A voice without organs: interviewing in posthumanist research

In keeping with the editor’s call for this special issue, this paper discusses how a posthumanist stance has enabled me to materialize a different conception of the interview and interview data in postqualitative inquiry. More specifically, I am thinking with Deleuze and Guattari’s concept, the Body without Organs, one they use to enact thinking without a subject and to liberate thought from overcoded images in order to confront a reliance on objects or material representations to understand and explain. Using this concept, I theorize a Voice without Organs (VwO) as a voice that does not emanate from a singular subject but is produced in an enactment among research-data-participants-theory-analysis. The article concludes with an analysis of data from a recent interview project that illustrates how VwO is both produced by and producing different knowledge and suggests implications for thinking interviewing and interview data differently.     

Localizing English literature as a school subject: a Malaysian experience

This article explores some of the complexities involved in the act of localizing English literature as a school subject. Informed by Goodson and Marsh’s stages of subject development, I explore the ways in which post-16 English literature was localized in Malaysia from an introduced and mythologized subject entitled “English” to its reconceptualization as “Literature in English” in the year 1998. The main question this article asks is: can a mythologized subject be sustained when it is introduced into another context (i.e., Malaysia)? This question is explored through attempts made to localize it by the subject’s governing body in Malaysia, namely the Malaysian Examinations Council. Relevant documents as well as an interview with a subject committee member involved in the subject’s reconceptualization form the data of this article. Analysis suggests that not only were acts of localization incoherent in the subject’s implementation, the rationale for localization was also not shared by some constituencies within and beyond the education system. This article concludes by highlighting the importance of ensuring that support from relevant constituencies is based upon a shared understanding of a subject’s role, aims and conceptualization in order to sustain subject development in an education system.     

The Language of the Geography Text‐book: an historical appraisal

Graphic elicitation, i.e. asking participants to draw, is an interview technique used to focus the interviewee on the given topic or gain extra meaning not covered verbally as part of the interview. This study analyses two interview contexts which included visual elicitation. It describes a successful example in which the researcher maintained control over the mode of the planned research task (diagram) as well as another example in which slippage occurred between the mode of the planned research task (drawing) and the resulting artefact (diagram). Through this analysis, strategies for maintaining researcher control over the mode of elicitation are identified, increasing our understanding about the theory and practice of both drawings and diagrams as two different modes of visual elicitation. The paper concludes that the required control does not necessarily comprise an increase in task structure (directing participants as to how to draw). Moreover, the subject and purpose of the task are equally important. Successful researcher control then comprises a careful balance between all the three aspects of purpose, structure and subject.     

The Development of Subject Knowledge in Secondary Initial Teacher Education: A case study of physical education student teachers and their subject mentors

This article presents a case study of student teachers of secondary school physical education (PE) and their subject mentors in subject knowledge development. Grenfell's (1996) application of Bourdieu's notions of 'field' and 'habitus' in relation to initial teacher education (ITE) is applied to interview data to argue that student teachers show varying dispositions to develop subject knowledge at the field sites of university and school. Furthermore, such dispositions are suggested to be enacted by student teachers through the development and exchange of subject knowledge as 'capital'. Thus a dynamic for subject knowledge development, which is neither specific to field site or difference between field sites is conceptualised. The article concludes that student dispositions to learn, in context, should be considered to assist understanding about the development of PE student teachers' subject knowledge. It calls for a redefinition of nationally prescribed subject knowledge in relation to learning how to teach.     

Interactive Teaching Goes to Uni: Keeping Students Awake and Learning Alive

This study of interactive teaching strategies and their effect on learning processes is based on the experiences of one class extending over one semester. Students were enrolled in an elective subject, Human Sexuality and Learning, offered in the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology. The subject matter was presented in a variety of ways, all of which structured a high degree of student interaction and participation. Student perceptions and evaluations of how this approach affected their learning were monitored throughout the semester through the collection of interview and questionnaire data. A strong relationship was found to exist between the use of interactive teaching strategies and students' reported involvement, morale, and interest in the subject matter.     

提高远程开放教育学生学习自主性之行动研究

报告了以《开放英语2》为试验课程开展的一项旨在提高远程开放教育学生外语学习自主性的行动研究。在研究中通过课堂观察、教师日志、访谈、问卷调查等手段收集了研究数据,证明了行动方案的实施效果,强调了提高远程开放教育学生的学习自主能力的必要性,并指出研究中的经验体会对其他学科也有一定的借鉴意义。     

Datafied at four: the role of data in the ‘schoolification’ of early childhood education in England

ABSTRACT

This paper examines processes of datafication in early childhood education (ECE) settings for children from birth-five years in England and how this relates to increased formalisation. Unusually, ECE in England includes a standardised curriculum and formative and statutory assessments; thus it has been described as subject to both datafication and ‘schoolification’, a term used to describe the adoption of school-like practices and values in ECE. Using interview data from ECE settings over the last decade and a theoretical framework drawing on Foucault and Deleuze, the paper sets out the ways in which settings in schools and nurseries are subject to the demands of data, and how this produces data-driven subjectivities for both teacher and child. These developments are then linked to aspects of ‘schoolification’ including more formal teaching, a focus on literacy and mathematics, and use of ‘ability’ grouping.     

