IV. Research Findings
Based on the transcribed recordings, the author re-examined all the ideas and perspectives expressed in the interviews and highlighted important key words or phrases related to the research issues. The marked sentences were compared through the process of ‘open coding’ [11] which aims to transform key words or phrases into discrete concepts that are closely related to the research issues. After this, the words or phrases belonging to the same concept are classified under one label. All the concepts are divided into either the prospective or temporary category. Finally, the original data obtained in the interviews is used to backtrack all the concepts, with the purpose of verifying them.
(1) The Conflict between English and the Mother Tongue
When curriculum resources are introduced from abroad, the first thing to consider is the conversion from English to the destination’s mother tongue, in this case, Chinese. Eight out of nine trainee interviewees explicitly admitted having difficulties in reading and writing English materials. They want to translate all of the English reading materials into Chinese, and, ideally, to be provided with both "an English version and a Chinese version". Meanwhile, about half of the interviewees proposed providing English-Chinese bilingual versions. It is important to note that only one trainee didn’t express any difficulties in reading and understanding English materials. When asked:“If within the three courses there are a couple of English articles that are not translated into Chinese, can you read them?” he answered "More or less. Translation is needed in one course, but not in the other two courses … with a dictionary, it is understandable. "This indicates that only this student has high English literacy and can read smoothly with a dictionary and understand accurately.
The English literacy of the other eight trainees may need to be improved. They agreed that reading the English reading materials was "with difficulty", "hard work" and "with obstacles" so they could “barely finish reading them". They hoped to be provided with an “English-Chinese bilingual version”. “The bilingual version is not so bad”.
Trainee Number Two mentioned the problem of “regional cultural background”, which may also affect the trainees’ understanding of the English materials. Cultural background is a very important factor in the localisation and internationalisation of resources. Wherever possible, we should remove content with specific regional cultural characteristics. When introducing resources that include aspects of regional culture, we should first translate them accurately and then add appropriate notes as interpretations, or illustrate them by using corresponding local culture as a contrast. Trainee Number Three pointed out the problems that exist in the learning contents and the translations of the reading materials: “Some of the translation … seems to be done literally. Some things need to be explained by using Chinese professional distance education terminology. Some are hard to understand.” This is related to the accuracy and specialisation of the translation, which is a difficult problem to overcome while introducing foreign resources.
The interviews with tutors also reflect the problem of poor English literacy of the trainees. Most of the tutors admitted that “the foreign language skills of the Chinese students are not very good”, which can create difficulty in understanding the reading materials. It must be noted that in the Student Support course, there are many English reading materials that require trainees to translate them with the help of Wiki collaboration. The response of Tutor Number One, who is responsible for this course, was typical: “When students do the translation, their language is not smooth enough and it is clear that it has been directly translated, with some uncomfortable words and phrases. Furthermore, in terms of content, to some degree it represents the UK practices or thought processes, which may be beyond the understanding of our students because the content reflects the culture and background in the UK. As a result, some knowledge points are not understandable, or suitable, for us.” He also emphasized that: “There is feedback about the English materials, saying they are not readable. Afterwards, I gave [the trainees] the articles translated by the previous students. However, they gave no further feedback as to whether this is a good method.” Tutor Number Two, another tutor responsible for the Student Support course, simply cancelled the homework given to translate the English reading materials through Wiki collaboration. Instead, he provided a Chinese version. However, he also said that: “The trainees must only read the Chinese. There is no feedback for English yet. The correlation between our activities and the resources is not strong. Even without referring to the resources, I can give few responses after an activity.” Tutor Number One has taken a similar approach: “I feel that it is not beneficial to let the students do the translation. So, I completely changed the task for that class … by providing them with the translated version done by previous students, for reference. That means the homework for this class was cancelled.” The above demonstrates that the trainees rely on their mother tongue. The tutors responsible for the other two courses of “Tutoring Online” and “Course Design” didn’t reflect the language problems caused by translation. However, Tutor Number One and Trainee/Tutor Number One pointed out that the translation should be precise: “Just like translating foreign monographs, translation must comply with the original work. In considering whether some statements should be changed or not, the habits of the Chinese students should be adhered to.” Trainee/Tutor Number One commented that a “Chinese-English bilingual version is good. For those with good English skills, they can read the English parts. The translated Chinese parts are suitable for students to discuss.”
Course Manager Number One also stressed the importance of language reformation and pointed out that the reason why not all resources were localised is due to the “large workload … I hope that the tutors can improve their own language skills at pace with the internationalisation of education in China.”
