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Vocabulary in English for Specific Purposes and trades education in Mechanical Engineering: Insights from classroom talk and textbooks in Vietnam
No full textThis thesis investigates vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering (ME) in trades and ESP lessons in three colleges in Vietnam. In this context, students take an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course with language teachers to develop English language skills and participate in theory and practice ME classes in Vietnamese. The overall aim of the study is to investigate the nature of vocabulary in written and spoken input through two studies. The focus of Study 1 was ESP lessons. I gathered ESP textbooks from three colleges in Vietnam (Leo, Libra and Taurus) and analysed their lexical features using Nation’s (2017) British National Corpus and Corpus of Contemporary American English (BNC/COCA) 25,000 word lists and the Fabrication Word List (FWL) (Coxhead et al., 2019). I also observed 247 minutes of the lessons of one ESP teacher in Leo College and identified vocabulary-related episodes (VREs) (Basturkmen & Shackleford, 2015). VREs are situations in class when teachers and students discuss vocabulary, question vocabulary use, or correct lexical errors. I then interviewed the ESP teachers from the three colleges to understand their rationales behind the development of learning materials and the use of vocabulary in class.Study 2 shifted the focus to spoken language in trades classes in Leo College. I observed 668 minutes of trades lessons with six teachers and had follow-up interviews with them and eight students in their classes to examine VREs and the use of vocabulary in this context.Five key findings emerged from this research. First, classroom talk in Vietnamese in the trades lessons was challenging due to a large amount of technical vocabulary and meanings of the technical lexis. Several lexical items had specific meanings to the trades and the students had not encountered them before (e.g., bàn ren - die drill). Some words had technical meanings which were different from general Vietnamese (e.g., dao - cutter, the same word as knife in everyday language). These challenges are similar to findings in Coxhead et al. (2020a). Second, VREs were common in ESP and trades lessons, but the interaction level between teachers and students varied. The students initiated no VREs in their trades lessons, whereas they were more active in vocabulary discussions in the ESP lessons. Third, the VREs in the ESP lessons mostly targeted technical vocabulary and general lexis, while those in the trades classes only focused on technical terms. Fourth, the technical vocabulary in English in the ESP lessons showed little overlap with Vietnamese equivalents in the trades lessons, meaning students encountered different technical vocabulary in these courses. Finally, the ESP textbooks were lexically demanding for students in trades education with high vocabulary loads and a large number of technical words in the FWL (Coxhead et al., 2019), which suggests that this word list might be useful for the learners.The thesis has several pedagogical implications. Suggestions include (1) encouraging collaboration between ESP and trades teachers on materials and content in Mechanical Engineering in preparation for the ESP course, (2) the addition of writing and speaking activities in ESP and trades classes to increase students’ vocabulary learning opportunities through language production, and (3) the simplification and clarification of lexis in ESP textbooks to aid students’ text understanding and acquisition of technical vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering.</p
Culturally Grounded Perceptions of Rural Landscapes: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of ZhuZhen Town and the Wairarapa Region
No full textThe processes of globalisation and rapid urbanisation have resulted in substantial alterations to rural landscapes across the globe, influencing both their tangible characteristics and how they are perceived. This study represents a pragmatic, case-study analysis on how socio-ethnic backgrounds influence the feelings and outlooks for rural landscapes by comparing the rural area of ZhuZhen Town (China) and Wairarapa (New Zealand). The comparison of two culturally different districts creates a special framework for exploring the complex ties of cultural heritage, development, and image perception for rural landscapes.This study is designed to use the mixed-methods methodology. Whilst quantitative surveys were carried outside the ZhuZhen Town (N=142) and Wairarapa (N=82), qualitative interviews were carried within ZhuZhen Town (N=20) and Wairarapa (N=15). Data was analysed through grounded theory. The comprehensive Mixed Approach method enabled getting a detailed understanding on the different cultural groups’ perceptions and values towards their rural habitat.The most important findings show that although both regions have the same values in beauty of nature, heritage, and sustainable development, there are still significant differences in perception of the landscape. As China’s development pace has accelerated, respondents of ZhuZhen Town have shown more concerns with economic potential and connected infrastructure, indicating China’s different development path. Respondents of Wairarapa have put more emphasis on environmental protection and first-hand experiences with nature, indicating New Zealand’s strong spirit and practices of environmental conservation. The research indicated that gender, occupation, and ethnicity have an explicit impact on landscape preferences in both countries. These findings emphasize the necessity of all-inclusive landscape planning.This research revealed 5 important aspects that influenced area-specific rural landscape perception patterns which were based on the difference in cultural