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Roles and attitudes towards English in Kazakhstan can be seen through four strands of local and international heritages of education and cultures of language learning. Seen together with national policies, educational reforms, and linguistic contexts this comprises the English language learning environment. This is the contextual background against which we report findings regarding the professional and personal characteristics of ‘good’ English teachers in Kazakhstan. ‘Model’ teachers were portrayed with an expected traditional cognitive dimension of knowledge of English but this was complemented by social, affective, moral, and aesthetic dimensions. We refer to these dimensions in this article as ‘metafunctions’. Through interviews with 100 undergraduate students and 43 university English teachers, we analyzed participants’ attitudes towards English and their perceptions of the roles of English in Kazakhstan, where participants had mixed utilitarian, human development and patriotic attitudes toward English.

Good teachers in university education embody combinations of continuity and change. In the first part here, university teaching is considered in Western philosophies and educational discourse to suggest teacher characteristics and meta-functions, but this article proposes wider internationalised dialogues within humanities which crucially take student views into account. In the second part, we analyse a database of 863 metaphors about teachers given by 439 university students in Malaysia, adopting a socio-cultural approach based on cognitive linguistics. This elicited metaphor analysis explores student views of “good” teachers expressed in such metaphors as “a good teacher is a burning candle” or “a piece of chalk”. Our analysis of metaphor entailments reveals meta-functions and virtues of good teachers which though absent in some official discourses, cohere with the educational philosophy of part one: they include cognitive, social/cultural, affective, moral/spiritual and aesthetic meta-functions. These emphasise the purposes of what teachers “do” and the character of what teachers “are”, as models for what students “do” and what they “become”. This gives challenging insights for teachers (and students) to self-cultivate virtues if these participant visions are taken seriously for learner-centred approaches to humanities in new balances of continuity and change.

This article considers “good” teachers in the context of current developments in universities in China to reach a “gold standard” of considerably higher and more challenging levels of teaching and learning. We outline this context and consider concepts of good teachers in classical Chinese traditions and more recent Western thinking as a possible dialogue within and between cultures of learning. Using cognitive and cultural linguistic perspectives, we analyze metaphorical concepts of “gold” in “the gold standard” as related to teachers. We report our applied metaphor research which analyzes Chinese students’ expectations, values and beliefs about good university language teachers; this presents a rich picture beyond developing knowledge, skills and understanding to include strong social and moral characteristics. Other aspects which recognize the complexity of “good” teachers show a student appreciation of teachers’ tireless effort, devotion and selfless sacrifice: these aspects are absent in many discussions of good teachers. The participant-centered picture from elicited metaphor analysis is part of students’ “cultures of learning,” but this should be developed culturally for the gold standard through further teacher development and student engagement. In line with interaction in cultures of learning, we indicate some classroom ways to extend students’ thinking through scaffolding teacher-student interaction based on textbook activities.

The issue of assessment in Malaysian international schools has rarely been explored. This qualitative study focuses on the views of three groups of stakeholders regarding the English language assessment of young learners in one such school. Primary-age children, their parents, and their teachers were interviewed online in iterative sessions for their experiences and views on language assessment as it was practised in the school. Thematic analysis of the data revealed how the children suffered from test anxiety; they believed the exams were difficult; and the teachers were seen as strict examiners. The parents agreed that the exams were unfairly difficult; they complained about a lack of transparency and feedback, besides excessive test frequency. The teachers believed they assessed both formatively and summatively; however, administratively their formative assessment results formed no part in students’ final assessment reports. The assessment practices in this case, and likely more widely in Malaysia, need reconsideration and point to a broad paradox.

This paper presents questions within a consideration of the nature of doctoral viva examinations from an international viewpoint. We argue that preparation for the viva should begin early - certainly not just immediately after the thesis submission. Key viva questions can be used in a preparatory process with supervisors over time to develop candidates’ thesis thinking and research capability. The paper gives guidance and advice for candidates (and for supervisors to help candidates) about how to prepare practically for the viva. More importantly this should help them to enter the mindset of examiners. This enables candidates to enter fully into discussion of a thesis confidently and enthusiastically, to share their research thinking in a focussed manner which takes broad issues into account. In a detailed Appendix, we share a repertoire of 60 examples of generic viva questions which are commonly asked in many international contexts, together with guidance about answers in brackets. Using these iteratively with supervisor help, candidates are encouraged to generate their own specific questions as part of a formative research process. Viva preparation guided by key questions can begin early as an inherent part of the research-and-writing process: questions are first for candidates, then developed with candidates, and then finally in a viva put to candidates. The questions are a framework for supervisors, too, who are often examiners themselves.

