Othering in an English Language Program

Palfreyman, David

doi:10.2307/3588309

Cited by 39 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Both groups (online and campus students) reported seeing the other group as quite separate from themselves. This is similar to the othering described by Palfreyman (2005), with both groups talking about us and them, with little realisation that they were in fact very similar to each other; the online students expressed feeling excluded from the campus students' social community. This was interesting since there was actually some movement of students from campus to online and viceversa.…”

Section: Elicited Feedback From Online and Campus Studentssupporting

confidence: 73%

Teaching the disembodied: Othering and activity systems in a blended synchronous learning situation

Cunningham

2014

IRRODL

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This study examines what happens when online and campus students participate in real time in the same campus classroom. Before this study, postgraduate students studying online in a course intended primarily as professional development for language educators were taking the course through reading the course literature including assigned articles, writing reflective texts in the asynchronous forum and doing the course assignments. They had a very different experience than the campus students who met weekly for discussion of the reading. Some online students were not active enough in the course, and showed low levels of engagement. The online students were invited to participate in scheduled campus classes via Skype on iPads. After some hesitation, four of the six online students took up this real-time participation option. Initial difficulties with the technology were addressed after seeking input from campus and online students. A series of adjustments were made and evaluated, including a move to a model in which three online students in different locations participated in a single Skype group video call on a laptop in the campus classroom rather than on multiple individual Skype calls on iPads. After the course, the online and campus students were asked to evaluate the experience of having physical and virtual participants sharing a physical space and to relate this experience to the asynchronous channels previously available to the participants. The comments of both groups of participants were interpreted in the light of previous work on social presence and of activity theory. It appears that student beliefs and student expectations lead to hidden challenges associated with mixing these groups of students, and the study concludes that unless teaching assistance is available, it is not easy to afford online students the same right to speak as campus students.

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Section: Elicited Feedback From Online and Campus Studentssupporting

confidence: 73%

Teaching the disembodied: Othering and activity systems in a blended synchronous learning situation

Cunningham

2014

IRRODL

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“…Othering is the process by which the discourse of a particular group defines others in opposition to itself and tends to make value judgments based on stereotyped opinions about that group as a whole (Palfreyman, 2005). Discourse that associates international students with the lowering of standards too easily gives credence to statements such as that all international students have low English levels; that local students do not have difficulty with English language; and that it is only because of English language deficiencies that EAL students are failing to gain employment on graduation.…”

Section: English and Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graduating as a ‘native speaker’: international students and English language proficiency in higher education

Benzie

2010

Higher Education Research & Development

118

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The current concern about low levels of English proficiency among international students who graduate from degree courses -that students' English language skills are not being developed during their higher education experience -reflects negatively on the quality of Australian higher education and its graduates. More careful selection of students and increased use of English language testing are among the solutions put forward. These debates over English language proficiency tend to construct English language as a skill that can be applied in any context and 'native-speaker'-levels of language ability as essential for employment. Within such a formulation international students can only ever be defined as in deficit. Drawing on socio-cultural theories of language learning and academic literacy, alternative understandings of language proficiency in internationalized higher education are explored. Improved communication skills among graduates are likely to be achieved through a better understanding of issues beyond classroom instruction, such as barriers to social integration with native-speakers, which reveal many international students unable to access adequate levels of language experience. Without wider perspectives on the debate over English language proficiency in higher education, the many benefits of having international students in higher education institutions are obscured by negative attitudes and unrealistic expectations.

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“…There is no shortage of illustrative examples of this tendency, but I choose Palfreyman (2005) because it is a valuable interview-based study from a leading journal in our field. Although it explicitly refers to issues of representation and recognises the relevance of personal relationships, these aspects are not examined in terms of the interviews themselves.…”

Section: Issues Of Quality In Published Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in qualitative research in language teaching since 2000

Richards

2009

Lang. Teach.

129

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This paper reviews developments in qualitative research in language teaching since the year 2000, focusing on its contributions to the field and identifying issues that emerge. Its aims are to identify those areas in language teaching where qualitative research has the greatest potential and indicate what needs to be done to further improve the quality of its contribution. The paper begins by highlighting current trends and debates in the general area of qualitative research and offering a working definition of the term. At its core is an overview of developments in the new millennium based on the analysis of papers published in 15 journals related to the field of language teaching and a more detailed description, drawn from a range of sources, of exemplary contributions during that period. Issues of quality are also considered, using illustrative cases to point to aspects of published research that deserve closer attention in future work, and key publications on qualitative research practice are reviewed.

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Othering in an English Language Program

Cited by 39 publications

References 27 publications

Teaching the disembodied: Othering and activity systems in a blended synchronous learning situation

Teaching the disembodied: Othering and activity systems in a blended synchronous learning situation

Graduating as a ‘native speaker’: international students and English language proficiency in higher education

Trends in qualitative research in language teaching since 2000

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