Changing Education

#### **Chapter 1**

## Perspective Chapter: Changing the Educational Metaphors

*Alfredo Moscardini*

#### **Abstract**

Change in society is happening—change in knowledge, change in working practices, availability of employment (robotics and AI) and change in management. How is Higher Education responding to these changes? This chapter takes the view that the metaphors employed by educationalists play an important role. It is suggested that machine-based metaphors emanating from Newtonian thinking are now outdated and need to be replaced with ones based on the systems approach. The chapter identifies some common metaphors used by governments, HE management and HE employees. It then examines the consequences of changing them. The chapter does not promote a specific point of view but is intended to stimulate debate in this important area.

**Keywords:** metaphor, education, knowledge, system thinking, management of change

#### **1. Introduction**

This chapter is not written to promote my personal views of education but to encourage the readers to examine and analyse their own views. It is understood that the word "education" can mean different things to different people but any discussion on education must include one (or several) of the following: what is its aim, what it is doing and how is it achieved—purpose, parts, process.

The way we communicate is dependent on words, yet words can often be the cause of misunderstandings as words in themselves cannot always express the true meaning of an idea or a concept. One way of resolving this difficulty is to use metaphor and simile. A metaphor transfers meaning between contexts. In the expression, "*who holds the levers of power*" we are using the word" lever", which has a precise definition in mechanics, in a different context. The meaning of the metaphor is perfectly understandable, but it does suggest that "power" is a thing like a rock or an object that can be manipulated. The subtleties of all the relationships connected with power are not considered. A simile is different to a metaphor as it commonly uses the words "as" or "like" to make comparisons [1]. According to Bednar and Hineline, metaphors serve four major functions: influencing, perception, expression and learning [2]. They contribute to the formation of ideas and concepts and as a linguistic tool, are a powerful means of conveying, relating, transmitting and elaborating an intended meaning [3]. But a metaphor does not need to be stated with words. For example, the late-night diner scene depicted in Edward Hopper's famous painting *Nighthawks* is often interpreted as a metaphor for the loneliness and alienation of modern city life.

I wish to show in this chapter how all our views on education are shaped by the metaphors we use and use some of the more common metaphors to tease out different perceptions of education. Some of these metaphors are instantly recognizable but many are tacit. They are buried deep in our subconscious and are part of the web of our perceptions. For example, the "power is an object" metaphor is more like to resonate more strongly in a country where power is hierarchical and concentrated at the top than in an equalitarian democratic society. In this way, metaphors can be associated with the Ouroboros. The way we see the world is influenced by the metaphors we use and the metaphors we use are generated by the way we see the world.

Any perception of education is dependent on whether one is considering the societal or personal level. Metaphors can only be useful in the context they are set. In this chapter, we identify some of the common metaphors used in education and the consequences of using them. We will examine two broad classes of metaphor based around the idea of education as a machine and education as a process. The machine metaphor uses nouns such as controller, designer, driver, steersman, traveller, foundations and verbs such as fill, train, oil, polish, switch on, store, draw out, instil and package. The process (or systemic) metaphor employs verbs such as cultivate, plant, prune, tend, develop, root, seed, flowering, flourishing.

#### **2. The machine metaphor**

After Newton introduced the idea of gravity, it was found that the associated mathematics could explain many hitherto unrelated phenomena such as motion of the planets, the behaviour of tides and the fall of objects to Earth. This was the beginning of what is termed the scientific paradigm. At the heart of this thinking is the machine metaphor. Newton himself, who was deeply religious, compared the universe to a perfectly made watch where God was the watchmaker. This metaphor that equates efficiency to a well-oiled machine is deep in our modern psyche. One property of a machine is that it needs a designer, controller, driver. In this section, we will consider metaphors involving agents, forces or circumstances that exist exterior (outside of) the entity being discussed and which design, assign purpose to and monitor the behaviour of the entity. There are many metaphors that are used in this manner when discussing education. We will discuss four: "education as a journey", "knowledge as a commodity", "education as control" and "education as a building".

#### **2.1 Education as a journey**

One often sees references to an educational journey which begins at kindergarten and ends at university. A journey takes place over space and time. It needs a starting point, a route and a destination. Some routes may be well-trodden routes, but others need to be avoided. For this reason, it is useful to have a map, itinerary or a guide. I regard this metaphor as part of the "machine metaphor" because the journey is decided by outside agents, there is an agreed end point (the goal or purpose of the education) and a decision about the set of preferred steps to take, called the curriculum, which is equivalent to a map. The journey is decided in advance by the people in charge and one either reaches the destination (passes an assessment) or one does not. There is also extra kudos if one finishes quickly. Within certain stages of

the journey, some exploration is permitted but there always is a favoured knowledge which one is supposed to master.

What are the underlying assumptions here? Successful students are those that have attained a predetermined level of knowledge which has been deemed useful to the person or the society. As time passes, better maps are drawn, and new destinations are added to the itineraries so that the process is not entirely static, but the control is always external. The traveller has the freedom to choose a destination or take a different path to the norm, but the choices are predetermined. Korzybski coined the phrase "*The map is not the territory*" [4] as there is a tendency to conflate them. Any map is by its nature a simplification of what it is being represented. It is heavily dependent on context and the knowledge and experience of the user.

What is the final product of an education system—a good citizen? This links to the journey metaphor where the destination is suitability for employment and decided by the state. When neuroscience began as a subject area, the existence of connected neurons in the brain was regarded as a way of learning. Donald Hebb used the metaphor "forming paths in the wilderness". The more people who used a path, the more prominent this path became. Thus, the more certain neurons were connected, the stronger that link would become forming knowledge. This is known as Hebbian learning and is fundamental to machine learning and neural networks [5].

A similar metaphor is that of a ladder. Many people see education as a means of climbing up the social scale. Possession of certain knowledge or attaining certain certificates (such as a degree) represents a rise in social status. One danger here is that of narrowness. A ladder can be adjusted to different terrains and reach different targets but once on the ladder there is only one way up and one way down. The steps on the ladder are fixed. If one rung snaps, then one can be stuck on the ladder. A connected metaphor is that of a Glass Ceiling, which is invisible barrier which cannot be broken.

This metaphor allows for knowledge to develop in a logical, linear way but has difficulties with innovation. De Bono heavily criticises the use of the machine metaphor when discussing thinking. Using this metaphor, he compares thinking to digging a hole. The solutions to problems (commodities) can be found at the bottom of the deepest holes (which are inhabited by "experts"). Many times, new discoveries and innovations have been found lying on the surface away from the hole. De Bono expounds the aleatoric nature of innovation and shows that many discoveries owe a lot to chance. The rejection of the machine metaphor led him to the idea of lateral thinking [6].

At the societal level, one can see sense in the "journey" metaphor. If a community has an agreed, uniform perception of education, then administration is easier. At the personal level, I do not like the metaphor as it depersonalises the individual. Everyone has different talents, different objectives and different ways of learning. I taught for many years on the Open University Mathematics courses. Mathematics has always been regarded as a subject whose mastery had a linear progression. By this is meant that there are definite stages of understanding, and one cannot proceed to the next without mastering what had gone before. This is using the ladder metaphor. The Open University challenged this concept. It offered degree-level mathematics to students who had no previous mathematical knowledge! This was thought to be impossible, and I was originally extremely doubtful as to whether it could succeed. It did succeed, showing that at least in this case, the ladder metaphor was inappropriate.

#### **2.2 Knowledge as a commodity**

The most common metaphor for the past 2000 years is that of *knowledge as a commodity.* For example, we talk about intellectual property rights, buying and selling knowledge, storing knowledge, digging up the facts, building a foundation and spreading knowledge. In this view, knowledge is considered a collection of facts, which can be transferred from one person to another. There are many circumstances where previous knowledge is required for new knowledge so, in one sense, this is a useful metaphor as it prevents the reinvention of the wheel but there is a danger of knowledge becoming ossified and its transfer more of a habit than a meaningful objective. Whenever one regards education as the transfer (or transmission) of knowledge, then one is immediately (albeit tacitly) using the commodity metaphor. In a different context, electricity is *transmitted* along copper wires that are protected from external influences by plastic coats. To pursue this analogy, does education need to be encased it in laws to protect it from outside interference.

Transfer means to cross a boundary and thus implies the independent existence of an object. Thus, the commodity metaphor immediately defines an educator and a learner: the equivalent to the seller and the buyer If Commodities are seen as property, then property has value. One can see the rise of Guilds and the secrecy of the Alchemists as consequences of this metaphor.

Commodities are also concrete, quantifiable and measurable. When applied to knowledge, it becomes a collection of facts. But what is a fact? It is difficult to define a fact that is undeniable and true outside of logic and mathematics. According to Hannah Arendt, all factual truth is always contingent. "Facts are beyond agreement and consent, and all talk about them—all exchanges of opinion based on correct information—will contribute nothing to their establishment" [7]. Science draws its strength from the process of forming and testing hypotheses in order to arrive at factual proof. But facts are always empirically based and therefore depend on consensus. Thus, scientific truth claims to be objective but is really just consensus. Its claim to authority is that it is only true till it is falsified.

After 364 pages of complicated mathematics, Bertrand Russell and Arthur North Whitehead logically proved in their masterpiece "Principia Mathematica" that one plus one equalled two! [8]. They then developed the rest of mathematics which suggests that mathematics is in effect a large tautology, an ouroboros, where the theory explains facts that have been produced by the theory. It can be accepted that such "facts" exist in mathematics but in life it is more difficult to define a fact. In my lifetime, dinosaurs have been cold-/hot-blooded, fast/slow moving, hairy/smooth skinned. It is commonly believed that Henry VIII had six wives and that William was crowned the first Norman king of England in 1066. These can be classed as historical facts but, in many cases, history is written by the winner and there is always at least a smidgeon of doubt. Beliefs are different to facts. The commodity metaphor can lead to the productions of savants, that is people with detailed knowledge of facts but limited in their understanding of their significance. Other important questions are who decides which facts should be transferred and who they are transferred to.

Another attribute of a commodity is that it is quantifiable. It can be valued, measured and assessed. As humankind has delved more deeply into the nature of things, it has become increasingly difficult to measure accurately. This is most apparent at subatomic scales. It is now commonly believed that all measurements depend on context. A measurement is as much a function of the measurer as of the object being measured. When dealing with living beings, this measurement

*Perspective Chapter: Changing the Educational Metaphors DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109969*

problem is even more difficult as the object under investigation is not static—it is growing, developing, and remembering. In "education as a commodity", a common measurement is achieved by assessment. This then poses many problems. Is the measurement objective, that is independent of the assessor? What is the purpose of the assessment?—is it to test the efficacy of the system, the efficiency of the testers or the excellence of the learner? These are questions that must be addressed by educators and my thesis is that they are directly related to the metaphor that is being used.

A commonly used visual commodity metaphor is represented in a figure where the brain is a receptacle into which knowledge is being poured. There are many implications that can be drown from this. One is that learning is passive, and the brain is just filled with "knowledge". Another is that this "knowledge" is predetermined, agreed and administered by some third party. Who is the pourer, who chose the bottle, what does it contain? A third implication is that it is a finite process. Once the brain is full, then it can be closed, and the education has attained its purpose.

#### **2.3 Education as control**

In 1908, a famous chess match took place at the house of Maxim Gorki on the Island of Capri between Vladimir Lenin and Aleksandr Bogdanov. Both were active Marxists who had actively participated in the Russian Revolution. The chess match was the pretext for a discussion about the nature of the new Russian state. Lenin believed he could use the "education as a control" metaphor to impose compulsory and binding Marxist knowledge on the population. This meant that the content and pedagogy of Russian education should be legally enshrined to protect it from "subversive" theories. Thus, the state shaped its populace. Bogdanov disagreed and thought that, given the right environment, Marxist ideas would flourish through cooperation and agreement, that is the populace would shape the state. The decision was between a bottom-up or top-down approach to education. Lenin's top-down solution prevailed but then how could this be accomplished. This debate then moved to the effectiveness of central control

Most people would associate effective control with central control, but is this always true? There are many examples, especially in nature, where it is definitely not the case. For example, there is a species of leaf cutting ants called Octospinosis that forms colonies of around 50,000 individuals. They search out a certain leaf and cut it into fragments which they cultivate in a garden to grow a certain fungus which is their diet. They also develop antibiotics that protect the leaves from other fungi. They have a training system (a prototype apprentice scheme). They dig trenches around their nest that controls drainage and aeriates the soil and employ an effective waste management system. Every colony is founded by a queen but she merely breeds the ants. She is not a controller [9]. There are many interesting questions here concerning how this system survives, but it has worked well for millions of years without central control. There are many other examples in nature where the control metaphor is not appropriate. In fact, one can say that in nature, central control is not the norm.

It is not suggested that a human society should or could be run as an ant colony but it suggested that we can learn from nature. One can think of business organisations as lying on a continuum, which ranges from highly controlled (probably hierarchical) to self-organising where there is no controller. As an example of the latter, in 1998 Oticon was the third largest hearing aid company in the world with 10% of the market. The world market was stagnant, and the company was running at a deficit when they appointed Lars Kolind as the new CEO. Within a few years, Oticon became

the largest hearing aid manufacturer in the world. Ten years of stagnating sales prior to 1992 were turned into 14% growth in 1992 and 20% in 1993. He introduced revolutionary organisational structure that did not involve central control and for this reason was nicknamed the "Spaghetti Organisation" [10]. Development time for new products was halved and twice as many new products were put on the market. Some of the modernisations were as follows:


The "*education as control*" metaphor is still strong today. Control is explicitly linked to purpose. If the pedagogical purpose of a government is to ensure that all the population have a certain standard of education, then using this metaphor is an efficient way of achieving that goal. At the chess match, Lenin won the argument, Bogdanov was banished for 20 years and the soviet system was established. At the state level, many would argue that the metaphor was a valid one and the soviet education system worked. The Soviet people became well educated (in the "*knowledge as a commodity"* sense—they all had predetermined knowledge) and Russian scientists were well respected. However, at the personal level, the central control prevented people from taking decisions, innovative thinking was discouraged and individual freedoms were supressed.

State purveyors of education at all countries are trained to deliver what is regarded as a standard education. If everyone in a population is thinking differently, then there is always a fear of anarchy and civil unrest. The present school education system in England uses this metaphor. There is a board that sets the syllabus in every age group, in every subject. This is taught in every English school. There is no room for deviance. Even creativity is covered. In administration, it is an easy system to maintain, and it has an equalitarian aspect in that everyone is treated the same. The obvious disadvantages are that the "educators" decide what the commodity is and the students are simply recipients of the thing called knowledge. There is no recognition of diversity, development and growth. Is the purpose of education to control?

This metaphor also influences assessment. Standardised tests are devised to monitor the prescribed knowledge that has been delivered. I once had an acquaintance who proudly held a certificate proclaiming that he was sane. To me his need for this certificate indicated that he was not!

#### **2.4 Education as a building**

Another common metaphor talks about laying the foundations of knowledge and building educational edifices. Words such as bricks, pillars, windows and access to light are common. **Figure 1** shows a diagrammatic representation of an educational system, which uses this metaphor. The diagram is intended to show a *Perspective Chapter: Changing the Educational Metaphors DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109969*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Education as a building. Source: Author.*

well-constructed course, built on firm foundations, with defined pillars of wisdom supporting the predefined knowledge. This is a first sight an appealing metaphor. Such a system could be well defined and work well in a particular context, but it suffers from all the faults of a machine metaphor. It is also inflexible and rigid. Physically, an earthquake could easily topple it and, when applied to education, would it survive sudden changes in policy.

#### **3. The process metaphor**

The process metaphor is associated with system thinking which is centred around the systemic ideas of process, relationships, recursion, emergence and holistic thinking.

"No man is an island" is a celebrated line taken from a sermon by John Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's in 1640. It uses a geographical metaphor to express the fact that people cannot exist independently from others—from humanity. It expresses very eloquently a basic belief of system thinkers—that the relationships between entities are more important than the entities themselves. In fact, many entities are only defined by their relationships.

Another fundamental systemic belief is the idea of recursion—that every system is embedded in other systems. This implies that everything exists in three forms: what it currently is, a collection of parts and a part of a greater whole. These three forms are termed levels of recursion.

Scientific thinking is reductionist. It divides the whole into parts, improves each individual part and then reassembles the parts into a new whole. For the whole to work effectively, each part must fit with/connect to other parts and work harmoniously together. In this sense, there is a relationship between the parts, but the difference is that in system thinking, the parts cannot exist independently without that relationship. The parts are interdependent. In the mechanical case, when one gathers things together and the whole equals the sum of the parts but in the systems case, new properties may be present in the whole that did not exist in the parts. The whole is not just the sum of its parts. This property is known as emergence and the emphasis on the whole is known as holistic thinking. This is a very different way of thinking compared to the scientific paradigm [12].

To illustrate the difference between system and scientific thinking, let us use system thinking to deconstruct the question "*What is Education?*"


Several metaphors will now be discussed which are tacitly understood to have a strong connection to system thinking.

#### **3.1 Education as a process**

One talks of the educational process, of one's knowledge blossoming, of discovering new paths and new destinations, of creating new areas of knowledge, of growth and development. When education is seen as a process, it has no beginning or end. A process simply exists. Knowledge is whatever is needed for sustainability. Decisions are not decided by external forces but are generated from within. This is an entirely different to the "education as a journey or ladder" metaphor. It does not state starting points or destinations. A process is something that enfolds. It continues. Chance is always present. At the personal level, this metaphor allows individuality. Each person is sharing in a process but in an individual way. It does not function so well at the state level where the state is demanding certain knowledge. Again, one can see a connection with the metaphor of an ouroboros. Education is constantly eating its own tail. New ideas are old ideas repackaged for a new market; lessons are not learned; the past is forgotten, and the future is always new and exciting.

This metaphor uses the word "knowledge" as a verb rather than a noun. "Knowledge" is an action—doing or thinking or participating. This encourages cooperation rather than competition or hoarding. It has an emergent attribute which solves Plato's dilemma and explains innovation. Any knowledge is part of a higher knowledge (recursion). In this sense, knowledge develops. Knowledge is contextual. There is no true or perfect knowledge, just appropriate knowledge for the environment, which is being examined.

#### **3.2 Education as a self-organising system**

We have seen that lack of external or central control does not necessarily imply disorder or chaos. A system can be self-regulatory; that is, it has developed (not

#### *Perspective Chapter: Changing the Educational Metaphors DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109969*

been designed) to monitor itself and adjust its behaviour to enable it to survive. For Argyris and Schön, learning involves the detection and correction of error [15]. When one's results do not achieve the objective, the first reaction is to change the strategy. The new results are evaluated, and the strategy is modified. There exists a simple negative or self-correcting feedback loop, which is often described as "*single loop learning*". This can be an effective way of proceeding and is the basis of a homeostat such as the thermostat in your house but what is not questioned are the underlying assumptions—governing variables. If one applies a similar feedback loop to these variables, then we have what Argyris and Schon call "*double loop learning*" [15]. This is shown in **Figure 2**. Changing the governing variables will affect objectives and strategy. This is how Argyris and Schön described the process in the context of organisational learning:

*When the error detected and corrected permits the organization to carry on its present policies or achieve its presents objectives, then that error-and-correction process is single-loop learning. Single-loop learning is like a thermostat that learns when it is too hot or too cold and turns the heat on or off. The thermostat can perform this task because it can receive information (the temperature of the room) and take corrective action. Double-loop learning occurs when error is detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization's underlying norms, policies and objectives [14].*

Usher and Bryant see similarities with this work and that of Aristotle when he was discussing practical and technical education [16]. Technical education is similar to single-loop learning insofar as if there are certain rules, routines and processes that are predetermined and must be followed. Practical learning relies more on reflecting on what one is doing, and this involves the double loop where one is always questioning and changing objectives. It also invokes the learning stages proposed by Gregory Bateson [17]. Single-loop learning equates with learning stage one which he terms machine learning. Double-loop learning equates with learning stage 2 which he terms "learning to learn" referring back to the "education as control" metaphor and for the debate between Lenin and Bogdanov, one could say that Lenin was advocating single-loop learning, whereas Bogdanov, who is regarded as the first cybernetician, was advocating double-loop learning.

