FACULTY OF ENGLISH STUDIES 10th September 2007

ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

(Ακαδημαϊκός Λόγος)

INSTRUCTIONS

COMPLETE ANY TWO TASKS

Please write on the first page of your answer sheets:

  • your name,
  • ID number,
  • your core session instructor’s name and
  • number of Assignments (if submitted in the Fall semester 2006-7)

TASK 1

Read the following text carefully and

(i)produce an outline (in note form) of the characteristics of image-based tools

(ii)use your notes to write a summary by paraphrasing adequately (80-100 words).

Researching Bullying

The first phase of the project was research to investigate the scope, frequency and nature of bullying in the school. The student researchers had their own views on these things, but, as researchers and not representatives, were not in a position to say that their experience was generalisable to the whole school population. Indeed, they recognised that they were a privileged minority group within the school, and that their experiences could well be atypical. We collectively decided that in order to find out about bullying and safety, we needed to find out the experiences and views of a more representative cross-section of the whole student body.

At the same time, as academics, we did not want to lose the student researchers' perspectives and pretend that they occupied an illusory neutral position. We wanted to build a practice that valued their experiences, but also put them to the test. We had observed that in group discussions the student researchers had a tendency to slip between a representative subject position, where they claimed to speak for their peers, and a researcher position, where they referred to the survey data and to the need for further information. We needed to find a way to help them to shift more conclusively to a student researcher standpoint. We decided that the best way to approach this experience dilemma was to focus on the research tools to be used.

We suggested to the students that they work with "trigger photographs", or photo-elicitation. We knew that this was a method they would not have considered - after all they had no formal training in research and only knew about the kinds of research tools that were conventionally used in the school curriculum and media texts - surveys and interviews. We arrived at the idea of visual images because they seemed to offer specific advantages - they were likely to provoke conversation, and were an economical medium for the translation of students' perspectives into a representation which communicated effectively with their peers.

There is a growing interest in the use of visual research methods within the social sciences (Chaplin, 1994; Emmison & Smith, 2001; Rose, 2001) and within education (Kaplan & Howes, 2004; Prosser, 1998; Thomson, in press; Walker, 1993). Much of the writing on image-based inquiry examines the use of photography and video as a medium for collecting data and/or of representing findings. Photo-elicitation, however, is an approach which aims to stimulate response and provoke the production of community and local knowledge: it is an aid to the collection/production of data. It is the kind of research "tool" (method) that is likely to be of interest to contemporary young people saturated in visual images (Kenway & Bullen, 2001).

In photo-elicitation, interviewees are shown photographs which are ready made or produced specifically for the specific research purpose. Deliberately constructed photographs then can be the medium for expressing experience: they are a re-enactment of a scene or scenes which the researcher-photographers want to use to stimulate responses from the sample of people they have chosen to interview.

But such photographs do more than set a representation of an experience on to the page. It is suggested (Schwartz,1989) that interviewees see such photographs as akin to family albums and this "familiarity" dissipates the strangeness of the research situation and thus interviewees answer without hesitation. The use of photographs offers one possible way to reduce interviewee shyness and/or reticence. They are disarming and encourage conversation. In addition, Hurworth (2003) suggests that photo-elicitation, once called photo-novella, is better called photo-voice, since it "enables people to record and reflect their community's strengths and concerns (and) promotes critical dialogue and knowledge about important issues through large and small group discussion". That is, the familiarity of the photograph and its domesticity supports multiple readings and perspectives, and legitimates interpretation from diverse points of view. There is thus resonance between the notion of photo-voice and the interests of researchers committed to allowing the voices of those with subjugated knowledges to be heard in and through research, that is, there is congruence between the method of photo-elicitation and the methodology of standpoint research.

Photo-elicitation therefore seemed to us to be appropriate for the students-as-researchers project in school, which aimed to not only present previously unrecognised understandings and perspectives on schooling practices (cf. Clark-Ibanez, 2004), but to do so through using the partiality and "insider knowledge" of the student researchers.

TASK 2

The text and the graphs that follow are from a study on the effects stress can have on adolescents’ long-term physical and mentalwell-being (Chandra & Batada, 2006). This study was conducted with ninth-grade male and female adolescents and data on how this group of teens perceived and coped with their stress was collected. Read the text and figures 1 & 2 below carefully and write a text of between 200-250 words describing the findings presented and explaining them by taking into account the possible explanations offered below.

Source of Stress / Approximate Percentage of Teens
Experience Stress Sometimes or Often / Worry About Stress Sometimes or Often
School work / 68 / 75
Parents / 57 / 68
Friends' problems / 52 / 64
Boy-girl relationships / 48 / 64
Peer Pressure / 48 / 60
Siblings / 40 / 63
Body changes / 32 / 20
Neighborhood / 26 / 48

Figure 1. Percentage of teens who reported experiencing or worrying about different sources of stress, Shifting the Lens study.

Figure 2. Frequency of coping strategy use, by sex, among participants in the Shifting the Lens study.

