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Studies of introduced subject matter in rock-art assemblages typically focus on themes of cross-cultural interaction, change and continuity, power and resistance. However, the economic frameworks guiding or shaping the production of an assemblage have often been overlooked. In this paper we use a case study involving a recently recorded assemblage of introduced subject matter from Marra Country in northern Australia's southwest Gulf of Carpentaria region to explore their production using a hybrid economy framework. This framework attempts to understand the nature of the forces that shape people's engagement with country and subsequently how it is being symbolically marked as adjustments to country occur through colonization. We argue that embedding these motifs into a hybrid economy context anchored in the pastoral industry allows for a more nuanced approach to cross-cultural interaction studies and adds another layer to the story of Aboriginal place-marking in colonial contexts. This paper aims to go beyond simply identifying motifs thought to represent introduced subject matter, and the cross-cultural framework(s) guiding their interpretation, and instead to direct attention to the complex network of relations that potentially underpin the production of such motifs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's picture books contribute to children's development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children's books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper's Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children's Literature. The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles. These findings are concerning as the evidence shows that gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experience of young children and a requirement of educational policies rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on the cross-cultural comparative analysis that was undertaken as part of the Social Unit of Learning project investigating student collaborative problem solving in China and Australia. The video-based research examined the 'negotiative foci' of dyadic student interaction during collaborative problem solving within the mathematics classroom setting. In the analysis we take negotiative focus as the central construct and compare the student interactions in terms of their focus on either facts and procedures, didactical norms, or social/interpersonal considerations. We report on the analysis based on an open-ended pair task (Household task) that was completed by year 7 students (mostly 12- to 13-year olds) in China and Australia. In the study we analysed the video and written responses of 20 student pairs from three year 7 classes in China (40 students in total) and 25 student pairs from two year 7 classes in Australia (50 students in total). The findings from this comparative study provide empirical evidence regarding how the participating students in each country interpreted and negotiated meaning as they tackled the open-ended task collaboratively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural interaction plays an important role in contributing to international students’ learning and wellbeing in the host country. While research on international students’ intercultural interactions reveals multifaceted aspects of personal and social factors, there is a tendency to consider language barrier and cultural differences as individual factors that constrain their interactions with the institutional community. Drawing on 105 interviews with international students in Australian vocational education and training and dual sector institutions, this paper examines international students’ intercultural interactions in host institutions and the factors that act as enablers or inhibitors for intercultural interactions. It highlights the social and structural conditions in creating symbolic capital of elitist Anglo-Australian culture and English language, and social differentiation. This paper offers insights into understanding the legitimacy of such elitism, in hope that future conceptualisation, research and practices of intercultural interactions may locate international students within their cultural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on the processes and outcomes of an experiential learning intervention designed to improve intercultural skills in accounting students by building cross-cultural alliances in culturally mixed groups. The cultural backgrounds of students in accounting units are diverse, and it has proved difficult to break down barriers to interaction between students from different countries. Students were required to complete some alliance building activities as well as working in multicultural groups when completing a major piece of assessment. At the end of the semester, these students were surveyed about their cultural learning, and the results were compared with those from students in similar accounting units who had not participated in the intervention. The results show that students participating in the intervention units reported higher levels of cultural learning than those in corresponding control units. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and their wider implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, research on higher education has increasingly examined the realities of internationalisation, with a particular focus on international students' experiences and internationalisation at home programs. These studies have explored the friendships of international students, including their relationships with both locals and internationals from other countries. However, local students' perspectives and experiences of friendship are largely absent from this literature. The few accounts examining local students' lives explicitly focus on improving their cross-cultural knowledge and engagement, or on rare cases of local-international student friendships. The overriding assumption in this literature is that the understandings and social practises of local students are major barriers to their relationships with internationals. This paper addresses this gap by exploring local students' perspectives on the absence of friendships with their international peers. We utilise findings from a research project on internationalisation at home, involving interviews and focus groups with local and international students and staff at an Australian university. Focusing on locals' discussions of potential friendships with internationals, we propose that these missing friendships are an important area of study. We find that these