Parental influence on Chinese students' achievement: a social capital perspective

This paper examines how social capital formed by effective parental practices within Chinese families influences student achievement. Survey responses from 266 students from Grades 4 to 6 in a suburban elementary school in China were analysed to identify their perceptions of parental practices (support, pressure, help, monitoring and communication) at home. Coleman's concept of social capital serves as a framework to examine specific Chinese parental practices to influence their children's achievement. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that parent-child communication was the most important factor in promoting student learning, whereas high level of parental help was not viewed as a useful resource for increasing achievement. The findings supported Coleman's assertion about the role of social capital in generating human capital for the next generation. This paper offers evidence that social capital is useful in examining parental practices associated with student achievement in China.     

Feeling feedback: students’ emotional responses to educator feedback

Assessment feedback allows students to obtain valuable information about how they can improve their future performance and learning strategies. However, research indicates that students are more likely to reject or ignore comments if they evoke negative emotional responses. Despite the importance of this issue, there is a lack of research exploring if certain types of students are more likely to experience negative emotional responses than others. This study builds on extant qualitative studies through a quantitative examination of two previously identified student variables: different citizenship backgrounds (domestic and international) and different grade expectations (higher or lower than expected). The participants were 4514 students from two Australian universities. Analysis of survey data revealed that, regardless of language experience, international students were more likely than domestic students to find feedback comments to be discouraging, upsetting and too critical. Students who received grades lower than they expected on a particular assessment task were more likely than students who received grades higher than they expected to feel sad, shameful and angry as a result of the feedback comments. This paper concludes with several recommendations, including the need to modify assessment feedback practices in order to be sensitive to different student cohorts.     

情绪安全假设理论及其对当前教育的启示

根据情绪安全假设理论,保持安全的感觉是个体重要的目标,它组织个体的情绪调节、活动趋向以及对自身威胁的评估。因此,在中学教育中,我们不能只强调中学生身体上的安全,还应该对情绪上的安全引起重视。导致学生情绪不安全的原因主要来自于社会、家庭和学校环境因素以及学生的个体因素,因此教师在教学过程中应该以情绪安全假设理论为指导,从课堂教学和日常管理两方面入手,保护学生的情绪安全,促进学生身心的正常发展。     

Authoritative and Authoritarian Mothers' Parenting Goals,Attributions, and Emotions Across Different Childrearing Contexts

Objective. The central goal of this study was to explore how childrearing contexts might moderate relations between parenting styles and mothers' parental beliefs and emotional responses. Design. Participants were 76 mothers of children (41 boys, 35 girls) ranging in age from 30 to 70 months. Mothers completed a global measure of parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative). Self-reports of parental beliefs (parental goals, attributions) and emotional responses (angry, embarrassed, happy) were assessed in response to hypothetical vignettes depicting a variety of children's behaviors (aggression, misbehavior, shyness, prosocial behavior). Results. In situations depicting children's negative behaviors, authoritarian mothers were less focused on empathic goals and attributed child aggression and misbehaviors to less external sources than their more authoritative counterparts. Authoritarian mothers were also more likely to respond with greater anger and embarrassment across all childrearing scenarios. Conclusions. Results suggest that authoritarian and authoritative mothers differ in their affective response patterns consistently across childrearing contexts, but that more challenging childrearing situations accentuate differences in the cognitive reactions of authoritative versus authoritarian mothers. Implications for understanding how general parenting styles may be translated into specific parental responses are considered.     

Parental coping with children's negative emotions: relations with children's emotional and social responding

This study examined the relation between parents' reactions to children's negative emotions and social competence. Additionally, the role of parental emotional distress in children's emotional socialization was examined. The emotional reactions of 57 preschoolers (33 girls, 24 boys; M age = 59.2 months) were observed during their free-play interactions. Parents (mostly mothers) completed questionnaires about their reactions to children's negative emotions. An index of children's social competence was obtained from teachers. Results indicated that the relation between harsh parental coping strategies and children's emotional responding was moderated by parental distress. In addition, the relation of the interaction of parental coping and distress to children's social competence was mediated by children's level of emotional intensity. It was concluded that distressed parents who use harsh coping strategies in response to children's negative emotions have children who express emotion in relatively intense ways. In turn, these children find it relatively difficult to behave in a socially competent manner.     