**Figure 2.** *Double-loop learning.*

All systems are defined by their environment. The boundaries that are defined create a space without and a space within. Over time, the system itself will develop a set of values and principles which will establish a culture—an organisational structure. This structure is specific to the system and is controlled by the system. When the environment changes (which will be often), the system should, through its communication channels, recognise these changes. It can then evaluate them and decide how or whether to use them in its organisational structure. The important fact is that it is the system that affects the internal change not the environment. The system is in charge of its own destiny. Control is from within rather than imposed. It is structurally open, but organisational closured. Such a system is a special case of a self-regulatory system and is known as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) [18].

There are many misapprehensions connected with self-organisation. One interpretation is that an effective CAS relies on motivated and committed individuals who will commit their time to make it work, thus making it a costly venture. But it is the opposite that is true. There will be transitional costs in setting up the educational system as a CAS but once running, it will control itself and therefore save on costs. However, it is recognised that human societies are extremely complex and there will be difficulties, as seen by social media platforms, in self-regulation and misinformation.

#### **3.3 Education as a garden**

This is the systemic equivalent of the "education as a building" metaphor. The difference is between a gardener and a builder. A good gardener tends to the garden. He allows it to grow and flourish. It is true that the English Garden of the eighteenth century was planned and controlled. I am referring to a wild garden that is protected against disease and storms but allowed to grow freely. One can see the attraction of this metaphor in the development of personal education and indeed this was the theory behind the international movement for progressive education, which began before the turn of the century. There were reformers in the United States, like the educational philosopher, John Dewey. In Germany, Paul and Edith Cassirer-Geheeb founded the Odenwaldschulei [19]. In Italy, Dr. Maria Montessori developed a method of teaching young children through structured lessons using attractive equipment that she herself designed. Montessori showed that pupils were quite capable of learning on their own with the help of a teacher as a guide or mentor. They responded well to the opportunity to choose what to study and the manner in which they do it. This is not popular among educators as it is much more difficult to assess and is much more time consuming than traditional methods [20].

The modern education system using the machine metaphor decides on the content of the knowledge, the method which this will be imparted and it can easily produce knowledgeable robots with no adaptability to different circumstances. Maybe, this new metaphor needs to be considered.

#### **3.4 Education as evolution**

Darwin talked about the struggle for existence, but in 1865 Herbert Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe the mechanism in Darwin's evolutionary theory [21]. This is unfortunate as evolution has become associated with competition but in many cases, species survive through cooperation. Recent research into forests have revealed that trees form communities through their roots. Messages

are transferred and older trees look after younger trees. Forests that are replanted with only one species are not as active as those with different species. There is clear evidence that trees cooperate [22]. The researcher Lin Ostrom has recently received a Nobel prize in Economics for showing the cooperation is a better strategy for companies and businesses than competition [23].

Applying these ideas to Education will involve the concept of team learning. Some benefits of team learning are self-awareness, respect for others, the capacity to plan, negotiate, compromise and consider, to take orders and follow them, and to make suggestions and follow those too. By doing all this, invaluable leadership skills can develop.

Encouraging students to work together can allow "emergence", that is, results that would not be achieved individually and cannot be predicted. This is a disadvantage when devising an assessment procedure. It can be difficult to assess the individual contributions to a group. One advantage of standard examinations is that they are marked against an agreed answer. It is time consuming to assess a piece of work that was not predicted. Current education practice, even when using the mechanical metaphor, is beginning to incorporate team learning but the assessment process is still very much examination centred.

#### **3.5 Education as communication**

We have discussed the transmission metaphor of "*knowledge as a commodity*" but how else can knowledge be disseminated. Another metaphor uses the concept of communication—using the unique features of the human language. In this regard, there are two words which I would like to deconstruct—discussion and dialogue.

The etymology of the word "discuss" is from the past tense of the Latin verb "Concutere" meaning to violently shake or dash together. Words with similar roots are percussion and concussion—all with the idea of things bumping into each other. This leads to metaphors such as "standing ones ground", winning the argument" and "taking a position". In contrast, the word "dialogue" comes from the words "dia" and "logos", which implies from or through the word. There is no implication of competing or winning. This is the basis of David Bohm's work on Dialogue which is a process for exchanging views and thereby educating ourselves [24]. Bohm's work is similar to the work of the Russian scholar Mikhail Bahktin who Kim calls "the philosopher of human communication" [25]. He argues that "*Bakhtin's theories of dialogue and literary representation are potentially applicable to virtually all academic disciplines in the human sciences*" [25]. According to White, Bakhtin's dialogism represents a methodological turn towards "*the messy reality of communication, in all its many language forms*" [26]. Kim also states that "*culture can be generally transmitted through communication or reciprocal interaction such as a dialogue*" [23]. Baxter states "*a dialogic perspective argues that difference (of all kinds) is basic to the human experience*" [27]. These references imply that any communication is heavily dependent on context. For a communication to be effective, the communicator must be aware of the background and culture of the person that is being addressed. There must be an awareness of any hidden or ambiguous meanings. For instance, the world "control" has a very different meaning in former Soviet countries to the softer meaning (akin to organisation) that is adopted by system thinkers. Communication need not just be by words. Art has been as a communicating medium. Picasso's Guernica is now universally accepted as a protest against totalitarianism and currently, Wei Wei's art is seen as sending messages to the current Chinese government.

Adopting this metaphor of "education as communication" could involve a greater emphasis on what are termed "soft skills" of which one is the ability to express oneself. At universities in the Middle Ages, as part of their education, students were encouraged and taught "in utramque partem", which means to argue for both sides of a proposition. This recognises the arbitrariness of facts as mentioned earlier and reminds one of a forgotten part of education—rhetoric. Rhetoric is the study of how to communicate effectively in speech or writing. This could be made an important part of any educational process and would aid in the understanding of cross-cultural differences.

Applying these ideas to Education will involve the concept of team learning There are many benefits of team learning such as a greater awareness of oneself, an understanding and respect of the views of others that will lead to negotiation and compromise, self-reflection and an appreciation of the qualities of leadership. Encouraging students to work together can allow "emergence", that is results that would not be achieved individually and cannot be predicted. This idea is predicated on "holistic thinking" and "recursion" that are key concepts of system thinking. For a culture that is dominated by the machine metaphor, the behaviour of the whole is always presumed to be the sum of the behaviours of the individual parts but the system metaphor places the whole and the parts on different levels of recursion. Thus, the "team mind" is not simply an accumulation of the minds of the team members. It is certainly the case that the "team mind" can come up with beliefs which can be true or false. The ouroboros appears again—the experience and interaction of working in a team shapes the views of the individual members but then these views shape the view of the team.

Working as a team can cause difficulties when devising an assessment procedure. It can be difficult to assess the individual contributions to a group. One advantage of standard examinations is that they are marked against an agreed answer. It is time consuming to assess a piece of work that was not predicted. Current education practice, even when using the mechanical metaphor, is beginning to incorporate team learning but the assessment process is still very much examination centred. The machine metaphor rests on the assumption that everyone should share the same beliefs else disorder would result. This implies an arbitrator of what is acceptable and what is not (Newton's watchmaker). But this neglects the community. People form communities where, whatever their beliefs, they share values of behaviour. So, they are the arbiters. This is surely the basis for a multi-cultural society that allows different beliefs to coexist.

#### **4. Is a change of metaphor needed?**

It is undisputed that to prosper any society needs to produce new generations of workers whose responsibilities are to maintain values and economic standards. This was the Lenin-Bogdanov debate discussed earlier. How this is achieved depends on the goal. If the goal of the education system is to ensure that its population has a predetermined set of skills, then organising a centralised, prescriptive system with regular standardised testing and maintenance is an efficient and cheap option and this will utilise some form of the mechanical metaphor. If the goal of education is to develop in innate, latent talents in individuals then a much more flexible approach (using the system metaphor) are needed. This will be more expensive to run and at first sight more complex unless the system is made self-regulatory. Individuals who have self-knowledge and belief and have studied areas that they are interested in

#### *Perspective Chapter: Changing the Educational Metaphors DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109969*

in their own time and manner will then be able to contribute to the society that has provided the educational environment.

The school educational journey is England is determined centrally. The national curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject. Other types of school like academies and private schools do not have to follow the national curriculum but must teach a broad and balanced curriculum including English, maths and science. The national curriculum is organised into blocks of years called "key stages" (KS) that cover from preschool to 18-year-olds over 13 years. At the end of each key stage, the child's performance is formally assessed. The key stages are Early years (year 1–2), KS1 (yrs 3–6), KS2 (yrs 7–9)), KS3 (yrs 10–11) KS4 (yrs 12–13). Academies do not have to follow the National Curriculum, so they have much more flexibility about what they choose to cover. However, academies do have to teach a "broad and balanced curriculum", including English, mathematics, science and religious education. Ofsted (the UK regularity authority) will inspect them just as it would a maintained school [28].

The metaphors used by the present school curriculum tend to preserve a certain view of the UK, which is now being challenged on grounds of diversity, colour and colonialisation. For example, many books contain no persons of colour, and the prevailing view is that, in the main, the British Empire was a force for good. It is culturally biased towards a white, male Britishness which may no longer exist. In one sense, this does what all centrally controlled systems do—preserve the status quo and cohesion but it limits the provision of new views. Although within this national system, certain attempts are made to allow minor digressions, the whole system is designed to turnout the maximum number of people with basic knowledge in the cheapest way.

One can concede that the mechanical metaphor will generate an easier system. Events may have many causes—not just a single one and everything is interconnected. A more varied system will demand teachers with different skill sets, which may not be available. There is a demand for certificates and any system that does not generate them will not be favoured by the populace. Also, the government has to account for money spent and this is a way of showing value for money. These are serious considerations, but they deflect one's attention from what it is that is happening. School education must be focussed precisely on those areas that are the least valued today in society—in the systematic promotion of diversity and creativity.

We can apply the same logic to the Higher Education Sector. What is the purpose of a university? [29]. It seems that today it is to award degrees which then can be used to gain employment—a perfect example of education as a commodity. A problem is that in this fast-moving global world, many of the courses are out of date and the skills of are graduate do not match the desires of the employers—the so called "skills gap". Using the machine metaphor, a centralised system can never bridge this gap as the new skills are unknown at the time of the determining the curriculum.

Many new skills are emergent and can only be achieved when using the system metaphor. This has implications for change. Systems are constructed to coexist with their environment and tend to resist change. Thus, when contemplating changes in the educational practices, one should examine the metaphor that is being used. Sudden change (shocks) or constant change in society can cause tensions, but most people accept change as part of life and are not resistant to it. The mistake is to try and change people rather than the metaphor. A complex adaptive education system will acknowledge societal changes and will itself change its organisational structure. When this changes, the behaviour of the people in it will change. What is needed is a new metaphor that generates momentum in a new direction. Both scenarios recognise that the educational system cannot remain static and must change. The question is who or what makes the changes.

Is there a need for assessment? Although project work is becoming more popular, the high majority of university assessment is by examination. This is a product of the machine metaphor in that does the machine is doing what it is designed to do. If university education is designed to reproduce the existing knowledge, then examinations are ideal. Even when examination questions ask the student for his own opinions, these opinions are assessed against the perceived wisdom. In a stable, nonchanging world, this assessment procedure worked well but is it applicable to today?

It is one thing to make passionate pleas for change backed up by persuasive reasoning. It is more difficult to detail how the changes can be implemented. There are clues from the past. Piaget's theory was that there are levels of understanding and that people will not learn unless they are mentally at the stage to understand what is being offered. If someone does not understand a concept, it does not imply stupidity but maybe that the learner is not yet ready for that learning. People must understand WHY they need to know before they learn to know [30, 31].

There a have been several attempts by schools to change the metaphor. A.S. Neill, the founder of Sommerhill, set out to make a school that would fit the child rather than forcing children to do what the parents and education thought best for them. He was rejecting the machine metaphor and edging towards the gardening metaphor.

*"This expectation that everybody will achieve academically is a curse to many young people. "Parents should try not to have the expectations of what or who their children will become. You cannot decide whether they will be a road sweeper, a great surgeon or an opera star. Children need to know that their parents are on their side, acting as their champions" [32].*

The aim of life, according to Neill, was "to find happiness, which means to find interest". Likewise, the purpose of Neill's education was to be happy and interested in life and children needed freedom to find their interests which he felt came organically and spontaneously as a prerequisite for learning. Neill considered happiness an innate characteristic that deteriorated if children were denied personal freedom. Such unhappiness led to repressed and psychologically disordered adults. Neill believed that the best thing teachers could do was to leave children alone to develop naturally. Sommerhill was heavily criticised mainly for its attitudes to sex and freedom but it still exists today after 150 years. I am not arguing for every school to be like Sommerhill but am merely pointing out that there are different ways of organising schools using different metaphors.

#### **5. Conclusion**

Ever since the first recorded academy was established by Plato in Athens in 387 BC, the exact nature and function of education has been discussed. The purpose of Plato's academy was to produce an "educated man"—a citizen of Athens. My view, in this chapter, is to suggest that the metaphors in use have a major influence on how education is perceived. Underlying Plato's Academy was a biological metaphor in the sense that it used a combination of the following:

"Savoir d'etre"—**WHAT** exists—understanding and meaning (brain);

*Perspective Chapter: Changing the Educational Metaphors DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109969*

"Savoir faire"—**HOW** to do it—vocational training (hands);

"Savoir vivre"—**WHY** we do it—recognising one's place in Society (heart).

The balance between these three roles was thought to give birth to Wisdom. The curriculum was divided into the "trivium" consisting of Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric (teaching how to express oneself and one's ideas) and the Quadrium consisting of Arithmetic (for Finance), Geometry (Geography), Astronomy (knowing one's place in the Universe) and Music (achieving inner harmony).

This chapter has classified some common metaphors under the broad headings of mechanical and process. The mechanical metaphors have their origins in the scientific paradigm that has been prevalent for the past 300 years. It is particularly prominent in STEM subjects. Much of Science builds on what has gone before and therefore the metaphor of passing "knowledge as a commodity" to the next generation is a useful one. It prevents reinventing the wheel and ensures that knowledge is not lost. The metaphor of "education as a journey" is also in evidence as one talks of advancement of knowledge. This places knowledge on a linear progression where some facts are regarded as better than others. But these comparisons are often on a one-dimensional scale and ignore other considerations. Are mobile phones an advance on a telephone? It depends on the criteria used. The scientific paradigm is currently being challenged by the system paradigm, which forms the basis for what I term "process metaphors". Here, the emphasis is on growth and development. Relationships are important and communication plays a larger role. It concentrates on "learning to learn" rather than an accumulation of facts.

Society needs both academics and practitioners. Most higher education institutions are judged on their research and publication records (such as the Research Excellence Framework). A practitioner draws from a different well called experience and involves a different form of education, which could be termed vocational or training. It uses different metaphors such as action learning and learning by doing. Initiatives such as the Teaching Excellence Framework and Graduate Level Apprenticeships are being introduced to remedy this. A very recent development is that of pracademics who work in both fields. By doing so, they are able to gather and leverage knowledge and experience from both domains.

The hope is that the readers of this chapter will now examine the metaphors, tacit or explicit, which colour their perceptions of education. I leave you with a final metaphor by Plutarch (45 AD).

*The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.*

#### **Author details**

Alfredo Moscardini University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK

\*Address all correspondence to: alfredo.moscardini@northumbria.ac.uk

© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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[12] Moscardini AO, Strachan R, Vlasova T, Pavlenko I. A systems strategy for higher

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[20] Mavric, M. The Montessori approach as a model of personalized Instruction Journal of Montessori Research. 2020;**6**(2):13-25

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[21] https://www.azquotes.com/ author/13942-Herbert\_Spencer/tag/ survival

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[23] Ostrom E. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 1990. pp. 90-102. ISBN: 978-0-521-40599-7

[24] Bohm D. On dialogue. New York: Routledge; 1996

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#### **Chapter 2**

## A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class of H University

*Duk-Hyun Jeong*

#### **Abstract**

This study is a plan for reflection on college student writing education and the writing requirements of learners. The purpose is to analyze the educational needs of college students, who are the actual users of college writing education, and to reflect the results in other educational sites actively. In particular, a study was conducted on college students in the basic class, whose writing ability was relatively lower than that of general students. What is particular about this study is that learners were not generally analyzed. This study was conducted within a private university in Korea, and they were first divided into four learning types based on learning motivation and self-control. In addition, by investigating the educational needs according to the four learning types, research was conducted so that they could use them in the educational field in the future. For a systematic study, a questionnaire on learning types and on demand for writing education was produced, and to obtain objective results, frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, f-test, Borich requirement formula, and statistical analysis, using The Locus for Focus model, were performed. As a result of the study, meaningful results were derived for each learner type. Reflecting on these research results, the researcher hopes that there will be practices such as developing programs that can write an outline well in writing education, strengthening writing correction education, and expanding engaging writing education using media.

**Keywords:** learning type, educational needs, writing education, Borich needs, basic class

#### **1. Introduction**

Modern society in the twenty-first century is talked about as the era of the fourth Industrial Revolution, information society, and knowledge-based society, and it is showing rapid social changes. As a result, the core competencies are emphasized according to the subject change, and accordingly, the direction of education for each subject also changes. Consequently, there is a difference in the core competencies emphasized by the subject. And the focus of education for each issue is also different [1]. Compared to the past, the ability required by a knowledge-based society has also changed significantly. To keep pace with the rapidly changing current era, universities are also establishing a talent image that can immediately respond to future changes in society and conducting many discussions and research to continue the role of education under the goal.

Students who will lead the era of knowledge and information should have the creativity, thinking skills, and problem-solving skills that this era wants. To meet these needs of the times, we have paid a lot of attention and effort to diversifying the learner-centered curriculum to maximize individual aptitude, ability, and interest, breaking away from traditional teaching methods centered on cramming education in the past. As a result, what received attention was the diversification of the curriculum and the individualization of the curriculum. And in that context, what draws attention is to classify students by level and conduct classes. However, since interest in classes by level is centered on middle and high schools, universities are less interested. In addition, there is indeed research on writing subjects as this interest is concentrated on English or Mathematics.

By experimenting and verifying elementary and middle school students, learning motivation and self-control can be practical criteria for diagnosing positive learning behavior. In this reality, Hwang Mae-Hyang et al.'s research has implications [2]. This study developed a learning type test with learning motivation and self-control as sub-areas to diagnose underachieving students.

This study was aimed at students in the basic class who take a college liberal arts course called <writing> at H University in South Korea. The purpose of the study is to derive learning types by conducting paper-based surveys based on the research of Hwang Mae-hyang et al. and analyzing writing education needs through the importance and execution of writing-related items [2]. And the researcher would like to derive educational implications through the results.

H University has designated and operated the "writing" subject as a required liberal arts subject. Since 3 years ago, 8% of the total classes have been classified separately as basic classes and are assigned 1 hour a week<sup>1</sup> . It is giving practice time. However, it is time to analyze how satisfied students are and what their requirements are by leaving more practice time to the instructor's autonomy.

Therefore, the researcher wants to analyze the educational needs by classifying basic class students by learning type, compiling what they consider essential in writing subjects by type, and what parts of writing subjects lack performance.

To achieve the research purpose, the research contents are set as follows:


<sup>1</sup> In the case of general classes, they are assigned 3 hours a week. The basic class is set for 4 hours a week by adding 1 hour of practice.

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*

Suppose it is a characteristic of this study, in that case, it differs from previous studies in which it classifies college students in the basic class by learning type and analyzes the needs for writing-related items by type.

#### **2. Research method**

#### **2.1 Subject of study**

The subjects of the survey study were students who took the <Writing> course opened as a liberal arts compulsory subject at H University in South Korea. A total of 105 students, including 77- and 78-minute students, who took the first semester of 2019, and 85- and 86-minute students, who took the second semester of 2019. However, among them, 99 people were subjected to the exclusion of three additional people who did not respond to the learning type test, excluding three who did not respond to the survey after a long absence. All the learners who participated in the class were in the first grade. The ratio of men and women was 43 male learners and 56 female students, with a high proportion of female students. The survey was conducted anonymously, and a 5-point Likert scale was used as the measurement item.