friendships are missing for several interrelated reasons: local-international friendships are considered unnecessary and are therefore unimagined by locals, who tend to assume that similarity and affinity naturally lead to friendships, and the structures and spaces that might facilitate friendships are absent. Ultimately, uncovering why these friendships are missing sheds fuller light on how relationships might be facilitated, potentially informing and improving universities' internationalisation initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a citation-context analysis of journal articles from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Examining publications from the sociology of health and medicine, the study draws a number of conclusions about the state of sociology, inter-country relationships between knowledge workers, and national systems of sociological knowledge production. It finds that core–periphery relations define significant features of sociological work, impacting on citation patterns, inter-country collaboration and the selection of reference materials. Core–periphery relations are also found to influence the sociological production of knowledge across the Australian university sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: This paper empirically addresses the question of whether the meaning of ethical leadership is constant across cultures. Drawing on the implicit leadership theory (ILT), we examine whether people in Australia and Pakistan respond to perceived ethical leadership in a similar or different manner. By comparing employees' interpretation of the key attributes associated with ethical leadership, we advance construct-specific knowledge in cross-national contexts. Design/methodology/approach: Since meaningful cross-country comparisons of a research construct require an equivalent measurement of it, we examine the issue of cross-cultural measurement invariance of ethical leadership. Specifically, this study explores the configural, metric and scalar invariance of ethical leadership by obtaining data from matched international samples. Findings: The findings broadly support cross-cultural generalisability of the construct's meaning and cross-cultural transferability of the ethical leadership scale (ELS). They suggest that measures of ethical leadership constructs should be used in different cultures with caution because significant differences may exist at the item level. Originality/value: This study provides cross-cultural endorsement to the construal of ethical leadership by presenting evidence that supports convergence in the construct's meaning across Eastern and Western cultures. The study has enhanced the construct validity of ethical leadership through the use of the refined multiple-sample analytical approach. Previous studies have assumed that measures of ethical leadership are invariant across various contexts. However, this is the first study to employ a robust methodological technique (metric and path invariance) that demonstrates the significant difference between each item and path and generalises the validity of ethical leadership construct and its measures by using international samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of global citizenship appears to be a commonly featured element in graduate attributes outcomes at Australian universities. Global citizens are expected to be able to successfully function in diverse environments within multi-cultural teams, and thus make a positive contribution to the communities in which they work and serve. Intercultural competency is, therefore, an essential element of being a global citizen and an issue of relevance in a modern society with globalised economies and increasing labour mobility opportunities. This paper argues that intercultural competency is best acquired 'in the field', that is, through first hand experience gained by being on location in a foreign land. Whilst student exchange programs provide this opportunity, this is not possible for every individual, due to personal matters, work commitments and financial issues. An alternative approach is offered through an international study tour that provides students with a short term cultural immersion experience. This paper reports on the results of such an experience that was shared within both business and social contexts, for a small cohort of business studies students enrolled at an Australian university. These students participated in a two week international study tour to Malaysia during the later part of 2010. Based on data from voluntary surveys, the paper concludes that that the study tour experience improved aspects of the students' intercultural competency, such as dissimilarity openness, self-monitoring and intercultural communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methodological shifts in human geography, generally under the banner of the 'cultural turn', have seen an increased focus on methods such as interviews, discourse and textual deconstruction, and the recognition of notions such as reflexivity and intersubjectivity. Together these approaches argue that there is no logical natural order of things or notions of universality. These approaches argue that there is no such thing as objectivity in social research, but that research is informed by the experiences, aims and agency of those performing the research and that researchers should be written into the research environment. Drawing on these insights, the purpose of this paper is to explore a methodological approach centred on actor-network theory (ANT) and suggest how this approach could add value to research being undertaken in human geography. Within such an approach all research findings are created by the researcher through, first, the objectives and framing of a research project and, second, the methods used to create and follow the research network. Drawing on research into residential development and planning on the fringe of Sydney, Australia, this paper has three objectives: first, to position all research as partial and as the product of associations that stretch beyond the research field; second, to argue that all research is a process of translation; and, third, to explore the manner in which we as researchers construct ourselves in efforts to enter networks of research interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at a conference on cross cultural studies in Australia is presented. The topics are focused on cultural practice and modes of criticisms. The presenters include Melissa Gregg, Jean Burgess and Kris Cohen. The studies presented include blogging, computer hacking and online journalism.

