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Purpose: Self-assessment is regarded as a complex metacognitive process by scholars. Nevertheless, in the context of English as a Second Language (ESL) speaking, self-assessment practices often rely on assessment criteria and teacher commentaries. However, speaking involves spontaneous expression with limited access to external standards. Therefore, this case study aims to explore the metacognitive strategies that proficient ESL students use during self-assessment in spontaneous speech production contexts. Methodology: Three participants, purposefully selected, participated in two spontaneous group discussions recorded on video. Instances of participants' dysfluency served as prompts in stimulated recall interviews, complemented by video recordings to validate participants' responses. The thematic analysis of interview data utilised a conceptual framework integrating O'Malley and Chamot's (1990) metacognitive strategies and Kormos' (2006) speech production model. Findings: The analysis revealed that participants employed three key metacognitive strategies -- organisational planning, selective attention, and self-monitoring to self-assess their spontaneous speech. Feedback sources, such as their proficiency in the second language (L2) and contextual factors, influenced the application and effectiveness of these strategies during self-assessment (SA). Significance: This study offers insights into how proficient ESL students self-assess their spontaneous speech production, leveraging their available resources. In addition, this study identifies speech challenges the participants encountered and how they applied metacognitive strategies to address them.

Purpose: Art forms such as music and drama are among some recognised tools used by educators. This has sparked interest in how art can be used in education, making it a fertile field for educational research. However, there is a missing connection in how drawing can be used as a tool for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students to learn about literature. Methodology: This paper will incorporate an Arts-Based Research (ABR) method to determine how visual art, particularly drawing, can be used as a tool to advance EFL students' understanding of a selected literary text, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (2015) This qualitative study, viewed through the lens of Richard Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML), involved 10 EFL participants and revealed strategies for integrating drawing that are absent in traditional approaches. Additionally, Hameed's (2022) elements of art, Yenawine's (2014) Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), and Showalter's (2003) concepts of literature learning will be included to ground the framework of the intervention. Findings: This study can be regarded as a method to liberate traditional teaching practices into contemporary approaches, serving as a tool to merge cultural knowledge while improving confidence, higher-order thinking skills, and expression. It also allows educators to be flexible and provoke more reflection and participation. The data discusses three main strategies in exploring how integrating drawing can help EFL students learn about literature: mining to trigger thoughts, engaging with the senses, and giving permission to wonder. Visual art allows individuals to create their responses by exploring new ideas and representing emotions, confirming plans, and comprehending the deeper level of literary texts. Significance: The study will offer insight and work as an alternate strategy for educators and learners alike to utilise visual art as a tool in teaching and learning literature. The findings will also ease the alarming condition where literature teaching and learning are stereotyped as daunting. [This paper was presented at the 12th Malaysian International Conference of Languages, Literature, and Culture (MICOLLAC) held in Penang, Malaysia, in August 2023.]

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is crucial for effective teaching, but it is a complex and implicit knowledge, especially in chemistry education. Therefore, this study explores the use of the LBCD (Learning by Collaborative Design) model to support PCK development among pre-service chemistry teachers. This study adopted a one-group pretest-posttest experimental design, conducting the intervention with 210 participants. After data collection, the study first conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the pre-and post-test data, confirming the good reliability and validity of the designed chemistry PCK questionnaire. Additionally, paired sample t-tests were used to measure pre-service teachers' PCK development in dimensions of CTO, KOA, KOC, KOL, and KOS. Furthermore, unstructured interviews helped to further clarify the participants' views of the effectiveness of the LBCD curriculum. The results showed that the developed chemistry PCK questionnaire and the LBCD model had a significant statistical impact on the PCK elements development among pre-service teachers, although the development of these elements was not balanced. Finally, the study provides suggestions for the measurement of PCK elements, as well as chemistry teacher education, such as applying the LBCD model to different teacher groups and testing PCK element models using the methods of this study.

Modules are teaching materials designed to be studied by students independently or with minimal guidance from educators because they are equipped with their learning instructions. This study aims to determine the feasibility of teaching materials for reproductive system disorders submaterial modules from the inventory of medicinal plants that facilitate and relieve menstrual pain in Tumiang Village, Samalantan District, Bengkayang Regency. The research method was used research and development (R&D) Borg and Gall model, including potential problems, data collection, product design, design validation, and product revision. The validation of the teaching materials was done by five validators using validation sheets. The aspects assessed in the validation sheet consist of content, language, presentation, and graphics. The validation data were analyzed using the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and the Content Validity Index (CVI). The results of the validation of the module's instructional materials yielded a CVR value of 1.00 for each criterion with a valid category and a CVI value of 1.00 with a valid category. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the module on reproductive system disorders from the results of the inventory of medicinal plants that facilitate and relieve menstrual pain is suitable for use as teaching material.

Background: Given that students from socio-economically disadvantaged family backgrounds are more likely to suffer from low academic performance, there is an interest in identifying features of academic resilience, which may mitigate the relationship between disadvantaged socio-economic status and academic performance. Aims: This study sought to combine machine learning and explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) technique to identify key features of academic resilience in mathematics learning during COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Based on PISA 2022 data in 79 countries/economies, the random forest model coupled with Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) value technique not only uncovered the key features of academic resilience but also examined the contributions of each key feature. Results: Findings indicated that 35 features were identified in the classification of academically resilient and non-academically resilient students, which largely validated the previous academic resilient framework. Notably, gender differences were shown in the distribution of some key features. Research findings also indicated that resilient students tended to have a stable emotional state, high levels of self-efficacy, low levels of truancy and positive future aspirations. Discussion: This study has established a research paradigm essentially methodological in nature to bridge the gap between psychological theories and big data in the field of educational psychology. Conclusion: To sum up, our study shed light on the issues of education equity and quality from a global perspective in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifactorial, pervasive, neurodevelopmental disorder, of which intestinal symptoms collectively represent one of the most common comorbidities. Methods: In this study, 1,222 children with ASD and 1,206 typically developing (TD) children aged 2-7 years were enrolled from 13 cities in China. Physical measurement and basic information questionnaires were conducted in ASD and TD children. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) were used to evaluate the clinical symptoms of children with ASD. The six-item Gastrointestinal Severity Index (6-GSI) was used to evaluate the prevalence of intestinal symptoms in two groups. Results: The detection rates of constipation, stool odor, and total intestinal symptoms in ASD children were significantly higher than those in TD children (40.098% vs. 25.622%, 17.021% vs. 9.287%, and 53.601% vs. 41.294%, respectively). Autistic children presenting with intestinal comorbidity had significantly higher scores on the ABC, SRS, CARS, and multiple subscales than autistic children without intestinal symptoms, suggesting that intestinal comorbidity may exacerbates the core symptoms of ASD children. Conclusion: Intestinal dysfunction was significantly more common in autistic than in TD children. This dysfunction may aggravate the core symptoms of children with ASD.