#### **2.2 Measuring tools**

To determine the learning type, learning motivation, and self-control measurement, questionnaires were used. The learning motivation was produced by Kim Yong-Rae and a scale of 25 questions is used by Cha Mi-Yang [2, 3]. This questionnaire consisted of six questions about intrinsic motivation, six questions about nonessential motivation, six questions about continuous motivation, and seven questions about class motivation. This scale is a 5-point Likert scale, and the reliability of the scale Cronbach's α is .85, which is reliable. For self-control measurement, a scale in which Cho Hyun-jin organized the self-control scale developed by Tangney, Baumeister, and Bone into 12 questions was used [4, 5]. The reliability of this scale Cronbach's α was .82.

To measure the importance and implementation of writing-related items, a questionnaire item was organized focusing on the contents of lectures during the semester. First, the writing procedure area was set into seven items: to conceive, choosing a topic, searching for references, creating an overview, writing sentences, paragraph writing, and trimming writing. Next, the genre writing area was set to five items: SNS writing, descriptive writing, introduction writing, argumentative writing, and writing of a report. For each writing item, the importance level was selected on the 5-point Likert scale, and the execution level was selected on the 5-point Likert scale. In addition, the educational needs were calculated based on the difference between importance and implementation.

#### **2.3 Analysis method**

The average value of the collected data was calculated based on learning motivation and self-control and was classified into four types based on the average value. In other words, the diagnosis was properly divided into four groups: Group 1 is a group with high learning motivation and self-control, Group 2 is a group with high learning motivation and low self-control, Group 3 is a group with low learning motivation and high self-control, and Group 4 is a group with low learning motivation and selfcontrol. In this way, it was divided into four groups and diagnosed.

In addition, a dependent sample t-verification was conducted to verify the difference between the importance and execution of writing-related items. Subsequently, after calculating the Borich needs, the priority of each item was confirmed. And each item was divided into four areas using The Locus for Focus model. All statistical analysis was analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program.

#### *2.3.1 Learning type inspection*

The learning type test classifies students into four types based on learning motivation and self-control, which are major areas that are closely related to learning and can be changed through guidance and support. The purpose of the learning type test is to provide systematic learning guidance by understanding the causes of poor learning and classifying types.


#### *2.3.2 IPA*

IPA (Imperformance-Performance Analysis) is a statistical technique developed to determine how consumers perceive the key attributes of the product or service to be evaluated. Since it was first presented in the field of business administration in the 1970s, it has now been used in various academic fields [6]. The IPA aims to establish the relative importance and supplier utilization of product features [7].

IPA analysis has the advantage of being able to suggest which areas of priority should be given to practitioners with time and cost limitations [8]. The IPA is also useful in determining what priority should be addressed with a fixed budget and manpower without going through a complicated process [9].

IPA analysis is largely divided into four-step procedures [10]. The first step is to select important attributes. The second step is to conduct a survey. In the third step, an action grid is created. The fourth step is to interpret and evaluate the execution lattice.

#### *2.3.3 Borich needs*

Borich's need is a method of surveying to determine the current and desirable levels of a phenomenon and to prioritize each item by applying weights to the desired levels [11]. The Borich needs formula can overcome the shortcomings of t-verification [12]. The t-verification has a limitation in that it only compares the mean of the two levels. If only t-verification is used, it cannot be prioritized. However, applying the

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*

Borich requirement formula makes it possible to prioritize item B because the requirement level is higher.

#### *2.3.4 The Locus for Focus model*

The Locus for Focus model is effective in overcoming the shortcomings of the ttest and Borich's requirements [11]. The Locus for Focus model is characterized by determining the significance of the difference between the two variables through the t-test and suggesting priority visually using a coordinate plane. It presents the difference between the current level and the desired level and weights it [13].

The Locus for Focus model analyzes the upper rank of the Borich needs and determines the upper rank of the Borich needs as many as the number included in the first quadrant. As a result, there are cases where results different from the Borich needs are derived.

#### **3. Research results**

#### **3.1 Ranking of educational needs**

Descriptive statistics were conducted and a corresponding sample t-test was conducted to evaluate the overall level of importance and implementation. **Table 1** shows the results of analyzing the implementation-importance level for 12 items. Looking at the results, the educational needs for "creating an overview" (6.16) were


*a: Item number, b: Area, c: Severity level, d: Execution figures, e: t, f: Difference, g: Borich's needs, h: Requested figures, i: Overall ranking.*

#### **Table 1.** *Ranking of educational needs.*

the highest. It was followed by "writing of a report" (6.04), "Paragraph writing" (5.76), and "argumentative writing" (5.73).

#### **3.2 Educational needs by learning type**

Borich's needs for a total of 12 items, including seven writing process areas and five writing genre areas, such as to conceive, creating an overview, and trimming of writing, was analyzed for each learning type. The next content to be introduced is the analysis of educational needs from types 1 to 4.

#### *3.2.1 Educational needs by learning type (1 type)*

**Table 2** shows the result of calculating the needs of college students in the first type of basic class. Looking at the results, the educational needs for "6. polishing writing" (6.53) was the highest. Subsequently, the priority was higher in the order of "creating an overview" (5.61), "paragraph writing" (5.12), and "argumentative writing" (3.71).

Next, let us analyze the priority of education needs for the writing process and genre for college students in the basic class using The Locus for Focus model.

The average of the overall importance perceived by college students was 3.95 and the average level of execution was 0.85. Looking at the results of the fourth quadrant based on the average of the important level and the average of the execution needs level, the items corresponding to the first quadrant were found to be items that should be considered first due to high awareness of the importance level and high execution needs level. The questions shown in the first quadrant were 4, 5, 6, 7, and 11, with a total of five items.

**Table 3** shows whether the priority derived using Borich's needs calculation formula is derived by the number of items included in the priority area of The Locus for Focus model and whether it overlaps. At this time, question 12 was excluded because the Borich requirement was high, but it was not included in the first quadrant. According to each priority derivation method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 7, 4, 6,


*a: Item number, b: Area, c: Severity level, d: Execution figures, e: Difference, f: Borich's needs, g: Requested figures, h: Ranking within area, I: Overall ranking.*

#### **Table 2.**

*Analysis of the type 1 learners' needs priorities.*

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*


#### **Table 3.**

*Deriving the priority of needs through analyzing the needs of the type 1 learner.*

and 11. Looking at the contents, it is in the order of "trimming of writing," "creating an overview," "paragraph writing," and "argumentative writing."

#### *3.2.2 Education needs by learning type (2 types)*

**Table 4** is the result of calculating the needs of college students in the second type basic class. Looking at the results, the educational needs for "creating an overview" (6.70) was the highest. It was followed by "choosing a topic" (5.98), "paragraph writing" (5.65), and "writing of a report" (5.64).

Next, we analyze the priority of education needs for the writing process and genre for type 2 college students in the basic class using The Locus for Focus model.

The overall importance average recognized by college students was 3.80, and the average level of execution was .91. Looking at the results of the fourth quadrant based on the average of the important level and the average of the execution needs level, the items corresponding to the first quadrant were found to be items that should be considered first due to high awareness of the importance level and high execution


*a: Item number, b: Area, c: Severity level, d: Execution figures, e: Difference, f: Borich's needs, g: Requested figures, h: Ranking within area, i: Overall ranking.*

#### **Table 4.**

*Analysis of the type 2 learners' needs priorities.*


#### **Table 5.**

*Deriving the priority of needs through analyzing the needs of the type 2 learner.*

needs level. The questions shown in the first quadrant were 4, 2, 6, and 12, with a total of four items.

**Table 5** shows whether the priority derived using Borich's needs calculation formula is derived by the number of items included in the priority area of The Locus for Focus model and whether it overlaps. According to each priority deriving method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 4, 2, 6, and 12. Looking at the contents, it is in the order of "writing an outline," "choosing a topic," "writing a paragraph," and "writing of a report."

#### *3.2.3 Educational needs by learning type (3 types: Synchronous)*

**Table 6** is the result of calculating the needs of college students in the third type basic class. Looking at the results, the educational needs for "choosing a topic" (6.57) was the highest. It was followed by "writing a Paragraph" (6.27), "writing an Overview" (6.23), and "writing of a report" (5.49).


*a: Item number, b: Area, c: Severity level, d: Execution figures, e: Difference, f: Borich's needs, g: Requested figures, h: Ranking within area, I: Overall ranking.*

#### **Table 6.**

*Analysis of the type 3 learners' needs priorities.*

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*


#### **Table 7.**

*Deriving the priority of needs through analyzing the needs of the type 3 learner.*

Next, We analyze the priority of education needs for the writing process and genre for type 4 college students in the basic class using The Locus for Focus model.

The overall importance average recognized by college students was 3.84, and the average level of execution was 0.99. Looking at the results of the fourth quadrant based on the average of the important level and the average of the execution needs level, the items corresponding to the first quadrant were found to be items that should be considered first due to high awareness of the importance level and high execution needs level. The questions shown in the first quadrant were 2, 4, 6, 11, and 12, with a total of 5 items.

**Table 7** shows whether the priority derived using Borich's needs calculation formula is derived by the number of items included in the priority area of The Locus for Focus model and whether it overlaps. At this time, question 5 was excluded because the Borich needs was high, but it was not included in the first quadrant. According to each priority deriving method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 2, 6, 4, 12, and 11. Looking at the contents, it is in the order of "deciding a topic," "writing a paragraph," "writing an outline," "writing of a report," and "argumentative writing."

#### *3.2.4 Educational needs by learning type (4 types: Behavioral type)*

**Table 8** shows the result of calculating the needs of college students in type 4 basic class. Looking at the results, the educational needs for "to conceive" (7.02) was the highest. It was followed by "SNS writing" (5.85), "writing of a report" (5.11), and "choosing a topic" (5.09) in the order of priority.

Next, let us analyze the priority of education needs for the writing process and genre for college students in the basic class using The Locus for Focus model.

The overall importance average recognized by college students was 3.81, and the average level of execution was 0.94. Looking at the results of the fourth quadrant based on the average of the important level and the average of the execution needs level, the items corresponding to the first quadrant were found to be items that should be considered first due to high awareness of the importance level and high execution needs level. The questions shown in the first quadrant were no. 1, 2, 8, and 12, with a total of four items.


*a: Item number, b: Area, c: Severity level, d: Execution figures, e: Difference, f: Borich's needs, g: Requested figures, h: Ranking within area, I: Overall ranking.*

#### **Table 8.**

*Analysis of the type 4 learners' needs priorities.*


**Table 9.**

*Deriving the priority of needs through analyzing the needs of the type 4 learner.*

**Table 9** shows whether the priority derived using Borich's needs calculation formula is derived by the number of items included in the priority area of The Locus for Focus model and whether it overlaps. According to each priority derivation method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 1, 8, 12, and 2. Looking at the contents, it is in the order of "to conceive," "SNS writing," "writing of a report," and "choosing a topic."

#### **3.3 Education requirements for the writing process and the genre of writing**

Borich's needs for seven writing process areas and five writing genre areas, such as to conceive, writing preparation, and writing plaster, was analyzed for college students in the basic class of H University. The results of this will be introduced in three categories: the case of integrating the writing process and the writing genre area, the case of the writing process, and the case of the writing genre.

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*


*a: Item number, b: Area, c: Severity level, d: Execution figures, e: Difference, f: Borich's needs, g: Requested figures, h: Ranking within area, I: Overall ranking.*

#### **Table 10.**

*Analysis of all learners' needs priorities.*

#### *3.3.1 Educational requirements incorporating the writing process and the writing genre area*

**Table 10** shows the result of calculating the needs of college students. Looking at the results, the educational needs for "creating an overview" (6.16) was the highest. It was followed by "writing of a report" (6.04), "paragraph writing" (5.76), and "argumentative writing" (5.73).

Subsequently, the priority of education needs for the writing process and genre for all college students in the basic class was analyzed using The Locus for Focus model.

The overall importance average recognized by college students was 4.04, and the execution level was 1.02. Looking at the results of the fourth quadrant based on the average of the important level and the average of the execution needs level, the items corresponding to the first quadrant were found to be items that should be considered first due to high awareness of the importance level and high execution needs level. The questions shown in the first quadrant were 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, and 12, with a total of six items.

**Table 11** shows whether the priority derived using Borich's needs calculation formula is derived by the number of items included in the priority area of The Locus for Focus model and whether it overlaps. At this time, question 5 was excluded


#### **Table 11.**

*Deriving the priority of needs through analyzing the needs of all learners.*

because the Borich requirement was high, but it was not included in the first quadrant. According to each priority deriving method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 4, 12, 6, 11, and 6. Looking at the contents, it is in the order of "creating an overview," "writing of a report," "paragraph writing," and "argumentative writing."

#### *3.3.2 Training requirements for the writing course area*

Borich's needs was analyzed for a total of seven writing processes, including to conceive, writing preparation, and writing registration, for college students in the basic class of H University.<sup>2</sup> As a result, the needs for the "overview writing" (6.16) item was the highest. Subsequently, "paragraph writing" (5.76), "writing sentences" (4.70), and "to conceive" (4.61) were the highest in order.

Subsequently, the priority of the needs in the writing process for all college students was analyzed using The Locus for Focus model. The average importance of the writing process was 4.12, and the average difference in the execution level was 1.08. According to each priority derivation method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 4, 6, and 1. Looking at the contents, it was derived in the order of "creating an Overview," "paragraph writing," and "to conceive."

#### *3.3.3 Education requirements for genre writing areas*

Borich's needs were analyzed for a total of five writing processes, including SNS writing, explanatory writing, introductory writing, thesis writing, and writing of a report, for college students in the basic class of H University.<sup>3</sup> Looking at the results, "writing of a report" (6.04) was the highest. It was followed by "argumentative writing" (5.73) and "creating an overview" (3.92).

Subsequently, the priority of needs in genre writing was analyzed for all college students using The Locus for Focus model, and the result was that the average of importance in the entire area was 3.94 and the difference from the execution level was 0.95. According to each priority derivation method, the questions that exist in the top priority area that commonly indicates high needs were found in the order of 12 and 11. Looking at the contents, it was derived in the order of "writing of a report" and "argumentative writing."

#### **3.4 Discussion**

The statistical results derived above are discussed as follows.

First, as a result of analyzing the educational needs by synthesizing the writing process and writing by genre, two needs for the writing process and two needs for genre writing were derived. It can be seen that the difficulty of the basic process of writing is as great, but the difficulty of the genre is as high as this. The highest need for creating an overview can be seen as emphasized because the most necessary ability for college students to write reports or assignments is the necessary ability to complete the overall framework and submit regulatory tasks. If you do not have this ability, you

<sup>2</sup> Statistics introduction is omitted due to paper relations

<sup>3</sup> Statistics introduction is omitted due to paper relations.

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*

will not be able to fill the given assignment amount, or giving up happens all the time.<sup>4</sup> In addition, even if the portion is filled, there are many cases where good scores are not obtained due to the lack of unity.

The reason why the need for a rewrite appeared low in the writing process is not because of confidence in it, but because there are many ways to solve it on your own without the help of the instructor. The need for this seems to have been low because of the high possibility of solving it. In addition, the low need for SNS writing among various genres reflects the attitude that it can be done without learning. After all, it is viewed as a kind of familiar writing because it is relatively used to writing every day rather than the need for it.

Second, the Borich requirement formula is a proven formula that has already been used in many studies, but it is necessary to consider whether the requirement and practical importance match exactly. Therefore, as a supplementary measure for this, this error was attempted to be eliminated by using The Locus for Focus model. Even though the Borich level was high, it was excluded from the actual priority.

Third, by conducting this study, it is meaningful that the opportunity for reflection was provided through the importance and execution of college students on writingrelated items from the perspective of instructors. If the needs of college students, who are consumers, can be well reflected through these survey results, it will be possible to conduct more efficient classes in the future even though it is a limited time. In addition, if a significant amount of time has not been invested, a change in teaching methods can be sought. I think this study provides important information for all of these things.

Based on these topics, an efficient education plan is discussed as follows. The first of the four types of this study (effort type) is a group of students with high learning motivation and self-control. In this type, the high needs were "creating an overview" and "trimming of writing." "Trimming of writing" is a part of the report submitted as a task that wants to be individually guided on what is good and what is insufficient, and wants to get a higher score when submitting the next report. "Creating an overview" is also a part that is always difficult when submitting reports, and is interested in organizing the overall framework, but is also a part that is feeling difficult. They are judged to be learners with a relatively high levels of preparation to start learning behavior among basic classes. Since they have a higher sense of goal and motivation for learning than other learners and are students who can control their behavior, I think guidance that directly helps to learn is needed. An effective guidance plan for them is to acknowledge their learning motivation and self-regulation skills and give appropriate feedback on their needs.

The second type (synchronous type) is a group of students with high learning motivation but low self-control. They showed a high need for creating an overview and choosing a topic. Submit several assignments during the writing class.<sup>5</sup> The students had to, but they had a hard time filling up the amount. Therefore, to fill the designated amount and avoid unnecessary content, it is necessary to guide "choosing a topic" or "creating an overview." Although they are interested in studying, they lack

<sup>4</sup> In the case of <writing> subjects, you will submit three assignments during the semester, and you will submit a critique of it after reading the text in the textbook. Each submission requires between 1800 and 2200 characters.

<sup>5</sup> During the first semester of the writing class at H University, the students must submit five writing assignments worth about 2000 characters.

self-control and are weak in temptation, so it is necessary to recognize high learning motivation and guide them to connect them well with academic expectations. It will also be helpful to guide specific goals and motivations related to writing. In addition, it is necessary to help them focus on learning to develop their insufficient self-control and control skills.

The third type (adjustable type) is a group of students with high self-control but low learning motivation. They showed high needs for choosing a topic and paragraph writing. This is related to the lack of motivation to write. They adapt relatively well to school life and do not interfere with learning, but have weak goals or meanings for their studies. They need to have hopes and expectations for their future as well as their learning goals and help them have meaning in their studies. Some of these students are lethargic due to long-term poor learning, and others do not feel the need for voluntary meaning, although they refer to a given task. They need guidance measures to boost their motivation.

The fourth type (behavior type) is a group of students with low learning motivation and self-control. They showed a high need for SNS writing and conceiving. This can be seen as a lack of motivation for writing, making it difficult to figure out what to do from the beginning. In addition, they may tend to act impulsively for immediate satisfaction in behavior without setting goals or values for learning. It is necessary to guide them to have basic learning habits. In addition, considering their low selfcontrol, a pleasant and familiar guidance plan seems to be appropriate [14]. Therefore, it is necessary to actively utilize and guide the media in the stage of envisioning the writing. For example, I think it is necessary to devise writing using pictures or photos or to actively use mind maps.

It can be difficult to satisfy all learners with such diverse needs. However, this study is meaningful in terms of securing basic data to solve the sluggish learning of the basic class by identifying the learning types of basic class learners and identifying the needs of each type.

#### **4. Conclusions and suggestions**

This study was conducted to analyze the writing-related education needs of college students organized in the basic class for effective writing education and to create data that can use in future writing education. Currently, the perception of college students with writing education and the degree of implementation were identified, and based on this, presented the ranking of educational needs. In addition, the researcher drew the following conclusions based on these results.

First, as a result of analyzing the educational needs by synthesizing the writing process and writing by genre, two needs for the writing process and two needs for genre writing were derived. The difficulty of the basic writing process is as great, but the difficulty of the genre is as high as this. The highest need for "creating an overview" can see as emphasizing because it is necessary to fill the number of tasks. The reason why the need for "trimming of writing" was low in the writing process is believed to be that there are many ways to solve this problem on your own.

Second, learners were classified into four types, focusing on learning motivation and self-control, and analyzed the needs of each group. As a result, the needs were high in the order of "trimming of writing" and "creating an overview" in Type 1, "Creating an Overview" and "choosing a topic" in Type 2, "choosing a topic" and "paragraph writing" in Type 3, "to conceive" and "SNS writing" in Type 4.

#### *A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*

Third, the Borich requirement formula is a proven formula that has already used in many studies, but it is necessary to consider whether the requirement and practical importance match precisely. Therefore, as a supplementary measure for this, this error was attempted to be eliminated by using The Locus for Focus model. In fact, in this study, even though the Borich score was high, it was excluded from the priority. More helpful research is needed to solve this problem.