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The importance of cross-cultural experiences in teacher education has become more pressing than ever. The composition of schools across Australia is increasingly more diverse, therefore it is pertinent to examine and develop pre-service teachers’ worldview and culturally sensitive dispositions critical for teaching in predominantly multicultural classrooms. This paper examines whiteness and otherness within the notion oftourist gazeand its implication in the development of racially aware teachers in cross-cultural teaching programmes and mostly in retrospect, a programme that could dismantle the naturalisation of privilege identities and structures. It presents students’ dispositions and observations about cultural and pedagogical practices different from their own. The fragmented journal accounts of participants were juxtaposed using the active methodology of bricolage and represented through critical reflection and racial understandings. This enacts a provocative stance between the personal and analytical towards becoming white teachers by turning one’s gaze of the non-white other towards the self-as-white. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recent period can only be seen as one of rapid and substantial churn as UK governments have attempted to widen participation, strengthen the national system of innovation and control the direct public costs of higher education. Very similar issues have dominated the debate in Australia. This paper compares the current position of two higher education systems which have done similar things but in a different order, and in different social, political and economic settings. The paper, in a longer version that is available on the HEPI website, was first presented in HEPI's annual lecture series. The version published by HEPI contains all the tables and figures used in the lecture. In 2003, in the first of the HEPI lectures, Lord Dearing addressed four themes: finance; competition and growth; diversity of provision and the role of Higher Education in society. Despite all the changes in the past decade, all these issues remain at the core of the debate on the design of effective higher education systems. With reference to these themes, the paper considers: the organisation of the two university systems; entry standards and social equity; the effect of deregulating student numbers; research patterns; and the relationship between business and universities. The technical analysis of student support mechanisms and loans structure is not investigated because detailed coverage has already been given in a number of studies commissioned by HEPI during 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Issue 17:4 marks a very real achievement in the unfolding history of Continuum, as it is the first time we have published four issues of the journal in an annual volume. In the past decade we have moved from two (often irregular) issues per volume, to three issues to four per volume in our current format. This has happened because of a number of dedicated people who continue to work with passion and commitment. Not least of these are the reviewers who must groan whenever they see another e-mail from one of the editors asking for a small favour. It is the tolerance and goodwill of our reviewers (many of whom still remain friends) that allow us to publish such high-quality papers. It is our intention to publish all the names of reviewers in issue 4 of each volume. It is our way of acknowledging their contribution and to say thank you. This issue also extends our association with the Cultural Studies Association of Australia with the publication of a selection of papers from the 2002 annual conference, 'Ute Culture--the Utility of Culture and the Uses of Cultural Studies", in Melbourne. The collection is edited by Brett Farmer, Fran Martin and Audrey Yue. We leave it to them to comment on the papers, but must at this point acknowledge their hard work and dedication in putting the issue together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to move beyond what Martin and Ruhs described as the numbers versus rights equation in temporary labour migration programs. We do this by examining the ideology of temporary labour migration. This ideology has three key elements: temporariness, labour markets and rights. The paper describes how these concepts obscure key features of temporary labour migration programs. The argument is developed by examining points of contrast between current programs in place in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. The paper concludes by demonstrating how unmasking the power imbalances of this ideology will lead to new policy directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing enrolment of Chinese students has become a key feature of internationalisation for Western universities, but there is limited research into how curriculum internationalisation affects Chinese students’ learning experiences. Using the typologies of curriculum internationalisation as a framework, this paper explores and compares how Scottish and Australian universities integrate international and intercultural elements into their curriculum to support Chinese postgraduate taught students’ study. Interviews, focus groups and a survey are used as the main research methods. Analysis reveals that the practice of curriculum internationalisation in both countries is rather limited, and that Chinese students express a desire for more international perspectives in the course content, and for more mobility experiences, in order to prepare for their future careers. The mismatch between academics’ and students’ understandings of curriculum internationalisation is highlighted as an arena of power differential and an area for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a number of approaches to an analysis of settler colonial subjectivities, the exploration of a specific state of mind and the detection of a number of paranoiac dispositions in a particular set of political traditions. At the same time, this paper explores the possibility of a Lacanian (i.e. imaginary-symbolic-real) interpretation of what is here defined as the settler colonial situation. First there is an imaginary spectacle, an ordered community working hard and living peacefully Little House on the Prairie style. Then there is the symbolic and ideological background: a moral and regenerative world that supposedly epitomises settler democratic traditions (the 'frontier', the 'outback', the 'backblocks', etc.). Finally, there is the real: expanding capitalist orders associated with the need to resettle a growing number of people. While this paper is aware that the categories of this analysis were initially developed in order to classify individual psychic phenomena and not collective processes and while it is suggestive rather than conclusive (and while it focuses on Australia's settler colonial condition), this paper is especially aimed at outlining the possibility for further research. It ultimately suggests that 'settler society' is in itself a fantasy emanating from a painful perception of growing contradictions and social strife, where the prospect of settler migration literally operates as a displacement of tension, and where the longing for a classless, stationary and settled body politic can find expression. This paper also suggests that an appraisal of the settler colonial situation can contribute to the interpretation of current contestations surrounding Indigenous difference in settler societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report on research which addressed two purposes. First, to test the fit between, the theoretical model, and the empirical findings from an earlier reported study. Secondly, to test the extrapolative and interrelated nature of a two sets of cultural adjustment constructs designed to enhance the personal wellbeing and intra-cultural interaction of cross-border managers when on foreign assignments. