医学生批判性思维能力与一般自我效能感的相关性研究

以我国4所医学院校临床医学专业的学生为研究对象,采用按照年级分层抽样的方法,选取大一到大五年级的1861名医学生进行问卷调研。研究结果显示:医学生批判性思维能力总平均分为285.16分,整体表现为正性批判性思维,除寻找真相和系统化能力表现为负性外,其余维度均表现为正性;一般自我效能感总分平均为25.90分;不同学校、年级、性别和年龄医学生的批判性思维有差异;正性批判性思维能力者的一般自我效能感均高于负性者。因此,医学生批判性思维能力与一般自我效能感呈正相关,提高医学生的一般自我效能感对批判性思维能力的提高具有促进作用。     

When practice takes precedence: conceptions of inquiry and the link to ethical posture

Using participatory action research (PAR), this paper explores the ethical practice of students engaged in practitioner research in a higher education context. Using narrative enquiry, the paper explores the participants’ experiences of practitioner research, including ethical dilemmas that resulted from a conflict of values between the practitioner and research roles. We postulate a multi-dimensional approach to ethical practice known as ‘ethical posture’ emerging from our consideration of conceptions of inquiry that resulted in contrasting ethical behaviour.     

A Critical Discourse Analysis on the Teacher Behavioral Norms of Eng-lish Training School

With a Critical Discourse Analysis approach, this essay reveals four types of discourses:discourse of examination, in?struction, technology and regulation. Based on the analysis of power relation among...     

The development of students critical thinking abilities and dispositions through the concept mapping learning method – A meta-analysis

Our meta-analysis investigates the effectiveness of the concept mapping method compared with the traditional teaching method, for the improvement of critical thinking ability and disposition outcomes. We included studies measuring students' critical thinking through standardised tests, comparing an experimental (concept mapping) group with a control (traditional teaching) one. Effect sizes for critical thinking ability and disposition outcomes were pooled with a random-effects model. We included in our meta-analysis 21 studies (108 comparisons) involving 1695 students. The concept mapping method was more effective than the traditional teaching method at posttest for the improvement of critical thinking ability (g = 0.531, 95% CI 0.279 to 0.783) and disposition (g = 0.648, 95% CI 0.266 to 1.031). Heterogeneity was moderate to high, Egger's test did not indicate any evidence of publication bias; however, both visual inspection of the Funnel plot and Duval and Tweedie's trim and fill method indicated potentially three missing studies for critical thinking ability and two for critical thinking disposition. Additionally, we analysed the potential moderating effect of students' demographic characteristics, educational conditions, concept mapping elaboration methods and allocation type. Allocation type was a significant moderator, having a strong effect on concept mapping for critical thinking abilities in randomised studies (g = 0.739, 95% CI 0.356 to 1.122), but its effect is low in non-randomised studies (g = 0.265, 95% CI 0.014 to 0.517).     

Cultivating critical global citizens through secondary EFL education: a case study of mainland China

This paper examines the enactment of critical literacy pedagogy in secondary English language teaching in the face of globalisation. This qualitative case study signals that global citizenship education (GCE) and English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching can converge through offering equitable and globally contextualised learning opportunities. The overarching themes presented here challenge the dominance of instrumentalist orientations of EFL education in mainland China today while mobilising pedagogical choices that affirm students' local and lived experiences in relation to international socio-political issues. Findings provide EFL educators nuanced insights into how critical global literacies are extended through critical understandings of literacies, interconnections from a personal to a global level, and opportunities for social actions on multicultural issues, thus fostering globally competent and bilingual learners who critically engage with the contested terrain of an increasingly globalised world.     

The ecology of language teacher assessment literacy: Insights from emotional critical incidents

Despite the substantial growth of research on language assessment literacy (LAL), the emotional side of LAL has been under-researched. In response to this gap of knowledge, the present study explored Iranian English language teachers’ LAL through the lens of emotional critical incidents (CIs). Drawing on an ecological lens as embedded in a case-study design, data were collected from narrative frames, classroom observations and post-class discussions, and semi-structured interviews. Data analyses revealed three personal, institutional, and sociocultural ecologies that shaped the teachers’ LAL-related emotional CIs and the associated sense-making, practice, and perceptions about assessment. In particular, we found that the emotional side of LAL is defined by agency, emotion labor, the need for voice, and broader discourses of assessment in Iran. Based on the findings, we provide implications for running professional development courses that build on teachers’ LAL and account for emotions as a key component of such courses.     

Everyone's a Criminal? Reflections on Critical Reading in the Primary Classroom

Calls for children to be taught to read critically become ever louder. This article asks what teaching for critical reading might look like in the primary school. It presents accounts of two group reading lessons from a Year 3 classroom. It examines the interactions that take place: the questioning of the teachers and the responses of the children. It suggests that where children are given the power to make meaning for themselves, they are more likely to learn to read critically than those who are not.     

Competing priorities: Singaporean teachers’ perspectives on critical literacy

This paper explores a group of Singaporean English language teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about critical literacy as well as their perspectives on how best to teach literacy and critical literacy in Singapore schools. A face-to-face survey was conducted among 58 English language teachers by using open-ended questions. The survey covered various topics related to literacy instruction including text decoding, meaning construction, and critical analysis of texts. The participating teachers believed strongly that reading and writing are transactional and interactional practices. However, they were less certain in their beliefs about teaching critical literacy including the critical, analytical and evaluative aspects of text reading. Some teachers saw a conflict between using time on teaching critical literacy and preparing students to pass their exams. As critical literacy is not a requirement at exams, they found it difficult to justify using time teaching it. The results suggest that the teachers’ belief systems are strongly influenced by the broad macro-structure of the educational system in Singapore and their own educational experiences.     

Engendering a culture of thinking in a culture of performativity: the challenge of mediating tensions in the Singaporean educational system

Among the major policies that have been implemented to ensure its continued success, Thinking Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN) has been described as the ‘big bang of educational reforms’ in Singapore. However, while the policy aims to develop critical thinkers in school leavers, the corporatisation of education in the shape of structures such as the school excellence model seems to be at odds with TSLN. This paper argues that these structures unwittingly engender a culture of performativity among schools, marginalising the central outcome of its initiative that entails developing a culture of thinking and thinkers. The tension is further exacerbated by the larger rationalities that have shaped Singapore and the pragmatic and instrumental philosophy which underpins its educational system. The tensions generated by the clash between intended (culture of thinking) and engendered culture (culture of performativity) present the challenge of mediation for the system on its path to realising TSLN.