspectives of all involved: employers, civil engineers, civil engineering lecturers, ex- and current civil engineering students, and ESP teachers. The stakeholders participated in different data collection procedures: individual interviews, class observations, collection of students' work samples, focus groups interviews, and evaluation of instructional materials. Five communicative events were recommended and incorporated into a new curriculum, considering related communication needs and learning needs: talking about everyday tasks and duties, reading textbooks, using technical terms in professional Thai conversations, reading manuals, and writing periodic/progress reports. The curriculum design was underpinned by the view that ‘curriculum’ was a process, which was shaped by its context and consisted of an interrelated set of other processes. The evaluation was carried out in two action research cycles while the course was underway. It was found that incorporating the needs was successful when the communication needs were also learning needs. The findings suggest that meeting learner needs may not always be successful initially, because many variables are sensitive and changeable, but problems can be overcome with flexibility and responsiveness. A significant contribution of this study can be as an example of how change for improvement can be made in an existing system in a way that does not arouse antagonism.
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ItemExploring the challenges of developing literacies in a remote indigenous community context( 2005)This study describes an evolving process undertaken by a small Aboriginal Independent Community School to develop a unique teaching and learning environment. This environment catered to the specific needs of this remote Kimberley community. It looks at the challenges facing these Indigenous children to develop appropriate literacy skills in such an isolated environment. The narrative that unfolds explains the features that distinguished this community school and accounted for the success of the programs. The projects, the resources, the stories, the journal entries, the approach and the active community engagement form the basis of the study. An eclectic approach drawing on case study, reflective practice, action research and ethnographic techniques, were utilized to paint a complex picture of the evolving pedagogy.
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ItemAn examination of how Australian art gallery educators perceive their role: two case studies( 2003)This study investigates six art educators working in two Australian art galleries at the turn of the millennium. The study examines how they perceive their role as reflected in the beliefs they hold, the type of lessons they present, and the kind of techniques they use to teach secondary school students in a gallery environment. The study also explores the influencing factors and institutional processes that have acted to inculcate existing attitudes and practices or to instigate change. Research in the area of gallery education indicates that whereas gallery educators twenty years ago felt obliged to analyse and explain artworks for viewers, gallery educators today see the viewer as an active agent in the construction of meaning. This implies that gallery educators seek to empower students by encouraging them to interpret artworks. This notion is based on the premise that knowledge is socially constructed, determined by the individual's respective background and experiences. The six case study subjects explain their roles as complex and demanding. Each offers a different account of the strategies they use to 'engage' students and to involve them in the process of interpretation. All utilise a 'floortalk' approach but with considerable variation. Different approaches such as drama, humour, stories and questioning are used by the teachers. However, the key link between all six case subjects is that they perceive their key role as being to 'engage' students and to stimulate them to actively construct meaning for themselves. In Bourdieu's terms this involves a process of providing students with "cultural capital', namely the kind of knowledge pertaining to the field of art education, its language, content, logic and aesthetic "grammar'. Such art language is needed for students to think, act and talk in relation to the social orthodoxies and heterodoxies established by the field. It was therefore these objectives and the strategies each case subject used to achieve them that are the focus of this study.
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ItemAn investigation of cultural meanings embedded in authorised textbooks for high school students of English in Japan( 2004)The research is aimed at investigating what cultural meanings are embedded in words or stories in English textbooks used in high schools in Japan. Native speakers of English are assumed to have a common shared centre of meaning, which non-native speakers could not access with dictionaries, because such knowledge is often culture specific. By interviewing native speakers on such shared knowledge, the data were collected and then analysed so that the common shared centre of meaning be specified. The cultural meanings were further analysed so that ideology embedded in texts be revealed. Two lessons from two authorised textbooks used in senior high school c1assrooms in Japan were selected for analysis. Six Australian native speakers of English were invited to be interviewed twice. In the first interview the informants were asked to read a passage from a textbook and talk about the cultural meanings embedded in the text by responding thirteen questions. After the first interview the transcriptions were analysed in terms of the cultural meanings in the text for native speakers. Different interpretations among the informants were specified and the questionnaire which asked about those differences was sent to the informants by email. They were invited to respond to the questions and make comments if any. The second interview was conducted on another passage from a different textbook in the same way as the first, followed by the questionnaire. The research revealed the following cultural meanings embedded in the two texts: independence, time, home and house, the aged people and a nursing home, stereotypes of the aged people and gender roles and some other minor issues. With knowledge thus obtained in the research, it is hoped that teachers of English and students in Japan would benefit and teaching/learning of culture would prevail across more English classrooms in Japan.