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This article examines the experiences of a group of Japanese study abroad students in response to the purposeful replication of a Japanese environment by the New Zealand-based institution where they studied. Data were collected from 12 students via interviews spread over approximately 20 months, and revealed that management provided specifically for the Japanese students, isolating them from other groups within the college in different ways, which is contrary to frequently cited study abroad objectives. Some initial resistance by participants gave way to acceptance, demonstrated through personal activities which propagated the institution's Japaneseness and an appreciation of management's efforts to provide them with a familiar living and studying environment. The study provides insight into a specific study abroad site unusual in the overtly placed limitations on processes of integration, and subsequent participant responses to that. In doing so, it contributes to the recognition of the diversity of ways in which study abroad may occur.

Innovation in technology-enhanced language learning environments has been largely driven by the affordances of new tools and rich, smart learning environments alongside the use of everyday tools. Such technology-mediated environments open up further ways of researching and enhancing language learning and call for new methodological and conceptual tools to support the investigation of learning in productive ways. The focus of this article is to present a model to guide enquiry into and practice within one-to-one synchronous online language teaching via videoconferencing. The model has been derived from an ongoing study undertaken by the authors, so as each element is explained, brief excerpts of data from that study are provided to illustrate the personal, interpersonal and situational complexities that influence teachers' and learners' actions and interactions. The multi-layered nature of the framework uncovers different aspects of the interactions which provide affordances for learning within this multimodal language-learning environment. It draws on key concepts of sociocultural theory, including a situated investigation of agency in relation to language use and environmental factors. We argue that the model we have developed can provide useful conceptual and practical tools to guide enquiry into technology-enhanced language learning environments and teacher awareness of the affordances and emergent complexities of those environments.

This article presents selected research on applied linguistics published in New Zealand, following "Language Teaching's" commitment to showcase more broadly local research that would not otherwise be easily accessible to an international audience. It covers research conducted and published in New Zealand from 2013 to 2017, following on from Ker, Adams, and Skyrme (2013). It begins with an overview of the language situation in New Zealand, then summarises research into language learning, teaching and use which has appeared in the domestic applied linguistics literature in the period. The review indicates the continuing depth and breadth of research activity in New Zealand. Major themes include the maintenance of languages other than English, notably the official languages, "te reo Maori" (the Maori language) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), and strategies to reverse dwindling enrolments in courses in additional languages against the background of growing linguistic diversity. There is interest in innovative methodology, and in processes of assessment and curriculum development to underpin teaching in formal educational settings. The prevalence of studies with a focus on small numbers of cases reflects the preponderance of practitioner-led research. There is, however, a parallel trend towards larger-scale studies indicating capacity to undertake larger, collaborative projects.

Many Western universities provide for focused attention on the development of second language writers' academic writing in first-year courses, but there are generally fewer defined channels for such learning after their departure from these courses. This article uses the lens of writing as situated social practices to investigate opportunities for learning about writing and making gains as writers as students continued their study beyond the first semester. Through semi-structured interviews, and examination of the students' assignment scripts and markers' comments, it identifies opportunities for learning provided by various forms of interaction within their courses, as well as barriers to their uptake. It reveals a balance between attention to genre features and content, and to linguistic accuracy, which appears to have allowed the focal students to make gains in their writing.

This paper proposes a distance-based doctoral supervisory model to support students in the process of navigating self, agency, and emotions over their doctoral journey. The model emerged through our examination of the lived experiences of three Chinese female doctoral students who, though enrolled as internal students in our New Zealand university, were prevented by the pandemic from returning from their Spring Festival sojourn to China, and continued their study by distance. We employed narrative analysis to deeply engage with their stories shared in diaries and one-on-one interviews, alongside social media interactions. These revealed a strong commitment to study emanating from answerability toward their research projects, already underway, and agentive actions to maintain peer-to-peer academic and emotional support, enabling resilience and reflexivity about personal values and needs. Learning from this experience, we emphasize in our model the need to nurture important bonds between students, their peers and their supervisors in online environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an interview-based study of the academic practices of staff members in a New Zealand university in response to international students in their classes and under their supervision. International students enter academic cultures which are inevitably different from those which have provided their academic preparation. Participant academics often revealed a tension between trying to support students adjusting to new demands and meeting their own expectations of tertiary teaching. Most had implemented some changes to their practices which they identified as enhancing international students' ability to study successfully, but recognised the need for balance between support and an expectation of student autonomy. For some, however, adjustment of practice to reflect these students' different expectations and skills violated their understanding of what higher education should be. Using the lens of different orientations that Fanghanel [2012. "Being an Academic." London: Routledge] identified among academic staff the article considers possible responses to the current situation.

