Education Commons^™

"A Big Influence On My Teaching Career And My Life": A Longitudinal Study Of Learning To Teach English Pronunciation, Michael S. Burri, Amanda Ann Baker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Inquiry into learning to teach pronunciation is a growing area within the second language teacher education research paradigm. To what extent this learning process extends into instructors' early years of teaching pronunciation has yet to be explored. This article is a response to this need by exploring the 3.5-year trajectory of five teachers learning to teach English pronunciation. The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, pre- and post-course questionnaires, weekly observations of the lectures, focus groups interviews, final post-course interviews, and the participants' final assessment task were triangulated to examine the development of participants' cognitions during a …

Big City Gaybourhoods: Where They Come From And Why They Still Matter, Scott J. Mckinnon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In London, there is Soho; in New York, Chelsea and Greenwich Village; and in San Francisco, there is the Castro. In Sydney, there is Darlinghurst and, more specifically, Oxford Street. These are neighbourhoods of large cities that have, since at least the 1950s and often earlier, developed a reputation as queer spaces. In more recent years, those reputations have begun to fade and the enduring meanings of the "gaybourhood" have come into question. But what each of these places represents is the centrality of urban space to the emergence of visible, "out and proud" lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer …

Are Big Food's Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies Valuable To Communities? A Qualitative Study With Parents And Children, Zoe Richards, Lyn Phillipson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: Recent studies have identified parents and children as two target groups whom Big Food hopes to positively influence through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. The current preliminary study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of parents and children's awareness and interpretation of Big Food's CSR strategies to understand how CSR shapes their beliefs about companies. Design: Community-based qualitative semi-structured interviews. Setting: New South Wales, Australia. Subjects: Parents (n 15) and children aged 8-12 years (n 15). Results: Parents and children showed unprompted recognition of CSR activities when shown McDonald's and Coca-Cola brand logos, indicating a strong level of …

Corporate Social Responsibility Programs Of Big Food In Australia: A Content Analysis Of Industry Documents, Zoe Richards, Samantha L. Thomas, Melanie J. Randle, Simone Pettigrew

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To examine Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tactics by identifying the key characteristics of CSR strategies as described in the corporate documents of selected 'Big Food' companies. Methods: A mixed methods content analysis was used to analyse the information contained on Australian Big Food company websites. Data sources included company CSR reports and web-based content that related to CSR initiatives employed in Australia. Results: A total of 256 CSR activities were identified across six organisations. Of these, the majority related to the categories of environment (30.5%), responsibility to consumers (25.0%) or community (19.5%). Conclusions: Big Food companies appear to be …

Regaining Their "Cool": Can The Big Three Surf Brands Recover?, Andrew T. Warren

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Australia's "big three" surf brands have found themselves in choppy financial waters.

Last week, Billabong, one of Australia's most iconic surf brands confirmed a $386 million refinancing agreement with US consortium Centerbridge-Oaktree Capital Management acquiring a 40% share, guaranteeing the struggling brand's short-term future after it posted an $859 million loss last financial year.

Like Billabong, public surf company Quiksilver has reported declining revenues, asset write-downs and growing losses, recently announcing third-quarterly earnings had declined 84%. Privately-owned Rip Curl has also been in profit free-fall. In mid-2012 Rip Curl founders Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick engaged Bank of America Merrill …

The Big Fish Strikes Again But In A Different Place: Social Comparison Theory And Children With Special Needs, Roselyn May Dixon, Marjorie Seaton, Robert John Dixon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper will address the implications of Big-Fish Little Pond Effect (BFLPE) and social comparison theory and school placement of students with special needs. It made use of the PISA data base to determine if type of educational placement had an impact on the academic self-concept with children with special needs. Multiple regression techniques were used to delineate the relationships.