Teaching Colleagues Research Articles

Teaching Assistants, Respected Enough to Teach, but Not Enough to Be Paid Accordingly

In this article, we examine the role and responsibilities of teaching assistants (TAs) in primary schools in England. A survey exploring the health and wellbeing of educators received 244 responses, with 70 TAs eager to share their experiences. While literature indicates that expectations placed upon TAs are often unclear and fluid, our data suggests that this vagueness can be exploited by leaders. In response to our survey, a picture emerges where the responsibilities of TAs increased exponentially during the pandemic and have not lessened since. In a role that is very poorly paid and can be relatively unsupported, the inevitable impact of this is a significant increase in stress and anxiety. This stress not only impacts TAs' mental health and wellbeing but also affects their family relationships. In this article we call for a review of this role at school level, and for consideration to be given to clearer pay scales and job descriptions. We advise schools to consider actions that create a more respectful school culture, where the skills, knowledge and wellbeing of TAs is valued on a par with their teaching colleagues.

Silence in the Classroom: Reflections on Teaching Poetry in UK Secondary Schools and Universities

Abstract This extended contribution to English’s forum on teaching poetry seeks to shift discussion away from the capabilities, expectations, and motivations of students in university poetry seminars and invite university educators to reflect on how aspects of their practice consciously and unconsciously effect how poetry is understood by new generations. The article recounts how the author’s understanding of silence in poetry classrooms in schools and universities has developed over time. In doing so, it models processes of reflective practice and reflexivity that might be less familiar to university teaching colleagues than it is to those who have undertaken training to teach in schools. The article argues that engaging with processes of reflective practice not only stands to benefit individual poetry teachers and their students, but can also empower us to think more critically and collectively about the purposes we serve and the principles that underpin our work as educators in the discipline of English.

Disciplinary literacy and verbal language in physical education

ABSTRACT Supporting pupils’ development regarding subject knowledge and disciplinary literacy is a complex and challenging task for teachers. Research shows that language-integrated physical education (PE) can assist children’s language development. However, it tends to reduce the time for physical activity, which is problematic since youth’s physical inactivity is a growing problem. This article examines how teachers can emphasize disciplinary literacy and stimulate pupils’ use of verbal language to enhance their learning in PE in a culturally and linguistically diverse context in Sweden. In this practice-based research study grounded in action research methodology, 20 ten-year-old pupils with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds participated with a teacher-researcher in 10 PE lessons in which disciplinary literacy and verbal language were intertwined with exploratory circus assignments. The theoretical framework is based on Biesta’s concept of risk. Data were collected through participant observation, video observation, interviews, and field diary. The data analysis was abductive, oscillating between the theory and the data. A thematic analysis was carried out. The results show that the exploratory circus assignments offered opportunities to emphasize disciplinary literacy and stimulate pupils’ use of verbal language. Focusing on language to ensure all pupils could partake and develop knowledge required time, which encroached on the pupils’ opportunity to be physically active. This was resolved through adding time before the PE lesson to activate the pupils’ background knowledge, anchor the language, and create pre-understanding. Further, including all pupils was challenging, and the pupils had different expectations regarding PE. The findings suggest that inviting pupils to speak involves an embedded risk in communication, but also carries dialogical potential. In collaboration with teaching colleagues, PE teachers can support and strengthen the pupils’ literacy development.

Exploring possibilities and challenges of Lesson Study: A case study in a small island developing state

Lesson Study (LS) is a teaching improvement and knowledge-building process that has origins in Japanese elementary education. In Japanese LS, teachers work in small teams to plan, teach, observe, analyse and refine individual lessons called research lessons. This study examined a small sample of primary school teachers’ perceptions of LS as a professional learning endeavour. The benefits and challenges teachers experienced when attempting to engage in LS was further explored. The study focused on the Fijian primary teaching context, specifically on Year 8 mathematics teachers. Data was collected using a series of class observations and semi-structured interviews in two case-study schools. Analysis of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews confirms that LS provided a useful mode for teachers to talk about their mathematics lessons and open them for scrutinisation by their teaching colleagues. The findings suggest that all the teachers in the two schools found that LS is a powerful learning platform to improve teachers’ mathematical knowledge and pedagogical skills. These findings have important implications for the implementation of effective professional learning amongst practising primary school teachers.

