Co-research in Vietnam for the anthropology classroom

Abstract

In the university system today, co-research may be a decolonising strategy. We evaluate teaching a ‘Modernization and Social Change’ course in Vietnam as an experiment in co-research anthropology training. If for visitors, the idea of ‘Vietnam’ is nurtured by Hollywood action cinema, 1960s–1970s protest movements and documentary television, a process of collective research can rearrange orientations for students and teachers. The essay describes the making of a ‘model’ film as a teaching tool for international faculty, and as an evaluation of general teaching practice. A co-research approach to the classroom, assuming the students as researchers, engaging their own collaborative interests together, invites further discussion on teaching mapping as model for ethics-oriented co-research anthropology training; on teaching Capital in Vietnam using maps and counter-mapping as collaborative practice; and on using participatory methods for foreign faculty in a politically charged field.     

Pre-service teachers’ construction of professional identity through peer collaboration during professional experience: a case study in Australia

Much research in the area of pre-service teacher (PST) identity formation has focused on the mentoring relationship between PSTs and their supervising teachers. While this is important to identity formation, interaction with peers is another area that needs to be examined. Using Wenger’s matrix as a theoretical framework, this study aimed to explore how PSTs’ identities are formed during the process of paired placement during the professional experience. Two pairs of PSTs were followed during the four-week professional experience. Data were collected from interviews with the PSTs before, during and after the professional experience. It is clear from this case study that the identity formation of PSTs is enhanced during a paired placement on their first professional experience. This finding has implications for teacher educators who are seeking evidence of the effectiveness of paired placements on the identity formation of PSTs during professional experience.     

Teaching aquatic science as inquiry through professional development: Teacher characteristics and student outcomes

We present an inquiry‐based, aquatic science professional development (PD) for upper‐elementary, middle, and high school teachers and examine changes in student outcomes in light of participating teachers’ characteristics and the grade band of the students. Our study lends support to the assertion that inquiry‐ and content‐focused PD, paired with classroom implementation, can effectively improve student learning. Our findings indicate that students improved in their nature of science (NOS) and aquatic science content knowledge and that these changes depended in some ways on the participating teachers’ characteristics and adherence to the program. The students’ improvements were amplified when their teachers adhered more closely to the PD activities during their classroom implementation. The teachers’ previous science PD experience and pre‐PD understanding of inquiry‐based teaching also explained some of the variability in student growth. In both NOS and content, students of teachers with less prior science‐PD experience benefited more. Grade band also explained variation in student outcomes through interactions with teacher‐characteristic variables. In high school, students of teachers with lower pre‐PD inquiry knowledge appeared to learn more about NOS. Our results suggest that inquiry and content training through PD may minimize disparities in teaching due to inexperience and lack of expertise. Our study also demonstrates the value of PD that teaches a flexible approach to inquiry and focuses on underrepresented, interdisciplinary content areas, like aquatic science. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54:1219–1245, 2017     

‘Get Foot in the Door’: International Students’ Perceptions of Work Integrated Learning

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is regarded as an important vehicle to assist students’ development of relevant professional skills, knowledge and attributes that can enhance their employability. WIL arrangement for international students is a challenging issue for institutions, international students themselves as well as other related stakeholders. While there is an emerging body of literature that examines WIL for international students, how the value of WIL is perceived by this cohort is little known. This paper responds to this dearth of the literature by exploring the different meanings that international students in the vocational education and training sector attach to WIL. Using Bourdieu’s thinking tools of capitals and habitus to interpret interview data from 105 international students, this paper shows that WIL is seen to not only add value to student learning, career aspiration and employability but also transform and enhance their symbolic and social capitals. The paper underscores the instrumental, symbolic and developmental meanings that international students associate with WIL. In particular, it highlights the reciprocal relationship between students’ development of vocational ‘being’ and personal ‘being’ through WIL.     

Effects of self-questioning on EFL students’ engagement in literary reading / Los efectos del autocuestionamiento en la lectura comprometida de textos literarios de estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera

This study examines the effects of self-questioning on EFL students’ literary reading engagement. Two interventions were tested: (1) students generating questions while reading short stories, and then exploring their questions in small-groups; and (2) students generating questions while reading, and then reflecting through a free writing activity. Participants were 59 Vietnamese undergraduate students enrolled in an English as a foreign language course. A pre-test post-test control group design with switching replications was used, with a control condition in which the teacher (instead of the students) posed the questions. Students’ reading engagement was measured by a written response to a short story and a questionnaire. Results showed that both self-questioning interventions positively influenced students’ reading engagement compared to the control condition. A maintenance of effects was also observed. We conclude that self-questioning combined with group discussions or free writing promotes students’ reading engagement.     

Researcher intersubjectivity: a methodology for jointly building an interactive electronic early childhood quality involvement/rating scale

Researching quality in early childhood settings has been operationalized in many ways, within and across countries. Nevertheless, despite some consensus on what might constitute a universally recognized view of what is considered essential for young children’s development, there are strong indicators that locally developed assessment tools are likely to give more contextually relevant results. Yet, little appears to be known about how to develop localized tools for assessing quality, especially in culturally diverse research contexts. Further, it would seem that not much is understood about the ways researchers and research participants have worked together to achieve reciprocal outcomes. In drawing upon cultural-historical theory, this paper goes beyond the traditional binary of an emic–etic perspective and instead describes a dialectical model for creating conditions for generating research intersubjectivity. An example of how researchers and participants worked together to develop an interactive e-quality rating scale in Vietnam is presented with the research exchange methods of Dialogue through the technology, Capturing moments of localized quality, Community walk, and Research selfies. These methods together acted to underpin the methodology that foregrounds what we have termed research intersubjectivity.     

Ubuntu in adult vocational education: Theoretical discussion and implications for teaching international students

International Review of Education - Evidence now calls into question the efficacy and appropriateness of pedagogical practices that force international students to adapt to Eurocentric expectations...     

Adolescent Perception of Potential High-Performing Classmates: A Cross-National Exploration

This study explores how secondary school students perceive high-performing potential classmates. A total of 1,794 seventh- and 10th-grade students from five countries completed a questionnaire measuring their expectations of hypothetical male and female high-performing classmates in three categories: intellectual ability, positive social qualities, and popularity. Across the five countries represented in this study, analyses of variance indicated that students did not report negative attitudes toward the three potential characteristics of a hypothetical gifted peer. Vietnamese students in particular reported more positive observations about the hypothetical classmate than their Australian, Peruvian, South Korean, and Spanish counterparts. Differing cross-national attitudes toward high-performing peers and the implications therein are discussed.     

Technology supported early literacy learning in a multilingual community preschool

There is conflicting research on the value of using digital technology with young children. This study investigated how an app, used in conjunction with dual language picture books, can support the social, emotional, and literacy learning of bi/multilingual children. Twenty-one children used the app Talking Stickers at home and school for four weeks. The classroom was observed and the educators and parents were interviewed and surveyed. The findings indicated that children had enhanced opportunities to practice social, cognitive, and multi-lingual literacy skills, and bonds between home and school were strengthened. The research has implications for classroom practice and home-school programmes.