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Studying in English: Language Skills Development
No full textThis paper reports on a study carried out at AIS St Helens in Auckland, New Zealand to investigate the strategies set by international students for language skills development (LSD) in order that they can complete their studies in English. The study used a questionnaire to gather quantitative data and also interviews and observation to
add a qualitative dimension. The findings highlight the importance of reading for the development of language skills and question the effectiveness of interactive classroom exercises. Implications of the findings for the teaching/learning situation are discussed
The Case of the Hybrid Umbrella: a Study of Case Studies
No full textCase studies are not always easy to define, and have been variously compared to hybrids (Nunan, 1992) and umbrellas (Adelman, Jenkins and Kemmis, 1976), hence
the title of this paper. A distinguishing feature is that they use individual cases to generalise about the wider population. Case studies may use participant or nonparticipant observation and may be conducted in natural or artificial settings. They are usually longitudinal, often involve qualitative rather than quantitative data and
analysis, and may be structured or unstructured depending on the level of control desired by the researcher. Case studies often derive theory from data rather than the other way around, a process known as “grounded theory”. Other important issues in case study research include relatability and point of view. As with other methods, the process of case study research includes writing a literature review, and, at the end, a report. It is necessary to determine the research questions, the feasibility of the proposed research, the operational definitions, and how the data is going to be collected and analysed. Strengths of the case study approach include its
sense of reality, its open-endedness, its flexibility, and the fact that it can be used to
stimulate action. Weaknesses include the level of subjectivity involved, and the
difficulty with establishing reliability and validity. Overall, case study research tends
to produce high interest results, which no doubt contributes to its popularity
Competition and Efficiency: Overseas Students and Technical Efficiency in Australian and New Zealand Universities
No full textIn this paper the impact of productivity and efficiency of Australian and New Zealand universities of exposure to international markets is examined using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The analysis finds that there is an important link between competition in the market for overseas students that a university in Australia is exposed to and the level of technical efficiency at which they operate. What is true at the university level is also true at
the level of business faculties. In the New Zealand case no definite conclusion on this issue can be made
THE ROLE OF ATTITUDES IN LANGUAGE SHIFT AND LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE IN A NEW IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY
No full textTelugu is the second most spoken language in India, after Hindi and over 80 million have Telugu as their mother tongue. It is considered one of the fifteen most spoken languages in the world. Telugu speakers are recent immigrants community to New Zealand and their current numbers are estimated to be over 10000, with their numbers growing rapidly. The study seeks to investigate language attitudes of mothers and children in the Telugu community and how they relate to loss of language in an English speaking
country. The study reveals that although most of the Telugu people speak their own
community language at home, the children are rapidly loosing their language. The study
points out that if the Telugu community regards the language maintenance as desirable,
then explicit steps need to be taken
Reengineering an Educational Institute: a Case Study in New Zealand
No full textWith the education industry becoming more competitive, tertiary institutes resort to various tools and techniques to improve their performance. This paper examines the use
of business process reengineering (BPR) in a tertiary education institute in New Zealand. The results of this research shed light on the challenges of implementation of BPR in a medium sized educational institute to improve performance and position itself for international competition. The findings of this study have implications for other tertiary education institutes that plan to undertake similar efforts
Adjusting Teaching Style and Practice to Accommodate the Needs of International Students
No full textDifficulties with accommodating the needs of international students are commonly observed and commented on by those who teach such students. Areas requiring
accommodation may be cultural, non-verbal or linguistic and may include learner variables such as strategies, style and motivation. This article will report on research
carried out at AIS St Helen’s aimed at identifying areas of need. In addition, this article will also suggest teaching techniques, which may be helpful for facilitating the
required accommodations in the teaching/learning situation
Developing Offshore Foundation Programmes in China
No full textEven though offshore education involvement is just beginning for New Zealand universities (most offshore programmes commenced in 2000/01) and the number of
students enrolled offshore is not considerable, the author believes that developing offshore foundation programmes provides a good opportunity for universities to export education in the future. This paper identifies the advantages of offshore foundation programmes for New Zealand universities and conducts a survey
amongst potential students in the Chinese city of Shenyang. The results of this survey suggest that there is considerable potential for New Zealand’s universities to
develop offshore foundation programmes in China
Education/learning Resistance in the Foreign – Language Classroom: a Case Study
No full textThis paper explores the phenomenon of education/learning resistance in the foreign-language classroom at one university, particularly in the form of students’ disruptive behaviour. 239 students from three different faculties were surveyed to assess their perception of their own disruptive behaviour and how generalised the phenomenon is in their classrooms with the purpose of determining causes and possible solutions, especially at the pedagogical and curricular levels. To that end a method of assessment based on the theoretical works of Bourdieu (1990) was developed and validated, which can be further used to assess instructional/pedagogy dissonance in cross-cultural and international education settings. The results confirm that resistance is widespread and suggest that: (a) it is required to resocialise students to enable them to cope better with constructivist approaches to learning, on which contemporary ideas and practice on foreign-language teaching/learning are widely based, (b) instructivist approaches to teaching and mass education (e.g., large classes, deficient teacher-student ratios) seem no longer adequate and should be re-evaluated as well as a curriculum that overvalues mandatory attendance rather than learning and academic output, (c) long-term reform efforts should reconsider the university’s role within the education system, and (d) there is a large segment of the student population whose academic achievement is being abducted by their peers’ disruptive behaviour and by teachers’ attempt to counter resistance. That segment should be better taken care of
Fourteen Features of a Language Learner Strategy
No full textThis paper presents a model of “Language Learner Strategies in a Cognitive Framework” (see Figure 1).
Within the model, strategies are not given an all encompassing definition, something which I deem to be virtually impossible both semantically and within our current knowledge of conscious, sub-conscious and neurological mental activity. Instead a series of features of a strategy are proposed. Through the model, every effort will be made to avoid semantic inter-changeability and circularity of argument. Although the features of strategies occupy the largest part of the description of the model, they will be examined in their position in the model’s structure