Design matters: How a course review informed online teaching best practices

This paper discusses how an Applying the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric for Higher Education workshop had an impact on the online teaching practice of three academic librarians. The QM Rubric was used to review and update a credit-bearing information literacy course taught by the authors’ department. The authors reflect on how this training influenced their relationship to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic (and beyond), using examples from their own experiences to demonstrate how instruction librarians contributed to online education during this period and how they used sustainable teaching practices to lessen the workloads of their teaching colleagues. Future steps include improved documentation, assessment, management and maintenance of digital learning objects used in online teaching.

Potential barriers towards achieving greater diversity: the case of Pasifika underrepresentation in accounting

PurposeThis paper aims to provide a commentary on how the accelerated utilisation of online learning in accounting education could further impede Pasifika students from completing an accounting qualification, thus perpetuating Pasifika underrepresentation in accounting.Design/methodology/approachThis commentary is based on the authors’ experiences and informal conversations with teaching colleagues and support staff. This paper uses Bourdieu’s (1977, 1990) theory of practice with a focus on his notion of symbolic violence to evaluate the challenges faced by Pasifika students in the learning of accounting.FindingsThe social world is inherently unfair, and this can be seen in the inequality that persists in various settings, one of which is in the accounting field. Acquiring an accounting degree requires studying accounting content, which is taught and assessed in a particular way. Unfortunately for the Pasifika learner, learning and assessment in accounting education are according to the demands and rules of the accounting field. These demands and rules, with the increased utilisation of online learning, are at odds with the Pasifika student’s habitus. Thus, Pasifika accounting students are likely to be disadvantaged by the increased utilisation of online learning. This could potentially exacerbate their underachievement in accounting education and prolong Pasifika underrepresentation in the accounting profession.Practical implicationsThis paper contributes to teaching practice by bringing to the fore the potential of online learning as an additional impediment for Pasifika students in accounting education. This will help inform policymakers, tertiary institutions, accounting accreditation bodies, educators and support staff and could result in the formulation of suitable strategies to better support Pasifika students in online learning.Originality/valueThis paper is original and provides a critical analysis of how some groups in society will be disadvantaged by the increased utilisation of online learning in accounting education, thus further hindering the slow progress in achieving greater diversity in the accounting profession.

The effects of Covid-19 on student transition from school to university in STEM subjects

Covid‑19 restrictions affected most of the post‑16 learning experience of the students who will begin university courses in STEM in the UK in autumn 2021. Ongoing disruption to learning culminated in the cancellation of normal A-level examinations which were replaced with teacher assessments. Informal discussion with secondary school teaching colleagues reveals some possible consequences for the students’ transition to degree level study in STEM subjects. The main suggestion is that, despite the resilience that students have shown both academically and socially, there have been significant omissions from the normally studied curriculum that may affect their progress on degree courses in STEM including: lack of experimental practice and skills, lack of specific subject knowledge and lack of experience of assessment.

AB0682 RHEUMATOLOGY TEACHING IN TIMES OF COVID-19

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the delivery of face-to-face teaching especially bedside teaching for medical students in the hospitals. Rheumatology outpatient clinics have mostly become virtual or telephone consultation clinics which prevent medical students from seeing patients in person. Students are deprived of the opportunities to take rheumatology history, examining patients and seeing signs of rheumatologic diseases. New adaptations have to be made to ensure equitability and that students still receive the relevant teaching in line with their learning curriculum and to help them prepare for their examinations.Objectives:Our aims are:1)To adapt bedside teaching in the wards to simulated teaching in the classroom using trained simulated ‘patients’; and2)To create simulation teaching of patient journeys in Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) format known as Clinically Observed Medical Education Tutorials (COMET) (Nair et al., 2001).Methods:1)For simulated teaching in the classroom, we have trained our teaching colleagues as simulated or standardized patients (SPs). We write up fictitious patient histories which simulate common presentations at rheumatology clinics. We train the SPs to give as accurate a history as possible and to simulate pains in different joints (e.g. pain at the metacarpophalangeal joints and proximal interphalangeal joints in rheumatoid arthritis) on clinical examinations. For clinical presentations that are not easily simulated, we use photographs of the relevant signs. This method is used not only as formative assessments but also as end-of-placement summative assessments.2)COMET comprises 3 OSCE-style stations with a tutor each where the students perform different tasks based on a patient’s clinical problem (e.g. acute hot swollen joint). The first station is initial A-to-E assessment of the patient (using a simulator), followed by investigations and interpretations of lab results and imaging (station 2) and lastly, management (including prescribing medications) and communication skills (e.g. explain arthrocentesis to the patient).Results:The overall feedback from students is very positive. We use Likert scale to assess confidence level before and after the teaching session, and pre-session and post-session multiple choice questions to assess learning and knowledge gained.Conclusion:While simulated teaching cannot replace encounters with real patients, students do enjoy these sessions as they get to ‘experience’ a large variety of rheumatologic cases and practice their clinical skills which at times are limited with real patients due to reluctance and pain of the patients.

