scholarly journals Acquisition of academic literacy in an Engineering communication course: Integration of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merina Devira
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Academic Culture ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Engineering Communication

This study investigated academic literacy practices by an EFL student at an Engineering Communication course in the University of Adelaide, Australia. It focused on finding a description of engineering written communication skills designed in the specific course and investigating the student’s response in the construction of a specific text type in the engineering community. A qualitative case study method was used where the data were taken from classroom observations, the student’s interviews, his writings, and other supporting data, such as a course booklet and several PowerPoint slides. The findings showed that working in a group discussion at the workshop sessions was perceived as the most useful academic literacy practice in acquiring engineering communication skills. It also revealed that academic literacy practices, such as accessing MyUni, using databases for a specific discipline, recognising graphic skills and using effective reading strategies were considered by him as new and useful practices in an academic culture which helped him execute written engineering communication assignments into a cohesive and coherent argumentative text. Overall, although he had different perceptions before and after completion of the course, he viewed the course design positively. Some ideas on how the course developers or tutors could match the course design with his practical needs were offered, such as mutual collaboration with the English lecturers who were providing the course and the implementation of a program of academic English for first year students.

scholarly journals Attaining Communicative Competency in Pharmacy Practice: A Retrospective Analysis of the Construction of a Communication Course for International Pharmacy Graduates

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Mickleborough ◽  
Colette Peters
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
International Health ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Standards Of Practice ◽  
International Pharmacy

<p class="2M-body">The ability to communicate effectively is an essential skill required by licensed pharmacists and it plays an integral role in meeting standards of practice. Acquiring the communication skills needed to successfully complete these standards of practice can be particularly challenging for International Pharmacy Graduates, or IPGs, many of whom are second language learners. This paper retrospectively analyses the construction of a communication course for IPGs, viewed through the theories of Lev Vygotsky and Donald Schön, which assists the IPGs in developing their communication skills for the Canadian context and applying them in increasingly independent ways. Course satisfaction surveys from two IPG cohorts were reviewed for qualitative feedback that would discuss the students’ appreciation for the course design in relation to their learning. In general, students appreciated the learning supports in the first half of the course, but had more difficulty with the second half of the course that was designed to create a level of ambiguity that mimicked real life pharmacy practice. The authors felt more research is needed in this area of instruction design; however, this unique course design could have future implications for teaching communicative competency for international health care professionals.</p>

scholarly journals “What kind of paper do you want from us?”: developing genre knowledge in one Kazakhstani university postgraduate school

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Montgomery ◽  
Jason Sparks ◽  
Bridget Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Genre Awareness ◽  
Science School ◽  
Genre Knowledge

Drawing on the Academic Literacies perspectives of Lea and Street and key genre theorists, this mixed-methods case study explored multilingual student experiences of academic literacy practices in one postgraduate social-science school in an English-medium university in Kazakhstan. Two questions guided the research: (1) To what extent and in what ways do students develop genre knowledge in their school EMI contexts?; (2) Which pedagogical approaches and strategies do students identify as beneficial in supporting genre knowledge development? The study found students developed genre awareness for research-related literacy practices, involving field-, tenor- and mode-related genre knowledge. The study also found student capacity to apply genre knowledge successfully across a range of text genres. Another finding was that challenge and success in genre knowledge development was a function of the extent of explicit feedback from instructors and peers and explicit assignment expectations. Each of our findings are consistent with the critique and recommendations of Lea and Street (1998; 2006) on the importance of a situated approach to developing student academic literacy practice that accounts for the larger institutional contexts and epistemological traditions in which those practices have meaning. These findings have important value for discussions and debates on student academic literacy learning and practice in higher education in Kazakhstan, across Central Asia and in other countries where policies for internationalization and research universities are rapidly transforming higher education literacy practice in the current era of globalization.

scholarly journals The Manifestation of Socio-Cultural Components in the Informal Oral Communication Practices of the Teaching and Non-Teaching Personnel in the Philippines: An Ethnographic Inquiry

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Ruby D. Tagocon ◽  
Ismael N. Talili
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Communication Interaction ◽  
Voice Tone ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
Cultural Components

Communication is immensely dynamic in the 21st century as evidenced by the fast-changing communication mechanisms. However, global trends show that oral communication skills are still considered among the most desired skills that employers are seeking in the workplace. Thus, there is a need to explore the manifestation of the socio-cultural components of the personnel, namely: behavior, attitude, and etiquette in their oral communication practices particularly the informal manner, as the components bear a significance when they engage in such form of communication interaction.  Direct observations of thirty-eight episodes of the teaching and non-teaching interactions of the personnel were noted followed by a Focus Group Discussion with seven selected personnel that validated the results of the observed manifestation of their  socio-cultural components and likewise explored other underlying factors that shaped and developed their socio-cultural components. Behavior (facial expressions) and etiquette (voice tone) components mainly dominated in their interactions, yet the attitude component is also significant to them. The manifestation of these components is situational given their respective upbringing during childhood as a major perceived aspect that established these components. A desirable manifestation of these components is encouraged when engaging in informal oral communication interactions so to become a competent communicator in the workplace.

