Ann Dashwood

Similarities and Differences in Teachers' and Researchers' Conceptions of Communicative Language Teaching: Does the Use of an Educational Model Cast a Better Light?.

This study seeks to document teachers’ conceptions of communicative language teaching (CLT) and to compare their conceptions with a composite view of CLT assembled, in part, from researchers’ accounts of the distinctive features of CLT. The research was prompted by a review of the relevant research literature showing that, though previous studies in this area have pointed to some significant differences between teachers’ and researchers’ conceptions of CLT, the results are still inconclusive. In this study, usual methods for accessing teachers’ understandings of CLT, such as observation and questionnaire, have been replaced by one that examines teachers’ practical theories that guide their use of CLT approaches in classrooms. Semi-structured interviews and video-stimulated recall interviews were used to gain access to teachers’ practical theories of CLT. The interview data show that while these teachers collectively have internalized most of the elements of communicative approaches, there are many individual variations. The data also show that these teachers have integrated aspects of communicative approaches into an overall view of teaching that incorporates many features not normally mentioned in the second language literature.

Transnational Pedagogy from Policy to Practice: Beginnings of the Journey

Abstract In 2005, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) declared its vision to be Australia’s leading transnational educator. To define and develop USQ’s ‘transnational pedagogy’, the then Pro Vice-Chancellor (Regional Engagement and Social Justice) initiated a consultative project team from across the university community, consisting of Excellence in Teaching Award winners and noted teachers nominated by their Faculties. This paper describes this attempt to operationalise the transnational agenda ‘glocally’ by considering the ‘global’ within ‘local’ contexts. A genealogical approach was used as a diagnostic tool to facilitate and problematise the stages along the journey. The approach involved consultation and collaboration, from the early stages of problematising and conceptualising transnational pedagogy to developing the USQ transnational framework of principles and strategies for learning and teaching. The six stages described in the paper include: problematisation, reflection on past and present practices, re-evaluation of truths, development of shared understandings, evolution of processes, and identification of future possibilities. The paper reports on these processes of collaboration and outlines how the conceptual framework of transnational teaching and learning was disseminated throughout the USQ community.