Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia

Abstract In an increasingly globalised world, expatriate teachers and leaders are expected to be able to navigate cultural divides in order to achieve educational aims. While there is consensus that expatriate performance is dependent on successful adaptation to their host nation, there ar...

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Main Author: Meadows, Daniel
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2014
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28087/
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author Meadows, Daniel
author_facet Meadows, Daniel
author_sort Meadows, Daniel
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Abstract In an increasingly globalised world, expatriate teachers and leaders are expected to be able to navigate cultural divides in order to achieve educational aims. While there is consensus that expatriate performance is dependent on successful adaptation to their host nation, there are very few examples of what this looks like in practice. This paper uses autoethnograpic fiction to explore examples of interaction adjustment in the socio-cultural context of teaching in Malaysia, relating these examples to a teacher’s ability to perform through the development of cross-cultural relationships. The findings contradict some notions that adjustment is a process of cultural acceptance, suggesting that it also requires expatriates to make active personal and cultural changes. Furthermore, analysis suggests that focussing on common core values of education may provide a method for overcoming vast cultural differences, leading to the possible formation of cross-cultural working relationships.
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spelling nottingham-280872018-01-05T17:11:50Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28087/ Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia Meadows, Daniel Abstract In an increasingly globalised world, expatriate teachers and leaders are expected to be able to navigate cultural divides in order to achieve educational aims. While there is consensus that expatriate performance is dependent on successful adaptation to their host nation, there are very few examples of what this looks like in practice. This paper uses autoethnograpic fiction to explore examples of interaction adjustment in the socio-cultural context of teaching in Malaysia, relating these examples to a teacher’s ability to perform through the development of cross-cultural relationships. The findings contradict some notions that adjustment is a process of cultural acceptance, suggesting that it also requires expatriates to make active personal and cultural changes. Furthermore, analysis suggests that focussing on common core values of education may provide a method for overcoming vast cultural differences, leading to the possible formation of cross-cultural working relationships. 2014-09 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28087/1/Meadows_Daniel_Dissertation.pdf Meadows, Daniel (2014) Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
spellingShingle Meadows, Daniel
Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia
title Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia
title_full Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia
title_fullStr Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia
title_short Teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in Malaysia
title_sort teaching between worlds: an autoethnographical exploration of expatriate adjustmennt in malaysia
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28087/