http://hdl.handle.net/10453/52259 2026-04-03T22:17:28Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164353 Title: Academic Literacies: Challenging the logic of practice Authors: Widin, J Editors: Albright, J; Hartman, D; Widin, J Abstract: This chapter focuses on the Australian higher education (HE) field, one which is both dominated and dominating within the broader national and international fields of power , and is itself a contested, uneven space. Here, students struggle to accumulate the necessary capital to secure a legitimate place within the university. When students come to an Australian university from backgrounds where they may be unfamiliar with the university’s cultural content, practices, and assumptions, or be the first to attend university in their extended family, what provisions are made for students to become aware of ‘how things are done here’? This chapter utilises Bourdieu’s field theory to examine academic literacy support practices, processes of acculturation, and perceptions of the scope for change in the logic of practice of the HE field. 2018-10-27T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/162869 Title: Exploring the Role of Teacher Talk in Saudi EFL Classroom: Importance of F-Move in Developing Students’ Spoken Skill Authors: Alanazi, M; Widin, J Abstract: English language teaching in Saudi Arabia faces several challenges from both teacher and students’ perspective. Teacher Talk (TT) is one of the areas of teaching and learning which is often neglected in classroom research even with its high importance in student learning. Identifying the literature gap on TT in specific sociocultural contexts, this study aims to investigate different types of f-moves in Teacher Talk and their impact on developing students’ dialogic skills in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Saudi Arabia. The IRF sequence (initiation, response, feedback or F-move) is considered a common sequence of TT in Saudi EFL classrooms. This study uses Cullen’s (2002) analytical framework which focuses on the third sequence of the IRF and Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory to explore the emerging themes of TT in Saudi Arabian secondary classrooms. The methodology of the study is a qualitative case study, and the participants of the study are 18 secondary school teachers all share Arabic as their first language. The data was collected through classroom observation, audio-recording of forty-five-minute classroom lessons, and semi-structured teacher interviews. The analysis focused on the discoursal and evaluative role of F-Move. The data analysis shows three F-Move types 1) F-Move Repetition Discoursal 2) F-Move Evaluative 3) F-Move Elaborative Discoursal. The findings point out that these F-Moves may increase student-teacher interaction, identification, and correction of errors, and maintain and guide dialogic conversation/interaction between teacher and students if it is correctly oriented. The data analysis shows examples in which TT promotes students’ involvement and increases their dialogic skills while, on the other hand, when TT reduces students’ potential to participate and consequently reduces the students’ spoken output. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/162868 Title: EAP: Imagining a new tertiary community Authors: Malthus, C; Widin, J Abstract: Through a case study of an English for Academic Purposes and academic readiness program in Lao PDR, this article explores how the particular needs of the students can be taken into account in the design and teaching approaches of such programs. The program, delivered for international students preparing to study in Australia or New Zealand, suggests ways to incorporate students’ voices, which, in the pressure to prepare students to cope with disciplinary and academic study demands, may be overlooked in the design of current EAP programs. We found that questions written by students gave insights into ways they were imagining their future study communities. Our responses involved drawing on the Lao students’ previous educational experiences to highlight the diverse learnings and insights they could bring to their new contexts. Working from sociocultural perspectives and with insights provided by the notion of relational agency, the authors reflect on ways that these approaches provided a basis for students to observe and experience the deployment of new academic skills and related social practices as additions to their existing repertoires. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/162752 Title: Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Practices Among Basic School Teachers in the Central Region of Ghana Authors: Abakah, E; Widin, J; Ameyaw, EK Abstract: This paper reports on an exploratory study regarding the current continuing professional development (CPD) situation of basic schoolteachers in Ghana. The study investigates the teachers’ CPD needs, frequency and nature of CPD provisions, and barriers to teachers’ participation in CPD activities. Using a cross-sectional survey involving 456 teachers, the study found that teachers required to be developed in areas of “ICT skills for teaching,” “research and dissemination,” and “teaching students with special learning needs.” It was also revealed that the predominant CPD practices were workshops, in-service training, and continuing education. However, these practices were seldom provided and rarely met the development needs of the teachers. Teachers’ participation in CPD activities were also found to be minimal due to factors such as non-available CPD offerings, lack of pre-requisite information on CPD activities and lack of schools’ support. The study concludes that the current CPD situation of teachers in Ghana reflects a lack of implemented CPD policy framework. There is therefore the need for a broader CPD policy framework that will guide the provision, participation, and CPD practices of teachers in Ghana. 2022-04-01T00:00:00Z