Schaefer Matthew Yamato

The study looks at the case of a university language center in Japan that administers a compulsory English language course. To provide some level of standardization for the course, and to better meet the educational aims of the center, a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) teaching approach has been set as center policy. The research examines the different conceptions of CLIL that exist among the multiple teachers of the course, how these conceptions were developed, and what implications this has for centers that administer similar courses. Data were collected through one-to-one interviews. A phenomenographic analysis of the data reveals categories of the different conceptions of CLIL and how those conceptions were developed. Activity theory, and consideration of the teaching of the course as an activity system, is employed to consider how the use of a teaching approach policy impacts teachers’ engagement with working on the course. The study’s findings indicate that teachers teaching the same course have different conceptions of the policy-directed teaching approach that they are asked to use. This is partly due to the various ways in which they develop their conception of that teaching approach. These differences are viewed as a contradiction typical of an activity system. A key implication of this contradiction is that it may lead to benefits such as promoting peer interaction and engagement with the course. The deployment of activity theory to consider use of a teaching approach policy within a university center is unique and results in implications for other such centers.

The goal of this thesis is to explore the potential of applying narrative theory to higher education (HE) course design. More specifically, it takes as its hypothesis the idea that the HE course itself could be viewed as a type of narrative and then considers the implications of such a view. The main research question driving this thesis, therefore, is: What is the potential of narrative theory as an approach to inform HE course design and related teacher reflection? In order to answer this question, I address three sub-research questions, as follows: 1. How can the HE course be viewed as a narrative from a narrative theory perspective? 1a. What is a narrative? 1b. In what ways does the HE course meet the definition of a narrative? 2. In what ways do specific narrative elements align with the HE course? 3. What are the implications of viewing the HE course through a narrative lens in relation to supporting teacher reflection and course design? To answer the first sub-research question, I conducted a literature review as research method in order to analyze and synthesize the various definitions of narrative, resulting in a working definition, which I could then apply to what is commonly understood as an HE course. This led me to conclude that the HE course could indeed be considered a type of narrative and I specify the factors that contribute to its narrativity. To answer the second and third sub-research questions, I employ qualitative data collected in the form of lesson observations and teacher interviews, which is used in combination with mobilizing ideas from the literature. For the second sub-research question, I identify specific narrative elements, such as authorship and structure, with a specific focus on seriality, and how they align with the HE course, exemplified, when relevant, with quotes from teacher interviews and/or incidents from lesson observations. For the third sub-research question, I discuss the implications of having identified the feasibility of viewing the HE course through a narrative lens in the specific fields of course design and teacher reflection on course design. To answer this, I again employ the collected empirical data to provide examples, as well as discuss what was learned as a result of having carried out my data collection. The results are presented as a set of suggestions that can be taken as a narrative-informed approach to course design and related teacher reflection. These suggestions include considering elements such as the protagonist and antagonist of the course, the use of suspense and surprise, and the importance of repetition. This project contributes to knowledge in the field of HE by providing a starting point for interested HE course designers to view their courses through a narrative lens, which provides an established and rich set of components that can inform course design practice and reflection. As far as can be determined, such an approach has not previously been investigated in any detail, which positions this research as somewhat unordinary. This means that the possibilities of a narrative approach to HE course design are very much open to further exploration, guided perhaps by individual course designers’ own particular interests in specific aspects of narrative theory.

In 2014, the authors of this chapter began an independently-produced podcast, with episodes focused on discussions of language teaching informed by both our classroom experiences and background research. We soon began to appreciate the extent to which these collaborative dialogues played a role in our professional development, and to capture this dynamic we developed the concept of the critical co-presentership. This can be seen as a version of the critical friendship, but one distinguished by its public-facing nature and its spontaneous method of preparation and execution. In this chapter, we seek to explore the concept of the critical co-presentership through a process of duoethnographic reflection. In a duoethnography, two participants draw on their life histories in order to provide complex and nuanced perspectives on a particular phenomenon. Through multiple dialogues, we compare our perspectives on our shared journey as podcasters, and aim to answer the following questions: 1) What is our definition of a critical co-presenter? 2) How has our critical co-presentership influenced our development and teaching practice? We believe that a study of this kind allows us to refine the concept of the critical co-presenter through a deep examination of our experiences in this role. In turn, this will provide readers with an extensive understanding of the benefits of engaging in this kind of unique reflective partnership. We hope this provides impetus for the reader to experiment with more public-facing forms of reflection, which may influence their own, and their audience’s, professional development.