Background: To better understand the intricate science of reading development, both cognitive and affective factors must be taken into consideration. This developmental study aims to enrich the literature by exploring how reading motivation -- an affective factor -- contributes to reading comprehension in Chinese elementary schoolers, beyond well-accepted cognitive-based reading skills, such as decoding and vocabulary. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design with 420 native Mandarin-Chinese-speaking students (Grade 2: N = 95; Grade 3: N = 216; Grade 4: N = 109), with age-appropriate materials to measure their decoding skills, vocabulary knowledge, reading motivation, and reading comprehension. Three sets of hierarchical regression analyses were run for the three grade samples to examine the unique contributions of reading motivation to reading comprehension while controlling children's demographic profiles, such as age and gender, and two cognitive-based reading skills. Results: We replicated previous findings: children's decoding and vocabulary are robust predictors of reading achievement across Grades 2 to 4. Importantly, reading motivation contributed uniquely to reading comprehension in all three grades and explained an increasing amount of the variances in reading comprehension from Grades 2 to 4. Intrinsic reading motivation was critical in Grade 3, while extrinsic reading motivation became important in Grade 4. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings reveal the complexity of reading development and advance the existing cognitive-based reading theories by including affective dimensions.

This article will reflect on the first author's deanship journey from 2008 to 2014, which saw the mobilization of the NIE Teacher Education Model for the 21st Century (TE[superscript 21]) and conceptualization of the V[superscript 3]SK framework for teacher education curriculum. Taking a big picture approach, the model and framework were architecturally derived through our building block and improvement systems approach where strong foundations were critical. The period of the late 2000s through the next decade saw an increased interest in education reforms worldwide. Two major trends saw a confluence in interest in Singapore. Firstly, there was increased research pointing to the importance of the teacher factor. Secondly, enhanced interest in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and international comparisons placed Singapore under global spotlight owing to her remarkable performance. Singapore drew much attention from education ministries around the world, which were visiting Singapore to learn how we invest in education and more importantly what we do to bring ideas to fruition. It became clear that the teacher factor was a significant reason for Singapore's success. This article will share on how TE[superscript 21] was a scholarly and pragmatic endeavour resulting from research-informed and motivated teacher educators working with partners and stakeholders in practice whilst taking a globalized perspective. The pinnacle of the TE[superscript 21] model was the V[superscript 3]SK framework which continues to permeate theory and practice. The framework has gone beyond a professional guidepost to capturing the importance of the teacher symbol. In essence, we were building on roots, culture, values, and wisdom as we tapped on science and evidence.

Students' perception of teachers' mindset beliefs (TMB) is associated with their school engagement (SSE). Based on SSE's contextual-personal interplay, perceived classroom goal structures (CGS) and students' mindset beliefs (SMB) were considered. Data from 1071 high school students were analyzed. The results show that CGS significantly mediated the negative connection between perceived headteachers' fixed mindset beliefs and SSE. Students who perceived headteachers to endorse more fixed mindset beliefs aligned with classroom performance goal structure (PGS) rather than mastery goal structure (MGS) environments, predicted fewer engagements. SMB played a moderated role. The effect of MGS on SSE was much stronger for students with low fixed mindset beliefs, whereas the effect of PGS on SSE was significant only for students with high fixed mindset beliefs. These findings corroborate SSE's development-in-sociocultural-context theory, indicating the value of inculcating growth mindset among teachers, and the fitness of classroom-student motivational systems to improve adolescents' engagement.

Academic burnout seriously affects the academic performance and mental health of college students. This study developed a multi-mediation model to investigate the relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic burnout. A total of 1431 undergraduate students (51.85% female) were recruited to participate in this study. And we used SPSS PROCESS developed by Hayes to examine the mediating role of academic self-efficacy and academic burnout. The results indicated that academic self-efficacy can negatively predict academic burnout. Moreover, intrinsic motivation and learning engagement have a significant mediating effect between academic self-efficacy and academic burnout. Finally, we constructed a model comprising four variables and found that it explained 47.62% of the variance in academic burnout. These findings can be conducive to a suitable intervention path to reduce academic burnout of Chinese college students, so as to develop effective instructional strategies to improve their learning performance.

The study examines a corpus of 306 request emails written by 32 English-speaking (ES) teachers and 121 L2 learners from distinctive L1 backgrounds (i.e., Chinese, French, Spanish) and with different levels of L2 proficiency. Pragmatic competence is analyzed through the coding of direct and indirect request strategies used in formal and informal email writing. Findings reveal the influences of communicative situation, L1 background, and L2 proficiency on pragmatic competence in email writing. First, L2 learners show a significantly lower degree of situational variability compared with ES teachers. Second, L1 backgrounds have a significant impact on L2 writing performance. Third, L2 learners with higher English proficiency tend to use more indirect request strategies, but they have not developed pragmatic competence to adjust their usage across written contexts. Findings are discussed in relation to pedagogical implications for developing writing competence of L2 learners, which should be attuned to diverse rhetorical expectations and individual needs.

