Jonathan Crichton

How are we to understand the 'intercultural dimension'?: [An examination of the intercultural dimension of internationalisation in the context of higher education in Australia.]

Jonathan Crichton, University of South Australia Jonathan Crichton is a research fellow in the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education, University of South Australia. His interests include language and culture in professional practice and the internationalisation of education. Correspondence to Jonathan Crichton: Jonathan.Crichton@unisa.edu.au Angela Scarino, University of South Australia Angela Scarino is director of the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education, University of South Australia, where she has developed an extensive research program focusing on languages and interculturality. Correspondence to Angela Scarino: Angela.Scarino@unisa.edu.au

'I understand all the major things': how older people with limited English proficiency decide their need for a professional interpreter during health care after stroke.

Objective To explore the process of decision-making of older people with limited English proficiency (LEP) about using a professional interpreter during their health care after stroke. Design A constructivist grounded theory approach was used. Up to two in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 older people with LEP from seven different language groups, and one older person who preferred to speak English, who had recently received health care after an acute stroke. Professional interpreters assisted with 19 of the 24 study interviews. Data were analysed and theoretical processes developed using a constant comparative method. Results Professional interpreters were not a strong presence in the health care experience after stroke for participants. The use of professional interpreters was a complex decision for participants, influenced by their perception of the language and health care expertise of themselves and others, their perceived position to make the decision and whom they trusted. Getting by in English allowed participants to follow rules-based talk of health professionals, but did not enable them to understand detailed information or explanation, or to engage in the management of their condition in a meaningful way. Conclusion Health professionals have an opportunity and a mandate to demonstrate leadership in the interpreter decision by providing knowledge, opportunity and encouragement for people with LEP, to use an interpreter to engage in, and understand, their health care after stroke. Health professionals may need to advise when interpretation is needed for health care situations, when communication difficulties may not be anticipated by the person with LEP.

The role of language and culture in open learning in international collaborative programmes

In the context of internationalisation, the delivery of higher education programmes increasingly combines open learning with collaborations among people of diverse languages and cultures. In this paper we argue that while the literature on international education focuses on mapping modes of delivery in international education, there is also a need to recognise that it is these modes, together with language and culture, which mediate the delivery of programmes. Drawing on data from a case study of collaboration between an Australian university and an educational institution in Malaysia, we argue that international education per force involves collaboration and that this collaboration is mediated.

Narrative, Identity and Care: Joint Problematisation in a Study of People Living with Dementia

In this chapter, we share our disciplinary collaboration between discourse analysis and health, and with Laura, a person living with dementia, her support group and care staff. We draw on a conception of research advocated by Sarangi and Roberts (1999) as guided by an ‘ethic of practical relevance’. This takes as a priority an interest in harmonising discourse-analytical research with the aim of advancing the needs of practitioners in the professions. In the study, our interest was in narrative. We sought not only to recover a narrative as evidence of Laura’s identity but also to play this back into her life and the lives of her carers so that her identity would not be foreclosed in the transition into care (Crichton & Koch 2007; Koch & Crichton 2007). The narrative in this sense was intended to have moral significance for those who care, to act as an invitation to understand themselves and Laura as active participants in her life, an ongoing resource for Laura, her family and health professionals as her memory was challenged and decision-making capacity reduced, and so provide a basis for proactive care through ongoing identity work. We anticipated that this approach could reveal the ‘person behind the patient’ (Clarke, Handson & Ross 2003) as one who can be acknowledged and valued. Our interest in this chapter is in how this agenda foregrounded the need for ‘joint problematisation’ (Roberts & Sarangi 1999) in seeking a mutual understanding of the narrative among the researchers, Laura and her family, and her care staff.

Why a Multi-Perspectived Approach to Discourse?

Candlin’s multi-perspectived approach foreshadows the integration of research traditions associated with the study of language, interaction, the perceptions of participants and analysts, and the ‘broader and local organisational conditions’ (Cicourel, 1992, p. 294), which together make up the complex construct that Cicourel’s challenge requires. However, integrating these analytical perspectives raises the more general problem of how to explain the relationship between language and context. The problem is that the context in which language is used is always potentially vast and undifferentiated. The danger is that once context is included in the analysis of language, the analysis will become unaccountable.

Risk and Safety in Linguistic and Cultural Diversity: A Narrative Intervention in Residential Aged Care

This chapter reports on an intervention that sought to enhance how safety is understood and communicated in residential aged care. Workplace safety in aged care is a growing concern internationally because the combination of older clients with increasingly complex health profiles and growing linguistic and cultural diversity among healthcare workers and their clients is raising the physical and psychosocial risks for both groups (Pearson et al., 2007).

Assessing and evaluating intercultural teaching and learning: an information management case study

This paper reports on how a lecturer in business collaborated within a multidisciplinary study which focused on developing an “intercultural dimension” in teaching and learning in the disciplines in higher education. The case illustrates how, if the intercultural dimension of internationalisation is to be realised in teaching and learning, experts with specific disciplinary knowledge and those with intercultural expertise need to collaborate from the outset to develop a point for point understanding of the implications of internationalisation for the specific discipline. Moreover, it is argued, internationalisation of the discipline is not only an outcome of this process, but the process itself involves transformations which exemplify the development of intercultural awareness.

Doing battle with a noun: notes on the grammar of terror

Jonathan Crichton, Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education, School of International Studies, University of South Australia Jonathan Crichton is a research fellow in the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education, in the School of International Studies at the University of South Australia. His interests include language and identity, and language in professional interaction. Correspondence to Jonathan Crichton: Jonathan.Crichton@unisa.edu.au

Group Organization and Communities of Practice in Translational Research

The collective lived experience of translational research teams requires further appreciation, particularly at the stages of group formation. To achieve this, we conducted a case study of a translational research team (n = 16). Through the case description and then discussing case-based themes with community of practice theory, themes such as “Being Open” and “Working as a Group” found that this team’s mutual respect, cooperation, and their sharing of knowledge uncovered an alternative way that professionals organize themselves for translational research projects. In conjunction to this finding, our analysis showed that the team has qualities of a community of practice.

Accomplishments of the thought disordered person: A case study in psychiatrist–patient interaction

BACKGROUND The research and clinical literature portrays the thought disordered person as incapable of meaningful social interaction. This model views thought disorder exclusively as a brain dysfunction, evidenced by dysfunctions in speech. AIMS The study seeks to address this deficit model by investigating the interactional accomplishments of thought disordered people in clinical interviews. METHOD An analysis of clinical interview data. RESULTS We investigate (1) what thought disordered people actually accomplish in interaction, and (2) how thought disordered people and their psychiatrists routinely communicate on matters consequential for treatment. CONCLUSIONS This paper introduces a new perspective on the interactional achievements of people with thought disorder. The skills required by both parties during routine clinical interviews have not previously been recognised or described.