Profile: IPC Celebrates Recent Staff PhD Graduates

Between 2010 and 2011, International Pacific College (IPC) has seen a significant number of staff PhD graduates. The following five profiles reflect both the multiculturalism present at IPC as well as the variety and high level of scholastic research produced by the staff.

All five staff members have been working at IPC, while completing their PhD. Attaining a balance between work, studies, and personal life is always a challenge, but due to the understanding and support present at IPC, this challenge has been met with great success.

Dr Gillian Claridge (originally from the United Kingdom)
Dean of IPC’s Degree Programme

PhD title: What makes a good graded reader: engaging with graded readers in the context of extensive reading in L2 (Victoria University)

Gill’s study focused on graded readers, which are texts in reduced code aimed at learners of English as a second language. The study implemented Rosenblatt’s framework of transactional reading response to investigate the dynamic relationship that is constructed between the reader and the text. The qualitative study involved three populations: readers of the text, publishers and writers who produce the text, and teachers and librarians who choose the text for the readers. Gill’s findings were that often there is a mismatch between the reader’s purpose for reading the text and the level of the graded reader, leading to a reduction in motivation for reading. Gill’s recommendation is that students be taught strategies for approaching reading and choosing the appropriate level of the graded reader for the appropriate purpose. In addition, Gill is a firm believer that, if students are encouraged to read for purely aesthetic purposes, they will in time develop strategies that will also benefit them in their academic reading.

Dr Ling Guan (originally from China)
Lecturer in Chinese and Japanese

PhD title: An Analysis of the Characteristics of Japanese Language and Culture through Translated Literature: The Chinese Translation of Kawabata Yasunari’s “Snow Country” (Nagoya University of Foreign Studies)

Ling’s study focused on the Chinese translation of the novel “Snow Country”, which was originally written in Japanese by Yasunari Kawabata. Ling looked at the distinctive root forms in the original language, Japanese, and the translated language, Chinese. Furthermore, Ling analysed the historical linguistic and cultural background of Japanese and Chinese. The aim of Ling’s study was to differentiate the linguistic and cultural characteristics of Japanese and Chinese, thereby facilitating future language pedagogy between the two languages.

Dr Dodi Wirawan-Irawanto (Indonesia)
Teaching Fellow, Lecturer in Business and Recruitment Officer

PhD title: Exploring Paternalistic Leadership and its Application to the Indonesian Context (Massey University)

Dodi’s study focused on the leadership styles in an Indonesian, and more specifically, Javanese context. The study established a framework of enquiry that comprehensively answered the following three questions: First, to what extent is Indonesian leadership paternalistic? Second, how is the leader-employee relationship constructed in Indonesia? Finally, to what extent is this relationship influenced by Javanese culture? The survey-based study was opened to the entire Javanese civil servant population, and a total of eight hundred and seven civil servants responded, a response rate of 81%. The study was conducted within the concept of paternalistic leadership described by Cheng et al. (2004). The study’s findings confirmed that seven leadership styles are important, highlighting “visible leadership” as the most important. The results, supplemented by the literature, suggested that there should be an emphasis on the synergistic nature of the relationship between leaders and employees.

Dr Samad Zare (formerly from Iran)
Lecturer in Academic English

PhD title: Home and away: blogging emotions in a Persian virtual dowreh (Massey University)

Sam’s study explored the creation of a virtual dowreh (family/social circle) via Persian language weblogs among a group of Iranian migrants in Australia. The aim of the study was to analyse how the new generation of Iranian migrants use weblogs to form digital diasporas and why they publish their emotional experiences online, thereby adding to the understanding of a relatively under-researched community. The motivation and inspiration for this study arose from Sam’s own experience as a migrant. Applying a grounded theory approach and discourse analysis to blog posts, the study investigated the expression of emotional challenges, expectations, and cultural performances of a group of Persian diasporic bloggers. The findings suggest the importance of weblogs for Iranian migrants in creating virtual dowrehs where they could practise/perform cultural identities and share their emotional experience, thereby, facilitating their transnational transition.

Dr Farzana Gounder (formerly from Fiji)
Lecturer in Linguistics and Academic English

PhD title: Restorying indenture: the first generation of Fiji Hindi speakers narrate Girmit (Massey University)

Farzana’s research was about the framing of indenture through Fiji Hindi life narratives. The seven narrators in the study were part of 60, 965 Indian indentured labourers who voyaged to Fiji between 1879 and 1916, most to work on the Australian Colonial Sugar Refining Company’s plantations. The study aimed to answer the following question: “How do Indian indentured labourers to Fiji construct life narratives in Fiji Hindi to reconstruct their indenture experiences, and through the narration process, negotiate positions of identities and agencies?” Beginning with Labov’s high-point analysis, the study analysed how each indenture recollection was re-constructed. Further, using Bamberg’s positioning analysis, the study analysed the labourers’ adopted positionings in and through their life narratives. The implementation of the merged analytical approach moved the life narratives from the textual back into the social world of production. Through the analysis of the individual life narratives, a more fine-grained and culturally relevant analytical process, narrativization analysis, was proposed.