Shirley O'Neill

Supporting cross-cultural communication and culturally competent care in the linguistically and culturally diverse hospital settings of UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become a linguistically and culturally diverse society where the majority of health care staff is drawn from a range of non-Arabic speaking backgrounds. In hospitals, the resultant mix of language and cultural differences highlights the importance of the role of nurses in facilitating the quality of care as the primary healthcare workers communicating and interacting with both patients and colleagues. Given the dearth of research in this area in the unique context of UAE, this research sought to identify the kind of strategies in use to effectively communicate to provide culturally competent care (CCC). Data were collected from a total of 153 hospital staff from four private and six government hospitals across UAE. While nurses in both hospital types used a variety of strategies to support cross-cultural communication they saw a need for additional communication support and professional development.

First Year Pre-Service Teachers' Views about Literacy: Exploring the Breadth and Depth of Their Pedagogical Needs

Abstract This study investigated first year pre-service teachers’ self-reported views about literacy teaching and learning, and their own personal literacy and communication skills required for teaching English. It responds to the increasing pressure on today’s educators to demonstrate their own English proficiency and to be able to ensure children’s effective literacy learning, particularly in learning to read. Sixtyseven pre-service teachers from one large literacy foundation course completed a survey of their views on literacy. The findings showed that in spite of most participants being first year pre-service teachers the majority believed they had sufficient knowledge of the English language to teach literacy. In raising the importance of knowing how to explicitly teach literacy and engage the learner, participants emphasised the importance of lecturers providing ongoing feedback, encouragement and real-life demonstrations of explicit literacy teaching. Compared with those who entered the program with post-school qualifications, a greater proportion of the group that entered directly from school rated themselves as less confident to teach literacy and held less positive perceptions of their communication skills for teaching. Findings also highlighted that pre-service literacy teacher education courses need to identify and incorporate students’ use of English language and literacy skills for specific pedagogical purposes, including teaching talk and multimediated teaching and learning.

Teaching and assessment of persuasive writing: Juggling the language features and grasping the metalanguage

Abstract Being able to write persuasively has always been important. This skill is central to a range of genres such as comparative analysis, editorial or discussion. It is argued to be the written genre that students will meet most frequently as they progress through their schooling (NAPLAN, 2010) and its mastery continues to be of paramount importance to passing high stakes/gate-keeping tests of English and being able to engage with tertiary studies (Wollman-Bonilla, 2004). Compared with writing a narrative the persuasive written text requires an understanding and application of specific persuasive devices as well as particular knowledge and understanding of the context in question. This draws attention to the need for the design of assessment tasks to firstly take account of students’ background knowledge. Similarly, teachers need give priority to the explicit teaching of the associated language features, which in turn demands students’ acquisition of the metalanguage involved. This research examined 35 Taiwanese high school students’ responses to a persuasive writing task based on the task, criteria and descriptive data used for the Australian national test of literacy (NAPLAN, 2011a). Responding to ‘Learning a language is better than learning a sport’ students’ scripts showed a range of performance but overall strong evidence of understanding the persuasive genre and the ability to apply persuasive devices. These devices included use of personal opinion, appeals to reader’s logic or values, conditional and emphatic statements, and ability to temper or modify their argument.

A Case Study of Isolated NESB Adult Migrant Women's Experience Learning English: A Sociocultural Approach to Decoding Household Texts

Abstract This exploratory case study investigated a small group of non-English speaking background (NESB) female adult migrants’ experiences with learning English. Each of the five participants had spent eight years or more living in Australia but did not participate in their local English speaking community because of various cultural and linguistic barriers to learning the English language and culture (Hatoss & Huijser, 2010). Data were collected through individual interviews, and language needs analyses, and implementation of collaborative group workshops that used a sociocultural approach to learning the language (Grabinger, Aplin & Ponnappa-Brenner, 2007). A total of five learning experiences, each of three hours duration, were provided with each taking place in a different social context and in keeping with the principle of interdisciplinary language learning (Langford, Kellum, Lane, & Coulter, 2006). The workshops involved household written and visual texts of critical importance to the participants. They focused on building the context, modelling the text, ensuring joint construction, and concluded with the independent construction of text and the creation of links to related texts (Campbell & Green, 2006; Luke, 2000) in accordance with real-life literacy needs (McKenna & Fitzpatrick, 2005; Wickert & McGuirk, 2005). The research provided valuable insights into this particular group of migrants’ sociocultural contexts, their perceived barriers to learning English and their positive response to this trial of a sociocultural approach to English language learning.

