A Dialogic Perspective on International Learner Engagement in the New Zealand Private Tertiary Environment

Abstract

This thesis explores heteroglossic engagement and alienation among international learners studying in New Zealand private tertiary establishments (PTEs). Exploring key dialogic moments during classroom discussion I set out to capture the complexity of learner discussion in the classroom environment. Data was generated through a digital video approach involving 360-degree camera footage and mobile eyewear recordings. Using the Bakhtinian dialogic concept of heteroglossia (Bakhtin M., 1981), results reveal the importance of authoritative discourse (AD) in engaging the learners’ authorial voice through analysis of centripetal and centrifugal forces. Dialogism proposes alterity as an alternative perspective on alienation, acknowledging the collision of authorial voices within the international classroom. The results aim to assist educators to understand learner engagement and alienation from a dialogic perspective and acknowledge the translanguaging skills that international learners use in authoring their own learning within the multi-lingual classroom.