Tim Henman,British tennis and the social construction of English identity in the 1990s and 2000s

Tim Henman was inarguably the best English player, and the most popular and socially significant British player, since Fred Perry. Throughout his career, media constructions of him fluctuated from being heralded as a potential Wimbledon champion, to a weak, underachieving perennial loser. Throughout his career, and despite the constant transition of dominant narratives, Henman’s quintessential ‘Englishness’ remained a key component, expressed through his image, appearance, ostensible personality/character and playing style. His ‘Englishness’ was especially apparent against the backdrop of the Wimbledon Championships, which used Henman’s success in its marketing of ‘tennis in an English garden’. This paper assesses the shifting meanings behind, and values of, Henman’s sustained image, and examines how changes in the narratives of Henman as a player reflected broader shifts in English identity. It is argued that Henman played a significant role in how Englishness was constructed, both in Britain and abroad, during the 1990s and 2000s.     

MBA Students’ Quality Improvement: The Correlation Analysis of Students’ Personal Traits and Attitudes towards Teaching Methods at a Chinese University

MBA education has become the fastest growing segment of education in China in recent years and a segment that can now be considered indispensible. However, how best to teach it has long been a source of debate. One of the key issues is how to match student traits with teaching methods. While engaged as teachers of marketing management, the authors collected data by questionnaire, carried out empirical research and data comparison, and undertook contingency analysis. It was found that different personal traits in students lead to different attitudes towards teaching methods. A student’s major in college, gender, and sector of employment has little influence on attitudes towards teaching methods, while age, the most sensitive factor, plays the biggest role, followed by job and class. Therefore, these factors should be taken into consideration when arranging classes, developing the curriculum, and planning teaching methods.     

Brains–Computers–Machines: Neural Engineering in Science Classrooms

Neural engineering is an emerging field of high relevance to students, teachers, and the general public. This Feature presents online resources that educators and scientists can use to introduce students to neural engineering and to integrate core ideas from the life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, computer science, and engineering into the classroom.     

‘It's The Catcher in the Rye… He said it was the kind of book you made your own': Finding Holden in Contemporary YA Literature

Published in 1951,The Catcher in the Rye encapsulated teenage angst. Some time ago David Belbin mused about the influence of Catcher on the proliferation and popularity of YA literature. Salinger's recent death has sparked a renewed interest in his work and more attention on Holden and his inheritors. This article discusses how five recent adolescent novels, with male protagonists, mirror Holden's adolescent paralysis. They exist in a liminal state between childhood and adulthood, attempting to understand the phonies around them. These protagonists help define the nature of the ‘lost’ adolescent in the current golden age of YA literature.