Pedagogies and critical reflection: key understandings for transformative gender justice

It is widely acknowledged that quality pedagogy is central to improving the educational outcomes of all students. In improving the social and academic outcomes of boys, and more specifically disengaged boys, the productive pedagogies model has been presented as a way forward. In terms of drawing on this model in socially just ways; to facilitate a broadening, rather than reinscribing of boys' narrow constructions of gender identity, this paper illustrates the imperative of teachers interacting with key feminist understandings of masculinity. Organized around the four dimensions of productive pedagogy, the paper draws on ( predominantly Australian-based) seminal work in the sphere of masculinities and schooling to discuss key strategies and initiatives for improving boys' educational outcomes. Against this backdrop, the paper demonstrates the importance of two principle understandings. The first relates to teachers understanding masculinity through feminist lenses, as constructed, regulated and maintained through inequitable social processes and the second relates to teachers understanding pedagogy as critical and transformative practice. These understandings are presented as vital to enabling gender justice.

An investigation of how foreign language departments at American colleges and universities view American Sign Language

Corwin and Wilcox (1985) sent surveys to more than 100 American colleges and universities to determine the policies on the matter of accepting American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language. Their results indicated that 81% of those surveyed rejected ASL as a foreign/modern language equivalent. The most frequently stated opposition to ASL was that it lacked a culture. Some of the other objections to ASL were: ASL is not foreign; there is no written form and therefore no original body of literature; it is a derivative of English; and it is indigenous to the United States and hence not foreign. Based on the work of Corwin and Wilcox this study sent surveys to 222 American colleges and universities. Noting an expanding cognizance and social awareness of ASL and deafness (as seen in the increasing number of movies, plays, television programs, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and related news stories), this study sought to find out if ASL was now considered an acceptable foreign language equivalent. The hypothesis of this study was that change has occurred since the 1985 study: that a significant percent of post secondary schools accepting ASL as a foreign/modern language equivalent has increased. The 165 colleges and universities that responded to this author's survey confirmed there has been a significant shift towards the acceptance of ASL. Only 50% of the respondents objected to ASL as a foreign language equivalent, a significant decrease from the 1985 findings. Of those who objected to granting ASL foreign language credit, the reasons were similar to those of the Corwin and Wilcox study, except that the belief in an absence of a Deaf culture dropped from the top reason listed, to the fifth. That ASL is not foreign was listed as the most frequent objection in this study. One important change which may account for increased acceptance of ASL, is that 16 states (compared to 10 in 1985) now have policies stating that ASL is acceptable as a foreign language equivalent. Two-year colleges, in this study, were more likely to accept ASL than were four-year colleges and universities. Neither two- nor four-year colleges and universities are likely to include ASL in their foreign language departments, and most schools that have foreign language entrance requirements are unlikely to accept ASL. In colleges and universities where ASL was already offered in some department within the system, there was a significantly higher likelihood that foreign language credit was given for ASL. Respondents from states with laws governing the inclusion of ASL did not usually know their state had a policy. Most respondents, 84%, indicated their knowledge on the topic of ASL was fair to poor. ^

Examining argumentative coherence in essays by undergraduate students of English as a foreign language in Mainland China and their English speaking peers in the United States

I conducted this study to provide insights toward deepening understanding of association between culture and writing by building, assessing, and refining a conceptual model of second language writing. To do this, I examined culture and coherence as well as the relationship between them through a mixed methods research design. Coherence has been an important and complex concept in ESL/EFL writing. I intended to study the concept of coherence in the research context of contrastive rhetoric, comparing the coherence quality in argumentative essays written by undergraduates in Mainland China and their U.S. peers. In order to analyze the complex concept of coherence, I synthesized five linguistic theories of coherence: Halliday and Hasan's cohesion theory, Carroll's theory of coherence, Enkvist's theory of coherence, Topical Structure Analysis, and Toulmin's Model. Based upon the synthesis, 16 variables were generated. Across these 16 variables, Hotelling t-test statistical analysis was conducted to predict differences in argumentative coherence between essays written by two groups of participants. In order to complement the statistical analysis, I conducted 30 interviews of the writers in the studies. Participants' responses were analyzed with open and axial coding. By analyzing the empirical data, I refined the conceptual model by adding more categories and establishing associations among them. The study found that U.S. students made use of more pronominal reference. Chinese students adopted more lexical devices of reiteration and extended paralleling progression. The interview data implied that the difference may be associated with the difference in linguistic features and rhetorical conventions in Chinese and English. As far as Toulmin's Model is concerned, Chinese students scored higher on data than their U.S. peers. According to the interview data, this may be due to the fact that Toulmin's Model, modified as three elements of arguments, have been widely and long taught in Chinese writing instruction while U.S. interview participants said that they were not taught to write essays according to Toulmin's Model. Implications were generated from the process of textual data analysis and the formulation of structural model defining coherence. These implications were aimed at informing writing instruction, assessment, peer-review, and self-revision.

