Mathematics achievement of Mainland immigrant students in Hong Kong

One of the main features of globalization is the increasing mobility of population. As an immigrant society, Hong Kong has witnessed waves of Mainland Chinese arrivals and assimilation into her mainstream, particularly around the change of sovereignty period. School-aged children constitute a substantial fraction of the new population. Given their potential impact on Hong Kong's present and future, how these immigrant youngsters perform in school has always been a concern to the public as well as the government. This study compared Hong Kong 8th-graders' mathematics performance in the four rounds of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study by their immigrant status. The results showed that the first-generation immigrant students' performance had obvious retrogression compared to native students in the past years. Among the natives, non-local-born students with only their father born in Hong Kong had the most similar performance as the first-generation immigrants. The causes for the differences are explored from both internal and external perspectives.     

论香港南来作家的身份特征

与香港其他作家相比,“南来作家”身份特征明显：他们是一群生活在多元文化对话场中的双重边缘人,其身份是多重的。这就使“南来作家”具有更广阔的视角,他们一般不会以孤立的方式来看事情。在“南来作家”心中,边缘不再是一种流放,一种无奈的困境,而是一笔独异的文化财富。     

An investigation into the academic acculturation experiences of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong

Over the past few decades, Mainland China has witnessed a massive outflow of students to higher education institutions in Hong Kong. In the context of an up-surge in Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong, this research aims to explore (1) why Mainland Chinese students choose to study in Hong Kong over other higher education systems, (2) perceptions about the advantages and disadvantages of studying in Hong Kong, and (3) challenges in the process of acculturation from their homeland to Hong Kong. Five key themes are identified: education, finance, learning culture, language, and discrimination/labelling. While Mainland Chinese students often struggle to blend into the new environment, most gradually become accustomed to the local way of life. What remains a challenge is (perceived) discrimination following political tensions over the “one China, two systems” framework. This paper identifies the expectations and dissatisfactions of the participants with regard to studying in Hong Kong, ultimately offering higher-education administrators an insight into how to better cater for the expanding share of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong’s universities. This research is significant because it extends the literature by examining acculturation and cultural adaptation issues in an increasingly globalized context.     

Measuring the research experience of research postgraduate students in Hong Kong

To date, there has been little research in non-Western contexts exploring the research experience of research higher degree (RHD) students and the effect of research experience on student outcomes. The purposes of this study were to validate the Student Research Experience Questionnaire (SREQ) developed in Australia in the Hong Kong context and to explore the relationships between student research experiences and their perceived skill development and overall satisfaction with their research degree experiences. Data were collected from 599 RHD students. The results supported the construct validity of four SREQ scales (supervision, infrastructure, intellectual climate and skill development). The results of the structural equation modelling suggested that supervision related to students' perceived skill development and overall satisfaction, while intellectual climate and infrastructure were related to overall satisfaction only. The data provide a better understanding of how we can promote positive learning outcomes of RHD students.     

The challenges of making school guidance culturally responsive: narratives of pastoral needs of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about the growing number of ethnic minority students. How they are supported and how the diversity of their pastoral needs is fulfilled become critical. This article examines teachers’, students’ and parents’ narratives of the cross‐cultural experience of ethnic minority students from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand, and the diversity of those students’ pastoral needs. The qualitative data were collected from interviews, through which the constructs of 32 teachers and 32 students from three secondary schools were explored. Four groups of focus‐group interviews were conducted, in which 15 parents were involved. This article argues that to implement the ethos of caring, it is not only necessary for the school to promote the intercultural sensitivity of all practitioners, but equally important to develop a connected school system where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in the subsystems of classroom, school and home.     

The education of new Chinese immigrant children in Hong Kong: challenges and opportunities

In describing the current status of the education of new Chinese immigrant children (NCIC) in Hong Kong and to provide data useful for designing new policies, this article highlights the region's rise of new Chinese immigrants and the characteristics of the NCIC. Challenges to improve access to and equity in education in Hong Kong, overall quality of education for the NCIC and future possibilities are discussed. Implications from other countries are also included.     

Creating culturally responsive environments: ethnic minority teachers' constructs of cultural diversity in Hong Kong secondary schools

One of the challenges facing Hong Kong schools is the growing cultural diversity of the student population that is a result of the growing number of ethnic minority students in the schools. This study uses semi-structured interviews with 12 American, Canadian, Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani teachers working in three secondary schools in the public sector to examine how school teachers are handling this challenge. The study uses these interviews to establish a model for the creation of culturally responsive environments that may help to improve the academic performance and promote the personal growth of students in Hong Kong's secondary schools. Five aspects of cultural responsiveness are identified: conceptualising cosmopolitanism, raising sensitivity to “minor acts of racism”, managing the diverse learning needs of students, promoting a deep understanding of cultural values and helping students deal with the challenges of trilingualism. This study argues that ethnic minority teachers are engaged in a continuing cross-cultural process through which they make sense of the cultural diversity of students and re-learn their own beliefs and practices. The implications for the creation of a culturally responsive environment are also presented.     

