Classifying the Context Clues in Children's Text

This study aimed to determine which types of context clues exist in children's texts and whether it is possible for experts to identify reliably those clues. Three experienced coders used Ames’ clue set as a foundation for a system to classify context clues in children's text. Findings showed that the adjustments to Ames’ system resulted in 15 clues that can be used to capture the majority of clues found in children narrative and expository text. This study adds to the limited empirically validated systems available for classifying different context clues. A usable classification of context clues has application to reading research that considers or controls for text factors as well as teaching reading strategies in K–12 classrooms.     

The emerging landscape of school-based professional learning communities in South Korean schools

Abstract

Over the last decade, school-based professional learning communities (PLCs) have emerged as a key feature of the education system in South Korea. To understand this relatively new phenomenon in the context of South Korea, we provide a review of research on school-based PLCs in South Korea and an empirical analysis of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2008 with a focus on school-based PLCs. Based on our findings from the literature review and analysis of the TALIS, we aim to provide a fuller picture of the emerging landscape of school-based PLCs in South Korean schools. In so doing, we focus on what constitutes school-based PLCs in South Korean schools and how they are similar to and/or different from their counterparts in other countries. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.     

关于线性代数课程教学的一些思考

结合线性代数课堂教学,从优化教学内容、加强方法引导、抓好基础知识、渗透思想方法、采用多媒体辅助教学五个方面阐述了在线性代数课程教学中的一些思考。     

家庭公益教育的障碍及其破解机制研究

开展公益教育是时代环境变化、社会转型的客观要求。家庭公益教育是公益教育的有机组成部分,是突破当前“应试型”教育模式,构建“家庭-学校-社区”三联动下系统、多元的公益教育模式的关键环节。我国家庭公益教育的开展存在诸多障碍。调查发现,这些障碍主要为家长认知障碍、家庭公益行动障碍及制度性障碍。针对这些障碍,在借鉴美国家庭公益教育经验的基础上,提出了破解之策。     

基于网络技术的虚拟课堂教学理念与策略

培养学生自主探究学习和网上学习的能力是现代教育的重要研究课题。本文提出基于网络技术的虚拟课堂教学理念、模式与策略,目的是改变原有陈旧的教学模式,创设适合中等职业学校特点的教学环境,更好地培养适应社会需求的高技能型人才。     

Implications of Hegel’s theories of language on second language teaching

This article explores the implications of Hegel’s theories of language on second language (L2) teaching. Three among the various concepts in Hegel’s theories of language are selected. They are the crucial role of intersubjectivity; the primacy of the spoken over the written form; and the importance of the training of form or grammar. Applying these three concepts to L2 teaching results in several recommendations. Firstly, there should be more emphases of the goal of L2 learning as achieving intersubjectivity. Secondly, the teaching of spoken language should precede the written form. Thirdly, in L2 instruction, the teaching of forms, or rules of grammar or mechanical practices, should be treated as another major goal. The final recommendation is that culture learning is essential.     

Renaming teaching practice through teacher reflection using critical incidents on a virtual training course

This study approaches teacher learning from a dialogical viewpoint where lecturers’ voices used in a training course context reflect how lecturers generated new professional discourse. The design of the training course considered the analysis of several critical incidents (CIs) in online teaching. An analytical framework based on lecturers’ discourse and ways of thinking about teaching was used to identify types of renaming teaching practice. The empirical element of the study analysed the written utterances about teaching provided by 12 online instructors in order to determine what kinds of new discourse emerged during the analysis of 15 CIs in online teaching. Results showed that local discourse is the lecturers’ most commonly used discourse, prototypical incidents generated more professional discourse than personal and real CIs, and professional discourse can be created by means of at least nine different ways of articulating discourse. On the basis of these results, some pedagogical implications for lecturer learning are discussed.     

Unpacking the paradox of Chinese science learners: insights from research into Asian Chinese school students’ attitudes towards learning science,science learning strategies,and scientific epistemological views

Chinese students’ excellent science performance in large-scale international comparisons contradicts the stereotype of the Chinese non-productive classroom learning environment and learners. Most of the existing explanations of this paradox are provided from the perspective of teaching and learning in a general sense, but little work can be found which systematically summarises the findings from the research on Chinese science learners and their science learning so as to explain the paradox. In this paper, a total of 25 empirical quantitative studies, whose sample sizes range from 132 to 8815, published between 1987 and 2014, are reviewed. Three aspects are explored: students’ science learning strategies, attitudes towards learning science and their scientific epistemological views. In addition to summarising the results reported in these studies, efforts are made to link them with the paradox of the Chinese learners, and to generate some hypotheses to resolve it. Finally, directions for further research are suggested.