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Full-Text Articles in Education
Transformational Crisis? Thinking Within And Beyond The Limits Of Neoliberal Education Policy, Scott Ellison
Transformational Crisis? Thinking Within And Beyond The Limits Of Neoliberal Education Policy, Scott Ellison
International Education
Peters, M. A. (2011). Neoliberalism and After? Education, Social Policy, and the Crisis of Western Capitalism. New York, NY: Peter Lang
Global Perspectives On Peer Sex Education For College Students, Chandra R. Story, June Gorski
Global Perspectives On Peer Sex Education For College Students, Chandra R. Story, June Gorski
International Education
According to the World Health Organization, sexually transmitted diseases and infections continue to be a public health problem across the globe, with most infected persons being between the ages of 15 and 49. A large percentage of those affected by AIDS are 15-24 year olds, an age group which includes college students. Peer sex education is being espoused by non-governmental organizations and administrators as a viable solution to this problem. Peer education strategies and approaches to evaluation differ across programs. Some programs report increased efficacy for educators and trainees while other programs report increases in knowledge and changes in attitudes. …
Instructional Coaching In Guatemala: Reflection For Reform, Donald Wise, Jeff Zwiers
Instructional Coaching In Guatemala: Reflection For Reform, Donald Wise, Jeff Zwiers
International Education
This article describes action research performed by Guatemalan instructional coaches during intensive professional development. The focus was on building coaches’ abilities to reflect on classroom teaching and cultivating habits of pedagogical reflection in their teachers. Coaches participated in four weeks of professional development courses, which included school visits, classroom observations, and video analyses. The courses prepared the coaches for a six-week online forum of field-based learning activities and action research. Preliminary results suggest that the coaches and their teachers improved their abilities to reflect on core principles of teaching and learning, but more work was needed in the areas of …
Building General Education With Hong Kong Characteristics, David Jaffee
Building General Education With Hong Kong Characteristics, David Jaffee
International Education
Hong Kong is in the process of transforming their secondary and tertiary educational system. This includes the extension of the undergraduate degree from three to four years and the development of a General Education curriculum with an official launch date of Fall 2012. This paper examines some of the unique national forces prompting the educational reform, the process of building the General Education curriculum and courses at Hong Kong universities, the similarities and differences among the General Education programs, and the role of interdisciplinarity in course design and development.
Perceptions Of The Teacher-Student Relationship: A Study Of Upper Elementary Teachers And Their Students, Ping Liu
International Education
This study examines the perceptions of a group of fourth through sixth grade teachers and their students concerning their relationship; the participants included 39 teachers and 111 students at an elementary school in the People’s Republic of China. Both groups responded to a survey with the same number of items and content but from two different perspectives. The second part of the survey included teacher-student responses to one open-ended question. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected for analysis and discussion. Statistically significant differences were found between the means of the teacher and student groups in classroom goal structures (F=9.55, p=.000) …
Nothing But Being There Matters: Expectancy-Value Motivation Between U.S. And Chinese Middle School Students, Haichun Sun, Haiyong Ding, Ang Chen
Nothing But Being There Matters: Expectancy-Value Motivation Between U.S. And Chinese Middle School Students, Haichun Sun, Haiyong Ding, Ang Chen
International Education
Current literature theorizes that culture-induced expectancy beliefs and values in learning may engage learners of varied cultures in differentiated motivational processes. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which U.S. and Chinese middle school students differed in expectancy-value motivation in physical education. Middle school students from the U.S. (n = 813, 14 schools) and China (n = 806, 8 schools) provided data on expectancy-value motivation in physical education. A MANOVA with country as the independent factor and grade level as covariate revealed that the U.S. students held higher expectancy beliefs (p =.001, η2=.62), while the Chinese …
Contributors
International Education
List of Contributors; Guidelines for Contributors; Index.
Editorial Comments, Xiaodan Huang
Editorial Comments, Xiaodan Huang
International Education
Editorial Comments from guest editor Xiaodan Huang of Shawnee State University.
Teacher's Discoursal Strategies In Providing Positive Feedback To Student Responses: A Study Of Four English Immersion Teachers In People's Republic Of China, Miao Pei
International Education
This paper investigates the discoursal strategies of four teachers in providing feedback to student responses in English classrooms in Xi’an, People’s Republic of China. The findings indicate that the teachers provide positive feedback for students English learning in various ways, including using the most common strategies such as accepting, encouraging, and repeating, as well as the strategies of extending and prompting. This study indicates that these strategies are beneficial to the students’ linguistic and cognitive development because they provide comprehensible input and require English-speaking on the part of students. Although some of the strategies appear to be common among teachers …
The Development Of Academic Language Proficiency: Challenges For Middle School Immersion In Hong Kong And Xi'an, Stella Kong, Philip Hoare
The Development Of Academic Language Proficiency: Challenges For Middle School Immersion In Hong Kong And Xi'an, Stella Kong, Philip Hoare
International Education
This paper investigates the development of academic language proficiency through immersion in middle school programmes in Hong Kong and Xi’an. The study reveals that in both contexts students have exposure to complex academic language through teacher talk and textbooks; however, there is not sufficient support for students’ academic language use in writing. The paper discusses the possible causes and suggests how students can be helped to develop better academic language proficiency in these immersion contexts.