scholarly journals An Investigation of Sites, Uses and Practices For  Literacy in the Lives of Pasifika Students

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John G Dickie
Keyword(s):  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
School Students ◽  
Lower Test ◽  
Pasifika Students ◽  
The One ◽  
Out Of School

<p>An investigation of sites, uses and practices for literacy in the lives of Pasifika students Lower test scores on school measures of literacy for Pasifika students than for the majority of students in New Zealand are a cause for concern. As part of a wider attempt to address this problem the Ministry of Education has argued that teachers need to be better informed of out-of-school literacy practices. This thesis considers what can be learned when this guidance is followed and it investigates students' social and cultural uses of literacy in family and community settings. It explores the argument that knowledge of these out-of-school literacies will inform teachers and through incorporation (McNaughton, 2002) teachers may be able to make effective connections for students to school literacy. A sociocultural perspective is used to investigate the social and cultural practices of the students while the study also uses Cremin's (1976) concept of configurations of sites to consider how learning is mediated for students in different settings. Rogoff's (1995) three planes of analysis provide a tool to examine students' practices at the community, interpersonal, and personal levels. The investigation sought the students' own perspective of how they appropriate knowledge about literacy as they collected information with cameras and journals on their own practices. The participants were 14 Pasifika students aged 11 and 12 years (mostly Samoan) as well as three adult Samoan church representatives and teachers from the students' school. Students' photos were used to elicit rich description in semi-structured interviews and interview schedules were also used with students and adult participants. The findings illustrate how the students were socialised into particular practices that are contextualised in the sites of family, church and neighbourhood. They reveal that for the students there was both overlapping of values and conflict between their sites of literacy practice. The complementarities occurred most strongly between family and church and a valued feature of the students' practice was the use of Samoan language. The most common conflicts were those related to popular culture and they occurred between the sites of family, church and school on the one hand and neighbourhood sites on the other as well as within family sites. The thesis argues that awareness of the complementary and conflicting features is essential for teachers in understanding the complexity the students face in choosing their paths among two cultures. This knowledge enables teachers to incorporate aspects of out-of-school literacy into school practice and to draw on those in the students' backgrounds who may facilitate students' literacy acquisition.</p>

‘What is the meaning of a safety-pin?’ Critical literacies and the ethnographic turn in contemporary art

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kris Rutten ◽  
An van. Dienderen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Ethnographic Methods ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Symbolic Representations ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
Critical Literacies ◽  
Situated Literacy ◽  
Safety Pin

In this contribution we address the concept of critical literacies by analyzing how symbolic representations within subcultures can be understood as an engagement with specific literacy practices. For some time now, cultural studies researchers with an interest in literacy have depended upon ethnographic methods to document how members of subcultural communities mobilize literacy practices to achieve critical ends. But the extent to which ethnography actually grants researchers access to subcultural perspectives on literacy has come into question. In this article, we aim to problematize and thematize the ethnographic perspective on literacy in general – and subculture as a situated literacy practice in particular – by critically assessing contemporary art practices that focus on the representation of subcultural identities. We therefore specifically look at artwork by Nikki S. Lee, who focuses on subcultures in her work through ‘going native performances’.

scholarly journals The power of one-to-one coaching: Preparing pre-service teachers for the early childhood literacy classroom

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-87
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A Morphis
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Early Childhood Classroom ◽  
Timely Feedback ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
Elementary Child

This article focuses on a shift in the author’s approach to teaching a literacy course to a coaching-based model after observing pre-service teachers “struggle” to implement the teaching practices during on-site fieldwork with a kindergarten, first-, or second-grade child partner. The author discusses how she provided more timely feedback and instruction by coaching the undergraduate students who were taking a course she taught while the students were working with an elementary child partner and preparing a running-record assessment. Coaching provided the pre-service teachers with a deeper level of understanding of specific literacy practices in the early childhood classroom, and it afforded them the opportunity to reflect on the objective of the literacy practice in a way that let them better use it during their own teaching.

Relocalising academic literacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-55
Author(s):  
Nana Clemensen ◽  
Lars Holm
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
International Study ◽  
Learning Potential ◽  
Anthropology Of Education ◽  
Study Programme ◽  
The Social ◽  
Institutional Contexts

Abstract This article contributes to the continuing discussion about academic literacy in international higher education. Approaching international study programmes as temporary educational contact zones, marked by a broad diversity in students’ educational and discursive experiences, we examine the negotiation and relocalisation of academic literacy among students of the international master’s programme, Anthropology of Education and Globalisation (AEG), University of Aarhus, Denmark. The article draws on an understanding of academic literacy as a local practice situated in the social and institutional contexts in which it appears. Based on qualitative interviews with eleven AEG-students, we analyse students’ individual experiences of, and perspectives on, the academic literacy practices of this study programme. Our findings reveal contradictory understandings of internationalism and indicate a learning potential for students in allowing a more linguistically and discursively diverse dialogue on knowledge production in academia.

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