Language and culture learning in higher education via telecollaboration

This article focuses on the ways of researching the process of designing, developing, and using telecollaboration (also known as online intercultural exchange) to facilitate the learning of both linguistic and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in higher education courses in different educational contexts in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Although telecollaboration would intuitively seem to be an ideal medium for learning another language and about another culture, extensive research has shown that this learning process takes years and faces many challenges. This paper situates the research on language and culture learning within the broader scope of language and intercultural education (see Pedagogies, 8(2), for a report of an interview with Michael Byram, one of the originators of the concept of ICC). A multinational example of the integration of telecollaborative networks in European university language classes collaborating online, the INTENT project, is described. In addition, a telling case, the Cultura model, implemented in the United States, Europe, and Asia, demonstrates a successful approach (with accompanying research) to telecollaboration for language and culture learning. However, there are also invisible factors and unanticipated challenges that teachers and learners need to understand in order to benefit from these telecollaborative environments; these are examined at the end of the article.     

文化学习对跨文化敏感的影响

文章旨在于研究文化学习对跨文化敏感水平是否有显著的影响。此调查采用了陈国明和Starosta的"跨文化敏感度量表",以及实验组控制组的前后测设计。所有的受试均来自广东外语外贸大学国际学院的一年级学生。研究结果显示,文化学习在一定程度上提高了学生的跨文化敏感水平。学生在构成跨文化敏感的两个因素(交际参与度与差异认同感)上有了明显的提高。     

The role of foreign language programmes in internationalising learning and teaching in higher education

This article proposes that foreign language programmes have a central role to play in the internationalisation of learning and teaching in the university. Looking at institution-wide programmes in the UK, it cites two main reasons for this claim: University language programmes teach multilingual and multicultural groups in which students from a range of disciplines may trial the skills required of international graduates. Furthermore, language programmes employ student-centred forms of learning in response to the heterogeneity of their student body. Their composition and innovative pedagogies, it is argued, suggest the university-wide foreign language programme as a central discipline of internationalisation which develops good practice to be rolled out across the university. The article describes the learning opportunities international language classrooms offer and presents an overview of the pedagogies employed in institution-wide language programmes.     

高校德育的文化观照

文化的本义是以文化民,其作用是对人自己的自然属性和本能行为进行自律和改造;高校学生思想道德素质的提高必须有文化素质的支撑。道德教育不是单纯的认知问题,没有情感体验和内心认同感的道德律令的作用是极其有限的。文化素质是成就道德人格的基础。“两课”教学、专业课教学以及学生的课余生活要有高雅文化的引入和渗透,让学生在人文灿烂的环境中受到良好的教育。     

Furthering alternative cultures of valuation in higher education research

The value of higher education is often implicit or assumed in educational research. The underlying and antecedent premises that shape and influence debates about value remain unchallenged, which perpetuates the dominant, but limiting, terms of the debate and fosters reductionism. The article proceeds on the premise that analyses of value are not self-supporting or self-referential but are embedded within prevailing cultures of valuation. It contends that challenging, and providing alternatives to, dominant narratives of higher education requires an appreciation of those cultures. It therefore highlights some of the existing cultures of valuation and their influence. It then proposes Sayer’s concept of lay normativity as a culture of valuation and discusses how it translates into the practices of research into higher education, specifically the practice of analysis. The discussion is animated by detecting the presence of lay normativity in the evaluative space of the capability approach.     

Service learning and intercultural citizenship in foreign-language education

Service Learning, a pedagogy combining formal learning with community service, has recently developed into Intercultural Service Learning (ISL). Intercultural Citizenship Education (ICE) combines foreign-language education and education for (intercultural) citizenship. They have different origins and applications but recent work in ISL is linked to foreign language education, as is ICE. A comparison of the two reveals considerable similarities and the potential for mutual enrichment. The article first explains the two types of education and their origins and theory, and examples of each are then provided. Thus the ways in which they complement each other and the potential for further coherence and enrichment are demonstrated. In particular it is argued that foreign language education can gain from the experience and rigour of ISL to give new possibilities for language teachers.     

