Bridging Transcultural Divides: Asian Languages and Cultures in Global Higher Education

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Bridging Transcultural Divides
The contributors of this remarkable book explore a wide range of topics relating to the discipline of Asian Studies in Australian higher education. From perspectives ranging from that of senior academics to postgraduate students and area expertise from Indonesia to Japan, they give concrete and often personal accounts of their teaching and/or learning of Asian languages and cultures. However, they all have one aim in common: to bridge the divide at the many interfaces of this endeavour, whether they are cultural, pedagogical or political. All those who are interested in creating a more
culturally diverse and sensitive world should read this book.
Professor Kam Louie Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Hong Kong
One of the most important recent trends in universities in English-speaking countries has been the massive increase in the number of Asian (mostly but not all Chinese) students coming to study for degrees. The impressive and stimulating essays in Bridging Transcultural Divides deal with the cultural and educational issues in the Australian context. They offer insights into the shift of the centre of the world towards Asia, challenge the conventional wisdom on some of Western education’s most treasured — but often least defined — concepts, and give sound advice on dealing with issues such as plagiarism, language learning and training in social science research. The book’s central message is that education for Asian students in Australia, and more broadly in the West, can no longer been seen as a one-way transfer of knowledge, but must be understood as a process of reciprocal learning in which both teachers and students are changed by the experience. This important book addresses both theoretical and practical issues and will appeal to a broad range of interests — those concerned with the ‘rise’ of Asia, including China, and its cultural implications for the West; educational theorists and policy makers seeking ways to respond to the influx of foreign students; and higher education classroom teachers keen to deliver the best and most productive
experience to incoming students.
Professor Tim Wright Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sheffield
This volume presents the diverse approaches and achievements of scholars of Asian cultures and languages in today’s global academy. Recent vast increases in student numbers and ethnic diversity have created pressing challenges for a higher education which engages with contemporary concerns for Asian societies as well as for Asian students involved in Western education. This collection of scholarly analyses demonstrates the centrality and significance of Asian Studies and languages for these globalising academic communities. Significantly, it demands a rethinking of traditional ‘intercultural’ education. In so doing, it brings empirical knowledge as well as multicultural interpretation and multilingual expertise to throw new light on the challenges in higher education today, and to open up new understandings of the
demands of the future.
With the focus on pedagogy, the chapters here present the original perspectives of multilingual, globally-educated university staff in Australia, as well as the learning experiences of their diverse students. All the contributors are actively engaged with the educational challenges they identify and, as a result, their writings provide sharply relevant theoretical perspectives and cutting edge innovations to practice. Through contextually situated analysis, the studies here interrogate global trends in Asian cultural studies, in addition to curriculum transformations in the teaching of Asian languages, and they represent a rich diversity of rhetorical styles and methodological approaches. Taken together this collection provides a new and ground-breaking perspective on the teaching of Asian students in globalised higher education. Inspired primarily by the understandings of Asian scholars in Australian universities, it offers uniquely authentic theoretical insights and practical initiatives. As such it succeeds admirably in its goal to celebrate difference while overcoming division, and providing practical strategies for achieving educational opportunity and social justice in the living contexts of Western
higher education.
Professor John Makeham Head, Department of Chinese Studies, Australian National University
This book is available as a fully-searchable pdf from www.adelaide.edu.au/press
Bridging Transcultural Divides: Asian Languages and Cultures in Global Higher Education
edited by
Xianlin Song Centre for Asian Studies, The University of Adelaide
and
Kate Cadman School of Social Sciences, The University of Adelaide
Published in Adelaide by
University of Adelaide Press The University of Adelaide Level 1, 230 North Terrace South Australia 5005 [email protected] www.adelaide.edu.au/press
The University of Adelaide Press publishes externally refereed scholarly books by staff of the University of Adelaide. It aims to maximise the accessibility to its best research by publishing works through the internet as free downloads and as high quality printed volumes on demand.
Electronic Index: this book is available from the website as a down-loadable PDF with fully searchable text. Please use the electronic version to serve as the index.
© 2012 The Authors
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission. Address all inquiries to the Director at the above address.