The influence of part-time work on graduates' careers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore university students' perceptions about career development in relation to their part-time working and to examine whether students maximise opportunities arising in their part-time job in order to enhance their personal profile and career aspirations.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were held with 20 degree students at a UK university. The interview was based around 19 questions, split into three sections: general; career and the part-time job.FindingsThe findings indicate that while students are aware that part-time work helps in developing personal skills, there is a lack of awareness on how part-time work can provide differentiation in the graduate jobs market and support long-term graduate careers. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings suggesting greater awareness among students of how part-time work can drive work readiness and long-term career aspirations. It also recommends greater involvement of career advisors and university teaching colleagues in supporting this endeavour.Originality/valueWhile other papers on student working have included a small element regarding careers, this paper offers originality by focussing solely on the relationship between students' part-time work and career aspirations. Moreover, most works in this area have been quantitative studies, whereas this study is qualitatively-based.

Leveraging Student Misconceptions to Improve Teaching of Biochemistry & Cell Biology

Students come to science class with many ideas of how the natural world works, some of which do not match the consensus of the scientific community and can lead to misunderstandings. Because a growing body of educational research indicates that these misconceptions can serve as resources for learning, we developed a four-point plan to leverage knowledge of common misconceptions to improve classroom teaching by refining instructional focus, providing opportunities for reflective practice, applying evidence-based practices, and promoting exploration of learning theories. By sharing this plan with our teaching colleagues, we were able to foster a collaborative approach to our and others’ practice. To do this, we compiled a resource bank of common student misconceptions using data collected from the University of Toronto’s National Biology Competition, developed a guide for using this misconception resource bank to promote best teaching practices, then shared this plan with our teaching colleagues in order to foster a collaborative approach to our pedagogy. In this article, we present the resource bank and guide and provide teaching tips that can be applied to a wide array of scientific course types and educational levels.

Person-organization fit and first-year teacher retention in the United States

Few studies have investigated how person-organization (P–O) fit between beginning teachers and features of their schools is associated with teacher retention. This study investigated the association between several measures of P–O fit and novice teacher retention in the United States. Data analysis indicated that first-year teachers’ (FYTs) perceptions of P–O fit with their teaching colleagues was the strongest predictor of teacher retention. These findings suggest that it is important to develop P–O fit between FYTs and their teaching colleagues in schools. The findings have implications for induction programs and the teacher hiring process in schools.

LE CONSEILLER PÉDAGOGIQUE EN TANT QU’AGENT DE CHANGEMENT : COMPÉTENCES ET LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMATIONNEL

Les conseillers pédagogiques participent à la mise en œuvre des orientations du ministère de l’Éducation et de celles de leur conseil ou commission scolaire en matière d’enseignement afin de répondre aux besoins d’innovation, de communication et de collaboration des apprenants du 21e siècle. Outre leurs connaissances pédagogiques, leur propension pour l’innovation et leurs habiletés relationnelles, ils sont peu préparés à exercer leur fonction d’agent de changement auprès de leurs collègues enseignants. Cet article fait état des résultats d’une recherche visant à comprendre de quelles façons se manifeste le leadership transformationnel de conseillers pédagogiques au regard de leur rôle d’agent de changement. Des entretiens semi-dirigés auprès de sept conseillers pédagogiques et de quatre directrices de services pédagogiques provenant de quatre conseils scolaires francophones de l’Ontario ont permis de dégager des liens entre les compétences qu’ils mobilisent pour guider les enseignants vers un changement de pratique et les manifestations du leadership transformationnel telles qu’élaborées par Bass (1998).