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 244 cross-border managers working for Australian private sector businesses in South-East Asia in two broad industry groups: manufacturing/industrial, and financial/services. Respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire based on two separate dimensions associated with an individual''s adjustment to cross-border circumstances vis., personal wellbeing and intra-cultural interaction. This paper evaluates the measurement fit between the identified constructs, by first examining any significant relationship though a structural equation model using LISREL 8; and then through employing path analysis. Findings - Results from the structural equation modeling were significant; and suggest a sound fit between the theoretical model and the empirical findings. The path analysis further supports the multidimensional model. The results provide direction for organisations in addressing cultural adjustment issues to support the personal wellbeing; and the intra-cultural interaction; of cross-border managers. Research limitations/implications - Future research will need to consider the potential for measurement invariance associated with the framework identified in this paper. Originality/value - The overall results provide useful insights for organisations as to important interventions to assist cross-managers in becoming more attuned to their new job, business and cultural surroundings and circumstances. In this respect, cross-border organisations need to include such interventions amongst the "adjustment experiences" for their cross-border managers in developing personal wellbeing skills and intra-cultural interaction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an historical case study is presented of the transplanting of curricular and instructional practices from the United States to Australia. The case study draws upon a collection of education policy documents (syllabuses, policy statements and correspondence) and oral histories recorded with key curriculum workers in Queensland (one of eight states and territories in Australia) from 1969 to 1989. Analyses of these data provide valuable insights into the complexities and intricacies of two eras of curriculum development and reform, and more broadly, into the validity or otherwise of significant historical assumptions and explanations held about those and other reform efforts, The paper advocates the use of conceptual constructs (social and cross-cultural perspectives) and methodological approaches (document analysis and interview-based fieldwork in the form of "oral histories") in further empirical research on the transplanting of social studies across societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is to illustrate Australian regional pre-service teachers' perceptions of an international practicum: their cross-cultural understanding, notions of privilege and teacher/professional identity development. Findings indicate that there were three overlapping dimensions of cross-cultural understanding for pre-service teachers: distance, friction and flow. At times students acknowledged the value of their placement, yet indicated a lack of empathy and engagement with the culture visited. At other times there was clear frustration at the cultural differences, alongside a growth in awareness. The fullest dimension was where pre-service teachers and their students learnt from each other, signalling a sharing towards cross-cultural understanding. Implications of these findings aim to inform how international practicums are designed in the future, as well as signalling directions for further research relating to these border crossings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines issues arising from engagement with the remote Aboriginal community of Papunya. Researching the relationship between the community's football club and the organization of competitive fixtures in the Central Australian Football League (CAFL), we found that contrary to popular discourse the well-being of men in Papunya may be damaged by their participation in ‘town football’. We outline the nature of the current relationship between Papunya and the CAFL and the efforts of Elders to reshape the organizational interface via the establishment of an ‘on-country’ football league. We highlight that organizational rhetoric about reconciliation and cross-cultural awareness is not enough to warrant effective working relationships with Papunya people. We argue that there is a need to move beyond recognition of difference that is embodied in such agendas to develop strategies of interface inclusive of Aboriginal understandings of football [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A small group of high-performing East Asian economies dominate the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. This has caught the attention of Western policymakers, who want to know why East Asian children obtain such high PISA scores, and what can be done to replicate their success. In this paper I investigate whether children of East Asian descent, who were born and raised in a Western country (Australia), also score highly on the PISA test. I then explore whether their superior performance (relative to children of Australian heritage) can be explained by reasons often given for East Asian students’ extraordinary educational achievements. My results suggest that second-generation East Asian immigrants outperform their native Australian peers by approximately 100 test points. Moreover, the magnitude of this achievement gap has increased substantially over the last ten years. Yet there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can explain why East Asian children obtain such high levels of academic achievement. Rather a combination of factors, each making their own independent contribution, seem to be at play. Consequently, I warn Western policymakers that it may only be possible to catch the leading East Asian economies in the PISA rankings with widespread cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduces a series of articles on cross-cultural archaeology in Australia.