Fourth, by conducting this study, it is meaningful that the opportunity for reflection is provided through the importance and execution of college students on writingrelated items from the instructors' perspective. If the needs of college students who are consumers can be well reflected through these survey results, it will be possible to conduct more efficient classes in the future even though it is a limited time. In addition, if a significant amount of time has not been invested, can seek a change in teaching methods. This study provides essential information for all of these things.

Above all, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the execution score is lower than the importance. Based on this, it can be a reference for redesigning or adjusting the existing class. In particular, in the reality of the lack of research data on college students in the basic class, such data are expected to have desirable significance for the basic class by allowing various plans for the basic class to be attempted.

Of course, there are limitations to this study. First, in this study, the degree of implementation and importance of college students' competencies necessary for writing education were analyzed as a questionnaire. In the survey, there is a limit to generalizing the tendency of all Korean college students by conducting it for college students in the basic class of a specific university called H University.

Second, since quantitative research was conducted on college students, further qualitative research is needed to reveal more details. In addition, it would be more helpful if there was a comparative study between the basic and non-basic classes. Third, the lack of presentation of efficient teaching methods based on the results of this study is also a limitation. This part will also be left as a future study.

The suggestions based on the conclusions of this study are as follows. First, this study has a limitation in objectivity because it investigated the degree of implementation and importance of college students in writing education in a self-selection method. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a tool that can more objectively measure execution, significance, and even needs.

Second, the purpose of this study was to analyze implications by measuring the educational needs related to the writing education of college students in the basic class. Based on this, follow-up studies at the level of qualitative research are needed to find out what causes these differences. In addition, most of the 99 survey subjects are college students from H University, so it is necessary to expand this and study more samples.

### **Author details**

Duk-Hyun Jeong HanNam University, Daejeon, South Korea

\*Address all correspondence to: sun1496@hanmail.net

© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*A Study on the Writing Educational Needs by Learner Type: Based on the Basic Class… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109685*

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[5] Cho H-j. The effect of time distance, self-control, self-control, and behavior on regret in the decision situation, a [master's thesis] at Ewha Womans University. 2011

[6] Tangney JP, Boone AL, Baumeister RF. High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. In: Self-regulation and self-control. Routledge. 2018. pp. 173-212

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### **Chapter 3**

## Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing for Studies in Higher Education

*James Ma*

### **Abstract**

The importance of argumentation in academic writing, while recognised historically, has arguably lost prominence alongside the rapid expansion of higher education since the early 1990s in the UK. This has been exacerbated by an increasingly prevalent technological intervention in teaching and learning processes. With this as a background, this chapter presents a discourse analysis of dissertation extracts to articulate the role of intertextuality in governing *interpretative*, *evaluative*, and *concluding* propositions in argumentation. Each proposition is examined as indexed to syntactical compositionality by which a previous proposition elicits a present one that awaits a future one, thus forming an argument. The analysis teases out what is at stake concerning the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions. It brings to the fore the notion of *instances of signification* that lends itself as a mediational apparatus to what counts as the intertextuality of argumentation – particularly why intertextuality matters in justifying a claim by giving logical reasons rather than wading into mere description or verging on textual turbulence. The chapter concludes by adding to long-standing debates on critical thinking in higher education a quest for a semiotic awareness of argumentation, highlighting the intertextuality of argumentation as facilitating rational deliberation for critical thinking in academic writing.

**Keywords:** Bakhtin, Kristeva, Peirce, intertextuality, argumentation, instances of signification, critical thinking in academic writing

#### **1. Introduction**

There has been a widespread concern with academic writing in higher education over the past few decades. Research has brought to prominence strategies and

resources for facilitating academic literacy attainment [1–6]. It addresses in common parlance the social constructionism of literacy practices. For example, the work of Lea and Street [3] conceptualises 'academic literacies' as a culturally embedded approach to learning activities across academic subjects. Such approaches are constituted in and enacted through the discursivity of knowledge, discourse, and power, addressing the dynamics of meaning in communication and representation. In further exploring the relationship of literacy to learning as to how meanings are constructed and contested among institutions, staff, and students, they have moved away from, for example, an adaptive concern with ways in which students are inducted into the practices of teaching and learning [7], with a sharing of viewpoints from students and staff on cultural and institutional contexts in which their literacy practices are situated. Recognising the variance and multitude of learner identities and positions within and across institutions [8, 9], what is defined as academic literacies shapes and is shaped by the primacy of social, cultural and linguistic factors. Yet, given the ontogenesis of literacy practices in various learning environments, there remain inadequate insights into how students are to become effective and successful communicators during and after their studies. For example, 'an important facet of written communication is being able to critically assess the writing of others, particularly at the graduate level as well as in professional programs' [10]. This calls into question an issue across all disciplinary levels in higher education – the success of universities in equipping students with transferrable knowledge, e.g., knowledge of the underlying substantive structures of the disciplines and that of the syntactic system of such structures for academic inquires made through these disciplines.

Argumentation, as a command of transferable knowledge, is a process of making an argument requiring active engagement and adherence to rules and conventions involved, in which deliberate thought and rationality are exercised. Though recognised historically, the importance of argumentation has arguably lost prominence alongside the rapid expansion of higher education since the early 1990s in the UK. This has been exacerbated by an increasingly prevalent technological intervention in teaching and learning processes. With this as a background, this chapter presents a discourse analysis of dissertation extracts to articulate the role of intertextuality in governing *interpretative*, *evaluative*, and *concluding* propositions in argumentation. Each proposition is examined as indexed to syntactical compositionality by which a previous proposition elicits a present one that awaits a future one, thus forming an argument. The analysis teases out what is at stake concerning the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions, as exhibited in argumentation. It brings to the fore the notion of *instances of signification* that lends itself as a mediational apparatus to what counts as the intertextuality of argumentation – particularly why intertextuality matters in justifying a claim by giving logical reasons rather than wading into mere description or verging on what might be termed *textual turbulence*.

Within the remainder of this chapter, intertextuality is first discussed in terms of the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions, following which deduction versus induction is explained. A subsequent analysis of dissertation extracts leads to a discussion of *instances of signification*, shedding light on what is disregarded or unrecognised in students' writing. In conclusion, the chapter adds to long-standing debates on critical thinking in higher education a quest for a semiotic awareness of argumentation, highlighting the intertextuality of argumentation as facilitating rational deliberation for critical thinking in academic writing.

*Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109507*

#### **2. Intertextuality as the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions**

Since the late 1920s, Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) has been a gripping reference point in contemporary discussions in literary studies, humanities and beyond. Many of his concepts characterise a nuanced view of elucidating the text and its relation to the world, particularly his dialogic positioning for literary texts [11]:

\*\*\*The linguistic significance of a given utterance is understood against the background of language, while its actual meaning is understood against the background of other concrete utterances on the same theme, a background made up of contradictory opinions, points of view and value judgements – that is, precisely that background that, as we see, complicates the path of any word towards its object.

Thus, an intersection of semiotic allusions either within the text or across texts emerges from textual relations and functions. The system of signification is upfront, setting in motion a dialogic interpretation of the text in the light of its context. 'Being heard as such is already a dialogic relation. The word wants to be heard, understood, responded to, and again to respond to the response, and so forth *ad infinitum*' [12]. The meaning potential that arises from and flourishes through the dialogic perpetuity of texts becomes an end *in itself* or an 'unlimited semiosis' [13], i.e., a spiral of infinite signs through the interplay of the text and its context, 'perpetually formed anew as a result of reciprocal mediation, renewal and transformation' [14].

This has pertinence for argumentation as it provides a structural insight into textual relations and functions that regulate a logical process in which premises and conclusion are organised in line with rules and conventions. This is not merely a matter of syntactic process as to how one sentence is implicated in the other, i.e., the effect of one subject-predicate sentence on the other subject-predicate sentence. Rather, it is a semiotic process of *truth preservation* by engaging with intertextual signs, i.e., sentences stand in semiotic relation with each other. The truth of the *premises*, i.e., supporting propositions, serves to guarantee the truth of the *conclusion*, i.e., concluding proposition. The conclusion should maintain a foothold in *signification* in terms of conclusion following from the premises. Bakhtinian dialogism offers a means of semiotic deliberation for argumentation, i.e., sign actions upon a series of *interpretative*, *evaluative*, and *concluding* propositions – an interpretative proposition leading to an evaluative proposition then to a concluding proposition. This produces what is in effect an integration of the truth of the premises into the truth of the conclusion and therefore suffices for the intertextual coherence and continuity of argumentation.

Influenced by Bakhtin's dialogism, Julia Kristeva coined *intertextuality* to refer to the dialogic nature of interlocking textual relations and functions inherent in communication and representation. The concept has since become a new strand of modern thought across disciplines, denoting an analytic approach with expository detail [15–18]. It extends a Bakhtin's view that 'the production of meaning happens as a result of purely textual operations independent of historical location' and that 'the multiplicity of possible meanings in a text spring from that text and not from the multiplicity of possible occasions in which the text can be read' [19]. From a social constructionism standpoint, intertextuality has a dialogical property of discourse, particularly the interdependent coordination and stipulation of meaning across texts.

As Fairclough [20] describes, 'the property texts have of being full of snatches of other texts, which may be explicitly demarcated or merged in, and which the text may assimilate, contradict, ironically echo, and so forth'. The inseparability of a text and its social and historical milieus, alongside the relationship between its content and form, is arguably indicative of a heightened registration with the objective world that reflects the teleological dynamism of human interactions with the world, rather than simply ways in which social and cultural conditions coexist.

Thus, the play and counter-play of meaning are under way, rendering argumentation a semiotic process that blends previous propositions into present ones and present propositions into future ones. A text, e.g., a proposition, can be selfgenerative in the sense that 'it is caught up in a system of references to other books, other texts, other sentences: it is a node within a network' [21]. A given structure in which a text is presented can thus have implications for a larger structure with which it is associated. The constructing of a present proposition not only revolves around the meaning of a past proposition but also engenders and cultivates the constructing of a future proposition. Such homogeneity connects argumentation through a semiotic frame of organising thoughts and words on the move, by which an argument is both constructed through and bestowed by the interdependence of signifying codes.

Despite the relevance of intertextuality for learning, there has been inadequate attention to how intertextuality is implicated in academic writing. This chapter draws on Kristeva's [22] reinterpretation of Bakhtin's conception that 'horizontal axis (subject-addressee) and vertical axis (text-context) coincide, bringing to light an important fact: each word (text) is an intersection of word (texts) where at least one other word (text) be read'. This is also paired with Kristeva's [22] semiotic orientation of text as 'a permutation of texts, intertextuality in the space of a given text' in which 'several utterances, taken from other texts, intersect and neutralise one another'. Hence, in this chapter, intertextuality is confined to the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions, focusing on compositional moves between the details of an argument. This brings with it a semiotic configuration of writer-reader and text-context relationships, particularly a discernment of *textual*, *intertextual* and *contextual* relations and functions that allow one to see argumentation in a semiotic light.

#### **3. Deduction versus induction**

Deduction, as synonymous with Aristotelian syllogism, denotes a customary definition of valid arguments in terms of their *a priori* properties. Deductive argumentation, i.e., making an argument through deductive reasoning, refers to a conceptual move from the general to the specific. That is, if something is true of a category of things in general, then this truth applies to all legitimate members of that category. A deductive argument aims at *particularisation*, in which the conclusion is less general but more specific than the premises. For example, *Cats are nocturnal. This is a cat. It is therefore nocturnal*. Given this process progressing from an *opening* to a *closure*, the conclusion is guaranteed to be valid and reliable. However, if one of the premises is false, the conclusion will be false, albeit rules and conventions for deductive argumentation observed or conformed.

In contrast, inductive argumentation, i.e., making an argument through inductive reasoning, refers to a conceptual move from the specific to the general. That is, if

#### *Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109507*

there is a sequence of individual pieces of information, then such pieces of information can be generalised into a conclusion relating to that sequence of pieces of information. An inductive argument thus works towards *generalisation*, in which the conclusion is less specific but more general than the premises. Given this process proceeding from a *closure* to an *opening*, the conclusion is *not* guaranteed to be valid and reliable. For this reason, the plausibility and reliability of induction have long been interrogated by philosophers [23, 24]. The distinction between deduction and induction is epistemological, given that 'when the mind reasons from cause to effects, the demonstration is called a priori; when from effects to causes the demonstration is called a posteriori' [25].

The *a priori* demonstration of deduction, as pertaining to deductive knowledge of facts, has implication for methodological approaches in humanities, as delineated in Gibson [26]:

\*\*\*The usual character of an *a priori* approach is a pre-existing body of concepts and ideas that are put to work in the course of doing analysis. Many approaches to analysis have this character, such as critical discourse analysis, rhetorical analysis, semiotic analysis and critical narrative analysis, to name but a few. To work within these approaches/paradigms is to orientate to their body of work and assumptions. Of course, 'orientate to' does not mean 'agree with' or even 'stick within the confines of', but it does mean that there is existing theoretical and conceptual work that is used to organise analysis from the outset of a research project.

This renders a theoretical or conceptual frame of reference for organising academic writing, as exemplified in the following analysis. It corresponds to understanding the validity of argument as fundamental to academic writing. What counts as the validity of argument in *a priori* logical sense is whether the conclusion follows from the premises. The notion that the premises proceed to the conclusion does not entail that the premises are necessarily true. Validity concerns the structure or form of argument, i.e., the logical connection between the premises and the conclusion, rather than the content of an argument. It is noteworthy that validity does not guarantee truth but *truth preservation*, i.e., if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. It is also necessary to demarcate between argument and statement in term of their properties, given that argument has to do with validity while statement with truthfulness.

#### **4. The analysis**

This analysis provides an example of how the concept of intertextuality works to govern *interpretative*, *evaluative*, and *concluding* propositions in argumentation. Each proposition is examined as indexed to syntactical compositionality by which a previous proposition elicits a present one that awaits a future one, thus forming a line of argument. The interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions serves as a conceptual frame of reference for analysing the following dissertation extracts from students on undergraduate programmes in social sciences in a higher education institution in the southeast of England, UK. In general, both dissertations presented a well-structured investigative study, with some insights into literature and occupational issues within subject areas. Permissions were sought prior to, and respect for privacy was observed throughout, the data collection and analysis processes. In this analysis, the term *argument* is used as a countable noun, designating a reason or collection of reasons in argumentation.

#### **4.1 Student dissertation extract: Literacy strategies in other countries**

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 It is important to consider approaches to the literacy practices in countries other than the UK. This is because other countries may have successful strategies in place to involve boys in literacy, which could then be adopted by England to improve their practice. Tafa (2008) has compiled a study of the Kindergarten reading and writing curricula in 10 countries in the European Union: Britain, Belgium, France, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. It has been found that all of the EU countries discussed now base their teaching guidelines in the kindergarten curricula around the emergent literacy approach. This was defined by Clay (1966), and according to this approach, children begin to read and write through experiences that occur naturally in their home environment, through play with adults and other children. For example, children may begin to narrate a familiar storybook and begin to attach meaning to the words. This highlights the importance of providing opportunities for interaction, investigation, discussion and experimentation at kindergarten, which continue to develop these experiences of early *reading* and writing. This research also shows that all 10 EU countries discussed (including the UK) have similar literacy strategies and practices in place. In conclusion, Tafa (2008, 168) has found that 'it seems to have become clear in Europe that in order to improve children's education and to prevent academic failure, in order to reduce illiteracy among European citizens and to raise their level of education, emphasis must be placed on kindergarten education'. This also provides evidence for the research of Qinghua *et al* (2005, 157) who claim that 'the quality of pre-school education can influence not only children's intellectual advancement but also their social and emotional development, which can lay a solid foundation for children's lifelong learning and be of social and economic benefit in the future'. This therefore highlights the importance of early education and the foundations that are set for children during this crucial pre-school period, especially for literacy.

#### **4.2 Author analysis**

The argumentation sets out with an overriding premise: 'It is important to consider approaches to the literacy practices in countries other than the UK' (line 1). This premise includes at least two underlying suppositions: (a) literacy approaches developed in other countries will be beneficial to the UK, and (b) in effect the reader is expected to accept or agree with the author's proposition. It is then followed by a subordinate premise: 'This is because other countries may have successful strategies in place to involve boys in literacy, which could then be adopted by England to improve their practice' (lines 1-3). What is emphasised in this premise are the 'successful strategies' used in other countries to involve boys in literacy. As intertextuality demands, this premise needs to bridge the preceding premise and the succeeding one. However, the reference to Tafa (2008) seems ineffectual for this purpose as it has little logical implication for its preceding premise by means of *categorisation*. To differentiate approaches used in the UK and those used in other European countries requires the conception of *mutual exclusivity*, i.e., different categories should *neither* overlap *nor* entail elements of each other. The follow-up claim, 'It has been found that all of the EU countries discussed now base their teaching guidelines in the kindergarten curricula around the emergent literacy approach' (lines 5-7), becomes logically inconsecutive as it lacks reference to the strategies for involving boys in literacy. While the reference to Clay (1966) exemplifies the 'emergent literacy approach', there is yet little bearing on the possible impact of this approach on boys' engagement with literacy. Further elaborations (lines 9-12) leave the reader in doubt – where are the grounds for accepting this approach as beneficial to the involvement of boys in

#### *Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109507*

literacy? The proposition, 'all 10 EU countries discussed (including the UK) have similar literacy strategies and practices in place' (lines 12-13), comes to seem problematic if it is to be argued that 'other countries may have successful strategies in place to involve boys in literacy' (line 2). This strays even further from the point, given that this proposition fails to preserve the truth of the main and subordinate premises (lines 1-3).

Such deficiency in recourse to the intertextuality of relations and functions makes the argument plunge further into a logical turmoil within the second paragraph. The premises established in support of the conclusion are seemingly inadequate in providing necessary intertextual continuity and consistency as the grounds for the conclusion. This is observed through an absence of a series of coherent moves from one proposition to another towards the conclusion of the argument. The concluding proposition centres on the claim 'emphasis must be placed on kindergarten education' (lines 17-18). Though this may be inferred as having implication for involving boys in literacy, there is no attempt to specify the 'approaches to the literacy practices in countries other than the UK' (line 1). Moreover, given that this proposition entails an early proposition, 'It has been found that all of the EU countries discussed now base their teaching guidelines in the kindergarten curricula around the emergent literacy approach' (lines 5-7), it begs the question on logical legitimacy. Rather than being proved, this proposition is simply granted, i.e., the author simply assumes what he or she should be proving. This renders further evaluative propositions (18-23) untenable, albeit with an attempt to strengthen what has already been put forward through the argumentation.

Entangled with misperceived textual relations and functions, the interdependence of signifying codes is in jeopardy concerning a syllogistic ordering of premises and conclusion. This makes the line of argument even more disordered. The proposition in the subordinate premise (lines 1-3) entails a hypothetical form of syllogism explaining that one thing leads to another, with 'if' to introduce an antecedent and 'then' a consequent. That is, *if* other countries have successful strategies in place to involve boys in literacy, *then* these strategies can be adopted by England. In compliance with this hypothetical syllogism, a valid argument would have been constructed as follows:


This, as the function of the proposition (lines 1-3), fails to actualise itself in argumentation. There is a lack of attention to intertextuality in terms of affirming that other countries have successful strategies in place to involve boys in literacy. This triggers a logical impasse to such an extent that the grounds for a deductionbased conclusion are absent, i.e., the conclusion does not follow from the premises. It leaves the reader in doubt as to (a) the claim serving as a consequent of the argument, (b) the warrant for this claim, and (c) the case to be made for the conclusion.

#### **4.3 Student dissertation extract: Harnessing nature's metaphors for new understandings and possibilities**


#### **4.4 Author analysis**

The first paragraph commences with a primary or leading premise of argument: 'The use of various ways of experiencing nature in order to stimulate and support the whole self is further extended by the use of nature's features and processes as metaphors of the self' (lines 1-2). What is subsequently required as a secondary or subordinate premise is the literature on this topic to substantiate the primary premise. References to Worsham and Goodvin (2007), Berger (2004), and Berger and McLeod (2006) are relevant and blended through textual relations (lines 2-9). The use of 'moreover' (line 9) is apposite in introducing an additional proposition (lines 9-10). However, considering that a self-evident proposition that humans are conceptual beings is encapsulated in the primary premise in term of 'the whole self', this additional proposition with the quotation of 'a parallel process of building a safe, personal, inner home' (lines 9-10) becomes superfluous in effect. Moreover, resorting to such quotation – rather than paraphrasing in the student's own words – is perhaps suggestive of some uncertainty in fully understanding the quoted author's meaning. As it stands, this additional proposition does not provide a compelling account of the intrapersonal dimension of metaphorical thought in eliciting personal change. From an *intertextual* viewpoint, this adds little weight to what the subsequent proposition contends: 'In this way, creation of metaphors from nature may prompt personal change' (lines 10-11). This proposition is not self-explanatory but conditional as it needs to be endorsed by the evidence presented in the previous proposition; it would

#### *Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109507*

otherwise remain a supposition rather than a proposition. From a syntactical compositionality perspective (see Section 5.1), this proposition is such that the sense is elusive with an *intertextual* leap from the additional proposition (lines 9-10).

