Students In British Universities Research Articles

Inside the ivory tower, the view from a “space invader”: An exploratory study into the ways racialized PhD students experience white ignorance in elite universities in the UK

AbstractThis paper examines the experiences of racialized PhD students in British elite universities. It is framed by Mills' (2007) conception of white ignorance and reflects on the power of whiteness that shapes everyday experiences in such places of privilege. For Mills, the production of racism relies on epistemological processes that produce ignorance, and which promote various ways of ignoring the histories and legacies of European colonialism. Research has shown that professors find it difficult to talk about racism and coloniality within higher education. Professors responses are important as they may affect the outcomes of conducting research for PhD students, yet there is less understanding of how racialized PhD students experience or address white ignorance. Using in‐depth interviews with 14 racialized PhD students, this paper critically examines the intertwined relationship between the coloniality of knowledge and white ignorance within elite universities in the United Kingdom. While universities have been regarded as “neutral” knowledge‐producing institutions, this study challenges the assumptions, interactions, and practices of higher education disciplines in the social sciences, namely anthropology and sociology. Based on the findings of this work, we argue that white ignorance is an epistemic strategy that justifies racial domination within and beyond the halls of academia.

Single case analyses of two overlap sequences in casual ELF conversations from a multimodal perspective: Toward the consideration of mutual benefits of ELF and CA

Since Firth’s (1990, 1996) seminal conversation analytic (CA) work on English as a lingua franca (ELF) interactions, the substantial amount of pragmatic ELF research has explored how interactants achieve intersubjectivity and social action in translingual ELF settings from a participant-relevant emic perspective (e.g., Jenks, 2012; Kaur, 2009). However, non-verbal resources are mostly disregarded in the majority of ELF research with a few exceptions. Meanwhile, mainstream CA research predominantly investigates first language interactions, and thus ELF research is still marginalized in the CA literature (Pietikäinen, 2018b). The primary aim of this paper, therefore, is to discuss the benefit of multimodal CA to analyzing ELF interactions, while the secondary one, that of analyzing ELF data to CA scholars. To these ends, the paper adopted a single case analysis (Sacks, 1992) combined with multimodal CA (Mondada, 2018), and analyzed two types of overlap sequences in casual ELF conversations of international students in British universities. The analysis of multimodal resources revealed interactional sensitivity and deftness of the interactants in the translingual ELF settings. The findings refine the understanding of lingua franca language scenarios and show the powerfulness of multimodal resources also in translingual ELF settings. Finally, a suggestion for future research will be given.

What we talk about when we talk about writing: exploring how English for Academic Purposes teachers and learning developers conceptualise academic writing

Two main groups of staff currently provide writing support to students in British universities. These staff typically enter their roles from a range of professional backgrounds and, consequently, may hold different professional identities and understandings of what academic writing is. Although there is a body of research on teacher identity and on lecturers’ conceptualisations of writing, few studies have compared the views and identities of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers and learning developers. The current study set out to investigate whether these two groups perceive academic writing in similar or different ways, and why. We undertook a small-scale study, interviewing eight participants at two universities, half from a post-1992 institution and the others from a research-intensive, high-ranking university. While participants varied in their definitions of writing, common themes emerged, lying on a spectrum from an autonomous, text-based, to an academic literacies perspective on writing. To establish the influences on these perspectives, we investigated the participants’ sense of identity as an academic writer, how they learned writing themselves and any influences on them from theory. Neither the EAP teachers nor the learning developers identified strongly as academic writers, despite all holding postgraduate qualifications and some having published their writing. Most reported little to no training in how to write academically themselves, and few mentioned any theoretical stance in their approach to helping students. Although some clustering around particular conceptualisations of writing was observed, we did not find strong evidence that the participants belong to two different ‘tribes’.

The Use of Social Media in Knowledge Sharing Case Study Undergraduate Students in Major British Universities

This study aims to investigate how the social media tools can help the exchange of knowledge between university students to build a knowledge sharing culture. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of individual and organizational factors, social media technologies (SMT) and knowledge sharing factors, thus predicting the online user behavior towards social media knowledge-sharing. Different methods such as (PLS) were used to analyze the study results in order to consider the influence of all constructs on the framework simultaneously. Therefore, a (157) online questionnaires were collected from undergraduate students in major British universities. The results reveal that knowledge sharing behavior had five positive factors: mutual trust, reciprocity, eWOM quality, perceived usefulness and perceived online attachment motivation. Practical implications, limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

Lay Catholic Support for Exiled Polish Intellectuals in Britain, 1942–1962

This article examines the hitherto unexplored role of lay Catholics in the tertiary education of Polish exiles in Britain, from the early 1940s to the beginning of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. It will examine the work of the Newman Association, a predominantly lay Catholic graduate society, as a case study to reveal how lay activism towards European exiles was influenced by a range of social, theological and political factors. It will highlight the ways in which support for Polish Catholic education could be manifested, including the establishment of a cultural hub in London, a scholarship programme to assist Polish students in British and Irish universities, and the development of cultural links with individuals and organisations within Poland. Ultimately, this article demonstrates the growing confidence of educated lay Catholics in breaking out of their historically subordinate role within the English Catholic Church in the years prior to Vatican II.

