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The article examines the experiences of Chinese PhD students doing research in China Studies as well as the experiences of their supervisors who supervise their research in Australian universities. By conducting semi-structured interviews with both PhD students and their supervisors, we aim to understand the expectations, concerns and challenges of both students and supervisors involved in the PhD journey. We found that the main concerns and challenges of students lie in the tight timeframe of scholarship, their 'ideological dissonance' and their relations with supervisors. The supervisors hope their Chinese students could improve academic writing skills, critical thinking skills and social skills in order to well accommodate the research culture in Australia and successfully complete their PhD research. Our findings could help Australian universities to better understand the cultural and educational challenges of Chinese PhD students and to further build up the quality for research training to attract more international research students from China and elsewhere.

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the attempts of taught master course students' publications from actor-network theoretic (ANT) perspectives based on the authors' experiences. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, self-study was chosen as the research method. Self-study is a qualitative research approach based on autobiography, available materials, narratives or memory-work for researchers to investigate their own practice from professional and personal experiences and work with critical friends. In this study, self-study was conducted based on the reflective narratives of three authors (the students, Authors 1 and 2, and the lecturer, Author 3), which aims to examine the meanings and explanations of the authors' ordinary experiences and investigate a variety of their emotional memories. Findings: By drawing on ANT, this study explored how the authors translated the assignment tasks into publications by negotiating and interacting with various human and non-human actors - academic journals. The journal articles, however, were not solely the outcome of the academic endevours of the authors. Instead, the journals played a role in helping the authors learn about the academic rigour and gain confidence in their own capabilities. Further, the journals also reinforced the academic partnerships between the authors through collaboration on drafting and revising their manuscripts. Practical implications: Firstly, this process of helping students publish their papers should focus on their learning and experience rather than merely promoting competition. Additionally, the importance of reaching an agreement on role division and collaborative work ethics needs to be emphasised. Originality/value: As publications have become increasingly important for graduate students, this study sheds light on the experience of taught master's course students (TMCSs) and their lecturer in jointly publishing papers. While doctoral student publications have received significant attention, TMCSs' publications have not been extensively studied, making this research valuable and original.

Background: In learning astronomy, students need to shift between 3D and 2D representations involving complex interactions between the body and material environment. Little attention has been paid to the iconic nature of this astronomical diagramming. Purpose: This research explored the value for students of diagramming to reveal the structural relationships of astronomical phenomena. The study aimed to (1) operationalise Charles Peirce's pragmatist semiotics to analyse students' bodily and material reasoning (2) identify the iconic nature of students' diagramming through Stjernfelt's activating of Peirce's iconicity. Sample: Two students (a pair) from a class of 30 Year 7 students (12 years old) and their teacher (1) from a government secondary school in Melbourne, Australia. Design and Methods: A micro-ethnographic approach to the analysis of video/audio records and student artefacts was utilised in the context of three moments from a 1 hr lesson on astronomy. This data was analysed using Peirce's sign types of icon, index and symbol to construct a triadic account of the bodily and material nature of students' reasoning as diagramming. Results: The two students determined, by revealing structural relationships with their bodies as well as a mini-whiteboard and a torch and globe, that the Sun is higher in the sky in Summer than Winter due to the Earth's rotational axis with a tilt (of 23.5 degrees) and its elliptical orbit around the Sun. Conclusion: For students to transduct between 3D and 2D astronomical representations, they need to coordinate space-based and Earth-based perspectives through bodily and material diagramming that makes apparent key structural relationships (i.e. iconicity).

The "boy turn" in research on gender and education has sought to understand how social practices and schooling contribute to the process of orientation to particular identities. This paper applies the theories of affect to explore the story of an underprivileged, low-achieving Samoan boy, as he engaged with learning Chinese in an Australian primary school classroom. Through an ethnographic lens, observational, journal entry and interview data reveal that learner identity is not a fixed thing; rather, it is contradictory in nature and constantly impacted by curricular and pedagogic regimes. In this paper, I argue that pedagogic practices, which appear to generate affects and open up spaces for embodying a desire to learn, need to be brought to the fore in classrooms. Research on the affective dimensions of boyhood can add to our understanding of boys' experiences with learning and learner identity, so as to positively influence educational practice today.

Executive function (EF) is critical to students' academic behaviors and well-being. Environmental influences, particularly teacher-student interaction (TSI), play a key role in enhancing EF development. Previous studies have linked TSI quality to children's EF, yet the relationships between subdimensions of TSI--such as closeness, conflict, dependency, emotional support, classroom management, and instructional support--and EF outcomes remain unclear. Moreover, it is unclear whether these relations hold true across different cultural contexts. From an initial pool of 14,915 articles, in this meta-analysis, we considered 84 empirical studies across 18 cultural regions, revealing that TSI subdimensions are consistently related to EF with small-to-medium effect sizes. The analysis also identified statistically significant moderating factors, such as individualism, power distance, EF type, EF instrument, and socioeconomic status. Notably, stronger TSI-EF correlations were found among children from cultures with low-individualism and high-power-distance, as well as among children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. These patterns were particularly pronounced in studies measuring hot EF through adult-reported data. This comprehensive meta-analysis bridges knowledge gaps in TSI-EF dynamics, and supporting theories, such as attachment theory, social learning theory, and socio-cultural theory within educational settings. Crucially, it provides cross-cultural perspectives showing how cultural and contextual factors may intertwine with TSI-EF interactions.