As the argument proceeds through to the second paragraph, the use of 'in particular' is *intertextual* as it forges a link between what is previously mentioned and what is now introduced as an example of personal transformation (lines 13-14). Three consecutive premises (lines 14-20) lead to a conclusion: 'Making connections between ourselves and natural processes in these ways is powerful because nature provides the necessary distancing but also an opportunity for the normalising of experiences' (lines 20-22). Given the *a priori* nature of deductive argumentation (see Section 3), the validity of this conclusion lies in a causal connection, rather than a transitory succession rendered by intuitive, wishful thinking. This concerns whether the instance that 'nature provides the necessary distancing but also an opportunity for the normalising of experiences' (lines 21-22) can serve as a prerequisite that are both *necessary* and *sufficient* for the instance that humans make connections between themselves and natural processes. Yet, the three consecutive premises (lines 14-20) cannot be fully identified as the *necessary conditions* for what is claimed in the subordinate clause: 'because nature provides the necessary distancing but also an opportunity for the normalising of experiences' (lines 21-22). It is apparent that these premises do not form the *sufficient conditions* for the conclusion. This raises a question of how the logical sequence in the concluding proposition can be justifiably asserted to be both *necessary* and *sufficient*.

As it stands, the composition is descriptive in style and exploratory in disguise. An overall sense of intertextuality comes to seem tenuous, haphazard, and less filtered through an awareness of the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions. This may be attributed to an unfledged understanding of how such relations and functions are semiotically bonded to accomplish a cogent line of argument. Furthermore, circuitous references to Berger and the co-authors in a skimpy, unscrupulous manner have lessened the effect on the reader to engage with a more succinct and reasoned approach to thematic analysis necessary for literature review.

#### **5. Discussion**

The preceding analysis brings into view the role of intertextuality in governing *interpretative*, *evaluative* and *concluding* propositions in argumentation. Each proposition is indexed to compositional connectivity by which a previous proposition elicits a present one that awaits a future one, thus forging ahead with an argument. The notion of *instances of signification* as a mediational apparatus in argumentation helps understand why intertextuality matters in justifying a claim by giving logical reasons rather than wading into mere description or verging on what might be termed *textual turbulence*. Endorsed by instances of signification, the intertextuality of argumentation in turn provides affordance for 'the production and interpretation of signs constitutive of meaning making' [27], resonant with Peirce's [28] evolutionist approach to the sign that 'it shall be interpreted in another sign; and its whole purport lies in the special character which it imparts to that interpretation'. Therefore, understanding argumentation as sign action makes the interdependence of signifying codes more bound up with what goes on in argumentation where such codes mediate and endorse each other by 'creating an aura of semiotic unity and enrichment' [29]. Implications of this analysis for academic writing are as follows:

#### **5.1 Sign action as a semiotic awareness of intertextual engagement and relationship**

As revealed in the analysis, intertextuality brings with it sign action as a semiotic awareness of intertextual engagement and relationship whereby there is no single, isolatable process of knowing. The textual relations and functions necessitate the response to a previous sign action but also the anticipation of a future one in argumentation. For example, there are misconceptions in students about differences between *conclusion* and *summary* due to a lack of recognition of sign action in intertextual thinking. Conclusion is where premises culminates to forge an ending proposition, whereas summary is mere reiteration of key propositions established in the main text. If the conclusion is to be handled as a summary, then argumentation becomes intertextually inconsistent. That is, the writer should not conclude something to be valid simply by assuming that something to be the case. As logical syllogism demands, the conclusion should not contain any of the supporting premises, or it *begs the question*. A valid argument is a set of incremental propositions logically organised and syntactically mediated. Without appreciation of this, an argument can be muddled or derailed, resulting in falsehood or absurdity.

Moreover, the notion of 'syntactical compositionality' [30] is important. A sentence is constructed by sub-sentential components, e.g., words and phrases, and the ways these components are combined are not only syntactical but semiotic in nature. The function of linguistic representation manifests itself as sign action through which words and phrases are constructed into an entire syntactic structure, e.g., the logical form of an argument. Although the linguistic meaning of a sentence is encoded and decoded by means of the grammar of a given language, the complexity of such meaning lies in not simply the grammar but the sign action of both the speaker or writer and the listener or reader. As evident in lines 9-11 in Section 4.3, weight is given to the direct quotation 'a parallel process of building a safe, personal, inner home', with a textual leap from the additional proposition introduced by 'moreover' (line 9), thus making the reader wonder about the writer's intention. This may be implicative of the writer's scant comprehension of the syntactic realm of language as sign action in linguistic representation.

It is also worth mentioning the intentionality of semantic and pragmatic meaning in linguistic interaction. Semantics concerns the relationship between linguistic utterances and the syntactic rules deployed to govern such utterances. Semantic structure involves a part-whole relationship, i.e., the meaning of a sentence is determined by what the constituent words and phrases are meant and how they are combined. Pragmatics nevertheless concerns the relationship between the speaker or writer and what he or she says or writes. It is confined to the functionality of linguistic communication and representation. As shown in the analysis, semantic meaning can yield answers to questions of how understanding of meaning can be obtained and what significance of such understanding may be for the writer. In contrast with the intrinsic nature of semantic intentionality with which the writer encodes or decodes a sentence based on grammatical rules of a given language, pragmatic intentionality implies the meaning of a sentence beyond what is logically manifested by that sentence, i.e., 'what is done with language beyond saying' [31]. This reflects the interpersonal relationships through which the utterance of that sentence is encoded or decoded. The assumption that pragmatic intentionality stands in relation to its context suggests that meaning can change as a result of the interaction of a sentence with the context from which it derives. Such contextual factors can have subtle or nuanced meaning embedded in the *Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109507*

connection between what is said and what is conveyed. Thus, intertextual engagement requires the writer to make pragmatic inferences, i.e., pragmatic meaning can be obtained by engaging with the implicature located in an utterance.

#### **5.2 Critical thinking and knowledge transfer**

Moving to a wider educational context, this analysis has relevance for critical thinking in teaching and learning in higher education. Predicated on 'intellectualism as central to the ethnography of university life' [32], students and teachers are to understand that 'the university world is generally associated with rationality, methodological principles, objectivity and logical argument' [33]. Critical thinking is a way of developing students' capacity to challenge different assumptions and perceptions through theorisation, rational thinking, and evaluation [34–36]. As observed in the analysis, how thoughts and words come together in argumentation is important to critical engagement, given the connections between intertextuality and sign action. This can broaden students' horizon in terms of what there is to be known in a wider social, cultural, and historical context. How can critical thinking be honed as a mode of cognition that foreground deliberate thought and rationality? Given critical thinking as a ubiquitous concept in higher education, why has it come to seem more routinely expected by institutions than habitually exercised by students? To what extent can critical thinking be sustained through an awareness of the intertextuality of argumentation? Arguably, students' greater engagement with critical thinking in academic writing becomes possible if the intertextuality of argumentation is cultivated as a collective awareness rather than simply as a condition or preference of an individual writer.

Further pedagogical implication can be addressed concerning the development of transferable knowledge in academic writing. First, given that reference to literature is integral part of academic writing, students are expected to research the documentary evidence or evaluate current developments of their subject areas of interest. In either case, their references to other authors are often restricted to adopting their viewpoints, rather than using them to cast light on the making of their own argument. The use of literature as such sometimes outweighs critical thinking and rationality that students are anticipated to demonstrate. This renders their argument incomplete, distorted or faulty, e.g., failure to organise propositions into a logical sequence, as shown in Section 4.1. By enacting the intertextuality of argumentation, critical thinking may be more effectively exercised in the review of literature.

Second, research activities involving undergraduate students across various disciplines in humanities and social sciences are often tutor-dependent or involuntarily actualised, particularly when assigned to them as a mere task-based activity. Critical thinking involved appears to be channelled towards certain directions by external forces, e.g., tutors' consistent or contingent intervention, rather than through students' own commitment and dedication. This results in students' cognizance less than discerning or theory-informed to the point where little is accomplished in a proactive manner, as reflected in academic writing. With a heightened awareness of the intertextuality of argumentation, critical thinking can become more integrated into the pursuit of knowledge in that words and thoughts are indispensable for 'the centrality of intellectual well-being in higher education' [32].

#### **6. Concluding remarks**

Concluding on a note of dialecticism, the post-Kantian perspective of knowledge and truth resonates with an axiological stance in this chapter, that is, the internal factors within an individual are fundamental to learning and development, only through which can the external factors become operative. The interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions points to the intertextual necessity of argumentation as one's determination to uphold a semiotic awareness of syntactical compositionality. Arguably, when the intertextuality of argumentation is called for in higher education, such awareness in turn works to sustain a mode of sensitising intertextuality as a conceptual frame of reference in academic writing. In the context of 'widening participation in higher education' [37], the intertextuality of argumentation can be of instrumental value for developing transferable knowledge in teaching and learning processes [38]. Furthermore, given an increasing demand for postgraduate qualifications by employers, this chapter may throw light on the provision of pre-sessional study skills courses across diverse academic programmes, including TESOL and Applied Linguistics.

#### **Acknowledgements**

The author would like to thank the students involved; without their support, the collection of data for this study would have been impossible. This chapter is a reduced version of the article published in *Language and Semiotic Studies* in 2023 [38].

#### **Author details**

James Ma Alumnus of the Universities of Oxford, Bristol, Nottingham, UK

\*Address all correspondence to: jamesma320@gmail.com

© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Perspective Chapter: Developing a Semiotic Awareness of Argumentation in Academic Writing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109507*

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#### **Chapter 4**

## Perspective Chapter: The Metaverse for Education

*Nehme Azoury and Cynthia Hajj*

#### **Abstract**

Due to ever-evolving teaching methods and technologies, the education sector has undergone and still undergoes several advances. The issue of knowledge creation and application through tutoring has evolved into the primary source of competitive advantage among colleges and a crucial element for success. In a turbulent world full of competitiveness, educational institutions and establishments strive to continuously provide excellence through top-notch education, international partnerships, collaborations, acknowledgments, and accreditations as well as updated technological tools such as e-learning platforms and online labs/workshops, constant investment in each person's human capital. It is hoped that this would improve people's knowledge, abilities, experiences, and cultural capital. Our digital lives have advanced quickly over the past two years to the point where living online and offline are now equally important. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the significance of sustaining education while taking into consideration the undeniable technological advances. This chapter adopts a descriptive/narrative methodology approach. As a result, it can be concluded that, if implemented properly, virtual collaboration and success will become essential skills that professionals across almost all sectors would master. Hence, upcoming research could include the role of the metaverse in education on another aspect of the SGDs like "no poverty."

**Keywords:** higher education, metaverse, human capital, extended reality, knowledge creation

#### **1. Introduction**

Since the COVID-19 epidemic was announced in 2020, people have been compelled to live apart from one another [1]. Several real-world activities are moving to the virtual world. Online meetings, distant schooling, telecommuting, and shopping have all become commonplace in modern society. As a result, the need for more sophisticated virtual worlds has increased as humankind's desire to push the limits of the real world has increased [2]. The metaverse, a 3D digital realm where the line between virtual and reality has broken down, is drawing increasing amounts of attention because of advancements in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain. The internet is expected to

significantly alter how we connect with the world and has been dubbed the "Next Generation Internet" [3].

Metaverse has been evolving since the early 2000s but, until 2019, the progress has been moving slowly. In the last quarter of 2019, a global pandemic erupted, resulting in a complete lockdown worldwide. The announcement of the COVID-19 as a global pandemic and emergency had lots of effects on the students and the future of their education. Humanity was forced to rethink its teaching and learning methods, eyeing the metaverse as a possible and urgent solution to be implemented.

The strict measures taken to avoid the spread of the virus restricted physical interactions and transformed into virtual communication on platforms such as microsoft teams, zoom, and many more. As a result, many countries saw an opportunity to enhance online learning and look for much more advanced technology, which triggered VR, AR, and AI. Metaverse erupted into a 3D digital space that reflects the real world through digital agents and allows for interactions among people.

#### **2. A new way to teach and learn**

#### **2.1 Sustainable development goals: Toward a new sustainability paradigm**

The 2000 millennium conference celebrations unveiled the millennium declaration and eight millennium improvement goals namely "ending extreme poverty and hunger, achieving the highest levels of education, promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, fighting malaria and other diseases, securing the environment, and increasing sustainability and building global environmental partnerships for development."

Although the targets have drawn criticism for not rigorously upholding "human rights norms and values" [4], they could still be pertinent and particularly helpful for poor countries [5].

Another criticism of the MDGs is that in some regions, such as Africa, the strong personalities and arrangements of the MDGs have had a negative impact, making their achievements seem to be a failure [6]. Nonetheless, this agreement was a significant step forward since it wrote down a shared will on the part of nations to implement several sustainability-related measures and collaborate to find effective solutions. Many "generalists" and inconsistent compliance have been mentioned as negatives, along with the difficulties of quantifying their aims.

The goals have been set up to be achieved by 2015; while not all goals have been completed, certain advancements have been made. Another criticism of the MDGs is that they have had a negative impact in some regions, such as Africa, making the advancements appear to be failures [6]. However, this agreement marked a crucial turning point since it proved a universal willingness to undertake several sustainability-related initiatives and work together to discover practical answers. Too many "generalists," uneven compliance, and trouble determining their aims have all been cited as issues. Although not all the goals have been reached, certain gains have been made since the goals were expected to be finished by 2015.

The MDGs and SDGs are highly regarded due to the attention and dedication of many nations throughout the world in the sustainable boom. The MDGs target impoverished nations, but the SDGs concentrate on all countries, regardless of their level of development, and have a different point of emphasis indicated design

#### *Perspective Chapter: The Metaverse for Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109307*

(e.g., the SDGs consist of new SDG11 for societies). In this scope, attaining sustainability may be difficult and calls for the involvement of all social stakeholders [7].

With the primary objective of fostering peace and prosperity, the United Nations (UN) and its member States unveiled the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in 2015. This agenda ensures that economic progress is being made in all countries. These are all summarized in the 17 sustainable development goals known as the SDGs. The goals are based on contemporary human development concepts that emphasize health and education and are based on continued economic growth that guarantees a permanent surplus of all kinds of commodities that can be used to "satisfy" development. The world is overcoming the old notion of "process" to satisfy human needs and increase well-being (**Table 1**). When understood in this way, human development aims at human well-being and quality of life.

#### **2.2 Institutions of higher education and sustainability**

Universities play a significant role in the formation of future leaders who will support the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) in their effective implementation. Even though the SDGs are being implemented in a range of various locations, higher education institutions play a significant role in cultivating a mentality that makes the SDGs' guiding principles more well-known. Building sustainability is fueled by education, one of the most important communication instruments and the cornerstone of the "sustainable attitude." "A systemic approach to knowing, one which goes beyond technical knowledge and even understands the principles of a healthy environment and a functional society," is included in this idea.

One of the abilities required to understand the concept of sustainability, for instance, is system thinking. This is so because sustainability balances the three elements of the environment, society, and economy. The economies that sustain people's livelihoods and improve their overall quality of life, according to ESCAP [8], change


#### **Table 1.** *Difference between MGDs and SDGs.*

people and the character of the society in which they live and, in turn, influence people and society. For economies and people, environments supply services that are both life-giving and economically significant. In this instance, systems thinking is essential for fostering a comprehensive method of issue analysis [8].

Several significant pieces of work have recently assessed how higher education affects sustainability [9]. A sustainability-based education influences educational material, as well as the related procedures and results [10]. According to Fien [11], human structures and institutions should be used to implement higher education strategies to promote sustainability. According to [12] found the greatest hurdle of SD in universities and the lack of concern for sustainability in the areas of management and control.

According to some authors (for example, see [13]), the SDGs can be used in research to solve social problems, and sustainability technologies must support the transition to sustainability. According to Filho et al. [12], a few specific "elements" of sustainability research dealing with the implementation of the SDGs, particularly interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary sustainability research, the development of research at an intimate level, and the social dissemination of scientific grabs the attention of stakeholders toward social communication, and linkages of science and politics. To fulfill its mission, universities must play a key role in responding to the adoption of SD.

Over the decades, the field of education has undergone experienced several improvements and changes due to ever-evolving technology and educational tools. The topic of producing knowledge and implementing experience through tutoring is a core competitive advantage of the university and a key factor in its success. This subject is influenced by psychological and social dimensions and depends on the idiosyncrasies of the environment in which this research topic is addressed. Moreover, in a competitive and turbulent world, educational institutions and facilities are continuously improving through quality teaching, international partnerships and collaborations, accreditation and accreditation, and modern technological tools, such as e-learning platforms and online labs, strives to achieve excellence in workshops and constant investment in individual human capital. The expected result is that individuals will improve their knowledge, skills, experience, and cultural capital.

Most empirical studies consider all these components to increase the relevance and quality of the materials taught and uncover new needs and services each year to attract learners. Nevertheless, we are unaware of the fact that all these properties are of significant importance and have contributed in many ways to the development of knowledge acquisition. Diversification in educational methods is neglected. In the middle east, there is little interest in researching pedagogy and its impact on knowledge production, human capital, and economic life. To the best of our knowledge, we analyze the key factors that educators can incorporate into their tutoring and/or transform teaching methods that can support and inspire students through diverse learning styles. Few, if any, studies have considered this.

Additionally, most educational institutions typically employ a lecture-based approach. This also refers to teacher-centered education. This is the most common method most learners are familiar with. Over the years, the same teaching style has continued, but students are expected not to talk to each other, and the teacher, the source of knowledge, informs students and teaches them how to remember. Put students back on a test designed to measure how much content they remember, not how much they actually remember and fully understand. Plutarch (AD 46–120) said, "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but wood to be burned." After years of

*Perspective Chapter: The Metaverse for Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109307*

repeating the same teaching pattern, students became demotivated and less inspired by knowledge. Given the existence of such advanced technology, most students tend to use abbreviations to obtain information and answers to their questions, regardless of accuracy or reliability.

They are content with what they have and no longer have the will to criticize themselves or challenge themselves for additional information. Eventually, the same students may become teachers and contribute to knowledge distortions. Following what Albert Einstein (1879–1955) once said*: "Education is not to learn facts, but to train the thinking mind."* It has been proven. Today, these universities are interested in obtaining internationally recognized accreditations that take knowledge production to new levels while setting innovative, updated, and improved standards. Therefore, in the quest for continuous development, their role shifts from providing knowledge, to creating value, to producing it. The quality of an individual's knowledge and educational background defines who they are and empowers an organization when harnessed and shared.

#### **2.3 Education meets the metaverse**

The concept of the metaverse is not exactly new. It has already appeared in his science fiction works, such as Snow Crash [14], but it only gained some notoriety following the publication of the movie Ready Player One [15], which adapted the concept. The phrase "metaverse" is derived from the prefix "meta," which means transcendence, and the word "universe," which refers to a network of parallel or virtual universes. Neil Stevenson used the phrase "metaverse" in his science fiction book Snow Crash (1992). The book's main character adopts a variety of digital personas as an escape from grief in the real world [14].

Since then, virtual collective spaces, international replication, embodied web/spatial internet, diverse innovative technologies, a class of internet software and social forms have integrated post-reality universes, persistent and chronic multi-users. The metaverse described by Cross and his colleagues in [1] is his 3D virtual environment, where individuals perform their daily tasks and manage their financial affairs through avatars that accurately represent themselves. According to [16], "A metaverse approach to a world where digital and fact meet and co-evolve, where social, financial and cultural sports end and cost."

