The Outcomes of Chinese Visiting Scholars’ Experiences at Canadian Universities: Implications for Faculty Development at Chinese Universities

This article examines the outcomes of the overseas experiences of Chinese visiting scholars and the implications of visiting scholar programs for faculty development at Chinese universities. On the basis of semi-structured interviews with 17 returned Chinese visiting scholars who spent six to 12 months in a faculty of education at one of five Canadian universities, the following significant aspects of their experiences and related outcomes were highlighted: The cycle of overseas experiences and associated outcomes of Chinese visiting scholars, factors influencing the outcomes of their overseas experiences, visiting scholar programs as a type of faculty development, and China-Canada academic collaboration through visiting scholar programs. The findings support the literature-based conceptual model for investigating the experiences and outcomes of visiting scholars. In the new era of sending university faculty abroad, we suggest that visiting scholar programs should be treated as an important approach to professional development for faculty and be incorporated into a comprehensive faculty development package for Chinese university faculty.     

Ability Grouping: year group differences in self‐concept and attitudes of secondary school pupils

The vast international literature on the effects of different types of ability grouping on self‐concept and pupils' attitudes towards school has focused on pupils from single year groups. This article aimed to explore year group differences in pupils' self‐concept and attitudes towards school as influenced by ability grouping. The study was cross‐sectional in design and measured attitudes towards school and mathematics, general and school self‐concept and preferences for different kinds of grouping in 234 pupils from years 7 through 10 attending a mixed comprehensive school. The findings indicated that mathematics self‐concept was consistently lower than school and general self‐concept; all aspects of self‐concept increased up to Year 9 and then declined in Year 10, pupils in the higher sets tended to have higher self‐concepts; pupil preferences for setting were greater in the higher year groups, as was the extent to which the top set was perceived to be the best. A substantial proportion of pupils wanted to move set, usually to a higher set. Set placement itself did not appear to have a consistent effect on attitudes towards mathematics. This seemed to be mediated by the quality of teaching.     

Universities——Drivers for regional innovation culture and competitiveness

The actual infrastructure of the information society sustains the globalization trend and increases the importance of the information and knowledge. The development of the knowledge society is the direct consequence of the mix of economic, social and cultural processes, which involve the knowledge creation and its equitable distribution, access and sharing. Universities, as poles of knowledge, creativity and innovation, play a key part in the regional development and the global competitiveness. The universities are active promoters of the innovation culture at the regional and international level, by increasing the synergy among education, research and innovation. The article focuses on the role of the academic area in the development of the learning and creative society at the regional level, contributing to the design of new knowledge and technology embedded products, services and organizational processes, which represent the premises of the global competitiveness. The most important challenge the academic environment faces in the new economy is to bridge the gap between the political decision, the governance and the labour market, offering innovative solutions and developing the intellectual capital to address the various issues of the knowledge economy. The article highlights the role of the universities as regional development drivers, by analyzing the economic performance of the Bucharest-llfov region and the direct influence of the trinomial equation： education-research-innovation.     

Summary of Bilingual Teaching Research in Chinese Universities and Colleges during Ten Years

Based on the research papers dated from 1999 to 2008,on bilingual teaching in universities and colleges collected in the CNKI database,this paper presents the situation of bilingual teaching research during ten years,points out some shortcomings in the above papers,and then proposes some suggestions for the further research in bilingual teaching.     

Importance of Ability Grouping in French “Collèges” and its Impact upon Pupils’ Academic Achievement

This article tries to assess the prevalence and learning consequences of ability grouping in French lower secondary schools (collèges). The article shows that ability grouping is in fact relatively widespread in France and has a strong local connotation. In terms of pupil learning, the article stresses that the better the class they attend, the better students tend to perform. However, a heterogeneous context proves to be more favourable (for low achievers, a homogeneous class is the worst case). The results also stress the existence of a potential conflict of interest between the policy-maker and the actors of the system. Résumé L’article vise à évaluer l’importance de l’organisation des études en groupes de niveau dans le premoier cycle secondaire en France ainsi que ses conséquences en termes d’acquisitions des élèves. L’article montre en premier lieu que cette pratique est en fait relativement fréquente dans les établissements français tout en ayant une dimension locale assez accentuée. En termes d’acquisitions, l’article souligne que les progressions des élèves ont tendance à être d’autant meilleures que le niveau moyen des élèves de la classe est élève; cependant, un contexte hétérogène s’avère aussi le plus favorable (un contexte homogène étant la pire des choses pour les élèves faibles). Les résultats soulignent aussi l’existence d’un conflit potentiel d’intérêt entre le décideur du système qui vise des onjectifs généraux et les différents acteurs (enseignants, parents d’élèves) qui visent leurs intérêts particuliers.     