The identity of first-generation immigrant groups is a highly complex construct, evolving and changing in response to a host of social, psychological, and contextual factors. This paper explores how first-generation Chinese immigrants from mainland China position and negotiate themself in relation to the perceived sociocultural groups they affiliate with. Drawing on Bucholtz and Hall's (2005) sociocultural linguistic approach to identity and interaction, we address the issues of language use and identity through examining the emergent and spontaneous use of indexical references of self in the interviews with first-generation Australian Chinese immigrants. The findings reveal that the immigrants' senses of self are fluid and dynamic, influenced by their desire of ethnic continuity and personal affectional ties. This points to the usefulness of the discursive approach of indexicality for studying identity.

There is a scarcity of scholarship that sheds light on international doctoral students' identity construction in quotidian encounters beyond the formal curriculum. In this autoethnographic study, based on my diary entries, via a socio-constructivist lens, I teased out my multidimensional identity construction by referring to situations, activities and relations embedded in daily experiences during my overseas study sojourn. My autoethnography reveals that how I make sense of my becoming and being as a Chinese sojourning in Australia for doctoral education transcends the experientiality of doing research alone, but incorporates gendered, sociocultural and professional facets within my past-present-future life trajectory. As I navigated these encounters, strategically mobilising my agency and utilising structural contexts towards the aim of achieving ontological security, I engaged in negotiating a transformative identity. The research calls for more studies in the future that explore the complexities and nuances of international doctoral students' identity construction in quotidian realities.

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder. It had been suggested that public awareness is low for DLD, especially in comparison with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and dyslexia. This study investigated awareness of DLD, ASD, ADHD, and dyslexia, as well as specific language impairment (SLI) in Australia. An online survey about awareness and knowledge of DLD, SLI, ASD, ADHD, and dyslexia was completed by 272 people in Australia. People had low awareness of DLD (19.9%) compared with ASD (97.4%), ADHD (97.7%), and dyslexia (98.5%). The former label for the disorder, SLI, had an even lower level of awareness (9.4%). People have heard about DLD from a wide range of sources and were likely to have incorrect knowledge about DLD as well as believing ASD or ADHD to be the most prevalent disorders. Awareness and knowledge of DLD appear to be low. More targeted approaches to increasing public awareness of DLD are needed.

This mixed-methods study investigates the design and instructional practices of massive open online courses (MOOCs) instructors within the learning environment to address the cultural diversity and learner personalization needs. Leveraging a grounded theory approach, the researchers analyzed two rounds of email interviews (n1= 25; n2=19) with MOOC and open education leaders about cultural sensitivity and personalization in MOOCs. Those interviews led to the formation of a 30-item online questionnaire completed by 152 MOOC instructors. While many of the MOOC instructors within the sample did not fully grasp the complex issues of cultural diversity, most made attempts to modify their instructional practices to accommodate cultural variances. To address cultural and linguistic differences, instructors added subtitles to video content and offered transcripts for video or audio content. Additionally, instructors were careful with language use and hand gestures, used simplified language, slowed their pace of speech, made the course content easy to navigate, limited text by leveraging (multi)media, and encouraged learners to translate and localize content for their peers. Furthermore, many instructors favored collaborative, small group learning; however, instructors could not agree on best practices to establish these groups. Implications and future directions for MOOC instructors and instructional designers are offered.

Many research indicated that more and more students choose to drop out of mathematics-related subjects during university study, especially in the western context. Besides the difficulty of mathematics content, first-year university students also face issues of the transition period. Identifying the impact of first-year university students' belief factors on their persistence in mathematics study needed further research. This study served as a pilot study; it structured the framework of first-year university students' mathematics-related beliefs in relation to students' persistence on the further mathematics study. A two-stage approach of using PLS-SEM to assessing the conceptual framework was introduced in detail. The relationships of dimensions of students' epistemological beliefs about mathematics, self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategies and perceptions about learning environment were assessed. This study provides the feasibility for future follow-up studies to examine mathematics-related beliefs and intentions to continue learning among university students on a larger scale.

The relevance of STEM education has been promoted both in Australia and internationally, arising from increasing concerns with the shortages of a highly skilled workforce and economic pressures to increase national competitiveness. Against this backdrop of the global push to embed STEM in schools, this paper explores how Australian schools and teachers responded to this agenda. Employing the notion of relevance, this paper conducted a qualitative case study in an Australian secondary school to address the question: how the broad vision of STEM as a reform agenda was interpreted by teachers and framed in their school. The findings show that focusing on the relevance of STEM points to the potential utility and applicability of STEM when it is integrated into formal schooling, including the ways that STEM can be relevant for students, the curriculum, teaching practices, and the broader STEM context. STEM is made relevant because of these connections and the meanings that arise through that connecting. Moreover, the study illustrates that the teachers' perceptions of the relevance of STEM education was informed by their backgrounds, experiences, and roles in school. Thus, even within one school, there can be different perspectives on how STEM can be made useful and applicable. Understanding these perspectives can be the first step towards the development of a shared vision required to facilitate school change.