Negotiating the Demands of Teaching Mathematical Literacy

The introduction of the school subject Mathematical Literacy (ML) was to develop numerate and well informed citizens in South Africa. However the success of the subject is dependent on the ways in which teachers mediate the subject with their learners. The purpose of the study reported on in this article was to explore the extent to which the approaches used by ML teachers supported the learners’ participation in the contextual settings. The article focuses on one case study that was drawn up from three lesson observations and an interview with one ML teacher. The data was synthesised using a narrative analysis approach. The study found that the teacher's explanations of contextual terms were sometimes incorrect and irrelevant. Her discussion often sidestepped the main issues and did not help the learners to engage more deeply with the contextual tools in ways that could allow them to increase their participation level in the relevant discourse. This raises concerns about the extent to which ML can achieve the intended outcomes.     

A New Pattern to Research the Learning:From Phenomenography and Constructivism Perspective——The Case of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts

This essay is trying to explore how the arts students experience the teaching and learning context in the English class of the col lege from the phenomenography perspective.The qualitative research methodology of phenomenography has traditionally required a man ual sorting and analysis of interview data.To study the teaching and learning context,the qualitative research method will be applied,and the data collection will base on the face-to-face interview.There are 8 sophomores were interviewed after they had one year study in col lege.The research findings reveal that most student in interview gradually get used to college English class,but never think about changing their learning approach even they study one year in a totally different teaching and learning environment.     

Profiling Primary School Teachers in Relation to Art Teaching

This paper contributes to the on‐going debate about specialisation and teaching art in primary schools. Moreover it provides a starting point for further research and the design of in‐service training that responds to the different needs and attitudes of primary school teachers in relation to teaching art. This is done by investigating several profiles of teachers who teach art in primary schools in Cyprus. It describes five profiles of teachers, which emerged from analysing data from pupils (questionnaire and interview data) and teachers (interview data) and thus brings a fresh insight to the learning‐teaching situation. There are two profiles of art specialist teachers, named as artist‐teacher and specialist‐teacher, and three profiles of non‐art specialist teachers, named as enthusiastic, disappointed, and indifferent non‐specialist. The most effective teacher in the pupils' eyes is the specialist‐teacher, who integrates more successfully than the others their subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of learners and knowledge of the environmental conditions.     

An investigation on the scientific thinking ability of fourth year university students

This paper reports on a study which examined the ability of a sample of fourth year university students to think scientifically when presented with a range of chemical phenomena. The main data collection instrument was the clinical interview. Each subject was interviewed in-depth for about one hour on a one-to-one basis. Each interview was taped, transcribed verbatim and then analysed. Five familiar chemical reactions ere used as foci for discussion in the interviews. For each reaction, each interviewee was asked, among other things, to make predictions about the overall energy change involved, and to make explanations as to why the change took place, i.e., the driving force for the change. The results show that the majority of the interviewees were using perceptually dominated thinking rather than conceptually dominated thinking; at the same time, they were unable to use science concepts consistently across the five reactions. It can thus be inferred that they were unable to think scientifically. Reasons for the lack of scientific thinking ability are explored and suggestions on alleviation of the problem are offered.     

Conceptions and Contexts: On the Interpretation of Interview and Observational Data

Research within a constructivist approach often relies on interview data, which are used to reveal beliefs held by the interviewee or to expose conceptions or conceptual structures that are supposed to reside within the interviewee. From a sociocultural perspective, severe criticism has been leveled against the neglect of the problems of inferring conceptions held by a participant from what is uttered in an interview. Utterances should be looked upon as cultural tools used to realize discursive practices, rather than as propositions mirroring mental entities. It is argued that the clinical interview, often used by constructivists, disregards the impact of a situation and discursive norms with regard to what is uttered in a conversation. Here, it is argued that by taking into account an interviewee's conceptions of the situation, as well as of the subject matter being talked about, some sort of a bridge between the methodological standpoints of constructivism and sociocultural theory can be formed. It is proposed that utterances should be regarded as actions, and thus the problem of ascribing meanings to behavior is in focus, that is, how a series of behaviors can be regarded as an intentional action. It is argued that by means of such an approach, it is possible to make inferences about conceptions and conceptual structures much in the same way as is done in research on conceptual change. However, this means that utterances cannot just be “read off.” The interviewee's aims, conceptions of the subject matter talked about, as well as the interviewee's conceptions of the situation to hand must be taken into account. A reinterpretation of data reported by Andrea diSessa and Bruce Sherin is used as an illustration.     