Interactional management of face-threatening acts in casual ELF conversation: an analysis of third-party complaint sequences

AbstractThis paper investigates how English as a lingua franca is used to manage adversarial moments in casual conversation among friends, using conversation analysis and politeness theory. It presents a single case analysis of face negotiation devices utilized in two cases of third-party complaint sequences, in which complaints are made about someone else who is not present. The two cases to be analyzed were extracted from recordings of conversation of international students in British universities. The analysis revealed that the interactants utilize verbal and nonverbal devices, which are sometimes linguistically inexplicit but nonverbally resourceful, in a pragmatically sensitive manner in situ, thereby saving mutual face, intensifying the degree of face-threatening, or expressing disaffiliation in a face-saving way.

Conditional clauses in novice academic English: A comparison of Norwegian learners and native speakers

This study concerns the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features of conditional clauses in novice academic English. The material comes from the VESPA corpus, representing Norwegian advanced learners of English, and the BAWE corpus, representing English L1 students in British universities. The learners are shown to overuse conditionals in general, but to mostly master their syntactic and semantic features. The overuse may be associated with the interpersonal functions of conditionals. The epistemic use in argument building is more apparent among the native speakers.

Housing and transport: access issues for disabled international students in British universities

This article explores two disabled people’s ‘Seven Needs’ to independent living, those of ‘housing’ and ‘transport’ issues, in relation to disabled international students in British universities. Firstly, students’ living arrangements, including issues related to the suitability of university accommodation to their disability-related needs, have been identified. Secondly, the choice and accessibility of transport used is examined. A range of barriers that this group of students encounter based on their double or multiple identities as ‘disabled’, ‘international’ and sometimes ‘mature’ or ‘postgraduate’ students has thus been identified and discussed. The article highlights the barriers that are reinforced and exacerbated by the interplay of students’ different identities, proposing ways of removing these difficulties.

Does Expansion Cause Congestion? The Case of the Older British Universities, 1994–2004

This paper examines whether the rapid growth in the number of students in British universities in recent years has led to congestion, in the sense that certain universities’ output could have been higher if this expansion had been less rapid. The focus of the paper is on 45 older universities that were in existence prior to 1992. The analysis covers the period 1994/95–2003/04. Several alternative methods of measuring congestion are examined and, to check the sensitivity of the results to different specifications, three alternative Data Envelopment Analysis models are formulated. The results indicate that congestion was present throughout the decade under review, and in a wide range of universities, but whether it rose or fell is uncertain as this depends on which congestion model is used. A crucial point here is whether one assumes constant or variable returns to scale. Nonetheless, all models point to a rise in congestion between 2001/02 and 2003/04, and this may well be a result of the rapid growth that occurred in this period. All models also record a sharp drop in mean technical efficiency in 2003/04. A possible explanation of the absence of a clear‐cut trend in congestion is that the student:staff ratio in these universities was relatively stable in the decade under review, rising only gently from 2000/01 onwards.

Robert Arthur Humphreys (1907-1999)

Robert Arthur Humphreys (1907-1999)

Lifelong Learning and the 'Breadwinner Ideology': Addressing the problems of lack of participation by adult, working-class males in higher education on Merseyside

This paper considers the cultural and economic positions of working-class men in the specific context of Merseyside, their attitudes towards education (taking into account, amongst other things their assumed 'breadwinner' role and its pertinence within the prevalent regional context of 'living off one's wits') and the effects on their levels of participation in higher education. Drawing upon recent research into mature students in British universities, the paper suggests that universities themselves need to change if they are to offer an image and environment that will appeal to the adult working class, and in particular the adult workingclass male (who on paper have the most to benefit from lifelong learning) and, significantly, the universities must reassess their 'community' role, and begin to think of themselves in terms of their 'local' remit.

