Forms of support and challenges to developing international-mindedness: a comparative case study within a national and an international school in Turkey

ABSTRACT

This paper uses mixed methods to explore perceptions of international-mindedness within two case study schools in Istanbul, Turkey: a national school with mostly Turkish students and an international school with students from many nationalities. Using a conceptual framework developed by an international education programme, the authors critically analyse pillars of international-mindedness: multilingualism, intercultural understanding, and global engagement. Findings reveal that the national school was striving to overcome limitations of homogeneity, while the international school struggled to address its assumptions that a heterogeneous population alone would be enough to encourage intercultural understanding. Neither school had developed clear conceptual links among multilingualism, intercultural understanding, and global engagement. Thus, deliberate efforts are needed to provide students with experiences that foster international-mindedness. Other researchers and educators can use this framework and associated methods to examine how international-mindedness is implemented in different schools in other regions of the world.     

论中华文化在澳门在主体地位与主导作用——澳门回归前后的文化思考

16世纪中叶葡萄牙人踞澳门，使这个有着悠久中华文化传衍历史的南海小渔村，成为东西文化和经贸交汇的中心。一方面，长达四百年的葡萄牙实际管治，使以葡国为代表的西方文化，在澳门剧于主导地位；另一方面，占人口绝大多数的华人，又使中华文化成为澳门社会的文化主体和发展基础。“主体”与“主导”的分离或背离，使澳门成为一个多元文化共存、相望、对峙和的特殊空间。澳门的回归，在文化主体与主导的一致性上掀开历史的新页，但在中华文化主导下保持澳门多元共存的文化生态，是澳门发展的文化优势。在这一前提下，如何提高中华文化的层次和影响力，扩大文化交流，便提到特区政府的议事日程上来。     

Mediated Effects of Technology Competencies and Experiences on Relations among Attitudes Towards Technology Use,Technology Ownership,and Self Efficacy about Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This study examined the relations of preservice science teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology ownership, technology competencies, and experiences to their self-efficacy beliefs about technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The present study also investigated interrelations among preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology ownership, technology competencies, and experiences. The participants of study were 665 elementary preservice science teachers (467 females, 198 males) from 7 colleges in Turkey. The proposed model based on educational technology literature was tested using structural equation modeling. The model testing results revealed that preservice teachers’ technology competencies and experiences mediated the relation of technology ownership to their TPACK self efficacy beliefs. The direct relation of their possession of technology to their TPACK self efficacy beliefs was insignificant while the indirect relation through their technology competencies and experiences was significant. The results also indicated there were significant direct effects of preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology competencies, and experiences on their TPACK self efficacy beliefs.     

Maarif: transformation of a concept in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century

During the Ottoman period, ‘science (ilim, pl. ulûm)’, ‘knowledge (marifet, pl. maarif)’ and ‘technique (fen, pl. fünûn)’ emerged as three important concepts of knowledge. Maarif, which came into prominence with Selim III, began to undergo a semantic transformation together with the concepts of ulûm and fünûn and by the time of Mahmud II it had become an overarching concept representing the knowledge dimension of the new era. This article discusses the semantic transformation of maarif, focusing on the period between 1789 and 1839. This study applies the history of concepts approach developed by Reinhart Koselleck, whereby a synchronic analysis of the concept of maarif is undertaken alongside an examination of its diachronic dimension. This reveals an ambiguous and multi-dimensional structure and helps us to account for its evolution as an umbrella term.     

Critical incidents in pre-service EFL teachers’ identity construction process

ABSTRACT

Knowledge and human identity are socially constructed phenomena. Like other aspects of human identity, teacher identity is shaped through social influences. Some of the social influences that contribute to teacher identity development happen through critical incidents that teachers or teacher candidates experience. The current study, adopting a critical incident analysis perspective, attempts to ascertain the nature of the critical incidents that 49 pre-service teachers of EFL have experienced throughout their English learning process. It also tries to uncover the effects of these critical incidents on their English learning and teacher identity. The data for the research was collected using a Critical Incident Form developed by the researchers and focus group interviews. The findings indicated that pre-service ELT teachers’ early learning experiences included certain critical incidents. An inductive quantitative analysis of these incidents revealed that they can be categorized into three themes: people, context, and outcome. Exploring the nature of critical incidents and their role in the construction of English language teacher identity will hopefully be a benefit to teachers and teacher educators.     

积极开展就业指导 提高大学生就业适应能力

高校毕业生就业工作是高等教育的重要环节,是高等学校面向市场开放办学的前沿窗口和阵地。毕业生就业实行"双向选择"的制度,打破了"统包统分"的传统格局。"双向选择"具有自主性、自愿性和多元性的特点,是选择与被选择的关系。高等学校要全面推进教育、教学改革,在为学生成才提供良好客观条件的同时,要积极开展就业指导,不断拓展毕业生就业市场,完善服务体系,激发大学生成才的积极性和自觉性,提高大学生就业适应能力。     

高等学校会计核算图解

根据国家教育委员会颁发的1989年1月1日起试行的“高等学校会计制度”的规定,绘制成10幅图解来介绍全国统一的高等学校现行的会计实务。本图解按资金收付记帐法绘制,左收右付、清晰地反映了帐户之间的对应关系,并且附有经济业务的简要说明。     

Effects of teacher professional characteristics on student achievement: an investigation in blended learning environment with standards-based curriculum

Use of different teaching materials and curriculum for the same subjects is always a confounding factor in studies investigating teacher characteristics and student achievement. The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of different teacher qualities on student achievement in high schools with a standards-based curriculum delivered over a blended learning environment. Utilizing quantitative research approach, this study investigates the effects of teacher characteristics and teaching practices in a course offered through Cisco Networking Academy, which has a standards-oriented curriculum delivered online. Participants in the study were 226 teachers and 3299 students from Networking Academies located in the USA. The findings suggest that certain teacher characteristics such as teaching experience, degree, and primary teaching field do not have effects on student achievement.     

A cross-linguistic comparison of phonological awareness and word recognition

Phonological awareness is one of the critical skills in the acquisition of reading in an alphabetic orthography. The development of phonological awareness was compared across Turkish and English-speaking kindergarten and first-grade children (n = 138). The Turkish-speakers were more proficient in both handling of the syllables and deleting final phonemes of words. These patterns were related to the characteristics of the respective spoken languages (such as the saliency of the syllable, familiarity of the nonword patterns, importance of onset or final phoneme deletion, importance of vowel harmony) and the development of phonological awareness was discussed as a function of the characteristics of spoken language, orthography and literacy instruction.