The study of students' willingness to use translation technology can motivate students to use the translation technology and improve their translation efficiency. This paper reports on a survey which collected 716 valid questionnaires from students in the Master-level Program in Translation and Interpreting. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the influence of six potential variables on Master of Translation and interpreting (MTI) usage intention. The results show that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), subjective norm (SN) and translation technology self-efficacy (TTSE) have a significant positive influence on usage intention (UI), and perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have significant mediating effects. Additionally, self-efficacy has a marginal or no influence at all on perceived usefulness, and flow experience (FE) has no effect on usage intention. Suggestions for future studies in the area of translation technology teaching are proposed based on the results and limitations of this study. These findings contribute to the promotion of the use of translation technology by master of Translation and interpreting at universities, which is expected to provide a beneficial research foundation for the teaching of translation technology.

Embedding clinically relevant learning experience in basic science subjects is desired for the preclinical phase of undergraduate medical education. The present study aimed to modify case-based learning (CBL) with a role-playing situational teaching method and assess the student feedback and learning effect. One hundred seventy-six sophomore students majoring in clinical medicine from Harbin Medical University were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (n = 90), who received traditional hybrid teaching, and the experimental group (n = 86), who received the role-playing situational teaching. Students in the experimental group were given a 1-wk preclass preparation to dramatize a hyperthyroidism scenario through online autonomous learning of thyroid physiology and performed the patient's consultation process in class, followed by a student presentation about key points of lecture content and a question-driven discussion. A posttest and questionnaire survey were conducted after class. The test scores of the two groups had no statistical differences, whereas the rate of excellence (high scores) of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Furthermore, the record of online self-directed learning engagements was significantly improved in the experimental group. In the questionnaire, >70% of the students showed positive attitudes toward the role-playing situational teaching method and were willing to participate in other chapters of the physiology course. Such results show that CBL supported by a role-playing situational teaching method encourages active learning and improves the application of basic knowledge of physiology, which can be incorporated in the preclinical curricula to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Previous studies reported mixed findings on autistic individuals' pitch perception relative to neurotypical (NT) individuals. We investigated whether this may be partly due to individual differences in cognitive abilities by comparing their performance on various pitch perception tasks on a large sample (n = 164) of autistic and NT children and adults. Our findings revealed that: (i) autistic individuals either showed similar or worse performance than NT individuals on the pitch tasks; (ii) cognitive abilities were associated with some pitch task performance; and (iii) cognitive abilities modulated the relationship between autism diagnosis and pitch perception on some tasks. Our findings highlight the importance of taking an individual differences approach to understand the strengths and weaknesses of pitch processing in autism.

Virtual contexts play a crucial role in assisting students' learning. Researchers have taken advantage of the potential of immersive virtual reality (VR) for situating students in inaccessible places, and for engaging them in learning activities. Meanwhile, several previous studies have reported that, in VR-based learning contexts, students' perception of immersion and learning motivation could be low owing to the lack of clear objectives and problem-solving scenarios. On the other hand, digital game-based learning is capable of enhancing students' engagement in a task. In this study, we designed a learning approach (namely RPG-VR) by means of integrating a role-playing game with VR technology to enhance students' science learning. Furthermore, a quasi-experiment was conducted to evaluate the students' learning effectiveness via, respectively, providing the RPG-VR learning approach and the conventional VR (called C-VR) learning approach for the experimental and control groups. The experimental results indicated that this approach significantly enhanced the students' perceptions of immersion, self-efficacy and extrinsic learning motivation, in comparison with the C-VR learning approach. Specifically, students who learned with the RPG-VR learning approach perceived more immersion in the engagement and the total immersion stages. This study contributes to existing knowledge of VR technology by providing that a digital role-playing game could reinforce the main characteristics of VR-based learning environments and enhance students' concentration on a learning task. However, no significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of promoting students' learning achievements, implying that more instructional assistance is needed to improve students' knowledge gains in VR-based learning environments.

The era of information and communication technology (ICT) has popularized adolescents' digital reading activities in their daily lives. Most prior studies focused on identifying significant factors that foster digital reading performance. Although educational quality is of great concern, it is crucial to consider the issue of educational equity in the digital world. Our study aims to unfold the mediating roles of ICT-related psychological needs between economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS) and digital reading performance. A multilevel mediation analysis was adopted for 36,490 students from six high-performing Asian regions participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The results indicated that perceived ICT autonomy significantly mediated the relationship in most Asian regions, while perceived ICT competence yielded mixed roles. Interestingly, the suppression effects were detected between ESCS, ICT in social interaction, and digital reading. Our research findings offer fresh insights into narrowing the digital divide in the online reading environment for adolescents.

At present, the research on the teacher-student interaction (TSI) mode in smart classroom (SC) was not in-depth enough, and a few studies mainly focuses on top-down theoretical deduction. This study adopted a bottom-up approach to study the TSI modes in SC and proposed specific implementation suggestions, which had important theoretical value and practical significance for promoting the development of students' higher-order thinking (HOT) and the digital transformation of education practice. The study used lag sequential analysis to encode and analyze 12 SC teaching videos that won first prize in Jilin Province, China. A total of 4617 sequence relationships and 48 significant activity sequences were generated. The analysis of these significant activity sequences showed that SC was divided into four types of TSI modes: discovery question, conceptual scheme, validation scheme, and creating products. There was a sequential relationship between the four types. The research proposed specific implementation suggestions from four aspects: interaction goals, interaction methods, interaction content, and interaction media. This will guide teachers in building high-quality SC and assist students in developing HOT.

