title: Contrasting hydrodynamic regimes of submerged pinnacle and emergent coral reefs.

authors: Galbraith, Gemma F.

subjects: Animals

abstract: Hydrodynamics on coral reefs vary with depth, reef morphology and seascape position. Differences in hydrodynamic regimes strongly influence the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems. Submerged coral reefs on steep-sided, conical bathymetric features like seamounts experience enhanced water circulation as a result of interactions between currents and the abrupt physical structure. There may also be similar interactions between smaller pinnacles and regional water currents in offshore locations (crests > 10 m), while shallow reefs (crests <10 m) may be more subject to surface currents driven by wind, waves and tide. Here we tested whether coral pinnacles experienced stronger and more variable currents compared to emergent reefs at the same depth in both nearshore and offshore positions. Current speeds and temperature were monitored for 12 months at 11 reefs, representing the three different reef categories: submerged offshore pinnacles, emergent offshore reefs and emergent nearshore reefs. We found different patterns in current speeds and temperature among reef types throughout the year and between seasons. Submerged pinnacles exhibited stronger, more variable current speeds compared to both near and offshore emergent reefs. We found seasonal changes in current speeds for pinnacle and nearshore reefs but no variation in current strength on offshore reefs. Whilst instantaneous current directions did reflect the seascape position of individual sites, there was no difference in the directional variability of current speeds between reef types. Annual daily average temperatures at all reef types were not strongly seasonal, changing by less than 2 °C throughout the year. Daily temperature ranges at specific sites however, exhibited considerable variability (annual range of up to 6.5 °C), particularly amongst offshore emergent reefs which experienced the highest temperatures despite greater exposure to regional-scale circulation patterns. Additionally, we found a consistent mismatch between satellite sea surface temperatures and in-situ temperature data, which was on average 2 °C cooler throughout the annual study period. Our results suggest that distinct hydrodynamic processes occur on smaller submerged structures that are physically analogous to seamounts. Our findings highlight important nuances in environmental processes that occur on morphologically distinct coral reef habitats and these are likely to be important drivers for the community dynamics of organisms that inhabit these reefs.

text: Contrasting hydrodynamic regimes of submerged pinnacle and emergent coral reefs. Hydrodynamics on coral reefs vary with depth, reef morphology and seascape position. Differences in hydrodynamic regimes strongly influence the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems. Submerged coral reefs on steep-sided, conical bathymetric features like seamounts experience enhanced water circulation as a result of interactions between currents and the abrupt physical structure. There may also be similar interactions between smaller pinnacles and regional water currents in offshore locations (crests > 10 m), while shallow reefs (crests <10 m) may be more subject to surface currents driven by wind, waves and tide. Here we tested whether coral pinnacles experienced stronger and more variable currents compared to emergent reefs at the same depth in both nearshore and offshore positions. Current speeds and temperature were monitored for 12 months at 11 reefs, representing the three different reef categories: submerged offshore pinnacles, emergent offshore reefs and emergent nearshore reefs. We found different patterns in current speeds and temperature among reef types throughout the year and between seasons. Submerged pinnacles exhibited stronger, more variable current speeds compared to both near and offshore emergent reefs. We found seasonal changes in current speeds for pinnacle and nearshore reefs but no variation in current strength on offshore reefs. Whilst instantaneous current directions did reflect the seascape position of individual sites, there was no difference in the directional variability of current speeds between reef types. Annual daily average temperatures at all reef types were not strongly seasonal, changing by less than 2 °C throughout the year. Daily temperature ranges at specific sites however, exhibited considerable variability (annual range of up to 6.5 °C), particularly amongst offshore emergent reefs which experienced the highest temperatures despite greater exposure to regional-scale circulation patterns. Additionally, we found a consistent mismatch between satellite sea surface temperatures and in-situ temperature data, which was on average 2 °C cooler throughout the annual study period. Our results suggest that distinct hydrodynamic processes occur on smaller submerged structures that are physically analogous to seamounts. Our findings highlight important nuances in environmental processes that occur on morphologically distinct coral reef habitats and these are likely to be important drivers for the community dynamics of organisms that inhabit these reefs.

year: 2022-08-12

title: Form-focused instruction: A case study of Vietnamese teachers’ beliefs and practices

authors: Le, Van Canh

subjects: teacher beliefs and practices

abstract: Despite the reported powerful influence of teachers’ beliefs on their pedagogical practices in the classroom, very few in-depth case studies of foreign language teachers’ beliefs and the correspondence between their beliefs and instructional strategies have been internationally published – Woods (1996) being an important exception. Moreover, not a single in-depth study has ever been conducted in the context of Vietnamese state secondary schools, where teachers are non-native speakers, resources are minimal, and access to published scholarship and research is very limited. The present qualitative case study seeks to occupy this research space because contextual factors such as limited access to expert knowledge, teachers’ isolation, a prescribed curriculum, time constraints, and high-stake examinations need to be part of any analysis of teachers’ beliefs and the correlation between beliefs and practices. It has explored the beliefs about form-focused instruction held by a group of eight teachers with teaching experience ranging from 24 to 2 years and the relationship between their beliefs and practices as well as factors shaping their beliefs. Eighteen interviews (ranging from 30 to 60 minutes long) and observations of 24 naturally occurring form-focused lessons in 12 groups of 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, i.e., all grades of the upper secondary school level, and 18 hours of stimulated recall interviews were conducted to collect the data. The audio- and video-recorded data were fully transcribed and translated from Vietnamese into English, and were subjected to a process of interpretative analysis through a constant comparison and contrast of the various data. As it is revealed in the study that teachers showed a strong inclination to adopt a deductive approach to grammar with pupils memorising of grammatical rules and terminology, and doing the controlled grammar exercises in the textbook as the best way of learning grammar. Neither their beliefs nor practices were related to either current theories of language learning within the mainstream Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research or to the methodology promoted in the prescribed curriculum. Findings of the study also indiate that while teachers’ beliefs were affected by multiple contetxual factors, experiences which were accumulated through the process of socialisation in their professional community played the most influential role. Such beliefs constituted their personal theories for practice, which shaped what they did in the classroom and how they did it. Thus, these teachers shared a ‘collectively normative pedagogy’, which was underpinned by their common beliefs and justified by their common pattern of beliefs and practices. Although this is a case study and as such it is not valid to make generalisations, it has some significant contributions to add to an understanding of teachers’ beliefs in terms of research methodology and theoretical understanding with reference to teacher cognition and teacher professional development in the specific educational context where the teaching of English is undertaken by non-native-English-speaking teachers. These are discussed in the concluding chapter, Chapter VII.

