Author Archives: Richard Fay

CMIC and Becoming Global … in the news

The recent Faculty of Humanities Teaching and Learning News e-bulletin contains a piece by Richard Diane and Susan (see the link below and take  alook at pg.7) on the collaborative dimension of the students’ experience in the following intercultural courses for undergraduates:

EDUC10902 Computer-Mediated Intercultural Communication (CMIC)

EDUC10440 Becoming Global

http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/news/bulletin/May2011.pdf#page=5

Alumni from 1995, 1998, 2003 and 2005

Richard: I’m here in China and have met Masters alumni from the LTE group (and its predecessors, LLSE, and CELSE) including Cao Wen (1995), Wu (1998), Wiejie Huang (2003) and Chen (2005), and just missed Xiaomei Zhu (1996). Good to see them all and also be guided around some of the sites in Beijing (Forbidden Palace, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall) and also further south (Suzhow and Wuzhen).

One of Diane’s Research Networks …

A message to all members of Create Research Network

May 11th in Room 0.2, 4.00pm – 5.30pm, Behrens Building, Didsbury Campus Professor Rupert Wegerif, Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter
Technology and Dialogic Space. 

Dialogic space is a paradoxical concept: on the one hand it is a practically useful concept in classrooms where the opening and closing of dialogic space is an almost tangible reality that can be empirically measured, on the other hand it is a quasi transcendental concept implying that an infinite potential for new meaning emerges from the invisible gap between perspectives in dialogue. In this talk I explore the relationship between technology and dialogic space. Different media of communication, from varieties of oracy through varieties of literacy to varieties of new communications technology, have different affordances in relation to dialogic space. Artefacts can enable continuity and development in dialogues. Through the analysis of recent data from online dynamic concept mapping I compare and contrast a neo-Vygotskian analysis of artefacts as cognitive tools being mastered and appropriated to a more dialogic analysis of artefacts as themselves voices within dialogues.

All welcome – feel free to circulate

Doing Research Multilingually (DRM) – at BAAL 2011?

Doing Research Multilingually (DRM) is the focus of a BAAL Colloquium proposal that MEd TESOL and PhD alumnus Jane Andrews has put in for the September 2011 BAAL conference (hosted in Bristol by the University of the West of England where Jane works). In this colloquium, if accepted, there will be papers on aspects of DRM by:

  • Xiaowei Zhou (Viv) – a PhD alumnus — and Richard Fay
  • Mariam Attia — also a PhD alumnus
  • Jane Andrews (see above)
  • Leah Davcheva — a research associate — and Richard Fay

More news on and detail about this when we hear if the proposal has been successful.

Richard

Off to China to meet alumni from 1995 onwards ….

I’m off to China next week – tagging along when Jackie visits her partner primary school in Beijing – but using the visit to also meet up with MA alumni from as far back as 1995 (who are now in senior positions at the online part of Beijing Foreign Studies University). I’ll also be giving a Linguistics Salon (on an intercultural theme) at Peking University with Xiaowei Zhou who recently completed her PhD with us.

Richard

Publications of another graduate

Stavroula Bibila is now teaching at the Preparatory School of Istanbul Bilgi University. Since graduating MA EdTech &TESOL (in 2008), she has been busy with the following publications:
  • Bibila, S. (2010). Piloting a vocational e-course at a UK college: Developing strategies to support non-native English speaking learners to complete the essay-type questions of their assignments. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 11(2), pp. 23-39.
  • Bibila, S. (2011). Professional Development in the era of Hermes. TESOL Journal, 2(1)  pp.91-102.
  • Bibila, S. & Ellis, A. (in preparation). Through the archetypal looking glass: Examining English language teachers’ understandings of the Cooperative Development discourse framework.
  • Bibila, S. (in preparation) Knowledge and attitudes towards Health & Safety among vocational tutors in Greece:  A survey study.

She has also been presenting at a variety of conferences:

  • Bibila, S. (2009). “Non-judgmental discourse amongst colleagues and the development of intercultural skills.” Paper presented at the 2nd International ELT conference of Bahcesehir University, 23 May 2009. Istanbul: Turkey.
  • Bibila, S. (2009). “Tales from the ‘third’-side.” Paper presented at the inaugural International EIL conference of the EIL Journal, Dokuz Eylul University, 14-17 October 2009. Izmir: Turkey.
  • Bibila, S. (2010). “Beyond empowerment, growth and transformation: Looking at teacher professional development through an archetypal lens.” Paper presented at the 14th World Congress of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), Bogazici University, 14-18 June, Istanbul: Turkey.

