Browsing by Department "Academic Transitions, Programmes and Skills"

This experimental classroom study investigates the effects of two feedback types on English question formation. Ninety Chinese learners were randomly assigned to either one of two experimental groups (recasts or prompts) or the control group. Between the pre- and posttests, the learners in the experimental groups received the assigned type of feedback that addressed their production of questions during task-based interaction. The effects of the feedback were measured by calculating whether there was an increase in production frequency of targeted question types. The results showed that (1) neither feedback type was effective in increasing the learners' production of Stage-5 questions, and (2) both feedback types were valuable in improving the learners' production of accurate questions, but recasts yielded a larger effect than prompts. These findings provide further evidence of feedback usefulness in L2 learning and shed light on English question formation via the pedagogical tool of corrective feedback.

The performance of pre-service teachers (PSTs) is generally assessed during practicum by supervising teachers or observers who may provide subjectively different evaluations known to lack reliability and validity. This article examines a way to shift the evaluative emphasis to use of affective-reflective skills through use of a protocol that also serves to improve the emotional literacy and confidence of PSTs. The article explores variations of a novel protocol in which the observer plays the non-judgmental role of a facilitator, with the PST using self-determined emotion (affect) as a basis for self-evaluation of their own teaching performance in group and self-reflection. These protocol variations are explored across PST programs at six different universities using the notion of engaging a PST’s emotional states as critical moments in their lesson. A subsequent reflection involves interpretation and pedagogical analysis of those affect-based moments. The overall impact was twofold: the reflection helped the PSTs determine changes in their teaching approaches that improve confidence; and, the protocol provided a self-evaluation of teaching performance that placed the PST in the central decision-making role. These findings have implications for program design, teacher educator pedagogy and future research.

This study reports on two key aspects relating to the use of the Online Learning Readiness Self-Check (OLRSC) survey, which has been proposed as identifying non-traditional students' readiness for online learning, and their strengths and weaknesses in six key areas. The first aspect validates the use of the instrument based on data from 199 students engaged in an online tertiary enabling course at a regional university in Australia. Factor analysis verified the scale structure of the instrument; however, two items were removed prior to the final analysis due to low communality and/or high cross loading with other items. This is followed by an examination of whether the instrument might be useful for the early identification of students who are at risk of disengagement from the enabling program. While it was hypothesised that the instrument, which measured factors such as the quality of interaction with peers and instructors, their capacity to manage technology and how well they managed learning, should have been a useful tool to identify early disengagement, the hypothesis was not supported. No significant associations were identified between any of the instrument's scales and early withdrawal from the course or completion of the first unit of study. Future recommendations for educators are made with a view to improving student engagement.

Within the context of academia, instructional designs play an important role in the development of cognitive competence. An effective instruction is more likely to facilitate in-depth comprehension and meaningful understanding of a subject matter. Our own empirical research in secondary school mathematics, interestingly, has shown that contrasting instructional designs often result in differences in motivation, understanding, and achievement experiences. Sub-optimal instructions, for example, are ineffective and result in poor comprehension and underachievement in a subject matter. An effective instruction, in contrast, serves to facilitate in-depth and meaningful understanding of a subject matter. In recent years, educators have advocated for the use of different types of modality, which could enhance and facilitate the effectiveness of contrasting instructional designs and pedagogical practices. For example, multi-media presentations that encompass both static and dynamic visualizations are quite engaging, innovative, and creative.

This paper highlights the importance of utilizing innovative evidence-based teaching strategies that keep students motivated and engaged to support success in their tertiary academic studies. Research consistently reports that students are more likely to persist and succeed in their studies when they feel supported, challenged, and connected to their learning environment. Listening to tertiary student voices between 2021-2023 on what strategies improved their engagement and learning, this paper summarises student suggestions over six trimesters at a rural Australian university. The strategies nominated by students as supporting successful learning were the use of a flexible submission portal for assessments, clearly defined rubrics, video explanation of assessments, providing exemplars of requirements and the consistent presentation of unit content across the learning management site. By incorporating a flexible submission portal for assessments, clearly defined rubrics, video explanation of assessments, providing exemplars of requirements, and presenting units consistently across the learning management site, these were consistently the strategies students voted over three years as being most helpful to their learning. This paper emphasizes the need for universities to listen to student evaluation suggestions and prioritize effective teaching strategies as a key factor in promoting student retention, success, and overall satisfaction in higher education.

Summary writing is a core competency for students pursuing university studies, but the demands of the reading-to-writing process can be fraught for those students new to the university context, particularly international students for whom English is an additional language. This paper reports on a study that investigated the effectiveness of using the Reading to Learn (R2L) pedagogy for students’ summary writing in an online environment. International English as an additional language students enrolled in four separate iterations of an advanced academic literacy unit offered by an Australian university, and were taught academic reading and summary writing online using the R2L pedagogy. Pre- and post-tests were administered in the first and last weeks of the unit each trimester. In the weeks between the tests, tutorials (2 h×9 weeks) consisted of structured and scaffolded teacher–student interactions, which guided the students through reading and summarising and moved from a high level of teacher input to greater student independence in the readingto-writing process. Results found significant improvement in students’ abilities to comprehend and summarise key ideas from a source text and to write grammatically sound and complex sentences. However, the instruction did not show any impact on cohesion, vocabulary or punctuation. Despite the limitations of the study, the results confirm previous results as to the value of R2L, which provides a scaffolded approach to reading and writing.

As China emerges as an economic power, an increasing segment of the global population is taking up Mandarin as an additional language, potentially facilitating greater communication between Chinese and non-Chinese speakers. With the growing importance of global relations, linguistic politeness is increasingly crucial for sustaining positive social and interpersonal ties.

This study bridges the praxis gap between Chinese linguistic politeness research and the context of teaching Chinese as an additional language in Australian higher education. It contributes to the present body of knowledge by (a) investigating politeness strategies embedded in current textbooks and analysing these findings; and (b) capturing, through semistructured interviews, the perceptions and pedagogical practices of instructors/lecturers in teaching Chinese linguistic politeness.

Employing Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory as the theoretical foundation for investigation, this study uses qualitative and quantitative data-collection methods: textbook content analysis and semi-structured interviews.

First, the textbook analysis presents the characteristics of Chinese linguistic politeness from a purposive sampling of five textbooks. The politeness strategies investigated show the highest frequency in negative politeness strategies, followed by bald on-record and positive politeness strategies. The findings show that many politeness strategies are evident at the beginner level, even though the CEFR recommends that these be taught at the intermediate level.

Second, whereas the mode of presentation differs in grammar explanation and examples in functional usages of politeness, all textbooks adhere to the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi Chinese language proficiency test in China. However, only one textbook incorporates the skills for the 21st-century world readiness standards for languages proposed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, which is more in line with current research regarding second language acquisition. The outcome of the investigation presents to policy makers and educators the analysis and recommendations of curricula adopted in the current Australian higher education Chinese as an additional language scene.

Second, the outcome of the interviews shows the challenges (that is, limitations of resources and policies) instructors/lecturers face in teaching linguistic politeness.

The two modes of investigation (textbook analysis and interviews) provide important focal points and directions for further research and data collection. This study concludes with implications for the ongoing development of teaching linguistic politeness in the Australian tertiary education sector, particularly Chinese as an additional language.