Trainer talk:structures of interaction in teacher training classrooms

The subject of this research is interaction and language use in an institutional context, the teacher training classroom. Trainer talk is an interactional accomplishment and the research question is: what structures of talk-in-interaction characterise trainer talk in this institutional setting? While there has been research into other kinds of classroom and into other kinds of institutional talk, this study is the first on trainer discourse. The study takes a Conversation Analysis approach to studying institutional interaction and aims to identify the main structures of sequential organization that characterize teacher trainer talk as well as the tasks and identities that are accomplished in it. The research identifies three main interactional contexts in which trainer talk is done: expository, exploratory and experiential. It describes the main characteristics of each and how they relate to each other. Expository sequences are the predominant interactional contexts for trainer talk. But the research findings show that these contexts are flexible and open to the embedding of the other two contexts. All three contexts contribute to the main institutional goal of teaching teachers how to teach. Trainer identity is related to the different sequential contexts. Three main forms of identity in interaction are evidenced in the interactional contexts: the trainer as trainer, the trainer as teacher and the trainer as colleague. Each of them play an important role in teacher trainer pedagogy. The main features of trainer talk as a form of institutional talk are characterised by the following interactional properties: 1. Professional discourse is both the vehicle and object of instruction - the articulation of reflection on experience. 2. There is a reflexive relationship between pedagogy and interaction. 3. The professional discourse that is produced by trainees is not evaluated by trainers but, rather, reformulated to give it relevant precision in terms of accuracy and appropriacy.

Intergroup relations in action: questions asked about lesbian, gay and bisexual issues in diversity training

This paper focuses on the questions which heterosexual trainees ask about lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) experience within diversity training about LGB issues. Drawing on a data corpus of 162 questions asked by trainees in 13 tape-recorded training sessions, questions were coded into six categories: (1) general understanding questions; (2) questions about the trainer's life, experience and practices; (3) professional practice questions; (4) questions about lesbian and gay related legislation, policies and procedures; (5) questions about specific people and projects and (6) questions about the meanings, derivations and correct use of terms and symbols. Real questions are compared with the decontexualized questions (and answers to them) that are provided in training manuals and it is demonstrated that these questions differ markedly from how questions actually get asked and how they actually get answered. Recommendations are provided for improving training and the argument made for turning towards analyses of the real world in action, especially when considering intergroup relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Martin Forstner and Hannelore Lee-Jahnke: CIUTI-Forum Paris 2005: Regards sur les aspects culturels de la communication

Book review: CIUTI-Forum Paris 2005: Regards sur les aspects culturels de la communication. Martin Forstner and Hannelore Lee-Jahnke (eds). Bern: Peter Lang, 2006. xii + 307 pp. ISBN 978-3-03910-834-4.

Causes of tension in post-observation feedback in pre-service teacher training: an alternative view

A central component in pre-service teacher training is teaching practice and feedback. In some cases, feedback results in disquiet and tension (Brandt, 2008). Many researchers attribute this tension to the incompatibility of the assessment and development roles that the trainer must perform. The research reported on here, however, suggests that tension may also be rooted in a difference in expectation amongst trainers and trainees about the purpose and performance of feedback. This can result in trainees not playing by the rules of the game (Roberts & Sarangi, 2001) either because they do not understand them or because they wish to challenge them.

Legitimate talk in feedback conferences

Feedback on performance is a feature of professional training. Much feedback is delivered in post-observation conferences where a ‘trainer’ will discuss the ‘trainee's’ performance with him/her. What transpires in these conferences, however, is ‘hidden from view’ (Heritage and Sefi 1992: 362) and the norms of interaction are largely unexamined in the literature. Even less is known about feedback conducted in groups, yet many teachers training to teach English experience feedback in this way. This article provides a discourse analysis of four extracts from group feedback conferences on a pre-service programme for teachers of English language. Drawing on the concept of ‘legitimate talk’, the analysis shows how topics and speaking rights are established and negotiated and how participants orientate to and contest both the forms of knowledge that emerge and the speaking rights. While the study was not initially designed to support trainers in their professional development, the argument is made that data from linguistic ethnographic studies can be used by research participants and others for these purposes, thus enhancing the relationship between the researcher and the researched.

Negotiating face in feedback conferences:a linguistic ethnographic analysis

This article examines the negotiation of face in post observation feedback conferences on an initial teacher training programme. The conferences were held in groups with one trainer and up to four trainees and followed a set of generic norms. These norms include the right to offer advice and to criticise, speech acts which are often considered to be face threatening in more normal contexts. However, as the data analysis shows, participants also interact in ways that challenge the generic norms, some of which might be considered more conventionally face attacking. The article argues that face should be analysed at the level of interaction (Haugh and Bargiela-Chiappini, 2010) and that situated and contextual detail is relevant to its analysis. It suggests that linguistic ethnography, which 'marries' (Wetherell, 2007) linguistics and ethnography, provides a useful theoretical framework for doing so. To this end the study draws on real-life talk-in-interaction (from transcribed recordings), the participants' perspectives (from focus groups and interviews) and situated detail (from fieldnotes) to produce a contextualised and nuanced analysis. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Pupil resistance to their schooling experience