These definitions show that instead of the real world following the virtual world, as the metaverse argues, the real world follows them, creating an ecosystem that connects the two (physical and virtual). Knox [17] states that the metaverse is "not just a platform to be further developed by corporations, implying the usual limitations of monopolies, but instead a whole new life that is not only now beyond corporate operations. It is flat," he emphasized. As proof of the idea that the metaverse is an ecosystem and underscores its scale as a single company, but free from interference by national entities or governments." In addition to time and implementation experience, Hwang et al. [3] proposed three features: "shared," "continuous," and "distributed" to highlight the potential applications of AR and VR in the metaverse. As a result, the metaverse offers opportunities for immersive experiences, partnerships, and interactions that foster the development of societies by enabling the emergence of "parallel internationals."

A digital twin that enables the creation of virtual representations and styles of the real world. The terms "digital twin," "human with a plethora of virtual abilities," and "physical-digital symbiosis" all refer to the fusion and connection of physical

and digital environments and are used to describe the digital replication of reality increase. An environment that is used synchronously. In addition, Davis et al. [18] developed his five-component metaverse research paradigm as follows: (1) the metaverse itself, (2) people/avatars, (3) technical capabilities of the metaverse, (4) behavior, and (5) results.

The e-learning industry has evolved significantly since the computer internet boom of the late 1990s. Industry observers now argue that the third generation of computers is among us, as the second wave of mobile computing and social media introduced microlearning through short video-based learning calls. The metaverse, a virtual three-dimensional environment that is "always on" and allows social interaction with friends, replaces the static, flat pages, and contacts on your computer. This change has important implications for learning to build features.

The idea of the metaverse in education is likewise no longer original because it has been hotly contested by academics and educators. As an illustration, research by Kemp and Livingstone [19] detailed how to integrate metaverse with a virtual environment termed "second existence" by using control mechanisms to improve the learning process. When focusing on virtuality measurements, the metaverse may be the upcoming location for social interaction and meetings, and he called for proactive education to make use of it for teaching and getting-to-know-you purposes. Avatars that evoke a sense of presence are believed to enable interaction and communication in the three-dimensional virtual environment [20]. A summit to develop a roadmap for the metaverse generation's future also took place in 2006 at the Stanford Research Institute. Researchers from many areas, generation architects, businesspeople, and futurists worked together to assess and estimate an approximate ten-year plan for the future of the internet.

The ability for students to pay attention to their instructions and give elements that would be an issue in a regular classroom are two advantages of the metaverse. Classmates in the metaverse can interact with their instructors and fellow students by using their avatars. This might result in an immersive learning experience that boosts the student's desire to learn. For instance, the use of mixed facts in maintenance presents an interesting overview of aircraft renovation [21]. Academic digital environment programs based on OpenSim and knowledge exchange in the metaverse were studied by González Crespo et al. [22] as free resources.

#### **2.4 The metaverse for education: Building a meaningful learning experience**

Technology like XR, when properly built, can enhance studying efficiency, which is difficult to do in any other situation. A few XR properties that can be particularly significant when used in educational environments are as follows:

**Immersion:** it can give the impression of depth and space; XR gear can make use of stereographic imagery and spatial audio. Customers can view 3D content (such as objects) in their environment from a first-person perspective, giving them the impression that they are in the same space as the content.

**Interactivity:** XR enables responses to user movements and activities, allowing users to actively interact with virtual surroundings. As such, it is an interactive medium that may activate users' complete bodies and foster creativity and expression.

**Invisibility:** XR can visualize phenomena like alternate through the years or minute particles that are invisible to the human eye because it employs realistic 3D imaging and combines the digital with the physical.

*Perspective Chapter: The Metaverse for Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109307*

Together, those traits can support a strong sense of presence, or the sensation of "being there," at a location relevant to your physical location, as well as a strong sense of commercial enterprise, all of which can help enable learning. Additionally, technology can provide a sense of being present in an extraordinary frame, known as digital frame possession, and a sense of being present with other people, known as co-presence. Due to these traits, XR is particularly suitable for constructive gettingto-know aims and techniques, while being less effective for others.

#### **3. Conclusion**

To assist the ambitious SDGs objectives implementation and develop future sustainability leaders, higher education institutions have a major duty. The reputation and prestige of a university internationally also heavily depend on sustainability. Higher education shapes adult thinking and is seen as a "changing agent" for sustainable development. Institutions of higher learning must spearhead change and create courses based on sustainable principles.

Growth in computers, artificial intelligence, high-speed communications, and virtualization technologies make the metaverse promising [23, 24]. According to Gartner [25], by 2027, 30% of people will spend two hours of their day working, playing, learning, and socializing in the metaverse. Compared to current educational technology, the existence of the metaverse is a completely new idea in the context of education. As mentioned earlier, the metaverse offers many opportunities and advancements in education. The reality of the existing schooling metaverse can help to some extent in overcoming some barriers and limitations. More importantly, continued interest in the metaverse points to future shaping trends and directions [26]. Therefore, soon, it can be predicted that academics involved in education will actively engage in research on the learning metaverse.

An additional point to be made is that incorporating the metaverse into schooling may bring up several contentious issues (such as addiction, ethics, or security) that require more debate; otherwise, the "metaverse" will be a "*metaworse*." To maximize the benefits of the metaverse's influence on future education, educational scholars should focus more on how to use it to get beyond existing education's drawbacks. As a result, the introduction of the metaverse in education is intriguing and widely predicted.

We expect the number of articles on this topic to grow significantly over the next few years. To expand future research, various potential research subjects of the metaverse in education will be covered as follows:


In the last quarter of 2019, a global pandemic erupted and resulted in a complete lockdown all around the world. Humanity was forced to rethink its teaching and learning methods, eyeing the metaverse as a possible and urgent solution to be implemented. As a result, many countries saw an opportunity to enhance online learning and look for much more advanced technology, which triggered VR, AR, and AI. Metaverse erupted into a 3D digital space that reflects the real world through digital agents and allows for interactions among people.

The 2000 millennium conference celebrations unveiled the millennium declaration and eight millennium improvement goals namely "ending extreme poverty and hunger, achieving the highest levels of education, promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, fighting malaria and other diseases, securing the environment, and increasing sustainability and building global environmental partnerships for development." Another criticism of the MDGs is that in some regions, such as Africa, the strong personalities and arrangements of the MDGs have had a negative impact, making their achievements seem to be a failure [6]. Nonetheless, this agreement was a significant step forward since it indicated a shared will on the part of nations to implement several sustainability-related measures and collaborate to find effective solutions. Another criticism of the MDGs is that they have had a negative impact in some regions, such as Africa, making the advancements appear to be failures [6].

The MDGs and SDGs are highly regarded due to the attention and dedication of many nations throughout the world in the sustainable boom. The MDGs target impoverished nations, but the SDGs concentrate on all countries, regardless of their level of development, and have a different point of emphasis shown design (e.g., the SDGs consist of new SDG11 for societies).

With the primary goal of fostering peace and prosperity, the United Nations (UN) and its member states unveiled the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in 2015. These are all summarized in the 17 sustainable development goals known as the SDGs. The goals are based on contemporary human development concepts that emphasize health and education and are based on continued economic growth that guarantees a permanent surplus of all kinds of commodities that can be used to "satisfy" development. Human development aims at human well-being and quality of life when understood in this way.

Universities play a significant role in the formation of future leaders who will support the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) in their effective implementation. Although the SDGs are being implemented in a range of various locations, higher education institutions play a significant role in cultivating a mentality that makes the SDGs' guiding principles more well-known. Building sustainability is fueled by education, one of the most important communication instruments and the cornerstone of the "sustainable attitude." "A systemic approach to knowing, one which *Perspective Chapter: The Metaverse for Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109307*

goes beyond technical knowledge and even understands the principles of a healthy environment and a functional society," is included in this idea.

This is so because sustainability balances the three elements of the environment, society, and economy.

#### **Acknowledgements**

We would like to express our special thanks to Ms. Sara Debeuc for reaching out. We thank IntechOpen for giving us this excellent opportunity to be part of this splendid work.

#### **Conflict of interest**

The others declare no conflict of interest.

### **Author details**

Nehme Azoury\* and Cynthia Hajj Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Kaslik, Lebanon

\*Address all correspondence to: nehmeazoury@usek.edu.lb

© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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[3] Hwang GJ, Chien SY. Definition, roles, and potential research issues of the metaverse in education: An artificial intelligence perspective. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence. 2022;**100082**:1

[4] United Nations. Report on Indicators for Promoting and Monitoring the Implementation of Human Rights. 2008. Available from: https://www2.ohchr. org/english/issues/indicators/docs/HRI. MC.2008.3\_en.pdf. [Accessed: 28 Dec 2022]

[5] Fukuda-Parr S. From the millennium development goals to the sustainable development goals: Shifts in purpose, concept, and politics of global goal setting for development. Gender and Development. 2016;**24**(1):43-52

[6] Easterly W. Can the west save Africa? Journal of Economic Literature. 2009;**47**(2):373-447

[7] Brown LR. Plan B: Building a new future: A wartime mobilization. Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company; 2006. pp. 249-266

[8] ESCAP, U. Economic and social survey of Asia and the Pacific 2015 part I: Making growth more inclusive for sustainable development. In: Repository Home. Economic and Social Survey of

Asia and the Pacific. 2015. Available from: https://repository.unescap.org/ handle/20.500.12870/1646. [Accessed: 28 Dec 2022]

[9] Shields R. The sustainability of international higher education: Student mobility and global climate change. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019;**217**:594-602

[10] Gatti L, Ulrich M, Seele P. Education for sustainable development through business simulation games: An exploratory study of sustainability gamification and its effects on students' learning outcomes. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019;**207**:667-678

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intelligence and cultural adaptability on cross-cultural adjustment and performance with the mediating effect of cross-cultural competence: A study of expatriates in Taiwan. Sustainability. 2021;**13**(6):3374

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#### **Chapter 5**

## Perspective Chapter: Communication as an Essential Strategy in the Success of the Teaching-Learning Process

*Ana Catarina Baptista and Susana Rodrigues*

#### **Abstract**

There is a close and important relationship between communication and the teaching-learning process, transversal to the modalities of face-to-face and remote teaching. The effectiveness of communication in the classroom depends on the adequate use of the voice by the teacher. The use of this pedagogical strategy to transmit knowledge to their students' places teachers among the professional groups that are at greater risk of developing voice disorders throughout their professional lives. In this chapter, we share some strategies and resources to optimize the communicative skills of teachers, focusing on voice strategies.

**Keywords:** communication, vocal health, professors, higher education, voice strategies

#### **1. Introduction**

From early childhood, through the elderly stage of life, human beings need to acquire efficient and effective communication processes with individuals in all contexts of life [1].

Communication is the mother of all skills in all contexts of life. In an academic context, communication ability is crucial to achieving success. Choosing the appropriate channel, the right voice tone, and melody, the adequate content with clear and objective information is critical to how that message will be received and understood.

In recent years, higher education institutions have been concerned with improving the academic qualification profile of their professors. This demand for excellence, especially for university professors, has been linked to the privilege of their research and innovation projects. Although, these approaches lead to a misconception that to be a good university professor, it is enough to be a good researcher. Therefore, the importance of specific academic skills, such as communication skills, tends to be ignored in higher education.

Communicative processes have fundamental importance and support professor-student discursive interactions contribute directly to the teaching-learning process [2].

In this chapter, we intend to enhance the importance of communication as an essential strategy in the success of the teaching and learning processes highlighting the role of the voice in these contexts.

#### **2. Communication and its importance in professor-student relationship**

*Communication* can be defined as the act by which a person transmits or receives from another person information about knowledge, needs, desires, and perceptions among others [3].

The communication process presupposes the sharing of information between at least two actors: the sender, who encodes and transmits the message, and the receiver, who decodes and receives the message. Also, important is that both master the same linguist code to generate understanding. An effective communicator must use not only verbal communication, in its oral and/or written format, but also non-verbal communication, such as gestures, facial expressions, and body movements [4]. Providing feedback is also crucial for communication efficiency, whether verbal or non-verbal [5].

When individuals can implement effective communication processes, they will be able to contribute significantly to performing well in their schoolwork, studies, job duties, achieving desired goals, enhancing personality traits, and bringing about improvements in one's overall standards of living [1].

From the beginning of any child's academic life, professors play a key role, not only in the academic training of their students, but also in the development of motivation to learn [6].

The communicative act, far from being a simple act, is complex and interacts with a lot of variables that can be decisively influenced. The communication process occurs in a large variety of situations, such as exchanging information, presenting ideas, clarifying, giving instructions, understanding, working cooperatively with different communicative partners, expressing feelings, motivating, inspiring, and communicating decisions. If we think about the professor's professional context, all these situations are part of his daily basis life. The classrooms are spaces of communication. The words and the way they are said, guide interactions and allow students' appropriation of meanings [2].

Communicative competence refers to mastering the skills necessary to ensure the transmission and reception of the flow of messages, with control of two processes: speaking and listening [7]. During the teaching-learning process, it´s crucial to keep in mind that there is no absolutization of ignorance, nor absolutization of knowledge. Nobody knows everything, just as nobody ignores everything. Knowledge starts with the awareness of knowing a little [8].

University professors can be excellent and effective communicators. They are used to work collaboratively with different kinds of interlocutors, students of different ages and socio-cultural backgrounds, scientists, professors of different areas of experts, policymakers, and so on. They also used to attend conferences having to present their work with clarity and confidence. So, it is undeniable that communication is a fundamental part of a professor's life. Likewise, it is undeniable that it is the communication with their students that constitutes the greatest challenge in the teacher's professional life since it is the one that most impacts the quality and effectiveness of their work. Yet, when professors engage with students, they can face barriers to getting their message across and can often find their messages hard to transfer

*Perspective Chapter: Communication as an Essential Strategy in the Success of the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109308*

effectively. University professors are the only professors that are not trained in their academic education with pedagogical training. The proficiency of pedagogical skills has been a deficit in university professors' education, regardless of professionalism in teaching. Unfortunately, some university professors do not recognize or minimize the importance of pedagogical skills for professional performance.

#### **2.1 Barriers to communication in classrooms**

Professors have an increasingly challenging job when communicating effectively with classrooms with numerous students that may contain students who come from varied sociocultural backgrounds.

As we have seen so far, communicating is not a one-way street. It takes at least two people to talk. Someone is speaking and the other one is listening. The efficacy of communication in classrooms should be determined by how closely the student's understanding matches the intent of the professor. Most misunderstandings and difficulties in the communication process between professors and students can result in demotivation, academic failure, and early school leaving.

Some of the frequent communication barriers usually described are listed below:


Other constraints that prejudice efficient communication are preconceived ideas; lack of motivation and interest; disrespectful behaviors; source credibility; channel complexity; organizational climate; and personal bias and conflicts. Lack of motivation in classes is often pointed out by students as a key factor for their demotivation [9].

In a busy world with hundreds of stimuli, requests, solicitations, notifications one click away, with concentration-time dropping dramatically, it is harder to maintain motivation and interest in long hours of expositive classes. We acknowledge that professors are competing with unfair conditions. It is a challenge and an opportunity as well.

At this point, we would like to emphasize a critical constraint not mentioned until now: the generation gap. The generational gap is one of the biggest reasons for the intergenerational disconnect. Much of their conflict is rooted in ways they differ in communication methods styles and how big the gap between the generations is [10].

Communication has been around for centuries. The first cave drawings found, were a way for early humans to register and share information. Over the centuries humans evolved, and so did their communication styles. Even though written communication, language is always evolving. Whether that is the spoken word or written works, meanings and interpretations will change as humans change.

Professors and students have a generation gap, more accentuated in primary and secondary education but also observed in higher education. A critical barrier to cross-generational communication is negative perceptions of each other [10]. Unfortunately, each generation cannot resist putting labels and stereotypes on each generation: baby boomers, millennials, and Gen X.

Above all the differences, there is a communication gap across generations which must be considered, especially by professors. We live in a global, connected, and digital world, and students who arrived at higher education are born in the twentyfirst century, digitally native-born. Connected almost the entire day, between laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets, students engage and communicate using multiple devices. Inevitably, this fact has implications for the way these new generations consume information, formulate knowledge, and communicate what they think and what they know.

Most of the professors in higher education are from the baby boomer generation, who grew up with face-to-face communications and who struggle to fully embrace the digital communication revolution at work. On the other hand, its students are mainly belonging to Gen Z, who have grown up with access to screens and the internet from a young age, preferring written communications over in-person ones, and expecting a fast response to their messages.

In a study carried out with the aim of evaluating the communication skills of professors, and their communicative attitudes [11] was demonstrated that professors valued more technical competence, material preparation, class structuring, and organization. However, the students valued other aspects such as the "nice attitude" of the professors and communication effectiveness. By communication effectiveness, the students pointed out examples such as the use of simple and attractive language; the preparation and organization of classes, commitment to student learning, use of practical examples during class, and the quality of how the classes were taught.

Usually, students recognize their professors as experts in their scientific field and do not question their academic knowledge about the syllabus contents of the disciplines they teach. What students often question is the ability of their professors to communicate the most complex content clearly and simply, which could negatively influence their academic achievement.

It should be noted that the professor's communicative ability, from the interactional point of view, also has been little addressed in most research. The most frequent approach aims this population still emphasizes the professor's voice from the clinical point of view, such as the characterization of their profile and vocal behavior [12–15].

*Perspective Chapter: Communication as an Essential Strategy in the Success of the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109308*

Taking that into consideration, we assume that it is crucial to bring the quality and excellence of the teaching-learning process and the training of professors to their full potential, considering the important weight of training professors with pedagogical skills.

#### **2.2 Communication as an opportunity to improve academic achievement**

Communication, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration are frequently mentioned as the most important competencies for twenty-first century students. Effective communication begins with mutual respect, communication that inspires, and encourages others to do their best.

As university professors highly engaged with the importance of communication that impacts and empowers students along with their learning process, we believe that education is the energy that transmits to new generations the passion and commitment to achieve a better, inclusive, and fair world in all the social, political, economic sectors of the society. To accomplish that, we believe professors must embrace open, clear, and honest communication with their students in a relation of true reciprocity. As communicators, professors are contagious in different ways: nonverbally, verbally, and emotionally.

In the classroom context, there are some strategies to optimize communication that can be able to positively contaminate the audience.


A recent book on "conscious communication" [7] listed and characterized the most relevant factors for successful communication: authenticity; double focus; respect for the rules; self-esteem expression; and problem-solving attitude.

Due to its relevance to the teaching-learning process, we would like to highlight some of the decisive attitudes that allow a better understanding between professors and students in the teaching-learning process (**Figure 1**).

In addition to the aspects mentioned above, giving accurate feedback is a renowned factor to be acknowledged in effective communication processes with a significant impact on the learning process. Feedback is one of the most effective teaching and learning strategies and has an immediate impact on learning progress [5].


#### **Figure 1.**

*Examples of some positive attitudes to promote communication in classrooms.*

Feedback is a compelling influence on student achievement. When professors are open to what students know, what they understand, where they make errors, and when they have misconceptions when they are not engaged; then, teaching and learning can be synchronized and powerful [5]. Effective feedback encourages reflection and allows the students to think about their learning strategies so they can adjust to achieve progress and success in their learning process.

Some strategies are crucial to give feedback correctly in the classroom context, such as:


*Perspective Chapter: Communication as an Essential Strategy in the Success of the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109308*


Although feedback is considered one of the most powerful influences on teachinglearning process, it is important to assume that its impact can be either positive or negative. In a study that provided a conceptual analysis of feedback and reviews the evidence related to its impact on learning and achievement, was found evidence shows that although feedback is among the major influences, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective, suggesting some ways in which feedback can be used to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms [16].

#### **3. Voice strategies to improve professor's communication**

As has been presented so far, appropriate communication in the classroom is essential for the success of the teaching-learning process. Among the different forms of communication that professors can use, the oral exposition of syllabus contents is the most used pedagogical strategy in an educational context [17]. Clearly conveying information, presenting it in a way that keeps students' attention and motivation, as well as answering any questions that may arise, are aspects that concern the professor's duties. It is, therefore, clear that knowledge about the contents is naturally very important, but it is also known that the way in which this knowledge is transmitted becomes crucial. In this sense, the effectiveness of communication in the classroom necessarily involves, among other aspects, the proper use of the voice by the professor. It is essential, therefore, that the professor's voice is perceptible, motivating, assertive, and effective so that it is possible to capture and maintain the student's attention. The need to keep students interested and attentive for extended periods of time implies the dynamic use of the voice, with variations in volume, diction, and pauses, among others [14]. Monotonous voices, without expressiveness, are weak and/or produced with tension and effort can jeopardize the effectiveness of communication in the classroom [18].

