Group work oral participation: Examining Korean students’ adjustment process in a US university

Author: Jung Yin Kim
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA

Edition: Volume 56, Number 3, November 2016

Summary: This study examines, from a sociocultural perspective, the factors that explain why a group of seven Korean students attending an undergraduate business program in a US university are initially labelled as silent participants when first engaging in group work, and how these factors impacted the students’ overall adjustment process. Data came from in-depth interviews and group work observations. ‘Discourse system’ is used to categorise how they adapt over the course of a semester, with changes in expressing ideas, holding ground, and self-autonomy. The study showed that while various factors, including the students’ English language proficiency, differences in sociocultural values and educational practices, and group work environment were intertwined and informed their group work adjustment process, differences in sociocultural values and educational practices played the most important role in their adjustment process. Regardless of their length of stay in the US, gender, and individual differences, all of the students felt challenged in the initial stages of participation in group work. The findings suggest pedagogical implications for promoting oral participation of Asian international students, especially Korean students, when they first commence in group work.

Keywords: sociocultural features, group work, cultural interaction, Korean students

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 56_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

“Come in and look around.” Professional development of student teachers through public pedagogy in a library exhibition

Authors: Anne Hickling-Hudson & Erika Hepple, Queensland University of Technology

Edition: Volume 55, Number 3, November 2015

Summary:  This paper describes a public pedagogy project embedded into The Global Teacher, a subject within the Bachelor of Education program for student teachers at an Australian university. The subject provides a global perspective on socio-political issues that shape education. In 2013, The Global Teacher introduced an approach that asked student teachers to create a museum-style exhibition depicting six global education themes. This exhibition was displayed in the State Library and the public were invited to engage with the installations and the student teachers who created them.

Our paper describes how the project was implemented by means of close collaboration between the QUT teacher educators, curators at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ), and student groups working
on visually translating their understandings of global educational issues into a public exhibition. We discuss what was learned by our students and ourselves, as teacher educators, by engaging in this public pedagogy.
Keywords: global education, public library, group work, transformative learning, social justice, public learning space.

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.