Resourcefulness: a protective factor buffer against the academic stress of school‐aged children

The objectives of this study were twofold: to examine the interaction of academic stress and student resourcefulness on subject grades and to identify the factors of parental support that contribute to student resourcefulness. The participants of this cross‐sectional study were 695 fifth and sixth graders from four major districts in Shanghai. Student resourcefulness was observed to moderate academic stress and subject grades. Moreover, perceived paternal emotional support and maternal informational support contributed significantly to student resourcefulness. The implications of this study for parent education are discussed.     

学用合一 情乐贯穿——《牛津小学英语》6A Unit 4 Review and check教学设计

正Step 1 Greeting T:Good morning,boys and girls,nice t0 see you.I'm your new English teacher today.First I'd like to know sometlling about you.What can you tell me?S:Name,hobby,friends,family…T:May I know your name?T:What d0 you usually do after scholl(on Saturday and Sunday)?T:So I think…is your hobby.T:May I know your hobby?(To another student)     

“I really need feedback to learn:” students’ perspectives on the effectiveness of the differential feedback messages

The current study examined students’ perceptions of the effects of different forms of instructional feedback on their performance, motivation, and emotion. Forty-nine students attending an eastern US university participated in focus group discussions. The groups explored students’ reactions to grades, praise, and computer versus instructor provided feedback, as well as students’ views of the ideal feedback. Students named detailed comments as the most important and useful form of feedback. Grades were deemed to be unnecessary if the goal of an activity was to learn. Students proposed that low grades elicit negative affect and damage the students’ sense of self-efficacy, and high grades decrease motivation and lessen students’ perceived need to improve. Praise was reported to positively affect emotion, but not to be directly conducive to learning.     

Family Factors Related to Children's Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivational Orientation and Academic Performance

This study examined 3 familial factors—parental surveillance of homework, parental reactions to grades, and general family style—in relation to children's motivational orientation and academic performance. Family, parent, and child measures were obtained in the home from 93 fifth graders and their parents. Teachers provided a measure of classroom motivational orientation, and grades and achievement scores were obtained from school records. Higher parental surveillance of homework, parental reactions to grades that included negative control, uninvolvement, or extrinsic reward, and over- and undercontrolling family styles were found to be related to an extrinsic motivational orientation and to lower academic performance. On the other hand, parental encouragement in response to grades children received was associated with an intrinsic motivational orientation, and autonomy-supporting family styles were associated with intrinsic motivation and higher academic performance. In addition, socioeconomic level was a significant predictor of motivational orientation and academic performance.     

完美情人节(英文)

You are my perfect Valentine An awesome fact to have you mine Such love and pride you show to me As great as one could ever be I realize how you make me feel For all you are just makes it real You are the one that I wished for My life through you can only soar Your love surpasses all that's fine     

A Model of Homework's Influence on the Performance Evaluations of Elementary School Students

This study was the first to test a model of the influence of homework on classroom performance using a sample of elementary school students. A total of 28 teachers in Grades 2 and 4 took part in the study, along with 428 students and parents. The authors used structural equation modeling to examine relationships among variables. Student norms were positively related to the elimination of distractions from homework by parents. Positive student norms, higher student ability, and positive parent attitudes toward homework were all related to greater parent facilitation. Student's attitude toward homework was unrelated to home and community factors but was related positively to parent attitudes toward homework. Classroom grades were unrelated to student's attitude toward homework but were predicted by how much homework the student completed (even after the use of homework in grading was controlled), by student ability, and by the amount of parent facilitation. More generally, parent facilitation was an important mediator of the relation between student norms, student ability, and parent attitudes toward homework, and the outcome of classroom grades.     