Reading and education for students of immigrant origin in some Swedish municipalities

Researchers from Mid Sweden University and Kalmar University organised surveys on reading skills in Swedish municipalities. This paper will focus on the surveys made in four municipalities between 2002 and 2007. All students in grade 8 in these four municipalities participated in the surveys--in total 16,287 students. These surveys included a reading test for the students and information about the students collected from the teachers, including participation in instruction in Swedish as a second language and in their mother tongues. Students of immigrant origin in Sweden are offered the possibility to participate in instruction in Swedish as a second language and in instruction in the student＇s mother tongue. No obvious trends over time in the participation in Swedish as a second language and mother tongue instruction were found in the four municipalities on the tests we gave, in spite of national trends. There was no difference in results on the reading tests in Swedish between those students who participated in mother tongue instruction and those who did not, but there was a difference in test results between those who participated in Swedish as a second language and those who did not. Those who did not participate （in Swedish as a second language instruction） did, on average, score higher on the test. When different language groups are compared, it can be noted that a majority in all groups of immigrant students neither participate in Swedish as a second language nor in mother tongue instruction. However, there are important differences between boys and girls and between language groups. Girls seemed to be more willing than boys to participate in voluntary mother tongue instruction, while boys more often than girls had to participate in compulsory lessons in Swedish as a second language.     

展望内地幼教体制改革之路——从香港经验说起

本文分析总结了回归十年来香港幼教改革和发展的四点经验(﹕1)改革未动﹐师训先行(。2)设立基金﹐资助科研。(3)三角架构﹐全面保障(。4)实施教育券制度﹐全面资助幼儿及幼儿园。据此得出六点重要启示(﹕1)发展幼教是政府不可推卸的责任(。2)经费投入是保证幼教健康发展的关键。(3)建构科学合理的幼教管治架构是保证幼教健康发展的前提(。4)将幼教推向市场并不意味着政府可以减少投入或完全不干预市场(。5)专家到园支持园本发展是教改成功的保障(。6)提供专业培训﹐提升教师素质是当务之急。最后,笔者展望内地幼教体制改革之路,指出当前内地幼教改革有四大急务(﹕1)明“确幼教是政府不可推卸的责任”(。2)保证政府对幼教的经费投入(。3)建构科学合理的幼教管治架构(。4)委托学术机构﹐开展科学研究和科学规划。     

Cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students in the Netherlands

This study investigates the influence of demographic and academic variables, intercultural communication self-efficacy, and multicultural personality dimensions on cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students （N=168） who have stayed for a couple of months in the Netherlands. The results indicate that different personality dimensions have more or less predictive power depending on the aspects of cross-cultural adaptation. Specifically, emotional stability appears to be a positive predictor for academic performance, psychological well-being, and a negative predictor for experienced difficulties, whereas cultural empathy, open-mindedness and social initiative are more important predictors for indicators of social adjustment, such as having friends and receiving social support. Intercultural communication self-efficacy is related to higher academic performance, fewer experienced difficulties, and more satisfaction with life. In addition, a remarkable finding is that women do better than men do on academic performance, receive more social support and are more satisfied with their lives.     

Empowerment of women students through educational achievement: A narrative enquiry

Abstract

Education is the basic tool for empowering women, and this is particularly striking among women from deprived economic and social backgrounds. Narratives of women's lives indicate different statuses of self-development, which are further complicated by issues of race, class and socioeconomic position. This paper presents the stories of four black midlife women with a view to examining how women from a background of extreme deprivation construct and give meaning to the story of their educational history and its contribution to their self-identity. Data was collected through written life histories and interviews and analysed according to two narrative models. The findings illustrate how the women made sense of trauma and difficult life transitions, describe their ultimate empowerment through educational and professional achievement, and illustrate the use and value of narrative enquiry in research in education.     

Realigning capital portfolios: international students' educational experiences in higher education

This paper reports on first year experiences of international students who use English as an additional language (EAL) in higher education in Australia. It examines how valued resources can foster a positive educational experience of these students from sociological perspectives. It draws data from an interview study, exploring narrative accounts of 17 EAL international students from nine countries about their educational relations and strategies across their first year of study. Their narratives were analysed through Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, capital and legitimation, as well as tools of narrative inquiry. The paper finds that the students took up strategies to realign their capital portfolios with new rules of the game. Their decisions were dependent on their personal trajectories and conditions on offer. This paper suggests that more effort needs to be made to understand international students' differentiated access to valued resources in higher education.     

Coping with high-achieving transnationalist immigrant students: The experience of Israeli teachers

Little attention has been paid to teacher attitudes toward high-achieving culturally diverse student groups. This in-depth study focuses on the experience of Israeli teachers who tell the story of a decade and a half of educational work with their highly motivated, academically successful immigrant students from the Former Soviet Union. The paper explores the differential effect of subject matter and seniority on teachers’ experience. It analyzes communication patterns between teachers and their high-achieving transnationalist immigrant students according to these parameters. Implications for the educational treatment of academic excellence among immigrant students in a globalized context are considered.     

