title: Dynamic conceptions of input, output and interaction: Vietnamese EFL lecturers learning second language acquisition theory

authors: Nguyen, Van Loi

subjects: conceptions

abstract: Although research into language teacher learning and cognition and teaching innovations oriented to communicative tasks has been abundant, little has addressed EFL teachers’ learning and conceiving of SLA principles underlying task-based language teaching. The study reported in the present thesis aims to fill this gap, specifically investigating teachers’ learning and conceiving of the notions of rich comprehensible language input, and authentic output and interaction, referred to as ‘SLA facilitating conditions’. The study explores three issues: teachers’ conceptions of the SLA facilitating conditions based on their practices in the tertiary English classroom; teachers’ perceptions of implementing the conditions, including factors affecting the implementation; and teachers’ perceived learning or change as a result of the process. Data for the study were obtained from six Vietnamese EFL lecturers who voluntarily participated in two short professional development workshops focusing on language input, and output and interaction. The data collection process was cumulative, beginning with pre-workshop interviews, followed by collection of lesson plans, lesson-based interviews, reflective writing, observation of lesson recordings, and a questionnaire. Analysis and interpretation followed a process of triangulation, and drew on the author’s knowledge of the context and the teachers’ backgrounds. The results showed that the six teachers held contextualised conceptions of language input, and output and interaction. Although they believed that these conditions are important for language learning, their conceptions based on their implementation of the conditions reflected a synthetic product-oriented view of language learning and teaching. The teachers demonstrated an accommodation of the notion of comprehensible input into their existing pedagogical understanding, and revealed a conception of language output oriented to accuracy and fluency of specific target language items. Tasks and activities for interaction were mainly to provide students with contexts to use the target language items meaningfully rather than to communicate meaning. Most teachers delayed communicative tasks until their students were acquainted with the language content of the day. Such conceptions and practices had a connection with both conceptual/experiential and contextual factors, namely their prior training and experience, time limitations, syllabus, and students’ characteristics. The study also showed that although the teachers’ perceptions of the feasibility of promoting rich language input and authentic output and interaction were neutral, they thought promoting these conditions was relevant to students’ learning, congruent with their pre-existing beliefs about teaching English, and this granted them a sense of agency. The teachers also reported they became more aware of input, and output and interaction in teaching, confident, and purposeful in actions, and some reported a widened view of English language teaching. The study confirms that teacher learning and cognition is conceptually and contextually conditioned (Borg, 2006). In terms of this, it provides a model of how EFL teachers’ learning SLA is constrained by prior pedagogical beliefs and contextual conditions. In conjunction with previous research, the study provided evidence to suggest that communicative and task-based language teaching would appear to run counter to existing beliefs about teaching and practical conditions in Asian EFL situations. This lends support to a more flexible organic approach to employing tasks, perhaps considering the extent to which and in what ways communicative tasks are pedagogically useful to the EFL classroom. An implication is that for any new approaches like task-based language teaching to be incorporated into teachers’ existing repertoire, teachers’ conceptions of language input and interaction, and the conceptual and practical constraints influencing their thinking and practice should be considered and addressed. In a broader sense, approaches to teacher education and development should take a constructivist perspective on teacher learning, taking into account the local context of teaching and teachers’ existing cognition.