Research on grit indicates that perseverance positively predicts academic achievement. Yet, the mechanisms through which perseverance might lead to academic success remain less explored, particularly in cross-cultural research. The current study investigated such mechanisms by examining possible mediating effects of students' use of self-regulated learning strategies (control, memorisation, and elaboration) on the predictive relation of students' perseverance on their academic achievement, in students from East Asian and Anglo-Saxon English speaking Western countries. The sample came from the OECD PISA study and included 24,352 population-representative 15-year-old students from Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, and the US. Results revealed that perseverance had a more positive association with achievement in East Asian cultures than Western cultures. Control strategy was stronger positive mediators of achievement in Western countries, whereas memorisation and elaboration strategy use and instrumental motivation more negatively mediated the effect of perseverance on achievement in Western countries.

Within the field of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) teaching, there has been limited engagement with Global Citizenship Education (GCE). The politicisation of CFL education in today's diverse and multilingual Australian classroom remains a significant cause for concern as it endangers spaces of pedagogic possibility. Drawing upon data from an Australian primary CFL classroom we consider how pedagogic practices speak to Freire's conceptualisation of 'dialogic practice' and 'critical consciousness' and how such approaches open up pedagogical encounters and opportunities for disadvantaged students to become informed global citizens. We explore how students came to recognise themselves as culturally sensitive learners and aware of the future demands of global citizenship through dialogues with their Chinese peers via video conferencing and letters. Through focusing on these pedagogic vignettes of integrating GCE into CFL teaching practice, we present an argument for a more dynamic view of CFL education where pedagogic approaches foreground interconnectedness and diversity.

Refugee-background youth in the Australian context have long been confronted with a series of challenges surrounding their living and educational conditions. However, limited research has been conducted to examine the underlying factors of such problems. This paper critically explores possible factors that contribute to or intensify the challenges that refugee-background children and youth face in Australia by scrutinising related legal documents and education policies (e.g. inclusive and language transition policies). It is argued that the living and learning crisis among refugee-background youth in Australia is a result of: (a) restrictive refugee law; (b) incomplete education policy; and (c) deep-rooted political and historical views on refugees.

The teaching and learning of Chinese remains a fragile undertaking across all stages of Australian schooling. This paper reports on a practitioner inquiry into pedagogic practices and student engagement with disadvantaged primary school students in a Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) classroom in Sydney, Australia. Drawing upon studies of affect as well as the Fair Go Project's theoretical framework concerning student engagement, the research explores how 'difficult' Chinese knowledge and pedagogies of discomfort disrupt social norms and practices. The engagement of students is conceptualised as an interplay of highly affective, highly cognitive and highly operative learning experiences. In this paper, we argue that 'discomforting' emotions evoked by curricular and pedagogic approaches can influence significant change and foster curiosity for CFL education. The paper concludes with a consideration of pedagogic implications for foreign language education and possibilities for future research.

Despite an extensive body of literature scrutinising international students' short-term and long-term mobility experiences, little is known about the connection between the two. To address this gap, this study looks into the perception of a group of Chinese international students on how participation in their short-term mobility (STM) experience affects their navigation of subsequent full-degree experiences. Based on a qualitative investigation into 31 participants, drawing on the ABC theoretical model, this study manifests that penetrating diverse fabrics, the STM experience revealed impacts on the students' preparation for, operating and imagining their long-term study trajectory and beyond. These impacts are embodied in affective, behavioural and cognitive learning gains that are predominantly perceived as positive forces that facilitate navigation of a longer course. The study suggests some implications for stakeholders involved in students' international mobility programs and concludes with directions for future research.

Retention rates for men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are low. Exit is associated with experience of feeling 'other' perpetuated by judgements of men's sexuality, motives, and ability. In this paper, we take the unique circumstance of many men working together in ECEC to ask whether more men on staff improves experiences of inclusion. We analyse interviews with 10 men working in two Australian ECEC centres in which male educators comprise >20%, of the staff; ten times the international representation of men in the ECEC workforce. Our data identify a developmental process in which supports and mentorship, from female and male colleagues, are critical to retention early in career. Beyond, the building of a distinct male contribution underpins continuing career engagement. However, with the presence of more men new tensions emerge as the 'alien invader' becomes the face of the centre, potentially eclipsing the contribution of female colleagues.

This article illustrates a learning sequence from the Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Science (IMS) Learning project, connecting science and mathematics learning in the primary school. Exploring light and its properties involved a series of investigations conducted in Grades 4 and 5 across three classes in two schools in regional Victoria. The teachers implemented an inquiry-based pedagogical model to guide students' spatial reasoning by exploring angle, symmetry, rotation, 2D diagrams and 3D models in an investigation of light reflection, using multiple representations. Students developed ideas from a "maze challenge" used in their design of a periscope.