text: Form-focused instruction: A case study of Vietnamese teachers’ beliefs and practices Despite the reported powerful influence of teachers’ beliefs on their pedagogical practices in the classroom, very few in-depth case studies of foreign language teachers’ beliefs and the correspondence between their beliefs and instructional strategies have been internationally published – Woods (1996) being an important exception. Moreover, not a single in-depth study has ever been conducted in the context of Vietnamese state secondary schools, where teachers are non-native speakers, resources are minimal, and access to published scholarship and research is very limited. The present qualitative case study seeks to occupy this research space because contextual factors such as limited access to expert knowledge, teachers’ isolation, a prescribed curriculum, time constraints, and high-stake examinations need to be part of any analysis of teachers’ beliefs and the correlation between beliefs and practices. It has explored the beliefs about form-focused instruction held by a group of eight teachers with teaching experience ranging from 24 to 2 years and the relationship between their beliefs and practices as well as factors shaping their beliefs. Eighteen interviews (ranging from 30 to 60 minutes long) and observations of 24 naturally occurring form-focused lessons in 12 groups of 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, i.e., all grades of the upper secondary school level, and 18 hours of stimulated recall interviews were conducted to collect the data. The audio- and video-recorded data were fully transcribed and translated from Vietnamese into English, and were subjected to a process of interpretative analysis through a constant comparison and contrast of the various data. As it is revealed in the study that teachers showed a strong inclination to adopt a deductive approach to grammar with pupils memorising of grammatical rules and terminology, and doing the controlled grammar exercises in the textbook as the best way of learning grammar. Neither their beliefs nor practices were related to either current theories of language learning within the mainstream Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research or to the methodology promoted in the prescribed curriculum. Findings of the study also indiate that while teachers’ beliefs were affected by multiple contetxual factors, experiences which were accumulated through the process of socialisation in their professional community played the most influential role. Such beliefs constituted their personal theories for practice, which shaped what they did in the classroom and how they did it. Thus, these teachers shared a ‘collectively normative pedagogy’, which was underpinned by their common beliefs and justified by their common pattern of beliefs and practices. Although this is a case study and as such it is not valid to make generalisations, it has some significant contributions to add to an understanding of teachers’ beliefs in terms of research methodology and theoretical understanding with reference to teacher cognition and teacher professional development in the specific educational context where the teaching of English is undertaken by non-native-English-speaking teachers. These are discussed in the concluding chapter, Chapter VII.

year: 2011

title: Grounding our collective Talanoa, Enabling open conversations

authors: Fa'avae, David Taufui Mkiato

abstract: As co-editors in this special issue of the Waikato Journal of Education (WJE), we share our talanoa thoughts and open conversations from the University of Waikato in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton), a place and space that has a special relationship with Waikato-Tainui and the Kīngitanga. We acknowledge our ties with Māori as tangata moana (people of the ocean), noting the past as well as the existing vā connections between the Kīngitanga and other Pacific peoples and leaders, including the House of Tupou, the royal family of Tonga. We are also mindful of our responsibility to honour Te Tiriti and to the honouring of tangata whenua and their mana whenua. At the same time, we embrace the ancestral connections between Māori and Pacific people through shared common heritages (Te Punga Somerville, 2012), of voyaging, wayfinding, knowledge and ako by which they settled Moananuiākea (the Hawaiian term for the Pacific Ocean) in one of “the greatest feats in human history” (Hawaii State Legislature, 2021, n.p.). We hope this volume honours those relationships and our shared whakapapa, whanaungatanga, and kaupapa.

text: Grounding our collective Talanoa, Enabling open conversations As co-editors in this special issue of the Waikato Journal of Education (WJE), we share our talanoa thoughts and open conversations from the University of Waikato in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton), a place and space that has a special relationship with Waikato-Tainui and the Kīngitanga. We acknowledge our ties with Māori as tangata moana (people of the ocean), noting the past as well as the existing vā connections between the Kīngitanga and other Pacific peoples and leaders, including the House of Tupou, the royal family of Tonga. We are also mindful of our responsibility to honour Te Tiriti and to the honouring of tangata whenua and their mana whenua. At the same time, we embrace the ancestral connections between Māori and Pacific people through shared common heritages (Te Punga Somerville, 2012), of voyaging, wayfinding, knowledge and ako by which they settled Moananuiākea (the Hawaiian term for the Pacific Ocean) in one of “the greatest feats in human history” (Hawaii State Legislature, 2021, n.p.). We hope this volume honours those relationships and our shared whakapapa, whanaungatanga, and kaupapa.

year: 2021