However, the un-translated reading materials bring great difficulties for the trainees, especially for the Student Support course, as their language attainment needs further improvement. This may also indicate that the difficulties and challenges met by the OUC in the process of moving towards internationalisation are considerable.
Course Manager Number Two and Course Manager Number Three both agreed that the first step in localisation was translation, stressing that “some contents which do not read smoothly have been corrected” to accommodate Chinese thinking and habits.
(2) "Limited Localisation" in Teaching Design Collision
Among the nine trainees, six (all are trainees for the Tutoring Online course) clearly expressed acceptance of this kind of online learning. When asked their opinions about the design of teaching units on a weekly basis, they all agreed: “I haven’t had any contact with it before. I gained a lot after learning like this for the first time”. They said they were prepared to apply this kind of advanced methodology in their actual teaching.
The reason why most trainees like this kind of teaching design is that “this kind of constraint is very good”. “It creates enthusiasm” and can change students’ passive learning habits. The reality is that students in China are relatively lazy, have weak learning autonomy, and always need outside constraints. As Tutor Number Three pointed out, “RTVU students are not too active … which may be the result of decades of education in China. Our students are not very good at asking questions. They should learn to put forward questions that arise from their own teaching or in their own work, or raise more demands. Trainees usually just think about what they have learnt from the course, instead of using it to solve their problems.” Designing teaching units in a weekly cycle helps students overcome their passive learning habits, enhance their motivation to learn, and gradually develop active learning habits.
This kind of advanced teaching design is actually very common in foreign countries. When the author studied at the Institute of Education, University of London from 2006-2007, the online Master’s course Computer Mediated Communication was based on weekly units. At that time, the feedback from students in more than 10 countries was universally positive.
Tutor Number Two also commented that: “The feedback on OUUK’s weekly course cycle has been positive. The students are comfortable with it.” From a manger’s point of view, the tutor also hoped to “use advanced concepts to change themselves”, which was echoed by Tutor Number Four.
We kept the OUUK’s advanced teaching design concepts in the three courses jointly developed with them, which was actually a form of limited localisation. We should borrow advanced foreign concepts and turn them into our own. “I think that conflicts between teaching concepts must be a problem. We should strive to adapt our own traditional concepts, instead of transforming them”, Tutor Number One said.
On the basis of this teaching design, we have also added a number of Chinese-English reading materials. For example, in the Tutoring Online course, the author has added six English papers and seven Chinese articles, with the aim of helping students understand local cases and compare them with foreign cases, while the goal of the carefully selected English papers is to improve the trainees’ research methods. Trainee Number Four’s point of view is very representative:“[The supplementary materials] are very helpful.” This is echoed in the original intentions of the course managers: “We have chosen some additional domestic literature in the process of localisation with the hope of combining cases with the domestic situation … To put it another way, our own tutors are also engaged in localisation work.” In this regard, it can be said that our localisation transformation has been successful.
(3) The "Internationalised Localisation" of Evaluation Methods
We found that the biggest improvement is the difference in summative assessment. The examinations are originally designed by the OUUK. However, based on the needs and actual circumstances of the trainees, we changed the examination into writing a final paper. Meanwhile, we reduced the number of activities included in the resources provided by the OUUK, and replaced them with a short essay of at least 500 words, while giving a more explicit description of the Wiki-based activities. In this way, we combined the formative and summative assessments. Over the past 30 years of its development, CCTRVU has accumulated a wealth of experience in the distance education field and can successfully refer to advanced international practices. We copied this combination of the advanced practices of internationalized formative assessment and summative evaluation (writing papers instead of examinations) to transform the resources from the OUUK, which can be regarded as a successful attempt at localised internationalisation.
Trainees give positive feedback on modified evaluation methods. This means that the RTVU system has been successful in terms of learning from the best international practices.
The requirements of writing a final paper are relatively high. Trainees are required to write their papers in accordance with the requirements for English-language academic papers overseas, which helps students learn how to conduct rigorous academic research. Taking into account the nature and cycle of the courses, certain adjustments were made. The regulations for the final paper are as follows: Write a paper on one of the topics in any of the course units, or a related topic of your own choosing, either in English or Chinese, 2,000-5,000 words. The papers should include an abstract, introduction, literature review, and main body text, which should also include the trainees’ own views and be explained with examples. There should be at least five reference articles covering either Chinese or English literature in the last five years.
