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Item A cultural learning approach to acculturation : teaching and learning between native English-speaking teachers and university students in Southwest China : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-08-31) Zhou, ZhidanThe globalisation of education has affected the teaching dynamics of native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) in the Chinese higher education system. The roles of NESTs are challenging and require a nuanced understanding of teaching effectiveness, cultural intelligence (CQ), and leadership in higher education. This study explores the complex and dynamic roles of NESTs in Chinese higher education, focusing on their teaching practices, CQ, and leadership contributions. Forty-five Chinese students, 15 NESTs and five Chinese university leaders (CULs) from Southwest China participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings highlight that the pedagogical practices of NESTs were viewed positively for practical language application but criticized for being culturally incompatible. Instructional outcomes showed that perceived immediacy positively influenced affective and behavioral learning but did not affect cognitive learning. In addition, CQ plays a crucial role in shaping NESTs’ teaching strategies, classroom engagement, and adaptability to diverse learning needs. Participants who described CQ-aligned practices reported more adaptive teaching and richer student participation. NESTs play an important leadership role in improving students' language skills and cultural knowledge. NESTs are credited with providing authentic language environments, innovative teaching methods, and cultural insights that enhance students’ language and cultural understanding. Despite these positive contributions, NESTs have faced various challenges in their leadership role. This study emphasizes the need for culturally responsive teaching, professional development for NESTs, and collaboration between NESTs and institutions, deepens the understanding of NESTs’ contributions to instructional communication, and offers suggestions for improving intercultural communication in global academic contextsItem Comorbidity and temporal associations between mental disorders among college students in the world mental health international college student initiative(Elsevier B V, 2025-09-01) Roest AM; de Vries YA; Pozuelo JR; Petukhova MV; Lee S; Sampson NA; Albor Y; Alhadi AN; Alonso J; Al-Saud N; Altwaijri Y; Andersson C; Atwoli L; Auerbach RP; Muaka CA; Báez-Mansur PM; Ballester L; Bantjes J; Baumeister H; Bendtsen M; Benjet C; Berman AH; Bruffaerts R; Carrasco P; Chan SCN; Cohut I; Couder MAC; Crockett MA; Cuijpers P; David OA; Dong D; Ebert DD; Gaete J; Forero CG; Gili M; Gutiérrez-García R; Haro JM; Hasking P; Hunt X; Husky MM; Jaguga F; Langer ÁI; Léniz I; Liu Y; Mac-Ginty S; Martínez V; McLafferty M; Miranda A; Monroy-Velasco IR; Murray EK; Musyoka CM; Nedelcea C; Núñez D; O'Neill SM; Piqueras JA; Popescu CA; Prescivalli AP; Rapsey C; Robinson K; Rodriguez-Jimenez T; Saal W; Siu O-L; Stein DJ; Struijs SY; Tomoiaga CT; Valdés-García KP; Vargas-Contreras E; Vigo DV; Wang AY; Wong SYS; Kessler RC; World Mental Health International College Student collaboratorsBackground: Mental disorders are highly prevalent among students worldwide. This study aims to examine comorbidity and temporal associations between mental disorders among students. Methods: The study included 72,288 students from 18 countries as part of the World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) Initiative, with cross-sectional data collected between 2017 and 2023. Screening for common DSM-5 disorders was conducted using validated screening measures. Latent variables were examined using exploratory principal axis factor analysis on a correlation matrix among the lifetime mental disorders. Based on age-of-onset information, multivariable poisson regression models were used to examine associations of prior disorders with the first onset of other disorders. Results: 27.0 % of students screened positive for only one lifetime disorder, 17.1 % for two, 10.9 % for three, and 10.6 % for 4+ disorders. In the factor analysis, three latent variables were found, comprising: internalizing disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive episode, post-traumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder), substance use disorders (drug use disorder and alcohol use disorder), and externalizing disorders (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and mania/hypomania). Prior internalizing and externalizing disorders were associated with the subsequent first onset of all other disorders with risk ratios ranging from 1.5–7.5. Substance use disorders were less consistently associated with the subsequent first onset of other disorders, but alcohol use disorder was associated with the first onset of drug use disorder and vice versa. Conclusions: Mental disorder comorbidity is common among students, and students with disorders across the internalizing and externalizing spectrum have an increased risk of future mental disorder comorbidities.Item The surviving emotional storms programme : a service user informed programme developed from an exploratory study of help-seeking experiences of NZ tertiary students with Borderline Personality Disorder : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023-04-11) Beckett, Jennifer JeanIn this qualitative thesis, 14 university students were interviewed about their lived experience of having Borderline Personality