Blended synchronous learning has diffused widely owing to its flexibility and accessibility. One of the special forms--blended synchronous classroom program (BSCP) for equitable education has fruited in some countries and areas. An in-depth understanding of the adoption and diffusion of an innovation is beneficial to a wider range of innovation. However, there might be a barrier for the diffusion of BSCP's successful experience to other area due to differences in sociocultural orientation. In addition, there is basically little evidence on how BSCP is adopted and spread in a certain area. According to the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, a principal is generally the main innovation initiator in the school. Therefore, this study explores how BSCP had been adopted and diffused in an area in Southeastern China from the perspective of principals in primary and junior middle schools using Rogers's DOI theory as the theoretical lens. The data was mainly collected from in-depth one-on-one interviews with nine (9) experienced principals. The results showed that multi-aspect factors provided preconditions for innovation of BSCP. Even though with a certain degree of complexity, perceived positive characteristics of BSCP helped the principals make the decision to adopt BSCP. In addition, practical strategies and creative man-made mechanisms ensured BSCP's success and sustainability. Finally, the highlights for the BSCP's adoption and diffusion in Yongkang are discussed from sociocultural orientation. The study will contribute to the wider diffusion study empirically and theoretically.

Despite the recognized importance of addressing belief bias in critical thinking, little is known about the neural activity underlying belief-bias reasoning and its connection to critical thinking. The study utilized event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the neural responses during belief-bias reasoning and explored the extent to which these ERPs explained individual differences in critical thinking. A sample of university students (N = 72) participated in a belief-bias syllogistic reasoning task while their electroencephalographic data were recorded. The task manipulated conflicts between belief and logic within each syllogism. Additionally, participants completed established tests to assess their critical thinking. Our findings revealed that participants with high levels of critical thinking exhibited larger amplitudes of the P600 and late positive component (LPC), indicating enhanced syntactic analysis and relation integration. Moreover, those with high levels of critical thinking displayed smaller N400 amplitudes, suggesting reduced reliance on automatic semantic processing. Notably, participants, especially those with high levels of critical thinking, demonstrated larger late negative component (LNC) amplitudes in response to incongruent syllogisms than to congruent syllogisms, highlighting their heightened capacity to address conflicts between belief and logic. Furthermore, regression analyses indicated that critical thinking relied on both addressing conflicts between belief and logic, as indexed by the LNC, and generating conclusions, as indexed by the P3 components (including both P600 and LPC). These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of critical thinking by shedding light on the neural processes associated with unbiased reasoning and metacognition, as well as offer implications for assessing critical thinking.

While a strong literature base exists around undergraduate experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), few studies examine how students approach the question of "what's next" after graduation. This study examines the impact of social ties on STEM college seniors' plans to enter the STEM workforce, and how race/ethnicity and gender impact postgraduation planning in STEM. We interviewed a racially diverse sample of 39 STEM college seniors at a predominantly White research institution. Analysis showed that students relied on weak and strong social ties in obtaining job leads and valued diversity in the workplace. Some students of color and women experienced negative social ties (via racism and sexism) during internship experiences, which shaped their thinking around postgraduate opportunities. We discuss implications for equity, as well as recommendations for research and practice.

Higher education practitioners are a wide-ranging group of professionals often responsible for implementing programs and services that support student success. In this qualitative study, we examine the nature of student-practitioner relationships among a multiracial sample of 39 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college seniors to address three questions: (a) How do STEM students describe their relationships with practitioners on campus? (b) In what ways, if any, do student-practitioner relationships influence STEM students' feelings of marginality and/or mattering in STEM? and (c) To what extent do STEM students have different experiences based on their racial/ethnic identities? We employ a cross-case study analysis approach, contrasting the experiences of majority-status (e.g., White and Asian/Asian American) and minoritized-status (e.g., Black/African American and Latinx) students within STEM contexts. Our findings show clear differences regarding how students describe their interactions with practitioners based on racial/ethnicbackground, as well as how student-practitioner relationships impact students' sense of mattering and marginality in STEM. We conclude with implications for research and practice to address the persistent structural issues affecting STEM college students.

Background: AI can positively influence teaching by offering support for classroom management, creating inclusive learning environments, enhancing digital skills, personalizing teaching methods, and strengthening teacher-student relationships. Objectives: This quantitative research study investigates the opportunities, difficulties, and consequences of incorporating AI into teacher education. Methods: Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 202 college students and 68 staff members. The analysis was conducted using SPSS software. Results: The study provides a novel contribution by its thorough investigation of the diverse effects of AI on teacher education. It offers beneficial perspectives on the possible benefits and challenges, illuminating the far-reaching changes that AI could bring to the terrain of learning and instruction and teaching methods in the time yet to come. The research sought to assess the effect of AI adoption in teacher education across five main dimensions: (i) its influence on teaching support and classroom management, (ii) its role in creating inclusive and accessible learning environments, (iii) its contribution to improving teachers' digital literacy and computer skills, and enhancing access to digital teaching resources, (iv) its positive influence on identifying students' learning styles and facilitating the adoption of diverse teaching methods, and (v) its role in strengthening teacher-student relationships through improved interactions. Conclusion: The findings elucidate the promising opportunities that AI presents in the field of teacher education, along with the obstacles that require resolution for the effective fusion of AI educational settings.

COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic and unprecedented challenges to the medical education and medical students, affecting them physically, mentally and emotionally. While progressing through the post-pandemic recovery phase, it is crucial to comprehensively evaluate the pandemic's consequences and tackle the underlying problems. To investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students' mental health, social well-being, and academic progression. A cross-sectional study was carried out with voluntary sampling of students from both government and private medical schools in Malaysia. A self-administered online survey form containing three validated psychological tools was distributed (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale HADS, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, NIH Toolbox Social Relationship Scales). There were also questions regarding the challenges faced by medical students and their academic performance during COVID-19 pandemic. Scores of each questionnaire were tabulated, analyzed and interpreted according to their specific cut-points. Two hundred and thirteen responses were received. 89.2% (n = 190) were domestic students while 10.8% (n = 23) were international students. Out of 32 medical universities in Malaysia, the participants were from 19 of them (9 public and 10 private universities). About half of the participants had contracted COVID-19 infection during the study period (n = 124, 58.2%). Majority had chosen "Lack of on-campus learning and training session causing incompetency" as the most relevant impact of COVID-19 on their academic progression (n = 85, 39.9%). Above 90% of participants passed their Final Academic Assessment in 2020 (91.5%) and 2021 (93.9%). About half of them (n = 86, 40.4%) were having symptoms considerable of anxiety while only 19.2% (n = 41) were having symptoms considerable of depression. Majority had normal self-esteem (n = 177, 83.1%). For social relationship, around two-third of them had great social support and companionship. However, more than half had social distress. The median for the period of time having absolute online classes, absolute physical classes and hybrid classes were 18, 4, and 9 months, respectively. Having absolute online classes of >18 months was associated significantly with higher perceived hostility (16.49 vs. 14.47, p = 0.012). In addition, being infected with COVID-19 was associated significantly with higher self-esteem (26.88 vs. 25.85, p = 0.009). Large proportion of students were affected by COVID-19 pandemic. Absolute online classes has huge impact on emotions of medical students especially from the aspect of perceived hostility. Hence, implementation of online medical education during COVID-19 era requires modifications and improvements.

This research was a quasi-experiment that examined the effects of CLIL in an educational context in Taiwan's higher education. Two groups of first-year undergraduate students were involved. One (65 students) was taught with CLIL; the other (59), the conventional approach. Their knowledge of the content and learning attitudes (self-efficacy and motivation) were quantitatively compared through achievement tests and a questionnaire. A qualitative semi-structured survey asked both groups for their perspectives on and perceptions of the treatments. The quantitative results show that both approaches were significantly effective for improving students' knowledge of the content of the target subject (literary text), but the EG outperformed the CG. Likewise, both groups had positive learning attitudes to their treatments, but the EG also outweighed the CG. Furthermore, the qualitative accounts generated diverse results, reflecting the underlying difference between the approaches but showing that both approaches were welcomed. However, the conventional method was more favored than CLIL, mostly because of the participants' learning preferences or because of the learning patterns which they had formed over years of studying in the specific cultural-education system (i.e., that of Taiwan) chosen for the study.

Medical educators and programs are deeply interested in understanding and projecting the longitudinal developmental trajectories of medical students after these students are matriculated into medical schools so appropriate resources and interventions can be provided to support students' learning and progression during the process. As students have different characteristics and they do not learn and progress at the same pace, it is important to identify student subgroups and address their academic needs to create more equitable learning opportunities. Using latent class growth analysis, this study explored students' developmental trajectories and detected group differences based on their coursework performance in Anatomy within the two years of preclinical education in one medical school. Four subgroups were identified with various intercepts and slopes. There were significant group differences between these subgroups and their standardized scores in MCAT and UCMLE Step 1. The study provides evidence about the heterogeneity of the student population and points out future research directions.

Aural decoding skill is an important contributor to successful EFL listening comprehension. This paper first described a preliminary study involving a 12-week undergraduate flipped decoding course, based on the flipped SEF-ARCS decoding model. Although the decoding model (N = 44) was significantly more effective in supporting students' decoding performance than a conventional decoding course (N = 36), two main challenges were reported: teacher's excessive workload, and high requirement for the individual teacher's decoding skills. To address these challenges, we developed a chatbot based on the self-determination theory and social presence theory to serve as a 24/7 conversational agent, and adapted the flipped decoding course to a fully online chatbot-supported learning course to reduce the dependence on the teacher. Although results revealed that the chatbot-supported fully online group (N = 46) and the flipped group (N = 43) performed equally well in decoding test, the chatbot-supported fully online approach was more effective in supporting students' behavioral and emotional engagement than the flipped learning approach. Students' perceptions of the chatbot-supported decoding activities were also explored. This study provides a useful pedagogical model involving the innovative use of chatbot to develop undergraduate EFL aural decoding skills in a fully online environment.

The parent-child relationship plays an important role in shaping adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the mechanisms underlying the association between the parent-child relationship and mental health are unclear. Using a 2-wave longitudinal design, this study examined the role of both mother-child and father-child relationships during home quarantine in boarding school students' internalizing and externalizing problems after school reopening, and the mediating roles of academic buoyancy and academic engagement. A total of 1967 boarding high school students completed a battery of self-report questionnaires before and after school reopening. Results indicated that both father-child and mother-child relationships indirectly contributed to internalizing and externalizing problems through the interlinked mediation path of academic buoyancy and academic engagement. The mother-child relationship had greater influence on internalizing and externalizing problems than the father-child relationship. These findings clarify the associations between the parent-child relationships and mental health problems of boarding high school students during the transition to school reopening in the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding our understanding of psychological adjustment related to parent-child relationships and the potential mechanisms of these relationships.

Acting as a governmental tool to enhance competitiveness and integrate research and education by merging a local university and a provincial academy of sciences, this case study provides an example of a novel cross-sectoral complementary merger in higher education in China. Through a qualitative analysis of its three-stage process and the factors influencing its preliminary positive outcomes from the university leadership perspective, this study examines a unique higher education merger, emphasizing the effects of cultural issues and leadership. This study adds an interesting example to the growing literature on higher education mergers and offers suggestions for future research and practice.