The design of the final paper is also an ‘internationalised’ localisation reform. From the positive response received, this reform has been successful.
(4) Localisation Brings Challenges for the Construction of the Teaching Team
In the process of the localisation of imported resources, another major challenge is the construction of a corresponding teaching team. In our interviews, it was clear that the requirements for tutors are very high and are mainly related to the areas of the teaching team, tutors’ levels, cooperation and collaboration, comprehensive qualities, and abilities.
Trainee Number One focused his views on tutors’ levels. "Division of labour must be clear and there should be collaboration.” Citing his own work experience, Trainee Number Seven pointed out that "online teaching experience" is important. In addition, we need to understand the actual situation of the students. Trainee Number Four values cooperation and collaboration. She stressed that "tutors should be good at English and also familiar with the learning situation abroad." The value she puts on English ability reflects that, whether in localisation or internationalisation, language quality is the foundation. Otherwise, it is hard to follow the latest international advances or have an international vision. Technology issues were also frequently mentioned as an important aspect. Trainee Number Six reckons that "the tutor of this class not only needs to have the same knowledge as a classroom teacher, but also understand technology and the perspective of an online tutor. "The trainee integrated the face-to-face education with online education in a very good way, which can be deemed as a request for the comprehensive qualities of online tutors.
It is worth noting that Trainee/Tutor Number Two stressed both "responsibility" and the "ability to write papers" for online tutors. "They should not only be specialised, but also understand the connections between his own major and other majors. "This may be related to her own strong ability of academic research. In addition, her expections on online tutor’s interdisciplinary abilities are reasonable.
In conclusion, we can see that localisation sets high demands for the construction of a corresponding teaching team. Faculty-building requires strong English quality, communication skills, online teaching experience, strong technical background, the ability to integrate traditional face-to-face education and online education, academic research ability, and high sense of responsibility.
Course tutors also recognize the requirement for the comprehensive quality of corresponding tutors. Course Tutor Number One stated that "there should be higher requirements. I feel that course tutors need to understand the whole system, including the process abroad and things related to localisation. In addition, there are times when you should add your own understanding, which helps the students understand certain elements. ”
The point of view of Course Tutor Number Five is much more comprehensive. "In importing resources from abroad, it is better for tutors to have a global perspective ... For online teaching, the tutor’s abilities and dedication are of greater importance than his own level of teaching.. Another option is to focus on tutor training. ”
(5)The "Conflict" Existing in the Internationalisation of Localisation in Media Usage
During the interviews, the most prominent problem reflected by the trainees is the singularity of the teaching media i.e. the pure text media. "All text" and "text courses” create a slight monotonous feeling. They hope that the courses will "add videos to complement the text" and include "some lectures by foreign tutors". It is natural for the trainees to have such a complaint. They were brought up on traditional "spoon-fed" education and are accustomed to video lectures. However, for online training courses such as the three courses, according to Western philosophy, it is not necessary for a tutor to appear in the video to give a lecture. Plain text content and discussions can achieve the learning objectives and realize the learning goals. The Project Team has also requested that the OUUK offer lecture videos, but they did not seem to understand why. "At that time, the OUUK shed doubts on this (laughing)" (Instructor Number Three). From the author’s experience of studying in UK, text-only teaching of similar courses is feasible. There is a conflict between the international teaching pattern and the local learning paradigm.
The course tutors also mentioned this issue, without explicitly saying that they would increase video lectures. Among the tutors, only two thought that video lectures should be added, but "how to do this remains a problem. "The points of view of Trainee/Tutor Number One and Tutor Number One may be more objective and more representative: "There is no need to prepare multimedia learning materials. It would be better to add some more reference cases"; "I think text-based learning is fine. There is no need to use full media means for each course as required by CCRTVU. The means should be determined primarily according to the course content. ”
From the course tutors’ points of view, their understanding of the teaching content and accompanying media is more rational and objective. Course Manager Number One's view echoes this perspective: "I do not accept systematic (video) lectures since they go against the original purpose of course design and the philosophy of the introduction of courses. It is still necessary for the students to find, summarize, and then draw their own conclusions through interaction with the other students, which is our concept for the introduction of the course ".
Course Manager Number Three mentioned that he was submitting an application to the university to do a short video clip for each course with the purpose of playing a "leading" role for the course study.
To summarize, we can see that neither the course tutors nor course managers recognize adding systematic lecturing videos. However, the "introductory" videos we prepared to increase for the course are understandable since this will better guide students to learn the course. This is also part of the "limited localisation" strategy.