Do reading practices make a difference? Evidence from PIRLS data for Hong Kong and Taiwan primary school Grade 4 students

This study examined the influence of classroom pedagogic reading practices and out-of-school practices in explaining why the reading attainment of Hong Kong Grade 4 students was superior to that of their counterparts in Taiwan in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Analyses of scores from 9301 students (4712 from Hong Kong and 4589 from Taiwan) revealed that independent reading in school made a distinctive contribution to the reading performance of Hong Kong and Taiwan students after controlling for the effects of students’ and parents’ reading attitudes, the availability of supportive home educational resources and student engagement in a range of reading practices. Out-of-school informational reading was found to be negatively associated with students’ reading attainment for both Hong Kong and Taiwan students. There was evidence that reading aloud in class in Taiwan classrooms significantly contributed to the Taiwan students’ poor reading performance.     

Working and spending in South China: a methodological experiment with visual ethnography

Abstract

Art and architecture played a role in expressions of Malaya's nascent independent state in 1957, but the determination of what Malaya meant, ideologically, was different to different groups. Two types of nationalism were at work, namely that led by ethnic Malay leaders and political parties, and that led by a more ethnically-inclusive set of leaders and groups. This paper explores these concepts as frozen in mural paintings and the accompanying national architecture.     

万有引力常数G的精确测量

采用长周期、高Q值的扭秤,并选择恒温、隔振、电磁屏蔽以及外界引力干扰小的实验环境,从而有效克服传统扭秤实验中扭丝的滞弹性和热弹性等影响,采用扭秤周期法在 1 0 5× 1 0 - 6相对精度上测量万有引力常数G。为了进一步提高G的测量精度,还系统研究了精密扭秤实验的各种系统误差及其对G的影响