By Pierre Bourdieu (London: Routledge, 2010), xxx + 607 pp. £15.99 paper. A combination of social theory, statistical data, illustrations, and interviews, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judg...

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

This symposium issue focuses on the use of simulations and games to promote language socialization. Laurie Schick’s opening article is based on language socialization theory and includes a discussion of concepts developed in frame analysis. She considers simulations to be powerful socialization tools and discusses the implications for using role-plays and simulations in pedagogical contexts. In her exploration of the advantages of incorporating Internet chat into an international composition class, Emily Hull discusses the pedagogical implications of combining this technology with the BULLYING simulation that appears in this issue. Tânia Saliés and Priscila Starosky explore how the use of games led to the language development of a deaf Brazilian boy. In their cognitive-functional approach, they analyze the results of gaming encounters in terms of the development of the child’s communicative competence. Seongwon Yun examines how bilingual Korean children’s role-play leads to the internalization of social identities and how their metacommunication about play lead to the acquisition of cultural and linguistic knowledge. Mary Theresa Seig discusses the use of a cross-cultural simulation as an effective tool in a training program at a living history museum. She demonstrates how a simulation helped interpreters at the museum to communicate more effectively with visitors. This symposium issue concludes with my BULLYING simulation. Although we have used it in graduate courses in International Composition, one participant suggested (see reference in Schick’s article, this issue) that the BULLYING simulation could be an appropriate exercise for a group of public school teachers participating in an orientation program.

Language socialization

Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition.

ABSTRACT
 International doctoral students are an influential group in knowledge creation and cross-national engagement. Existing studies have mainly focused on this cohort’s learning and research experiences in developed countries. However, relatively few studies have explored these students’ experiences in non-traditional learning destinations. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus, and the notion of global-national-local imbrications, this study explores international doctoral students’ academic learning experiences in what can be understood as the Chinese academic sub-field. By interviewing 35 international doctoral students in a Chinese university, findings suggest that these students encountered certainty and uncertainty initially before some were able to navigate the Chinese academic sub-field more strategically. As a result, students progressively developed an in-between cosmopolitan habitus; this included as a result of exposure to both Chinese and international academic logics through learning with Chinese academic returnees. Students’ experiences suggest that the Chinese academic sub-field can be understood as something of an in-between field that imbricates the global, national, and local within higher education contexts.

Pursuing doctoral research in an emerging knowledge hub: an exploration of international students’ experiences in China

The Higher Degree Research (HDR) journey is known for its difficulties, complexities, and challenges (Lees-Deutsch, 2020), with many students experiencing multi-faceted issues and concerns (Skopek, Triventi & Blossfeld, 2020). Therefore, the purpose of this research aims to investigate the relationships that exist between variables, vulnerability factors and doctorial capital of candidates (n = 532) studying at Australian universities (2019). A quantitative cross-sectional correlational research design and Bronfenbrenner’s socio – ecological framework (personal, home, university, community) was utilised to collect participants’ (n = 532) descriptive statistics. Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory was used as a lens to examine how experiences, across the PhD candidature, are influenced by several psychosocial factors and doctoral capital. From such a dual methodological approach, the findings from this study suggests that; 1) age, 2) gender, 3) nationality, 4) financial / work status, 5) years of PhD and 6) attending postgraduate (PG) student events, go to significantly (p < 0.001) impact (positively and negatively) on students’ experiences and correspondingly, impacts on their self-confidence, motivation and mental health and wellbeing status. Research limitations are related to the recruitment of more doctoral students across more Australian universities. Further research is required from HDR supervisors so as to 'balance' the experiences of the PhD journey in Higher Education. In order to succeed in academia and HDR programs, students need to identify with and develop the ‘right kind of capital’ to successfully navigate fields of social and scholarly play. Investigating how the participants perceive their social and scholarly habitus is seen as crucial in helping students to develop positive dispositions relevant to being a doctoral student. The concept of doctoral capital and wellbeing, amongst Australian PhD students, is under researched and requires further investigation as a precursor to developing more specific policy designs aimed at providing heightened positive learning environments / HDR programs tailored to support doctoral students. Whilst reforms to improve PhD experiences are well established across the international literature (Geven, Skopek & Triventi, 2018; Skopek et al., 2020), evidence for Australia is largely missing. It is envisaged, that findings from this research will further assist in the development of quality policies that would go to provide effective services and support for doctoral students within Australian universities.

Doctoral capital and well-being amongst Australian PhD students: exploring capital and habitus of doctoral students

This study examines Chinese international doctoral students’ academic socialization into TESOL discourses and communities. Rooted in the academic discourse socialization theory, complemented by the...

On becoming a doctoral student: Chinese doctoral students’ socialization of capital and habitus in academia

Investigating Preservice Teachers' Transformative Learning Experiences in a Short-Term International Teaching Practicum

Exploring EFL Teachers' Ideologies and Practices of Global Citizenship Education in English Language Teaching

Multiple studies have examined learning and training for autistic students to improve their quality of life by using eXtended-Reality (XR) technologies, which mainly include virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Nevertheless, little is known about how technical features and technology affordances of the XR environment are used and addressed in these studies. In this article, we had reviewed 66 empirical studies regarding XR for autistic individuals and examined the corresponding research designs from 3 major dimensions, namely, autonomy (i.e., the degree of freedom users have), human–computer interaction, and the sense of presence. We then investigated the technical features and technology affordances in these studies through the lenses of these three dimensions. Fifty-four (81.82%) studies used VR as their interventional tool, eleven (16.67%) studies used AR, and only one (1.52%) study used MR. Results showed that the use of different XR platforms is closely related to the technical features, technology affordances, and study characteristics. We further provided an extraction of the essentials that serve as a practical reference for educational researchers and practitioners to inspect the design and implementation of XR technologies in learning and training environments for autistic students.

Tsung-han Weng

Papers

On becoming a doctoral student: Chinese doctoral students’ socialization of capital and habitus in academia

Investigating Preservice Teachers' Transformative Learning Experiences in a Short-Term International Teaching Practicum

Exploring EFL Teachers' Ideologies and Practices of Global Citizenship Education in English Language Teaching

Leveraging Extended Reality for Autistic Individuals: A Scoping Review of Technical Features and Technology Affordances

Habitus, Ideologies, and Actions: Working-Class and Middle-Class Chinese Immigrant Families' Language Policy in the Midwestern United States