Beyond English language proficiency scores: understanding the academic performance of international undergraduate students during the first year of study

ABSTRACT

Past research into the relationship between English proficiency test (EPT) scores and score profiles, such as the IELTS and the TOEFL, has shown that there is not always a clear relationship between those scores and students’ subsequent academic achievement. Information about students’ academic self-concept (ASC) may provide additional information that helps predict future academic success. Research has consistently shown a positive relationship between students’ ASC and subsequent academic achievement and educational attainment in both school and higher education settings. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the academic performance of international students and their language proficiency and academic self-concept as well as other characteristics related to academic success. The study focused on first year international students in undergraduate business programs at an English-medium university in Canada. The following information was collected about the student participants: grades in degree program courses, annual GPA, and EPT scores (including subscores). In addition, students completed an academic self-concept scale. To obtain additional information about success in first-year business courses, instructors in two required courses were interviewed about the academic and language requirements in their courses and the profile of successful students. Correlations between the students’ course grades, GPA, EPT scores, and ASC score were calculated. The instructor interviews were analyzed using a content analysis procedure. The findings from all data sources were triangulated and show that language ability, ASC, and other factors impact academic success during the first year in a business program. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Classification Consistency and Accuracy for Mixed-Format Tests

This study explores classification consistency and accuracy for mixed-format tests using real and simulated data. In particular, the current study compares six methods of estimating classification consistency and accuracy for seven mixed-format tests. The relative performance of the estimation methods is evaluated using simulated data. Study results from real data analysis showed that the procedures exhibited similar patterns across various exams, but some tended to produce lower estimates of classification consistency and accuracy than others. As data became more multidimensional, unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory (IRT) methods tended to produce different results, with the unidimensional approach yielding lower estimates than the multidimensional approach. Results from simulated data analysis demonstrated smaller estimation error for the multidimensional IRT methods than for the unidimensional IRT method. The unidimensional approach yielded larger error as tests became more multidimensional, whereas a reverse relationship was observed for the multidimensional IRT approach. Among the non-IRT approaches, the normal approximation and Livingston-Lewis methods performed well, whereas the compound multinomial method tended to produce relatively larger error.     

脉冲电子束离子存贮的研究

在离子存贮的研究中,我们采用脉冲电子束去轰击射频阱中的中性原子或分子而产生离子,这样可清楚地将离子的产生过程和信号测量过程分开,同时,利用信号平均和多道分析的手段提高信噪比。     

What contributes to low achievement of middle school students: Evidence from multigroup structural equation modeling

The authors' purpose was to examine the degree to which low achievement is related to ontogenetic factors (i.e., personal psychological traits expressed as attention and depression) or microsystemic factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, parenting, relationship with peers and teachers), using a total of 721 middle school students in South Korea. Based on the percentile rank, low-achieving students (bottom 15%; n = 323) and high-achieving students (top 15%; n = 398) were grouped, and a multigroup structural equation modeling was employed to determine which ecological factor(s) contribute to predict low achievement of middle school students. Results from multigroup structural equation modeling showed that 3 of the 6 ecological and ontological factors had significant direct or indirect effect on low achievement: socioeconomic status (direct effect), attention (direct effect), parenting (indirect effect). The findings are discussed in terms of the intertwined influences of ecological factors on low achievement, finally leading to the discussion on the limitations and future directions for research.     

How flexible gender identities give young women advantages in China’s new economy

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine how a cohort of urban youth born under China’s one-child policy have developed flexible gender identities through their childrearing aspirations and educational and occupational narratives, choices, and trajectories between 1999 and 2014. Drawing on surveys of 406 respondents conducted in 1999, 2012–2013, and 2013–2014, and interviews of 48 of those respondents in 2011–2014, we argue that our female research participants were more able to produce flexible gender identities than their male counterparts, and that China’s new market economy increasingly rewards youth who are flexible enough to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances, an approach more compatible with the flexible gender identities produced by young women than the more rigid gender identities produced by young men.     

Reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems

Investigated in this study were hypothesized reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent maladjustment using data from a 6-year, prospective longitudinal study. Stressful life experiences, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors were assessed for a sample of adolescents (215 males, 236 females) living in the rural Midwest. From 7th to 12th grades, autoregressive analyses showed that stressful life events and these two forms of maladjustment were reciprocally interrelated over time. For example, stressful life events at one point significantly predicted delinquent behaviors 1 year later, which, in turn, significantly predicted stressful life events 1 year later, and vice versa. The findings provide evidence for the accumulating disadvantage for adolescents that results from the mutual reinforcement of problematic situations and adjustment problems over time.     

韩国最新教师任用制度述评

韩国教师任用制度的诞生有着特定的历史背景,并在漫长的历史变迁中逐步得到完善。韩国教师任用制度的一个重要特征是,规定不论何种院校的大学毕业生都要参加严格的国家教师任用考试合格后才能被任用为新教师。介绍韩国教师任用制度建设的基本经验对于改革与完善中国的教师任用制度具有很强的现实意义。     

Exploring the alleged effect of lower academic achievement after the free semester in Korean Middle Schools

Asia Pacific Education Review - The Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary School Act (2015) mandates that from 2016 all middle schools in Korea must administer one semester as a free...     

热处理工艺对模具寿命的影响

模具寿命的高低直接关系到产品质量、生产效率、成本等诸多方面，是模具生产企业关心的核心问题．而模具的热处理工艺又是影响模具寿命的重要因素．对热处理工艺与模具寿命之间的关系作了详细分析，并通过轴承滚柱冷镦凹模失效的具体实例，进一步证实了有效合理的热处理工艺可以消除部分早期失效，较大幅度地提高模具寿命．     

植物科学画在《园林植物学》教学及实践中的应用

《园林植物学》是园林和风景园林专业课程中一门重要的专业基础课,园林植物的识别是相关专业学生的基本功之一。但是,由于概念相似容易混淆、园林植物种类繁多、教学手段单一,所以在教学过程中许多学生学习积极性欠佳,教学效果往往不理想。将植物科学画引入课程的教学及实践设计中,能够充分提高学生的学习兴趣,培养学生的观察、分析能力,并且实现不同课程、不同学科之间的知识融合和创新,做到将理论与实践相结合,从而提高教学质量及实践效果。