“Cultures of learning” as a concept focusses on how students’ and teachers’ cultural beliefs and values about learning affect their educational behaviour and influence their expectations and interpretations of what goes on in classrooms. This chapter will provide an overview of research on how Chinese students construe the key concepts of “teachers”, “learners”, “journeys of learning” and “language”. Among the range of research methods applied in various studies, this chapter will particularly show the innovative use of a method to elicit metaphors for analysis to create a rich picture of Chinese cultures of learning.

This paper employs the innovative method of Elicited Metaphor Analysis to present original research in Malaysia into students’ metaphors for ‘language’. We summarize reasons why language and first/ second language learning are centrally important in education, and show patterned features of language metaphors in proverbs and in teacher talk about literacy. These may be one strand of student socialization into language-literacy conceptions. We then report our study of 408 university students in Malaysia who gave 977 metaphors for ‘language’. Using a socio-cultural extension of conceptual metaphor theory from cognitive linguistics, we analyse these data into thematic clusters and metaphor networks of meanings. In student voices, this presents a surprisingly rich picture of language and shows evidence of linguistic meta-functions: student metaphors for language can be seen not only cognitively with affective and socio-cultural meta-functions, but also with moral-spiritual and aesthetic functions. These meta-functions accord with some educational theories. To show wider insider metaphor perspectives we cite our research with ‘teacher’ and ‘learning’ metaphors in Malaysia, and ‘language’ findings from China, Iran, Lebanon and the UK. The metaphor meanings and meta-functions broaden our conception of language as a medium of learning with strong implications for the teaching of languages and literacy.

Internationalising higher education (HE) shows tensions between recruiting international students as a means of securing income and meeting their particular educational needs towards practices of caring for their social, psychological, intercultural and educational well-being. This paper briefly outlines the extent of current HE internationalisation and collaboration networks worldwide. It presents an argument, evidenced with research data, for the need to include cultures of learning in policies and practises to sustain internationalisation in HE. Staff (academic, administrative and technical) and students (home and international) need to appreciate and practise a variety of cultural approaches and intercultural communication strategies to advance teaching and learning. Staff need to have this intercultural awareness for their professional development and to consider further how the curriculum and learning environments could provide more opportunities for (inter)national students to be productive...

Qualitative researchers draw on multiple, creative ways to elicit participant narratives. Our previous use of playing researcher-selected music to participants to elicit narratives at the end of a traditional interview, in what we call the ‘Da Capo’ technique, suggested it had significant potential to reveal nuanced narratives to complement those generated by existing approaches. This paper relates how we explored the ability of the ‘Da Capo’ technique as a standalone method to generate participant narratives. To do this, we played 10 one-minute long extracts of classical music (5 ‘Western’ and 5 ‘Chinese’) to 20 participants (10 ‘Western’ and 10 ‘Chinese’); after hearing each piece participants were asked if the music recalled for them any experiences of learning. Where it did so, we explored this further in dialogue and narrative recall. As expected, some narratives related to experiences of studying, academic success, and of particular times and places associated with learning. However, in many cases the music elicited narratives of learning which, surprisingly and in multiple dimensions, related to physical learning, culture, the family, and particular emotions such as sympathy, and of aspects of character, such as optimism and honesty. We provide details of using the technique. We show how particular music was effective in eliciting learning experiences with participants, but we also indicate when for some participants it did not elicit such experiences. We provide further evidence of the value of using music either as a stand-alone method in the qualitative researcher’s toolkit, or as an additional and complementary tool. We discuss the merits, limitations, and potential applications of the Da Capo technique.

This chapter presents a brief rationale for developing intercultural communication as an aspect of enhancing learners' oral skills in English Language Teaching (ELT). It focuses on the context of teaching oral skills in China. The chapter explains how to integrate intercultural communication skills with approaches to develop students' thinking skills and their creative thinking. It shows the application of the suggested approach through the use of published textbook materials and classroom activities for teaching English in universities in China, in particular through the use of 'Participation Activities'. The approach highlights the fundamentals: the development of learners' ability to observe, analyse, and think flexibly. The chapter shows some aims for developing intercultural communication skills in ELT. Teaching Chinese learners in China is a significant case for developing intercultural communication skills. Some applications to develop oral intercultural communication skills in second language situations in Western countries have been developed in Hong Kong universities and schools.

