‘The best students will learn English’: ultra‐utilitarianism and linguistic imperialism in education in post‐1997 Hong Kong

In September 1997, shortly after China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, the Education Department announced a policy which was widely seen as a restoration of 'mother‐tongue education', but which, in reality, was an elitist language selection policy. This policy, which provided for the selection of the best primary school graduates for monolingual education in English, was designed to be a cost‐effective way of training in English skills for those who had the economic and cultural capital to benefit from it. Meanwhile, the majority of students were barred from sufficient exposure to English, the language of power and wealth. In this paper, I shall show that this policy draws on a strong utilitarian discourse about the centrality of English for the economic survival of Hong Kong, which was engineered by business interests on the eve of the changeover in 1997, and which helped perpetuate a form of linguistic imperialism. Meanwhile, academics whose research was used to legitimize the policy, failed to problematize dominant language ideologies that have been used to justify pedagogically unsound practices and an inequitable language streaming policy. Through documenting the voices of individual educators, I am able to delineate counter‐discourses which, albeit weak and isolated, nevertheless manifested much broader educational concerns than the narrow utilitarianism and the unquestioned privileging of the learning of English skills that underlay the current policy.     

Orthogonal nonnegative matrix tri-factorization for co-clustering: Multiplicative updates on Stiefel manifolds

Matrix factorization-based methods become popular in dyadic data analysis, where a fundamental problem, for example, is to perform document clustering or co-clustering words and documents given a term-document matrix. Nonnegative matrix tri-factorization (NMTF) emerges as a promising tool for co-clustering, seeking a 3-factor decomposition X≈USV^?$\mathit{X}\approx {\mathit{USV}}^{?}$ with all factor matrices restricted to be nonnegative, i.e., U?0,S?0,V?0.$\mathit{U}?0\text{,}\mathit{S}?0\text{,}\mathit{V}?0\text{.}$ In this paper we develop multiplicative updates for orthogonal NMTF where X≈USV^?$\mathit{X}\approx {\mathit{USV}}^{?}$ is pursued with orthogonality constraints, U^?U=I,${\mathit{U}}^{?}\mathit{U}=\mathit{I}\text{,}$ and V^?V=I${\mathit{V}}^{?}\mathit{V}=\mathit{I}$, exploiting true gradients on Stiefel manifolds. Experiments on various document data sets demonstrate that our method works well for document clustering and is useful in revealing polysemous words via co-clustering words and documents.     

Transformation of classroom spaces: traditional versus active learning classroom in colleges

Educational environment influences students’ learning attitudes, and the classroom conveys the educational philosophy. The traditional college classroom design is based on the educational space that first appeared in medieval universities. Since then classrooms have not changed except in their size. In an attempt to develop a different perspective of educational environment, a new design of classroom, the active learning classroom (ALC), was established at SoongSil University in Korea. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted for diagnosing the educational effects of students’ learning in the ALC and comparing the results with those obtained regarding the traditional classroom. The result proved the existence of a ‘golden zone’ and a ‘shadow zone’ in the traditional classroom, which discriminate students’ learning experiences depending on seating positions. On the contrary, the ALC did not produce such positional discrimination. Students perceived the ALC environment as more inspirational, especially in regards to active class participation. Students with more emphasis on academic achievement showed greater tendency to share information and to create new ideas in the ALC. However, in the traditional classroom setting, only students with high GPAs were more motivated to learn while the gap in learning attitudes was offset in the ALC setting. In-depth discussions about research findings were undertaken and four suggestions were provided in support of school administrators and relevant institutional personnel, faculty members, and researchers for future utilization of the ALC.     

Correlational analysis of ordinal data: from Pearson’s r to Bayesian polychoric correlation

Correlational analyses are one of the most popular quantitative methods, yet also one of the mostly frequently misused methods in social and behavioral research, especially when analyzing ordinal data from Likert or other rating scales. Although several correlational analysis options have been developed for ordinal data, there seems to be a lack of didactically written literature illustrating the appropriate use and differences among them. The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis of correlational analysis options when analyzing ordinal data. These options span from the traditional methods, such as Pearson’s r, to more recent developments, such as Bayesian estimation of polychoric correlations. An illustration of these methods utilizing a contemporary dataset is provided.     

