Coventry University: E-Journals
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Visuality in Academic Writing: Reading Textual Difference in the Work of Multilingual Student Writers
Get PDFWith the growth of the teaching of English globally and increasing numbers of students in English language medium universities, students in academic English classrooms can be expected to be literate in two or more languages. Multilingual writers in the university engage in high stakes academic writing even as they navigate differences among languages and academic writing systems. While research and pedagogies addressing the question of difference in the writing of multilingual students in English have focused primarily on verbal features, writing has come to be conceptualized in terms of multimodality. Writing is also a visual mode, and multilingual writers draw on their knowledge of different conventions and writing systems as they compose. To reflect on the visuality of writing, this article considers examples of textual difference in the English writing of multilingual university students in Lebanon. Multilingual approaches to teaching writing are developing quickly, but instruction in visual aspects of writing is still predominantly prescriptive. Instructors of academic writing have a responsibility to contextualize visual dimensions of academic writing, especially for multilingual writers. Qualitative studies will help understand the perceptions and experiences of multilingual academic writers as they negotiate all of the modes of writing, including the visual
Writing, Calculating and Peer Feedback in a Mathematically-oriented Course for Process Engineers: Raising Motivation and Initiating Processes of Thinking and Learning
Get PDFWriting assignments can be seen as an important component of learning processes. Especially in the fields of engineering and sciences, writing assignments have the potential to consolidate subject-specific skills and to enhance motivation for solving technical problems. This paper introduces readers to a revised course structure that aims to strengthen motivation and mathematical understanding through written peer feedback based on mathematical exercises with written elements. The assignment was developed for the course Computational Fluid Dynamics in Process Engineering, a mathematically-oriented course for Master students of theoretical mechanical engineering and process engineering. Since the learning content was perceived as complex, students seemed to lack motivation in preparing for the course with the provided exercises. This paper suggests – based on the collected data, consisting of answers to mathematical problems, feedback texts, evaluation results, teachers’ observation, and examination results – that the introduced assignment enhances students’ understanding and has a positive impact on students’ motivation to solve the mathematical exercises
Structuration évoquée et pratiquée dans les comptes rendus de lecture. Les usages de la linéarité en perspectives contrastives
Get PDFArticle abstract in English The article discusses the manifestations of linear logic in text structuring for academic book reviews, a genre in which structuring is both the subject of comment and a writing practice. By studying these two facets, the analysis contrasts two cultural contexts (Estonian and French) in two disciplines (history and language sciences) and observes their evolution on the time scale of the last ten years. The study considers whether the book review follows or rebuilds the structure of the commented book, figures out the maximum number of units mentioned, and analyses the vocabulary and comments which show discursive practices. Regarding the Estonian corpora, the structure of the commented book is often followed in the text reviewing the book whereas in French corpora a more synthesized presentation of books is common. Finally, the article analyses the most salient examples that use linear description in order to criticize and in order not to criticize.Le résumé en Français L’article discute les manifestations de la logique linéaire dans l’activité de la structuration de texte et du propos dans le genre du compte rendu de lecture académique, un genre où la structuration fait l’objet de commentaires et se pratique également dans l’exercice même de la rédaction. En exploitant ces deux facettes, l’analyse met en contraste deux contextes culturels – estonien et français – dans deux disciplines (histoire et sciences du langage) dans la perspective de ces dernières dix années. Par des indices comme le nombre maximal des chapitres énumérés, leur suivi ou leur restructuration dans le texte, le lexique ou les commentaires explicitant des pratiques discursives, le sondage montre un suivi plus marqué de la structure de l’ouvrage-objet dans les sous-corpus estoniens alors qu’une présentation plus synthétisée caractérise les corpus français. L’analyse de quelques exemples saillants discute d’une part l’usage de la linéarité pour critiquer et d’autre part pour ne pas critiquer
Physiotherapists Construction of their Role in Patient Education
Get PDFObjective. The purpose of this study was to understand how physiotherapists articulate their role in patient education with a view to generating new perspectives, and informing debate and curriculum development.Methods. Physiotherapists (16) associated with one higher education institution (HEI) participated in the study and represented a spectrum of educational experience from novice to expert. A qualitative, interpretive study was based on semi-structured interviews which were analysed using a thematic approach to the total data set followed by deeper analysis of key themes drawing on the principles of interpretative repertoire.Results. Four themes were identified: identification with the patient educator role; preparation for the patient educator role; constructs of teaching and learning; therapeutic relationship. Patient education was constructed as an integral and extensive component of practice. Constructs of teaching and learning included transmission and empowerment. Conflicting repertoires of collaboration and compliance were identified in the therapeutic relationship theme.Conclusion. The need for physiotherapists (and other healthcare professionals) to be alert to discourses present within their own narrative and that of others was highlighted. It was also seen to be important to be aware of a tension between transmission-based constructs of patient education, a repertoire of compliance and the goal of patient-centred care. Further research could be carried out to determine the relationship between individuals’ discursive construction of teaching and learning and the methods they adopt when educating patients