Teaching and learning cultures in higher education: a mismatch in conceptions

ABSTRACT

Instructional approaches in higher education that foster learning based on internal values are required with the enrollment of wider and more diverse audiences. The current study explores this challenge with a focus on the relationship between students’ learning cultures and the way instructors’ view them. We interviewed 76 students and six instructors at an established academic institution. Data comprised of 210 students’ and 146 instructors’ utterances that were analyzed using mixed methods. Findings revealed a mismatch of instructors’ conceptions about the learning culture of the typical student, potentially leading to compromises in their teaching practices. We provide evidence that reciprocal relations exist between cultures of teaching and learning, contributing to the wicked challenges of rethinking the role of teachers in reinforcing passive learning cultures in undergraduate education. Adoption of internal-based values teaching approaches can help break this feedback loop.     

Exploring students' learning challenges in environmental education

There is growing recognition of the significance of learning within debates about sustainable development. Within the field of environmental education research, however, there has been insufficient attention given to questions of learners and learning. In the light of this situation, this paper reports findings from two studies (one in England, the other in Sweden) that focused specifically on learners' experiences of and responses to environmental curricula in secondary school and higher education. Three kinds of learning challenges that can be experienced by students on environmental education courses are outlined and discussed. The main purpose of the paper is to highlight the complexity of the learning experience within environmental education and to draw attention to the need for improved research‐based understandings of environmental learning processes.     

An exploration into student learning mobility in higher education among the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council countries

This paper explores the dynamics of the internationalisation of higher education in the Gulf region. Exploring the presence of foreign universities, international curricula, programmes, students and academic staff, it pays particular attention to the learning mobility of students from the region. Consequently, the aim of this piece of research is to explore the current learning mobility among the GCC countries. The study makes use of secondary data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) on the global flow of tertiary-level students and a survey conducted especially for this study among students from the Gulf region. Considering the literature explored and based on data from UIS and the survey conducted, it seems that higher education in the Gulf region has expanded and that the presence of foreign universities, international curricula, programmes, students and academic staff is a positive experience overall. Although learning mobility has been stimulated in the region, much of it is regionally driven. It seems that the growth of inward learning mobility is not proportional to the growth of foreign universities in the region. The growth of outward learning mobility is predominantly driven by scholarships and the potential for growth on inward and outward learning mobility seems likely to increase in the future. The Gulf countries may enhance learning mobility through multilateral learning and research cooperation by means of scholarships and regulated commercial activities. To emerge as an international education hub, the Gulf countries must become an attractive destination for students from outside of the region as well. The region may wish to draw relevant lessons from regions such as the European Union to stimulate learning mobility.     

Promoting self-sustained learning in higher education: the ISEE framework

To equip graduates with the capability to meet complex demands of work and life, it is important that higher education teachers engage students in self-sustained learning – the persistent, self-initiated pursuit of expertise development in one's subject area. This requires building a positive synergy between learning and teaching, which implies various potential difficulties for teachers. Based on a critical analysis of these difficulties, it is proposed that self-sustained learning can be nurtured when teachers activate a form of dialogic reflective practice that prioritizes students’ subject expertise development. Relevant strategies are suggested and potential difficulties in implementing them are examined. These strategies are synthesized as the ISEE framework: (1) employing Inquiry-based Scaffolding Tasks to motivate students’ learning interests and scaffold their progress; (2) encouraging Engaging Classroom Dialogs to help students’ development of subject expertise and an active learner identity; and (3) using Engaged Critical Reflections to build close and trusting teacher–student relationships.     

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) policy in Australian higher education: the dynamics of position-taking

The Bourdieuian concept of ‘position-taking’ is applied in this analysis of recognition of prior learning (RPL) policy and practice in Australian higher education. Data from institutional documents and participant interviews indicate that, within RPL policy, the universities selectively employ prevailing discourses of ‘quality’ and ‘equity’ to reinforce or potentially improve their reputation and symbolic power in the field of higher education. There is no common consensus about either equity or quality across the sector, as each university interprets the two concepts for its own benefit. The evidence suggests that, despite rhetoric in government policy implying that both are equally important, quality is a far stronger discourse and policy imperative than equity in RPL policy and practice. Also, RPL policies and practices provide an insight into how the key policy priorities of equity and quality are addressed by universities, when applied to a specific educational process or practice.     