text: Dynamic conceptions of input, output and interaction: Vietnamese EFL lecturers learning second language acquisition theory Although research into language teacher learning and cognition and teaching innovations oriented to communicative tasks has been abundant, little has addressed EFL teachers’ learning and conceiving of SLA principles underlying task-based language teaching. The study reported in the present thesis aims to fill this gap, specifically investigating teachers’ learning and conceiving of the notions of rich comprehensible language input, and authentic output and interaction, referred to as ‘SLA facilitating conditions’. The study explores three issues: teachers’ conceptions of the SLA facilitating conditions based on their practices in the tertiary English classroom; teachers’ perceptions of implementing the conditions, including factors affecting the implementation; and teachers’ perceived learning or change as a result of the process. Data for the study were obtained from six Vietnamese EFL lecturers who voluntarily participated in two short professional development workshops focusing on language input, and output and interaction. The data collection process was cumulative, beginning with pre-workshop interviews, followed by collection of lesson plans, lesson-based interviews, reflective writing, observation of lesson recordings, and a questionnaire. Analysis and interpretation followed a process of triangulation, and drew on the author’s knowledge of the context and the teachers’ backgrounds. The results showed that the six teachers held contextualised conceptions of language input, and output and interaction. Although they believed that these conditions are important for language learning, their conceptions based on their implementation of the conditions reflected a synthetic product-oriented view of language learning and teaching. The teachers demonstrated an accommodation of the notion of comprehensible input into their existing pedagogical understanding, and revealed a conception of language output oriented to accuracy and fluency of specific target language items. Tasks and activities for interaction were mainly to provide students with contexts to use the target language items meaningfully rather than to communicate meaning. Most teachers delayed communicative tasks until their students were acquainted with the language content of the day. Such conceptions and practices had a connection with both conceptual/experiential and contextual factors, namely their prior training and experience, time limitations, syllabus, and students’ characteristics. The study also showed that although the teachers’ perceptions of the feasibility of promoting rich language input and authentic output and interaction were neutral, they thought promoting these conditions was relevant to students’ learning, congruent with their pre-existing beliefs about teaching English, and this granted them a sense of agency. The teachers also reported they became more aware of input, and output and interaction in teaching, confident, and purposeful in actions, and some reported a widened view of English language teaching. The study confirms that teacher learning and cognition is conceptually and contextually conditioned (Borg, 2006). In terms of this, it provides a model of how EFL teachers’ learning SLA is constrained by prior pedagogical beliefs and contextual conditions. In conjunction with previous research, the study provided evidence to suggest that communicative and task-based language teaching would appear to run counter to existing beliefs about teaching and practical conditions in Asian EFL situations. This lends support to a more flexible organic approach to employing tasks, perhaps considering the extent to which and in what ways communicative tasks are pedagogically useful to the EFL classroom. An implication is that for any new approaches like task-based language teaching to be incorporated into teachers’ existing repertoire, teachers’ conceptions of language input and interaction, and the conceptual and practical constraints influencing their thinking and practice should be considered and addressed. In a broader sense, approaches to teacher education and development should take a constructivist perspective on teacher learning, taking into account the local context of teaching and teachers’ existing cognition.

year: 2011

title: Interpretation, film language and tourist destinations: a case study of hibiscus town, China

authors: Hao, Xiaofei

subjects: film tourism

abstract: The link between films and destination promotion has been well established. Less well examined is the role of ‘film language’ in the subsequent reconstruction of tourist destinations. This paper suggests that the way a film ‘speaks’ to its audience helps both shape tourists’ imaginaries of place, and the ways a place is reconstructed to meet tourist perceptions. For film tourism, ‘film language’ acts as a guidebook describing first the spaces where the film plots happened, second, shaping images of the places in an audience’s mind, and third, serving as a blueprint for the physical reconstruction of spaces to replicate the place representation shown in the film. This both meets and reinforces the perceptions held by audiences. Therefore, this paper suggests interpretation of ‘film language’ is a key to the promotion of destination image and transformation of a place. Based on the case study of the Chinese film Hibiscus Town (Xie Jin, 1986), some key parts of its ‘film language’ are interpreted with reference to the visual, and a relationship between film language and place reconstruction is discussed.