The Roles Of Motivation, Affective Attitudes, And Willingness To Communicate Among Chinese Students In Early English Immersion Programs, Ellen Knell, Yanping Chi
The Roles Of Motivation, Affective Attitudes, And Willingness To Communicate Among Chinese Students In Early English Immersion Programs, Ellen Knell, Yanping Chi
International Education
Early English immersion in China has been studied from many angles, but no research to date has investigated affective variables, which may have a profound relevance to successful English acquisition. The present study examines the roles of motivation, attitudes towards learning English, willingness to communicate, perceived competence, language anxiety, and parental support among upper primary immersion and nonimmersion students. Results indicate that immersion students used in this study had significantly higher levels of willingness to communicate and perceived competence and exhibited less language anxiety than their nonimmersion peers. In addition, willingness to communicate and perceived competence were the strongest predictors …
Phonological Awareness And Listening Comprehension Among Chinese English-Immersion Students, Miao Li, Liying Cheng, John R. Kirby
Phonological Awareness And Listening Comprehension Among Chinese English-Immersion Students, Miao Li, Liying Cheng, John R. Kirby
International Education
This study investigates the relationship between English listening comprehension and English and Chinese phonological awareness (PA), and the cross-linguistic transfer of PA in 48 Grade 2 and 47 Grade 4 Chinese English-immersion students. The results of the study indicate a correlation between English PA and English listening comprehension. English listening comprehension had a significant effect on English PA in both grades; this effect is evident after considering Chinese PA, but only in Grade 4. A similar pattern is found for the effect of English PA on English listening comprehension. Only weak evidence exists pertaining to a connection between cross-linguistic transfer …
Impact Of Immersion Teaching On English Sociopragmatic Awareness Of Chinese Kindergarten Children: A Polite Study, Lei Zhang, Rong Yan
Impact Of Immersion Teaching On English Sociopragmatic Awareness Of Chinese Kindergarten Children: A Polite Study, Lei Zhang, Rong Yan
International Education
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of an early partial immersion program as compared to a non-immersion program on English sociopragmatic awareness among Chinese kindergarten children six years of age. Of the 128 children who participated in the experiment involving the use of politeness perception tasks, half received three years of English immersion instruction and the other half were non-immersion children. The results indicate that compared with non-immersion teaching, the immersion instruction was found to be more effective in developing children’s English sociopragmatic awareness in terms of tasks that involve request strategies as opposed to reply …
Content-Language Integrated Second Langauge Instruction: Curriculum And The Ccuei Context, Mary Barbara Trube
Content-Language Integrated Second Langauge Instruction: Curriculum And The Ccuei Context, Mary Barbara Trube
International Education
This paper examines the content-language integrated (CLI) second language (L2) education offered by the CCUEI Research Collaborative in China. It explores how CCUEI-developed curriculum refl ects the theoretical foundations of an immersion experiment and how the research-based theoretical foundations of CLI L2 have been applied in practice. It presents best practices for L2 instruction that have emerged supporting the notions that content-area classes provide natural environments for L2 education and content-based language teaching motivates English language learners.
Introduction Of English Immersion In China: A Transplant With Modifications, Haiyan Qiang, Linda S. Siegel
Introduction Of English Immersion In China: A Transplant With Modifications, Haiyan Qiang, Linda S. Siegel
International Education
This article presents an overview of replicating the French immersion model used in Canada to English immersion programs in China. It provides the Chinese context of this program highlighting the importance of English education and the defect of traditional English teaching and learning. The paper explains the borrowable features of the French immersion model which account for the attraction to the Chinese reformers. With a focused discussion on the differences between the traditional and immersion English teaching approaches, the paper argues that, to sustain an effective transplanted English immersion program, necessary modifications must be made to respond to the social …
Contributors, Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon
Contributors, Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon
International Education
List of Contributors and Guidelines for Contributors.
Editorial Comments, Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon
Editorial Comments, Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon
International Education
Editorial Comments.