Dietary intake can affect the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development of young children. Few studies have explored the relationships between dietary intake and the cognitive and socioemotional dimensions of school readiness. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal associations between children's dietary intake in early childhood, and cognitive and socioemotional school readiness indicators at age 4-5 years using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. A total of 4,253 children were included in the analysis. Multiple linear regression models were built to investigate whether dietary intake (measured by questionnaire at parent interview) at age 2-3 years predicted school readiness indicators of socioemotional and behavioral functioning (measured by parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [SDQ total score and pro-social scale]), verbal (assessed by Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Third Edition [PPVT-III]) and nonverbal (assessed by "Who Am I" test [WAI] cognitive skills) at age 4-5 years. Furthermore, using cross-sectional data at age 4-5 years, four multiple linear regression models were built to investigate if dietary intake was correlated with the aforementioned school readiness indicators. All models were adjusted for potential confounders. It was found that every one-point increase in child dietary intake score at age 2-3 years led to a decrease in SDQ total score by 0.19 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.10, 0.28], and an increase in SDQ pro-social scale, WAI score and PPVT score by 0.07 (95% CI = [0.03, 0.10]), 0.27 (95% CI = [0.13, 0.41]), and 0.20 (95% CI = [0.09, 0.30]), respectively, at age 4-5 years. Children's dietary intake was also a correlate of their school readiness at age 4-5 years. These results add to the limited evidence base suggesting that children's early dietary intake may play an important role in later socioemotional and behavioral development, and the development of cognitive skills, which are critical school readiness indicators.

The global forces shaping international education requires us to explore how transnational pre-service teachers navigate new and unfamiliar education contexts. Within studies of transnational pre-service teacher education, the voice of the Chinese diaspora remains largely on the periphery. This article aims to redress this paucity by applying Foucault's fourfold ethical framework to demonstrate how one Chinese teacher's reflexivity can contribute to the construction of an 'ethical self' in Australia. Data were drawn from a teacher-researcher's journal entries and analytic memos documenting self-reflective practices in the course of both teaching and research. The article seeks to adumbrate the ways in which reflexivity--as an ongoing and dynamic process--can work as an intercultural space for developing professionalism and enhancing quality in practitioner research. This work is important if we are to re-imagine teacher education as part of a wider social justice agenda through respecting the experiences and voices of 'others.' Integral to the analysis is promoting the two-way flow of cultural knowledge, particularly those from the Asian diaspora whose voices are often denied in relation to the global dynamics of knowledge production.

This meta-analytic study compared the effect of peer-led learning versus non peer-led learning on students' cognitive achievement in post-secondary education. Twenty-eight studies published in English from six countries between 1993 and 2017 were identified and used in the analysis. Result of the analysis on the random-effect model showed a moderate but positive effect, meaning that peer-led learning was associated with higher cognitive achievement than non-peer-led learning. Three study characteristics were examined including duration, student leaders' training, and task type. Only the task type was found significant in moderating the effect of peer-led learning. Student leaders' facilitation of problem-based learning tasks outperformed other types of tasks. Results of this study not only provided suggestions for peer-led learning designers and coordinators but also called for future research of student leaders' readiness as well as online peer-led learning.

This paper investigates the learning experience of Chinese students' learning experience in the business Faculty of an Australian university. Chinese students are often characterized as "rote learners" or stereotyped as "reduced Other". Areas of concern are limited to addressing the differences in learning styles, language, and sociocultural barriers. However, learning occurs in many forms. There is an absence of discussion about what practices Chinese students use in order to learn. Based on practice-based theory, a longitudinal ethnographic study of the journeys of five students was traced and investigates what practices Chinese students use in the learning and how these students "put things together" in the journey. This paper reports on two of the five students from the larger study. In particular, this article brings attention to the students' everyday life and insights into their doings, sayings, and relatings between people, other beings and material artefacts. Chinese students' learning involves foreground entanglements, co-construction, and relationality of practices from both educational and sociocultural perspectives. This paper provides new insights about Chinese students' learning and encourages academics and institutions to be aware of the impact of their practices and to deepen their understanding of the complexities of Chinese students' learning.

Representations constitute an important part of chemistry knowledge. This paper revisits the notion of the term, symbolic, in the chemistry triangle proposed by Johnstone using the theoretical lens of social semiotics. In doing so, this paper proposes a framework of chemistry learning that highlights representational re-description and coordination as key mechanisms for facilitating connections among the three domains of knowledge: chemical phenomenon (perceptual-experiential level), macroscopic (theoretical-descriptive level) and submicroscopic (theoretical-explanatory level). This paper illustrates how this framework can be used to explore student meaning making of changes of state by examining students' interactions with the phenomena of melting and boiling and with the multiple representations of the phases of matter introduced in the classroom. The findings revealed the opportunities and challenges which emerged from student meaning making with multiple representations in the process of developing an understanding of the submicroscopic view of phase change. It also highlighted the support needed to facilitate such meaning making through representational re-description and coordination in order for students to develop a deep understanding of the logical connections between the particular model and the macroscopic patterns of the observed phenomena.

The effects of school starting age and relative age effects (RAEs) have generated much interest from parents, teachers, policymakers, and educational researchers. Our 10-year longitudinal study is based on a nationally representative (N = 4,983) prospective sample from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The primary outcomes are results from the high-stake, Australia-wide National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy tests in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9, controlling for demographic characteristics (gender, socioeconomic status, school type, and childhood cognition measured before the start of kindergarten). We evaluated how direct and mediated RAEs vary over the first 10 years of schooling for these longitudinal data. Results revealed significant RAEs in primary school years for both numeracy and literacy test outcomes. Effects were large in primary school years but declined in secondary school years. Although the direct effects of RAEs declined over time, there continued to be significant indirect effects over the whole 10-year period. RAEs in primary school had enduring effects that were mediated through the effects of earlier achievement. We juxtapose our results with previous RAE research on achievement and a range of other noncognitive outcomes where the RAEs are enduring into adolescence and even adulthood. We position our research within this broader research literature and discuss implications for educational policy, practice, theory, and future research.