and development environment between ZhuZhen Town and the Wairarapa. It covered aspect of sustainable development, culture, community and cultural diversity, tourism, human-nature relationship. These were shown as a multifactorial complexity of landscape perception.The research provided a significant contribution to the field, as it demonstrated a cross-cultural comparative framework of rural landscape perception. It also offered insights into the impact of socio-evaluations of rural landscape perception, as well as socio-ethnic differences in preferences and perceptions of tourism development in rural landscapes. The findings are significant for culturally appropriate landscape management plans, inclusive landscape planning, and sustainable tourism development in rural areas.The socio-ethnic background showed a significant impact on the perceptions of the rural landscape of ZhuZhen Town and the Wairarapa. It can be observed that cultural values, economic priorities, and their individual experiences played a significant role in the perceptions and evaluations of the rural landscape of the individuals. The tourism developed landscape in perceptions, specifically of ZhuZhen Town. However, the Wairarapa paid more attention to conserving in the natural environment and enhancing community identity. These results demonstrated how deeply cultural context, economic development, and individual perspectives are interwoven, affecting how landscapes are perceived. The study showed the need for culturally sensitive and locality-specific approaches to managing and developing rural landscapes. Through the recognition and integration of these differing perspectives, policymakers and planners to develop more effective strategies to sustainably manage and develop rural landscapes that will not only match expectations of local communities, but also of those visiting the area.</p
Science Fiction as Jurisprudence: Jurisprudential Thought-Experiment Readings of AI and Legal Paradigms
No full textThis thesis investigates how selected Science Fiction (SF) narratives, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a central role, serve as sites for exploring and critiquing Western legal paradigms as they encounter emergent AI technologies. Through the Jurisprudential Thought-Experiment (JTE) reading, an original analytical framework developed in this research, SF is positioned not merely as a reflection of societal anxieties but as a counterfactual jurisprudential laboratory, where legal paradigms are critically examined through a stress-test exercise. The thesis distinguishes between the Macro-Legal Paradigm of Juridical Humanism, which constitutes a comprehensive legal-philosophical framework placing human beings at the centre of legal systems, and micro-legal paradigms, which address specific constructs such as personhood, intellectual property, legal reasoning, and the secularity of legal systems. Through a JTE reading, the thesis evaluates how SF narratives engage with these paradigms, determining whether AI-driven legal challenges lead to a paradigm stretch, wherein legal frameworks adapt while retaining their foundational commitments, or a paradigm shift, wherein core jurisprudential assumptions become untenable, requiring a parallel paradigm to claim the dominant position.The selected narratives include The Life Cycle of Software Objects, The Great Silence, and The Evolution of Science by American-Chinese author Ted Chiang; La Vía del Futuro by Bolivian writer Edmundo Paz Soldán; Homine Ex Machina by Spanish author Carlos Sisi; The Night Sessions by Scottish science fiction writer Ken MacLeod; and Plague Birds by American author Jason Sanford. These texts explore the limits of Western legal paradigms when confronted with fictional legal novums, such as AI entities seeking legal recognition, algorithmic creativity challenging copyright law, and AI-driven legal reasoning questioning the interpretive legitimacy of human legal reasoning. By introducing these legal novums, SF generates a space for legal paradigms to be critiqued, stress-tested, and sometimes reimagined. This thesis integrates two core theoretical frameworks: Jurisprudential Imaginaries, adapted from Sheila Jasanoff’s sociotechnical imaginaries, and the analytical utility of Thomas Kuhn’s paradigms and paradigm shifts. By bridging legal scholarship, Science and Technology Studies (STS) SF studies, and the Law and Literature movement, the thesis argues that SF extends beyond its traditional role as a repository of legal anxieties, functioning instead as a jurisprudentially engaged genre that interrogates the co-production of law and technology.This study ultimately underscores SF’s jurisprudential potential as a tool for fostering critical reflection and dialogue—a jurisprudential laboratory where legal paradigms are stress-tested against counterfactual scenarios. By estranging readers from familiar legal constructs and presenting alternative yet coherent frameworks, the selected SF narratives invite a deeper interrogation of the principles underpinning Western legal traditions. Drawing on Sheila Jasanoff’s theory of co-production, the thesis situates SF also as a dynamic space of co-production where legal and technological imaginaries intersect. This interplay between estrangement and critique highlights SF’s unique capacity to illuminate legal paradigms' limitations, adaptability, and ethical dimensions, enriching contemporary discussions on AI and law.</p
Tukua Te Ringa Aroha Reclaiming evaluation for all of us
