Rui(Kitty) Sur.su@shu.ac.uk

Enhancing international students' engagement: visual approaches in interpreting business messages

''Sector Industry Analysis'' module in Sheffield Business School

The module is supplying students an understanding that, the service industry, containing the hospitality, tourism, leisure and events (THLE), may contribute to or affect on the whole industrial environment.

All students are Level 7 and they are doing International Hospitality, Tourism, and Events management.

Selected seminar group with 16 international students.

6 Chinese, 3 EU students, 2 Indian, 2 Vietnamese, 1 Thais, and 2 from other countries

Pilot study

''I disagree and do not want to discuss it further''.

I hear what you say.

He accepts my point of view.

That's not bad.

''That's good''.

That's poor.

I would suggest…

''Do it or be prepared to justify yourself''

Think about the idea, but do what you like.By the way… ''The primary purpose

of our discuss is…''That is not very important.Could we

consider some other options?

''I don't like your idea''. They haven't decided yet.

Do international students REALLY understand English?

Sender(interpreter)

Message(theme)

MEDIA(Interpretive tools)

Message(transmission)

Receiver(translating message)

Feedback

Sender(analysis, research)

Receiver(experience, knowledge)

Figure 1 : The process of interpretationSource: Smith and Robinson (2006:228)

Puczkó's model---the process of interpretation

The information transfers into valuable material through various interpretive media or tools in the information flow process.

The message produces new data with different meanings and contexts through interacting with the sender and the receiver (Puczkó, 2006).

Picture 1: Teaching and learning process

Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. London, Penguin.

•Answer to 2+2= ?•Understand simple sentences.•Complete the phrase '' bread and…''•Orient to the sources of a sudden sound•Drive a car on an empty road.

•Look for a woman with white hair.•Search memory to identify a surprising sound•Maintain a faster walking speed than is natural for you.•Brace for the starter gun in a race. •Compare two washing machines for overall value.

Automatic system

Effortful system

Automatic system ''It operates automatically and quickly, with little

or no effort and no sense of voluntary control''. Effortful system ''It allocates attention to the effortful mental

activities that demand it, including complex computations. Its operation is associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration''.

Question: How could we link these two systems together into teaching business module in HE?

(1) Formal feedback---students' assessments ''√'' and ''?'' symbols Transfer emotion Transfer trust Transfer knowledge Transfer opinionHowever, Time-consuming It may not suitable for big group. Students may focus on their mark rather than the

comments. Students may loss confidences.

Four visual methods

(2) Imitation---individual activity Authentic ''interview'' situation Building up individual confidence Improving awareness of employability Encouraging self-reflectionHowever, Students may be nervous. Language barriers Lack of enough business theories or related

experiences

(3) Video quiz--- individual activity Quiz may ''push'' students engage into an

''exam'' situation. It excepts the students can ''pull'' the knowledge out.

Video quiz tries to create a visible experience that students' eyes, ears, mouth, and hands all should be engaged.

However, It may be difficult to Level 7 international

students at the beginning of the course. It may be replayed for 2 or 3 times. Students may not really understand the

content in the video.

(4) Drawing---group activities Simplify foreign language or academic

meaning into different colours, shapes, numbers, images, etc.

Easy to remember Encourage group cooperation Encourage individual contribution and

creativity Here are some examples of students' works.

Tutor should motivate students during their learning process. Approach---Announcement site on Blackboard

Tutor also can use some technologies to increase students' interests and engagement.

Prezi Zoom In function Creative presentation approach Here are some examples for my teaching

materials.

However,To be critical.Massive? Simple? Meaningless? Pointless? Unattractive? Unprofessional?

Visual experiences can be related to anything by listening, seeing, smelling, tasting, speaking, touching, etc.

They may also have close relationship with people's feeling, like happy, angry, guilty, sad, etc.

The main purpose of using these four visual methods is to encourage students' engagement into doing business modules.

Create visual experiences for business messages!

Conclusion

Belbin, R. (2010) Team roles at work. London, Butterworth-Heinemann. Davies, M. (2007) Teaching International Students in Tutorials. Parkville, Teaching and

Learning Unit. Falchikov, N. (2001) Peer Tutoring in Higher Education. New York, Routledge Falmer. Foster, H. (ed.) (1988) Vision and visuality. Seattle, WA: Bay Press. Gillian, R. (2001) Visual methodologies: an introduction to the interpretation of visual

materials. London: Sage. Jonrd, E. (ed) (2010) Internationalisation and the student voice: higher education

perspectives. New York: Routledge. Mezirow, J. (2000) Learning to think like and adult: core concepts in transformation

theory. In: Mezirow, J. and Associates (eds.), Learning as transformation: critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco, Jossey Bass, 3-34.

McGee, A. and Lawrence, A. (2009) Teacher educators inquiring into their own practice. Professional Development in Education. 35(1):139-157.

Moore, Z.B., Faltin, L. and Wright, M. (2010) Critical Thinking and International Postgraduate Students. Discourse. 3 (1): 63-94.

Puczkó, L. (2006) Interpretation in Cultural Tourism. in Smith, M.K. and Robinson, M. Cultural Tourism in a Changing World: Politics, Participation and (Re)presentation. Clevedon: Channel View Publications.

References

Thank you !