Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Complex Effects Of Picturebooks On English As A Foreign Language Reading, Shiyi Shen, Ting Huang

School of Education Articles

While effects of picturebooks on reading were examined in higher grades (e.g., high school students) (Ajayi, 2009), little is known about the emerging English as Foreign Language (EFL) Kindergartens to 4th graders (i.e., K-4) students in China. Language institutes are critical phenomena for EFL K-4 education in China (Shi, 2019). Aiming to test the hypothesis that picturebooks have positive effects for reading, this study adopted within-subjects and between-subjects design to examine the effects of picturebooks on EFL reading comprehension of K-4 students in a language institute in China. Thirty-two participants were assigned into two groups to complete multiple choice and …

Wielding A Double-Edged Sword: U.S. Confucius Institutes, Soft Power, And The “China Threat”, Emma Burleigh

Undergraduate Honors Theses

After years of collaboration with their partner institutions, Confucius Institutes have faced harsh backlash that has led to the closure of many programs. While Confucius Institutes are centers dedicated to disseminating Chinese language and culture, they’ve been put under scrutiny for a multitude of reasons. Funded and structured by Hanban through the Chinese Ministry of Education, tensions have flared over the use of Chinese government funding, censorship in academic materials, and choice of U.S. colleges for the programs. With closures on the rise and largely varied debate present in the scholarly community, the issue is becoming ever more complicated.

In …