Digital Doves

Kristin School is an independent co-educational, international baccalaureate school from early learning to Year 13, in Albany on Auckland's North Shore. Kristin School has an impeccable reputation for academic excellence and ensuring that its students are ‘Future Ready’. In 2016, after a robust school improvement inquiry, the school made the commitment to update its Learning Management System to one that was more dynamic and in line with the school’s beliefs on learning and teaching. After a robust review of systems, Kristin selected Canvas as it will allow us to grow and adapt to an ever-changing K-13 landscape.
 
 As George Couros writes in his book, The Innovator’s Mindset (2015), with any new technological improvement or innovation that schools invest in, one of the first questions to be asked is “What is best for this learner?” (p. 21) and rightly so. In asking this question, we are inherently recognizing that in order to achieve enhanced student learning, we must first invest in teacher learning. While there is a plethora of research on teacher learning or teacher professional development, current literature points to the intersection of teacher learning and inquiry (Timperley, Wilson, Barrar & Fung, 2007, Couros, 2015). Recognizing this research and understanding that strong pedagogical practice must be at the forefront, Kristin invested in a robust, staged rollout.
 
 Inspired by Timperley et al.’s, Ten Key Principles for Teacher Professional Learning and Development (2007), Kristin senior leadership allocated dedicated time for faculty learning with Canvas. Each faculty had a dedicated ‘Canvas Leader’ who had more in-depth training and were able to mentor their teaching colleagues. There were also different opportunities and modalities for teachers to learn from, including a course in Canvas about using Canvas, a YouTube Channel, faculty specific and general workshops, an active Twitter presence and the far-reaching Canvas Community.
 
 Kristin has rolled Canvas out schoolwide, from Year 1 – 13 and is fortunate to have strong teacher leaders that have embraced Canvas and have challenged themselves to not just ‘learn Canvas’, but to approach it as a core learning tool. In the Junior School, one team of teachers use Canvas as a way to differentiate the learning of students in specialist classes through the use of short videos. While in the Middle School, one of our Languages teachers uses Canvas as an integral, interactive classroom resource, where students are introduced to new concepts, are given collaborative tasks, and are linked to additional resources.
 
 In the coming year, Kristin will continue to lean on the work of Timperley et al., with the aim of strengthening the ties between Canvas and pedagogy and initiating inquiry groups around the use of technology in teaching and learning at Kristin. Recognizing an important part of teacher learning happens when we listen to the student voice (Timperley, Kaser & Halbert, 2014), an inquiry looking into the needs of our students will help to identify further next steps. At Kristin, we believe that when teachers are empowered to trial new methodologies and embed these successfully into their everyday practice, transformational changes will occur, in not just the learning of the teacher, but the learning experiences for the student as well.
 References
 
 Couros, G. (2015). The innovator's mindset: Empower learning, unleash talent, and lead a culture of creativity. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting.
 Timperley, H., Kaser, L. & Halbert, J. (2014). A framework for transforming learning in schools: Innovation and the spiral of inquiry. Centre for Strategic Education Seminar Series Paper No. 234 https://teachingcouncil.nz/sites/default/files/49.%20Spiral%20of%20Inquiry%20Paper%20-%20Timperley%20Kaser%20Halbert.pdf
 Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, I. (2007). Teacher professional learning and development. Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES) Report. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Educational_Practices/EdPractices_18.pdf

Backpack of Whiteness: Releasing the Weight to Free Myself and My Students

This essay decenters whiteness and centers who I am as a Black teacher weighed down by boulders representing the dominance of whiteness and internalized racism as well as the institutional and social systems within which I dwell. Slowly, I release them through partnerships, “remembered” histories, “re-righted” curriculum, and confidence in self-worth. While I write about degradation, marginalization, disrespect, and omission of my Blackness in relationships with universities, I also write about supportive partnerships with Professional Dyads of Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) Colleagues of Color, administrators, and students emphasizing that, at the end of the day, the partner I must hold onto first is me.