CALL IN CONTEXT: FRENCH MEANS BUSINESS

Increased student numbers and declining fee income have focused attention on the need for efficient and innovative teaching in British universities. Meanwhile, a number of initiatives have encouraged a policy of integration of IT into the teaching and learning process. It is, however, far from clear what pedagogical rationale is appropriate for advanced language teaching, especially when materials development and research into applied pedagogy are undervalued. Studies have also shown that levels of grammatical knowledge and communicative competence in both first year and final year students in British universities vary greatly, and, more seriously, are in some cases indistinguishable. The CALL software produced by government‐funded consortia is intended to help remedy this situation, but more than a ‘remedial’ strategy is required if investment in hardware is to be justified by demonstrable outcomes. For this to happen, we have to see how the overall ‘learning environment’ has been modified by economic forces and develop appropriate strategies for countering the negative aspects of change. The experience of designing, delivering and refining the systems and materials involved in delivering a ‘French for Business’ course is then generalised with a view to showing how new thinking about the nature of university teaching might be combined by the development of more effective CALL programs for advanced language learners about to enter the world of work.

Communication skills training for engineering students in British Universities

Communication skills training is not well established in the British university criteria. For a long time, it has been a neglected issue, priority being given to the acquisition of technical skills. A research project carried out at Aston University examined the question of how communication skills could most effectively be provided for engineering students. From information received from people experienced in the field, interesting differences were noted among courses held in a number of British institutes of higher education. Such differences included the background of the lecturer (usually engineering or communication), the timing of the course in the degree program, and syllabus selection focusing on academic and industrially related skills. Accordingly, a series of recommendations was made concerning course development at Aston University. The main conclusion is that a joint collaborative approach between an engineering department and a communication specialist is likely to be most successful. Further attention also needs to be paid to the specific skills required by practising engineers in industry.

The Professional Placement for Students: some theoretical considerations

ABSTRACT Professional placements and sandwich courses are now a familiar feature of higher and further education in Britain. Approximately 8.0% of students in British universities now complete a placement as part of their degree course. To date, much of the research which has assessed and evaluated this curriculum development has been largely descriptive and atheoretical. This paper provides a more explicitly social psychological framework for examining the context, performance and satisfactions which students experience as a consequence of undertaking part of their degree courses in France and Germany. It should be noted, however, that the theoretical positions taken and conclusions drawn have relevance for the analysis of traditional placements in Britain. Particular attention is paid to psycho‐social transitional states, employment hierarchies and problem representation, and social and cultural skills learning.

Institutional variations in British students' approaches to learning and experiences of teaching

This article examines differences in reported approaches to studying and course perceptions of students in British universities and polytechnics. Hypotheses about these differences derived from the functions and characteristics of the two sets of institutions are compared with data from a questionnaire survey of 1903 university students and 305 polytechnic students. The results, adjusted for subject area differences, indicate that contrary to expectation the university group are less likely than the polytechnic group to use deep approaches to studying. The two groups report similar patterns of study organisation. The university students experience somewhat poorer teaching. The polytechnic students are more interested in gaining qualifications for employment and perceive their courses to be clearly to this end. The results are considered in relation to further research into student learning patterns and implications for the binary system of higher education.

South Asian students in British universities: A statistical note

(1982). South Asian students in British universities: A statistical note. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies: Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 206-212.

Unqualified Mature Students in British Universities

(1982). Unqualified Mature Students in British Universities. Studies in Adult Education: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 59-68.

A ‘CASE’ for physics

During the 1970s there was a substantial drop in the number of physics research students in British universities. Accurate figures are hard to come by, except for SRC supported students, but as the point I wish to make is concerned precisely with these students (or perhaps more accurately these studentships), I shall confine myself to figures for these.

Social Conscience and Social Policy

ABSTRACTElementary textbooks in a subject may well influence students more than their subsequent reading, and they show the basic assumptions of teachers. This article is based on a study of introductory reading recommended to social administration students in British universities and polytechnics in 1976. It argues that many textbooks incorporate to some extent an ideal-typical interpretation of social policy which is called ‘the social conscience thesis’. The first part of the article sets out to establish that this approach, which was one of the dominant ones in social administration, remains influential. It is still the most common interpretation of social policy at the elementary level. The article is not concerned with advanced and specialized texts, where, although the social conscience thesis is still strong, different approaches are more commonly found. The second part then attempts to explain why this approach was once so powerful and why it is still with us.

Dissertations on Luso-Brazilian Topics; A Bibliography of Dissertations Completed in the United States, Great Britain and Canada, 1892-1970

After the first American doctoral dissertation related to Luso-Brazilian studies was completed in 1892, the output of dissertations in that area of scholarship grew slowly and unsteadily. In contrast, graduate student interest in Luso-Brazilian studies increased greatly during the twenty years after 1950. Students in British universities also contributed an increasing number of studies during the latter period (Table I). Unfortunately, few compilations of this accelerating scholarly production have been available to scholars interested in Luso-Brazilian studies.