Possible explanations

  • Teens mentioned lack of respect from teachers. Student–teacher relationships were cited as inhibiting youths’ academic performance and school functioning.
  • Many teens felt that parents and other adults did not acknowledge their stress. They stated that parents and teachers did not understand the challenges they faced at school and in their relationships.
  • Teens equated stress with feeling anger, frustration, sadness, and physical discomfort.
  • There is conflict among siblings over family responsibilities. Being the only male in the family can be really stressful for boys.
  • There are quarrels between caregivers and older siblings.
  • High school is way different than middle school.
  • Teens tend to care a lot about their friends’ welfare.
  • Teens have a lot of problems these days because they want to be grown fast and are easily influenced.
  • In contrast with existing literature that emphasizes the influence of violence and neighborhood factors on stress among teens, teens prioritized other sources of stress.
  • Among girls, the prevalent stressor involved the honesty of boyfriends. Boys commented that their girlfriends constantly questioned them about trust and pressured them to provide material items.
  • According to the audio journals, teens relied for support on different individuals depending on the source of their stress.
  • Teens tend to avoid conflicts by trying to stay away from the problem, or not thinking about the issue.
  • A female teen noted the value of her friends: “[I] talked to my friends … they told me I could do better. They made me feel like I was important.
  • Male teens reported that they did not cope with stress by talking to a nonfamily adult.
  • Some teenage girls wrote down their feelings, whereas none of the boys indicated using this as a coping strategy.
  • Boys were more likely than girls to use sports as a coping mechanism.
Adapted from: Chandra A, Batada A. (2006) Exploring stress and coping among urban African American adolescents: the Shifting the Lens study. Prev Chronic Dis 2006 Apr. Available from:

TASK 3

Below are various extracts (references, quotations, notes) in random order on ‘A Theory of Home Tutors’ management of schooling in isolated settings’. Combine them into an academic report making appropriate use of the information provided paraphrasing adequately and quoting only at an acceptable length (which does not exceed the limit of 10% of the total number of words). Acknowledge the use of sources (in-text documentation) and correct the list of references at the end in terms of bibliography documentation stylesheet. Notice that when handwriting, we underline information which appears in italics when in print.

A theory of home tutors' management of schooling in isolated settings

  • Since the introduction of correspondence schooling (1917 in Western Australia) (White, 1962), parents have played an increasingly significant role in the education of their children. An increased number of parents have taken on the role of supervisor in rural and remote locations of Western Australia since the introduction of "on-air" lessons in Meekatharra in 1959 (Calzoni, 1991).
  • However, many parents do not have specific training, experience, or expertise in curriculum areas and are anxious about whether they are doing the job well enough (Condon & Edmondson, 1998; Kopke, 1983).
  • Despite the large body of information about distance education, very little has focused on how parents "manage" their role as home tutor. More recently, one report recommended research be undertaken to understand the role of the home tutor (Queensland School Curriculum Council, 1999).
  • Another significant piece of research (although undertaken in the mid-1980s), reported directly on issues surrounding distance education in Western Australia (Tomlinson et al., 1985). It is one of a few sources that contain details of the role that parents undertake as home tutor. Tomlinson et al. observed that for many geographically isolated children in Australia most of their primary schooling is undertaken at home.
  • Tomlinson et al. (1985) implied that little was known of the remote learner, but acknowledged, like White (1962), that distance education depended on the involvement of parents as tutors.
  • Little research has been undertaken in the field of distance education in the area of primary school-aged children and their home tutors. The field of distance education has been dominated by research in the areas of technology, increased interactivity, and design issues (see Berge & Mrozowski, 2001).
  • There has been an increasing focus in the literature in recent years on the introduction, design, and evaluation of new technologies, including the proliferation of e-journals. (Brennan, McFadden, & Law, 2001).
  • Although the relevant literature acknowledges the important role that the home tutor plays, very little research attention has been given to parents who in effect are the "home-teacher" and how they manage this process. However, recently Green (2006) provided a descriptive narrative portrait of the ways in which one family experienced their daily routine in and outside the schoolroom on a cattle property in Western Queensland.
  • In Western Australia Bowden (1993) identified a high level of dissatisfaction, despite intensive efforts to provide education for primary school students and their families in remote and isolated areas. It was noted that students often lacked adequate social interaction with their peers and teachers, and parents struggled with the curriculum content.
  • As White (1962, pp. 90-91) puts it: “supervisors were required to see that any instructions of the correspondence teachers were carried out, that timetables were followed that mail deliveries were made and to ensure that working conditions were comfortable. In addition they tested oral work in subjects such as reading, spelling and storytelling, a brief report on these being included with sets returned to Perth”.

Adapted from: Individual Perseverance: A theory of home tutors' management of schooling in isolated settings

Authors: Belinda Tynan a; Marnie O'Neill b

Published in:Distance Education, Volume 28, Issue 1 May 2007 , pages 95 - 110

References

2001 A. L. Berge, and S. Mrozowski, Review of research in distance education, 1990-1999.

pp. 5-19, American Journal of Distance Education 15:(3)

1983 Kopke, A. A. Education in the bush Isolated Children's Parents' Association , Southern Gascoyne Branch, Western Australia

1962 White, M. A. The history of correspondence education in Western Australia University of Western Australia , Perth - Unpublished Master of Education thesis

1998 Condon, H. and Edmondson, D. Home tutoring: The inside story Hamilton Printers , Charters Towers, Australia

2006 Green, N. C. Everyday life in distance education: One family's home schooling experience. Distance Education 27:(1) , [informaworld] pp. 27-44.

2001 R. Brennan, M. McFadden. and E. Law. All that glitters is not gold: Online delivery of education and training Australian National Training Authority , Adelaide

1999 Queensland School Curriculum Council Rural and remote forum (Report 2) Office of the Queensland School Curriculum Council , Brisbane, Australia

1991 Calzoni, F. The AustralianSchool of the Air: A conceptual analysis of its origins, history and recent developments, with particular reference to distance education in Western Australia 1955-1990 Murdoch University , Perth, Australia - Unpublished Master of Education thesis

1985 Tomlinson, D., Coulter, F. and Peacock, J. Teaching and learning at home: Distance education and the isolated child National Centre for Research on Rural Education, University of Western Australia , Nedlands, Western Australia

1993 J. Bowden. Schooling through distance: Perspectives from Western Australia. Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Conference of the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia, Towards 2000, Schooling through Distance Education, University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba, Australia

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