Affective engagement, as one facet of the engagement model, takes on the role of activating other aspects to facilitate continued action in partaking in learning activities. Recognising the silences of Bernstein's theoretical oeuvre on the affective aspect in the process of cultural transmission, this paper applies his concepts of classification (structure relations) and framing (interactional practices) to theorise current empirical work on students' affective engagement in a primary school Chinese language learning (CLL) classroom located in a disadvantaged community in Australia. The data reported in this study were obtained from journal entries, focus groups and interviews with classroom teachers. The focus is on exploring the ways in which pedagogic practice can be used to foster certain 'emotional regimes' which can further the engagement of a diverse group of students in Chinese learning. The findings will expand understandings based on theories of affect and inform second language teachers to harness 'technologies of affect' in pedagogical spaces that work productively for disadvantaged students in the classroom.

Despite suspicions concerning the global expansion of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) education, the teaching of Chinese is often a mainstay within global citizenship and elite education. With this paradox in mind, the paper draws on theories of classed selfhood and learner identities to explore the possibilities of CFL to influence the learner identities of five working-class girls. Through drawing on their narratives, we glimpse the ways in which the pedagogic practices of CFL inform their understandings of their education and future -- specifically their academic aspirations, career choices, and dreams of wealth. Considering the role of CFL in their lives requires a criticality regarding the neoliberal agenda shaping the educational experiences of young women as well as how they construct their subjectivities in relation to what makes a 'good' student and an 'ideal' citizen.

Many governments have launched the top-down early childhood curriculum (ECC) reforms to enhance the accountability of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. The present discourse analysis of latest ECC policies across four diverse but representative countries -- Australia, China, New Zealand, and Singapore -- aims to examine the effects of neoliberalism and contextualization through within- and cross-case analyses. Our findings revealed that despite the mutual interactions and similarities, neoliberal ECC policies had been developed in context-specific ways across countries. Children's agency had been commonly valued to recognize its essential role in effective learning, which was constructed in play, social interaction, and community participation. Moreover, Australia and New Zealand emphasized the development of the culturally competent child on top of children's holistic development, without segregating children's learning into domains. These findings demonstrate the confounding effect produced by the diverse shaping forces in terms of defining the ideal ECC across countries -- 'curriculum hybridization'.

This article addresses key topics of Chinese as an Additional Language (CAL) education and classroom pedagogical practices. It reports on a 3-year ethnographic study within Australian schools to discuss dialogic pedagogical practices and students' aspirations. Based on Freire's conceptualisation of "conscientização" and banking education, the purpose of this article is therefore to unpack a journey to voices, courage and hope of a cohort of socially, linguistically and economically disadvantaged students in Western Sydney, one of the most culturally diverse regions in the country. Their experiences, responses, dreams and understanding of CAL education in multicultural Australia were thus captured. Our data shows that critical CAL education might point to some avenues for the educational equity agenda. By arguing that emancipatory and critical practices could enhance students to achieve consciousness and collective self-transformation, we aim to make a contribution to the literature on CAL and languages education, which all too often isolates from broader issues in educational theory. The article also adds to the limited research that engages with CAL classroom data. Our critical approach to CAL education illuminates the intersections between language and social inclusion. Considering the worldwide growing upheaval and scepticism around CAL education, we call for writing inclusive languages education and related pedagogical practices into the social inclusion agenda in Australia and internationally, for the teaching and learning of all additional languages.

This study explores interpreters' role performance, lawyers' reactions to interpreters' performance, and the perceptions and expectations of the interpreter role among these two groups of professionals. It adopts an ethnographic approach to generate data from observations made in Australia of 20 authentic interpreted lawyer-client interviews and post-observation interviews with the lawyers and the interpreters respectively. The study shows that interpreters are very active participants in lawyer-client interviews, as manifested in their various forms of intervention and in their adoption of roles not stipulated in their professional ethics. The interpreters' active performance of their role relates to their perception of their function, their understanding of the relevant communicative tasks, their assumptions about lawyer's professional needs, and their previous interpreting experience. While lawyers strongly supported an understanding of the interpreter role as "impartial and faithful" and spoke against certain types of interpreter interference, such as interpreters using summarisation, yet in actual practice, very few lawyers were observed to question or stop interpreters' interference, and the lawyers' inaction may in fact be partly responsible for the interpreters' adoption of additional roles. These findings have implications for the professional development of interpreters and for lawyers in how to conduct effective interpreted legal interviews.

Despite widespread discourse subordinating the female PhD as a third gender in the Chinese media, little is known about how this cohort conceptualises themselves, especially in an international context. Based on a qualitative investigation into 10 Chinese female doctoral students in Australia, this study examines their enactment of agency in international academic mobility. Drawing on the notions of "agency in mobility" and in-betweenness, this article shows that Chinese female PhD students demonstrate three forms of agency. Their agency influences how they judge, utilise, produce and imagine relations, symbols and activities in the in-between space, which in turn gives shape to their enactment of agency. This study challenges the validity of the idea that the Chinese female PhD is a sexless third gender and illuminates the dynamic reciprocity between agency and the in-betweenness in shaping their transformative doctoral student identity.