学习过程对英语写作的影响——对一名学生的个案研究

通过访谈调查一名英语写作大赛获奖学生平时的英语学习过程,并分析了其受试的三篇参赛作文。研究结果发现:受试词汇语法学习过程和写作练习过程分别表现出2项和5项特征,这些特征对受试英语写作的词汇运用、句子结构和语篇结构产生了影响,受试在写作竞赛上取得的成绩可以从学习过程的角度得到解释。     

有机化学课程考核改革的尝试

改革有机化学课程的考核方式,是在闭卷考试的基础上增加面试和课程论文,学生成绩由平时作业、面试、课程论文和闭卷考试组成。这样学生成绩的评价比较科学,也有助于提高学生的学习能力,激发学生学习积极性。     

On Drawing,Visual Language and the Pictorial Image: An Interview with John Willats

The editorial team of TRACEY, an online drawing journal hosted by Loughborough University School of Art & Design, was interested to learn more about John Willats’s current thinking on the subject of drawing and to put to him a number of specific questions to do with the functions of drawn marks, notions of pictorial syntax, the role of ambiguity and imprecision in drawing and future directions for drawing research. He kindly agreed to an interview, which took place in his Somerset studio on Thursday 6th December 2001. The following is an edited version of that interview.     

Citizenship and Identity: The Self-Image of Secondary School Students in England and Catalonia

We discuss the ways in which English and Catalan students perceive themselves as members of communities and as citizens and the role of schools in these perceptions. Questionnaire and interview data were collected and analysed from 583 secondary school students in a total of 9 schools that were known for their commitment to citizenship education in England and Catalonia. The research took place when issues of national and other identities were prominently discussed in the media and elsewhere and when significant changes were being introduced in both locations regarding citizenship education as a specific curriculum subject and also in the wider context of education and schooling. Our results suggest that while the English students in our sample understand citizenship in terms of a subjective identification, our Catalan students perceive citizenship as a legal and externally assigned status. We did not intend to obtain nationally representative samples but rather to gain in-depth knowledge of the data and to discuss the implications of these results for the differing purposes of citizenship education. We make recommendations for how school-based citizenship education may contribute to current challenges related to citizenship and identities.     

高校体育教育专业术科“单元探究式”教学模式的构建

对我国高校体育教育专业术科教学模式进行分析与研究,构建了体育专业术科“单元探究式”教学模式.实践证明,体育术科“单元探究式”教学模式符合我国高等体育教育改革与发展和社会主义市场经济条件下对人才的需要;体育专业术科“单元探究式”教学模式,不仅适应体育教育专业术科,也适应其它专业和学科.培养创新型人才是高等院校教学改革与社会主义市场经济相适应的必然.     

Student learning of thermochemical concepts in the context of solution calorimetry

Student understanding of heat and thermal phenomena has been the subject of considerable investigation in the science education literature. Published studies have reported student conceptions on a variety of advanced topics, but calorimetry - one of the more elementary applications of thermochemical concepts - has apparently received little attention from science education researchers. Here we report a detailed analysis of student performance on solution calorimetry problems in an introductory university chemistry class. We include data both from written classroom exams for 207 students, and from an extensive longitudinal interview series with a single subject who was herself part of that larger class. Our findings reveal a number of learning difficulties, most of which appear to originate from failure to understand that net increases and decreases in bond energies during aqueous chemical reactions result in energy transfers out of and into, respectively, the total mass of the resultant solution.     

Environmental Thinking in the Early Years: understanding and misunderstanding of concepts related to waste management

This paper provides an overview and discussion of a study of young children's knowledge and understanding of the management of waste materials. It describes a semi‐structured interview and discussion methodology used to ascertain details of children's knowledge and misconceptions about this key environmental issue. Interviews described are with 4 and 6‐year‐old children. The paper presents examples of data recording and analysis, and raises important implications of findings for teachers of children in their first 3 years in school. The study described forms a part of a larger international research project which focuses on acquisition of environmental subject knowledge and development of concern for the environment.     

EFL teachers’ perceptions of English language policy at the elementary level in Taiwan

Due in large part to the trends towards economic globalization, English has become the most widely disseminated and ubiquitous international language. The purpose of the study was to investigate what Taiwan’s EFL teachers at the elementary level believe about the policy of English as a compulsory subject and how they perceive the benefits and obstacles of the policy’s implementation. Ten elementary English teachers in Tainan City and its suburban areas participated in this study. Data were collected through teachers’ interviews, classroom observation and document analysis. Results found that all ten teachers agreed with the policy for English as a compulsory subject at the elementary level. They observed both positive and negative sides of this top‐down policy. Classroom observation and interview data revealed that EFL teachers had to plan their English classes with the constraints on a large class of students with mixed levels of proficiency, limited teaching hours and resources. Parents’ expectations of and attitudes towards English learning also became an obstacle.