Existing research has investigated student problem-solving strategies across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; however, there is limited work in undergraduate biology education on how various aspects that influence learning combine to generate holistic approaches to problem solving. Through the lens of situated cognition, we consider problem solving as a learning phenomenon that involves the interactions between internal cognition of the learner and the external learning environment. Using phenomenography as a methodology, we investigated undergraduate student approaches to problem solving in biology through interviews. We identified five aspects of problem solving (including knowledge, strategy, intention, metacognition, and mindset) that define three qualitatively different approaches to problem solving; each approach is distinguishable by variations across the aspects. Variations in the knowledge and strategy aspects largely aligned with previous work on how the use or avoidance of biological knowledge informed both concept-based and nonconcept-based strategies. Variations in the other aspects revealed intentions spanning complete disengagement to deep interest with the course material, different degrees of metacognitive reflections, and a continuum of fixed to growth mindsets. We discuss implications for how these characterizations can improve instruction and efforts to support development of problem-solving skills.

It is critical to investigate the major factors that influence the perceived value and satisfaction of international students in Malaysia, as the country has seen a decrease in international students since 2017 and strives to become an international education hub. This research aims to: (1) ascertain the level of satisfaction experienced by international students attending private universities (PrUs) in the Klang Valley; (2) identify factors and present a model that measures their influence on the perceived value and satisfaction of international students; and (3) propose policy recommendations to key stakeholders. An empirical study was conducted using a quantitative research methodology via physical survey using structured questionnaires. A total of 502 surveys from international students were collected from twelve private universities in the Klang Valley. The partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was employed to assess the measurement and structural model in validating the study model. Based on the empirical findings, the external environment, image, academic and non-academic constructs positively influence perceived value, which affects satisfaction. Results also confirm that the post-behavioural intentions of satisfied international students are word-of-mouth recommendations and loyalty. The results provided new perspectives on attracting and retaining international students to study in Malaysia. Theoretical, policy and practical implications are discussed.

In the pandemic era, online learning has become the standard mode of learning in China where lockdowns were in place. However, in lockdowns, the roles of guardian, teachers and learners transform and change traditionally-accepted responsibilities and roles as well as relationships, thus warranting an examination of the third space of learning and its implications for the stakeholders' learning practices and emotions. A review of literature demonstrates a dearth of research on issues of role and practice shifts and power relations changes within the Chinese online English as Foreign Language (EFL) learning context. Using close ended and open-ended questionnaire data from teachers at Chinese school learners studying English as a foreign language, this study inquiries into the (i) changes in roles and emotions of teachers and guardian in the third space of learning in the Chinese online learning context, (ii) changes in the practices of the teachers, and (iii) transformations of power relations between guardian and teachers. The findings of the study contribute to literature on emergent online pedagogical practices and the emotions and roles and relationships of key stakeholders, namely teachers and guardian in the third space of learning mediated by technology.

Although digital game-based vocabulary learning (DGBVL) has received increasing attention in the past two decades, the impacts of DGBVL on the depth of word knowledge are still not well understood, especially in regard to productive vocabulary learning and DGBVL's long-term efficacy. This study leverages a quasiexperimental research design to investigate DGBVL's long-term effects on receptive vocabulary (RV) and productive vocabulary (PV). Forty-eight Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) university students, assigned to the experimental and control groups, were instructed by a DGBVL approach and PowerPoint (PPT) lecturing, respectively, over the course of 18 weeks. Specifically, a mixed 2×2 repeated measures experimental design was conducted by adopting instruction type (DGBVL and PPT lecturing) and testing time (pretest and posttest) as the independent variables, with RV and PV proficiency as the respective dependent variables. The results suggest that instruction type and teaching time have significant effects on participants' RV and PV learning achievements. However, teaching time's effect size outweighs instruction type. The findings are highly encouraging for the use of DGBVL in the EFL classroom, as it may serve as an effective and long-lasting pedagogical tool within this context.

To explore email request patterns in the institutional context of university settings, this study combines speech act research with conversation analysis methods to examine how native speakers of American English and native speakers of Chinese formulate email requests to faculty. 100 authentic email requests sent by Chinese and American students who studied in a U.S. university was collected. The methodology of conversation analysis was used to investigate how imposition level of emails and senders' entitlement to make the request affect students' language choices. The findings demonstrate that Chinese students have some pragmatic infelicities in their email requests, such as underuse of internal and external modifications for high-imposition requests, presenting request head acts at the beginning of emails, and pre-assuming that the requestee would grant the request. This study finally offers pedagogical implications for teaching email requests to English learners. This study contributes to our understanding of the requestive patterns of Chinese and American students as well as the similarities and differences between emails written by American students and those written by Chinese students. It contributes to the field of cross-cultural pragmatic studies on the speech act of request by L2 speakers.

This study examined opportunities provided for preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) to learn reasoning and proof in algebra from the perspective of college instructors. We analyzed interview transcripts of 15 course instructors recruited from three teacher education programs in the United States. We examined the reported opportunities provided for PSMTs to engage in proving-related activities, including making conjectures, investigating conjectures, developing arguments, evaluating arguments, and disproving by using counterexamples. We also analyzed instructional strategies reported by the instructors. We found the inconsistency between instructors' perceptions of the importance of reasoning and proof in algebra and instructor-reported opportunities to learn. Findings also indicated that developing arguments was reported the most frequently. In addition, instructors reported more pedagogy-focused general teaching strategies than proof-specific teaching strategies.

Purpose: China recently proposed a series of important policies intended to reform and improve the quality of medical education on the national level. This paper presents the findings of a national survey of China's medical schools conducted to review the development of undergraduate medical education over a five-year period (2013-2018). Design/Approach/Methods: The National Center for Health Professions Education Development implemented the China Medical Education College Survey. Approximately 64% of the targeted medical schools participated in the survey, constituting a representative sample of higher education institutions offering educational programs in clinical medicine in China. Findings: Following new policy orientations, medical schools showed positive developments in terms of the types of medical education programs offered, teaching and assessment methods, medical education resources, participation in accreditation, and quality of incoming students. However, the survey also revealed several worrying trends, including the coexistence of various types of education programs, significant regional differences in educational resources, dominance of traditional teaching and assessment methods, inconsistencies in quality, and an increase in graduates seeking employment in professions outside healthcare. Originality/Value: Findings of the first national survey of China's medical schools show that there is still a long way to go to ensure high quality and efficient medical education on a national level.