Science education starts at primary school. Yet, recent research shows primary school teachers lack confidence and competence in teaching science (Prinsley & Johnston, 2015). A Victorian state government science specialist initiative responded to this concern by providing professional learning programs to schools across Victoria. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), this paper reports the analysis of transcripts of interviews with 17 science specialists from eleven schools. It presents the various perceived and enacted science specialist roles, and how they changed over time. The CHAT analysis of the transcripts revealed seven different stages describing trajectories of the science specialism. The variation in the trajectories indicate the importance of the influence of the community in the enactment of the science specialism. Affordances, constraints and challenges of implementing the science specialist role are discussed.

The internationalization of higher education has brought students from different countries into direct contact with one another. One of the scenarios is intercultural communication among international students in an online environment mediated through institutional e-learning systems, for example, Moodle and Blackboard. In this paper, I analyze data from an Australian university course online discussion forums involving written communication among international students. I extend the notion of "metacultural competence" (Sharifian, 2013, pp. 8-9) and propose that international students should also develop "metacultural writing competence" for intercultural communication. I also explore the implications for university students and lecturers, who engage increasingly in intercultural communication through writing in English.

There is a growing interest in the value of teachers guiding students to generate their own representations to support conceptual learning in science and across complementary subjects such as mathematics. However, this approach to an interdisciplinary focus poses challenges for programme design and learning assessment. In this paper, we report on a 10-week study with a class of Year 5 students designed to (a) facilitate learning of key concepts in the topic of optics (e.g. reflection), and (b) make meaningful links between these concepts and relevant mathematical ones (e.g. symmetry and angles). Students were expected to construct, evaluate and refine representations to explain various experienced phenomena. We report on an assessment framework developed and applied to student work. Our findings indicate (a) some subject and interdisciplinary learning gains, and (b) specific challenges around designing this kind of programme, student learning assessment and teacher understanding to support this learning.

Against a backdrop of advocacy for interdisciplinary STEM curricula, this paper explores the design principles underpinning a three-year longitudinal research project that develops and evaluates interdisciplinary mathematics and science learning sequences involving multiple teachers and student cohorts across the primary school years. The research uses design-based methodology and deploys a pedagogical cycle based on representation construction and model-based reasoning, reflecting core disciplinary processes, and aimed at foundational concepts. The interdisciplinary structure of sequences in different topics, teacher pedagogy, and student reasoning and learning are illustrated through analysis of three learning sequence vignettes. In these topics both mathematical learning (measure, data modelling and spatial reasoning) and science learning (concepts and practices), were reinforced and enriched through the interdisciplinary framing. Drawing on notes of teacher planning and review meetings, coupled with classroom data, we identify (a) the conceptual and curricular design features through which mathematics and science can synergistically interweave, (b) the epistemological design challenges involved in working with teachers to achieve this interdisciplinary alignment, and (c) the key pedagogical design features that emerged to support this integration. The research contributes to conceptualising how interdisciplinary processes that enable synergistic interweaving of mathematics and science content and processes can be effectively framed and enacted.

Researcher identity has been widely studied as central to doctoral education. However, little is known about students' emic conceptualization of what represents researcher identity based on their lived experience. Using a sample of 24 Chinese doctoral students in Australia, this study adopts volunteer-employed photography (VEP) to facilitate the participants' delineation of their researcher identity. Findings reveal that researcher identity is indexed at three levels: belonging as being, doing as becoming, and limited limitlessness. It presents itself as a complex formulating process in which dichotomous, yet mutually constitutive, forces collide and merge. This study concretizes perceptions about the notion of researcher identity through photographs and corresponding revelatory dialogues in relation to people, objects, feelings, phenomena, and relationships. Some insights on visual research methodology are also discussed.

Purpose: The plural is one of the first grammatical morphemes acquired by English-speaking children with normal hearing (NH). Yet, those with hearing loss show delays in both plural comprehension and production. However, little is known about the effects of unilateral hearing loss (UHL) on children's acquisition of the plural, where children's ability to perceive fricatives (e.g., the /s/ in "cats") can be compromised. This study therefore tested whether children with UHL were able to identify the grammatical number of newly heard words, both singular and plural. Method: Eleven 3- to 5-year-olds with UHL participated in a novel word two-alternative forced choice task presented on an iPad. Their results were compared to those of 129 NH 3- to 5-year-olds. During the task, children had to choose whether an auditorily presented novel word was singular (e.g., "tep," "koss") or plural (e.g., "teps," "kosses") by touching the appropriate novel picture. Results: Like their NH peers, children with UHL demonstrated comprehension of novel singulars. However, they were significantly less accurate at identifying novel plurals, with performance at chance. However, there were signs that their ability to identify novel plurals may improve with age. Conclusion: While comparable to their NH peers at identifying novel singulars, these results suggest that young children with UHL do not yet have a robust representation of plural morphology, particularly on words they have not encountered before.