Safe spaces? A social-ecological perspective on student perceptions of safety in the environment of the school canteen

ABSTRACT

Background Research suggests that negative peer interactions that compromise student safety and wellbeing often occur in spaces at school that are not easily visible, not adequately monitored, overcrowded and/or relatively unstructured. In a large online survey conducted in Swedish schools by the anti-bullying organisation, Friends, a small proportion of students indicated that they felt unsafe in the school canteen and responded to a question about why they felt unsafe there. As the canteen is often reported to be a space where negative peer interactions, such as harassment, bullying and other forms of school violence, occur, but little is known about why negative peer interactions occur there, we were particularly interested in exploring why some students perceived their school canteen to be an unsafe space.

Purpose Taking a social-ecological perspective, our aim was to investigate why students reported feeling unsafe in the environment of the school canteen.

Method In order to investigate this question, we analysed 1,547 responses from students in Swedish schools in grades 3–6 (ages 9–12). The responses were from the anti-bullying organisation Friends’ online questionnaires from 2011 to 2016. In the responses, students who indicated that they felt unsafe in the school canteen explained why they felt this way. Data were analysed qualitatively, using a six-step thematic approach.

Findings The analysis identified four key themes: Space constraints, Time restrictions, The risk of social blunders and The negative actions of others. We discuss the findings in terms of the macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem and microsystem.

Conclusions In matters of student safety and wellbeing, we argue that it is not only important to consider the social context, but also how that context is interconnected with environmental and structural elements.     

Teachers' Grading Practices: Meaning and Values

Classroom teachers do not always follow recommended grading practices. Why not? It is possible to conceptualize this question as a validity issue and ask whether teachers' concerns over the many uses of grades outweigh concerns about the interpretation of grades. The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning classroom teachers associate with grades, the value judgments they make when considering grades, and whether the meaning or values associated with grades differed by whether teachers had measurement instruction. A sample of 84 teachers, 40 with and 44 without measurement instruction, responded to classroom grading scenarios in two ways–with multiple-choice responses indicating what they would do and with written responses to the question, “Why did you make this choice?” A coding scheme based on Messick's (1989a, 1989b) progressive matrix of facets of validity was used for quantitative and qualitative analyses of written responses. The meaning of grades is closely related to the idea of student work; grades are pay students earn for activities they perform. The relationship of this notion to classroom management should be investigated. Teachers do make value judgments when assigning grades and are especially concerned about being fair. Teachers also are concerned about the consequences of grade use, especially for developing student self-esteem and good attitudes toward future school work. Measurement instruction made very little difference, although it did reduce the amount of self-referenced grading reported.     

心理因素对英语教学的影响

在英语教学中,教师不但要注意开发学生的智力因素,还要开发他们的非智力因素,即心理情感因素。教学实践证明,注意情感因素可以激活学生潜在的学习动机,变消极为积极,变被动为主动,变自卑为自信,大大提高学习效果。     

The role of negative parental attributions in the associations between daily stressors,maltreatment history,and harsh and abusive discipline

Negative parental attributions are related to parent and family stressors and are thought to be important predictors of subsequent disciplinary actions and, potentially, abusive parenting. We examined if negative parental attributions mediate the relation between daily stressors (i.e., low SES, parenting stress, partner-related stress) parents’ own history of child maltreatment, and harsh and abusive parenting. Mothers (n = 53) completed a computerized attribution task and reported on daily stressors, their own history of child maltreatment and their discipline strategies. Mothers’ negative parental attributions mediated the association between parenting stress (but not the other stressors) and harsh and abusive discipline. These finding implicate that interventions to decrease (the risk of) child abuse should not only focus on reducing abuse-related stressors, but also target negative parental attributions.     