Does gender make a difference? Gender-related fairness of high-stakes testing in A-level examinations in English as foreign language in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the context of Educational Governance

The shift from decentralized to centralized A-level examinations (Abitur) was implemented in the German school system as a measure of Educational Governance in the last decade. This reform was mainly introduced with the intention of providing higher comparability of school examinations and student achievement as well as increasing fairness in school examinations. It is not known yet if these ambitious aims and functions of the new centralized examination format have been achieved and if fairer assessment can be guaranteed in terms of providing all students with the same opportunities to pass the examinations by allocating fair tests to different student subpopulations e.g., students of different background or gender. The research presented in this article deals with these questions and focuses on gender differences. It investigates gender-specific fairness of the test items in centralized Abitur examinations as high school exit examinations in Germany. The data are drawn from Abitur examinations in English (as a foreign language). Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis reveals that at least some parts of the examinations indicate gender inequality. (DIPF/Orig.)

Exploring critical reflection in cooperative education: a case study

 This research identifies the challenges facing students who are learning how to critically reflect while learning through reflection. Factors enabling one students’ development of critical reflection may constrain another. These influencing factors are found within the learning environment, workplace and personal experiences, students’ attitudes and critical reflection processes.

Scaffolding an EFL (English as a foreign language) ‘effective writing’ class in a hybrid learning community

This study sought to establish and develop innovative instructional procedures, in which scaffolding can be expanded and applied, in order to enhance learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing skills in an effective hybrid learning community (a combination of face-to-face and online modes of learning) at the university where the researcher is working. Many educational experts still believe that technology has not been harnessed to its potential to meet the new online characteristics and trends. There is also an urgency to reconsider the pedagogical perspectives involved in the utilisation of online learning systems in general and the social interactions within online courses in particular that have been neglected to date. An action research design, conducted in two cycles within a duration of four months, was utilised throughout this study. It was intended not only to achieve a paradigm shift from transmission-absorption to socio-constructivist teaching/learning methodologies but also to inform practice in these technology-rich environments. Five major findings emerged from the study. First, the scaffolding theory has been extended. Two new scaffolding types (i.e., quasi-transcendental scaffolding and transcendental scafolding), two scaffolding aspects (i.e., receptive and productive) and some scaffolding actions (e.g., providing a stimulus, awareness, reminder, or remedy) for EFL writing skills in an effective hybrid learning community have been identified and elaborated on. Second, the EFL ‘Effective Writing’ students used the scaffolds implemented in a hybrid environment to enhance and enrich their learning of writing of English essays. The online activities, conducted after the F2F sessions most of the time, gave students greater opportunities to both reinforce and expand the knowledge they had acquired in the F2F mode. Third, a variety of teaching techniques, different online tasks and discussion topics utilised in the two modes bolstered the students’ interests and engagement in their knowledge construction of how to compose English-language essays. Fourth, through the scaffolded activities, the students learned how to scaffold themselves and thus became independent learners in their future endeavours of constructing knowledge. Fifth, the scaffolding-to-scaffold activities provided the students with knowledge on how to effectively engage in transcendental scaffolding actions and facilitate the learning of English writing skills by less able peers within the learning community. Thus, the findings of this current study extended earlier understandings of scaffolding in an EFL hybrid learning environment and will contribute to the advancement of future ICT-mediated courses in terms of their scaffolding pedagogical aspects.

Educating EFL preservice teachers for teaching astronomy

Malaysia’s Vision 2020 for enhancing its education system includes the development of scientific literacy commencing at the primary school level. This Vision focuses on using English as the Medium of Instruction (EMI) for teaching primary science, as Malaysia has English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in its curriculum. What changes need to occur in preservice teacher education programs for learning about primary science using EMI? This paper investigates the education of Malaysian preservice teachers for learning how to teach one strand in science education (i.e., space, primary astronomy) in an English-language context. Ninety-six second-year preservice teachers from two Malaysian institutes were involved in a 16-week “Earth and Space” course, half the course involved education about primary astronomy. Seventy-five of these preservice teachers provided written responses about the course and their development as potential teachers of primary astronomy using EMI. Preservice teacher assessments and multimedia presentations provided further evidence on learning how to teach primary astronomy. Many of these preservice teachers claimed that learning to teach primary astronomy needs to focus on teaching strategies, content knowledge with easy-to-understand concepts, computer simulations (e.g., Earth Centered Universe, Stellarium, Celestia), other ICT media, and field experiences that use naked-eye observations and telescopes to investigate celestial bodies. Although generally proficient in using ICT, they claimed there were EFL barriers for learning some new terminology. Nevertheless, powerpoints, animations, videos, and simulations were identified as effective ICT tools for providing clear visual representations of abstract concepts and ways to enhance the learning process.

New maps of learning for quality art education : what pre-service teachers should learn and be able to do

It would be a rare thing to visit an early years setting or classroom in Australia that does not display examples of young children’s artworks. This practice serves to give schools a particular ‘look’, but is no guarantee of quality art education. The Australian National Review of Visual Arts Education (NRVE) (2009) has called for changes to visual art education in schools. The planned new National Curriculum includes the arts (music, dance, drama, media and visual arts) as one of the five learning areas. Research shows that it is the classroom teacher that makes the difference, and teacher education has a large part to play in reforms to art education. This paper provides an account of one foundation unit of study (Unit 1) for first year university students enrolled in a 4-year Bachelor degree program who are preparing to teach in the early years (0–8 years). To prepare pre-service teachers to meet the needs of children in the 21st century, Unit 1 blends old and new ways of seeing art, child and pedagogy. Claims for the effectiveness of this model are supported with evidence-based research, conducted over the six years of iterations and ongoing development of Unit 1.