No full textEvaluation research can make a vital contribution to positive transformation for Disability Communities’. All those involved have a stake in how data and evidence is generated and utilised to inform decisions about what, if any, investment, development or adaption is required to enhance programmes, policies and systems. However, when those who are most impacted are not included in decision-making—in the context of this thesis, Disabled Peoples’ and Whānau in Aotearoa—it is less likely that decisions and actions reflect the maxim ‘nothing about us, without us’.This thesis grappled with the realities of power within research and evaluation paradigms. The pervasive nature of colonialism, ableism and other marginalising beliefs and practices were named and challenged to create the space in which to weave a generative evaluation research paradigm. By seeking to be in relationship, versus in opposition, I explored the potential of an alliance within Indigenous, Kaupapa Māori and Disability research and evaluation paradigms, and present Ranga Haumi. As an evaluation research paradigm, Ranga Haumi, makes explicit the interconnections and intersectionality as oppressed Peoples’, and our ability to amplify and eloquently express ways of knowing, being and doing that embrace transformation through emancipation. Ranga Haumi provided the foundation to investigate the key question: How might an evaluation ecosystem be developed with Disability Communities’ to contribute to their self-determination across Disability ecosystems?Through the processes of wānanga and Āta, which demonstrate and enable kōtahitanga, we - Disabled Peoples’, Whānau and allies of Disability Communities’ and evaluation communities of practice - created space to Wayfind. Taking single moments to connect or many over months, we attuned all our senses to notice, observe and reflect through collaborative discussion and making meaning of the insights shared. What emerged is the importance and worth of evaluation for Disability Communities’ by Disability Communities’, in local through to global contexts. Furthermore, it has become clear that evaluation research can be a voice mechanism and contribute to the self-determination of oppressed peoples’. They have the right to express their experiences, values, beliefs, needs and aspirations to help facilitate systemic shifts from colonisation to emancipation, from marginalisation to transformation. The voices of Disabled Peoples’ and Whānau shared through evaluation can determine what matters and for whom, as well as the extent to which positive outcomes are achieved or not. When these insights are utilised by Disability Communities’, they can influence, advocate and activate transformation. Reflection on the insights revealed that there was strong alignment with evaluation capability building literature and the necessary capabilities required to develop organisational evaluation capacity. The opportunity was then taken to test and affirm through wānanga that these capabilities could also apply to communities, namely Disability Communities’. This thesis brings forward four interconnected evaluation capabilities— demand, supply and structural, which are most commonly focused upon — and explicitly adds the fourth, relational capabilities, for evaluation ecosystems that are Disabled Person- and Whānau-led. Such ecosystems that are interconnected, and community determined and led, would mean they are no longer reliant on others, particularly government agencies, to produce and share evaluative evidence that may or may not reflect the values and realities of Disability Communities’. Disabled Person-and Whānau-led evaluation ecosystems have the potential to enable Disability Leadership to drive evaluation agendas and utilise evaluative evidence in critical decision-making processes at all levels. Fundamentally, this will centralise the leadership and experiences of Disabled Peoples’ and Whānau within the very systems that are to serve Disability Communities’.</p
Biomaterials for low-carbon built environment: fostering the new good
No full textNo description supplie
Modelling GNSS-observed seasonal velocity changes of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, using the Ice-sheet and Sea-level System Model (ISSM)
No full textThe flow speeds of floating ice shelves around the Antarctic Ice Sheet exhibit clear intra-annual variability. However, the drivers of this variability remain poorly understood. Here, we present three new velocity datasets from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations on the Ross Ice Shelf collected between early 2020 and late 2021 and show that they have two distinct peaks observed in austral summer and austral winter. These measurements do not appear to be consistent with the yearly cycle of sea surface height, which has previously been identified as a possible driver. We investigate the potential role of basal melt variability in ice flow speed and use the Ross Ice Shelf as a test bed. First we identify the regions where changes in melt would have the largest influence on ice speed at our GNSS sites using automatic differentiation. We then apply idealized sinusoidal perturbations to modelled basal melt rates at these specific locations to identify what magnitude of variability is needed to match the GNSS-observed changes in ice speed. We show that, while very local perturbations in basal melt can have a significant impact on ice flow speed, the amplitude of the perturbation required to match observations is significantly higher than expected, which may indicate that these perturbations are not realistic. We suggest that a combination of external forcings and internal mechanics may be needed to reproduce the observed intra-annual velocity variation at all the GNSS sites.</p
Medical licensing for international medical graduates in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1849: overview and timeline