A research base for new objectives of science teaching

A bright year 7 student was going through the usual steps that lead to the concept of density and its values for wood and brass and aluminium. After mensurating the volumes of cuboids of these materials he was observing the volume of liquid they displaced in a measuring cylinder. As he carefully pushed the wooden cuboid below the surface, I asked him, “Why do you have to push the wood down?” “Because it floats otherwise”, he replied. “Why didn't you have to push the aluminium down?” “Because there was not enough water to make it float”. “Tell me more”, I said. “Well, sir, you must have seen metal ships floating on the sea. If there's enough water, metal will float, but not in a little bit like this”. Just after describing for me how liquid acetone evaporated if it is placed on your skin, a first year university chemistry student with good test results was unable to give me any examples of a liquified gas. When pressed he muttered “Solids, liquids, gases” (A strangely immutable sequence that has neither evolutionary nor biblical support.) and said he thought the cO in a cylinder was probably liquid. Gases could be liquified by lowering the temperature, he said. On being asked to describe what would happen if he steadily cooled down the air in a space, he began by quoting, “Air molecules, being particles moving very rapidly with energy proportional to temperature”. As he cooled them down in thought, he held out his hands and slowed down the vibration of his fingers about a point in space. Finally, his fingers stopped and he said, “It's nothing”. “What do you mean, has it disappeared?” I said. “No”, he replied, but it's no longer a gas, and it's not a liquid or a solid. They are all just there suspended in space. It's no-thing”.     

School grades and students’ emotions: Longitudinal models of within-person reciprocal effects

Based on control-value theory, we expected reciprocal associations between school grades and students' achievement emotions. Existing research has employed between-person designs to examine links between grades and emotions, but has failed to analyze their within-person relations. Reanalyzing data used by Pekrun et al. (2017) for between-person analysis, we investigated within-person relations of students’ grades and emotions in mathematics over 5 school years (N = 3,425 German students from the PALMA longitudinal study; 50.0% female). The findings from random-intercept cross-lagged modeling show that grades positively predicted positive emotions within persons over time. These emotions, in turn, positively predicted grades. Grades were negative predictors of negative emotions, and these emotions, in turn, were negative predictors of grades. The within-person effects were largely equivalent to between-person relations of grades and emotions. Implications for theory, future research, and educational practice are discussed.     

Problems and Alternatives

In one of his speeches, Professor Fang Lizhi, member of the Board of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the following. We should attach importance to the graduate students we have trained ourselves. Now that our degrees are equal to those in other countries, we of course should treat them equally without discrimination. Recently, the newspapers have given a scholar who got his doctorate in West Germany wide coverage. We have our own doctors, so why don't we publicize them? Since it will have a very bad influence on students, I hope this kind of publicity will be stopped immediately. I happened to be in Japan at the time. When some Japanese asked me why we made such a fanfare about one who had merely received a doctoral degree [we used more space in this newspaper to cover this doctor than Japan did to report the Japanese chemist's winning of the Nobel prize], I was rendered speechless. Foreign degrees are not acknowledged in Japan; even a degree from Cambridge or Harvard isn't very useful in helping you land a job. Rather, you have to get your degree in a Japanese university—Tokyo University or Kyoto University, for example. This is a question of national pride. However, things in China are the opposite. Foreign doctorates are more welcome. One of my graduate students is now studying in England. I planned to have him study there for two years and then have him return to get his degree in China. But I was thwarted in my plan; the department in charge held that the student would show himself to be a failure should he return without obtaining a degree. Under the circumstances, he has no choice but to stay there and get his degree. Foreign degrees bring high pay and enjoy good repute. When such an atmosphere prevails, how can we expect graduate students to have a correct and healthy view on this matter?     

The Concept of Educational Disadvantage and Some Implications for the Classroom Teacher

I should like to talk to you about a matter which was a great concern to Ruth Wong, as it is to me – the question of what ‘education’, in the brod sense, can or should do to alleviate the plight of the many millions of the world's children, who, for one reason or another, are unlikely to live full, healthy, productive and happy lives as their more fortunate fellows. ‘Disadvantage’ has been interpreted in many ways. Indeed, each of us has his or her own concept of what constitutes the term, just as each of us has personal ideas about ways of eliminating or minimizing its effects. What I have to say represents my own feelings and opinions. I hope you will forgive me if I begin with some general ideas, one or two of which may seem a little academic, but I think it is important to be clear as a great deal of damage has been done because of confusion of thinking.