Who Is at Risk and Why? Teachers' Reasons for Concern and Their Understanding and Assessment of Early Literacy

This study focuses on an issue of recent policy significance—the need to aid teachers in successfully identifying why children struggle to acquire literacy. This study (a) asked K–1 teachers to nominate students that they believed to be at risk for literacy difficulties and to provide reasons for their concern, (b) examined how these reasons relate to teachers' broader conceptions of literacy, and (c) investigated whether teachers' initial reasons and checklist-guided ratings align with concurrently administered standardized assessments. Results revealed that teachers have a wide array of initial concerns for students. There was some discordance between teachers's specific reasons for concern and their broader conceptions of early literacy. Comparison of student performance on standardized measures with teacher rationale also revealed discordance. Specific guidelines to teachers on use of a literacy checklist increased concordance between subsequent teacher ratings and standardized measures in some reading-related skills but not others. Implications for the use of multiple sources of evidence for student performance, as well as professional development, are discussed.     

Teaching English at a distance in China’s Radio and Television Universities

English language teaching (ELT) has played an important role in the Chinese Radio and Television Universities (RTVU) network since its establishment in the late 1970s. Based on a literature review and reflection from an insider’s perspective, this paper gives a full account of the RTVU distance ELT model, examining how it supports autonomous language learning, how autonomy features in its English courses/programmes and how well the students respond to the model. It also discusses issues related to the improvement of the model, including student support, course production, curriculum design, course assessment, and staff development. It is argued that ELT in RTVUs should not be ignored in the international academic community although not much is known about it outside China, and that the RTVU model may be of practical relevance to other open and distance learning contexts.     

Markedness Theory and Language Sexism——A Comparison between English and Chinese

Using the Markedness theory,this paper studies the sexist phenomena in English and Chinese language through comparing some sex-related words.Then the causations of sexism are analyzed.     

Science Laboratory Classroom Environments at Schools and Universities: A Cross‐National Study∗

ABSTRACT

Because already existing classroom environment scales are unsuitable for science laboratory classes, a new instrument was developed and validated in a Class form (student's perceptions of the class as a whole) and a new Personal form (student's perceptions of his/her own role within the class). The instrument was cross‐nationally field tested with 5,447 students in 269 classes in six countries, and cross‐validated with 1,594 students in 92 classes in Australia. Each scale exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and factorial validity, and differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classes. Use of the new instrument revealed that: science laboratory classes are dominated by closed‐ended activities; Class form means consistently were more favorable than Personal form means; associations existed between attitudinal outcomes and laboratory environment; and the Class and Personal form each accounted for unique variance in student attitudes.     

Faculty Development in Chinese Universities—An Analysis of the “2014 Faculty Survey in China”

Abstract

The “2014 Chinese University Faculty Survey” found that: University faculty in China are young, recent recipients of their academic degrees, and have a high level of inbreeding within academia; there is a high percentage of doctoral degree holders; a large proportion are from villages and towns, and have parents with low-level education and employment; overall they feel high levels of work pressure as well as job satisfaction. They work on average 45?hours a week and are paid nearly RMB 110,000 yuan per year. One third of them live in “policy apartments,” one third have no overseas experience, and one fifth would not choose the academic profession again if they had the chance. They would prefer a teaching to research ratio of 2:8, but their actual work ratio for teaching, research, and service is 4:4.5:1.5. Three conclusions may be drawn from the results of the survey: the academic profession is highly equitable, but would benefit from people from more diverse backgrounds joining; there is a high threshold for entering the profession but opportunities for advancement need to be improved; it is a highly specialized profession that places a high demand on academic excellence.     

A Contrastive Analysis of English and Chinese Pronunciation——Take Rhythm and Intonation for Example

This thesis demonstrates a contrastive analysis of the pronunciation of British English and Standard Chinese(Putonghua,PTH for short) from the following two parts:Contrastive Analysis of rhythm in English and Chinese and tones in English and Chinese.Thus find out the transfer errors in English made by Chinese learners from Chinese and some alternative approaches will be listed to avoid these errors so as to give some useful suggestions for English pronunciation teaching in China.     

Integrating Chinese Learning Through Science and Social Studies——A Case Study Concerning an Overseas Chinese Immersion Program

Linguists commonly agree that languages are essentially communicative tools. Through a case study concerning an overseas Chinese Immersion Program at Middelbrook Elementary in Lafayette Louisiana USA, the specific practices of integrating Chinese literature through the subjects such as Science and Social Studies are introduced. The effectiveness has been proved by the Louisiana LEAP state test. Pinyin—Culture—Activity—Recitation—Penpal Strategy is summarized. Based on the strategy, the Chinese i...     

Women Students’ Interactions with Faculty and Exposure to Good Teaching at Colleges and Universities with Varying Histories of Admitting Women

This study considers how institutional histories of admitting women are associated with present college experiences, and uses data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education to compare the experiences of women at women’s colleges or former women’s colleges to those of women at former men’s colleges and colleges that have always been coeducational. Results indicate that women attending former men’s colleges and colleges that have always been coeducational seem to experience similar or greater frequency and quality of student–faculty interaction and exposure to good teaching practices, compared to women attending women’s or former women’s colleges. Results also suggest that considering the gender enrollment histories of colleges and universities may provide valuable context for evaluating the experiences of women at women’s colleges and coeducational institutions.