Myths about "the Chinese learner" developed from an outsider perspective abound in the Western world. The focus of this article, however, is how discourses of Chineseness were used by the Chinese international students themselves who, as undergraduate students in a New Zealand university, were the subjects of my doctoral research. It examines the students' notions of Chineseness and how these served in explaining their own narratives, either through identifying with, or distancing themselves from, "Chinese" traits, indicating alternatively a shared experience of the challenges of the new academic culture, or marking themselves out as having a special ability to thrive within it. Whichever way they used them, the discourses seemed to serve a purpose of fortifying their sense of identity and membership. By the end of their study, they were able to reflect carefully on their experiences and discuss new third space identities in which both Chinese and New Zealand values were forging new realities for them.

Research attention in English for academic purposes has generally been more focused on written than spoken genres, but there is growing interest in the value of speaking for learning, as well as recognition of its significance for students themselves. This article reports on one-to-one interactions between undergraduate students and teaching staff during office hours, an aspect of socioacademic relations that has not been extensively studied in the literature. The data is drawn from a qualitative longitudinal study of Chinese international students in a New Zealand university based on semi-structured interviews. For new entrants in an academic setting whose practices were not always clearly revealed to them, these interactions provided opportunities to enhance understanding of course content and processes, but also to claim a degree of personal recognition often denied them in large first year classes. However, as second-language speaking novices in this community of practice, they were aware of the possibility of breaching unspoken rules which could threaten their sense of membership. The article examines student participation in and investigation of such encounters over the course of their study, their achievement of varying degrees of expertise, and the significance of both use and non-use of this practice to the students.

This article draws on findings from a longitudinal study of Chinese international students beginning study in a New Zealand university, and focuses on the very different experience of two students in relation to a single course and its assessment requirements, as they sought ways to negotiate identities as university students in their new setting. While neither student passed the course, one of them was able to learn from his experience of challenge and failure, in particular by developing his reading skills over the period, leading him to a deeper understanding of the course and a growing sense of competency as a university student. The other prided himself on his well-developed speaking skills and favoured oral interaction as his means of clarifying difficulties, but this served him less well in the "DIY" (do-it-yourself) learning expected in the university. The brief encounters available to him for verbal enquiries provided no obvious explanation for the ineffectiveness of his previously successful learning practices, and no counter to unhelpful advice. The suggestion is made that large first-year classes, with no smaller groupings providing timely interaction with teaching staff, can seriously impede the recognition and adoption of appropriate learning strategies. Two paths to an improvement of this situation are posited: better preparation for the practices demanded within the university, signalled by entry requirements for more than just English proficiency, or an acceptance of greater responsibility to provide teacher guidance within first-year courses.

Innovation in technology-enhanced language learning environments has been largely driven by the affordances of new tools and rich, smart learning environments alongside the use of everyday tools. Such technology-mediated environments open up further ways of researching and enhancing language learning and call for new methodological and conceptual tools to support the investigation of learning in productive ways. The focus of this article is to present a model to guide enquiry into and practice within one-to-one synchronous online language teaching via videoconferencing. The model has been derived from an ongoing study undertaken by the authors, so as each element is explained, brief excerpts of data from that study are provided to illustrate the personal, interpersonal and situational complexities that influence teachers' and learners' actions and interactions. The multi-layered nature of the framework uncovers different aspects of the interactions which provide affordances for learning within this multimodal language-learning environment. It draws on key concepts of sociocultural theory, including a situated investigation of agency in relation to language use and environmental factors. We argue that the model we have developed can provide useful conceptual and practical tools to guide enquiry into technology-enhanced language learning environments and teacher awareness of the affordances and emergent complexities of those environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on findings from a longitudinal study of Chinese international students beginning study in a New Zealand university, and focuses on the very different experience of two students in relation to a single course and its assessment requirements, as they sought ways to negotiate identities as university students in their new setting. While neither student passed the course, one of them was able to learn from his experience of challenge and failure, in particular by developing his reading skills over the period, leading him to a deeper understanding of the course and a growing sense of competency as a university student. The other prided himself on his well-developed speaking skills and favoured oral interaction as his means of clarifying difficulties, but this served him less well in the 'DIY' (do-it-yourself) learning expected in the university. The brief encounters available to him for verbal enquiries provided no obvious explanation for the ineffectiveness of his previously successful learning practices, and no counter to unhelpful advice. The suggestion is made that large first-year classes, with no smaller groupings providing timely interaction with teaching staff, can seriously impede the recognition and adoption of appropriate learning strategies. Two paths to an improvement of this situation are posited: better preparation for the practices demanded within the university, signalled by entry requirements for more than just English proficiency, or an acceptance of greater responsibility to provide teacher guidance within first-year courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]