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Aim: To explore the health beliefs of clinical and academic nurses from Japan, Australia and China regarding wearing paper masks to protect themselves and others, and to identify differences in participants' health beliefs regarding masks. Background: The correct use of face masks and consensus among health professionals across the globe is essential for containing pandemics, and nurses need to act according to policy to protect themselves, educate the public and preserve resources for frontline health workers. Paper masks are worn by health professionals and the general public to avoid the transmission of respiratory infections, such as COVID‐19, but there appear to be differences in health beliefs of nurses within and between countries regarding these. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study used content analysis with a framework approach. Findings: There were major differences in nurse participants' beliefs between and within countries, including how nurses use paper masks and their understanding of their efficacy. In addition, there were cultural differences in the way that nurses use masks in their daily lives and nursing practice contexts. Conclusion: Nurses from different working environments, countries and areas of practice hold a variety of health beliefs about mask wearing at the personal and professional level. Implications for nursing policy and health policy: The COVID‐19 pandemic has sparked much discussion about the critical importance of masks for the safety of health professionals, and there has been considerable discussion and disagreement about health policies regarding mask use by the general public. Improper use of masks may have a role in creating mask shortages or transmitting infections. An evidence‐based global policy on mask use for respiratory illnesses for health professionals, including nurses, and the general public needs to be adopted and supported by a wide‐reaching education campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although existing studies have shown that both repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and music therapy have advantages in the treatment of non‐fluent aphasia, the efficacy of the combination of these two methods remains to be investigated. Aims: To investigate the clinical efficacy of low‐frequency rTMS combined with music therapy on language function and depression in patients with non‐fluent aphasia after stroke. Methods & Procedures: A single‐blind parallel randomised controlled trial was conducted. Sixty patients (mean duration = 93.78 days) with non‐fluent aphasia after stroke were randomly divided into a traditional therapy group (n = 20), a music therapy group (n = 20) and a combined therapy group (n = 20, 1 Hz). The language function and depression were evaluated before and 3 weeks after treatment with the Chinese version of the Western Aphasia Battery scale, Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination scale and Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire Hospital Version scale. Outcomes & Results: The combined therapy group was significantly better in all outcomes than the traditional therapy group and was significantly better in depression than the music therapy group. The music therapy group was significantly better in repetition and depression than the traditional therapy group. Language improvement was positively correlated with depression improvement. For adverse events, only two patients in the combined therapy group showed slight dizziness during rTMS treatment and their symptoms improved after rest. Conclusions & Implications: Our preliminary randomised controlled study indicates that low‐frequency rTMS combined with music therapy is feasible and safe in improving language function and depression in non‐fluent aphasia patients after stroke. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and music therapy respectively have advantages in the treatment of non‐fluent aphasia after stroke, but whether the combination of the two methods is more effective is still unknown. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge: This is one of the first randomised control trials to investigate whether the clinical efficacy of low‐frequency rTMS combined music therapy for non‐fluent aphasia is better. The findings show that low‐frequency rTMS combined music therapy is superior to traditional therapy in spontaneous speech, auditory comprehension, repetition, naming, aphasia quotient, functional language level and depression, and superior to music therapy in depression, while music therapy is superior to traditional therapy in repetition and depression. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Low‐frequency rTMS combined music therapy may be a better method for treatment of non‐fluent aphasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed at comparing different formats of illustrations for children's books created by modern Chinese and Ukrainian artists. At the same time, it was not focused just on determining the leading format, but on identifying the attractiveness factors of each format. To this end, the study investigated children's illustration preferences drawing from the following three age groups: 5–6 years old (preschoolers), 7–8 years old (second‐graders), and 9–10 years old (fourth‐graders). According to the survey, children were most concerned with illustration colourfulness (this is true for paper and pop‐up books) and viewing convenience. There were no statistically significant differences found between Chinese and Ukrainian books in terms of these parameters. At the same time, Chinese e‐books appeared to outperform the Ukrainian texts in terms of feature management and illustration colourfulness. Publishers and artists of children's books can use these data for effective creative activity and making constructive decisions. At the same time, these findings may be of interest to parents, informing or guiding book selection for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), they experience many challenges in dietary decision‐making. Thus, this study examined the perspective and experiences of adults with IBD in dietary decision‐making. Objective: This study aimed to explore the perception and consideration of people with IBD in their daily dietary decisions through monitoring, interpretation and action during the decision‐making process. Design: A qualitative study of individuals affected by IBD was conducted through semistructured interviews. Results: Twenty patients were recruited from four tertiary hospitals in Nanjing, China, and each participant completed a semistructured interview. The majority of participants reported on the process and experience of dietary decision‐making. Key themes were categorised into three stages: (1) assessing needs, preferences and food cues (monitor); (2) moving from experience to expertise (interpret) and (3) balancing expectations amidst limitations (act). The majority of participants reported that their decisions were shaped by assessing current disease status and food cues. Those interviewed with IBD were willing to make tradeoffs for bowel stability, but their decisions were also influenced by past dietary experiences and traditional Chinese beliefs. The lack of awareness of dietary guidelines was a significant barrier to healthy eating decisions. Positive or negative feelings accompanied dietary decisions. Conclusion: Although most people with IBD change their diet after diagnosis, the changes made are often inconsistent with existing dietary recommendations. Several factors can influence the dietary decision‐making process. This study will help assess the experiences of people with IBD in dietary decision‐making to encourage the formation of targeted dietary health and well‐being interventions. Knowledge of nutrition and diet should be provided in education and training programmes for IBD management. Patient or Public Contribution: The first three authors of this paper were the lead researchers in this study's design. These authors were mentored by patient researchers who also contributed to the manuscript, and the research process was co‐lead and directed by other patient participants and consultants. The results of this paper were directly obtained from patient participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Limited research on the effectiveness of additional online and face‐to‐face practise opportunities for promoting active learning among Chinese EFL learners in higher education. Current understanding of self‐regulated and collaborative learning theories in educational contexts. Objectives: To establish the efficacy of interactive online and face‐to‐face practise opportunities for enhancing active learning among Chinese EFL learners. Methods: Employed mixed methods research to assess the impact of different types of practise opportunities on 116 EFL learners. Utilised methodological triangulation of QUAN + QUAL data and one‐way ANOVA for interpretation. Results and conclusions: The study demonstrated the effectiveness of integrating online and face‐to‐face practise opportunities to enhance active learning. Empirical evidence supports the pedagogical and theoretical benefits of these opportunities for promoting active learning among EFL learners. Lay Summary: What is currently known about this topic: Limited scholarly exploration of supplementary practise opportunities for active learning among Chinese EFL learnersExisting understanding of self‐regulated and collaborative learning theories in educational contexts What does this paper add: Establishes the effectiveness of interactive online and face‐to‐face practise opportunities for promoting active learningProvides empirical evidence supporting the integration of these opportunities to enhance active learning Implications for practise/or policy: Advocates for the combined use of online and face‐to‐face practise opportunities to enrich engagement, problem‐solving, feedback, and motivation among EFL learnersSuggests the development of instructional frameworks based on self‐regulated and collaborative learning theories for enhanced CALL courses [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deep discussions play an important role in students' online learning. However, researchers have largely focused on engaging students in deep discussions in online asynchronous forums. Few studies have investigated how to promote deep discussion via mobile instant messaging (MIM). Objectives: In this study, we applied learning analytical tools (i.e., KBdeX and word clouds) to enhance students' shared epistemic agency and thereby support their deep discussions in MIM. Methods: Forty Chinese college students participated in this study and reflected on their MIM engagement by participating in the learning analytics (LA)‐augmented meta‐discourse sessions. The study used multiple data analysis methods, including content analysis, statistical analysis, epistemic network analysis and lag sequential analysis. Results: We found that LA engaged students in deep discussions and shared epistemic agency‐related discourse, such as creating shared understanding, creating knowledge objects, and projective and regulative processes. In particular, word clouds engaged students in more complete shared epistemic agency discourse trajectory which started from creating awareness of unknowns, then progressed to setting projective plans and sharing information, and ultimately, creating shared understanding. Moreover, our analysis indicated that epistemic agency discourse moves of creating shared understanding led students to a high level of deep discussion. Implications: This study contributes to research by extending the 'comparison paradigm', which focuses on comparing (a)synchronous forums with MIM, to a 'design paradigm', which mobilises design features from (a)synchronous forums to MIM and using learning analytical tools to engage students in deep online discussions by promoting their epistemic agency. Lay Description: What is known in this subject matter: Supporting students' online deep discussions is important.Prior studies have shown multiple technological and pedagogical strategies to support deep discussions in (a)synchronous discussion forums, but few studies in mobile instant messaging (MIM).MIM is a quasi‐synchronous tool. It is difficult to transform the traditional external scaffolds (i.e., scripts or teachers' facilitation) which promote deep discussions from (a)synchronous forums to MIM. What this paper adds to this: We constructed a design framework which used learning analytical tools‐augmented meta‐discourse to engage students in shared epistemic agency discourse moves to promote their deep discussion in MIM.We conducted multiple types of analyses (content analysis, statistical analysis, epistemic network analysis and lag sequential analysis) on students' WeChat message (a major MIM in China).Results indicated both learning analytical tools helped engage students in shared epistemic agency discourse moves, such as creating shared understanding, creating knowledge objects, projective and regulative, thus, to promote students' deep discussions. Word cloud especially engaged students in more complete shared epistemic agency discourse trajectory. Moreover, analysis results indicated that shared epistemic agency discourse moves of creating shared understanding would lead students to a high level of deep discussions. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Our study provides a feasible way to educational practitioners who want to promote students' deep discussions in their online learning course (both fully online and flipped classroom mode).Knowledge Building Discourse Explorer (KBDeX presents the original analysis results of students' written messages in discussion forums as socio‐cognitive networks.) could be implemented in the classroom. The objective is to encourage students to understand the importance of connecting with peers' ideas in a one‐session implementation period.If time allows, teachers could use word cloud and meta‐discourse to engage students in socio‐metacognitive conversations in class to promote their shared epistemic agency discourse in online discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Study: Technology‐supported learning environments, act as significant observational and enabling indicators for evaluating and encouraging the digital revolution of education, are of vital importance in current educational research. Keeping track of the dynamics of technology‐supported learning environment research allows for the enrichment of theoretical studies and a prompt innovation of talent‐training environments. Objectives: The present study carried out a bibliometric analysis of the core collection of WoS database over the last two decades. Method: This study is a bibliometric research. We applied CiteSpace and VOSviewer for co‐occurrence and evolution analysis. In addition, we extracted the fundamental ideas and thoughts through reading and analysis. Results: First, the study found that technology‐supported learning environment research is in a growth phase, with core journals such as Interactive Learning Environments or Computers & Education. The findings show that a core research team comprised of such scholars as Hwang Gwo‐Jen, Lester James C. and Wong Lung‐Hsiang. Key nations of publishing and research strength are from China, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Second, the hot topics in research on technology‐supported learning environments were virtual learning environments, technology‐enabled learning environments and interactive learning environments. Nine study specifics were derived from these three topics such as moulding function, generating scenario, stimulating sensation, effect verification, design idea, research reflection, inquiry and research, virtual community, and mixed environment. Lastly, the frontier evolution offers a pattern of development from enhancing performance to changing mode to incorporating experience. Conclusion: Looking ahead, our research recommendations for the field of technology‐supported learning environments include a multifaceted approach. We should aim to enhance research designs and methodologies, develop contemporary guiding theories and strive for a balanced representation across various educational domains, expanding our scope to encompass all academic disciplines. In terms of practical application, it is imperative to focus on the design and implementation of technology‐supported learning environments from three critical perspectives: "change‐demand," "student‐learning" and "online‐offline." These approaches will collectively ensure that technology‐supported learning environments are both innovative and responsive to the diverse needs of the educational landscape. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Technology‐supported learning environments are currently a focal and hot research topic in the field of education.Although numerous studies have been conducted on the learning environment of technical support, there has yet to be a systematic and comprehensive review of the related research. What this paper adds: This study provides a comprehensive review of research on the technology‐supported learning environments over the past two decades.This study primarily presents an overview of research on the technology‐supported learning environments over the past two decades, focusing on main literature, research strength, hot topics and frontier evolution. Implications for practice and/or policy: Researchers need to further advance research on technology‐supported learning environments by enriching research designs and methods, constructing up‐to‐date guiding theories and achieving a balance across different educational domains while extending the reach to all disciplines.Educational practitioners need to pay attention to the design and implementation of technology‐supported learning environments from the three viewpoints of "change‐demand," "student‐learning" and "online‐offline." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Integrating programming in K‐12 curriculum has become a global consensus. Teachers are central figures in programming instruction. But the majority of current research focuses on teachers' external teaching behaviours and less on teachers' attitudes towards programming. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to validate the K‐12 in‐service Teacher Programming Attitudes Scale (TPAS), to analyse teachers' programming attitudes and their differences in personal, teaching, and environmental factors, and further explore the predictive relationship. Methods: The sample is 888 K‐12 teachers from China. First, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were adopted to validate the availability and reliability of TPAS; Second, independent sample t‐test and one‐way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were adopted to explain the differences. Finally, correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were adopted to verify the correlation and prediction relationship. Results and Conclusion: TPAS possess good reliability and validity (χ2/df = 2.488, RMSEA = 0.055, CFI = 0.943, TLI = 0.935, and IFI = 0.943). Further analysis found that, first of all, male teachers possess more positive programming attitudes than female teachers; second, young teachers who are under 30 and the length of teaching under 5 years possess more positive programming attitudes; thirdly, in addition to Information and Communication Technology teachers, primary science teachers also possess high programming attitudes, followed by teachers of Humanities and Arts, reflecting the potential of teaching programming in integrated subjects and the humanities. Finally, primary school teachers possess the best programming attitudes. With the growth of grade, teachers' enthusiasm for programming has gradually decreased. Additionally, discipline, grade and gender factors were considered to predict K‐12 teachers' programming attitudes. Implications: The results of this study contribute to integrating programming teaching of teachers and promoting programming education in K‐12 classrooms. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic:.Integrating programming in K‐12 curriculum has become the consensus for most countries.Teacher is one of the core figures of K‐12 programming teaching.There is currently less attention paid to teachers' attitudes towards programming.K‐12 teachers' programming attitudes measurement tool is needed to analyze the impact of various factors on teachers' programming attitudes. What this paper adds: The K‐12 teacher programming attitude scale (TPAS) is developed and validated.Male teachers and teachers under the age of 30 and under the length of teaching of five years possess more positive programming attitudes.Information and Communication Technology teachers and primary school Science teachers possess high programming attitudes.Discipline, grade and gender factors are considered to predict K‐12 teachers' programming attitudes. Implications for practice and/or policy: The K‐12 Teacher's Programming Attitude Scale (TPAS) fills the gap in measurements of teachers' programming attitudes.The study results provide the guidance for interdisciplinary programming teaching for K‐12 teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Study: As flipped learning is a flexible pedagogical methodology to tailor students' needs and maximize the learning effects, this study integrated peer learning with MosoTeach‐supported flipped mode in an undergraduate blended EFL course. MosoTeach is a popular online learning platform in China with a variety of learning resources. Objectives: The study aimed to test the impact of MosoTeach flipped learning (MTFL) mode on undergraduate EFL students' perceived motivation, participation, feedback, and test performance. Methods: A quasi‐experimental design was carried out in Z university during the spring semester of 2020, with the experimental group (n = 34) adopting the MTFL model and a control group (n = 33) the non‐flipped mode. Results and Conclusions: The independent t‐test results showed that the experimental MTFL group outperformed the control group in post‐test scores, and a positive correlation was found in the relationship between the experimental MTFL group's post‐test scores and MosoTeach learning experience points (LEPs). Moreover, the course perception questionnaire survey indicated a higher level of students' perceived motivation, participation, and feedback in the experimental MTFL group, which corresponded to the results of the content analysis of students' responses to open‐ended questions and reflective reports. But students in both groups experienced challenges such as isolation, procrastination and technological anxiety. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topicFlipped language learning is mostly reported to be effective in improving EFL learning.Peer learning is mostly reported to be effective in improving EFL learning.MosoTeach was investigated in English learning contexts before, but without experimental design. What this paper addsMosoTeach proved as a valid online learning platform in flipped language learning, and the learning experience points (LEPs) on MosoTeach could predict students' exam performance.Students in the experimental group (MosoTeach‐supported flipped) had better exam performance and a higher level of motivation, participation and feedback.Students in both groups experienced isolation, procrastination and technological anxiety. Implications for practice:Peer discussion boards in MosoTeach provide learning support effectively for students in pre‐class learning.Group projects and peer assessment in MosoTeach integrate pre‐class peer discussion into in‐class interaction successfully.MosoTeach provides equal opportunity for every student in the large‐size Chinese English classes, thus contributing to the equity of in‐class peer interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the spontaneous speech characteristics of young children with language delay in Mandarin, relative to their peers. Until the recent development of standardized language assessments normed in China on Mandarin‐speaking children, it was difficult to independently identify atypically developing children to study their spontaneous speech, and only case studies have been available. Aim: To investigate which aspects of spontaneous speech might be distinctive for atypical development in a short play session. Methods & Procedures: A total of 86 Mandarin‐speaking children, boys and girls aged 2;6–4;6, were tested using the new standardized assessment for Mandarin, Diagnostic Receptive Expressive Assessment of Mandarin—Comprehensive (DREAM‐C), at a major urban hospital in China. Of the children, 39 were identified by DREAM‐C as atypically developing in language development (Total Standard score M = 72, SD = 8.9), and 47 scored in the typical range (Total Standard score M = 103, SD = 10.8), using the four scales of Receptive, Expressive Semantics and Syntax. All children then took part in a 15‐min semi‐structured play session during which their spontaneous speech was recorded by professionals. A variety of games and pictures were used in an attempt to elicit spontaneous questions, negatives and descriptions. Their recorded speech samples were then coded by linguists directly into a database in FilemakerPro for different aspects of vocabulary, sentence variety and grammatical morphemes/structures heard. Outcomes & Results: The results describe the characteristics of the speech samples for the typical and atypical groups for age groups 2;6–3.5 (N = 52) and 3;6–4.6 (N = 34). Vocabulary diversity was indicated on an ordinal scale ranging from simple communicative signals including headshakes and words such as 'hi' to 'a rich variety of different content words'. Grammatical diversity similarly ranged from 'only yes/no answers', through to the appearance of multi‐clause sentences. Morphosyntax was coded in terms of which morphemes were observed at all in the session, such as aspect markers (LE, ZAI, GUO), and nominal morphemes (DE, GE), and also whether function words such as pronouns, Wh‐questions and classifiers were singular or varied in the session. There is considerable optionality in morpheme expression in Mandarin, so measurements such as the percentage supplied in obligatory contexts, though useful for languages such as English, are harder to compute. Nevertheless, the data show change over age in all these aspects of language, and reveal what a typically developing child might be expected to produce in a 15‐min sample in such a session. For example, it was rare for the typically developing children by age 3.5 not to have at least simple sentences with some function words, and to use adjectives, nouns and verbs, unlike the children with atypical scores. The morphemes DE, LE and GUO showed significant differences in likelihood across groups for both ages, but BA and ZAI were significantly different only for the older age group. In contrast, GE was common in all groups. The atypical group has markedly lower frequency in several grammatical aspects such as the use of diverse questions, classifiers and pronouns, with much less change across age groups, implying slower growth. The results provide useful information on the relative likelihood of observing different varieties of words, sentence types and morphemes in a short speech sample, which are substantially different in the typical versus atypical groups in both age bands, and change over age. Conclusions & Implications: These data validate the DREAM‐C classifications, but the details can also be used to inform the choice of targets for intervention for young children who experience delays in Mandarin language acquisition. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: Spontaneous language samples have been used as a means of studying language in China. However, because of the amount of training and time required to transcribe and analyse spontaneous language samples, there is not yet a sufficient basis for identifying language differences between children with and without language disorder in mainland China. What does this paper add to existing knowledge: After using DREAM‐C to provide an objective measurement of children with and without language disorders, an easy‐to‐administer spontaneous language assessment protocol and scoring record form allowed the comparison of the spontaneous language of 39 children with atypically developing language with 47 children who scored in the typical range to observe language differences between those with and without typical language development. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The study documents differences in vocabulary and sentence variety, and use of different morphemes such as classifiers, passives and aspect markers to aid in choosing targets for intervention by demonstrating the path of development. In addition, the spontaneous language assessment protocol and scoring record form holds promise for allowing clinicians and researchers to more easily study the language of individual children to personalize intervention, but also of groups of children to understand the emergence of basic Mandarin linguistic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Video conferencing learning offers a more accessible and flexible learning mode for students who cannot attend face‐to‐face class in person. However, research about the video conferencing learning is still lacked, especially for students' engagement in this setting. Objectives: This study adopts the self‐system model of motivational development to uncover effects of the video conferencing learning environment (VCLE) to students' engagement. Methods: Two hundred and ninety‐eight primary school students involved in the VCLE were surveyed. The partial least square structural equation modelling was employed to explore the link between the VCLE and students' engagement with a mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS). Results and Conclusions: Results showed that the BPNS played a mediating role in the processes from the VCLE to engagement. Both pedagogical and social affordance had a significant effect on the BPNS. However, their influences were different. Specifically, pedagogical affordance yielded a stronger effect on the BPNS for autonomy than social affordance. The predicting power of social affordance on BPNS for relatedness and competence was stronger than pedagogical affordance. Generally, social affordance yielded more contributions to behavioral and emotional engagement than pedagogical affordance. Moreover, BPNS for competence was the only significant mediator between the VCLE and behavioral engagement, and it owned the strongest mediating power on the relationship between the VCLE and emotional engagement, followed by autonomy, and the smallest of relatedness. This study suggests that practitioners and researchers should give more consideration to improve social affordance of the VCLE and to meet students' BPNS especially for competence in order to design and implement an engaged video conferencing course. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Video conferencing learning provides an accessible and flexible learning mode.Mechanism from learning environment to engagement is helpful to design an engaged video conferencing course.Less is known about how video conferencing learning affects students' engagement. What the paper adds: This study uncovered the functioning process of video conferencing learning to students' engagement.PLS‐SEM was employed to verify the mediating role of BPNS in this process.BPNS for autonomy, competence, and relatedness played mediating roles and their powers were different. Implications for practice and/or policy: More attention is needed to improve to social affordance to enhance students' emotional engagement.BPNS especially for competence deserves special consideration to improve students' behavioral and emotional engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: At the beginning of the 21st century, international adoptions of children with cleft lip and/or palate increased dramatically in Sweden. Many children arrived partially or totally unoperated, despite being at an age when palatoplasty has usually been performed. To date, the speech development of internationally adopted (IA) children has been described up to age 7–8 years, but later development remains unstudied. Aims: To investigate speech development between ages 5 and 10 years in children born with cleft lip and palate (CLP) adopted from China and to compare them with non‐adopted (NA) children with CLP. A secondary aim was to compare the frequencies of secondary palatal surgery and number of visits to a speech and language pathologist (SLP) between the groups. Methods & Procedures: In a longitudinal study, 23 IA children from China were included and matched with 23 NA children born in Sweden. Experienced SLPs blindly reassessed audio recordings from routine follow‐ups at ages 5 and 10 years. Velopharyngeal function (VPF) was assessed with the composite score for velopharyngeal competence (VPC‐Sum) for single words and rated on a three‐point scale (VPC‐Rate) in sentence repetition. Target sounds in words and sentences were phonetically transcribed. Per cent correct consonants (PCC) were calculated at word and sentence levels. For in‐depth analyses, articulation errors were divided into cleft speech characteristics (CSCs), developmental speech characteristics (DSCs) and s‐errors. Information on secondary palatal surgery and number of visits to an SLP was collected. Outcomes & Results: VPF differed significantly between the groups at both ages when assessed with VPC‐Sum, but not with VPC‐Rate. Regardless of the method for assessing VPF, a similar proportion in both groups had incompetent VPF but fewer IA than NA children had competent VPF at both ages. IA children had lower PCC at both ages at both word and sentence levels. More IA children had CSCs, DSCs and s‐errors at age 5 years, and CSCs and s‐errors at age 10. The development of PCC was significant in both groups between ages 5 and 10 years. The proportion of children receiving secondary palatal surgery did not differ significantly between the groups, nor did number of SLP visits. Conclusions & Implications: CSCs were more persistent in IA children than in NA children at age 10 years. Interventions should target both cleft and DSCs, be comprehensive and continue past the pre‐school years. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: At the beginning of the 21st century, IA children with cleft lip and/or palate arrived in Sweden partially or totally unoperated, despite being at an age when palatoplasty has usually been performed. Studies up to age 7–8 years show that adopted children, compared with NA peers, have poorer articulation skills, demonstrate both cleft‐related and developmental articulation errors, and are more likely to have velopharyngeal incompetence. Several studies also report that adopted children more often require secondary palatal surgery due to fistulas, dehiscence or velopharyngeal incompetence compared with NA peers. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This longitudinal study provides additional knowledge based on longer follow‐ups than previous studies. It shows that the proportion of children assessed to have incompetent VPF was similar among IA and NA children. It was no significant difference between the groups regarding the proportion that received secondary palatal surgery. However, fewer IA children were assessed to have a competent VPF. Developmental articulation errors have ceased in most IA and all NA children at age 10 years, but significantly more adopted children than NA children still have cleft‐related articulation errors. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Speech and language therapy should target both cleft‐related and developmental articulation errors. When needed, treatment must be initiated early, comprehensive, and continued past the pre‐school years, not least for adopted children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Studies: Captioning and repetition are widely used multimedia instructional devices for non‐native students. Generally, studies in this area have tended to focus on second language literacy skills rather than on learning new content knowledge. Additionally, posttests were administered immediately after the treatments, while the delayed influences of captioning and repetition have never been investigated. Objectives: This paper addressed these research gaps in two separate studies. More specifically, this study attempted to examine the influences of captioning and repetition on non‐native students' immediate and relayed retention. Methods: In Study One, three captioning conditions; word‐by‐word captions, closed captions, and no‐captions; were compared to examine their efficacies in immediate and delayed content knowledge retention on 82 Chinese university students. To address the limitations in Study One as the multimedia lesson was short and played only once, Study Two incorporated captioning and two repetition types in its design. One hundred and eleven Chinese university students watch a video lesson in one of four captioning and repetition conditions. Results: The statistical analyses of Study One indicated that there were no significant differences in both immediate and delayed retention test scores across the three captioning condition. Similarly, in Study Two, there were no significant differences in retention tests scores across the four captioning and repetition conditions. Findings: Neither the availability of captions nor the repetition types had any impact on the Chinese students' immediate or delayed content knowledge retention, which lent support to existing studies. Based on the research results, the limitations and future study possibilities are discussed. Lay Description: What Is Already Known About This TopicEmpirical studies on captioning have focused on immediate learning right after the treatment, so have studies on repetition.Empirical studies on multimedia lessons for non‐native students have focused on English language learning. What This Paper AddsThree types of captioning were compared to examine their efficacies in both immediate and delayed content retention of Chinese students.Two types of repetition were compared to examine their efficacies in both immediate and delayed content retention of Chinese students. Implications for Practice and/or Policy:Neither the availability of captions nor the repetition types had any impact on the Chinese students' immediate or delayed content knowledge retention.The availability of textual keywords adjacent to their corresponding graphics might have compromised the efficacy of captioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Weak theory of mind (ToM) ability is a core deficit in children with autism. A growing body of work has found that there is a close relation between complement syntax and ToM in autistic children. However, researchers have not yet investigated whether other linguistic components may explain the difficulties in ToM reasoning in autistic children. Aims: To determine whether verb factuality (i.e., mental and action verbs) is related to ToM ability, as measured by a false belief understanding (FBU) task after controlling the effect of complement syntax for Mandarin‐speaking autistic children. Methods & Procedures: Participants were verbal autistic children, aged 4–7 years. Their IQ performance (verbal, performance and total IQ) and the comprehension of complement syntax were evaluated. A total of 38 children scoring over 9 points in complement syntax test and 90 points in the verbal IQ test were selected to complete verb factuality and FBU task. The χ2 tests and correlation analyses were carried out on two relations: (1) ToM ability and understanding of verb factuality; and (2) ToM ability and comprehension of complement syntax. Outcomes & Results: A total of 11 autistic children completed the action verb factuality task, while 14 completed the mental verb factuality task and 13 completed both tasks. Participants performed well on the verb factuality task, and their ToM performance appeared to be related to their linguistic ability, regardless of the type of verb (i.e., action or mental verb). However, complement syntax scores did not significantly predict the success of the FBU task for the autistic children. Conclusions & Implications: The results of this study link weaker ToM ability with the understanding of verb factuality among autistic children aged 4–7 and provide new evidence for the view that the development of language facilitates improvement of ToM skills. The findings shed new light on how language affects or determines social interactions. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: ToM ability is crucial for social interaction. It has been claimed that mental verb factuality (e.g., think, had thought) may play a role in the development of ToM reasoning in typically developing children, but whether there is a link between the mastery of verb factuality and ToM skills in autistic children is still unclear. What this study adds to existing knowledge: Correlational analysis revealed links between verbal ToM measured by unexpected location task and factuality test of mental verbs as well as action verbs. More importantly, this study confirmed the extra role of verb factuality in explaining ToM ability after excluding the influence of the complement syntax. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: This study suggests that the factuality of verbs could serve as a tool for autistic children to infer the mental states of others. Thus, training on this linguistic structure could be taken into consideration when improving the social skills of autistic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With a rapidly aging population in mainland China, dysphagia has become one of the common geriatric disorders which creates a huge demand on speech and language therapists (SLTs). The major challenge is the shortage of SLTs in China. In addition, frontline practitioners in mainland China may not be well equipped with the knowledge and practical skills in dysphagia management due to lack of systematic training and the work nature. Aims: This study evaluates the self‐perceived effectiveness and feasibility of an online training program that aims to enhance the self‐assessed knowledge and skills of SLTs providing dysphagia care in residential aged care homes. Methods and Procedures: Sixteen SLTs working in a residential aged care homes in mainland China attended a three‐hour pilot online training program which consists of didactic lecture and practical skills activity components. A total of 10 participants completed an online questionnaire one month after the training to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this online training program. Outcomes and Results: The preliminary results demonstrated participants' self‐perception of high training effectiveness in theoretical knowledge and practical skills. A majority of the participants perceived that the training enhanced their theoretical knowledge and all of them perceived that they acquired practical skills. All respondents were satisfied with the online training approach. They also highlighted the advantage and challenges of the online training approach. Conclusions and Implications: Online training is an effective and feasible approach for theoretical knowledge and practical skills transfer in SLT training and could ultimately benefit the delivery of services for individuals with dysphagia in mainland China. What this paper adds: What is already known on the subject: Previous studies have shown that online training approach is as effective as face‐to‐face training in increasing professional knowledge. Online training programs may be more cost efficient and time efficient when compared with face‐to‐face training. What this study adds: The present study provided preliminary evidence to support the feasibility and effectiveness of using online training on dysphagia for speech and language therapists working in residential aged care homes in mainland China. What are the clinical implications of this work?: From the participants' perception, online training approach is effective and feasible in delivering theoretical knowledge and practical skills. It may be a better training approach for mainland China considering the lack of expertise and accessibility to training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Left‐behind children who live away from their migrant parents in rural China have received widespread media attention, especially around their vulnerability and delinquency. To examine the media construction of this population and responsibility attribution for the incidents occurring to them, we used the phronetic iterative approach to analyse 348 news reports published by The Paper, one of China's leading digital media outlets. Our findings revealed that the media constructed a stereotypical portrayal of these children and their families. Moreover, structural inequalities existing in social policies were shifted into personal responsibility in media discourses. This study offers empirical support for the role of news media in shaping public perceptions through their construction and framing processes. We highlight the need to identify structural factors that affect media portrayals of rural families and call for more social support for left‐behind children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Zoomorphism, an obverse of conventional anthropomorphism, has been shown in many cases to be a powerful tool with respect to the metaphorical use of animals. Objectives: This study introduced zoomorphism into the instructional video design of pedagogical agents (PAs). Method: We first developed three image sets, each of which corresponded to a type of zoomorphic PA image construct (full panda, a human face with a panda body, and a human body with panda head imagery). Then, we conducted an image‐screening experiment in which 177 second‐grade students from a primary school were asked to select their favourite PA image for each image construct set. We used a realistic human PA as the baseline. Next, 114 second‐grade students from another school were randomly assigned to learn instructional videos on the topic of pandas using a PA with one of four imageries. Results and Conclusions: ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests indicated that students presented with PAs with full‐panda imagery achieved significantly higher learning performance, learning experience, social presence, and learning interest than those presented with other imageries of PAs. The regression results showed that the effect of zoomorphic PAs with full‐panda imagery on learning performance was exerted in a direct way and that its effect on learning experience was mediated by social presence and learning interest. Implications: Our findings suggest that zoomorphic appearance is an essential quality for video learning that merits further investigation for the efficient imagery construction of PAs. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: The inclusion of pedagogical agents with images that are attributed human qualities to animals known as anthropomorphism is very popular in multimedia education; however, the existing studies on the effects of such images on learning have shown inconsistent results. What this paper adds: We introduced the alternative philosophy of animal use‐zoomorphism, which is the obverse of anthropomorphism, into agent image building. Implications for practice and/or policy: Our study demonstrated that the zoomorphism of agent images increases learning performance and experience; thus, our findings suggest the prospect of zoomorphism in the development of agent image patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Computational thinking (CT) has become a crucial skill for individuals in the 21st century, and while more educators are starting to recognize the importance of CT education, there is still a lack of research on how to teach young children CT, particularly outside of traditional school settings. Objectives: To fill the gap in knowledge, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a web‐based parent education program on improving children's CT skills. Additionally, we sought to determine if children's age, gender and family socioeconomic status had any impact on the development of CT skills. Methods: We selected 86 adult–child pairs in the K3 age group to participate in a 4‐week intervention program using a quasi‐experimental approach. Results: After 4 weeks, children in the intervention group had improved their CT skills more than their peers in the control group. This shows that the intervention was successful in enhancing children's CT skills. Age had a moderating effect on CT enhancement, with older children showing a more significant improvement than younger children. However, children's gender and family socioeconomic status did not have any moderating effects. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that CT education can be effectively implemented in the home setting through web‐mediated parent education. Encouraging the use of unplugged CT activities at home can aid children in acquiring CT skills. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Computational thinking (CT) education can be started at the early childhood stage.Both plugged‐in and unplugged activities can promote children's CT.Unplugged activities have many advantages and are suitable for young children. What this paper adds: Web‐mediated parent education is useful for equipping parents with the knowledge and skills to conduct CT activities at home.CT education has a positive effect on children in the home setting.Parents play an important leading role in children's CT education.Parent–child unplugged activities are beneficial to children's CT enhancement. Implications for practice and/or policy: A web‐mediated approach is an appropriate way to encourage parent participation in CT training.CT‐related parent education should be scaled up so that parents can play an active educational role at home.Unplugged CT activities should be designed more for the home settings in addition to school settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Considerable evidence suggests that students' achievement emotions are important contributors to their learning and success online. It is, therefore, essential to understand and support students' emotional experiences to enhance online education, especially under the COVID‐19 context. However, to date, very few studies have investigated how students' achievement emotions might be affected by teaching and learning factors in online learning environments. Objectives: Based on Pekrun's (2006) control‐value theory of achievement emotions, this study examined the influence of students' perceived online teaching quality and appraisals of control and value on their achievement emotions in an online second language (L2) learning context instigated by the COVID‐19. Methods: Data were collected using an online survey of 1503 undergraduates from ten universities across different regions of China. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to test the validity of the instruments and structural equation modelling were conducted to examine the relations between L2 teaching and learning variables. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that perceived teacher internet and communication technology competence had positive effects on enjoyment, but negative effects on anxiety and boredom, and these effects were fully mediated by perceived control and/or value. Perceived chaotic teaching structure (CTS) had reverse effects for the three emotions. Perceived CTS effects on enjoyment and anxiety were fully and partially mediated by perceived control, respectively. Takeaways: Online teaching quality is critical for students' appraisals and emotions towards L2 learning. Teachers should strive to improve online teaching quality and design interventions targeting students' perceived control and value to temper their affective experiences associated with the crisis‐prompted online teaching practices. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Teachers' internet and communication technology (ICT) competence and pedagogical design can enhance students' e‐learning efficacy, motivation and interests.Students' perceived control and value can influence their achievement emotions in online learning.Teacher's ICT competence and pedagogical design can impact students' emotions in online learning. What this paper adds: Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have differential impact on students' perceived control and value for e‐learning.Perceived control and intrinsic value differently mediated the effects of the two teaching factors on students' emotions for e‐learning.Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have both direct and indirect effects on students' e‐learning emotions via perceived control and value. Implications for practice and/or policy: Teacher training and development programs should prepare teachers for varying teaching formats including unplanned online teaching due to a forced switch to remote teaching.Teachers should acquaint themselves with using various online platforms and software to communicate the goals, expectations, structures and requirements of their language lessons to students' in a clear manner.Online language teaching interventions aiming to increase or decrease a specific emotion could directly target specific combinations of teaching characteristics and appraisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inquiry‐based learning is a salient instructional approach to cultivate students' higher order thinking skills (HOTS). With the presence and advancement of new technologies, their usage for inquiry learning in university context is increasingly ubiquitous. However, in most circumstances, college students cannot integrate technologies to their inquiry learning in efficient ways or their abilities to use technologies are not good enough. Previous studies found that intrinsic motivation (IM), peer interaction (PI) and classroom connectedness (CC) were key factors to influence students' approaches to using technologies from the personal, behavioural and environmental perspectives. Objectives: This study investigated the influence of these three essential learning factors (IM, PI and CC) on students' HOTS and the mediate influence of deep approach to using technologies (DAUT) between these learning factors and HOTS in the technology‐enhanced open inquiry‐based learning context. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 80 university students who had studied with the technology‐enhanced open inquiry‐based learning approach. The partial least squares method was employed to investigate the relationships among learning factors, DAUT and HOTS. Results and Conclusions: Results showed that CC and PI were positively directly related to HOTS. DAUT was a significant mediator between two (i.e., IM and PI) of the three learning factors and HOTS. The findings of the study have practical implications for instructors, indicating that they should pay attention to students' IM and PI in deepening their approach to using technologies as well as to improve students' HOTS in technology‐enhanced open inquiry‐based learning. Lay Description: What Is Already Known About This Topic: Inquiry‐based learning is considered to be a salient instructional approach to cultivate students' higher order thinking skills (HOTS).Technologies usage in inquiry learning is ubiquitous in university context.In most cases, college students are not able to integrate technologies in their inquiry learning in effective ways. What This Paper Adds: This paper proposed a research model that explains and predicts the mediating influence of deep approach to using technologies on the association between learning factors and HOTS in the technology‐enhanced open inquiry‐based learning context.The mediating effect of approaches to using technologies between learning factors and HOTS was identified.Two of the three learning factors (peer interaction and classroom connectedness) had direct effect on HOTS.Deep approaches to using technologies variable significantly mediates two of the three learning factors (peer interaction and intrinsic motivation) and HOTS. Implications for Practice or Policy: Instructors should pay attention to students' intrinsic motivation (IM) and peer interaction in order to deepen their approach to using technologies.Instructors should pay particular attention to peer interaction and classroom connectedness when conducting technology‐enhanced open inquiry‐based learning activities to improve college students' HOTS.Students' interest improvement and IM in using technologies, the integration of technologies and open inquiry‐based learning activities could be discussed and decided by both the instructor and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Assignments that involve writing based on several texts are challenging to many learners. Formative feedback supporting learners in these tasks should be informed by the characteristics of evolving written product and by the characteristics of learning processes learners enacted while developing the product. However, formative feedback in writing tasks based on multiple texts has almost exclusively focused on essay product and rarely included SRL processes. Objectives: We explored the viability of using product and process features to develop machine learning classifiers that identify low‐ and high‐performing essays in a multi‐text writing task. Methods: We examined learning processes and essay submissions of 163 graduate students working on an authentic multi‐text writing assignment. We utilised learners' trace data to obtain process features and state‐of‐the‐art natural language processing methods to obtain product features for our classifiers. Results and Conclusions: Of four popular classifiers examined in this study, Random Forest achieved the best performance (accuracy = 0.80 and recall = 0.77). The analysis of important features identified in the Random Forest classification model revealed one product (coverage of reading topics) and three process (elaboration/organisation, re‐reading and planning) features as important predictors of writing quality. Major Takeaways: The classifier can be used as a part of a future automated writing evaluation system that will support at scale formative assessment in writing tasks based on multiple texts in different courses. Based on important predictors of essay performance, a guidance can be tailored to learners at the outset of a multi‐text writing task to help them do well in the task. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Both product and process features should be used to inform formative feedback on writing.Providing product‐ and process‐oriented feedback to learners is challenging.Automatic writing evaluation systems have mainly relied upon product features.Automated analysis of learners' trace data and their essay drafts is a promising venue. What this paper adds?: An accurate machine learning classifier that identifies low‐ and high‐scoring essays.The classifier utilized both product and process features.We obtained process features from learners' trace data in digital learning environment.We computed product features using state‐of‐the‐art text analytical methods. Implications for practice and/or policy: The classifier can be used as a part of a future automated writing evaluation system.We revealed learning processes and essay characteristics that influence performance.Based on important predictors of performance, formative feedback can be given to learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As adequate support, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly introduced into the classroom to help students learn a new language. However, empirical studies exploring the educational potential of using 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in high‐school Chinese language classrooms are still lacking. Objectives: A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed for international high‐school students' Chinese courses and examines its effects on improving Chinese learning achievements and perceptions among Grade 10 students who learn Chinese as a foreign language. Methods: This study adopted a quasi‐experiment design. Participants (N = 66) were assigned to one of three conditions: mind mapping‐based SVVR (MMBSVVR), conventional SVVR (CSVVR), or traditional lecturing (TL). Our mixed‐method approach employed pre‐and post‐tests to measure Chinese learning achievements, questionnaires to measure Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy, and semi‐structured interviews to further explore students' feelings and attitudes about Chinese courses in corresponding learning environments. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that the MMBSVVR classroom significantly improved high students' Chinese learning achievements in Chinese vocabulary and making sentence, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Moreover, SVVR stimulates students' learning interest and class participation, and mind mapping provides students with a clear guide to arrange the knowledge. These findings help interpret the relationships between MMBSVVR and learning achievements, Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy in an international high school Chinese courses, thus providing insight on integrating MMBSVVR into existing classrooms. Lay Description: What is Already Known about this Topic: By creating fully immersive 3D environments, 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in promoting language learning has been confirmed by many scholars with a focus on English language learning.Mind mapping effectively enables second language learners to review and retain new words in the target language meaningfully. Also, it can create a more vivid learning atmosphere through images and graphics and promote learners' memory and learning motivation. What This Paper Adds: A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system has been developed with the support of the constructivism theory.A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed to facilitate international students' Chinese learning performance in Chinese vocabulary acquisition and sentence construction.In addition to promoting international students' learning outcomes, the proposed approach indicated promising results in learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Implications for Practice and/or Policy: This study provides an evidence base for further research through the utilization of VR learning environments in Chinese language classrooms.This study advocates introducing SVVR technology in the Chinese learning classrooms to increase the learning context for international students. It is also worth encouraging scholars to design VR learning systems with different learning strategies.Due to the cognitive requirements of the Chinese language learning process, it is necessary to introduce mind maps in the SVVR learning system to assist students in constructing knowledge and combining prior and new knowledge to generate long‐term memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aims of this project were to establish the outcomes for dental implant research that are important to people with lived experience (PWLE) and to achieve consensus with those developed by dental professionals (DPs) for a core outcome set (COS). This paper reports the process, outcomes and experiences of involving PWLE in developing a COS for dental implant research: the Implant Dentistry Core Outcome Sets and Measures project. Materials and Methods: Overall methods were guided by the Core Outcome Set Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) initiative. Initial outcome identification was achieved from focus groups with PWLE employing calibrated methods across two low‐middle‐income countries (China and Malaysia) and two high‐income countries (Spain and the United Kingdom). Following consolidation of the results, the outcomes were incorporated into a three‐stage Delphi process with PWLE participation. Finally, consensus between PWLE and DPs was achieved using a mixed live and recorded platform. The experiences of PWLE involvement in the process was also evaluated. Results: Thirty‐one PWLE participated in four focus groups. Thirty‐four outcomes were suggested across the focus groups. Evaluation of the focus groups revealed a high level of satisfaction with the engagement process and some new learning. Seventeen PWLE contributed to the first 2 Delphi rounds and 7 to the third round. The final consensus included 17 PWLE (47%) and 19 DPs (53%). Out of the total of 11 final consensus outcomes considered essential by both PWLE and health professionals, 7 (64%) outcomes mapped across to ones that PWLE initially identified, broadening their definition. One outcome (PWLE effort required for treatment and maintenance) was entirely novel. Conclusions: We conclude that engaging PWLE in COS development can be achieved across widely different communities. Furthermore, the process both broadened and enriched overall outcome consensus, yielding important and novel perspectives for health‐related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pragmatics has generally been defined as the ability to use language in social situations, it is commonly regarded as the third major component of language ability. To date, there is no tool for assessing early pragmatic development of Chinese‐speaking children. Aims: To describe the translation of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) from English to Mandarin Chinese and to report findings on the Chinese version's reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity. Methods & Procedures: The original English version of the LUI was translated into Mandarin Chinese. Parents of 177 typically developing (TD) toddlers and preschool children completed the inventory to examine its internal reliability and construct validity and how scores differed across ages and sexes. A total of 31 parents out of the 177 completed the LUI‐Mandarin, again within 4 weeks, to assess test–retest reliability. To examine discriminative validity, 43 parents of age‐ and sex‐matched TD children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recruited from Nanjing Brain Hospital affiliated with Nanjing Medical University completed the LUI‐Mandarin. Outcomes & Results: Cronbach's alpha values for the LUI‐Mandarin's three parts and for 11 of 12 LUI‐Mandarin subscales were 0.707–0.992, with most values in the 0.825–0.992 range. Test–retest reliability ranged from 0.66 to 0.95, indicating good to excellent reliability. Factor analysis of the LUI‐Mandarin revealed two different factors, and the total variance explained was 74.38%. The LUI‐Mandarin total scores and subscale scores increased with age for both boys and girls, providing evidence of the inventory's developmental sensitivity. Girls, however, had higher total scores than boys at earlier ages (18–23 months). The results of the discriminant validity study revealed that performance was significantly lower in the ASD group than in the TD group with respect to LUI total scores and subscale scores (except for subscale A). Conclusions & Implications: The LUI‐Mandarin is the first and only questionnaire available in China that evaluates the pragmatic language skills of children aged between 18 and 47 months. The results of the study show that the LUI‐Mandarin is a valid and reliable tool for Chinese toddlers and preschool children. What this paper adds: What is already known on this subject: The LUI is a parent‐report questionnaire that can provide comprehensive information about very young children's communicative competence. It is widely used both for assessment and to guide intervention. Additionally, it has been translated into French, Italian, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese and Norwegian and it shows good reliability and validity. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: In the present study we describe the translation of the LUI from English to Mandarin Chinese and report findings on the Chinese version's reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The LUI‐Mandarin is the first and only questionnaire available in China that can evaluate pragmatic language skills of children aged between 18 and 47 months. The results show that the LUI‐Mandarin is a valid and reliable tool for use with Chinese toddlers and preschool children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While automatic speech recognition (ASR) is increasingly used for commercial purposes, its influence on the learners' linguistic performance in terms of oral complexity, accuracy and fluency was under‐explored. To date, few studies have been conducted to investigate how the dictation ASR technology could be incorporated into language classrooms to facilitate the learners' language acquisition. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effects of ASR‐based technology on English learners' oral accuracy and fluency and depict the corresponding development trajectories. Methods: A total of 160 first‐year university students were enrolled in a 14‐week quasi‐experiment based on a longitudinal research design. Both treatment and control groups were taught with the flipped classroom approach, but the students in the treatment group were particularly required to undertake a pre‐class task with ASR technology. Students' Unit Task performance was audio‐recorded, and the metrics of oral accuracy and fluency were coded and computed based on the recording transcripts. A two‐way repeated measures ANCOVA was conducted to investigate the between‐ and within‐subjects effects as well as the corresponding interaction effects. Results: In terms of the between‐subjects effect, the treatment group outperformed the control group on phonological accuracy, speed fluency and repair fluency. In terms of the within‐subjects effect, significant gains in lexical and morphosyntactic accuracy were witnessed over time in both groups, but the performance of the treatment group tended to be more stable. On all the fluency metrics and phonological accuracy, no significant within‐subjects improvement was seen over time. Implications: The development of oral accuracy may generate a negative impact on that of fluency. Therefore, course developers and teachers need to design special tasks and provide conditions conducive to the development of the students' oral fluency. Moreover, the mobile‐based dictation ASR application could incorporate adaptive artificial intelligence, which may escalate the students' fossilization of learner interlanguage. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?The ASR‐based technology is becoming popular in foreign language learning.The effect of ASR‐based technology on oral accuracy and fluency is still in a nascent phase. What this paper adds?This study explores how the mobile‐based dictation ASR technology facilitates English learners' oral accuracy and fluency.The dictation ASR‐based application integrated into pre‐class learning enhances English learners' phonological accuracy, speed fluency and repair fluency.The dictation ASR‐based application also contributed to a stable development of English learners' lexical and morphosyntactic accuracy over time. Implications for practiceEnglish teachers could integrate mobile‐based dictation ASR technology into pre‐class practice to improve the students' oral English accuracy and fluency in a flipped learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates different uses of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in national journal rankings and discusses the merits of supplementing metrics with expert assessment. Our focus is national journal rankings used as evidence to support decisions about the distribution of institutional funding or career advancement. The seven countries under comparison are China, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Turkey—and the region of Flanders in Belgium. With the exception of Italy, top‐tier journals used in national rankings include those classified at the highest level, or according to tier, or points implemented. A total of 3,565 (75.8%) out of 4,701 unique top‐tier journals were identified as having a JIF, with 55.7% belonging to the first Journal Impact Factor quartile. Journal rankings in China, Flanders, Poland, and Turkey classify journals with a JIF as being top‐tier, but only when they are in the first quartile of the Average Journal Impact Factor Percentile. Journal rankings that result from expert assessment in Denmark, Finland, and Norway regularly classify journals as top‐tier outside the first quartile, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. We conclude that experts, when tasked with metric‐informed journal rankings, take into account quality dimensions that are not covered by JIFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Video lectures which include the instructor's presence are becoming increasingly popular. Presenting a real human does, however, entail higher financial and time costs in making videos, and one innovative approach to reduce costs has been to generate a virtual speaking instructor. Objectives: The current study examined whether the use of a virtual instructor in video lectures would facilitate learning as well as a human instructor, and whether manipulating the virtual instructor's characteristics (i.e., voice and appearance) might optimize the effectiveness of the virtual instructor. Methods: Our study set four conditions. In the control condition, students watched a human instructor. In the experiment conditions, students watched one of (a) a virtual instructor which used the human instructor's voice and an AI image, (b) a virtual instructor which spoke in an AI voice with an AI image made to speak using text‐to‐speech and lip synthesis techniques, or (c) a virtual instructor with used an AI voice and an AI likable‐image of an instructor. Results and Conclusions: The AI likable instructor condition had a significant positive effect on students' learning performance and motivation, without decreasing the attention students paid to the learning materials. Implications: Our findings suggest that instructional video designers can make use of AI voices and AI images of likable humans as instructors to motivate students and enhance their learning performance. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Video lectures which include the instructor's presence are becoming increasingly popular.Presenting a virtual instructor (i.e., a pedagogical agent) in video lectures has been shown to reduce costs of video production, both financially and in terms of time. What this paper adds: An AI‐generated voice and an AI‐generated image facilitated more students' transfer performance than a human instructor.The AI likable instructor condition had a significant positive effect on students' learning performance and motivation, without decreasing the attention students paid to the learning materials. Implications for practice and/or policy: We encourage instructional designers to use AI‐generated voices and AI‐generated images connected to a virtual instructor instead of a human instructor in video lectures.We encourage instructional designers to use likable human images (as defined by the students themselves) as a way to motivate students more and enhance their learning performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has had a profound worldwide impact on the laboratory hematology community. Nevertheless, the pace of COVID‐19 hematology‐related research has continued to accelerate and has established the role of laboratory hematology data for many purposes including disease prognosis and outcome. The purpose of this scoping review was to assess the current state of COVID‐19 laboratory hematology research. A comprehensive search of the literature published between December 1, 2019, and July 3, 2020, was performed, and we analyzed the sources, publication dates, study types, and topics of the retrieved studies. Overall, 402 studies were included in this scoping review. Approximately half of these studies (n = 202, 50.37%) originated in China. Retrospective cohort studies comprised the largest study type (n = 176, 43.89%). Prognosis/ risk factors, epidemiology, and coagulation were the most common topics. The number of studies published per day has increased through the end of May. The studies were heavily biased in favor of papers originating in China and on retrospective clinical studies with limited use of and reporting of laboratory data. Despite the major improvements in our understanding of the role of coagulation, automated hematology, and cell morphology in COVID‐19, there are gaps in the literature, including biosafety and the laboratory role in screening and prevention of COVID‐19. There is a gap in the publication of papers focused on guidelines for the laboratory. Our findings suggest that, despite the large number of publications related to laboratory data and their use in COVID‐19 disease, many areas remain unexplored or under‐reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self‐regulated learning (SRL) ability is the key determinant of the success of full‐time online learning. Thus, exploring the influencing factors of SRL and their influencing mechanisms is necessary to improve this ability among K‐12 students. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence mechanism of teacher autonomy support on students' online SRL by examining the structural relationship among teacher autonomy support, parental autonomy support, students' self‐efficacy, and students' online SRL. Methods: We use structural equation modelling and effect analysis to analyse the collected data from 961 Chinese K‐12 students who engaged in full‐time online learning in their homes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) outbreak. Results and Conclusions: Parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy play crucial independent mediating roles in the influence of teacher autonomy support on students' online SRL. Parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy have a chain mediating effect on the influence of teacher autonomy support on students' online SRL. Implications: On the basis of the results, we suggest that in order to develop students' online SRL ability, it is important for teacher to improve parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy. In addition, base on the chain mediating effect, to improve students' online SRL, teacher autonomy support needs focus on parental autonomy support, and then parental autonomy support needs focus on improving students' self‐efficacy. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: • Self‐regulated learning (SRL) ability is the key determinant of the success of online learning. • To improve K‐12 students' SRL ability, it is important to explore the influencing factors and their influencing mechanisms on students' online SRL. • Teacher autonomy support play an important role for students' learning. What is not known about this topic?: • How does teacher autonomy support influence students' online SRL, especially in full‐time online learning? • Do parental autonomy support and student' self‐efficacy play a chain mediating role in the influence of teacher autonomy support on students' online SRL? What this paper adds: • Parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy play crucial independent mediating role in the influence of teacher autonomy support on students' online SRL. • Teacher autonomy support has a indirect influence on students' online SRL through the chain mediating effect of parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy. Implications for practice and/or policy: • Given that parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy mediating the influence of teacher autonomy support on students' online SRL, it is important to improve parental autonomy support and students' self‐efficacy. • In order to improve students' online SRL ability, teachers need focus on parental autonomy support, and parental autonomy support focus on improving students' self‐efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peer‐to‐peer feedback exchanges have been recognized as crucial to language learning. While studies on peer feedback proliferate, little is known about whether and how peer feedback is affected by learners' motivational levels. Objectives: Situated in a mobile collaborative learning context, the current study examined how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students with different motivational levels participated in mobile‐assisted peer feedback provision, as well as the characteristics of the feedback they provided. Methods: A total of 61 sophomores majoring in Business English at a Chinese university participated in this 16‐week‐long study. They were asked to complete oral assignments and give and receive peer feedback via MosoTeach (a popular mobile learning application in China). Multiple types of data (peer feedback records, questionnaires, reflective journals and interviews) were collected, analysed, and triangulated. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that EFL learners with higher motivation were more likely to provide feedback on time using more words. Unique characteristics of mobile‐assisted peer feedback among highly motivated learners were also observed. Implications: The study highlights the importance of learner motivation in mobile‐assisted peer feedback practice and provides pedagogical suggestions for better designing and implementing peer feedback in mobile collaborative learning contexts. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Previous research has recognized mobile‐assisted peer feedback as an effective way of mobile collaborative language learning.Previous studies on mobile‐assisted oral peer feedback have examined different dimensions of feedback in relation to their effects on speaking performance.Previous research is less clear about how learners' motivational characteristics may influence peer feedback performance. What this paper adds: Situated in a mobile learning context, this study investigated how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students with different motivational levels participated in mobile‐assisted peer feedback provision, and examined the characteristics of the feedback they provided.Results revealed that EFL students with higher motivation were more likely to provide feedback on time using more words. Some unique characteristics of mobile‐assisted peer feedback among students with different motivational levels were also observed. Implications: This study demonstrates the importance of considering learners' motivational levels in teachers' design and implementation of peer feedback with technology.It is crucial for teachers to provide training and scaffolding to students in their construction of peer feedback with mobile technologies.Teachers are suggested to encourage the students to provide detailed positive comments for their peers, which may increase students' confidence and reduce their anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has not been well controlled, and vaccination could be an effective way to prevent this pandemic. By accommodating attribute nonattendance (ANA) in a discrete choice experiment (DCE), this paper aimed to examine Chinese public preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for COVID‐19 vaccine attributes, especially the influence of ANA on the estimated results. Methods: A DCE was designed with four attributes: effectiveness, protection period, adverse reactions and price. A random parameter logit model with an error component (RPL‐EC) was used to analyse the heterogeneity of respondents' preferences for COVID‐19 vaccine attributes. Two equality constraint latent class (ECLC) models were used to consider the influence of ANA on the estimated results in which the ECLC‐homogeneity model considered only ANA and the ECLC‐heterogeneity model considered both ANA and preference heterogeneity. Results: Data from 1,576 samples were included in the analyses. Effectiveness had the highest relative importance, followed by adverse reactions and protection period, which were determined by the attributes and levels presented in this study. The ECLC‐heterogeneity model improved the goodness of fit of the model and obtained a lower probability of ANA. In the ECLC‐heterogeneity model, only a small number of respondents (29.09%) considered all attributes, and price was the most easily ignored attribute (64.23%). Compared with the RPL‐EC model, the ECLC‐homogeneity model obtained lower WTPs for COVID‐19 vaccine attributes, and the ECLC‐heterogeneity model obtained mixed WTP results. In the ECLC‐heterogeneity model, preference group 1 obtained higher WTPs, and preference groups 2 and 3 obtained lower WTPs. Conclusions: The RPL‐EC, ECLC‐homogeneity and ECLC‐heterogeneity models obtained inconsistent WTPs for COVID‐19 vaccine attributes. The study found that the results of the ECLC‐heterogeneity model considering both ANA and preference heterogeneity may be more plausible because ANA and low preference may be confused in the ECLC‐homogeneity model and the RPL‐EC model. The results showed that the probability of ANA was still high in the ECLC‐heterogeneity model, although it was lower than that in the ECLC‐homogeneity model. Therefore, in future research