A Video on the Pathophysiology of Heart Failure for Reinforcing First Year Medical Student Learning: Do Video Techniques that Break from Medical Education Tradition Undermine the Video

Heart failure is conceptually more difficult to learn than myocardial infarction, and many students who are taught about both at the same time will later remember and understand MI while retaining misconceptions and uncertainties about heart failure. The fact that heart failure is a physiological and functional description, rather than an anatomical/structural description of a specific injury that can be pinpointed, and that heart failure has many diverse causes (including thyrotoxicosis) underscore the potentials for confusion that bedevil first year undergraduate students. While there are a growing number of educational videos on heart failure, most of them take the form of a talking head or an animated whiteboard. In our partially‐animated video we take three approaches that violate traditional medical educational video‐making to determine whether any or all of them are truly sacred: 1) to have a dialogue (physiologist to actress/patient) rather than a monologue voice‐over, 2) to include upbeat music to lighten the atmosphere, and 3) to use humorous metaphors to explain and reinforce difficult concepts (Figure 1). In addition the video ends with an in‐video quiz, to take advantage of the known effects of intercalated formative testing on computer‐based learning [Szpunar et al. 2013]. Before the video is generally released, it is being laboratory‐tested on students in its current form. Meanwhile, we seek feedback from our teaching colleagues at Experimental Biology on ways to improve or reformulate this kind of video. This video results from the David Jordan Teaching Award from the Physiological Society (2017).Support or Funding InformationThe Physiological Society: The David Jordan Teaching Award 2017This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

A professional development model to facilitate teacher adoption of interactive, immersive digital games for classroom learning

AbstractThe benefits of using digital games in the curriculum are well documented in literature. Most teachers who use digital games use short‐form drill‐and‐practice learning games rather than the kinds of games most students would choose to play in their free time. The use of more interactive, immersive digital games (IDGs) in classrooms tends to be sporadic, dependent upon the enthusiasm and ingenuity of individual teachers. Previous studies have indicated that many teachers have concerns about using digital games in classrooms and have difficulties knowing how to best use digital games. This qualitative study presents a professional development model for teachers that was inductively derived through analysing in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 13 educators who have used digital games in the classroom. Implementing this model can help teachers develop attitudes and skills necessary to meaningfully use interactive, IDGs in their classrooms. Evidence suggests that a mentor should have a strong understanding of how to use digital games effectively in classrooms, work with small cohorts of teachers to collegially plan the use of digital games within a unit of class work, trial the unit of work with a small number of enthusiastic teachers, and then implement it with the remaining teachers. This approach is based on interviews with educators who have successfully mentored teachers in their schools to use interactive, IDGs in their classrooms. These educators encountered little resistance from their teaching colleagues. Their approach further supported teachers who were open to the possibilities of using digital games in their classrooms.