According to Moura [14], the professor's voice is generically characterized by a strong intensity, requiring a lot of resistance and dynamism, and it is frequent to observe tension associated with vocal production, interfering with various characteristics of the voice. Furthermore, during professional activities, professors are also subject to contextual/environmental situations that may interfere with their health

and vocal quality, such as poor classroom acoustics; temperature variations; noise; and long periods of classes; with little time to rest and recover the voice; stress.

 In a study that analyzed the verbal and non-verbal expressive resources used by higher education professors, it was observed that the parameters related to the frequency and vocal intensity were the factors that most influenced the professors' expressiveness, reinforcing that these aspects can have an influence in the teachinglearning process [ 2 ]. Other studies also show that aspects, such as voice quality and intensity, speech rate, and the use of pauses are valued by students [ 19 – 21 ].

 The importance that the voice assumes, not only as a pedagogical strategy but also as an important element in the relationship with the quality of life of professors, has been the subject of study over the years. However, there are some studies that show that these professionals have difficulty identifying their vocal characteristics, which can lead to the adoption of less careful behavior with their voice and, consequently, makes professors not seek help in case of difficulties [ 15 , 22 , 23 ]. In this sense, it is essential that professors acquire knowledge about their voice so that they can recognize its qualities and limits and, thus, make the best use of their voice for the development of their pedagogical activities [ 18 , 24 , 25 ].

 Based on the previous assumptions, a vocal health program was developed and implemented for professors at the University of Algarve, in Portugal [ 26 ]. This program, very focused on aspects of vocal health, aimed to raise awareness among professors of the importance of good vocal health and the prevention of potential vocal pathologies but also focused on optimizing professors' vocal skills.

 Since the voice is an important working tool for professors, it is essential to take care of it. Thus, regardless of the teaching modality (face-to-face or remotely), it is very important to prepare the moments of more intense use of the voice, then maintain its use in a healthy, perceptible, and motivating way, and, later, recover from the period of use intense voice. An essential orientation that cuts across different moments (preparation, maintenance, and vocal recovery) is the consumption of water as a form of hydration ( **Figure 2** ). In a recent systematic review of literature, it was concluded that hydration is the easiest and most economical solution to improve vocal quality, therefore supporting the inclusion of hydration in vocal hygiene programs [ 27 ].

 The analogy between the professor and the high-competition athlete is often used to illustrate the fact that both use their work tools intensively: the professor, the voice;


#### **Figure 2.**

 *Examples of strategies for optimizing professor's communication skills, before, during, and after class.* 

*Perspective Chapter: Communication as an Essential Strategy in the Success of the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109308*

the athlete, the muscles of the body. However, contrary to the athlete, the professor does not, as a rule, have specific training/preparation for the use of the voice for communication in the classroom.

Before a class, it is important to prepare voice and body. On the one hand, hydration should be started before the period of more intense use of the voice and, on the other hand, somebody and vocal relaxation exercises, as suggested in (**Figure 2**). Activating the structures responsible for voice production, as well as performing some warm-up vocal exercises, is extremely important. It is suggested that, in an initial phase, even in the absence of vocal pathology, the professor can be guided by a speech therapist or vocal coach.

During the class, it is important to adopt a proper body posture, not only because it is essential to promote good breathing, but also because it supports and structures the voice [14]. To get the students' attention, the professor can resort to different strategies without calling into question communication, in general, and his voice, in particular. When communication takes place through writing, the use, for example, of italics, bold, and underlining, are resources used to highlight the most important ideas and, thus, draw attention to the fact that you are reading, in oral communication, there are also strategies that may have the same function. Turning up the volume when you are talking is an effective and widely used strategy when you want to capture attention. However, this may not be the only way to use voice volume as an ally in classroom communication. In situations where, for example, the noise in the room is already high, if you reduce the volume of your voice, you can also achieve the effect of drawing attention to yourself and/or to what is being said, due to the contrast that occurs.

Another extremely important aspect is the way the teacher articulates the words. A more closed diction is, consequently, less clear and this could condition the way the message reaches the student, even leading to him losing attention and interest in what is being said. Thus, and in general, the professor should be concerned with having clear and precise diction, and in a more particular way, he can even use a more exaggerated articulation, as a strategy to draw attention to aspects that he wants to highlight.

Rhythm is another feature that should be used to optimize communicative skills in the classroom. Varying the pace, and minimizing the monotonous effect of the speech, can be very useful in the classroom. The variation in rhythm can be associated not only with the increase or decrease in the speed of what is said but, for example, resorting to the syllabic segmentation of words or small expressions to be highlighted, which will certainly attract the students' attention. Pauses are also associated with rhythm. In communication, silence also conveys information, it gives time to those who are sharing an idea but above all to those who are receiving the message, to reflect. Using silent pauses strategically, before or after the words, expressions, and/or ideas you want to emphasize, is also a good example of optimizing communication.

Parallel to the examples of strategies provided above (**Figure 2**), the professor can also use gestures, and facial and body expressions to reinforce and complement his communication in the classroom. However, it is important not to forget that the gestures must be coherent and consistent with what is being said, to promote communication, and not make it less clear.

Even during the class, less demanding pedagogical activities from the vocal point of view can be carried out, namely, watching videos, group work, and exposition of preparatory contents by students, among others, which will allow the professor to have some moments of rest vocal.

Whenever possible, the professor can adopt a position closer to the students, because by reducing the distance to the interlocutor, the need to project the voice is reduced and it will be easier to keep the audience more attentive and involved [14].

At the end of the class, it is important, just like a top-level athlete, to vocal cool down, restore and recover your voice (vocal cool down exercises are similar to vocal warm-up exercises, differing only in intensity and amplitude, which should be smaller [14]. As such, in addition to some appropriate vocal exercises, it is important to do some vocal rest, with quieter and more relaxed moments, and may associate some physical activity, such as walking or others that meet the professor's personal tastes. Stretching and yawning are small gestures that have a great impact on releasing accumulated tensions, often reported by professionals who use their voice professionally, such as teachers, and which can be used either as a form of preparation or as a way of recovering from a period of intense use of the voice.

#### **4. Conclusions**

This chapter addresses general aspects of communication and how they are important in the relationship between professors and students, with implications for the teaching-learning process. Communication barriers were identified. It is essential to acknowledge and be aware of the aspects that can interfere with the communicative process, as this is the only way these barriers can be overcome. A look at how communication can enhance academic development was also presented, with a presentation of some strategies that can be adopted. To end this chapter, some basic, but essential notions, are presented about vocal aspects that can improve professors' communication in the classroom.

We believe that in-depth knowledge of the main communicative difficulties experienced by teachers and students during the teaching-learning process is the best way for us to outline effective action plans that promote communicative processes in the classroom, to facilitate pathways of participatory, motivating, and transforming learning. The success of students is the success of professors and the success of educational institutions. It is necessary to work cooperatively from the beginning and raise awareness among the decision-making elements of the institutions to invest in the pedagogical training of their professor staff as a reasonable response to mitigating failure and school dropout of the students.

Programs designed for university professors with a special focus on communication and voice skills such as the one that we have enhanced in this chapter should be valued and disseminated across higher education institutions.

The approach to communication needs to be unified in higher education institutions, in a concise strategy to provide the best practices of streamlined, effective, and empathetic communication.

#### **Conflict of interest**

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

*Perspective Chapter: Communication as an Essential Strategy in the Success of the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109308*

#### **Author details**

Ana Catarina Baptista1,2\* and Susana Rodrigues1,2

1 University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

2 Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa (CLUL) (UIDB/00214/2020), Lisboa, Portugal

\*Address all correspondence to: acjesus@ualg.pt

© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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### **Chapter 6**

## Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia and Pakistan

*Hazri Jamil and Khadija Jaffar*

#### **Abstract**

The internationalization of higher education is an important agenda explored and undertaken by public and private universities to improve the quality of education as well as the skills and competencies of graduates. There is great potential for crossborder engagement and internationalization efforts in the context of higher education in ASEAN countries and Pakistan. In this case study, the discussion on strategies and initiatives to embrace higher education at the university level is not limited to the goals and needs of higher education institutions but is also guided by the views and priorities of the country's economic and strategic development. This has implications for how individual universities design their policies and implement initiatives at the institutional level and their strategic direction for internationalization.

**Keywords:** internationalization, higher education, institutional policy, university, ASEAN

#### **1. Introduction**

The process of modernization of the education system is complex and multi-faceted, and it is an important part of the social and economic changes in a society and country. As a result, the international community prioritizes the role and importance of education in the context of social and economic development involving the transition from one level of development to another [1–3]. The phenomenon of internationalization occurs in the context of higher education through the flow of students who go to study in other countries [4], and the competition to attract talent and quality students as well as the importance to economic development has contributed to policy changes and initiatives at the level higher education institutions for internationalization goals. It is a response to globalization of societies, economy, and labor markets and a "cause for the further globalization of higher education" ([5], p. 141). This is what Appadurai [6] calls a global cultural trend that affects the character and image of the country in the context of contemporary globalization, including higher education.

In this age of global interdependence, the recognition of higher qualifications has become extremely important. The strong bonds that have been glowed by globalization in the political, social, and economic spheres have increased people's mobility and the flexibility of ideas in higher education. The new world of higher education is also characterized by competition for prestige, talent, and resources on both national and global scales. National and international rankings are driving some universities to prioritize policies and practices that help them rise in the rankings [7, 8]. Therefore, higher education institutions are quickly changing in response to new geopolitical and economic commitments to go global [9]. Hence, international actions or initiatives such as international education, international programs, and "study abroad" are commonly associated with the internationalization of higher education [10].

The internationalization of higher education has changed over the past 50 years from a minor activity to a crucial component of the reform agenda [11]. To meet the demands of their educational modernization and global challenges, developing countries have implemented direct and indirect educational internationalization policies in some cases. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are examples in which they all advocate for the internationalization and globalization of higher education policies in order to provide stronger talent support for joint science and technology innovation [12].

In 1980s, the term "internationalization" applied to higher education, and scientists described it as "one of the laws of motion that push institutions of higher education forward" ([13], p. 5; [14], p. xv), "one of the important characteristics of modern universities" ([15], p. 1; [14], p. xv), and "Pressure that can be no teacher knows" ([14], p. xv). Internationalization is a strategy for the development of higher educational institutions, which provides significant changes in the scientific and educational activities and the internal life of a higher education institution, aimed at strengthening the international component, integrating into the global educational space, and developing cooperation in universities with partners from different countries [16]. The growing interest in, and debate about, internationalization has resulted in new insights into the content of, and approaches to, internationalizing higher education. Internationalization goals are constantly evolving, ranging from educating global citizens to increasing research capacity to enhancing institutional prestige. New forms of internationalization such as branch campuses abroad, distance learning programs with global reach, international education hubs and networks now complement traditional initiatives such as student and staff mobility, curriculum changes, and international institutional links for teaching and research, and include access to learning and collaboration through online platforms are among the forms and initiatives of internationalization of higher education. Higher education internationalization is a dynamic process that is constantly shaped and reshaped by the national and international contexts in which it occurs. The purposes, goals, meanings, and strategies of internationalization change as these contexts change.

Regardless of contextual differences within and between countries, nearly all higher education institutions around the world are involved in international activities and seek to engage globally, which is now considered part of the definition of quality education and research. However, the success of various stages of higher education internationalization is also heavily dependent on institutions developing and effectively implementing sound policies and initiatives. This case study discusses good practices adopted by higher education institutions in some Asian countries with additional discussion on Pakistan HE to route the internalization of Higher Education.

*Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

#### **1.1 Singapore**

Singapore is a partner of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is the largest free trade agreement in the world. It is a signing mark of the completion of the world's largest free trade zone, with the most diverse membership. This partnership creates a 15-country open market and implements regional economic integration by lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers. RCEP is primarily concerned with economic and trade cooperation, but its significance extends beyond that [17]. RCEP considers not only the economy's leading role, but also the roles of culture, education, science, and technology. Educational cooperation is significant in the field of RCEP strategic cooperation. This includes collaboration in higher education which has long-term cooperation among the RCEP countries such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and others and has also sent many international students to each other [18].

In a journey of internationalization, recommendations were made for new degree pathways with "strong theoretical foundations, integration of soft skills like communication and cross-cultural skills into curriculum, innovatively applied pedagogy, close collaboration with relevant industries, excellence in teaching, and high-quality undergraduate research" were among several noteworthy recommendations [19]. It was further extended to a national value system and graduate attributes were promoted by an internationalized curriculum and attitude. This became even more clear over the past 20 years as the Singaporean government has implemented practical and innovative policies in Higher Education [20]. In a recent trend shown in the report of the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) and the Research, Innovation, and Enterprise (RIE) [21] strategy, it is also safe to argue that an inventive and entrepreneurial spirit is emerging, as affirmed by the Ministry of Education [20] that the institutions train students not only for today's economy but also for a future one with new jobs and difficulties that do not exist today.

In the National Research Foundation, Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan [21], one of the aim of academic research was "To Sustain a vibrant, diverse and globally-connected research ecosystem that will attract and retain top research talent" (p. 41) Since the government is aware that the best research is frequently produced through collaboration with complimentary peers in the area. Academic staff and researchers naturally gravitate towards exploring international collaborations for their research interests. Opportunities were provided for high-profile university-wide or international research collaborations, as well as support for faculties looking for outside research grants.

Daquila [22] summarizes Singapore's higher education as underlining the need to consider the following desirable outcomes for its students and graduates: intercultural awareness and engagement, transformative experiences, collaborative learning (to work with people from different cultures, to solve complex and multidisciplinary problems), and global awareness (a global mindset for its students, teachers, and school leaders). The internationalization of higher education is nothing new in Singapore. It is embedded in Singapore's historical legacy, which resulted in a multiracial society made up of 5.3 million people from a variety of cultures and languages [22].

For instance, internationalization of National University of Singapore (NUS) has two dimensions: "internationalisation at home" and " internationalisation abroad" with a vision to become "a leading global university centred in Asia, influencing the future" ([22], p. 640). The number of international students attending NUS is one indicator of acceptance of multiculturalism in Singaporean institutes,

attracting international students is the "internationalization at home" dimension. For internationalization at home, various strategies, initiatives, and ideas were placed to draw many international students to NUS. Among them are the provision of disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary programs of study as well as curriculum designs that take the global aspects of learning and research into account. Additionally, agreements for student exchange programs (SEPs) between NUS and foreign universities have been made. According to Provost Tan Eng Chye (2008), NUS has over 180 active partners spread across 27 different countries ([22], p. 641). International students also can be a significant source of revenue; they are often viewed in terms of broader economic contributions that go beyond the university budget. NUS and NTU both actively recruit international students, using appealing marketing materials and a variety of incentives [23].

In terms of the internationalization abroad dimension. NUS has initiated a variety of international programs, including SEP, NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) internship programs, joint/double degree programs, summer programs, internships, field trips, study visits, research, enrichment, language immersion programs, clinical attachments, conferences, and community projects ([22], p. 641). In a speech by the Vice President of the university of NUS, it was emphasized that "We are cultivating an internationalist mind-set" since Singapore is a microcosm of the world due to its diverse racial makeup, raising up good citizens also helps to advance the idea of global citizenship, which is shared by all nations that value peace.

In a meeting of the Committee on the Future Economy [24], the NUS Overseas College (NOC) entrepreneurship program was specifically mentioned in the report and further emphasized such innovation links. The report makes the recommendation to "build on these links, involve more institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), and expand our network in regional countries, so as to better expose the students to opportunities in Asia, the United States, and Europe" (p. 18).

The bilingualism policy was a vital element of Singapore's higher education internationalization strategy. According to the policy, all students enrolled in public schools, learn English as their primary language and their "Mother Tongue Language" (MTL) as a secondary language [25]. The importance of effective bilingualism is for promoting and developing a more harmonious and better-integrated multicultural Singapore society as well as for employment prospects.

In relation to international recognition based on ranking position, global influence, and global competitiveness, the ranking can also be partially determined by internationalization policies and initiatives at the university level. Other indicators which are citation rate of papers, international research network, employer reputation, and academic reputation, etc., the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore were ranked 11th and 12th, respectively. According to QS [26], NUS has a 73.5 international student ratio of the total students, and an international faculty ratio is 100. The international research network ratio is 89.9 with foreign collaborators, including 25 Joint or Dual PhD programs with top European universities. In the RCEP region, it is unquestionably of practical significance to promote in-depth collaborative efforts and exchanges in higher education [18].

NTU is the second-largest university in Singapore, which is also contributing to the internationalization of Higher Education. The University's ethos continues to include internationalization as a key component: In a meeting, The President of International Affairs Bertil Andersson, in 2016 emphasized that, at NTU, "Internationalization is ingrained in everything we do" and "It is part of our DNA"

#### *Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

([23], p. 8). Further, the internationalization of education is reflected in NTU Vision as "A great global university founded on science and technology, nurturing leaders through research and a broad education in diverse fields" ([23], p. 8). Vision focuses on global aspirations as well but does so through disciplinary research rather than global grounding.

In NTU strategic planning for internationalization, hiring international faculty, enhancing the residential experience, providing opportunities for students to study abroad, being compatible with other cultures, deeper regional engagement, study abroad rates, international partnerships, and international recruitment were remaining prominent. Through individual participation in international university networks and alliances, NTU spearheaded the creation of the Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education (ASPIRE) League and the Global Alliance of Technological Universities (Global Tech) alliances in 2009, which brought together top science and technology universities to address societal and sustainability issues on a global scale.

Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC), and the "incorporation of an intercultural and international dimension into the content of the curriculum as well as the teaching and learning processes and support services" ([27], p. 209). To internationalize the curriculum, NTU and NUS academic programs often place a strong emphasis on international experience and curriculum based on foreign models or designs delivered in collaboration with foreign institutions publishing industry, and Singapore's innately global nature. In addition, NUS and NUT went above and beyond to create an international atmosphere on campus through activities, clubs, and dining choices. It is also believed that emphasizing "future-ready graduates" is inextricably linked to preparing students for the future. The Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTU) is 12th in the QS ranking with an international-student ratio of 74.1. and International faculty ratio is 100 [26].

#### **1.2 Malaysia**

Higher education has long played a key role in Malaysia's development, with the government recognizing its significance in its First Malaysia Plan in terms of providing the necessary workforce to support the nation's economy [28]. Malaysia, a multicultural nation, has a variety of offerings that can be tapped into. Globalization has made higher education accessible to all. Higher education is subject to both national and international agendas in keeping with globalization [29].

Malaysia's government, in general, and the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), in particular, have been working to make Malaysia a hub for international higher education. Higher Education institutes are on track to enroll 250,000 international students by 2025 with a current enrollment of 108,000 ([30], p. 7) The universities have been developing and carrying out various initiatives, such as providing offshore programs and creating MoUs and MoAs, to make this possible. Such initiatives will make it easier to collaborate internationally on research and innovation, education and learning, staff and student mobility programs, and much more. The advantages are genuinely numerous.

The Ministry of Higher Education devised strategies and programs to make Malaysia's higher education institutions to be more competitive internationally. Since 2014, Malaysia's government has been planning to become a global hub for tertiary education [31, 32]. These strategies seek to ensure that Malaysian universities become centers of excellence and function at a global level [33]. Malaysia aspires to become an international student hub and, eventually, an innovation center. The National Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020 is the most visible national plan addressing internationalization. In process of internationalization of Higher Education and the National Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020, and in order to attain worldclass status [34].

The National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2007–2020 emphasizes the importance of developing a knowledge-based economy through research and development. In line with this national strategy, building the image of a world-class university is vital. Local universities are being intensively inspected for their capacity to mitigate varied problems as they strive to compete with other world-class institutions. One persistent difficulty was the institution's capacity to attract postgraduate candidates from all over the world [35]. In line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015–2025, the importance of reaching worldwide prominence through the internationalization of higher education was emphasized. The Malaysia Higher Education Blueprint's [36] strategies include improving the support system for international students, increasing the proportion of international students, particularly postgraduates, and strengthening the promotion and marketing of Malaysia's higher education system.

