PhD Mustafayeva A.A.
The
results of Improving University leadership, management and teaching and
learning
(On the materials of the Internship at the University
of Reading, UK)
According to the
internship in the specialty “Improving
University leadership, management and teaching and learning” there were
created tasks , such as to be able to :
- carry out
pedagogical diagnostics in the education system ;
- assess the
quality of education at the level taught discipline ;
- manage the
quality of education, to make the necessary fundamental adjustments
respectively;
- understand and
apply the innovative pedagogy in higher education ;
- understand the
needs of students in the educational process.
As the research
internship has been done in human and sociological aspects included pedagogical
aspect, the main additional work out of the classrooms was carried out in the
library of the university rather than in a laboratory. Rich collection fund of
the University Library allowed to learn the main types of library catalogues of
books and academic journals. There was an opportunity to have a look through
the books and papers of A.Floyd, L.Smith, C.Fuller, A.Goodwyn, R.Fincham,
A.Gmelch and other scholars who widely contribute in development of pedagogical
studies. For instance, «The expert
Teacher of English» and «Developing English teachers» of A.Goodwyn allowed to
see the modern methods of teaching foreign languages,
and some of the methods will be used in the teaching of Arabic in higher
education in Kazakhstan. It is known that the methods of teaching a foreign
language are one.
One of the tasks
in the course of the research internship has been writing an article for UK
journals based on the references of the University Library. Thus, the paper
entitled «English language difficulties among International students» was
submitted for publication in a special issue of the journal “London Road
papers” of the University of Reading.
Due to the fact
that methodology of scientific papers «English language difficulties among
International students» has been based on difficulties of learning English
among international students, the university allowed to conduct research in the
form of a questionnaire among them, which allowed to identify most language
difficulties. There should be noted that one of the questionnaires was filled
as an audio, this type of a method is widely used in European research.
Another
independent study was the use of both electronic and non-electronic resources
of the library fund of the University to collect data for writing papers in
academic journals of Kazakhstan based on European literature to enable a
comparative analysis. One of these studies is religion studies, including Islam
in Western research work, from the point of view of Western scholars that would
allow an interesting comparative study in the future.
On the basis of
one of the richest universities fund there has been mastered a number of modern
techniques in terms of both research and teaching.
As regards doing
research, the most appropriate method, developed in the course of the
internship was conducting surveys as a part of the research. Filling the
questionnaire is not a new method of research for Kazakhstan, but it is most
widely used in sociological research rather than education. Accordingly,
conducting surveys among foreign students allowed achieving fruitful results of
the study that will be used in the practice of domestic students.
Regarding
pedagogy the most useful method was to use an interactive whiteboard during the
lectures, seminars. Every learning room at the University was equipped with
those technologies. Another useful method was dividing classes into macro
groups and mini-groups. Problem of classification groups is to obtain the
highest percentage of the audience to deliver information by a lecturer.
The main result
of the internship obtained as a article «English language difficulties among
International students» (2000 characters), which has been written in accordance
with the publication of journal articles in the UK, which reflects all the
necessary items such as key words, introduction, methodology, results,
discussion, literature review, a list of references.
In conducting the
research internship in the specialty “Improving University leadership,
management and teaching and learning” as a whole , to achieve the goals and
objectives in particular the huge contribution belongs to the director of
Internationalization Tony Macfadyen, as well as to academic staff (responsible
for internship modules), particularly professors Liz Smith, Alan Floyd, Carol
Fuller, Berry Bilingsley, Andy Goodwyn, Cathy Tissot, Andy Kempe and Jeanine
Treffers-Daller, and a tutor Yota Dimitriadi.
While visiting a
foreign country for purposes to do a research internship the main problem is to
understand the Academic English language (participation in discussions, writing
papers) at the academic level. In solving this problem an enormous contribution
belongs to the organizers of the program under the guidance of Professor
T.Macfadyen, particularly the language of lecturers was adapted at right level,
division into groups allowed to develop the ability to think and engage in
discussions with colleagues. As for writing a scientific paper, the
organization of special group for editing scientific articles was a great idea
from the university. Those editors have paid attention not only to the spelling
of words, but also the style, grammar, and an academic language as a whole.
Also pre-research internship six months language course helped to develop basic
skills, like listening and understand during the internship monologues,
dialogues, writing mini- essays. However, the role of the Institute of
Education (Reading University) in developing academic English is crucial.
On 21 November,
there was an organization to attend lectures at Oxford University on the topics
«Oxford: An International University» and «The Future of Higher Education at
Oxford» in the framework of cultural and scientific programs. It was organized
by the University of Reading, which was allowed to examine the structure of the
famous Oxford University, its plans for the development of international
cooperation and some members of the faculty.
As the research
internship included both educational and scientific aspects, the results can be
implemented both in the research sphere as well as pedagogical. Regarding the
research,
- the development
of academic writing based on the European model: conducting surveys,
registration of scientific papers in accordance with the requirements of
European standard;
- the development
of critical thinking in the research;
- writing
scientific articles (al-Farabi KazNU Journal, Oriental Studies Volume) based on
literature review in the library of Reading University;
- presentation of
the report and results on the International conference ( based on the sources
written in English) .
As regards the
second aspect, in the teaching process there will be implemented the following
results:
- implementation
of study work in small groups to improve the quality of perception and
participation in discussions;
- obtaining
opinions (orally) for each student in during tutorials and their feedback on
modules;
- work with
modern technologies (The Intranet, “smart board”, “whiteboard”, “Blackboard”);
- drawing up
criteria for assessing students' work .
References.
2. Robertson, M., Line, M., Jones, S. and Thomas, S. (2000) International
students, learning environments and perceptions: A case study using the Delphi
technique. Higher Education Research and Development, 19, (1), 89-102.
3. Bretag, T., Horrocks, S. and Smith, J. (2002) Developing classroom
practice to support NESB students in information systems courses: some
preliminary findings. International Education Journal, 3, (4), 57-69.
4. Bayley, S., Fearnside, R., Arnol, J., Misiano, J. and Rottura, R. (2002)
International students in Victoria. People and Place, 10, (2), 45-54.