Disorder. Participants discussed arduous journeys in search of effective treatment and described their increasing risk while trying to access help, alongside their experiences when able to access publicly funded treatment. Results from thematic analysis highlighted a super-theme of a continuous invalidation loop, discussed from an ecological and attachment perspective. This started with early help-seeking invalidation in participants’ microsystems, with the loop then broadening across systems over time, and help seeking attempts. This included contact with the mental health system, which was suggested to be a perpetuating factor in the development and maintenance of Borderline Personality Disorder. The help-seeking invalidation loop was briefly interrupted when participants were diagnosed, which occurred for most, directly after a suicide attempt. Diagnosis brought temporary relief, when participants armed themselves with knowledge about the condition including prognosis and treatment. The validation from informed diagnosis aided an externalisation process to occur, enhancing connections with self and others. However, accessing treatment proved difficult, crisis and respite was perceived as invalidating and when in treatment participants’ attempts at connection were often thwarted. Results from the thematic analysis guided the design and delivery of a group intervention. The intervention was administered using an action research methodology to university students either diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder or with borderline traits. The intervention, an adaptation from traditional dialectic behavioural therapy, integrated the results from the thematic analysis. To address the super-theme findings, attachment theory was interspersed throughout the intervention, utilizing aspects of narrative and acceptance and commitment therapies. The intervention was adapted and evolved from participant feedback over six cycles of 12-session intervention groups. In each group participants reported reduced severity of borderline symptoms and increased mindfulness ability. The research took place prior to and during the global pandemic and Covid-19 mandatory lockdowns in NZ, during which the research was expanded to finish with an online intervention accessed by students across NZ.Item The analysis of inquiry in students' conversations in the biochemistry laboratory : the elucidation of proton-coupled electron-transfer reaction mechanism in manganese superoxide dismutase through structural analysis of mutants : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Hermawan, JatnikaSuperoxide dismutases (SODs) have very significant biological importance, protecting organisms against reactive oxygen species such as superoxide. They are also known as the fastest enzyme with the largest kcat/Km of any known enzyme. To perform super-fast enzymatic function, SOD must shuttle proton-coupled electrons in an efficient systematic way. However, since its discovery in 1968, the mechanistic nature of SOD catalytic function remains vague. Wide-ranging approaches have attempted to uncover the catalytic mechanism of the manganese-containing SOD, MnSOD, but there were experimental limitations that obstructed the investigations. Here, the structural analyses of two dimer interface mutants of MnSOD, S126D and S126W, explored possible changes in water structure near the active site providing new information to examine the hypothesis of the Glu170 bridge as a key player in the proton shuttle in the outer-sphere mechanism. To gain insight into the mechanism of the proton-coupled electron-transfer (PCET) reaction mechanism, the technique of single-crystal X-ray crystallography was used to observe the three-dimensional structure of Escherichia coli MnSOD mutants, analytical ultracentrifugation was used to observe quaternary association in solution, and protein stability was assessed by differential scanning calorimetry. The key residue Ser126 at the conserved but asymmetric dimer interface of the MnSOD was mutated with the initial intent to generate a monomeric species. Ser126 is not essential for activity and is not part of the active site, whereas Glu170 forms part of the dimer interface where Glu170 from one subunit forms part of the active site of the second subunit of the dimer. The loss of activity occurring in a monomeric MnSOD may indicate an alternative catalytic mechanism of the MnSOD enzyme. The substitution of Ser126 to Asp, intended to produce a monomeric species by charge repulsion, surprisingly produced a dimer at pH>7.5 with little change in structure at the Mn active site, but there was a 94 % reduction in catalytic activity. Partial loss of activity in Ec-MnSOD-S126D may be due to electrostatic effects of the negative charge ~7 Å from metal centre perturbing the Mnᴵᴵᴵ/Mnᴵᴵ redox couple. The substitution of Ser126 to Trp, intended to produce a monomeric species by steric bulk, enforces mostly monomeric Ec-MnSOD S126W in solution form, coupled with a 99.9 % reduction in catalytic activity. Here one mutation to a conserved dimer interface led to altered tertiary structure and a completely different dodecameric domain-swapped quaternary association in the crystalline state and complete loss of activity in Ec-MnSOD-S126W in the solution state. In the course of evolution, higher and less often lower degrees of oligomerisation have arisen. Evolving complexity does not require multiple mutations. As part of the scholarship requirements, this dissertation contains a pedagogical component. Student conversations in a