This article proposes the use of recorded music chosen by researchers to elicit participant accounts of life experiences, a technique we name ‘da capo recall.’ Fifteen mainland Chinese students who had studied in the UK were played seven contrasting extracts of classical music. They were asked how each extract reminded them of anything salient on their undergraduate degrees. We relate major points of narrative research to music and discuss: the method and procedure, the participants’ responses and how the technique can be used. In this education context, participants gave rich accounts about studying, exams, graduating and other life experiences with affective dimensions. For many, the music returned them to ‘the experienced present’ of their studies, analogous to a da capo replaying of a section in music. Musical key and tempo influenced the nature of the memories evoked. We envisage the da capo technique’s use within interviews to explore memories, experiences and emotions amongst learners, professionals and in other fields. We show the potential of the da capo technique to evoke a range of narratives that have added value given to them specifically through the use of music.

Qualitative researchers commonly perceive that positivist hard-science researchers and policies of governments deprecate qualitative methods and approaches. Curiously though, we could not see anyone asking quantitative researchers ‘What do you think about qualitative approaches and methods?’ We did this in interviews with 17 assumed quantitative researchers in the fields of advanced materials construction, civil engineering, transport modelling, computer science, and geotechnics. Surprisingly, these researchers rarely described themselves as purely quantitative, and were rarely against the five qualitative methods discussed. Moreover, many actually used qualitative methods, often in ways we had not anticipated. Drawing on a Bakhtinian grounded framework, we present our analysis as a performed ethnographic dialogue between data extracts and research literature. We present evidence that the alleged qualitative-quantitative divide does not apply here, and suggest dialogic ways to see teach "qualitative" and "quantitative" and some associated terms.

SUMMARYThere is increasing emphasis on the need for effective ways of sharing knowledge to enhance environmental management and sustainability. Knowledge exchange (KE) are processes that generate, share and/or use knowledge through various methods appropriate to the context, purpose, and participants involved. KE includes concepts such as sharing, generation, coproduction, comanagement, and brokerage of knowledge. This paper elicits the expert knowledge of academics involved in research and practice of KE from different disciplines and backgrounds to review research themes, identify gaps and questions, and develop a research agenda for furthering understanding about KE. Results include 80 research questions prefaced by a review of research themes. Key conclusions are: (1) there is a diverse range of questions relating to KE that require attention; (2) there is a particular need for research on understanding the process of KE and how KE can be evaluated; and (3) given the strong interdependency of research questions, an integrated approach to understanding KE is required. To improve understanding of KE, action research methodologies and embedding evaluation as a normal part of KE research and practice need to be encouraged. This will foster more adaptive approaches to learning about KE and enhance effectiveness of environmental management.

This article shows the importance of the language chosen for research interviewing when more than one language could be used. It does so through the context of research with Chinese speakers published in English. The article has two research aims: first, to investigate research reports regarding how they deal with the issue of language choice. Second, it presents and discusses the procedure and results of seven pairs of interviews with Chinese interviewees, in order to investigate empirically the issue of language choice. The first interviews were conducted in English (by a native speaker of English); second, ‘blind shadow’ interviews were then conducted in Chinese (by a native speaker of Chinese) using Chinese translations of the same questions with the same participants. Results show numerous differences in the quality of the data obtained depending upon the choice of language for interviewing. These results arguably apply to languages other than Chinese; this is indicated within a framework of scenarios for language choices for research interviewing, and through recommendations for researchers.

