Vlogging campus community stories

Student voice is a powerful signifier for sharing the institutional habitus of a campus. With our new Caboolture Campus Community Stories initiative, we place students in the role of vloggers (video bloggers) to capture and distribute the stories, activities and events of the QUT environment. These stories present visual narratives through the eyes of students about university experience, academic practice and the transition from High School to first year, all intending to promote a sense of community and belonging, normalize academic practices and build an inclusive institutional habitus. These stories are placed on community websites and digital signage around campus as resources for first year students and prospective students.

The pedagogical, linguistic and content features of popular English language learning websites in China : a framework for analysis and design

As increasing numbers of Chinese language learners choose to learn English online (CNNIC, 2012), there is a need to investigate popular websites and their language learning designs. This paper reports on the first stage of a study that analysed the pedagogical, linguistic and content features of 25 Chinese English Language Learning (ELL) websites ranked according to their value and importance to users. The website ranking was undertaken using a system known as PageRank. The aim of the study was to identify the features characterising popular sites as opposed to those of less popular sites for the purpose of producing a framework for ELL website design in the Chinese context. The study found that a pedagogical focus with developmental instructional materials accommodating diverse proficiency levels was a major contributor to website popularity. Chinese language use for translations and teaching directives and intermediate level English for learning materials were also significant features. Content topics included Anglophone/Western and non-Anglophone/Eastern contexts. Overall, popular websites were distinguished by their mediation of access to and scaffolded support for ELL.

Interpretations of formative assessment in the teaching of English at two Chinese universities : a sociocultural perspective

Formative assessment is increasingly being implemented through policy initiatives in Chinese educational contexts. As an approach to assessment, formative assessment derives many of its key principles from Western contexts, notably through the work of scholars in the UK, the USA and Australia. The question for this paper is the ways that formative assessment has been interpreted in the teaching of College English in Chinese Higher Education. The paper reports on a research study that utilised a sociocultural perspective on learning and assessment to analyse how two Chinese universities – an urban-based Key University and a regional-based Non-Key University – interpreted and enacted a China Ministry of Education policy on formative assessment in College English teaching. Of particular interest for the research were the ways in which the sociocultural conditions of the Chinese context mediated understanding of Western principles and led to their adaptation. The findings from the two universities identified some consistency in localised interpretations of formative assessment which included emphases on process and student participation. The differences related to the specific sociocultural conditions contextualising each university including geographical location, socioeconomic status, and teacher and student roles, expectations and beliefs about English. The findings illustrate the sociocultural tensions in interpreting, adapting and enacting formative assessment in Chinese College English classes and the consequent challenges to and questions about retaining the spirit of formative assessment as it was originally conceptualised.

Jabberwocky : the complexities of mathematical English

Mathematical English is a unique language based on ordinary English, with the addition of highly stylised formal symbol systems. Some words have a redefined status. Mathematical English has its own lexicon, syntax, semantics and literature. It is more difficult to understand than ordinary English. Ability in basic interpersonal communication does not necessarily result in proficiency in the use of mathematical English. The complex nature of mathematical English may impact upon the ability of students to succeed in mathematical and numeracy assessment. This article presents a review of the literature about the complexities of mathematical English. It includes examples of more than fifty language features that have been shown to add to the challenge of interpreting mathematical texts. Awareness of the complexities of mathematical English is an essential skill needed by mathematics teachers when teaching and when designing assessment tasks.

Connecting Indigenous stories with geology : inquiry-based learning in a middle years classroom

One way to integrate indigenous perspectives in junior science is through links between indigenous stories of the local area and science concepts. Using local indigenous stories about landforms, a teacher of year 8 students designed a unit on geology that catered for the diverse student population in his class. This paper reports on the inquiry-based approach structured around the requirements of the Australian Curriculum highlighting the learning and engagement of students during the unit.