guided inquiry third-year biochemistry laboratory were recorded and analysed to discover the extent of higher-order critical thinking that might occur. Although students initially struggled to move beyond core first-year laboratory skills, they were at all times strongly engaged in the project-style experiment, which ran over three five- to eight-hour sessions. Some progress in the level of inquiry was captured from their conversations from the first to the third laboratory session. A simple diagram and table were developed to help guide teachers in a guided inquiry-based learning in higher education.Item Positive emotions in English language learning in the Vietnamese tertiary contexts : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Nguyen, Thi Anh HongThis thesis explores the emotions students experienced during their English language learning trajectories in the Vietnamese tertiary context. It specifically focuses on the students’ positive emotions and on the role of hope as a mediating factor in triggering shifts in students’ emotions from negative to positive. Drawing on a sociocultural approach, this study explores the contribution of positive emotions in their English language learning. This qualitative study aims to contribute to our understanding of the complexity, diversity, and dynamics of emotions in English language learning as well as the role of Vietnamese culture in the emotions students experienced. The study is based on written narratives and interviews with students taking English language courses within three affiliated universities in Vietnam. The data were obtained from a total of 185 written narrative responses and 10 student interviews. Narrative analysis (Barkhuizen et al., 2013) was used to analyse small stories in the written narratives and thematic analysis (Talmy, 2010) was used for analysing the interview data. The findings indicate that both positive and negative emotions co-existed in the students’ English language learning experiences. The range of activity-related, success-linked, and failure-linked emotions highlighted by the findings illustrate that activity-related emotions such as enjoyment and excitement positively triggered students’ engagement, while negative emotions such as boredom negatively impacted it. Success-linked emotions originated from students’ self-assessed successes in meeting personal study or learning goals, their parents’ or teachers’ expectations, or the standards imposed by the community or society as a whole, with positive achievement emotions strongly associated with positive outcomes. In contrast, failure-linked emotions were associated with the students’ failure in achieving personal targets and in meeting the expectations others had of them, their recognition of their own shortcomings in relation to accepted social standards, or from negative evaluations from other people. Importantly, the findings showed that emotions are socially and culturally constructed, and in particular associated with the features of the local Confucian cultural heritage. Overall, the thesis illustrates the role of people living around students or in interactions with them in the emergence and development of emotions associated with English language learning. Finally, hope, as an emotion, emerged as playing a significant role in the transition between negative and positive emotions. The insights of the study contribute to the theory of emotions in language learning by delineating in detail the close and reciprocal relationship between emotions, self-efficacy and motivation, and by providing evidence of the role of hope in motivating students. It also contributes to our understanding of the role cultural factors play in shaping students’ emotions. The findings have implications for policymakers, educational trainers, school managers, teachers, parents, and language learners.Item Students' experiences and perceptions of relationships : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2020) Marsh, Brian NoelThis thesis reports on student experiences and perceptions of the relationships they encountered in their first year of study at a faculty of education. The research design uses an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to produce a nuanced view of the answers to the research question. Quantitative data were gathered from students via a Likert-scale survey questionnaire, followed by interviews with some of the survey participants. The quantitative data were analysed via factor analysis and factor scores were generated for five different relationship factors. The survey data were examined from the points of view provided by the demographic data gathered from the students. Semi-structured interviews with 17 students provided the opportunity to dig deeper into the stories that lay behind the questionnaire results. Findings are presented as a series of propositions: that peer relationships play a powerful role in binding students to their learning; that the relationship with the lecturer also plays this role; that the evidence about institutional relationships is mixed; that for some students, it is the relationship with the content that is the binding one; and that there exists a complex ecology of student needs, which need to be understood and addressed in different ways. Implications of the findings are that stakeholders in the higher education enterprise need to ensure the building of positive, supportive, learning relationships with students in the future; it is from the firm base of these relationships that successful, sustained learning will flow.