A peer-assessment system provides a structured learning process for students and allows them to write textual feedback on each other's assignments and projects. This helps instructors or teaching assistants perform a more comprehensive evaluation of students' work. However, the contribution of peer assessment to students' learning relies heavily on the quality of the review. Therefore, a thorough evaluation of the quality of peer assessment is essential to assuring that the process will benefit students' learning. Previous studies have focused on applying machine learning to evaluate peer assessment by identifying characteristics of reviews (e.g., Do they mention a problem, make a suggestion, or tell the students where to make a change?). Unfortunately, collecting ground-truth labels of the characteristics is an arbitrary, subjective, and labor-intensive task. Besides in most cases, those labels are assigned by students, not all of whom are reliable as a source of labeling. In this study, we propose a semi-supervised pseudo-labeling approach to build a robust peer assessment evaluation system to utilize large unlabeled datasets along with only a small amount of labeled data. We aim to evaluate the peer assessment from two angles: Detect a problem statement (Does the reviewer mention a problem with the work?) and suggestion (Does the reviewer give a suggestion to the author?)

In Chinese philosophy, scholars have been discussing a long-standing and unresolved matter (Fan, 2019; Lupke, 2005; Wu, 2009), namely Ming[character omitted]. Ming, often translated as life, fate, or command, was initially understood as orders and arrangements from heaven (Fan, 2019). However, since the Kongzi (Confucius) period, the focus of Ming[character omitted] has shifted to people themselves and how they should live their lives. Furthermore, Ming[character omitted] has been recognized by people as human life as well as the survival of one's life journey. In the contemporary age, the concept of Ming[character omitted] has shifted again. It ensures that people, instead of the predetermined power of nature and its kind, have most of the ability to decide how to live their lives. The study of Ming[character omitted] has thus become one of the essential philosophical fields for Chinese and international thinkers, and academic researchers, to explore the question of heaven and human existence. In this paper, the analysis of four texts throughout Chinese history will serve as a simple reflective example of the difficulties of interpretation, revealing the evolving meaning of the concept and its pedagogical implications.

The advent of virtual reality (VR) in education offers unique possibilities for facilitating cooperative learning strategies, particularly in fields demanding intricate spatial understanding, such as gross anatomy. This study investigates the impact of integrating cooperative learning strategies within a VR-based gross anatomy curriculum, focusing on enhancing students' anatomy knowledge and skills. We analyzed the performance of two cohorts of first-year nursing students across five semesters (2016-2020), where traditional learning methods were used in the first three semesters (2016-2018), and a VR-based cooperative learning approach was adopted in the last two semesters (2019-2020). Our findings suggest that the VR-based cooperative learning group achieved significantly higher scores in their gross anatomy laboratory courses compared to their counterparts learning through traditional methods. This research provides valuable insights into how the integration of VR technology and cooperative learning strategies can not only enhance learning outcomes but also improve the VR learning experience by reducing motion sickness. It accentuates the potential of VR-based cooperative learning as an impactful educational tool in anatomy education. Future research should further explore the optimal integration of VR and cooperative learning strategies in diverse course types and their potential to enhance educational outcomes and the learning experience.

The present study assesses the efficacy of online education in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, scrutinizes its merits and demerits, pinpoints encountered challenges, and presents targeted solutions. We used the survey in this study. Totally 312 questionnaires were collected. The findings indicate that learners expect online instruction to entail greater interactivity, socialization, personalization, and enhanced technology usability. Although online education provides certain advantages, such as flexibility and cost-effectiveness, it also engenders certain drawbacks such as inadequate opportunities for face-to-face interaction and feedback, high technical requirements, susceptibility to cheating, and insufficient monitoring and feedback. Future investigations could expand the sample size and generalize the findings to real-world contexts.

Physical education teachers are the practitioners of physical education curriculum reform who work at the front line of teaching, and their innovation behavior play a crucial role in promoting the smooth implementation of physical education curriculum reform. This study uses goal orientation theory as a theoretical basis to explore the mediation effect of learning goal orientation in the influence of perceived organization support on physical education teachers' innovation behavior. A total of 402 valid questionnaires were collected from physical education teachers in 40 schools at the basic education level in China, and the relationship between the variables was tested using structural equation modeling. The findings showed that physical education teachers' perceived organizational support had a positive effect on learning goal orientation and innovation behavior. Physical education teachers' learning goal orientation significantly influenced their innovation behavior. Additionally, learning goal orientation partially mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and innovation behavior.

The topic of cheating at the college level has received greater attention since the 2019 pandemic. This is in part because countless institutions of higher education switched many of their live/inperson classes to an online learning format. In comparing cheating in live classes to online classes during the 2020-2021 academic year, our survey study results showed a stronger prevalence of cheating in online classes, and more than half (53.2%) of the students reported knowing a classmate who cheated during the pandemic. The aspects of gender and class rank are also discussed related to cheating.

Testing programs have explored the use of technology-enhanced items alongside traditional item types (e.g., multiple-choice and constructed-response items) as measurement evidence of latent constructs modeled with item response theory (IRT). In this report, we discuss considerations in applying IRT models to a particular type of adaptive testlet referred to as a branching item. Under the branching format, all test takers are assigned to a common question, and the assignment of the next question relies on the response to the first question through deterministic rules. In addition, the items at both stages are scored together as one polytomous item. Real and simulated examples are provided to discuss challenges in applying IRT models to branching items. We find that model-data misfit is likely to occur when branching items are scored as polytomous items and modeled with the generalized partial credit model and that the relationship between the discrimination of the routing component and the discriminations of the subsequent components seemed to drive the misfit. We conclude with lessons learned and provide suggested guidelines and considerations for operationalizing the use of branching items in future assessments.