Academic dishonesty among Hong Kong secondary school students: application of theory of planned behaviour

The theory of planned behaviour was used to examine academic dishonesty among secondary school students in Hong Kong. Participants were 386 students in Forms 1–3 (Grades 7–9). Attitudes toward cheating, perceived behavioural control, and moral obligation were positively related to the intention to cheat, but only the subjective norm against cheating was significantly related to self-reported cheating behaviour. The subjective norm was both a predictor of self-reported cheating and a moderator of the relationship between the intention to cheat and self-reported cheating: the intention predicted the behaviour only when the subjective norm against cheating was perceived to be weak.     

Schooling sexualities and gendered bodies. Experiences of LGBT students in Icelandic upper secondary schools

In this paper, we study how Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGBT) students in Icelandic upper secondary schools interpret their experience of heteronormative environment and how they respond to it. The aim is to explore how sexualities and gendered bodies are constructed through ‘schooling’. The article draws on interview data with seven LGBT students who attended five different upper secondary schools. We also use visual data collected during fieldwork at one upper secondary school and exemplify the results with a poster and a digitalised short-film, produced by the students, to substantiate what participants told us in the interviews. All of the students experienced heteronormative discourse and lack of respect and indicated that they did not feel fully accepted in school. Upon entering the classroom, the visibility of LGBTs and discussion about different performances of gender and sexuality seem to disappear, whether in terms of textbooks, course content, teaching practices and school environment. Furthermore, LGBTs and those who do not conform to the hegemonic performances of gender are often constructed as deviations from the norm, strange, and even depicted as the abjected other. This applies in particular to the informal school, which embraces the traditions, culture and social interactions among students and teachers. This othering occurs, despite relatively positive attitudes towards LGBT people in Icelandic society in general. The results signify a gap between policy and practice as regards the positioning of LBGT students, which affects their schooling and well-being.     

Leadership and collaboration in implementing curriculum change in Hong Kong secondary schools

Task-based learning (TBL) was a methodological innovation in the 1999 English Language syllabus for secondary schools and the 2006 curriculum for senior secondary schools in Hong Kong, designed to replace teacher-centred, grammar-focused approaches that were identified as previously prevalent. This two-year longitudinal study analyses the implementation of TBL in three schools. It focuses on teachers’ conceptions of TBL and classroom practice, and the support provided by senior management. It finds that TBL is enacted differently by individual teachers, and that the lack of senior leadership is significant in causing the innovation either to wither or to become diffuse. In some cases, problems associated with implementing TBL were addressed through the determined commitment of pioneering teachers and the collaborative efforts by staff, but change was nonetheless hampered.     

Expectations and experiences of off-campus PhD students in Australia

This study describes research examining the expectations and experiences of PhD students undertaking a PhD in off-campus research institutes and hospitals that are affiliated with an Australian research-intensive university. Much of our knowledge of the expectations and experiences of PhD students in Australia stem from those that undertake research training in the classical university structure and that progress towards research training directly from their undergraduate studies. However, increasing numbers of research higher degree students are based in off-campus research institutions, which are becoming increasingly fertile training grounds for research higher degree students in the sector. While participants’ experiences and expectations were largely consistent with our current understanding of the Australian PhD experience, many reported a perceived lack of support programmes. Workload and time commitments, pressure to produce results and their off-campus location potentially conspire to reduce access to on-campus support services offered by the university. Opportunities therefore exist for student advisors, service providers and university leaders to increase accessibility to academic development programmes and pastoral care, including both online and off-campus provision as appropriate, to enhance the PhD experience for this growing cohort of students.     

Narrative research of female educational experiences in China

Female education is an indispensable part of educational practice and research. In recent years, along with the development of both the women’s liberation movement and the expansion of the practice of female education, Chinese academic circles have become increasingly concerned with female education. Of these concerns, methodological innovation can be said to have achieved a great breakthrough in recent years. With the rise and development of “narrative research” in the field of education in China, new vitality has been breathed into the sphere of female educational research. Starting from the perspective of either historical studies or reality, researchers have made profound discoveries about the female educational experience, revealing Chinese women’s experiences in education, their stories of development, and the problems they have faced. Moreover, researchers have reviewed not only the freedom and restrictions that education brings to women, but also the influence exerted by Chinese education, cultural conventions, and social economic conditions on female progress and living circumstances. This article is mainly a comprehensive literary review of research by Chinese scholars who have used narrative research in their studies of female education.     

港澳与内地大学生学习策略使用倾向的比较研究

文章旨在探讨港澳及内地大学生学习策略使用的总体倾向. 我们采用问卷调查方式进行统计分析,结果发现,这两类学生在策略使用方面存在不少差异.引起这些差异的原因与学生入学前接受教育的文化背景、教学模式、学习环境、学习任务相关程度较高.     

高校来华留学生日常管理的跨文化冲突研究

改革开放以来,我国在诸多领域都取得了显著的成就,国际地位大幅提升,我国逐渐成为了亚洲最大留学目的国,教育地位不断上升。然而,伴随而来的留学生管理的跨文化冲突也在逐步加剧,其中日常管理矛盾凸现。通过介绍跨文化冲突的几种主要表现方式,分析其成因,提出高校留学生日常管理的几点建议。