Organizational Contexts and University Performance Outcomes: The Limited Role of Purposive Action in the Management of Institutional Status

Institutional researchers and decision makers have long been interested in the management of university status. To this end, the present inquiry examines the stability of various university performance indicators representing size, student aptitude, faculty scholarship, graduate programs, and ratings. Although these various institutional attributes are associated with status, changes in their characteristics are not found to be associated with changes in status. Instead, institutional status is found to be quite stable over time, largely predicated on past status levels. These findings offer a forum within which to discuss university status for the purpose of managing institutional change.     

Logistical Factors in Teachers' Motivation

Research in education and psychology contributes to an understanding of how educators create contexts for learning that encourage intrinsic motivation and increase academic achievement. In this article, the researcher investigated how teachers themselves define effectiveness and identified what factors influence their motivation, both positively and negatively. The purpose of this study was to explore what factors teachers self-identified as both supporting and hindering their professional motivation. An understanding of what motivates teachers to maintain effectiveness and what contributes to a loss of motivation allows administrators and districts to make professional development, personnel, and curricular decisions that nourish teacher motivation. Data analysis revealed that teacher motivation is influenced by curricular, relational, and logistical factors. Logistical elements that influence teachers' attitudes and effectiveness are discussed here. Findings reveal that the master schedule, organization of time, and the condition of the physical environment play a major role in whether and how teachers are motivated.     

From western TESOL classrooms to home practice: a case study with two ‘privileged’ Saudi teachers

This article is located in the debates concerning the continued problems underlying the cultural politics of English-speaking Western countries’ Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programmes and ‘Western’ pedagogies. It examines two Saudi TESOL teachers’ pedagogical enactments in their home teaching contexts after returning from their Western-based TESOL programmes. It aims to obtain insights into questions of knowledge construction, pedagogy and training in Western TESOL programmes and their impacts on these teachers’ teaching in Saudi settings. We argue that these teachers have never been passive in the entire process nor have they been naïve about the cultural politics of TESOL. They have appeared to proactively take advantage of being trained in the West to teach effectively and to appropriate their given privileged status in the home contexts. They have also appeared to do so with awareness and with a strong sense of agency. This very aspect of agency, as we argue, deserves substantial scholarly attention in future research. We also argue that to move beyond the mindset that positions periphery teachers at the receiving end of Western TESOL training and as the recipient of Western TESOL pedagogical experiments, it is no longer valid to assume the enlightening and educating role of such training.     

Consistencies and Inconsistencies Between Science Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices

To gain a better understanding of teachers’ beliefs about teaching, as compared with their in-reality classroom practices, case studies were constructed with four science teachers in different schools in Egypt. The main aims of this article were to provide an answer to the research question, ‘To what extent do science teachers’ beliefs correspond to their practices?’ and to explore the contextual factors that can explain the difference, the consistency or inconsistency, between teachers' beliefs and practices. The study collected data for each teacher using semi-structured interviews, notes taken while observing classes, and teachers’ notes, journals, and lesson plans concerned with STS lessons. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method around common themes, which were identified as distinctive features of teachers’ beliefs; these same themes were then compared with their practices. Results showed that a few of the in-service science teachers’ pedagogical beliefs aligned with constructivist philosophy. Some of the teachers’ beliefs were consistent with their practices, especially the traditional beliefs, while some of teachers’ practices were conflicted with their beliefs in different contexts.     

Initial development of a model of care and support for primary school children in changing familial situations: a Hong Kong hybrid case

This paper proposes an initial model for the care and support of primary school children coping with family situations and family changes. The model is built on existing counselling literature, incorporating the perceptions of teachers, children and parents on their needs for support and a small empirical study by the author on teachers' perceptions of the roles and functions of the personnel involved in supporting children in changing familial situations. In proposing the model for schools the author argues for the need for a multi‐systemic approach which emphasises involving home–school cooperation and acknowledging the unique ‘East meets West’ hybrid context in Hong Kong. The use of the model in relation to teacher education, counselling practice and research is discussed. Implications of this model for other locales having similar hybrid contexts, particularly a mix with a Chinese cultural heritage, are also discussed.     

论会话中的不合作现象的含意化——“风马牛驴不相及”

在交际会话中提问和回答问题一般都遵循合作性原则,以使对话进行下去,但是由于受各种因素的制约,会话中也会出现一些违反量的准则、质的准则、相关准则和方式准则的不合作现象。这些看似“风马牛驴不相及”的不合作现象并不影响交际的顺利进行,究其原因就是会话不只是一种语言与语言的文字符号交流,而更重要的是要考虑语境因素和交际者因素。不合作现象其实是一种迂回会话和高策略的会话方式。     

Successful secondary school principalship in disadvantaged contexts from a leadership for learning perspective

The paper we present here is part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), which is designed to analyse the characteristic traits of successful leadership in different contexts and countries [Day, C., and K. Leithwood. 2007. Successful School Leadership in Times of Change. Dordrecht: Springer-Kluwer; Day, C., and D. Gurr. 2014. Leading School Successfully. Stories from the Field. London: Routledge]. One subgroup of the Spanish research team participating in the ISSPP at the University of Granada has contributed to the project by carrying out a comparative study of the type of leadership for learning at four secondary schools in disadvantaged contexts. Following ISSPP data collection protocols and using a category system specially designed to analyse the leadership for learning carried out by the four principals, the results show that four secondary schools have principals with a similar traits, dispositions and value systems; however, the secondary schools with the best academic results employed practices and strategies more closely associated with leadership for learning than schools with poorer academic results. The data provided by this study confirm the traits and strategies that the ISSPP has been identifying in successful principals in disadvantaged contexts in various countries. It also serves as a source of reflection and discussion on the type of leadership for learning present in some disadvantaged secondary schools in Spain.     

Ethics-in-practice in fragile contexts: Research in education for displaced persons,refugees and asylum seekers

The rising numbers of forcibly displaced peoples on the move globally, and the challenges with providing access to education, reflect the shifting and complex times that we live in. Even though there has been a proliferation in educational research in the context of forced migration, in line with the increasing number of forced migrants, there has not been a commensurate focus on unpicking the increasingly complex ethical conditions within which researchers and participants operate. To examine this issue, the article provides three narrated accounts by researchers in this field and explores the interaction of researcher and author-researcher voice to critically appraise their research experience and identify critical reflections of understanding of ethics-in-practice in fragile contexts. These narratives are framed by the CERD (consequential, ecological, relational and deontological) ethical appraisal framework, which explores ethical thinking through four ethical lenses. The article contributes to a deeper understanding of ethics-in-practice as a central dimension in educational research. The implications of this work show how a one-size-fits-all approach to ethical appraisal is inappropriate for socially just educational research. This work also illustrates the importance of attending to relationships and voice of the forcibly displaced, both of which are often lacking in educational research in fragile contexts.     

认知语境与翻译策略

认知语境在传统的语境概念之外,还包含了“人的认知能力”。翻译是一种双重交际行为,译者需把握作者和读者各自所处的认知语境,并依此采取相应的翻译策略。文章从把握译语读者的认知语境入手,论述几种主要的翻译策略:归化与异化、隐含与明示、译与不译、句序与句长。     

“VP之前”与“没(有)VP之前”区别特征分析

一般认为,动词或动词性短语是形成整个句子所要表达事件内在时间结构的重要基础。从认知语言学的角度,用动词或动词性词语来描述事件或状态,解释句式运用的现象,特别是对汉语教学,尤其是对外汉语教学,无疑有着十分现实的意义。