Utilizing online learning data to design face-to-face activities in a flipped classroom: a case study of heterogeneous group formation

This study investigates the possibility of utilizing online learning data to design face-to-face activities in a flipped classroom. We focus on heterogeneous group formation for effective collaborative learning. Fifty-three undergraduate students (18 males, 35 females) participated in this study, and 8 students (3 males, 5 females) among them joined post-study interviews. For this study, a total of 6 student characteristics were used: three demographic characteristics obtained from a simple survey and three academic characteristics captured from online learning data. We define three demographic group heterogeneity variables and three academic group heterogeneity variables, where each variable is calculated using the corresponding student characteristic. In this way, each heterogeneity variables represents a degree of diversity within the group. Then, a two-stage hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to identify the significant group heterogeneity variables that influence face-to-face group achievement. The results show that the academic group heterogeneity variables, which were derived from the online learning data, accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in the group achievement when the demographic group heterogeneity variables were controlled. The interviews also reveal that the academic group heterogeneity indeed affected group interaction and learning outcome. These findings highlight that online learning data can be utilized to obtain relevant information for effective face-to-face activity design in a flipped classroom. Based on the results, we discuss the advantages of this data utilization approach and other implications for face-to-face activity design.

     

Learning Classroom Management Through Web-Based Case Instruction: Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education

In this article, we report a research project on web-based case instruction that was developed and implemented to allow prospective early childhood teachers to be exposed to various dilemmas faced by practicing teachers. The goal of this project was to design an instructional tool and method that could help prospective teachers expand their notion of classroom management beyond a set of techniques. We collected 23 prospective teachers’ pre and postessays before and after the 3-week implementation of the web-based case instruction, along with surveys and a focus group interview data. The initial data analysis results indicated that this instructional method was effective for (a) promoting prospective teachers’ awareness of multiple perspectives, (b) encouraging them to explore diverse ways of problem solving, and (c) articulating their justification based on a sense of moral responsibility and affective engagement. We conclude with implications for future research and early childhood teacher education.

The romance and the reality between pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the potential benefits of a short-term study abroad programme and their practices

This qualitative study aimed to explore Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the potential benefits of a short-term study abroad programme and their practices. Pre- and post-programme semi-structured interviews and reflective journals were employed to collect data. The findings suggest that the transformation of beliefs into practices plays a critical role in the actualization of possible learning outcomes, such as increasing the use of the target language, fostering pedagogical development, broadening cultural understanding and nurturing personal growth. The programme per se, however, does not guarantee target language enhancement in a short time. Implications for programme coordinators and future research are discussed.     

Latent variable modeling in the hierarchical modeling framework in longitudinal studies: a fully bayesian approach

This paper presents a strategy for specifying latent variable regressions in the hierarchical modeling framework (LVR-HM). This model takes advantage of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach in terms of modeling flexibility—regression among latent variables—and of the HM approach in terms of allowing for more general data structures. A fully Bayesian approach via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques is applied to the LVR-HM. Through analyzing the data from a longitudinal study of educational achievement, gender difference are explored in the growth of mathematical achievement across grade 7 through grade 10. Allowing for the fact that initial status effect to rates of change may differ for girls and boys, the LVR-HM is specified in a way that rates of change parameters are modeled as a function of initial status parameters and the interaction between initial status and gender.     

Korean Students in Australian Universities: Intercultural Issues

This article comes from a study which examines data from the intercultural experience of Korean students studying in Australian universities ‐‐ in particular, their difficulties communicating interculturally in academic settings. The identified difficulties of Korean students are discussed in terms of difficulties in language, styles of teaching and learning, and relationships with peers and teachers. The article explores the significance of different Korean cultural norms in education, such as role expectations, classroom conventions and language use. It also aims to help Australian educators and institutions to contribute towards a better understanding of the difficulties for Korean students involved in the evolving field of intercultural education in Australia. The findings recommend strategies for students, educators and institutions. Such integrated strategies and support programs would enable educators and students to achieve better relationships and greater academic fulfilment.