Authorization,rationalization, and moral evaluation: legitimizing acupuncture in Hong Kong's newspapers

Hong Kong has always been regarded as a critical region of Cultural China. Surprisingly, traditional Chinese medicine has not yet been accepted as legitimate in the city. This study uses acupuncture as a case to investigate the way media texts work to organize a field of knowledge and practices about health in a post-colonial society where contrasting perspectives and hybrid ideas rooted from the East and the West intermingle. Acupuncture is conceptualized as socially constructed health knowledge that has become increasingly legitimate in media discourse. Through a mixed-method approach that combines discourse and content analysis, a total of 666 news articles related to acupuncture published in two Hong Kong newspapers over a 10-year period were analyzed. Three major forms of discursive construction of legitimation – authorization, rationalization, and moral evaluation – were identified and elaborated in association with the texts and the social contexts. This study reveals a complex process of generating legitimacy for health knowledge through news narratives.     

Oral English language proficiency of ITAs: Policy,implementation, and contributing factors

Student complaints to legislators led to 20 states mandating higher educational institutions develop policy on oral English language proficiency of instructors. These mandates directed public institutions to certify oral English language proficiency of international teaching assistants. Universities responded to these mandates by developing policy requiring formal evaluation of international teaching assistants and provision for remediation of those whose skills were deficient. Demographic factors which led to these mandates are number of non-resident aliens and number of students in higher education institutions in the state. Institutional factors leading to policy were graduate enrollment and degree granting status of institutions.Clayton F. Thomas obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. He is a Professor of Educational Administration and Foundations at Illinois State University and is affiliated with the Center for Higher Education. Patricia K. Monoson obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. She is an Associate Professor of Speech Pathology at Illinois State University and is affiliated with the Center for Higher Education.     

Hidden treasure: successful international doctoral students who found and harnessed the hidden curriculum

This paper draws from an institutionally-funded phenomenological study of international PhD students’ academic acculturation, which focuses on the distinctive strengths, challenges, and hidden opportunities facing this cohort within the context of their transition from one academic culture to another. The first section introduces the theoretical base employed in the study and is then followed by exploring the conceptualisations of the hidden curriculum and its associated concepts: ‘the third space’ and ‘darkness in higher education’. Drawing upon our study findings, the second section illustrates practical exemplars of finding and harnessing the hidden curriculum. Without discounting the wide range of formal and informal institutional support provisions designed to facilitate international PhD students’ acculturation to a new academic setting, our study findings strongly endorse that students themselves have a crucial role to play in their complex transitional journey. Our study also offers a unique insight, i.e. if found, the hidden curriculum is an effective tool not only for international PhD students’ coping and survival but even more importantly, in thriving in new societal and academic contexts.     

Gender Composition of Editors and Editorial Boards in Seven Top Criminal Justice and Criminology Journals from 1985 to 2017

This paper examines the gender composition of editors and editorial board members of seven top criminal justice and criminology (CCJ) journals from 1985 through 2017. The findings indicate that women have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented in these positions. From 1985 through 2017, women comprised 14% of all Editors-in-Chief, 27% of all Associate Editors, and 22% of all Editorial Board members. While there was a period during the early 2000s when Justice Quarterly and Criminology achieved gender parity in representation across all of the editorial roles, this equality was short lived. The other journals have never achieved gender parity, and, on average, women have comprised 3.8% to 35.2% of the editorial positions at each of the journals. The implications of this imbalance for women’s scholarship and professional success are discussed, and recommendations for changes to CCJ journal policies and practices to ensure more equity are provided.     

‘Gender and race—what’s that to do with football studies?’ Contested ‘knowledges’ in sport and leisure curricula in HE

This paper explores the implications and affects of a level two compulsory module concerned with ‘gender, difference and leisure’ on a predominantly male student group studying for sports‐related degrees. Participant observation was undertaken by a male and female lecturer who were delivering the module. A cohort of male football students were interviewed as a group, and individual interviews were undertaken with female students. The opinions and expressions of the students are also located in the significant subculture of the collegiate footballer researched by one of the authors. The paper draws attention to the ways in which young male students negotiate their male identities collectively and the implications this has for theirs and other’s learning in HE. The findings show that many of the male football students, in particular, attempted to resist knowledge that challenged dominant male behaviours and threatened the project of patriarchy as a whole, such as the hegemonic patterning of the collegiate football subculture. While this resistance was beset with tensions, evidencing some opposition to gender ideologies at an individual level, at least, social identities constructed around gender and ‘race’, especially, were clearly disruptive in the development of critical awareness to such issues. The data presented here highlights a number of pedagogical problems that arise from these complex sets of interrelated identity issues, not least the need for lecturers to develop greater critical awareness of masculine and racial identities and to reflect upon their methods of delivery of contested knowledge.     