Creating possibilities: studying the student experience

BackgroundHow can educators and students partner in the work of making transformational changes in schools and school systems? This paper will address how teacher researchers, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education in Canada, have studied the student experience to generate evidence. It will outline changes in practice and benefits for learning, teaching and leading. The value of teacher research beyond professional learning has often been disputed. The most common criticism of teacher research is that it does not contribute new knowledge. Distinguishing between evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence may clarify how teachers can generate new knowledge that can inform practice and support systemic change.Programme descriptionThis work has been cultivated through a unique programme and was organised across a large jurisdiction. It has supported ‘study teachers’ to engage as researchers in order to generate practice-based evidence and to mobilise knowledge within and across schools and systems.Study descriptionThe study was designed to engage study teachers collaboratively in identifying the essential practices of studying the student experience which might be sustainable outside the structures of the programme. A participatory approach was taken to engaging with study teachers to identify the essential practices of their role as teacher researchers: this was not a study of or about them.PurposeThe study aims were twofold: (a) to examine impressions of impact reported by study teachers on students, participating study teachers and their teaching colleagues; and (b) to identify the essential practices of the teacher researcher approach to studying the student experience.MethodsA mixed methods approach was adopted to examine evidence of the reported impact of the programme on students and teachers. Data were drawn from: survey responses from study teachers; abstracts of study teachers’ work; meeting documents (for example, photographs and documentation of conversations); and products developed by study teachers and their partners (for example, research papers, presentations, posters, infographics, blogs and videos).FindingsResults include an examination of the reported evidence of impact on students’ learning, agency and well-being; descriptions of the impact for teachers; and a synthesis of the seven essential practices of the approach. The seven essential practices and corresponding tensions that were identified with the study teachers were as follows: (1) fostering learner agency and negotiating power in the classroom; (2) collaborative learning relationships and sufficient time; (3) systematic pedagogical documentation and robust analysis; (4) generating practice-based evidence and new learning; (5) engaging students and teachers as researchers and negotiating power in constructing knowledge; (6) inspiring pedagogical possibilities and confronting dominant discourses; and (7) sustaining innovation and joy in learning and accepting being uncomfortable with uncertainty.DiscussionThis article considers the challenges and possibilities of embedding the practice of studying student learning within regular classroom and school structures in order to support transformational change. It also discusses implications for students and teachers as leaders in transforming schooling, including the potential benefits of extending teacher and academic researcher partnerships.

Feeling alienated – teachers using immersive digital games in classrooms

Significant barriers to using digital games in classrooms exist despite evidence to indicate digital games can enhance academic achievement. This qualitative, grounded theory study purports an interpretive understanding of the experiences of 13 Australian teachers who have used immersive digital games (IDGs) in the classroom. These teachers participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews that were one to two hours in duration. A key finding of this study is that teachers who use IDGs in the classroom can experience varying degrees of alienation from their teaching colleagues. This paper presents a model of the process of ‘Feeling Alienated’ experienced by some educators using IDGs in their classrooms. It begins with ‘the lone believer’ teacher who has strong beliefs in the value of using IDGs for student learning. Resentment by some colleagues, curriculum and classroom concerns, and insufficient advocacy contribute to the lone believer feeling alienated. This leads the lone believer to minimise the impact of their use of IDGs. The study concludes that, whilst negative teacher attitudes towards the use of IDGs in the classroom persist, the potential impact of IDGs in the classroom will not be fully realised.

Teaching Information Literacy for Engineering Students in a Rapidly Changing Information Landscape

The KTH Library has a long tradition of teaching information searching to technology students. Over the last years teaching information searching has become teaching information literacy, including more evaluation and source criticism. Traditionally, there have been three forms of teaching: independent credit-giving courses, integrated shorter modules in subject-specific courses and support via individual face-to-face supervision.Although evaluation and source criticism are now important parts of our teaching, much focus is still on search methodology. During this spring we, and our teaching colleagues at the KTH library, will revise and develop the content and pedagogical methodology for the courses and integrated modules in information literacy. In doing so, we need to address important questions on how to face the changing information landscape.Should the teaching be adapted to the search behaviour observed in our students or should we keep trying to change that behaviour? Do we put our effort into directing students to traditional scientific subject databases or should we put more emphasis on the importance of critically evaluating the search results, regardless of their source? How do we find the balance between these alternatives?Recently published studies have already covered these questions to some extent. The findings from a systematic literature search, together with insights collected from our development work during Spring 2016, will be used in an analysis of these questions in the context of teaching information literacy for engineering students.

Chinese academics writing for publication: English teachers as text mediators

This paper discusses a key aspect of Chinese scholars writing for publication in English: the role played by local English teachers as literacy brokers or “text mediators”. Increasingly, academics in China are required to publish their research in prestigious international journals to progress their careers, and are turning to local English teaching colleagues for assistance. The expense, uncertain competence and sometimes dubious ethical practices of professional editing services, combined with the co-present contact and personal relationships formed with local colleagues, mean that Chinese English teachers are rapidly becoming a valuable resource for turning the massive number of Chinese submissions into publishable papers. This relationship, however, is complicated by the lack of institutional funding for language mediation of this kind and by the uncertainties of appropriate reward for this work. This paper examines the kinds of cooperation and difficulties experienced between local English teachers and scientists in some Chinese universities.