Metacognitive strategy instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening skill

Listening skill is allocated inadequate consideration in English language instruction and learning in Iran. At the school level, listening skill is not taught but reading and writing skills are taught traditionally. At the college level, reading skill is emphasised. For students seeking IELTS certification, institutes teach listening skill within the framework of a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. Nonetheless, despite the official syllabus, many teachers tend to test rather than teach listening skill. Currently, listening skill in the curriculum is embedded in an oral comprehension teaching approach through multiple choice written responses in the institutes. Therefore, the process of explicitly teaching listening is overlooked with a strong emphasis on the post hoc assessment of the products of listening. This study used a mixed methods approach to investigate the relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction and listening performance, metacognitive awareness and use of metacognitive strategies in listening. Three research questions were addressed in this study: - Is there a relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction (planning, monitoring and evaluation) and Iranian High Intermediate students¡¦ listening? „ - Is there a relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction and Iranian High Intermediate students¡¦ metacognitive awareness of listening? - Does metacognitive strategy instruction help Iranian High Intermediate students¡¦ use of metacognitive strategies during listening? A single group (N = 30) of High Intermediate level tertiary students in Iran were guided through a metacognitive strategy instruction over one semester (10 weeks). The first research question was measured through IELTS listening tests, which tracked any change of students’ listening performance. The second research question was analysed through results of a Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) to survey students’ awareness of metacognitive strategies in listening. Finally, the third research question was analysed through interviews, which explored students’ use of metacognitive strategies in listening. Results indicate that High Intermediate students developed listening performance, but there were no significant changes in metacognitive awareness in listening. Students reported in the interviews that they used multiple strategies (cognitive and metacognitive) to approach listening. Implications for English teaching in Iran and other contexts are discussed.

Australian literature : culture, identity and English teaching

The development of the Australian Curriculum has reignited a debate about the role of Australian literature in the contexts of curricula and classrooms. A review of the mechanisms for promoting Australian literature including literary prizes, databases, surveys and texts included for study in senior English classrooms in New South Wales and Victoria provides a background for considering the purpose of Australian texts and the role of literature teachers in shaping students’ engagement with literature.

Accountability beyond the headlines : why not-for-profit organisations need to communicate their own expenditure stories

This paper analyses the expenditure patterns of 97 Australian international aid and development organisations, and examines the extent to which they disclose information about their expenditure in order to discharge their accountability. Not-for-profit (NFP) expenditure attracts media attention, with perceptions of excessive costs potentially damaging stakeholder trust in NFP organisations. This makes it important for organisations to be proactive in communicating their expenditure stories to stakeholders, rather than being judged on their performance by standardised expenditure metrics. By highlighting what it costs to ensure longer-term operational capability, NFP organisations will contribute to the discharge of their financial accountability and play a part in educating all stakeholders about the dangers of relying on a single metric.

Responding to national curriculum goals for English language learners : enhancing reading strategies in high school content areas

The official need for content teachers to teach the language features of their fields has never been greater in Australia than now. In 2012, the recently formed national curriculum board announced that all teachers are responsible for the English language development of students whose first language or dialect is not Standard Australian English (SAE). This formal endorsement is an important juncture regarding the way expertise might be developed, perceived and exchanged between content and language teachers through collaboration, in order for the goals of English language learners in content areas to be realised. To that end, we conducted an action research project to explore and extend the reading strategies pedagogy of one English language teacher who teaches English language learners in a parallel junior high school Geography program. Such pedagogy will be valuable for all teachers as they seek to contribute to English language development goals as outlined in national curricula.

Creativity is as important as literacy : making a film trailer responding to literature

The first part of the title is from Sir Ken Robinson (Robinson, 2009), the esteemed educator and champion of creativity in schools. Sometimes in the face of meeting the demands of time, timetabling, demanding administration tasks and teaching for high stakes testing accountability, we can find ourselves desperate for time to remember that English has always been one of the places in schools where creativity can flourish. English is a place for the play of the imagination. English teachers are the purveyors of narrative; the keepers and teachers of stories. The new Australian Curriculum: English, (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2012) asks us to be using ICT technologies in creative ways to tell those stories. The curriculum asks students to access texts receptively and to then speak about, write and create texts productively. There are so many interesting things to do with texts beyond word processing of print based resources. Responding to literature through media is always an alternative option to writing or simply speaking about it. In this paper my QUT pre-service student Chrystal Armitage describes how she made a mini story via a film trailer in response to a short story, ‘Turned’ (Gilman, 1987) in the unit, Literature in Secondary Teaching.

Preparing high achieving English teachers to work in disadvantaged schools : 'I'll teach Shakespeare when I'm 60'

The recent release of the Gonski Review recognises the decline in Australia’s schooling performances over the last decade, noting in particular a distressing increase in the ‘achievement gap’ affecting students from low SES backgrounds (Gonski, 2012). The report details the need for more quality in teachers throughout the schooling system, particularly within the schools with the greatest academic needs. This paper specifically focuses on a group of high-achieving pre-service English teachers. In their last two years of university study, they participated in a program called Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS), designed to prepare them to work in disadvantaged or low SES schools. We wanted to capture their experiences of teaching in challenging settings during their practicum, and as they prepared to graduate, we wondered what they now felt about teaching English in low SES schools. Using narrative inquiry, we analysed a range of reflective data to gain insight into such things as their initial motivations for entering the teaching profession and how their preconceived expectations may or may not have shifted after practicum experiences in low SES schools. We encouraged open reflection about how they perceived themselves as English teachers.