Taking over the Academy?

Taking Over the Academy: A Student Collaboration Conference

TUESDAY 7th JUNE, 2011

Penrhyn Road Campus, Kingston University, Kingston-Upon-Thames, KT1 2EE

 

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS – We are currently calling for contributions to address the conference themes and invite proposals for presentations, workshop papers and a poster session. The deadline for submission to the panel is Tuesday 26th April 2011. For details about the conference and submissions please visit http://www.kusa.org.uk/

Conference Overview: Kingston University is delighted to host what we believe is the first UK conference to consider the impact that the full range of student and staff collaboration projects have on our universities and our students. Universities now commonly employ students on a range of outreach, peer-to-peer learning, intern, research and recruitment activities that are crucial to their institutional objectives. Kingston University has a long history of such student collaboration work and also hosts Aimhigher London South who have worked with students across the region to promote widening participation. Students working in this capacity have an enormous impact on their institutions and, in turn, such projects shape their student experience and aid the development of employability skills. This conference seeks to bring together staff and student colleagues to reflect on this unique relationship and its effect on universities. Our aim is to provide a platform for staff and students to practical ideas, good practice and research in this emerging field and we particularly welcome contributions and delegations that include or are led by student delegates. We also recognise that Aimhigher teams have delivered many student-led projects on behalf of universities and we hope to capture that knowledge and experience.

Conference Themes:

  • Experts in student life – the unique value of student expert/facilitator contribution
  • Agents in their higher education community – how students taking/sharing responsibility for their university’s strategic aims can transform student experience
  • Aiding employability – defining and measuring the impact projects that employ or are led by students can have on their employability
  • Building successful relationships – practical approaches to supporting skills development and motivating student employees

 Andrea Harris | Education Partnerships Manager a.l.harris@kingston.ac.uk

Diversophy? Games, apps ….

Katrin Volt is the person at Diversophy who is responsible for the development of the diversophy series of intercultural learning games. Her team has spent many hours with the authors, developers and translators, updating and expanding the range of games, as well as working with their technical partners, the bluepill GROUP, making the games available online and as mobile phone apps in addition to their popular classroom and training room game format. She is inviting us all to take a look at  the results summarized at http://www.diversophy.com/games3media.pdf .

She says “Please feel free to address any questions, ideas, suggestions to me. I hope that you will find these tools beneficial to your work.”

Katrin Volt, Telephone: +33 9 77 92 33 70, Skype: kati.volt

=

A TESOL terminology wiki ….

Hi All

Richard W (a current MA onsite participant) writes:

I have created a wiki with the idea that we can share definitions of terminology that we come across during the course. I don’t know about anyone else, but I keep having to investigate the meanings of various terms whenever I’m reading and sometimes that means messing around for few minutes in google.

The idea is that when you ‘discover’ a new word you can go to the wiki and add it to the list, with a quick definition and maybe a link to a page of information online.

I think if we cooperate on this we will end up with a fantastic resource for easy access during the course. It will also give everyone a further opportunity to practise using a wiki!

Just follow this link: www.chtesolglossary.pbworks.com and request access. Then I’ll make you an editor so that you can participate.

The passing of an interculturalist …..

Michael Clyne passed away last night. He was a leading scholar and an inspirational figure in many fields of linguistics, including psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, bilingualism and multilingualism, second language learning, and intercultural communication. After studying Germanic Languages (German, Dutch, plus Icelandic and some Norwegian) and French at the University of Melbourne (BA Hons 1960, MA 1962), Michael did graduate studies in General and Germanic Linguistics in Utrecht and Bonn before joining the German staff of Monash (Sept. 1962). From 1988 until his transfer to Melbourne in 2001, he had been Professor of Linguistics at Monash.

Michael produced 28 authored, co-authored and edited books and over 300 articles and book chapters, and served on the editorial board of 13 international journals. He received awards such as Member of the Order of Australia, Austrian Cross of Honour of Science and the Arts, the German Cross of Merit, a Centenary of Federation medal, an honorary doctorate of the University of Munich, the inaugural Vice Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision (Monash), the 1999 Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm Prize (international German Studies prize) and a Humboldt Research Prize. He was a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences of Australia and the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.

Since his retirement in January 2005, Michael had been Professorial Fellow in the School of Languages at Melbourne University. He was patron of the Victorian School of Languages.