This paper examines a traditional Aboriginal Australian genre of performance for fun, known as ‘war corroborees’. These performances along with many other genres were an important part of commercial cross-cultural entertainment in Australia in the long nineteenth century. The performance practices have received little academic attention. When they have it has been within the frame of cultural tourism. This point of reference hides the Aboriginal practices that are drawn on for these performances as well as Aboriginal agency within the practices of commercial entertainment. My aim is to examine the extant documentation from non-Aboriginal observers in the archive related to Aboriginal initiated commercial performance practices in the context of Aboriginal cultures and practices to reveal a different account of these performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marrying into the community whose culture you are studying opens up philosophical and practical quandaries for the researcher and facilitates opportunities that are not otherwise available. Marriage brings with it many subtle shifts in relationships within the community. George Orwell (1937) speaks of class difference but could equally have been talking of cultural difference when he said ‘it is not so much a stone wall as a plate glass pane of an aquarium; it is so easy to pretend that it isn't there, and so impossible to get through it’. Does marriage enable you to cross that barrier? What difference, if any, is there in the nature of the resulting research and its benefits or otherwise to the community? This paper provides a glimpse into the author's journey as a researcher in Northern Cape York Peninsula, Australia and reflects on the way interpersonal relationships influenced her approach to research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT A widely-observed postcolonial phenomenon is the indigenization of English by communities into which it was formerly involuntarily introduced. When this takes place, the community which has appropriated English to serve its own purposes regards the language as their own. The question of the ownership of English has been extensively discussed by applied linguists against the background of globalization and the need for TESOL teachers to agree on what they can legitimately claim to teach. Aboriginal English is non-standard and has a long history in Australia of marginalization. This paper argues, on the basis of Australian and international evidence, that claims of ownership of a dialect of English entail questions of identity, authenticity, group membership and language rights. In particular, it investigates the bidialectal tension affecting Aboriginal Australians, involving ambivalence to Standard English, potential misinterpretation of the unqualified term 'English' and the cross-cultural use of schemas in interpreting speakers of the other dialect. The paper concludes by addressing the question of under what conditions, in view of the assertion of ownership of English by Aboriginal English speakers, education may successfully equip them to operate in a world which requires Standard English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The philosophical and culturally aligned role of pre-service teacher education in Paro, Bhutan and Armidale, Australia is the context for this paper. The effect of these programs to prepare teachers to impart key health information on nutrition is reflected through interviews of school-aged children in Paro (n=8) and Armidale (n=16). The knowledge evidenced from these data included confused and inaccurate understanding of 'sometimes' and 'everyday ' foods and what constitutes three basic food groups of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Students in Armidale regularly cited fast-food chains as synonymous with foods to be limited while this was less of a concern of the students in Paro. Such commercial food availability and other culturally specific differences underline the comparisons in these two locations. The implications of these findings have relevance to the role of school-based teachers and pre-service teacher educators, negotiating for creative space in programs of study employing a research informed position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an evaluation of the transition stages of “development assistance program” (DAP) international students (IS) at a large Australian research university. This group has different backgrounds that suggest distinct transition issues compared with students from wealthier families and/or more industrialized nations. We argue that a more circumspect “stakeholder” approach may be useful when investigating such programmes. Stakeholder theory offers a broader platform upon which to identify and realize mutual long-term interests. Using survey-based student self-reports, we analyse longitudinal quantitative data to examine developmental changes and interrelationships between various adjustment pathways. The results inform strategies for both staff and students to manage these transitions, especially by increasing students’ sense of control and predictability. The findings may assist other academics and administrators to enhance a range of IS programmes, and shed some light on some specific challenges and successes of DAP students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students undertaking field-based learning, in which they work with Indigenous people in Northern Australia, describe a profound learning experience redolent with emotion. Inspired, challenged and transformed, the students are compelled in ways that require them to interrogate their own selves and taken-for-granted beliefs. In this paper, we draw on empirical work with undergraduate students in geography and development studies to investigate what these cross-cultural experiences add to experiential learning models and recent work on emotional geographies. We find that an understanding of the sensory and emotive is imperative if we are to encourage students to build understanding across difference and connect with diverse