This study addresses the issue of international education through a human development lens. Using a group of Chinese doctoral students in Australia as a case study, it adopts volunteer-employed photography (VEP) to tease out the negative and positive forces that influence students' developmental trajectories during their doctoral education. Analyzing within the framework of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory, this study reveals that these forces, which transcend the academic sphere, exert varying influences via interactions between individuals and their environment. International doctoral study follows a developmental trajectory that is co-shaped by personal characteristics and the multilayered bioecological system that individuals negotiate and manage day-to-day. This article concludes with practical suggestions for stakeholders involved in this trajectory regarding the optimization of doctoral education.

Background and objective Otitis externa (OE) is a very common disease in Australia. It is associated with swimming and exposure to water. Typically, treatment consists of aural toileting and the use of topical antimicrobial drops. Antimicrobial treatment is empiric, and most Australian guidelines advise the use of dexamethasone/framycetin/gramicidin as first-line therapy. This study aimed to identify the most prevalent pathogens implicated in OE in Queensland, Australia, and determine if there was any variability with the season, proximity to a coastline, age, gender and First Nations status. Methods The primary pathogen cultured, the specimen type, the date of collection and the patient demographics were retrieved from microbiology swabs sent from hospitals to Pathology Queensland. Multivariate analysis was performed on the swabs. Results Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most prevalent pathogen cultured in the external ear in Queensland, at 37.9%. In inland regions, Staphylococcus aureus was the most prevalent organism. Children were three-fold less likely to have OE resulting from a fungal pathogen. Discussion The use of targeted antimicrobials against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in coastal regions during summer is sensible. Due to the low burden of fungal disease in children, there should be a high threshold for the commencement of antifungal ear drops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-out (TO) is a widely utilised parental discipline technique with a strong evidence-base that nonetheless has attracted controversy regarding potential adverse effects on mental health in developing children. Associations between TO implementation and mental health outcomes have rarely been investigated, especially through the eyes of children who grew up experiencing TO. This study recruited 407 university students (Study 1) and a community sample of 535 young adults (Study 2); both samples aged 18–30 years. Young adults were surveyed on their retrospective reports of childhood TO experience, childhood experiences of adversity, perceived parenting style and parental attachment, and their current mental health outcomes (attachment style, emotion regulation and mental health). In Study 1, 334 (82.1%) young adults reported experiencing TO in childhood, but with widely varied implementation that differed considerably from its evidence-based ideal. Reports of more TO appropriate implementation were associated with less avoidant attachment, better mental health, and emotion regulation, over and above the effects associated with authoritative parenting and secure attachment in childhood. While exposure to childhood adversity was associated with poorer adulthood outcomes, TO implementation did not moderate the association. Study 2 replicated most findings from Study 1, except that appropriate TO implementation displayed a positive association with mental health and no associations with anxious and avoidant attachment and emotion regulation. These findings suggest the safety of TO use with young children, including those who experienced childhood adversity, and highlight the importance of disseminating sufficient parenting information on TO in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Aims Materials and Methods Results Conclusions Obstetric ultrasound is an important tool, aiding in screening, diagnosis, and surveillance throughout pregnancy.To explore obstetric doctors', midwives', and sonographers' experiences and views of obstetric ultrasound in Victoria, Australia. To investigate the increasing role of obstetric ultrasound for clinical management, and the adequacy of resources and training for appropriate use of ultrasound in clinical management.This cross‐sectional study forms part of a multi‐national CROss‐Country Ultrasound Study (CROCUS) exploring the views of consumers and health professionals from high‐, middle‐ and low‐income countries. Qualitative studies conducted in several countries informed the construction of a quantitative survey. These quantitative surveys were distributed to 16 hospitals across regional and metropolitan Victoria, Australia. Descriptive statistics were analysed from the responses.There were 354 questionnaires returned from 106 doctors, 222 midwives, and 26 sonographers. Overall, 72% of respondents held concerns about the potential loss of focus on clinical skills with increasing ultrasound use. Midwives were more concerned about the contribution of ultrasound to medicalisation of pregnancy than were doctors (P < 0.001). Many respondents noted that geographical factors (71%), rather than income levels (53%) influenced access to obstetric ultrasound. Over 90% of doctors and midwives believed additional training for their respective professions in ultrasound would enhance its reach and effectiveness.Our survey findings confirm that clinicians place high levels of trust in the diagnostic findings of obstetric ultrasound antenatal care in Australia. Access to routine ultrasound could be improved for women in rural and lower‐income areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. To understand what domains of acculturation are experienced by Chinese immigrants with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Australia and how these domains of acculturation influence their CVD self‐care behaviours. Design. A qualitative descriptive design. Methods. Individual phone interviews were conducted among Chinese immigrants with CVD in Sydney, recruited from Chinese Community associations and social media. Inductive and deductive thematic analysis was employed, guided by the Middle‐Range Theory of Self‐Care of Chronic Illness and the conceptual model of acculturation. Results. Twenty participants, mean age 69.9 years, were interviewed. The domains of acculturation in relation to CVD self‐care behaviours encompassed cultural practices, cultural values, healthcare system navigation, and new living environment. Retaining their Chinese culture and integrating into Australian culture regarding dietary practices, social networks, traditional values and family relationships served as both enablers and barriers of self‐care maintenance through factors such as heart‐healthy diets, physical activity, stress management and medication adherence. Many participants denied encountering difficulties to utilize primary care services, but language barriers deterred them from accessing acute services and heart‐health information from mainstream sources. Some preserved beliefs and practices in Traditional Chinese Medicine may complicate their self‐care maintenance (medication adherence) and self‐care management (responding to acute angina episodes). Conclusion. The influence of acculturation on CVD self‐care behaviours among Chinese immigrants is multifaceted and individualized. Clinicians and community health workers should assess patients' acculturation experiences to enable culturally sensitive practices. The lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate heart health information in the community should be addressed urgently to mitigate the cardiac health disparity. Collaboration with Chinese community associations offers an opportunity for co‐design and dissemination of information about Australian healthcare systems and heart health education to upskill CVD self‐care practices and mitigate the health inequities experienced by Chinese immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated typical errors made by Mandarin-speaking children when measured by the Preschool Language Scales-fifth edition, Screening Test (PLS-5 Screening Test). The intention was to provide preliminary data for the development of a guideline for early childhood educators and psychologists who use the test with Mandarin-speaking children. Seventy-one Mandarin-speaking children aged 36-69 months from 15 childcare centres in northwest Sydney participated in the study. The children all had typically developing Mandarin competence as screened by a standardised Mandarin test. The results were consistent with our hypotheses. That is, due to linguistic differences between Mandarin and English, and Chinese children's general low level of autonomy, the most challenging areas on the PLS-5 Screening Test were production of word final consonants which do not occur in Mandarin, the use of plurals, personal pronouns, and language items embedded with autonomy. Children's overall performance on the test improved when their time attending English speaking childcare increased. The results are discussed with reference to implications for psychologists and childcare educators working with Mandarin-speaking children.