Do Foreign Language Learning, Cognitive, And Affective Variables Differ As A Function Of Exceptionality Status And Gender?, Sherry Mee Bell, R. Steve Mccallum
Do Foreign Language Learning, Cognitive, And Affective Variables Differ As A Function Of Exceptionality Status And Gender?, Sherry Mee Bell, R. Steve Mccallum
International Education
Relationships between foreign language learning and four characteristics— anxiety, aptitude, attitudes and attributions for success—were investigated for 95 students enrolled in introductory level Spanish classes at a large, southeastern university in the United States. Examination grades resulted in significantly positive correlation with an aptitude measure and significantly negative correlation with luck attributions for foreign language success (p < .05). Students identified as gifted tended to score higher than those with learning disabilities on exams, though not significantly higher, perhaps as a result of the small sample size and highly variable performance of the gifted students (p < .05). In addition, the gifted students reported less anxiety (p < .04). Females reported higher anxiety (p < .001) than males though they earned (non-significantly) higher scores (than males) on exams (p > .05). Modern Language Aptitude Test Part IV and luck attributions significantly predicted exam grades within a multiple regression analysis. In a second multiple regression analysis, only effort and ability attributions significantly predicted anxiety. Results underscore the importance of understanding and addressing both cognitive …
The Importance Of Context For Teaching Controversial Issues In International Settings, Thomas Misco
The Importance Of Context For Teaching Controversial Issues In International Settings, Thomas Misco
International Education
This article explores the underlying and epiphenomenal manifestations of milieus and contexts that serve to control and undermine, or provide pathways to, the discussion of controversial issues in classrooms. Given the importance of teaching and discussing controversial issues, as an essential lever for democratic citizenship education, I draw on two empirical case studies in Korea and Latvia. These cases suggest a variety of implications for teacher education programs and education policy makers, both domestically and abroad, including the need for teachers to develop a clear rationale for teaching controversial issues; understand their role as mediator of the larger normative mandate …
Learning About Aging In Hong Kong Through A Linked Service Learning Project, Alicia Skinner Cook, Christine A. Fruhauf
Learning About Aging In Hong Kong Through A Linked Service Learning Project, Alicia Skinner Cook, Christine A. Fruhauf
International Education
With the goal of enhancing knowledge and skills related to cross-cultural aging, a linked service learning project was implemented through a partnership with an elderly community center in Hong Kong. The project linked Semester at Sea (SAS) study abroad students with gerontology students at Colorado State University through collaborative service learning activities. SAS students served as English tutors to older adults in Hong Kong. Gerontology students helped SAS students prepare for their service learning activity by creating instructional materials specific to aging in Hong Kong. The project evaluation demonstrated that all groups benefited from their involvement. SAS students reported positive …
The One-Child Policy And Privatization Of Education In China, Guangyu Tan
The One-Child Policy And Privatization Of Education In China, Guangyu Tan
International Education
China’s one-child policy is one of the most significant, yet controversial, programs of planned fertility. While the focus of the controversy is on the nature of the policy (for example, whether the policy is humane, or whether it violates the basic human rights of individual freedom), the impact of such population control program on China’s educational policy and practices is understudied. Moreover, the relationship between the one-child policy and the privatization of K-12 education in China remains insufficiently understood. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to address this gap in the literature and to explore the impact of one-child …
Creating Culturally Relevant Instructional Materials: A Swaziland Case Study, Connie Titone, Emily C. Plummer, Melissa A. Kielar
Creating Culturally Relevant Instructional Materials: A Swaziland Case Study, Connie Titone, Emily C. Plummer, Melissa A. Kielar
International Education
In the field of English language learning, research proves that culturally relevant reading materials improve students’ language acquisition, learning motivation, self-esteem, and identity formation. Since English is the language of instruction in many distant countries, such as Swaziland, even when English is not the native language of those countries, how can native English speakers most easily produce and expand the reach of culturally relevant materials for foreign settings that require English materials? In a study involving undergraduate university students, the researchers investigate the extent to which individuals recognize and demonstrate the importance of cultural context and relevance when creating their …
Langauge Of Instruction: Unlocking Effectiveness Of Education And Sustainable Development In Sub-Saharan Africa, Natasha Truong
Langauge Of Instruction: Unlocking Effectiveness Of Education And Sustainable Development In Sub-Saharan Africa, Natasha Truong
International Education
The choice of the language of instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a fundamental educational issue with ramifi cations for educational access and effectiveness and ultimately national development. Indigenous SSA languages have suffered devaluation in colonial and post-colonial SSA education, and this devaluation alienates the majority of SSA people, thus preventing them from participating in their own economic and political growth. Developmental policies that neglect to utilize local people’s talents and knowledge are failed policies. The language of instruction, specifi cally the use of the fi rst or native language (L1) as the medium of instruction, is the key to …
Perceptions Of Jordanian Secondary Schools Teachers Towardscritical Thinking, Osamah Bataineh, Khaled F. Alazzi
Perceptions Of Jordanian Secondary Schools Teachers Towardscritical Thinking, Osamah Bataineh, Khaled F. Alazzi
International Education
The purpose of this study was to discover themes or concepts, generated from the collected data, that formed building blocks of grounded theory in the study of secondary school social studies teachers’ perspectives. This research study was conducted in Jordan, where secondary school social studies teachers were interviewed regarding their perspectives of teaching critical thinking skills in their classrooms. All interviews were audio-taped in Arabic and later translated into English. Data, including the translation of the audio, video tapes, the Ministry of Education guidelines, and textbook teacher manuals were analyzed qualitatively. The study results indicated that Jordanian secondary school social …