Cet article traite des interactions dans les classes chinoises, replacées dans le contexte plus large du système éducatif. Il analyse quelques valeurs éducatives et culturelles clés qui sous-tendent ces pratiques. Pour révéler les valeurs derrière les pratiques, les auteurs ont analysé les devoirs des élèves, utilisé des questionnaires et recensé les métaphores que les élèves utilisent pour parler de leurs enseignants et de l’apprentissage. À partir de ces données, ils mettent en lumière les valeurs qui fondent les représentations que les élèves ont de l’enseignant, de l’élève, et de l’apprentissage en Chine. This paper discusses some classroom practices of interaction in schools and universities in China, within the context of the wider education system. It presents an analysis of some key educational and cultural values which underlie these practices. To research the values behind these practices we have analysed students’ essays and questionnaire data and collected students’ metaphors for teachers and learning. From these data, we outline the values underlying students’ conceptions of “the teacher”, “the student” and “learning” in China. Este artículo aborda las interacciones existentes en las clases escolares y universitarias chinas, situándolas en el contexto más amplio del sistema educativo. Analiza ciertos valores educativos y culturales claves en los que se fundamentan dichas prácticas. Para revelar los valores que sustentan dichas prácticas, los autores analizaron los deberes de los alumnos, utilizaron cuestionarios y clasificaron las metáforas empleadas por los alumnos al referirse a sus profesores y a la enseñanza en general. A partir de estos datos, los autores sacaron a la luz los valores en los que se fundamentan las representaciones efectuadas por los alumnos acerca del “docente,” el “alumno” y el “aprendizaje” en China.

Traditional approaches (TAs) to teach and learn second or foreign languages have been around for many years. They are often thought of as “grammar-translation”: a cluster of practices including explicit grammatical explanations, detailed examples illustrating grammatical rules, bilingual vocabulary lists and translation exercises, and perhaps a focus on reading literary texts. For years they have been widely criticized on the grounds that they do not develop learners’ communication skills. However, paradoxically traditional approaches have continued in some ways and in some contexts. In many second language (L2, which also covers foreign language learning) classrooms in different countries some elements of these traditions persist, especially those that are more teacher-led or focus on explicit explanations of the L2 grammar and the classroom uses of learners’ first language (L1), translation between L1 and L2, or bilingual vocabulary lists and memorization.

This illuminative evaluation study gives insights into attitudes to learning, interaction and the perceived roles of theory, evidence, reading and previous experience. These insights lead us to question some aspects of the course as currently presented. Students indicated that they found the course material stimulating but prior guidance on the areas to read before commencing learning would have been helpful. Students were desperate to learn and to be successful, but many were apprehensive about the intensity of the pharmacological content and diagnostic skills that are required to make a clinical diagnosis. Sadly, some students felt that the restriction of the extended nurse formulary, while valuable to their professional development and credibility as a nurse, would not enhance the care that could be provided to patients. This limitation was not realized until the course had commenced. This may have been avoided if an information day had been provided before commencing the course. For many students, a p...

In this paper we examine six Chinese terms which are among a handful of identifiable cultural keywords which have played an important role in Confucian heritage cultures. On the basis of an examination of common translations and explanations of the keywords in English, we show that their meanings are interrelated and overlapping. Using a questionnaire, we use 'definitional elements' from translations to investigate how native speakers of Chinese understand these keywords, compared with English-speaking learners of Chinese, and how English speakers who do not know Chinese understand the translations. Using a statistical approach we show in detail how the three groups have a measurably different understanding, which is asymmetrical. Visual representations, closely derived from mean scores, display the participants' awareness of the interrelated meanings, which is different for the three groups. The article is relevant to translators and teachers of Chinese, and in general to teachers and learners of vocabulary.

This article concerns the social and cultural aspects which affect teachers’, parents’ and children’s communication in situations where multilingual children are struggling to cope with learning literacy in a language which is not the main one they use at home. In particular, the article explores some issues associated with multilingualism and dyslexia. It makes reference to research reported at the British Dyslexia Association’s first international conference on this topic which took place in June 1999 (Schwartz 1999; BDA/Peer in press). It also draws upon some of the early pioneering research on teaching principles for children with specific learning difficulties (Strauss, Werner and Lehtinen, 1947; Cruickshank, 1961) in order to synthesise broad guidelines and provide a framework of questions for today’s teachers of multilingual children who are struggling with literacy learning. The questions are designed to facilitate a collaborative approach between teachers, parents and children through raising awareness of multilingual issues and exchanging information. In this way the broad framework may assist in preparing the ground for closer diagnostic assessment and supportive teaching.

