Stories About Teaching International Students in Australian Higher Education
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Reconstructing Educators: Stories about Teaching International Students in Australian Higher Education A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Yana Ostapenko CSc Candidate in Science Kharkiv National University, Ukraine Med (Master of Education), University, Australia MTeachPrac (SecEd) Master of Teaching Practice (Secondary), RMIT University, Australia BEd/BArts (History) Bachelor of Education and Art, Dnipropetrovsk State University, Ukraine School of Education College of Design and Social Context RMIT University June 2019 Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Yana Ostapenko June 18th, 2019 i Acknowledgements I would like to express my wholehearted gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Martin Comte, Dr Melanie Nash and Dr Richard Jonson and my former supervisors Dr Judy Ocean, Associate Professor Regine Wagner and Professor Peter Kelly. Without their patience, perseverance and encouragement and their scrupulous supervision, constructive comments and continuous support, I could not have persisted with this study. I would also like to thank Professor Heather Fehring and Associate Professor David Forrest for their support and advices at different stages of my PhD journey at RMIT University. I am also grateful to Dr Emily Gray, Ms Louise Prentice and Ms Julie Barnett for their prompt assistance and guidance through the period of my candidature. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the educators for their generosity with their time in giving the face to face interviews and onservations allowed me to collect the data needed to complete this thesis. Without their co-operation in providing valuable information on the teaching and learning of teaching international students at pre-service teacher preparation programs, the research would not have been able to objectively reflect the teaching strategies and pedagogical approaches in teaching. My thanks also go to thank editors Ms Jane Barnett, who assisted with copy-editing parts of the thesis and proofreading services, according to the guidelines laid out in the university-endorsed national ‘Guidelines for editing research theses’. I would also like to thank Ms Lynett Commar, who proof read the transcripts of the interviews. The special thanks to my dear husband Dr Dmytro Ostapenko for his love, encouragements and enormous support in my long PhD journey and my loved son Denis for his encouragement and love. Finally, I would like to show my appreciation to my friends Dr Jianli Wang and Dr Wen-Hui Chang for their friendship and support. ii Abstract This thesis examines teacher educators’ perceptions of teaching international students in pre-service teacher education programs at two Australian universities in Victoria. My research question is: How do academics in Australia construct their everyday practice when teaching international pre-service teaching students from Asian countries? This study is important because it draws attention to the need for educators to develop their teaching practices to meet the universities expanding policies of internationalisation and increasing student enrolments from Asian countries into teacher-preparation courses. In order to investigate my research question I adopted an interpretive qualitative research stance, and employed a multiple methods approach to data collection. This included participant interviews, classroom observations and document analyses. The data were collected from eleven teacher educators, teaching in two Schools of Education at two Melbourne universities. The work of Hofstede (1994, 2001, 2009), Hofstede and Bond (1988), and Hofstede and Minkov (2010) inform the theoretical framework and data analysis, which enhances the readers understanding of the role of culture in teaching/learning. The study reveals that the most challenging aspects of teaching and learning for international students and teachers educators in these two university settings were: (1) there is a disconnection between the cultural background of the educators and international students; (2) organisational and educational culture of the host universities were significantly different to the international students’ previous experiences in tertiary study and students’ required time to transition into this new environment; (3) there were also challenges for Asian students studying and practicing in a foreign language. These were mainly associated with English language proficiency, which primarily had an impact on practical placement and inclusion in class discussions. These challenges required the development of new strategies and pedagogies, including cross-cultural pedagogy, to be adopted by educators. This study will be of interest and a point of compassion for university educators working with postgraduate and undergraduate international students from Asian countries. iii Table of Contents Declaration…………………………………………………………………………...............i Acknowledgement.…………………………………………………………………………..ii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………….iii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………...........................iv List of Tables……………………………………………………..........................................ix List of Figures…………………………………………………………………….................x List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………….…….xi Glossary……………………………………………………………………………………..xii Chapter 1 Introduction and Thesis Overview………………………………......................1 1.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………1 1.2 My Motivation for this Study…………………………………………………………….2 1. 3 Background to the Study…………………………………………………………………4 1.3.1 Why Australia? The factors that influence international students’ choice to study in Australia……………………………………………………………………………7 1.3.2 International students from the Asian countries………………………………...8 1.4 Context and Research Problem…………………………………………………………...9 1.5 Objectives, the Aim and the Research Questions of the Study………………………….11 1.6 Significance of the Study………………………………………………………………...12 1.7 Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………………………..13 1.8 Thesis Outline…................................................................................................................13 1.9 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………….15 1.10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….…..15 Chapter 2 Literature Review……………………………………………………………...16 2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...16 2.2 Globalisation and Internationalisation and its Impact on the Teacher Education Programs in Context of Teaching International Students………………………………………………17 2.3 Internationalisation of Curriculum and Assessment……………………………………..20 2.3.1 Teaching international students: curriculum design and implementation …….22 2.3.2 Internationalisation of assessment: policy and criteria ......................................29 2.3.3 Pedagogic practices and teaching international students……………………....35 2.4 Teacher Education in Australia ………………………………………………………….39 2.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..........42 iv Chapter 3 Understanding Culture……………………………………………………...….44 3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...44 3.2 Academics’ Awareness of the Needs and Challenges of International Students………..44 3.2.1 Proficiency in English language as a challenge for teaching and learning ..… 47 3.3 Hofstede’s Theory and its Implication to Teaching…………………………………… .53 3.3.1 Defining culture in Hofstede’s theory………………………………………....53 3.3.2 Background /evolution of Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions………...55 3.4 Application of the Hofstede’s National Cultural Dimensions…………………………...69 3.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….71 Chapter 4 Research Methodology and Design …………………………………………...73 4.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………..………………….73 4.2 Framework for the Study………………………………………………………………...73 4.2.1 Interpretive qualitative research……………………………………………….76 4.2.2 Research question………………………………………………………...........78 4.2.3 Research setting and participants’ selection…………………………………..79 4.2.4 Data collection methods and data gathering techniques………………………81 4.2.4.1 Narratives in educational research………………………………….82 4.2.4.2 Semi-structured interview……………………………………………83 4.2.4.3 Observation………………………………………………………….85 4.2.4.4 Document analysis……………………………………………….….88 4.3 Data Analysis (from the Interviews and Observations) ………………………………...88 4.3.1 Thematic analysis and its stages………………………………………………89 4.3.2 Data analysis procedure…………………………………………………....….89 4.4 Ethical Consideration in Qualitative Research…………………………………...……..92 4.5 Credibility, Transferability, Dependability and Confirmability ... ………………..…….94 4.6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………97 Chapter 5 Listening to the Educators………………………………………………….…98 5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..….…98 5.2 Narratives and Story Telling………………………………………………………….….98 5.2.1 Marko……………………………………………………………………..…... 98 5.2.2 Lada…………………………………………………………………………...102 5.2.3 Borislava……………………………………………………………………...105 5.2.4 Anna……………………………………………………………………….….107 5.2.5 Lina …………………………………………………………………………..108 v 5.2.6 Sasha……………………………………………………………………….…110 5.2.7 Olga ……………………………………………………………………….….111