Confronting poverty and educational inequalities: Madrasas as a strategy for contesting dominant literacy in rural Bangladesh

In a context of globalisation and the rapid expansion of low-paid ‘global’ jobs, formal schooling is no longer perceived as contributing to the acquisition of skills that are appropriate or even relevant to active engagement with the new opportunities. Based on empirical material from a village in Bangladesh, this paper explores the role of madrasa education in challenging the dominant paradigm of learning embedded in formal secular schooling. Despite charges of low quality and traditionalism, local narratives reveal how madrasa learning is used to negotiate and transform inequalities, both in material and social terms. Madrasa education is cheaper, and addresses issues of poverty, but the narratives also emphasise learning the Arabic language, seen to facilitate male overseas migration to the Gulf countries, a channel for upward social and economic mobility. In a context of global competition that supports individualism, a focus on character and morality as represented through an Islamic identity, alongside communitarian values, is seen as important for maintaining a degree of social cohesion and is hence socially valued. Reading and reciting the Quran are also viewed as essential traits for a woman, enabling her to appropriately socialise her children in the absence of her migrant husband. One finds here a simultaneous process of contestation and resistance, seeking successful occupational trajectories and social recognition for men, while at the same time contributing to the reproduction of gendered inequalities.     

外语习得过程中言语主体意识的重建

言语主体意识在外语习得过程中的作用是最直接的和主要的。外语学习者首先要有强烈的主体学习愿望,从而产生学习动力,进而付诸行动。近年来,在外语教学领域,通过分析言语主体意识的动机、态度和性格等入手,探讨言语主体意识的重建问题已经备受人们关注。     

瑞云峰考

作为江苏省文物保护单位的瑞云峰,除了极尽太湖石“皱、透、漏“的特点外,还有着离奇曲折的经历.由于年代久远,明代末年后的一些记载存在错误.随着旅游业的发展,瑞云峰日益引起人们的关注.但最近十多年的有关记述分歧更突出,错误更荒唐.根据对众多史料的分析研究和有关现场的实地踏勘,分析存在疑义的相关问题,厘清瑞云峰的来龙去脉.     

论孔庆东作品的语言修辞艺术

孔庆东的作品在当今文坛独树一帜,颇富吸引力.张扬的个性和悲天悯人的情怀是他作品的一个亮点,而文中从幽默诙谐、意味深长、通俗质朴、典雅精致等几方面具体探讨了孔庆东作品的语言艺术风格.其独特的语言修辞风格又是他作品难以抗拒的魅力.     

Seeing Web 2.0 in context: A study of academic perceptions

This paper reports on a study at a research intensive University in the North of the UK exploring academics' perceptions of the potential of Web 2.0 for their teaching and any influences shaping those perceptions. It looks at the perceptions of academics ‘on the ground’ as well as those leading teaching and learning strategies at the University. The study identifies a range of perceptions among academics. These are influenced predominantly by academics' beliefs of what constitutes good teaching in their contexts. The paper concludes with an exploration of ways in which the range of perceptions evidenced may inform discussion of Web 2.0, arguing that academics' perceptions are crucial to context-based understandings of its potential.