This chapter focuses on ways in which talk and culture mediate learning in large classes in China. We suggest reasons why classes are kept large and show how language teachers use pair and group work but seem to scaffold dialogue with the whole class. We argue that teaching large classes is successful in China partly because of interactive techniques in classroom dialogue, but mainly because of the underlying culture of learning. The Chinese culture of learning is elaborated using questionnaire data with both British and Chinese students and interviews with Chinese teachers. The dialogue about large classes needs to take cultures of learning into account and in the Chinese case to consider collectivist and Confucian values. Classroom events are illustrated using visual ethnography, particularly the stages in a large-class language lesson in a primary school.

This paper discusses learning in Asian kindergarten and primary schools, mainly with reference to China, but also drawing on examples from Taiwan and Singapore. The paper seeks to show that culture and talk are inextricably linked so that the assumption that practice seen in Asian classrooms can readily be translated into English ones may not hold. The paper concludes with the suggestion that we might better learn from Asian classrooms by studying learners' behaviour within our own multi-cultural setting.

In this chapter we analyse some concepts and practices of creative and critical thinking which have originated from “the West” and China. We share some teaching ideas and materials which have been developed using Western ideas for teacher development and student learning in China. This is complemented with an analysis of features of learning, studying and thinking in the Confucian tradition; we believe the insights from both the materials and the analysis may have value for contemporary learners and teachers, whether they are based in, or from, East Asia or the West. We see these ideas and practices as part of a global conversation based around the synergy of teaching, learning and relationships between teachers and learners, and between institutional partners in transnational dialogues of learning.

Praise is like penicillin: It is beneficial when administered with ‘rules about timing and dosage’ and with care regarding ‘possible allergic reactions’; teacher praise, as a significant ‘antibiotic’ in classrooms, can benefit the process of learning (Ginott, 1965: p. 39; Thompson, 1997). Unlike antibiotics, however, there are different views among educational researchers and teachers about the functions of verbal praise. Since the 1980s, corrective feedback and learner uptake of correct language items has been well investigated by researchers working in classroom second language acquisition, yet the effects of positive verbal feedback are comparatively under-researched internationally. The majority of extant studies regarding verbal praise have been conducted on school-age populations; there is a relative gap regarding research related to adults, and an even larger gap concerning English language teaching (ELT) in Chinese universities. Crucially, in China the teacher generally acts as ‘an authority, a knowledge-giver and moral example’ (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996a) and the ‘relationship hierarchy’ (Chang & Holt, 1994: p. 105) is firmly maintained, so the praise given in Chinese practice may yield a picture different to that of North American or European contexts, where most previous research has been conducted. Thus, this study is positioned to investigate links between teacher praise and university students’ participation within Chinese cultures of learning.

Since the late 1990s, English immersion education has been advocated by researchers and teachers in the mainland of China. In an immersion programme, the learners from a common background of a majority or dominant language receive their initial primary and later secondary education through the medium of a target foreign or second language for much or most of the curriculum. The aims of such a program are that within several years children will reach high levels of proficiency in this target language, while adequately learning the curriculum content and maintaining and developing their first language. Such programs began in Canada in the mid-1960s for English speakers to learn French under pressure from parents for their children to become bilingual (Lambert & Tucker, 1972). The generally positive and sometimes surprising evaluation of curriculum learning (Swain & Lapkin, 1983) quickly led to immersion being seen as a form of successful bilingual education which could be used in other contexts (Genesee, 1987) and in many other countries for a wide range of languages, including learning English in Germany, Hungary, Singapore and Japan (Johnson & Swain, 1997). A wide range of types of programs for immersion schooling have been developed, varying from total immersion (for the entire curriculum except the mother tongue as a timetabled subject) to different degrees of partial immersion, to beginning at kindergarten or various primary levels, and including heritage language programs (e.g., to develop Catalan in Spain — an indigenous language — alongside the national language of Spanish), but they all have the explicit aim of developing bilingualism in a kind of dual language program (Christian, 2011) with some features that overlap with content-based second language teaching since a major concern is that students should learn the curriculum content (Lyster, 2011).

Every culture of learning is deeply contextualized in local circumstances, traditions and communities and is thus locally constructed and specific; however, the study of particular cultural contexts gives insights into a much wider range of cultures of learning, not least because such research raises our awareness of influential features which may prove to be common elsewhere. The study of a changing situation, like that of language education in Kazakhstan, in which multiple heritages make a complex blend of features helps us to consider other contexts in which complex heritages are becoming normal. Alongside previous internal diversity, many education systems are now increasingly influenced by population movements through which large numbers of incoming learners represent an ever-widening range of cultures.