Objective: To describe the changes in sleep health domains and examine the associations between the repeated measures and intraindividual variability (IIV) of these domains and perceived stress. Participants: A diverse racial and ethnic group of first-year college students (N = 23, 78.3% female, aged 17-18) attending in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Sleep health domains were determined using 7-day wrist actigraph and daily sleep diaries, and perceived stress scale was completed at 1-month intervals across 3 months. Results: Sleep timing, regularity, and alertness during daytime demonstrated statistically significant changes between three timepoints. Greater stress was associated with more irregularity (B = 2.25 [0.87-3.62], p < 0.001), more dissatisfaction in sleep (B = 0.04 [0.02-0.19], p < 0.01), alertness during daytime (B = 0.18 [0.05-0.31], p < 0.001), and greater IIV (i.e., fluctuations) in sleep satisfaction (B = 0.083 [0.02, 0.15], p < 0.01). Conclusion: These findings offer insights for future researchers to facilitate intervention development to promote mental and sleep health among college students.

To examine the specific education challenges that minority language-speaking parents encounter in teaching their children heritage language, this study conducted in-depth interviews with ten Chinese immigrant parents in Korean-Chinese multicultural families. Textual analysis of the interviews revealed that 'One Parent One Language' is a natural approach adopted by immigrant parents in their teaching practices, although it did not provide necessary or sufficient context for raising bilingual first language children. In addition, the main challenges that hinder immigrant parents' teaching practices centred on three areas: teaching methods, resource conflicts, and language environment.

This bibliometric research aims to analyse inclusive education research from 1999 to 2018 as illustrative of worldwide trends regarding inclusive education. Five core issues consistently emerge from this analysis, and they are listed in chronological order as follows: Para-educational experiences and peer supports, pre-service and in-service teachers' attitudes, outcomes, and achievements of students with disabilities, teacher education/training, and teachers' efficacy. Their relationship was interdependent and supplementary to one another. From the results, several potential themes have emerged, such as inclusive education in multicultural environments, inclusion in higher education, relevant debates, and policies on inclusive education. From the evolutionary trajectory of inclusive education research, universal education may become a major future trend of research into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Developing adaptive skills poses a significant challenge for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Personal hygiene, including hand-washing, was particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Video self-modeling (VSM) is an effective strategy for teaching adaptive skills due to its inherent individualization nature. However, the production and implementation of VSM face certain barriers. To address this issue, the present study employed an innovative approach termed iVSM, which utilizes the head-swapping technique to generate self-modeling videos. To evaluate the efficacy of iVSM in teaching hand-washing skills, a single-subject multiple probe design was employed across three preschool children with ASD. The findings indicated that all participants successfully acquired the targeted skill, with two of them achieving mastery following a single intervention session. The implications of these findings underscore the potential of this novel approach to strike a balance between individualization and feasibility, thereby enhancing the broader implementation of VSM within the context of inclusive education. Furthermore, future studies can focus on the comparative research and explore more applications.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of auditory processing (AP) in preschool children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using the speech auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR), which provides insights into the AP of speech signals in the central auditory nervous system (CANS). Method: A total of 84 preschool children diagnosed with ADHD, aged 4-6 years, were matched with 84 typically developing (TD) children based on gender and age. All children underwent speech-ABR testing, cognitive assessment using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence--Fourth Edition or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Fourth Edition, and a continuous performance test. Results: Children with ADHD exhibited significantly longer latencies of speech-ABR waveforms V, A, and D compared to TD children. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the latencies of speech-ABR waves V, A, and D were affected by the presence of ADHD, but not by the full-scale intelligence quotient. Conclusions: This study revealed that preschool children with ADHD exhibited abnormal AP of speech signals in their CANS. The findings suggest that speech-ABR can be utilized as a reliable measure to evaluate AP ability in this population, as it remains unaffected by cognitive or attentional factors. The transient response (V, A) of speech-ABR was found to be a significant predictor of ADHD in a clinical setting. Early assessment of AP abnormalities via speech-ABR is recommended in preschool-age children to develop targeted interventions for ADHD.

This research investigated the impact of processing instruction (PI) on the acquisition of the English third-person singular present tense by Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners and whether this effect would extend to the acquisition of other language components. This study featured the pretest-immediate-posttest design and participants were required to participate in all tests (pretest, immediate posttest, delayed posttest). Two classes were assigned to receive PI and Traditional Instruction (TI) respectively, while another class served as the control group. A language background check was conducted 2 weeks before the main experiment. And after three consecutive class hours, there is an immediate posttest and a delayed posttest in 2 weeks. By comparing the results of the three tests, the study measured and compared the primary effects, secondary transfer-of-training (TOT) effects, and cumulative TOT effects of PI and TI. The findings showed that both PI and TI had significant effects, although they differed in the extent and duration of improvement in acquisition effectiveness. PI was found to be superior to TI, which could be reflected in primary and two TOT effects except the interpretation tasks related to passive voice. This study suggests that PI can be utilized in grammar teaching due to its efficacy in teaching specific linguistic structures and its transfer-of-training effects on other grammar rules.

Test-taking experience is a consequence of the interaction between students and assessment properties. We define a new notion, rapid-pacing behavior, to reflect two types of test-taking experience -- disengagement and speededness. To identify rapid-pacing behavior, we extend existing methods to develop response-time thresholds for individual items based on empirical patterns of response time and response accuracy. An analysis procedure is proposed to compare the extent of rapid-pacing behavior across testing formats. We also present a case study using datasets from an educational survey assessment of mathematics. A large-scale randomized experiment was conducted involving two testing formats (linear and multistage) for U.S. 8th-grade students. Results suggest that using multistage testing instead of linear testing has differential impact on test-taking experience across performance levels. The lower performers appear more engaged when presented with items better targeted to their proficiency, whereas the higher performers experience more time pressure when presented with more difficult items.