people, places and experiences in fundamentally new ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998), a component of learning communities, has had a powerful influence in areas as diverse as business practice, interaction in academic departments, and in the way that school teachers plan for their students. This paper reports data from an ongoing cross-cultural study of practitioners' perceptions regarding ways to improve team and individual learning. The data are from three case studies: two university academic departments [one in Australia and one in China] and one Chinese hi-tech company. This allows comparison of ways in which learning communities operate in different cultural and political milieu. The study offers unique insights into how educational organizations operate as learning communities and, consequently, how we may be more effective in promoting workplace learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part of a 13-nation, cross-cultural study of the extent to which principals perceive their pre-appointment experiences had prepared them for the job, the International Study of Principal Preparation (ISPP), this paper compares the responses of novice principals in Turkey and Western Australia. Using a survey based on data from case studies of principals in their first 3 years, the views of 50 Western Australian and 60 Turkish principals were examined in terms of the difficulty of the problems they faced and the extent to which they felt prepared for these problems. Responses were analysed by sex, qualification, age at appointment, school size, and school location. Respondents from both countries found that managing the budget and achieving work/life balance presented challenges for them while working with parents and acquiring adequate resources were not challenging. For Turkish respondents, building positive relationships with staff was more challenging than it was for the Australian respondents. Surprisingly respondents felt well prepared for the tasks they faced, with Australians, females, principals of small schools in rural and remote locations reporting significantly more positive views about their preparation than their counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this paper is the use of video as a decolonising tool in ethnographic research into intercultural communication in child and family health settings. Women and children who are migrants or new arrivals to Australia continue to experience health inequities. Communication is at the heart of these problems. In the practice setting, communication is inherently difficult to critique, particularly when working with vulnerable families. We describe how video was used by the first-named author in her doctoral research exploring intercultural communication between child health nurses and mothers who were migrants or new arrivals to South Australia. In particular, we describe how the use of video becomes a decolonising strategy when the focus of critique is placed on the health professional, rather than on a parent from a potentially vulnerable group. Video enables the researcher to bridge the gap between what health professionals say they do, and what they actually do in their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses changing meanings attached to the concept of community in languages education in the school setting in Australia. The change consists of a shift from "community" as a necessary definitional category, created in the mid 1970s to mark the recognition of languages other than English used in the Australian community to a recognition in the current context of increasingly mobility of people and ideas of the need to problematise the concept of "community" towards working with the complexity of the lived dynamic languages and cultures in the repertoires of students. Intercultural language learning is discussed as a way of thinking about communities in languages education in current times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tackling the phenomenon of using Arabic words by second-generation Lebanese-Australians when conversing in English, and reading it culturally and sociologically, constitutes the primary aim of this article. In so doing, this paper concentrates on a number of spoken Arabic words with particular emphasis on the word "habiib", and shows the relationship between these linguistic constructs and the boundary construction of the embattled identity of these youths. Furthermore, the probing into "habiib" and to a lesser degree, into other Arabic terms, reveals the power relations that traverse the linguistic world of the male and female youths examined by this article. In other words, this article shows the extent to which hybrid linguistic constructs constitute, and are constituted by, unequal gender and ethnic relations. They are also shown to be strategic acts of resistance against the broader community, which tends to keep the users of these words at the margin of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to address HIV infection among college students, a comprehensive measure is needed that can be used with samples from culturally diverse populations. Therefore, this paper assessed the reliability and validity of an HIV/AIDS questionnaire that measures fours dimensions of HIV/AIDS awareness-factual knowledge, prejudice, personal risk, and misconceptions about HIV transmission, and will enable cross-cultural research. The International AIDS Questionnaire-Chinese Version (IIQ-C) was developed and validated by Davis, Tang, Chan, and Noel (1999) for use with Chinese populations. In this study, the validity and reliability of the International AIDS Questionnaire-English Version (IQA-E) was assessed on a sample of English-speaking college students from the United States (N = 200) and Australia (N = 74). The results of the CFA supported the four-factor model, and the normative data show patterns similar to previous research. The total IAQ-E had a high internal consistency (Cronhach's alpha = 0.88). The Cronbach's alphas for the sub-scales were 0.87 (myths), 0.81 (attitudes), 0.66 (personal