Waikato Journal of Education
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Challenges in doctoral socialisation: A researcher’s reflective experience
No full textSocialisation in doctoral education is a multifaceted process through which students acquire the knowledge, skills and values required to perform in a scholarly community. The literature reports numerous experiences of doctoral students, but socialisation and the challenges faced by international students has received limited attention. As an international student, I have used a self-study approach to develop a personal narrative about some of the unexpected intellectual, emotional and cultural challenges I have faced during my doctoral study. I encountered those challenges through extending my social interactions, which is one of the key elements of socialisation. I argue that doctoral students need to take a reflective and proactive stance towards extending their social interactions to manage unexpected challenges and for a smooth transition to become active members in a scholarly community
Striving for social justice: The power that picturebooks have to counter inequitable cultural hegemony
No full textA picturebook reveals the nature of bias
No full textIn order to disrupt hegemonic thinking, the foundation of biases on which this thinking is built must first be confronted. I became increasingly aware of the detrimental impact of implicit bias during a research project I conducted in a children’s literature course with preservice teachers. In this research project, I analysed the responses of the preservice teachers to a cosmopolitan approach to reading children’s literature. A cosmopolitan approach in literacy invites a reflexive consideration of personal perspectives and an opening towards learning from the perspectives of others (Hansen, 2017). In encouraging the ideals of a cosmopolitan approach to literacy, I encountered areas of resistance from the preservice teachers. These instances of resistance were often rooted in implicit bias. During the final stages of completing my research, the picturebook Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña (2021) was released. Milo Imagines the World reveals how deeply held ideologies and biases impact perceptions of reality. An awareness of how biases impact one’s perception of reality is an important factor in developing greater self-awareness and combating hegemonic thinking. In this article, I provide a critical analysis of the various forms of bias encountered during my research along with a reflective exploration of the picturebook Milo Imagines the World. This picturebook and analysis provide a context for better understanding the subtle pervasiveness of biases that often contribute to the maintenance of hegemonic thinking
Picturebooks in New Caledonia: Challenging cultural hegemony for “Une Ecole Calédonienne”
No full textNew Caledonia is a French overseas territory in the South Pacific with a long history of differing attitudes towards independence (Fisher, 2019). The local government aims to challenge French cultural hegemony by building a “New Caledonian School” (Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, 2016). That is, a school in which students are exposed to resources that reflect the realities of the country and allow for marginalised groups to become more visible in the curriculum. It is through this context that this article investigates how children’s literature, in particular picturebooks, began developing in New Caledonia. Children’s literature in New Caledonia is a relatively new phenomenon. Using Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, the paper explains the history of picturebooks in New Caledonia and their role in the curriculum. The official language of New Caledonia is French, but there are also 28 Kanak languages. Surrounded by Anglophone nations, such as Australia and New Zealand, education policies were put in place on this island to introduce English to students from primary school (Bissoonauth-Bedford, 2018). As a result, this article describes and analyses a bilingual picturebook written in French and English by Stephane Moysan (2017), entitled Yana’s Treasure: An Amazing Trip in New Caledonia. In particular, it reviews how this picturebook provides opportunities to bring to consciousness essential elements of Pacific French culture and identity both within and beyond the New Caledonian context
The global pandemic and a shift in research methods: Applying digital-based methods to educational research in applied linguistics
No full textWorld-wide responses to the global pandemic, such as travel restrictions, border closures and lockdowns, have posed new challenges to researchers. For qualitative researchers conducting fieldwork, gathering data in person can be inapplicable (Howlett, 2021). My research investigates English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers’ beliefs and negotiation of meaning in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) within the Thai secondary education context. Because of the pandemic I was unable to travel to Thailand to gather data, so I had to change my data collection methods to video conferencing interviews and classroom video observations. This article discusses this unexpected shift in research methods through my reflections on conducting digital-based research during the Covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on two main aspects: 1) grappling with emotional distress caused by the unprecedented phenomenon, and 2) redesigning research methods for digital fieldwork. Ethical issues regarding digital-based research are also discussed. The implications highlight the importance of resilience, flexibility and proactivity to surmount unexpected situations during a research journey
