Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemLanguages and Learning amongst Orang Asli Students in Malaysia( 2020)This thesis reports a research project conducted with and for the Orang Asli (OA) of Malaysia by an OA researcher. The OA (literally means original people) are the Indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. Among many other struggles faced by the OA of Malaysia, two educational issues that have constantly been highlighted in the literature are the high dropout rates and the low educational attainment amongst OA students. Across the subjects, English language is one of the weakest areas of learning for the students despite the language being a key requirement to maximize employability in the local and global workforce. This highlights the complex multilingual challenge that many OA students are facing in order to succeed in their formal education and subsequently navigate the globalised workforce. This study aimed to understand the English language learning of OA students in Malaysia by looking into the complex interplay of the main languages (OA languages, Malay and English) that coexist in the language ecology of OA students in Malaysia. It also aimed to explore the attitudes of OA students and parents towards these languages and their formal language learning in school. In addition, beliefs of teachers of OA students were also explored for a comprehensive picture of the subject. This mixed-methods study has been framed within a transformative framework that is embedded with elements of Indigenous methodologies. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the subject under investigation, voices of OA students, OA parents and their teachers were foregrounded using multiple data collection strategies such as survey, interview, classroom observation, photovoice and an Indigenous method called sharing circle. To analyse and interpret the data, the works of various notable scholars such as the affordance theory (Gibson, 1979; Aronin & Singleton, 2012), the Dominant Language Constellation theory (Aronin, 2014) as well as the notions of symbolic power (Bourdieu, 1991) have been used to frame the discussion of findings. Several significant findings resulted from the data analysis. First, new insights into the complex linguistic repertoires of OA students, highlighting limitations around fixed notions of local, national and international languages have been found in this study. Secondly, the participating OA students and their parents demonstrated mixed attitudes towards the languages in their language ecology reflecting issues of both OA identity and global aspirations. Thirdly, in terms of the use of OA students’ linguistic and cultural knowledge, it was found that only the linguistic knowledge is used to support their language learning in the classrooms while their cultural knowledge receives no major emphasis in their formal learning. It was also found that teachers hold mixed beliefs about their OA students, and many of these teachers view their OA students through a deficit lens. Finally, findings of this study also highlight the emergence of a group of high achieving OA students, which should be further explored in future research. This research proposes innovative ways of conceptualising OA students that will inform current and future policy development for the OA in Malaysia.
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ItemCreating Indigenous futures: using applied theatre to construct a participatory creative space for Indigenous Australian young people( 2012)This thesis investigates the use of applied theatre with disadvantaged Indigenous Australian young people. It examines the characteristics, challenges and opportunities of using applied theatre practices with Indigenous young people in an Indigenous community setting. The research considers the relationship between the fields of applied theatre, participatory forms of qualitative research and Indigenous research. The research responds to the low attendance and engagement of Indigenous young people in education in Australia. Poor rates of school completion combined with high rates of imprisonment means that at least half the Indigenous young people in Australia are underachieving, and are at risk of a future characterized by extreme disadvantage and disconnection from the mainstream. This research began as broad concern with how to reconnect disaffected Indigenous young people with education. Subsequently the research question was reframed as: how can applied theatre be used in the construction of a participatory creative space for Indigenous Australian young people? The study began as an invitation from Nungalinya College in Darwin to the researcher, a non-Indigenous teaching artist experienced in intercultural drama and theatre. Adopting a reflective practitioner stance the researcher explored the central role of applied theatre in building Indigenous young people’s engagement with culturally appropriate creative practices. The study consisted of three applied theatre projects conducted over three years. The first was a one-week Pilot Project in 2006. The second was a five-week intensive program conducted in 2007; the third was two weeks in 2008. The research was a partnership between Trinity College, the researcher-practitioner, who was employed at Trinity College, and Nungalinya College Youth Program. Contact was maintained between the three projects. The researcher became immersed in a new and unfamiliar cultural, social, political and environmental space in order to try to understand the lived realities of the young people. The development of deeper understanding by the researcher of Indigenous perspectives on partnerships, relationships, and cultural safety facilitated the young people’s participation. The researcher found it necessary to adapt applied theatre to incorporate the making of short films as a medium of storytelling and as an initiative of the young people. The building of conditions for participation required complex and sensitive relationships, which evolved through negotiation and collaboration. In a newly constructed creative space the young people had the opportunity to build new narratives to move beyond their habitual patterns and to imagine a different future. As a result of this research, a model for partnerships and for participation is proposed. The researcher identified a range of modes of participation in the creative space and these were subsequently characterized as a continuum from Peripheral to Marginal to Embodied to Active Participation.