risk), and 0.40 (facts). A 2-week test-retest reliability study on a sub-sample of 32 students revealed a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient of 0.882 (p < 0.001). This instrument provides a valid and reliable comprehensive measure of HIV/AIDS for use with English-speaking samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the notion of multi-literacy through visual and narrative approaches. The presentation will highlight an innovative cross-cultural research study, initiated in Australia and involving four countries (including Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong), which documents children's life experiences. The everyday lives of children are exposed and interrogated through both the photographic images they have provided and the words that they have attached to them. Through examinations of family, schooling and environment, socio-cultural expressions of the self will be examined. This predominantly visual presentation will provide narrative accounts exploring personal cultural representations. Research relating to the role of new literacies in contemporary education, including narrative and visual, will be presented in detail using authentic experiences for the development of strategies to critically explore meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify culturally distinct features that characterise management discourse in 20 meetings in two Australian banks, as compared with Hong Kong Chinese discourse in similar contexts. Australian managers were found to display a discourse pattern of leadership styles markedly different from the Hong Kong Chinese. For instance, the Australians exhibit a distinctive consultative mode. Instead of using genuine bipolar and multiple choice questions like the Hong Kong Chinese, the Australian managers often ask leading and loaded questions to enlist support from the subordinates. Unlike the Hong Kong Chinese managers who invite subordinates' participation in problem solving, the Australian managers tend to engage in perfunctory consensus-checking before making final decisions. While such features are attributable to cultural and organisational differences, they also indicate a configuration of Australian management styles rather different from that expostulated in the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper that discusses a transnationalist perspective in cultural studies taking Asianization of Australia into consideration. In particular, the article aims to deconstruct the binary divide between "Asia" and "the West" which still informs official discourses of the "Asianization" of Australia. The article then moves on to critique the privileged status of Australia, not only in the official international order but also in cultural studies. A critical transnationalist cultural studies must take the centrality of the nation-state in the modern world system seriously, though not for granted.

Australia's linguistic, ethnic and racial diversity presents many interesting and important methodological challenges to social science research. A much neglected or even officially unacknowledged dimension of intercultural research endeavours are the political and ideological power structures which not only focus and direct research projects, but also influence, if not determine, methodological approaches. This paper examines some aspects of the various power relations and power structures that have, and continue to have, a significant impact on methodological issues and hence on the validity and reliability of research findings. Since much of the debate about immigration (past, present and future) about settlement practices, service and welfare provisions etc. in Australia centers and relies on cross-cultural studies, methodological issues, and the enhancement of a projects validity and reliability should be of paramount importance. Available evidence suggests that this is not necessarily or always the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have shown that international mobility programmes enhance students' intercultural maturity development, regardless of duration, few have attempted to ascertain whether this change is long lasting. This study tested students two years after their participation to see if their intercultural maturity levels continued to progress, plateaued, or regressed in the intervening period. 93% of the study cohort continued to progress in their level of intercultural maturity in at least one dimension, with none regressing, and only one plateauing. This suggests that the shifts in identity, values, and skills that the students develop are far-reaching and profound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to shed new light on empirical and conceptual aspects related to chefs' careers and the hospitality sector. The study examines how the future of the chef's profession is perceived, how future generations of chefs could be developed and the main emerging trends within the chef's scene. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured, face-to-face, online and telephone interviews were conducted with 34 chefs operating in Australia and 35 in Vietnam. Findings: The findings reveal ten dimensions that strongly adhere to knowledge management (KM) and the notions of the knowledge-based view of the firm. In addition, numerous differences in how the two groups perceived aspects of their careers transpire. Based on these findings, a conceptual framework was developed, with important theoretical and practical implications. Practical implications: The importance of KM through talent development, mentoring, creating a learning environment and enhancing problem-solving skills is highlighted. Originality/value: While scholarly works emphasise chefs' value, importance and contributions, little is known about the links between their careers and KM. Furthermore, almost no study has compared chefs across geographic/cultural domains. The study addresses these research gaps and contributes to the conceptual understanding of KM within the chefs' domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]