关于高校素质教育的思考

高校素质教育包括思想政治素质教育，专业素质教育，化素质教育和身心素质教育四个方面。总结我国高校教育发展的经验，高校素质教育取得了突出的成就，但离全面推进素质教育的目标和要求还有一定的距离，因此，提高认识，转变教育思想和观念，进一步加强思想政治教育工作，深化教育教学改革，加强人素质教育，重视大学生身心健康教育等，是高校进一步实施素质教育的重要途径和方法。     

Reconceptualise a dynamic framework of the learning constructs in higher education

This paper reconceptualised the interrelated learning constructs in higher education based on the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST). The university students' learning experience before, during and post the Emergency Online Learning (EOL) was investigated to explore the dynamic changes among the learning constructs in higher education. A case study of a Chinese university was conducted, and one hundred and ninety-three university students participated in the questionnaire. The data collected from this empirical research identify different hierarchical constructs of the conceptualised learning environment and reconceptualise the period of system reformation influenced by the EOL. The key findings include the identifications of the attractors and repellors framed by the DST and the impact on the changes in the learning constructs. The results of this paper contribute to further understanding of the university constructs' changes to better plan and support students' active learning in higher education.     

高校体育与大学生素质教育

素质教育是我国高等教育当前所面临的迫切问题,高校体系在培养大学生的品德素质、能力素质和心理素质中能起到良好的促进作用。     

Exploring the dominant learning styles of adult learners in higher education

International Review of Education - In today’s complex and knowledge-driven world, the quest to pursue and acquire information and skills to enable one to be useful in society is not limited...     

高校实践教学体系中的大学英语文化教学实践

文化因素在大学英语教学中非常重要,文化教学有自身的特性和特点。学习外语要学习文化的多样性,通过实践语言的方式把握和理解不同文化内涵和区别,做到在实践中学习文化知识。在大学英语教学中实施有效的文化教学实践的方法和平台是很有必要的。通过文化教学实践把不同的文化生活和经验呈现给学生,进而培养他们的跨文化意识和交际能力。     

Designing pedagogic strategies for dialogic learning in higher education

This article focuses on the pedagogic value of dialogue to strengthen pre-service teachers’ reflective practices and improve their knowledge about the power of talk for learning. Dialogic learning was introduced to a unit of study taken by a final-year cohort of students in an initial teacher education degree at an urban university in Australia. Various opportunities for dialogue were designed into the unit through blended learning such as face-to-face tutorials, social networks and Viva Voce contexts. In the face of mixed opinion on their efficacy, the author profiles the use of social networks as a means of incorporating more interactive discourse through Web 2.0 platforms in higher education. The mixed-methods study reports on data collected from focus group interviews run at the end of the semester. An analytical framework based on Alexander’s principles of dialogic learning is used to interrogate the data set. The results illustrate the positive impact that dialogue employed as a pedagogic tool had on the value students perceived of their learning experience. It is recommended that designs for learning in higher education incorporate iterative exchanges across a variety of blended learning contexts to encourage productive interactions between students, peers and tutors.     

从语用视角探索外语文化教学的转向

本指出外语化教学单纯地定位在培养学生的交际能力，已经不适应越来越多的跨化交际现实，从语用的三要素场合，话题，参与和交际形式来看，外语化教学应该转向培养学生的跨化的交际能力，一种母语化和目的语化相互撞击后的心理承受能力和对化差异的诠释能力，和化素质教育并轨，外语化教学的内涵能实现意义的升华。     

Unpacking the roles of the facilitator in higher education professional learning communities

ABSTRACT

Facilitators are central for the success of professional learning communities (PLCs). Yet, their specific roles in supporting teacher learning remain still largely underexplored. To address this gap, the current multiple case study examines the roles of 4 university PLC facilitators, the strategies they used to support teacher learning, and the challenges they experienced in their work. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis of facilitators’ reflective journals and annual reports. Our findings revealed that the roles of PLC facilitators must continuously adapt to the needs of the community. Facilitators’ tasks ranged from organizing group work and supporting community building to generating opportunities for teacher learning by stimulating reflection and by providing access to relevant resources and continuous feedback. Challenges associated with their roles included time limitations, the need to avoid the image of experts, and keeping a critical stance whilst building a close relationship with the PLC.     

A case study of peer learning in higher aeronautical education

In order to improve student learning in an advanced course in aeronautics, lectures are replaced with more student-centred sessions based on peer learning. The course is organised in student teams, with the main task of delivering lecture requests for full class discussions. For the same reason, the written theory exam is replaced by a peer review of student reports. The new approach is found to result in a substantial increase of student–student and student–teacher interaction, leading to observable improvements in the course results. Finally, some feedback from the students is presented, being in great favour of the peer learning approach.