The role of schools in disaster preparedness,response and recovery: what can we learn from the literature?

In order to contextualise the articles in this special issue, this introductory article surveys the relevant literature from recent disasters in mostly developed countries in order to explore the wider role of schools in disaster preparedness, response and recovery. The first section argues that as schools are hubs of their communities, it is important to understand the literature on communities in disaster contexts. This is followed by recent examples of school experiences of disasters, particularly in Japan, New Zealand and Australia. The final section synthesises the literature on children and young people in disaster contexts. The article closes with a set of recommendations for integrating schools into disaster planning.     

The Pedagogy and Principles of Teaching Therapeutic Practice with Children and Young People

Technical approaches suggesting that systematically produced, generalized, and scientific knowledge are the most solid foundations for practice present significant challenges for the social work profession, in which the decisions faced often are not technical but rather moral, requiring the application of ethically based and intuitive skills. Meanwhile, the command, control, and measurement of outcomes in social work practice also present significant conundrums for the delivery of relational person-centered social work and social care. With a focus too often on efficiency rather than on effectiveness, this managerialistic approach frequently fails to acknowledge the complexity inherent in the act of caring. In this context and framework, teaching therapeutic practice with children draws a balance between traditional systematic teaching methods and use of creative media including art, play, and music. This article outlines the positive contribution to professional social work practice that the teaching of therapeutic approaches to child care can make.     

Constant and emerging characteristics of Chinese learners in changing school contexts

The characteristics of Chinese learners and the factors influencing these characteristics become increasingly an important focus of research in the field of educational psychology, sociology and comparative education ever since the publication of the book, The Chinese Learner: Cultural, Psychological and Contextual Influences, edited by Watkins and Bigg in 1996. The recent essay collection edited by Chan and Rao in 2010, Revisiting the Chinese Learner: Changing Education, Changing Contexts, proposes a conceptual framework for guiding the further inquiry and documents some of the important developments in this line of research. This essay review synthesizes these developments emerging from the book, comments on the potentials of these developments in challenging the existing theoretical and empirical understanding about the relationship between Chinese learners, their learning and their social, cultural and pedagogical contexts. It further raises some conceptual and empirical questions about the constant and emerging characteristics of Chinese learners in the above contexts that are worth further examination.     

Race focusing and reimaging research: Where do we go from here?

The authors in this special issue focus on race focusing and reimaging research. In this commentary, I acknowledge the importance of their contributions to the field of educational psychology by highlighting the authors; 1) creative focus on important problems, 2) thoughtful use of research methods and methodologies with attention to rigor, and 3) acknowledgement of the importance of social historical contexts for researchers. In addition, I present my thoughts on some of the challenges moving forward for researchers who focus on race focusing and reimaging inquiry in educational psychology.     

Negotiating the Demands of Teaching Mathematical Literacy

The introduction of the school subject Mathematical Literacy (ML) was to develop numerate and well informed citizens in South Africa. However the success of the subject is dependent on the ways in which teachers mediate the subject with their learners. The purpose of the study reported on in this article was to explore the extent to which the approaches used by ML teachers supported the learners’ participation in the contextual settings. The article focuses on one case study that was drawn up from three lesson observations and an interview with one ML teacher. The data was synthesised using a narrative analysis approach. The study found that the teacher's explanations of contextual terms were sometimes incorrect and irrelevant. Her discussion often sidestepped the main issues and did not help the learners to engage more deeply with the contextual tools in ways that could allow them to increase their participation level in the relevant discourse. This raises concerns about the extent to which ML can achieve the intended outcomes.     

Pedagogy,empowerment and discipline: comparative perspectives of novice teachers in England and Turkey reflecting on ‘the other’

This article discusses the views of Turkish and British novice teachers on pedagogy and pedagogical relationships with school students when confronted with the pedagogical practices of the ‘Other’ in particular policy contexts. Experiences of those practices were gained by novice teachers during an exchange visit for British and Turkish university students in the period 2008–2009. Data was collected through questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings suggest that Turkish and British novice teachers initially constructed the ‘Other’ as very different from themselves. The views of members of both groups were heavily influenced by the cultural contexts in which they trained and worked. British novice teachers tended to take as axiomatic constructivist and inclusive approaches to pedagogy and the relevance to successful pedagogy of listening to students’ voices. Turkish novice teachers questioned both, many seeing control and dissemination of knowledge as central to pedagogy and student teacher relationships.     

The Writing skills in Teaching English as Second Language

This paper focuses on exploring the effective approaches to improve students’ writing ability.These effective ways include the basic approach(lexical choices,syntax and grammar,mechanics,organization) and the real-world communication approach(real world purpose and audience),which being explored by evaluating two writing tasks.The results indicate that although the students have learned the basic skills of writing,they need to consider the authentic writing purpose and the readers’ feeling when they are writing.     

基于交际的任务型英语教学方法探析

随着社会语言学、语用学的发展,语言教学研究的中心从语言结构系统向语言功能系统转变。海姆斯提出的交际能力理论认为,语言交际能力不能局限于抽象的语言能力,而是要从社会语言学的角度来考虑语言的应用。文章在分析交际能力的基本元素基础上,论述了交际任务型英语教学及其构成要件。     

论新闻标题中时髦词的交际语境顺应

从Verschueren语言顺应论的视角来看,新闻标题中时髦词的选择所体现的顺应主要是对交际语境的顺应,这具体表现在顺应受众求新求奇的心理、顺应新闻报道者求精求简的心理、顺应社会文化和规约、顺应社会环境、顺应所报道事件发生的时间和空间。从语用学的角度,以顺应论为理据,对新闻标题进行的研究较之以往从文体学和修辞学角度对其进行的研究更具解释力。     

Looking through the lens of a teacher's life: The power of prototypical stories in understanding teachers' instructional decisions in mathematics

The focus of this narrative inquiry was to examine how teachers describe influences on their instructional decisions in mathematics. Using a lens provided by pivotal or prototypical stories teachers told about their past experiences, connections were suggested between these past experiences and their instructional decisions. These connections helped to illustrate how instructional decisions may be shaped by priorities and beliefs established earlier in life, as well as by current contexts. Further research on the use and characteristics of prototypical stories is suggested.