Practice-based Learning, but Not as We Know It: Lessons from Improvising Advanced Practice Roles
Get PDFPractice-based learning is well established in the education of practitioners in health and social care. However, a singular description of practice-based learning is elusive, not least owing to global neo-liberal trends in the reform or modernisation of publicly funded services that challenge received approaches in diverse ways. This paper outlines some of these trends with reference to an example of a major workforce development intervention to modernise the healthcare workforce in northwest England, developing assistant and advanced practitioner roles through a work-based programme. In particular, it draws upon research that suggests that 'not knowing' calls forth improvisatory practices from practitioners and educators that offer promising possibilities for practice-based learning that is responsive to the challenges posed by forces of change and uncertaint
Knowing about and Performing Professionalism: Developing Professionalism in Interprofessional Healthcare Education
Get PDFProfessionalism, and the ways in which it can be developed and maintained, has a high profile in today's health and social care climate. It is becoming increasingly important that higher education institutions develop ways of making teaching about the concept explicit; yet, teaching professionalism can be challenging for a number of reasons. Constructs of professionalism frequently represent character traits and attitudes rather than behaviours, which by definition makes them difficult to teach and potentially problematic to learn. Students of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences (RSC) within the University of East Anglia (UEA) have been using a Professionalism Charter since 2011. The purpose of the charter is to define the construct of professionalism for RSC students, to provide a tangible framework around which professionalism can be structured, to enable students to map changes in their professional attitudes, behaviours, knowledge and skills and to highlight areas for development. Evaluation of the charter has demonstrated that it is helpful in providing a reference point for best practice. Refinements are necessary, but the indications are that it has the potential to facilitate students' understanding of (knowing about) professionalism and provides them with opportunities to actively engage (perform) in practice
Role-emerging Placements: a Useful Model for Occupational Therapy Practice Education? A Review of the Literature
Get PDFChanges in health and social care present exciting opportunities for occupational therapists in the United Kingdom to expand their practice into innovative settings. To prepare graduates for these opportunities, placement experiences must reflect current trends in practice. Role-emerging placements are increasingly being used within occupational therapy to help students develop the skills, knowledge and attributes needed to become the therapists of tomorrow. This paper provides an overview of the literature on the use of role-emerging placements within the profession by considering the current context of placements, the rationale for the development of role-emerging placements and their potential strengths and limitations. The paper aims to increase awareness in the UK of role-emerging placements and their potential value within health and social care education
The ‘Gift Exchange’: a metaphor for understanding the relationship between educator commitment and student effort on placement
Get PDF‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye’Antoine de Saint Exupery (1900–1944)
It is a truism that a sound working relationship between student and practice educator is a major contributory factor to positive placement experiences for health and social care students. However, there is limited research that goes any further in explaining how this relationship is established and might work. This paper utilizes the metaphor of the ‘gift’ to emphasize the importance of generosity and reciprocity within the student/practice educator relationship. Qualitative research findings, generated from interviews with practice educators, reveal that whilst the educator gives the student the benefit of their expertise and provides access to opportunities to learn from practice, the student is expected to return this ‘investment’ by demonstrating that they too are putting in effort, for instance, by showing keenness to learn, and developing subject knowledge and skills. Although educators demonstrate a sense of obligation or duty to support students in their endeavours this commitment is not necessarily unconditional; reciprocal student effort is an important motivator for some practice educators for whom a demonstrable response to their input confirms their own sense of identity as educators and clinicians
Metaphors of Work-based Vocational Education for Residential Care
Get PDFWithin an ethnographic study of effects of organisational cultures on work-based learning, two students’ practice portfolios and interviews were analysed applying Bourdieu’s theoretical tools. Analysis pointed to two types of habitus, one being characterised by the student’s propensity to immerse herself in the “lifespace” of her local community and to cultivate a sense of belonging and trust, and the other by a disposition on the other student’s part to establish “boundaries” in her interaction with colleagues and to attain a “balcony view” of the turbulent events in the wider organisation. Metaphors used by the students in their writing indicated transformation of students’ habitus on their trajectories through the organisational fields