No full textAim: This paper aims to contextualise the current state of medical registration for international medical graduates (IMGs) in Aotearoa New Zealand by providing a historical overview of medical licensing policies for IMGs since 1849. method: This paper and accompanying timeline were prepared from a document analysis of 306 historical and current medical licensing policy documents and other grey literature, including parliamentary Acts and Bills, annual reports, workforce surveys and media reports. results: Medical licensing policies originated in the colonial era and have historically privileged doctors from the United Kingdom, Ireland and other Commonwealth countries. The New Zealand Registration Examination pathway for IMGs who did not qualify or work in accepted countries was established in the 1990s, although its origins can be seen in policies from as early as 1905. conclusion: Although medical licensing policies have been adapted over the past 175 years, these changes tend to follow a pattern of oscillation between stringency and leniency, rather than linear progression. As a result, there are striking similarities between con-temporary and colonial medical licensing policies in the way IMGs are categorised and distinguished that could benefit from further clarification and consideration by policymakers
‘SHE HERSELF WAS HER OWN BEST FRIEND’ Reclaiming Mary Taylor: from ‘friend of Charlotte Brontë’ to successful Wellington businesswoman
No full textMary Taylor is best known as ‘friend of Charlotte Brontë’ – the sub-title of the only two books about her. She could and should also be seen as a highly successful Wellington businesswoman of the 1850s. She ran a general store in the town for eight years, was a respected member of the community, had an active social life. She used her experiences here for her non-fiction book, The First Duty of Women, and her feminist novel, Miss Miles. In Miss Miles, teacher Maria Bell, starts her own school. ‘Her hands were full of work, and heart full of thankfulness,’ the narrator says. Maria finally realises that she is making a profit. As a result: ‘A silent change which she never noticed took place in her character and disposition. She got courage and self-confidence and was braced up to the certainty that she herself was her own best friend.’ Taylor had that experience in Wellington after opening the general store with her cousin Ellen Taylor in 1850. Ellen died 20 months later. Taylor bought out her cousin’s legatee, doubled the size of the building, purchased the land under it, employed a shop assistant and a dressmaker, and bought two ‘town acres’. She had owned a rental house nearby before starting the shop. Taylor’s story has been told through a lens of women and writing. She is said to have been ‘lonely’ in Wellington and found New Zealand ‘too barren’. However, these were assessments made by her best friend, Charlotte Brontë. Her own words show that she was ‘happy’ and thought she would see her shop-keeping days as the ‘most agreeable’ of her life. If we swap the lens to one of men and money, we see that wealthy William Couper wanted to marry her and that she was living in his house when she decided to go into business herself. We also see that her younger brother Waring Taylor stole the profits of her business - she was an unsecured creditor for £3000 in his 1884 bankruptcy – so she was much more financially successful than has been believed. That she used her New Zealand experience for First Duty is recognised but scholars have overlooked autobiographical elements in Miss Miles. The novel is said to be about female friendship, yet all five main women characters are landed in negative financial situations by men who mishandle or misappropriate money. Waring and Couper helped inform the characters of fraudster George Turner and suitor Everard Branksome. Giving Maria Bell the feeling of having become ‘her own best friend’ shows how Taylor recognised the way her success in business had given her self-confidence, courage and high self-esteem.</p
Self-Compassion among Indian and Japanese Immigrants in Aotearoa: A Qualitative Exploration
No full textSelf-compassion, derived from Eastern philosophy, has made its way into Western psychology, where it is comprised of self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness (Neff, 2003). Despite its growing prominence in the West, research on self-compassion within collectivist cultures remains limited. Collectivist values, which prioritize group harmony and interdependence, may shape self-compassion in unique ways that differ from Western individualistic contexts. This study explored how Indian and Japanese migrants in Aotearoa (New Zealand) understand, perceive and practice self-compassion. Japan's cultural focus on ‘face’ and shame, and India's hierarchical social structures, provided contrasting contexts for exploring self-compassion. Through semi-structured interviews with first-generation Indian and Japanese immigrants, this research addressed three key research questions: (1) How is self-compassion conceptualised, valued, and practised in these two different cultures? (2) What specific cultural values shape these understandings and practices? and (3) How do the factors of the Self Compassion Scale (SCS) align with, diverge from or manifest differently in the participants’ narratives? Data was analysed using a Reflexive Thematic Analysis to address research questions (1) and (2) and a content summary was utilised to address research question (3). The thematic analysis identified five main themes: four main themes: The Intersection between ‘Self’ and Culture, Alternative Forms of Self-Regulation, Perceived Precursors to Self-Compassion, and Self-Compassion in Practice. The content summary presented the participants’ perspectives on each of the three factors of self-compassion. These analyses illustrated the interaction between one’s cultural background, specifically grounded in interdependence, and their ability to practice self-compassion. My findings underscored the complexities of applying self-compassion across cultures, demonstrating that its practice and meaning are deeply shaped by cultural values and lived experiences, which must be considered in both research and application.</p
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