An English-translated parallel corpus for the CJK Wikipedia collections

In this paper, we describe a machine-translated parallel English corpus for the NTCIR Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) Wikipedia collections. This document collection is named CJK2E Wikipedia XML corpus. The corpus could be used by the information retrieval research community and knowledge sharing in Wikipedia in many ways; for example, this corpus could be used for experimentations in cross-lingual information retrieval, cross-lingual link discovery, or omni-lingual information retrieval research. Furthermore, the translated CJK articles could be used to further expand the current coverage of the English Wikipedia.

Cross-Lingual knowledge discovery : Chinese-to-English article linking in Wikipedia

In this paper we examine automated Chinese to English link discovery in Wikipedia and the effects of Chinese segmentation and Chinese to English translation on the hyperlink recommendation. Our experimental results show that the implemented link discovery framework can effectively recommend Chinese-to-English cross-lingual links. The techniques described here can assist bi-lingual users where a particular topic is not covered in Chinese, is not equally covered in both languages, or is biased in one language; as well as for language learning.

Characterizing multi-agent team behavior from partial team tracings : evidence from the English Premier League

Real-world AI systems have been recently deployed which can automatically analyze the plan and tactics of tennis players. As the game-state is updated regularly at short intervals (i.e. point-level), a library of successful and unsuccessful plans of a player can be learnt over time. Given the relative strengths and weaknesses of a player’s plans, a set of proven plans or tactics from the library that characterize a player can be identified. For low-scoring, continuous team sports like soccer, such analysis for multi-agent teams does not exist as the game is not segmented into “discretized” plays (i.e. plans), making it difficult to obtain a library that characterizes a team’s behavior. Additionally, as player tracking data is costly and difficult to obtain, we only have partial team tracings in the form of ball actions which makes this problem even more difficult. In this paper, we propose a method to overcome these issues by representing team behavior via play-segments, which are spatio-temporal descriptions of ball movement over fixed windows of time. Using these representations we can characterize team behavior from entropy maps, which give a measure of predictability of team behaviors across the field. We show the efficacy and applicability of our method on the 2010-2011 English Premier League soccer data.

Modeling as a means for making powerful ideas accessible to children at an early age

The SimCalc Vision and Contributions Advances in Mathematics Education 2013, pp 419-436 Modeling as a Means for Making Powerful Ideas Accessible to Children at an Early Age Richard Lesh, Lyn English, Serife Sevis, Chanda Riggs … show all 4 hide » Look Inside » Get Access Abstract In modern societies in the 21st century, significant changes have been occurring in the kinds of “mathematical thinking” that are needed outside of school. Even in the case of primary school children (grades K-2), children not only encounter situations where numbers refer to sets of discrete objects that can be counted. Numbers also are used to describe situations that involve continuous quantities (inches, feet, pounds, etc.), signed quantities, quantities that have both magnitude and direction, locations (coordinates, or ordinal quantities), transformations (actions), accumulating quantities, continually changing quantities, and other kinds of mathematical objects. Furthermore, if we ask, what kind of situations can children use numbers to describe? rather than restricting attention to situations where children should be able to calculate correctly, then this study shows that average ability children in grades K-2 are (and need to be) able to productively mathematize situations that involve far more than simple counts. Similarly, whereas nearly the entire K-16 mathematics curriculum is restricted to situations that can be mathematized using a single input-output rule going in one direction, even the lives of primary school children are filled with situations that involve several interacting actions—and which involve feedback loops, second-order effects, and issues such as maximization, minimization, or stabilizations (which, many years ago, needed to be postponed until students had been introduced to calculus). …This brief paper demonstrates that, if children’s stories are used to introduce simulations of “real life” problem solving situations, then average ability primary school children are quite capable of dealing productively with 60-minute problems that involve (a) many kinds of quantities in addition to “counts,” (b) integrated collections of concepts associated with a variety of textbook topic areas, (c) interactions among several different actors, and (d) issues such as maximization, minimization, and stabilization.