Contending with the unforeseen “messiness” of the qualitative data analysis process
No full textQualitative data analysis (QDA) is often depicted as a linear process that employs an organised structure to derive themes inductively or deductively. However, I realised the “messiness” of the process during my doctoral studies on primary teachers’ use of digital technologies in ESL classrooms in Maldivian schools. My own experience revealed that QDA is a nonlinear, iterative and recursive process. Adopting a phenomenological research design to capture my nine participants’ “lived” experiences, I gathered data from various sources over eight months. Shared through this paper is a selection of my experiences that exemplify the nonlinearity of QDA, including the emergent need to develop an NVivo-enhanced Spiral-QDA process to accommodate my unforeseen data analysis experience. Therefore, reflections from my doctoral research experiences may be edifying and helpful for postgraduate students and supervisors in their own QDA process
Alofa fai tamāmanu, giving yourself wholeheartedly: Education that matters to Tokelau people in Aotearoa NZ
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Gallery Walk technique in enhancing reading comprehension and oral English language proficiency of junior high school students
No full textThe study used quasi-experimental research with pre-test and post-test design approach to analyse the effectiveness of using the Gallery Walk technique in enhancing reading comprehension and oral English language proficiency among junior high school students. Cluster sampling technique was used in determining the respondents who experienced the Gallery Walk teaching technique and those who experienced the conventional teaching technique. Pre-test result showed no differences in the level of reading comprehension and oral English language proficiency prior to the experiment. After the implementation of the study, post-test was given, and results revealed differences in the students’ performance. Findings revealed that the students who were taught using the Gallery Walk technique showed improvement in reading comprehension and oral English language proficiency as compared to those who underwent the conventional teaching technique. In addition, students had positive feedback about the implementation of Gallery Walk. Finally, the study recommended the use of the Gallery Walk technique in teaching English 8 for enhancing reading comprehension and oral English language proficiency
Negotiating Identities through Canadian Multicultural and Indigenous Picturebooks: A Collective Autobiographical Narrative Inquiry
No full textCanadian multicultural and Indigenous picturebooks greatly influence both children’s and educators’ being and becoming. Identity is closely related to our engagement with literacy practices, including book reading. In this paper, two researchers who immigrated from Mainland China engage in autobiographical narrative inquiry, a methodology that asks the researchers to self-face, and to “world”-travel to our earlier landscapes, times, places, experiences, and relationships. In personal, educational, and academic settings, we tell and retell our storied experiences of critically reading four multicultural and Indigenous Canadian picturebooks, to fight the hegemony of the Canadian dominant culture. Our article sheds light on the importance of negotiating one’s identity in multicultural and Indigenous picturebooks, as little work presents minority educators’ and adult newcomers’ voices of reading diverse Canadian picturebooks. By making visible our critical reading experiences, this inquiry opens space to maximize the outcomes of utilizing children’s literature in teaching and learning
Addressing the hegemony of English through picture books in Gamilaraay
No full textThe reawakening of the Indigenous Gamilaraay language in northern inland New South Wales, Australia involves righting two centuries of prohibition and mistreatment after invasion by English-speaking settlers. Gamilaraay is no longer used as an everyday language in the community, although it has strong emblematic value for the Gamilaraay community. The hegemonic power of English means that it is seen as “normal”, while Gamilaraay use is often confined to ceremonial uses. A burgeoning awareness of the importance of Gamilaraay and other Indigenous languages of New South Wales has been reflected in recent legislative changes, which have in turn resulted in funding support for language materials. This article describes a community development approach in writing bilingual picturebooks in Gamilaraay and English as we progress towards our ultimate aim of normalising the use of Gamilaraay once more