For the full Cataloguing-in-Publication data please contact the National Library of Australia: [email protected]
1. Oriental languages — Study and teaching (Higher) 2. Asia — Civilization — Study and teaching (Higher)
I. Song, Xianlin. II. Cadman, Kate.
ISBN (paperback) 978-1-922064-30-1 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-922064-31-8
Project Editor: Patrick Allington Cover design: Emma Spoehr Book design: Zoë Stokes Paperback printed by Griffin Press, South Australia
Contents
1 Embracing transcultural pedagogy: An epistemological perspective Kate Cadman and Xianlin Song
3
Part II: Re-locating teaching and learning
2 What are the implications for learning in Australian universities if and when the centre of the world shifts towards Asia? Mobo Gao
29
3 (Post) Modern times: Transcultural exchange and the circumstances of postgraduate social science research Greg McCarthy
49
4 Teaching Asian languages from an intercultural perspective: Building bridges for and with students of Indonesian Anthony J Liddicoat and Michelle Kohler
73
5 A Study Skills Action Plan: Integrating self-regulated learning in a diverse higher education context Kayoko Enomoto
101
6 The challenge of motivation: Teaching Japanese kanji characters to students from diverse language backgrounds Naomi Aoki
131
155
Part IV: Capitalising on Asian social and cultural studies in contexts of diversity
8 Increasing cultural flexibility: A psychological perspective on the purpose of intercultural education Delia Lin
191
9 Reflections of a ‘Korean’ teaching about Japan in globalising Australia Sejin Pak
209
231
Part V: Bridging learning gaps
11 Chinese culture and plagiarism: A convenient cause for an inconvenient issue in the academy Ming Hwa Ting
253
269
For the joy and fulfilment that have been generated by this project we owe a special debt of gratitude to the many people who have shared their vision, as well as their time and energy, with us along the way. Our on-going dialogues with all those involved have led us to new places, and to new ideas.
First and foremost, we would like to thank our fellow authors in this collection, and to take this opportunity to recognize their expertise and the ground-breaking work that routinely informs their contributions to Asian Studies.
Our appreciation is extended to all our collegiate readers and mentors, including the anonymous reviewers, and particularly to Professor Chihiro Thomson (UNSW), Dr Laura Dales (UWA), Dr Julia Miller (UA) and Dr Simon Smith (UA) for their insightful evaluations and feedback on our drafts.
This volume would not have been possible without the financial assistance of the following organisations, and we thank them sincerely for giving us the freedom to explore our educational interest in Asia and its students at this critical moment in the globalisation of Higher Education:
• Centre for Asian Studies, University of Adelaide, South Australia • School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia • Confucius Institute, University of Adelaide, South Australia. We would also like to express our thanks to Professor Kent Anderson for his
personal interest and generous support for this work. We are grateful to the University of Adelaide Press, especially to Dr John
Emerson and Dr Patrick Allington, without whose belief in the project and rigorous professional commitment this collection would not have come into being.
And last, but by no means of least significance, we would like to acknowledge the unique and invaluable contribution of students of Asian cultures and languages to Australian Higher Education today, and to express our sincere appreciation for all they have taught us on our mutual ‘transcultural’ journeys.
Xianlin Song and Kate Cadman July 2012
Acknowledgements
Ms Naomi Aoki is a Lecturer in Japanese in Asian Studies at The University of Adelaide. She specialises in Teaching Japanese as a Second/Foreign Language and develops various teaching resources including textbooks and e-learning materials. Her research interests include curriculum design by focusing on learners’ motivation and information literacy.
Dr Kate Cadman is Adjunct Senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at The University of Adelaide, where for over 10 years she was Coordinator of research education and bridging programs for students with English as an Additional Language. She is on the Editorial Board of the international Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and an Editor of TESOL in Context. She conducts invited research education consultancies in USA, South Africa, China, Singapore and SE Asia, as well as Australia. Her research focuses on critical strategies for developing an inclusive global academy.
