ORCID Profile
0000-0002-8340-3344
Current Organisations
Southern Cross University
,
Monash University
,
University of New South Wales
,
Queensland University of Technology
,
Southern Cross University - Gold Coast Campus
,
Eckerd College
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Publications
Bilingual learning strategies to support Chinese EAL business students
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 18-08-2022
DOI: 10.1108/JIEB-10-2020-0083
Abstract: This study aims to examine the effectiveness of bilingual learning strategies designed to support Chinese undergraduate business students facing significant learning challenges in an Australian university capstone curriculum delivered at their Chinese university. These challenges include the students’ difficulty understanding discipline-specific English terminology, using this terminology to discuss disciplinary concepts with their instructors and stress caused by an abnormally high study load. In response to these challenges, the project team implemented a suite of bilingual strategies to reduce cognitive load and enhance learning, which included Chinese-English glossaries to build disciplinary-specific vocabularies a bilingual teaching assistant to enable students to communicate in their language of choice the use of WeChat to connect students to staff and to provide translanguaging opportunities and bilateral managerial and academic support for strengthening the institutional cross-cultural relationship through staff exchange and language learning programs. A series of surveys were administered to measure the impact of these strategies on students’ learning, and WeChat logs were analysed to determine students’ linguistic preferences during discussions with staff and students. The results of this project show strong support for each bilingual strategy, high academic performance amongst the student cohort, the positive contribution to learning and connection provided by social media technology, students’ language of choice preferences and chosen translanguaging styles and the important role of teaching staff in supporting international students’ intercultural learning and adaptation to a foreign university learning system. This original evidence-based study helps to address the gap in bilingual education in Australian higher education demonstrating a successful strategy for dealing with language and discipline-specific challenges confronting EAL students.
Just when I needed you most: Establishing on-demand learning support in a regional university
Publisher: Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
Date: 26-10-2020
DOI: 10.14742/AJET.6117
Abstract: This article discusses the experiences and challenges of introducing a third-party learning support provider into the teaching and learning culture at Southern Cross University (SCU), a regional university with c us locations in New South Wales and Queensland. The provider was engaged to extend online study support after-hours to first year students to complement the on-c us and online academic skills consultations available during business hours. The case study covers a 2015 pilot, a wider roll-out in 2016, and finally, a 2017 university-wide access via the intranet as well as through nominated units. The project team collaborated, planned, and prepared for adding third-party student support with specific strategies used to implement institutional cultural change. The case study offers implications for practice and policy across the higher education sector through the lessons learned, including the need for a complementarity of services approach with existing student services, a team-based strategic approach with a provider representative, and the benefits from open and positive communication. The partnership between SCU and the third-party provider evolved to the mutual benefit of both organisations. Students received support and feedback when they needed it most, academic staff revitalised coursework, and the third-party provider fine-tuned a targeted service for the institution. Implications for practice or policy: Situate the academic skills support services provided in-house and the service provided by the third-party provider as complementary to each other. Re-enforce this complementarity in all communication with students and academic staff. Adopt a team-based approach to planning the introduction and implementation of a third-party provider’s services. Utilise the provider’s strengths, such as data generation and reporting, that enable student usage information about the after-hours service to be disseminated across the university.
Preparing Chinese international business students for the transition to undergraduate study in Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2015
Abstract: The erse range of academic, social and cultural challenges experienced by Asian students when studying at Western universities is well documented. This research involved a pre-departure curriculum designed to ease the intercultural transition and adjustment for Chinese international students to a new learning environment in Australia. Moving beyond the conventional solution of establishing support systems for international students once onshore at the host institution, an academic team identified the major cultural and learning challenges for Chinese students, including use of technology, team work and active learning strategies. With embedded academic skills, the pre-departure programme was delivered at the Chinese partner institution with evidence that Chinese students developed understanding of the expectations for study at an Australian university and improved intercultural competence skills. An unanticipated result was how the project evolved into a much broader undertaking where insight gained into the enormous cultural and learning differences between a Chinese and an Australian university has led to pedagogical, curricular and environmental changes at the host institution. This study discusses lessons learned and presents cultural competence as a dual concept requiring international students, together with staff at the host institution, to engage actively in intercultural learning, creating a truly internationalised educational environment. Few studies on international student transition programmes exist, so this project has the potential to inform intercultural education providers, policy makers and educators.
Voices from the coalface: Teaching in a highly diverse postgraduate tourism program
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Defining the dynamic role of Australian academic skills advisors
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-05-2019
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
No related grants have been discovered for Sally Ashton-Hay.