The thesis explores the nature of pupil resistance; it investigates what constitutes it and how it can be explained. Various ethnic and national group, male and female working-class resistance if analysed in two secondary schools in Birmingham (England) and one school in Sydney (Australia). It focuses on the pupils’ experience of school. ‘Compressed ethnographies’ (Walford and Miller, 1991) were conducted in each school to examine pupil resistance. The research found that structural societal state factors, regional, community and formal, informal and physical characteristics of each school, together with the teachers and pupils characteristics and background all influence resistance. The class, gender, ethnic and national identity of each pupil shapes resistance. In all three schools that were involved with the research, girls were more likely to exhibit overt, collective forms of resistance, whereas lads were more likely to operate alone. Islander pupils in Sydney and African-Caribbean kids in Birmingham were more likely to display engaged forms of resistance. Girls tended to show more engaged forms compared to their male counterparts across all ethnic and national cultures. Resistance is complex and dynamic, the definition alters depending upon context. Dimensions of resistance are developed; including overt, covert; individual, collective; intentional, unintentional; engaged and detached forms. Resistance operates within a structure and agency framework, the pupils can shape their own schooling experience mediated within the structures of their school, community and society. Some pupils manage their resources and the structures better than others; how the pupil manages and operates within the structures influences their resistance response. Resistance is contradictory and can reinforce the status quo. To fully understand resistance, it must be contextualised.

Evaluation of the quality and promotion of open learning materials

In the UK, Open Learning has been used in industrial training for at least the last decade. Trainers and Open Learning practitioners have been concerned about the quality of the products and services being delivered. The argument put forward in this thesis is that there is ambiguity amongst industrialists over the meanings of `Open Learning' and `Quality in Open Learning'. For clarity, a new definition of Open Learning is proposed which challenges the traditional learner-centred approach favoured by educationalists. It introduces the concept that there are benefits afforded to the trainer/employer/teacher as well as to the learner. This enables a focussed view of what quality in Open Learning really means. Having discussed these issues, a new quantitative method of evaluating Open Learning is proposed. This is based upon an assessment of the degree of compliance with which products meet Parts 1 & 2 of the Open Learning Code of Practice. The vehicle for these research studies has been a commercial contract commissioned by the Training Agency for the Engineering Industry Training Board (EITB) to examine the quality of Open Learning products supplied to the engineering industry. A major part of this research has been the application of the evaluation technique to a range of 67 Open Learning products (in eight subject areas). The findings were that good quality products can be found right across the price range - so can average and poor quality ones. The study also shows quite convincingly that there are good quality products to be found at less than 50. Finally the majority (24 out of 34) of the good quality products were text based.

Voltage control on an uninhabited autonomous vehicle electrical distribution system

More-electric vehicle technology is becoming prevalent in a number of transportation systems because of its ability to improve efficiency and reduce costs. This paper examines the specific case of an Uninhabited Autonomous Vehicle (UAV), and the system topology and control elements required to achieve adequate dc distribution voltage bus regulation. Voltage control methods are investigated and a droop control scheme is implemented on the system. Simulation results are also presented.

Doctoral work in translation studies as an interdisciplinary mutual learning process:how a translator, teacher educator and linguistic typologist worked together

The focus of this paper is on the doctoral research training experienced by one of the authors and the ways in which the diverse linguistic and disciplinary perspectives of her two supervisors (co-authors of this paper) mediated the completion of her study. The doctoral candidate is a professional translator/interpreter and translation teacher. The paper describes why and how she identified her research area and then focused on the major research questions in collaboration with her two supervisors, who brought their differing perspectives from the field of linguistics to this translation research, even though they are not translators by profession or disciplinary background and do not speak Korean. In addition, the discussion considers the focus, purpose and theoretical orientation of the research itself (which addressed questions of readability in translated English-Korean texts through detailed analysis of a corpus and implications for professional translator training) as well as the supervisory and conceptual processes and practices involved. The authors contend that doctoral research of this kind can be seen as a mutual learning process and that inter-disciplinary research can make a contribution not only to the development of rigorous research in the field of translation studies but also to the other disciplinary fields involved.

Chain-link based HVDC voltage source converter using current injection

VSC converters are becoming more prevalent for HVDC applications. Two circuits are commercially available at present, a traditional six-switch, PWM inverter, implemented using series connected IGBTs - ABBs HVDC Light®, and the other a modular multi-level converter (MMC) - Siemens HVDC-PLUS. This paper presents an alternative MMC topology, which utilises a novel current injection technique, and exhibits several desirable characteristics.

Single-phase active rectifier selection for fault tolerant machine

A fault tolerant, 5-phase PM generator has been developed for use on the low pressure (LP) shaft of an aircraft gas turbine engine. The machine operates at variable speed and therefore has a variable voltage, variable frequency electrical output (VVVF). The generator is to be used to provide a 350V DC bus for distribution throughout the aircraft, and a study has been carried out that identifies the most suitable AC-DC converter topology for this machine in terms of losses, electrical component ratings, filtering requirements and circuit complexity.

Simulation of power quality issues in more electric aircraft actuator supplies

To examine the detailed operation of the power distribution network in a future more electric aircraft that employs electric actuation systems, a Micro-Cap SPICE simulation is developed for one of the essential buses. Particular attention is paid to model accurately the most important effects that influence system power quality. Representative system and flight data are used to illustrate the operation of the simulation and to assess the power quality conditions within the network as the flight control surfaces are deployed. The results illustrate the importance of correct cable sizing to ensure stable operation of actuators during transient conditions.

Professionalism in higher education:important not only for lawyers

This article considers how, in light of the changing legal profession and higher education, academia could address professionalism training. The authors put forward an argument that, if professionalism is to be understood as a set of skills, values and attitudes required for any lawyer, it is now a good time to consider how these could be taught and assessed in law and non-law degrees. The formation of professional values and attitudes is a long process that continues throughout a person’s life. The earlier students are exposed to professional values, attitudes and skills, the better the quality of service these future lawyers will provide to the public. Taking into account the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) recommendations, the article suggests some practical ways as to how professionalism could be developed in higher education.