Professional interpreters are obliged by their codes of ethics to interpret the speakers' speech faithfully, including offensive, profane or vulgar language. In order to achieve this goal, interpreters need to be pragmatically competent, so as to understand the intention and effect of the offensive remark in the source language and be able to appropriately render it into the target language to achieve the same effect in the hearer. Research has shown, however, that not all interpreters abide by this requirement, and many tend to tone down or even omit any offensive language, for a number of reasons, including attempts to protect the hearers or to save their own face. This study examined the ways in which Arabic, Mandarin and Spanish speaking interpreters interpreted offensive language by a suspect in a simulated police interview into English. Experienced qualified interpreters in the three languages, maintained the highest levels of pragmatic equivalence.

Theoretical perspectives, and a large body of empirical research examining sex-segregated occupations, identify the attitudinal barriers of the majority as pivotal for both workplace well-being and the retention of minorities. Globally, where more than 90% of the early childhood education and care workforce is female, understanding the attitudes of the majority is critical in informing actions to sustain men's participation. So too are female educators' understanding, acceptance and responses to the attitudes of other key stakeholders. The extent to which decisions in the workplace reflect personal, organisational or parent perspectives is not well understood. In this study, the authors analyse interview data from the female majority to distinguish personal voice and attributed beliefs regarding the inclusion of men in the early childhood education and care workplace. They analyse interview data from 96 women working as educators in a representative sample of long-day-care and kindergarten services in Queensland, Australia. The analyses suggest that the view of male educators as assets was claimed, while concerns about risk or competency were typically attributed to others. Attributed views were not often contested, but instead accepted or excused. The findings suggest that while the inclusion of men in the early childhood education and care workforce is explicitly accepted by female colleagues, actions within the workforce may be influenced by the attitudes of those outside or by latent personal attitudes distanced by positioning as the voice of others.

Subject-verb (SV) agreement helps listeners interpret the number condition of ambiguous nouns ("The sheep is/are fat"), yet it remains unclear whether young children use agreement to comprehend newly encountered nouns. Preschoolers and adults completed a forced choice task where sentences contained singular vs. plural copulas ("Where is/are the [novel noun(s)]?"). Novel nouns were either morphologically unambiguous ("tup/tups") or ambiguous (/geks/ = singular: "gex" / plural: "gecks"). Preschoolers (and some adults) ignored the singular copula, interpreting /ks/-fnal words as plural, raising questions about the role of SV agreement in learners' sentence comprehension and the status of "is" in Australian English.

Using visualized bibliographic data and a range of quantitative research methods, the analysis of the International Journal of Technology and Design Education (IJTDE), which is included in the core collection of Social Science Citation Index, reached a number of conclusions. Firstly, IJTDE is an important platform for the exchange of research results in the field of technology education, and has a significant influence. Secondly, De Vries, Williams, Ankiewicz and a number of others are influential and prolific authors in the IJTDE. Authors from the USA, England, New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia make most contributions to the IJTDE, Delft University of Technology, University of Auckland and the University of Waikato are the more prolific institutions in the IJTDE. Thirdly, technology education, education, design, science, creativity, technology, design education, knowledge, student, technological literacy and problem solving are the most frequency keywords in the IJTDE. Creativity, design education, problem solving, curriculum development, design and critical thinking, practice, engineering education, and STEM education are research trends in the IJTDE between 2000 and 2018. Fourthly, the discipline knowledge base mainly focuses on teaching and design methods in the technological environment, and the definitions of technology-related concepts. The results enable a deeper understanding and consideration of the content and influence of IJTDE, and the research hotspots in the field of technology education.