text: Interpretation, film language and tourist destinations: a case study of hibiscus town, China The link between films and destination promotion has been well established. Less well examined is the role of ‘film language’ in the subsequent reconstruction of tourist destinations. This paper suggests that the way a film ‘speaks’ to its audience helps both shape tourists’ imaginaries of place, and the ways a place is reconstructed to meet tourist perceptions. For film tourism, ‘film language’ acts as a guidebook describing first the spaces where the film plots happened, second, shaping images of the places in an audience’s mind, and third, serving as a blueprint for the physical reconstruction of spaces to replicate the place representation shown in the film. This both meets and reinforces the perceptions held by audiences. Therefore, this paper suggests interpretation of ‘film language’ is a key to the promotion of destination image and transformation of a place. Based on the case study of the Chinese film Hibiscus Town (Xie Jin, 1986), some key parts of its ‘film language’ are interpreted with reference to the visual, and a relationship between film language and place reconstruction is discussed.

year: 2013

title: Young Māori mothers and bed-sharing with their pēpi/baby: A case study focusing on the relevance and influence of three varying health promotion resources

authors: Haereroa, Nikki M.

subjects: Māori

abstract: Māori Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) rates are significantly higher than non-Māori. Bed-sharing is considered to be one of the major modifiable risk factors associated with SUDI rates (Mitchell et al., 1992), although there is strong opposition that suggests bed-sharing can act as a preventative measure against SUDI (McKenna & McDade, 2005). As a result of quantitative research and statistical data, many health promotion messages now focus on discouraging the practice of bed-sharing, whether it be through policy implementation throughout hospitals or through to health promotion guidelines. Although there is a high incidence of Māori SUDI rates, there has been little emphasis on Māori perspectives and insights into the practice. Of the few qualitative studies that focus on infant sleep practices, a significant finding is the high prevalence of Māori who bed-share regularly (Tipene-Leach et al., 2010). This paper will investigate the motivations and rationale of bed-sharing amongst young urban Māori mothers to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation into the lived realities of this group. The lack of consultation with a group that has been classed by New Zealand Government bodies, the Health Quality and Safety Commission and Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee Group, as ‘most at risk’ of experiencing a SUDI, maybe a contributing factor to the high Māori SUDI rates. This has brought about the question of whether current health resources are relevant and/or influence young Māori mothers. Using a Te Whare Tapa Wha framework within a Kaupapa Māori Research methodology, this paper provides a unique and much-needed perspective into the lives of young Māori mothers. The purpose of this research overall is: if health resources and messages are not relevant to a community and they have little or no influence over infant care practices, then do health professionals and researchers need to rethink current strategies and working models to ensure we focus on the real, lived needs of our community?

text: Young Māori mothers and bed-sharing with their pēpi/baby: A case study focusing on the relevance and influence of three varying health promotion resources Māori Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) rates are significantly higher than non-Māori. Bed-sharing is considered to be one of the major modifiable risk factors associated with SUDI rates (Mitchell et al., 1992), although there is strong opposition that suggests bed-sharing can act as a preventative measure against SUDI (McKenna & McDade, 2005). As a result of quantitative research and statistical data, many health promotion messages now focus on discouraging the practice of bed-sharing, whether it be through policy implementation throughout hospitals or through to health promotion guidelines. Although there is a high incidence of Māori SUDI rates, there has been little emphasis on Māori perspectives and insights into the practice. Of the few qualitative studies that focus on infant sleep practices, a significant finding is the high prevalence of Māori who bed-share regularly (Tipene-Leach et al., 2010). This paper will investigate the motivations and rationale of bed-sharing amongst young urban Māori mothers to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation into the lived realities of this group. The lack of consultation with a group that has been classed by New Zealand Government bodies, the Health Quality and Safety Commission and Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee Group, as ‘most at risk’ of experiencing a SUDI, maybe a contributing factor to the high Māori SUDI rates. This has brought about the question of whether current health resources are relevant and/or influence young Māori mothers. Using a Te Whare Tapa Wha framework within a Kaupapa Māori Research methodology, this paper provides a unique and much-needed perspective into the lives of young Māori mothers. The purpose of this research overall is: if health resources and messages are not relevant to a community and they have little or no influence over infant care practices, then do health professionals and researchers need to rethink current strategies and working models to ensure we focus on the real, lived needs of our community?

year: 2015