EFL Proficiency Level and Differences in Japanese Secondary School Students' Views on the Need for Pedagogical Change

Abstract This research focuses on Japanese high school students’ views about EFL pedagogy and investigates whether their views differ according to their English language proficiency level as measured by the STEP test and their teachers’ pedagogical approach. It explores in greater depth this aspect of a larger study conducted by Ingram, Kono, O’Neill and Sasaki (2008). The views of those who performed at a higher level on the STEP test were compared with the views of those who reported lower levels of performance on the STEP test. Comparisons were made in relation to the two groups’ views on perceived changes to the way they may learn English given the opportunity. Insights into pedagogical issues are gained when these student views are considered in relation to teachers’ reports about their frequency of use of a range of language learning experiences. It was found that higher proficiency students tended to be more aware of the kinds of language learning experiences that would best facilitate their acquisition of the language and that their recommendations for change concurred substantially with the gaps identified in the teachers’ current practice. Overall, the research identifies a need for pedagogical change to facilitate students’ practical and functional use of English and the uptake of ICTs to link into communicating for real-life purposes in English. It highlights that students become more aware of the way they learn the language as their English proficiency increases. It also raises the issue of potential professional learning needs of EFL teachers and the priority for further research to investigate in more depth the possible constraints for both students and teachers in facilitating pedagogical change.

Changing traditional reading paedagogy: The importance of classroom interactive talk for year one Malay readers

Abstract The ability to read is one of the most crucial survival skills a person can possess. Besides being necessary in everyday life it is well established as the best predictor of future educational achievement. However, learning to read is a complex task and even in the new millennium education systems across the world continue to face the challenge of meeting targets for literacy acquisition. Current practices in Western education settings draw upon decades of research that emphasise the importance of developing children’s language and phonemic awareness and the adoption of an eclectic approach. They recognise reading as a process that requires thinking and metacognitive skills. In conjunction with this researchers have also shown that the quality of classroom interactive talk exerts a powerful influence on children’s literacy learning success. This research examines the application of this contemporary practice in the context of teaching reading in Malay language (L1) to year one children in Brunei Darussalam. It compares a trial of a balanced reading approach with the traditional approach that has long pervaded the current system in Brunei. As a qualitative exploratory study data were collected through classroom observations in three classrooms across two schools over two terms. This included transcribing the classroom interactive talk of reading lessons. The results provide insights into the value of the study of interactive talk as a window into the quality of literacy and reading paedagogy, and why students may be experiencing difficulty in learning to read. Recommendations are made for teacher professional learning and changes to resources to increase teaching effectiveness and to enhance young children’s beginning literacy experiences in their first language of Malay.

A case study of learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan: High school students' English proficiency levels and fostering positive cross-cultural attitudes.

Abstract This study reports on aspects of a larger study of over 600 Japanese high school students taken from ten schools in one prefecture and their attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language (Ingram, Kono, O’Neill & Sasaki, 2008). It compares the cross-cultural attitudes of those who performed highly on the STEP Test with those who had low performance on the STEP Test Students rated seventeen items on a semantic differential scale to elicit their attitudes towards English speaking people, Japanese people, European people, Asian people, the Japanese, Indigenous Ainu people, their own English language teachers and themselves. They also provided their opinions about cultural diversity in society, foreign language learning and their preferred ways of learning EFL at school. Based on percentage positive response ratings the results showed that those students who had achieved higher levels of English proficiency on the STEP Test tended to be more positive towards English speaking people and Europeans in general, and to a little extent more critical of their own culture, Asian people in general and themselves but in some respects more positive towards the Ainu people. There was also evidence of students who had higher proficiency levels recognising the need to engage more frequently in learning experiences that involved the English language and culture, and meaningful communication.

Formative assessment practices for pre-service teacher practicum feedback: Emerging research and opportunities

The development and implementation of effective teacher education programs requires evaluating current processes and optimizing them for future improvements. This ensures that a higher quality of education is delivered to the next generation of students. Formative Assessment Practices for Pre-Service Teacher Practicum Feedback: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an innovative source of academic information on the establishment of formative feedback processes in teacher education programs. Including perspectives on relevant topics such as video feedback, accreditation, and student literacy, this book is ideal for students, researchers, academics, and professionals actively involved in the education field.

Issues and challenges for contemporary pedagogy

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