Integrating reciprocal teaching in an online environment with an annotation feature to enhance low-achieving students’ English reading comprehension

Reciprocal teaching (RT) has been used to improve English as Foreign Language (EFL) students’ reading comprehension in face-to-face instruction. However, little was known about how they use the RT to comprehend English texts in an online environment. This study explored how the implementation of RT strategies with the use of an annotation tool to improve low-achieving students’ English reading comprehension in an online environment. A total of 22 low-achieving EFL students participated in this study. The pre- and post- reading comprehension tests showed that the students’ English reading comprehension improved after practicing RT strategies with annotation tools. Questioning and predicating strategies were ranked as the two most useful strategies, as both promoted successful collaborative reading among students. Summarizing and clarifying were less useful than questioning and predicting strategies because the low-achieving EFL students faced language difficulties when summarizing and clarifying. The annotations supported RT strategies by (1) establishing a collaborative environment for students to discuss RT strategies any time, (2) organizing and indexing reading content in multimodal forms, and (3) helping students review and revise their comprehension.     

Being a teacher: altruistic and narcissistic expectations of pre-service teachers

The article focuses on investigating pre-service teachers’ expectations of their future teaching career, in particular concerning teacher–student interrelations. In an attempt to comprehend why people choose teaching as a professional career, a conceptual model titled ‘Teachers’ altruistic-narcissistic classroom expectations’ was designed and tested. The model puts forward for consideration the idea that pre-service teachers view their future relations with students as being based on four basic psychological foundations: genuine altruism, paternalistic altruism, benevolent narcissism, and genuine narcissism. A study to test for the validity of this model, using Facet Theory and smallest space analysis as the methodological approach is reported. One hundred and sixty student–teachers participated in the study. The findings provided evidence in support of the model’s validity. It is argued that altruism and narcissism conjointly may be regarded as factors motivating people to opt for teaching as a career, and that altruistic and narcissistic expectations can predict teachers’ classroom behavior.     

From little acorns..: environmental action as a source of well-being for schoolchildren

Pastoral care in education may take many forms but increasing emphasis on education for sustainable development (ESD) and concern about children’s disconnection from nature suggests that our understanding of care should perhaps encompass the more than human world. The study described in this article examines longer term perspectives on well-being and looks at the possible benefits of environmental action for happiness and positive functioning. Considering the role of memory in the reconstruction of a past experience of tree planting, we suggest that well-being is constantly being reframed within the flux of life course and education. From survey responses and subsequent discussion groups in secondary schools exploring such memories, a deeper understanding of what well-being and connectedness to nature mean to young people within this case study is achieved. We note interdependencies between personal and planetary well-being within respondents’ reflections and consider whether experiences of environmental action and its positioning as an act of altruism for the greater good might provide a source of positive feelings for young people not only at the time, but through subsequent recollection.     

组合数的倒数公式的一些运用

解题是数学学习的一个重要方面,而在诸多解题方法中,用哪种方法解题较为简便?作者于此介绍运用导出的一些组合数公式简化解题过程的一种方法。     

基因与利他行为——道德的生物学解释

人类利他行为究竟是理性的产物还是经验的产物呢?社会生物学以现代生物进化论为基础,从基因的角度探讨人类利他行为的形成,强调亲缘选择对绝对利他行为的决定作用,同时通过进化博弈说明人类的文明源于相对利他行为的出现.这些观点再次为道德的起源做出了经验的说明.     

中西方文化差异在英语词汇中的表现

语言是化的载体，价值观是化的核心。不同化背景形成的不同价值观念。使人们在交往中常常产生误会。造成这些误会的并不是语言本身，而是交往双方彼此缺乏对对方语言所包含的化内涵的了解，或对双方化差异了解不深，探寻不同化系统的特征及其互撞、互斥规律、有不可轻视的理论价值和实践意义。     

BODIES R US: Ethical Views on the Commercialization of the Dead in Medical Education and Research

With the ongoing and expanding use of willed bodies in medical education and research, there has been a concomitant rise in the need for willed bodies and an increase in the means of supplying these bodies. A relatively recent development to enlarge this supply has been the growth of for- profit willed body companies (“body brokers”) in the United States. These companies advertise for donors, cover all cremation and other fees for the donor, distribute the bodies or body parts nationally and internationally, and charge their users for access to the body or body parts. In doing so, they generate substantial profits. This review examines the historical development of willed body programs, the legal and economic aspects of willed body programs, and then provides an ethical framework for the use of willed bodies. The ethical principles described include detailed informed consent from the donors, comprehensive and transparent information about the process from the body donation organizations, and societal input on the proper and legal handling of willed bodies. Based on the ethical principles outlined, it is recommended that there be no commercialization or commodification of willed bodies, and that programs that use willed bodies should not generate profit.     

关于生态伦理学的几个焦点问题

当前生态伦理学讨论的几个焦点问题是:生态伦理学道德对象的范围是生态还是生命?享受道德关怀的是共同体中的所有成员还是部分成员?生态伦理学的伦理原则是整体主义的还是个体主义的?生态精神的本质是利他还是利己?笔者针对这些问题发表自己的看法。     

Investigating secondary school students’ unmediated peer assessment skills

The purpose of this study was to investigate secondary school students’ unmediated peer assessment skills. Specifically, 36 seventh graders, without receiving any kind of support, were anonymously assigned to reciprocally assess their peers’ science web-portfolios. Additionally, students’ attitudes towards and intentions about the use of unsupported reciprocal peer assessment were examined. Three data sources were used, namely, interviews, screen-video captured data, and the peer assessors’ feedback produced. Findings showed that the students have positive attitudes towards unsupported reciprocal peer assessment and that they intend to implement it again. It was also found that students have the skills, at least the beginnings, needed for the implementation of peer assessment. Specifically, they were found to be able to define and use their own assessment criteria, whose overall validity and reliability, however, were found to be low. Finally, the feedback they produced included grades, positive and negative judgments, as well as suggestions for changes.     

市场经济与利他主义、利己主义的界限

本文界定了不同的利他主义行为,从经济学的角度对中国利他主义缺乏的原因给予了解释,指出利他主义不只是道德规范问题,也更多地包括经济动机。本文还比较了市场、政府和利他主义行为在满足社会成员需求和配置资源过程中的效率,指出在市场经济活动中应该正确界定利他主义和利己主义的界限。