Ms Kayoko Enomoto is a lecturer in Japanese at The University of Adelaide. Kayoko’s research focuses on adult second language acquisition and its implications for classroom teaching. Her recent research examines several educational initiatives which explore approaches to engage and motivate students from a wide variety of linguistic, cultural and disciplinary backgrounds and to meet the diverse learning needs of such a cohort. Kayoko has won various excellence in teaching awards, including a national ALTC (Australian Learning and Teaching Council) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2011).
Professor Mobo C F Gao is Professor of Chinese Studies at the Centre for Asian Studies and Director of the Confucius Institute at The University of Adelaide. Professor Gao’s publications include four monographs and numerous journal articles and book chapters as well as popular media essays. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Gao Village and of Introduction to Mandarin Chinese, which are widely used at tertiary institutions. Professor Gao’s most recent publication is The Battle for China’s Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution.
List of Contributors
xi•Bridging Transcultural Divides
Dr Michelle Kohler is a Research Fellow at the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures, University of South Australia, and Lecturer in Languages Education at Flinders University. Michelle has contributed to a number of national projects including the Report on Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning, Intercultural Language Teaching Learning in Practice, Standards for Languages Teaching, The Current State of Indonesian Language Education in Australia Schools and the recent Student Achievement in Asian Languages Education. Michelle’s research interests include intercultural language teaching and learning, languages curriculum and assessment, and Indonesian language education.
Professor Anthony J Liddicoat is Professor in Applied Linguistics at the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia. His research interests include language and intercultural issues in education, conversation analysis, and language policy and planning. His research has focussed on ways on issues relating to the teaching and learning of culture through language study. His publications include Languages in Australian Education: Problems, Prospects and Future Directions (2010, with Angela Scarino), Language Planning in Local Contexts (2008, with Richard Baldauf ), Discourse Genre and Rhetoric (2008), Introduction to Conversation Analysis (2006), Language Planning and Literacy (2006), Australian Perspectives on Internationalisation (2003, with Susana Eisenchlas and Susan Trevaskes), Perspectives on Europe (2002, with Karis Muller), Striving for the Third Place (1999, with Joseph Lo Bianco and Chantal Crozet) and Teaching Languages, Teaching Cultures (2000, with Chantal Crozet).
Dr Delia Lin is a Lecturer with the Centre for Asian Studies at The University of Adelaide. She holds a B.A. in Linguistics and M.A. in Applied Linguistics from China and a PhD in the Humanities (Chinese political culture) from Griffith University. Delia Lin has won awards in translation and teaching and has over a decade of teaching experience in the Chinese language, English/Chinese translation, interpreting and Chinese culture at both Chinese and Australian universities.
Professor Greg McCarthy wrote his PhD dissertation on societies in transition from capitalism and pre-capitalism to socialism in the 1980s. He is now supervising PhD students analysing societies in transition from socialism to capitalism. His publications include Telling Tales: the State Bank of South Australia (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2001).
xii • Bridging Transcultural Divides
Dr Sejin Pak is a lecturer in Japanese studies in Asian Studies at The University of Adelaide. His teaching areas are in Japanese society and culture and East Asian Political Economy. His research interests are in the comparative study of Japan and Korea, currently in the area of the politics of identity and spirituality.
Dr Xianlin Song is Senior Lecturer and Head of Discipline at the Centre for Asian Studies, The University of Adelaide. She has been teaching Chinese language, cultural and society and Asian Studies courses for the past 15 years. She has done extensive work in translation and interpretation. Her research focuses on the current cultural transition, gender issues and government discourse in contemporary China, and higher education learning in Australia. Her most recent publications include a co-authored book on contemporary Chinese feminist writing with Professor Kay Schaffer, Women Writers in Post-Socialist China (Routledge 2012)
Dr Ming Hwa Ting has a PhD from the the Centre for Asian Studies, The University of Adelaide, and is a member of the Pacific Forum-CSIS ‘Young Leaders’ program. He was also the inaugural Bill Cowan Barr Smith Library Fellow. His previous works have been published by Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Australasian Political Studies Association, New Zealand Asian Studies Society, Society for South- East Asian Studies, Vienna, Austria, and the European Institute for Asian Studies, Brussels, Belgium.
