English as a barrier on the pathway of professional transitioning of Ukrainian migrant teachers in Australia
Larysa Chybis
Curtin University, Perth, Western AustraliaLarysa Chybis is an interpreter, and a PhD student at Curtin University, Western Australia. Her research interests include second and foreign language teaching, migrant cultural studies, comparative linguistics, English literature and environmental studies. Also, Ms Chybis has been dedicating her time to teaching English to displaced Ukrainians and other migrants, helping them to settle down in Australia. Ms Chybis obtained her master’s degree in Ukraine, where her major professional activity was teaching English in tertiary educational institutions.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2969-239X
Sally Lamping
Curtin University, Perth, Western AustraliaDr Sally Lamping has spent over twenty years as a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher in primary, secondary, and adult education contexts across the world. A large portion of her research is on the secondary English classroom and youth identities, with a specific focus on migrant youth and how schools can become enabling spaces for students and teachers. She was a 2015 U.S. Fulbright Core Senior Research Scholar in Adelaide, South Australia, where she worked and conducted research alongside newly arrived students in Australia’s only stand-alone New Arrival Program for adolescents. She is currently the project lead on three multifaceted Critical Participatory Action Research projects with migrant communities in Local Government Areas of Perth; the projects focus on how learning happens in situational community-driven contexts that can inform sustainable local government initiatives.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9496-039X
Toni Dobinson
Curtin University, Perth, Western AustraliaProf. Toni Dobinson is the Coordinator of the Post Graduate Programs in Applied Linguistics including the MA Applied Linguistics, the MTESOL and the Graduate Certificate in TESOL. She is also the Discipline lead for Applied Linguistics/TESOL and Languages. She has many years of teaching and research experience overseas in Egypt and the Sultanate of Oman. She has coordinated and taught the MA Applied Linguistics for over 20 years including offshore in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. She also teaches in the Language and Diversity unit of the BEd Early Childhood/Primary and supervises Higher Degree by Research students. She has published in the areas of language education, classroom research, translanguaging and linguistic racism. The title of her PhD was Investigating the teaching and learning experiences of Asian postgraduate students and their lecturers in Australia and Vietnam.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1790-0016
Kathryne Ford
Curtin University, Perth, Western AustraliaDr Kathryne Ford is Deputy Director of Graduate Research in Curtin University’s School of Education. She previously managed the Australian Literary Studies academic journal, and, in addition to her Curtin role, Kathryne is currently a researcher in the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics at the Australian National University, where she completed her PhD. Kathryne has a wide array of research and teaching interests, including biofiction, literacy, academic skills, creative writing, life-writing, cultural memory, gender studies, art, and narratology. Her articles on these topics have appeared in a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, The Dickens Quarterly, The Wilkie Collins Journal, and The Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies. Kathryne’s current research projects investigate neo-historical biofiction and memory studies.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7685-2953
Abstract
Australia is seen as a promised land by migrants pursuing a better future for themselves and their families. Highly qualified migrants with vast work experience frequently encounter hurdles on their way to professional realisation, including the official language of the country – English. This study investigates the difficulties Ukrainian teachers face with the English language on their professional transition pathway in Australia. The research involves Ukrainian migrant teachers who obtained a specialist or master’s degree in Ukraine or another post-Soviet country, whose professional experience in Ukraine was in the teaching field, and who identify as Ukrainians. Narrative interviews, memos, documents, and artefacts are the data collection methods; thematic analysis is used to unpack the data. The participants were chosen using non-probability purposive snowball sampling, which engages contacts within the community and benefits projects with a small number of respondents. The inquiry elucidates the extent of the English problem for Ukrainian migrant teachers on their way to professional transition in Australia. The research will benefit other migrant teachers facing similar barriers when trying to re-enter their profession in the new environment and inform apposite institutions about the existing hurdles to facilitate positive changes in the field.
Schlagworte:
professional transition, Ukrainian migrant teachers, the English language, professional identity, narrative studyLiteraturhinweise
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Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Larysa Chybis is an interpreter, and a PhD student at Curtin University, Western Australia. Her research interests include second and foreign language teaching, migrant cultural studies, comparative linguistics, English literature and environmental studies. Also, Ms Chybis has been dedicating her time to teaching English to displaced Ukrainians and other migrants, helping them to settle down in Australia. Ms Chybis obtained her master’s degree in Ukraine, where her major professional activity was teaching English in tertiary educational institutions.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2969-239X
Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Dr Sally Lamping has spent over twenty years as a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher in primary, secondary, and adult education contexts across the world. A large portion of her research is on the secondary English classroom and youth identities, with a specific focus on migrant youth and how schools can become enabling spaces for students and teachers. She was a 2015 U.S. Fulbright Core Senior Research Scholar in Adelaide, South Australia, where she worked and conducted research alongside newly arrived students in Australia’s only stand-alone New Arrival Program for adolescents. She is currently the project lead on three multifaceted Critical Participatory Action Research projects with migrant communities in Local Government Areas of Perth; the projects focus on how learning happens in situational community-driven contexts that can inform sustainable local government initiatives.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9496-039XCurtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Prof. Toni Dobinson is the Coordinator of the Post Graduate Programs in Applied Linguistics including the MA Applied Linguistics, the MTESOL and the Graduate Certificate in TESOL. She is also the Discipline lead for Applied Linguistics/TESOL and Languages. She has many years of teaching and research experience overseas in Egypt and the Sultanate of Oman. She has coordinated and taught the MA Applied Linguistics for over 20 years including offshore in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. She also teaches in the Language and Diversity unit of the BEd Early Childhood/Primary and supervises Higher Degree by Research students. She has published in the areas of language education, classroom research, translanguaging and linguistic racism. The title of her PhD was Investigating the teaching and learning experiences of Asian postgraduate students and their lecturers in Australia and Vietnam.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1790-0016Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Dr Kathryne Ford is Deputy Director of Graduate Research in Curtin University’s School of Education. She previously managed the Australian Literary Studies academic journal, and, in addition to her Curtin role, Kathryne is currently a researcher in the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics at the Australian National University, where she completed her PhD. Kathryne has a wide array of research and teaching interests, including biofiction, literacy, academic skills, creative writing, life-writing, cultural memory, gender studies, art, and narratology. Her articles on these topics have appeared in a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, The Dickens Quarterly, The Wilkie Collins Journal, and The Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies. Kathryne’s current research projects investigate neo-historical biofiction and memory studies.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7685-2953