In continuation to the internationalization of Higher Education, Universities in Malaysia adopt different strategies, that is, the accreditation of degree programs with renowned international institutes for quality assurance and international recognition, cultural exchange programs, balancing local and international knowledge by attracting international students, and introducing local knowledge, and inviting renowned international academics to its campus for public events, talks, and lectures. The main objective of internationalization is to give students an experience of Malaysian culture. International students are encouraged to learn the national language in order to improve their ability to communicate and interact with the local population [37]. Another effort for internalization was the establishment of an international branch campus and the pursuit of international pedagogical practices to enhance its program by adopting and adapting international curricula. Malaysia currently has nine branch campuses. These branch campuses must conform to Malaysian policy as well as quality standards [37].

For QS ranking, initially, four research universities were applied that includes the University of Malaya (UM), the University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), the University Sains Malaysia (USM), and the University Putra Malaysia are the four research universities (UPM). During the introduction of the 10th Malaysia Plan on June 10, 2010, University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) was the most recent addition, becoming the country's fifth research university [35]. All the above universities ranked among 200 World-class universities according to the ranking University of Malaya (UM) ranked 65 with a 53.0 international student ratio and 43.6 International faculty ratio, University Putra Malaysia (UPM) ranked 143 with a 92.7 international student ratio and 44.2 international faculty ratio, University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)-144 and the international student ratio was 38.7 with 42.8 international faculty ratio, University Sains Malaysia (USM)-147 with a 75.3 international student ratio and international faculty ration is 25.4, University Teknologi Malaysia UTM-191 with 77.2 international student ratio and 12.0 international faculty ratio [26].

#### **1.3 Philippine**

Internationalization is a current priority for higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines and many other countries across the world. Internationalization has become a buzzword that aids in the growth of HEI academic programs [38].

#### *Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

In the Philippines, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has similarly acknowledged the necessity for internationalization as it prepares to fund major research on this issue in light of the thousands of HEIs that include both public and private institutions. CHED's mandates include improving institutional quality assurance and directing all HEIs to put in place the essential processes to ensure graduates can competently cope with the demands of a fast-changing globalized world while also keeping global competitiveness in mind [39]. Philippine universities have been doing internationalization works for the past decades and in recent years, these internationalization efforts have been articulated in the universities' vision and mission and their long-term plans. In a vision-mission of the Philippine private university, it is stated that it would like "to produce graduates that are globally competitive and to promote values and learnings toward national and global development". In most universities' strategic plans, international staff and student recruitment are a top priority. The rationale for having an international staff and student mix is that it helps students develop an international perspective, improves intercultural understanding, and facilitates intercultural integration [40].

Internationalization of higher education in the context of the Philippines is the process of incorporating international, intercultural, and global dimensions into the objectives, functions (teaching, learning, research, and service), and delivery of higher education [37]. It entails a process of higher education exchange between nations, with partnerships between nations, national higher education systems, and between institutions of higher education.

Internationalization of faculty and students in a higher education institution necessitates the use of a common language (lingua franca) for teaching and learning as well as on-campus communication. Because English is the de facto language of worldwide literacy, it has increasingly become the de facto language of learning and instruction in universities that have many international students. As several academics have pointed out, internationalization is synonymous with English-medium education [41]. English is used as a medium of instruction in the Philippines, in order to effectively understand the instructions and the content, a student must have a fair understanding of the English language. A student must pass the English language at the credit or distinction level in order to be admitted to universities and other higher institutions of learning. English is also the only language spoken in university communities throughout Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines [42].

For the internationalization of HE, Significant changes have been made in the higher education sector of the Philippines, especially since the K–12 program's implementation in 2013. As a result of the 12 educational system, which mandates that all students complete Grades 11 and 12 before enrolling in university, significant changes to the tertiary curriculum have been made. Making the Philippine educational system competitive with those of other nations and offering high-quality tertiary education that meets international standards are both parts of that change.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was established in 2015 with the aim of achieving a cohesive and integrated ASEAN community. This swift in Philippines tertiary curriculum also resulted from the push for the AEC also tends to lead to the need to internationalize the Philippine higher education sector, in which higher mobility among the member countries is pushed through a more unified and credittransferring HE in the ASEAN, though much remains to be done.

According to The Bureau of Immigration, 47,478 applications had received for student visas and special study permits in 2012 [43], which indicates the internationalization of higher education in the Philippines via the flow of international student

study in Philippines HEIs. The initiatives for internationalization were designed to ensure the smooth execution and sustainability of the institutional thrusts of research, instruction, and community extension/service. So far, instruction has been internationally accredited as a result of initiatives such as overseas study tours and curriculum alignment with international frameworks and the exchange of best practices via study tours/visits to the best universities all over the world.

Initiatives for the internationalization of higher education institutions in the Philippines include faculty exchange, visiting professors, international speakers, and student exchange. International publications, research capability building, enhancement and participation in international research conferences and dissemination of research results, and sharing of best practices are examples of research initiatives. These include international reviews and publications, databases, conferences, seminars, workshops, and colloquia on discipline and specialization-related related research [44]. Aside from international practices, the Philippines is unique in providing Liberal Art induced education, "nurturing wisdom through liberal Art" is mentioned as a key feature of the University of the Philippines (UP) [45]. According to the School Educational Philosophy, UP graduates must also have a broad mind, strong character, and a generous spirit. These qualities are fostered by a solid foundation in the arts and sciences as well as any specialist courses that their programs may require [46].

In parallel to the growing number of international students, four universities applied for QS ranking in 2019. University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of Philippines [47]. Efforts are being made to ensure that this ranking system achieves better results by strengthening international networks and emphasizing the role of research in improving educational quality [48]. In the QS Ranking [26], three of the above universities are in the ranking, University of Philippines ranked 399 with a 1.3 ratio of international students and international faculty ration is 2.1, Ateneo de Manila University ranked 651–700 with 2.9 ratio of international students and international faculty ration is 3.4. The De La Salle University ranked 801–1000 with international student ratio 3.0 and international faculty ratio is 2.2 [26].

#### **1.4 Thailand**

Thailand's efforts to internationalize have gradually yielded some positive results since 1990, following the formulation of the First 15-Year Long-Range Plan on Higher Education (1990–2004), particularly in terms of the number of international students, programs, and partnerships in higher education [49]. These internationalization efforts were continued with the Seventh National Higher Education Development Plan (1992–1996) but were subsequently hampered by the structural reorganization of government agencies mandated by the National Education Act of 1999.

Attempts have been made to comprehend and then develop internationalization processes that are most appropriate for Thai higher education. Experts from Asia and beyond were brought in to provide consultations and develop guidelines. The integration of international, intercultural, and/or global dimensions into a program of study's learning outcomes, assessment, teaching methods, and support services is known as "internationalization of the curriculum" [50, 51]. In a journey of internationalization, the curriculum of universities was updated to meet the need of global demands and to promote diversity in campuses, field study, and research collaboration programs, internships, and study abroad have also been promoted as among

#### *Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

the institutional initiatives of promoting internationalization. These opportunities, however, appear to be limited because they rely heavily on external funding, primarily from the government [52]. International experiences, on the other hand, have become critical factors in faculty recruitment, tenure, promotion, and development. Universities are given opportunities to broaden their international perspectives and competitiveness, particularly in the areas of foreign language study, international curriculum development, and advanced technology.

The internationalization of higher education is part of Thailand's First 15 Year Long Range Plan on Higher Education (1990–2004), which aims to promote Thai universities and colleges abroad, raise Thailand's standing and economic competitiveness abroad, and enhance and uphold Thailand's national reputation and international relations [53]. The movement was revitalized and fueled further by the 2015 establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Thailand's national vision of becoming a regional education hub. International programs, for example, have grown in popularity in recent decades. Mostly all higher education institutions, if not all faculties, have developed international programs, either independently or in conjunction with existing ones. Collaborations with international institutions are also desired for collaborative research and exchanges. On the surface, Thai higher education internationalization appears to be extremely active and productive. However, there are significant formidable challenges that will remain in the coming decades [49].

According to Mayot [54] and Nilphan [53], Thai universities have four roles and missions that are connected to the globalization of higher education: teaching, research, service, and cultural literacy. Universities in Thailand strive to improve the graduates' ability to compete on a global scale, increase the number of international programs, increase academic collaboration and exchange with universities and colleges abroad, advance the research capacity and knowledge of related fields abroad, and advance cross-cultural understanding through international cooperation. While in terms of cultural literacy, universities work to improve students' understanding of cross-cultural advancements and support the establishment of Thai cultural centers and Thai study programs abroad, the service refers to the improvement of service activities and knowledge sharing with overseas institutions through international cooperation [55].

Thailand positioned itself as the leader of higher education in ASEAN in the Second 15-Year Long Range Plan on Higher Education (2008–2022). The second 15-year plan was divided into two sections. Part one describes how the local economy and global economy have affected Thailand's society and higher education system, and part two outlines effective solutions to problems relating to higher education [56]. To further lift internationalization, the Thai Government signed many agreements with foreign institutions in Australia, Japan, China, and France.

For global rankings like Times Higher Education World University Ranking and QS World University Ranking, Thai higher education institutions are overly focused on their rankings when it comes to rather than how to apply and adapt the criteria to best suit their own unique contexts, strengths, and objectives. Thailand began to internationalize its higher education system after the Cold War, under the influence of the USA and globalization, in order to meet new demands [55]. Toward Internationalization, more emphasis was placed in Chulalongkorn University's strategic plan (2021–2024) on "positioning the university as a leader in creating knowledge and innovations from cutting-edge research," while producing graduates who are "future innovators capable of adding value to existing resources and building ties

with global communities". As the country's first established university, Chulalongkorn University will essentially be established as a national university that has proudly advanced internationally [57].

In the QS ranking of 2022, Two of the Thai universities, Chulalongkorn University was on 215 and Mahidol university was on 255 Ranking. The mission statement of Mahidol University guides itself to internationalization "Mahidol University aspires to be a world-class institution with a national and international reputation for excellence in teaching and research". Further in 20 years' National strategic directions of Mahidol University (2018–2037), the set vision is "To be 01 in 100 world-class universities" ([58], p. 19). The international student ratio at Chulalongkorn University is 2.8 with an international faculty ratio of 9.6 and while Mahidol University's international student ratio is 4.4 and the international faculty ratio is 5.7 [26].

#### **1.5 Indonesia**

Internationalization is an important aspect of Indonesian higher education. According to the Indonesian government, all academic institutions should participate in internationalization. The specific practice of internationalization of higher education in Indonesia in this process closely focuses on the local regional characteristics, and always aims to enhance international cooperation and build global confidence, which finally attracts international students to Indonesia [59].

Internationalization and multiculturalism are two globalization behaviors that have been promoted throughout higher education institutions as part of the efforts to globalize higher education in Indonesia [60]. The flexibility in creating international programs, opening study programs, or hiring foreign lecturers, as well as the budget amount allocations by the government, played a significant role in the implementation of the internationalization of programs at state higher education institutions.

In 2014, the release of Decree No. 14 by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) addressed global collaboration in higher education. The government has given university faculty members competitive research grants for conducting international research collaboration, and MOEC has assisted universities in doing so. MOEC Active contributed and encouraged universities to offer combined degrees, dual degrees, transfer/credit earning, joint publications, and joint seminars in response to the globalization of education. The ministry has additionally led AIMS (ASEAN International Mobility for Students) for internationalization of higher education in partner countries [37]. Indonesia compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and even Vietnam, there was little staff and student mobility, and there were no international branch campuses in the nation. Two government initiatives at the beginning of 2018—welcoming foreign providers and enlisting international academics—suggested that things were about to change. The inability of those initiatives to make progress, however, begs the question of what has prevented Indonesian higher education from becoming internationally competitive and what can be done to change the situation.

In 2018, the first Internationalization initiative was embracing international branch campuses, seeking to enlist the help of reputable suppliers to enhance Indonesian human resource training. The second initiative was the recruitment of 200 top-class professors for Indonesian universities, it was determined that the first program was successful in enlisting foreign academics through a sabbatical placement program. Through internationalization efforts, these two initiatives hope to raise the standard of higher education in Indonesia. The need for knowledge

#### *Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

transfer from international academic institutions and universities to enhance human resources, increase research productivity, and foster innovation in Indonesian higher education appears to be recognized by policymakers [61]. The 211 and 985 projects in China have experience that can be applied to the situation in Indonesia, particularly in terms of how to push for the transformation of important institutions to help them become universities of international renown. The secret to transforming and globalizing Indonesian higher education may lie in its readiness to take lessons from its neighbors.

For the internationalization of higher education, Indonesia set different strategies and practices that foster internationalization, paying attention to publicity and promoting international projects through multiple channels is one of them. Promotion and marketing are not just economic means, but also essential means for higher education. Publicity is very important to higher education institutions in Indonesia, such as winning international projects and outstanding university achievements. Indonesia uses multi-channel methods to publicize international projects, primarily online publicity or paper printing, supplemented by participant oral publicity and has developed a comparatively perfect promotional and advancement system, which has greatly increased its international popularity.

Student mobility is another form of internationalization of higher education, in order to attract foreign students, Indonesia offers full or partial scholarships when recruiting international students. The goal of providing scholarships for international students is to help the university grow by increasing the number of international students. Indonesia also has placed a high value on international exchanges and cooperation. It actively expands the global education market in addition to using its special geographic and natural advantages to draw in international research teams. Not only is the movement of teachers and students across borders crucial for the internationalization of higher education, but it also serves as a vital conduit for the transfer of knowledge and advances in science and technology.

Through the signing of memorandums of understanding and cooperation with other nations, Indonesia has successfully built strong relationships with universities like Jinan University and the Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In addition, the Indonesian government has increased academic exchanges with foreign universities to raise the standard of higher education resulting in greater mobility of domestic students. This will be beneficial in encouraging local students to study abroad, allowing them to have an international learning experience and a more global perspective [59].

In addition to transnational cooperation programs, Indonesia has developed a number of preferential policies and scholarships to attract international students to study in Indonesia. Recruiting international students not only allows students to experience a foreign culture, gain technical competence, experience social culture, and master necessary skills, but it also provides significant economic benefits to their home country. Indonesia believes that the Internationalization of higher education is a two-way street. It is not only about encouraging foreign students to study in China, but also working to improve the mobility of domestic students, encourage local students to travel abroad, develop an international vision, and promote the internationalization of local students [59]. In addition, the Government has promoted the use of English as the instruction language in bilingual higher education programs that are focused on international exchange, and in 2015 a plan was announced to start creating an Indonesian/English bilingual curriculum that was used in all Indonesian universities [62].

Indonesia made efforts to compete in World QS Ranking in the QS Ranking of 2022, three of the Universities are in the 500 QS ranking. The Gadjah Mada University ranked 254 with 2.0 international students and 39.2 International faculty ratio. The University of Indonesia ranked 290 with 4.7 international students and 72.7 International faculty ratio and The Institute of Technology Bandung ranked 303 with 3.1 International students and 66.6 international faculty ratio [26]. In the vision statement of top-class Indonesian universities, the focus was based on serving the world and humanity with dedication and cultural values for the welfare of Indonesia and the world. Excellence, innovation, and independency were the core assets.

#### **1.6 Pakistan**

Modernization and globalization have increased competition among universities in the twenty-first century. To compete in the HE sectors and build a solid reputation, institutions are now working to attract the best staff, students, and research development strategies [63]. It is impossible to compete in the current global educational industry without focusing on internationalization and globalization in education [64].

The majority of developing nations, including Pakistan, struggle to keep up with the demands of international higher education standards [65]. Align with international practices, Universities in Pakistan are also putting efforts to adopt the standards of internationalization of higher education. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) implies Macro and Micro level planning for the development of higher education as well as the internationalization of Higher education in Pakistan. HEC is responsible to facilitate higher education institutes and liaison with international agencies to strengthen Pakistan's relations with different countries in education diplomacy and attracting international students. Aside from hunting international grants for Higher Education in Pakistan, Faculty development grants (Foreign and indigenous), International conferences, and workshop grants, HEC offers scholarship opportunities to foreign students, including students from least developed countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Commonwealth, to study in top Pakistani universities.

Under, Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships for Afghan Students (Phase-III), 4500 students from Afghanistan were awarded scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in 2021–2022. With the objective "To provide an opportunity to Pakistani universities to attract the students of neighboring countries for quality education" of the internationalization of Higher education [66]. This year, the Government of Pakistan through HEC has granted 1000 Scholarships to Sri Lankan students through its Pak-Sri Lanka Higher Education Cooperation Programme to study at various Pakistani universities and 50 Scholarships were granted for shortterm Faculty Exchange between Pakistan and Sri Lanka for seminars, conferences and other academic and research-related activities [66].

Aside to attract international students, HEC provides Financial Assistance and Foreign Scholarships to Faculty members of HEC recognized Universities and fresh students including the ignored areas of Pakistan to ensure the opportunity for the provision of Higher education. Student mobility inside and outside Pakistan has increased at a rapid pace as a result of the efforts of the Higher Education Commission (HEC). According to Pakistan–Country Commercial Guide [67], 59,784 students studying abroad, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Malaysia, and other countries. Under the HEC overseas scholarship scheme

*Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

this year, a total of 4986 scholars have been sent abroad under various scholarship programs for MS, Ph.D., or post-doctoral research. The majority of students went abroad to study technology, engineering, and biosciences [66].

To promote internationalization, Universities in Pakistan arrange international conferences for attracting international researchers to build research collaboration. As a result of the internalization of higher education and the globalization process, there is an increase in student's and academic staff mobility. A rapid increase in cross-border higher education, with intense competition among developed-world universities/institutions for collaboration/campus operation in foreign locations, has been observed. Despite the rapid expansion of higher education, the government is unable to meet the increasing demand. As a result, the government is under pressure to increase funding for higher education. Currently, the Government of Pakistan has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with various foreign educational partner agencies and universities (US, UK, Asia, and Europe) for the selection of scholars, placement, monitoring, and disbursement of funds. Scholarships for these countries/universities are available through various HEC overseas scholarship programs [66].

Many foreign universities approach operating in Pakistan. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan introduced a policy in 2020, based on initiatives from Pakistan's higher educational institutions (HEIs), for Pakistani schools to establish international campuses as a way to improve their own standing while also allowing HEIs to offer their education programs to an international market [66].

In the QS ranking of 2022, 11 Pakistani universities have made it into the recently published QS World University Rankings for 2022 out of these three universities lie in the top 500 University ranking, The National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) was ranked 358 with 5.7 international student ratio and 3.0 international faculty ratio. The Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) is ranked 378th with 2.6 international students and 3.8 international faculty ratio. The Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) is ranked 398th [26].

The vision statement of QS Ranked Pakistani universities is focused on affordable high-quality education, entrepreneurship, social harmony, international recognition, national security, and socio-economic benefits with acceptance of cultural diversity, and honesty as common values. For the internationalization of Higher education, the NUST has taken many initiatives, that includes, global partnerships with 92 world-class universities, inbound and outbound exchange programs, scholarships for students and faculty, inbound delegation visits, and focal persons for internationalization and counted as champions of guidance for international Scholarships [68].

#### **2. Conclusion**

In an era of internationalization of HE, the states put efforts to compete for the internationalization of higher education and placement for word class universities. With few highlighted indicators of internationalization, that is, including global partnership, students and staff mobility, internationalization of the curriculum, research networks, SDG rankings, faculty citation rates, etc., states are in a condition to regulate the needs according to their contexts. In adopting the set indicators of internationalization, countries are having an edge over each other in conferring their context, however, the gear is toward the adaptation of global trends. At the macro and micro levels, states are having higher education bodies that prioritize the needs and

support at the national level and the institutional level which are unique in conferring to their outlooks and contexts, however, the efforts collectively drive to geared towards global demand and to compete with global competitors.

### **Acknowledgements**

The HEAD Foundation, Singapore.

### **Author details**

Hazri Jamil1 and Khadija Jaffar2 \*

1 Visiting Researcher, University Sains, Penang, Malaysia

2 Lecturer Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences, Quetta

\*Address all correspondence to: khadijajaffar318@gmail.com

© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109659*

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Section 2