Impact of Structured Movement Time on Preschoolers’ Physical Activity Engagement

Preschool-aged children are not meeting national physical activity recommendations. This study compares preschoolers’ physical activity engagement during two different physical activity opportunities: outdoor free play or a structured movement session. Eighty-seven children served as participants: 40 children participated in outdoor free play and another 47 children participated in a planned movement session. Children in the movement program replaced their outdoor free play with a structured movement session on 2 days each week. All movement opportunities were 30-min in duration. Physical activity was objectively measured using accelerometers. Results show that, compared to children on the playground, children in the movement program engaged in less sedentary behaviors and more light, moderate, vigorous and moderate to vigorous physical activity. In total, children in the movement program engaged in 15.5 min of healthier physical activity behaviors as compared with children in the outdoor free play. Structured movement time appears to afford children an opportunity to engage in more physical activity than outdoor time alone. Findings support that preschool centers should provide children with a daily structured movement time that includes formalized instruction in addition to regularly scheduled outdoor free play.     

Motivation of Emirati males and females to study at higher education in the United Arab Emirates

This article reports on a study into the motivation of young Emirati undergraduate students for studying in a higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The participants were male and female undergraduate students in their first or second year of studying. The aim of the study was to examine their motivation using a framework that recognised the unique sociocultural context of the UAE. Data were analysed according to an adapted framework encompassing both Self-Determination Theory and Personal Investment theory. Self-Determination Theory was chosen due to its focus on different types of extrinsic motivation, and Personal Investment theory was chosen for its non-culture specific applicability. A major finding of the research is that an examination of motivation according to dichotomous relationships of intrinsic versus extrinsic, collectivist versus individualistic, self as individual versus self as part of society are over-simplistic in this specific context. A more useful paradigm is one in which the individual is influenced by personal and professional goals, as well as social and familial expectations. Unexpectedly, use of language (Arabic or English) did not influence the results. These findings will provide teachers and university administration with a better understanding of their students, and will replace certain stereotypes that teachers may have about their students and their motivation for studying.     

Converging Subjective and Psychophysiological Measures of Cognitive Load to Study the Effects of Instructor‐Present Video

Many online videos feature an instructor on the screen to improve learners' engagement; however, the influence of this design on learners' cognitive load is underexplored. This study investigates the effects of instructor presence on learners' processing of information using both subjective and psychophysiological measures of cognitive load. Sixty university students watched a statistics instructional video either with or without instructor presence, while the spontaneous electrical activity of their brain was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). At the conclusion of the video, they also self‐reported overall load, intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load they experienced during the video. Learning from the video was assessed via tests of retention and transfer. Results suggested the instructor‐present video improved learners' ability to transfer information and was associated with a lower self‐reported intrinsic and extraneous load. Event‐related changes in theta band activity also indicated lower cognitive load with instructor‐present video.     

Explaining technology integration in K-12 classrooms: a multilevel path analysis model

The purpose of this research was to design and test a model of classroom technology integration in the context of K-12 schools. The proposed multilevel path analysis model includes teacher, contextual, and school related variables on a teacher’s use of technology and confidence and comfort using technology as mediators of classroom technology integration. Data were collected from 1235 K-12 teachers, who were located in 336 schools in 41 districts across the state of Florida. The results suggest that a teacher’s experience with technology significantly influenced his or her classroom technology integration. Access to technology in classrooms and the availability of quality technology support were related to classroom technology integration. In addition, how frequently a teacher uses technology and his or her confidence and comfort using technology were mediators for classroom technology integration. These results provide preliminary evidence that the proposed model is both useful and relevant in explaining classroom technology integration in K-12 schools.