Ms Akiko Tomita is an Associate Lecturer in the Centre for Asian Studies and a doctoral candidate at the Discipline of Linguistics at The University of Adelaide. She has many years of teaching experience in the Japanese language at Australian universities and her research interests include teaching/learning Japanese Language, Japanese politeness, and bilingual and bicultural identities.
Dr Shoko Yoneyama is a Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at The University of Adelaide. Her fields of research are the sociology of education and Japanese studies. She is the author of The Japanese High School: Silence and Resistance (Routledge 1999 & 2007) and the social science editor of Japanese Studies.
Since the turn of the 21st Century a radical change has occurred in Australian higher education: the student body has internationalised. While euphemistically we refer to this by the neutral and politically correct term of ‘international students’, in fact the change has been the ‘Asianisation’ of the student body so that roughly a quarter of the students on our campuses are from Asia.1 The Asian Century has arrived in higher education, and Australian universities are the better for it now and going forward.
How we think about the new demographics of the Australian campus has evolved over time. International students have been chiefly understood for the financial benefit their participation has brought. International students were merely seen as a utilitarian response to a constricted funding model in Australia. With the capping of domestic fees (and until recently the capping of domestic student numbers) international students were one area where universities could charge the market rate for students and thereby diversify and increase their revenue.
The fact that international students were paying more understandably led to the charge and criticism of ‘cross-subsidising’ by international students of the domestic student educational experience and universities’ research. The fact that the new students could pay more contributed to the image and stereotype of a rich, spoiled Asian student driving a flash car and living in an expensive apartment. This of course hid the reality of parents making serious sacrifices and drawing on long-term savings to provide the students mobility and the marginal living and employment conditions many international students were enduring. Within this context, international students from Asia were understood merely for the economic benefit they brought universities.
Shortly after the beginning of the increase in Asian students across the sector, a second image of international students emerged. Wizened professors at first welcoming began to complain about the language and contextual fluency of the new students. The charge of every generation about the diminishing of standards was thrown about at faculty meetings across the country and anecdotes of the poor oral exam and questionable grammar on essays was shopped among like-minded colleagues.2 The fact that most of these criticisms echoed of the previous generation of academics’ handwringing with the middle-classification of university education in the baby boomer era passed most by. More recently universities have responded
Foreword
xiv • Bridging Transcultural Divides
to the criticisms by improving their selection process for those coming from systems outside of Australia, by increasing the amount of tutorial assistance available on campus, and by collecting the data that disproves the anecdotal claims.3 The result is today the quality of international students’ experience on campuses is better than it was and education support for all students has also improved.
Over a decade into the new century and a more exciting third trend is emerging. Rather than seeing international students as a financial crutch or educational liability, some lecturers, some schools and some universities are understanding the improved pedagogy and research environment that a greater number of non-Australian students (and more Australian students from non-traditional cultural backgrounds) can bring to the university classroom. Simply put: Internationally diversified classrooms can deliver better education and research for all students and academics. This is the dynamic area where this book treads.
The crux of the new pedagogy is that intercultural transformations are not restricted to a Western civilizing notion of education but embrace transcultural learning that moves multidirectionally, that is in both the geographical sense (eg South to North) but also in the power sense (eg student to instructor). The book canvases a number of real life examples of how this is working in the classroom. The book’s focus on Asian Studies is an interesting one as this newer discipline is less wedded to the classical disciplines’ doctrines and embraces non-Western voices.
Let me add my narrative to the excellent examples included. I recently taught a Law and Film course that explored what is meant by ‘justice’.4 The traditional venue for this conversation is in a Jurisprudence or Legal Theory course where English positivist scholars such as Hart and Dworkin (on the shoulders of Aristotle and Hobbes) are set against the American realists such as Holmes and Cardozo (and followed by the Critical Legal Scholars like Duncan Kennedy and Catharine MacKinnon).5 Eschewing this Western lexical discourse, my course seeks to use the non-traditional legal text of film, particularly those made by non-Western directors such as Akira Kurosawa.6 My purpose in this approach is not to be cosmopolitanly clever, but rather to turn the tables so that…