on DCE (such as the field of vaccines), ANA should be considered as an essential issue. Public Contribution: Chinese adults from 31 provinces in mainland China participated in the study. All participants completed the COVID‐19 vaccine choice questions generated through the DCE design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Failure to effectively organize and manage learning time is an important factor influencing online learners' performance. Investigation of time‐investment patterns for online learning will provide educators with useful knowledge of how learners engage in and regulate their online learning and support them in tailoring online course design and teaching. However, understanding of how learners invest and manage their time during online learning remains limited. Objectives: This study aims to discover the typical time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their temporal‐learning characteristics based on a systematic time‐investment analysis framework and their relationship with learning performance. Methods: Based on a proposed time‐investment‐analysis framework, this study applied statistical, cluster and lag sequential analyses to investigate learners' time‐investment patterns and their relationships with learning performance, session time allocation, and learning sequences by analysing the learning data from 12,463 participants of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in China. Results and Conclusions: Seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners were defined, and learning performance was found to differ among them. Further analysis shows that high performers invested time throughout the whole course and allocated time to multiple activities, exam‐takers performed better in time management and produced more behavioural sequences related to cognitive strategy and recourse use, and learners' motivation and prior knowledge affected the management and effectiveness of their time investment. Implications: The results support the recognition and evaluation of online learning time‐investment patterns and suggest relevant cues for improving MOOC design and teaching. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Insufficient learning time affects learning persistence and effectiveness in open and online education programs.Learning time investment and management regarded as an element of self‐regulated learning is a predictor of learning performance.Some proxy behavioural variables or characteristics of online learning time management have been found in previous studies.Learning analysis can be used to dig the knowledge implicit in learning data for online teaching evaluation and improvement. What is paper adds to the subject: Based on a comprehensive analytic framework, seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their relationship with achievement are identified.Under different time frames, learners' time allocation and learning behaviour pattern are different.Learners performing better in time management across course learning allocate more time to multiple activities in session learning.Exam‐takers perform better in time management across MOOC learning, and produce more behaviour sequences related to cognitive strategy and course recourse use. The implications of study findings for practitioners: The recognition of time investment pattern can support online course design and teaching improvement.MOOC design and teaching need to consider the differences in learners' time resources and their ability of time management.MOOC design and teaching need to encourage learners lacking of performance motivation to engage in various learning activities instead of just watching videos.MOOC design need consider the differences in learners' prior knowledge, and offer personalized learning path based on assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the call to foster computational thinking (CT) in every child has received considerable attention. However, there is little understanding of whether children are developmentally ready to think computationally and what specific CT concepts and skills can be developed at various ages. This study explored the developmental and gender differences in CT skills of 197 Grade 4–6 students (aged 9–13) before being exposed to instruction and investigated the age–gender interaction effects on their CT acquisition in an intervention combining both programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities. Results show that students' CT skills followed a developmental progression before instruction. Gender difference across ages was insignificant in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills. Additionally, students of different ages developed CT differently during the intervention, and their CT acquisition was unaffected by gender. Implications for practice and research in CT education were discussed. Lay Description: What is currently known about the topic: Learning progressions for computational thinking have been defined in K‐12 curricula globally.Engaging in programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities can increase students' CT skills.Controversial results have been reported on the age–gender interaction effects on CT development.Lack of understanding on children's actual progressive development of CT. What this paper adds: A developmental progression was found in CT skills of students aged 9–13. Students aged 12 and above had some a priori understanding of CT.No gender difference across ages existed in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills before instruction.Students aged 9–11 benefitted the most from an intervention combining both programming and unplugged activities compared to older students. Students' CT acquisition in the intervention was unaffected by gender.Given the intervention, students aged 9 and above developed conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition skills. However, generalization skill was developed only for students aged 12 and above. Implications for practice and policy: The findings lay the foundation for designing evidence‐based age‐appropriate CT learning progression and pedagogies.Age‐appropriate learning content: Given appropriate learning experiences, students aged 9 and above may be ready to learn certain CT concepts and skills, including conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition.CT pedagogies: Using programming and unplugged activities to develop CT requires careful consideration of students' cognitive development and gender needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of mobile technologies, well‐designed fraction apps can be used to help children gain fraction knowledge, a challenging topic for both teachers and students. The present pilot study adopted a quasi‐experimental design to investigate whether children can learn fraction concepts equally well if half of the lesson time (20 min) is replaced with game‐based learning. Keeping the total lesson time (40 min) identical, the control group (N = 33) received traditional instruction, and the experimental group (N = 32) was presented with a blended learning approach spending half of the class time (20 min) playing tablet‐based fraction games, where each of the learners had their own tablet. The results suggested that in the posttest, the experimental group achieved similar learning gains to the control group and appear to have achieved better performance in the transfer test than the control group. This paper also discusses the efficiency of game‐based learning, the mechanism of how fraction games might enhance learning, and the potential of integrating game‐based learning in educational settings. Lay Description: What is already known about this topicAs a significant mathematical concept in daily life, fractions are crucial for later success in math learning.As a promising new technology, educational games show a great potential for improving learning.Well‐designed fraction apps can be used to help children gain fraction knowledge.What this paper addsGame‐based fraction learning can be combined with formal learning in school education.Game‐based fraction learning might provide a more efficient approach to increasing students' conceptual knowledge of fractions.The result showed that the experimental group achieved a similar cognitive level as the control group although they spent half of the time playing a game, suggesting that children can gain knowledge from the experiences of playing games.What are the implications for practice and/or policyThe result suggests that the proper use of educational games in teaching fractions can make learning more efficient.Further research needs to be done to determine whether the fraction understanding gained through playing these games will have an impact on students' future learning of more complicated fraction concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient satisfaction has been seen as a key criterion when evaluating hospitals and is one of the main focuses of the current health‐care reform in China. This paper aimed to explore patient‐ and hospital‐level factors associated with inpatient satisfaction, which can provide policy implications for the evaluation and development of a patient‐oriented health‐care system. Methods: The paper analyses data from the 2017 China National Patient Survey which includes 20 300 inpatients from 131 tertiary hospitals across 31 provinces. Descriptive analysis and multivariable logistic regressions are conducted to identify key factors related to satisfaction. Results: Patient sociodemographic characteristics, including gender, age, income and insurance type, are found to be strongly associated with their satisfaction of inpatient experience. In terms of institutional characteristics, hospital type, size, staffing and financial performance are also significantly correlated with inpatient satisfaction. Patients are more satisfied with specialist hospitals and large hospitals measured by the number of beds and surgeries. Hospitals with higher nurse‐to‐bed ratio also receive more satisfaction. The financial performance of hospitals, however, is negatively associated with satisfaction. Conclusion: Patient satisfaction contains unique information on service quality and thus should be incorporated into the matrix of hospital evaluation. Meanwhile, differences in patient composition must be adjusted to make fair comparisons across hospitals. Moreover, future reform needs to put greater efforts in the design of comprehensive public insurance scheme, efficient hospital structure and an overall well‐functioning health‐care delivery system in order to better serve patients in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A marriage of convenience has been defined as a reciprocal relationship between a gay man and a lesbian that provides a way to cope with social, cultural, family, and political stress, but this definition may be oversimplified in explaining this type of reciprocal relationship in a guanxi (the system of social networks and influential relationships that facilitate business and other dealings) society such as China. Such relationships are undergoing a process of development and change rather than remaining stable in Chinese guanxi society. This paper explores the nature and process of the development of marriages of convenience between gay men and lesbians in China. The data were collected and analyzed according to the grounded theory method. A theoretical sampling strategy was employed, and a sample of 15 people involved in so‐called marriages of convenience was recruited from gay and lesbian communities in China. In our research, we found that the marriage relationships documented in this study included four stages: (1) men dang hu dui (being matched for marriage), (2) partnership, (3) friendship, and (4) kinship. Building a suitable relationship in a marriage of convenience can help gay men and lesbians meet social expectations while simultaneously retaining a degree of autonomy for their own homosexual identities. Maintaining and developing guanxi is a basic method of conflict resolution in Chinese society. Meanwhile, the ambiguity of the relationship within a marriage of convenience may cause conflict in these marriages. Treatment modalities are recommended to reorganize the system structuring these marriages and clarify ambiguous family boundaries by redefining who is in the family unit and his and her associated roles and responsibilities in the marriage of convenience. We conclude that more research is warranted to investigate how family therapy can be adapted for Chinese gay and lesbian individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the COVID‐19 epidemic crisis, students from higher education institutions around the world are forced to participate in comprehensive online curriculums. In such a scenario, it is worth investigating how students perceived their learning outcomes and satisfaction based on this method of teaching and learning online. This study aims to explore the role of six factors, namely, system quality, course design, learner‐learner interaction, learner‐instructor interaction, learner‐content interaction, and self‐discipline, on university students' perceived learning outcomes and their effect on student satisfaction with online curricula during the COVID‐19 epidemic. A structural equation modelling technique was used to assess survey questionnaires obtained from 457 validated students at a Public University in China. The results demonstrated that these determinants had a positive effect on satisfaction and learning outcomes, whereas learner‐instructor interaction had no significant effect. Furthermore, the strongest determinant that affected not only students' satisfaction but also their learning outcomes was the learner‐content interaction. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Online teaching can support students' learning in COVID‐19 epidemic.Various determining factors affect students' learning outcomes and satisfaction towards online learning. What this paper adds?: This study investigates six determinants on students' learning outcomes and satisfaction towards online learning.Learner‐content interaction yielded a stronger effect on university students' learning outcomes and satisfaction.Learner‐instructor interaction has no significant effect. Implications for practice and/or policy: System quality, course design, learner‐learner interaction, learner‐content interaction, and self‐discipline, had a positive impact on university students' perceived learning outcomes and satisfaction in COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital competence is critical for university students to adapt to and benefit from digitally enhanced learning. Prior studies on its measurement mostly focus on educators and relied on factor analyses. However, there is a lack of valid and convenient tools to measure university students' digital competence. This study aimed to develop a digital competence scale for university students (DC‐US) in digitally enhanced learning with robust psychometric properties. An initial DC‐US with 23 items was proposed to measure the single latent trait of digital competence. It was validated and refined continuously through a pilot study, a main study and a predictive validity study in three datasets involving 825 participants altogether, using factor analyses, Rasch analyses and the partial least squares modelling. The final DC‐US turned out to comprise two subscales: technical literacy and digital skills, with 10 items retained, and manifested high internal consistency, unidimensionality and measurement invariance. The scale also demonstrated strong predictive validity, with technical literacy greatly predicting digital skills, which negatively predicted technostress. The DC‐US enables instructors and school administrators to conveniently obtain preliminary information of university students' digital competence, informing their digital class preparation and development of timely interventions for addressing digital deficiencies. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Digital competence is critical for university students to adapt to and benefit from digitally enhanced learning (DEL).There is a lack of valid and convenient tools to measure university students' digital competence.Prior studies on its measurement mostly focus on educators and relied on factor analyses. What this paper adds?: A unidimensional, valid and unbiased digital competence scale was developed for university students.Rasch analyses and classical test theory were employed jointly for the scale development.The digital competence scale comprised two subscales: Technical literacy and digital skills. Implications for practice: University students can use the scale for a quick self‐assessment of their digital competence before joining DEL.Instructors can use the scale to gain an initial knowledge of their students' digital competence to inform digital class preparation.University administrators can rely on the scale to quickly evaluate the implementation effectiveness of DEL schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the use of experiments is important for developing students' scientific knowledge and skills, challenges may arise when teachers and students are conducting experiments in class, such as non‐reusable experimental resources, safety issues and difficulties simulating some specific effects. Augmented reality (AR) technology affords an alternative approach to conducting experiments by bringing students a virtual–real mixed learning environment. In this study, taking junior high school physics knowledge on the magnetic field as an example, we designed and developed an AR‐based mobile simulated experiment tool. This study investigates the effect of the AR‐based experiment on students' knowledge improvement and cognitive load compared with 3D and traditional experiments. A sample of 122 ninth‐grade students was randomly chosen and assigned to three groups (AR, 3D and Traditional). The results demonstrate that students in the AR group performed better than those in the 3D and Traditional groups in terms of their knowledge improvement. The AR group students also experienced the lowest cognitive load among the three groups. Moreover, students had positive perceptions about AR and 3D tools. The implications of this study are discussed. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Experiment is an important method for students' magnetic field learning.Traditional magnetic experiment consists of various procedures that may cause some inconvenience during learning.Augmented reality (AR) provides a virtual–real fusion environment to assist teaching and learning.While some studies indicate positive impact of AR on learner's cognitive load, some do not. What this paper adds: An AR‐based mobile simulated experiment tool was proposed based on the junior high school physics knowledge, the magnetic field.A Comparison was made among AR, 3D and traditional experiment for magnetic field learning.Higher knowledge improvement and lower cognitive load were observed in the AR group.3D and Traditional groups showed similar knowledge improvement and cognitive load. Implications for practice and/or policy: The AR design with hand‐held devices has unlimited scalability of educational applications.Serving the real object as marker and using the professional algorithm to simulate some specific phenomenon were recommended in future AR studies.The findings indicated that AR experimental tool had a statistically significant effect on students' knowledge improvement and cognitive load.The similar result between 3D and Traditional groups implies that not everything virtualized is good; we must consider the actual teaching and learning situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational thinking (CT) plays a vital role in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, whether students' learning attitude towards STEM is related to their CT skills remains unknown. Two studies were conducted to address this knowledge gap. In Study 1, we validated a newly developed STEM learning attitude scale among a sample of Chinese primary school students (N = 489). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis results revealed that the scale which consisted of three factors (mathematics, science and information technology) could sufficiently measure primary school students' STEM learning attitude in the current sample. In Study 2, we explored the association between students' STEM learning attitude and their CT skills. Evidence revealed that learning attitude towards STEM significantly predicted CT skills. We also found that girls had a more positive learning attitude towards STEM than boys, and the fourth grade might be the key period for the development of CT skills. Implications for promoting primary school students' STEM learning and CT skills were also discussed. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic: Computational thinking (CT) plays a more and more important role in K‐12 education.STEM has become a natural field for integrating CT into classroom.Students' learning attitude determines their performance and achievements.CT is influenced by personal and situational factors. What this paper adds: Reliability and validity of the STEM learning attitude scale are psychometrically good.Students' STEM learning attitude can positively predict their CT skills.Girls may have more potential for the cultivation of CT in STEM education.The fourth grade may be the key period for the development of CT skills. Implications for practice and/or policy: Promoting CT skills in STEM education by improving students' learning attitude.Adopting teaching methods according to students' psychological and cognitive characteristics.Grasping the key stage of fourth grade to develop students' CT skills.Encouraging and protecting girls' interests and ideas in STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the potentials promised by MOOCs (massive open online courses), the adoption rate of MOOCs is still low, especially in developing countries. Research on the adoption of MOOCs in developing countries is also limited. To fill this research gap, this research aims to study the adoption of MOOCs by extending current research on innovation and technology adoption in order to promote the diffusion of MOOCs in developing countries. Here, a conceptual framework, technology–user–environment was proposed to identify influential drivers and barriers of MOOC adoption. Eight hundred and twenty‐seven individuals in a developing country, were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. Data were analysed by hierarchical regression, and the results show that for the (a) technological characteristics, perceived usefulness has the most significant influence, followed by lack of accessibility and performance‐to‐cost value; for the (b)user factors, self‐regulation was the most significant predictor of MOOC adoption, and female learners showed higher willingness to adopt MOOCs; and for the (c) social environmental factors, tradition and social norms and lack of information about MOOCs were negatively associated with adoption of MOOCs. Implications and suggestions are discussed at the end of this paper. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: MOOCs (massive open online courses), as educational innovations, are supposed to bridge the digital divide and promote educational equity globally.The benefits of MOOCs for learners are obvious.However, the adoption rate of MOOCs is still relatively low while the dropout rate is high, especially in developing countries.Research on the adoption of MOOCs in developing countries is still limited.What this paper adds: This research proposed a conceptual framework, namely, technology–user–environment, in order to identify influential drivers and barriers from the technological characteristics of MOOCs as well as the user and the social environmental factors.After conducting a survey among 827 learners in a developing country, it was found that perceived usefulness of MOOCs, performance‐to‐cost value, and self‐regulation are positively associated with learners' intention of adopting MOOCs, whereas lack of accessibility tradition and social norms and lack of supporting information are negatively associated with their intention of MOOC adoption.Implications for practice and/or policy: For MOOC content provider, it is necessary to enhance the usefulness of MOOCs, as perceived usefulness is ranked as the strongest predictor of MOOC adoption.Universities in developing countries should help students overcome the potential obstacles at the beginning of MOOC learning by providing instructions to learners to search for course materials and how to use MOOCs to supplement their formal learning.Governments of developing countries are encouraged to be involved and support the development and delivery as well as the usage of MOOCs. Such participation by active stakeholders in developing countries has potential to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries.For learners, they should be equipped with self‐regulating strategies so that they will be competent to manage challenges (e.g., distractions) while learning in MOOCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the increasing pervasiveness of today's digital society, mobile devices are changing the face of education. Students can interact with mobile devices in context‐aware environment. This paper presents a mobile application based on expert system (Plant‐E) for students to acquire knowledge about plant classification by answering decision‐making questions. In order to study effectiveness of Plant‐E and cognitive load of students who experience different kinds of interaction in learning process, another mobile application (Plant‐G) only providing information pages of plants was developed. A quasi‐experiment was conducted with three classes of 137 seventh graders. The three classes, Class A with 46 students using Plant‐E in campus, Class B with 44 students using Plant‐G in campus, and Class C with 47 students using Plant‐G in a traditional classroom, constitute three groups with different interaction complexity. The research conducted pretest, posttest, and delayed test to evaluate learning performance of students in three classes and used a questionnaire to investigate their perceptions and attitudes towards proposed system. Results show that interaction complexity has an impact on students' learning performance and mental effort in mobile learning; the higher the interaction complexity is, the higher mental effort and the better learning performance in mobile learning will be. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Mobile devices can be used to meet the urgency of learning need and can provide guidance and clues for learners in context‐aware environment.During mobile learning in context‐aware environment, students need to interact with mobile devices and environment.Mental effort reflects cognitive load related to interaction complexity, and it can affect learning performance.Self‐efficacy affects the degree of mental effort by affecting the firmness of performance goal.Cognitive load and learning performance are the main concerns that need to be considered when evaluating the effectiveness of mobile learning. What this paper adds: Interaction complexity has an impact on students' learning performance and mental effort in mobile learning.In terms of the three levels of interaction complexity in this study, the higher the interaction complexity is, the better the results that students will get in mobile learning.The higher the interaction complexity is, the higher the mental effort that students invested into in mobile learning would be.The medium self‐efficacy group invested the most mental effort and got the best grades, rather than the high or low group.Rule‐based mobile learning expert system is feasible and effective for students to learn by interacting with learning objects in context‐aware environment. Implications for practice and/or policy: Efforts should be made to make mobile learning systems more interactive; for example, learners can learn more effectively by interacting with mobile system, which can improve the frequency of observing learning objects.Rule‐based mobile learning expert system can give learners more opportunities to know how experts do when solving problems and can provide a potential method for students to learn in context‐aware environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, it has become common to use the internet or computer tutoring with a programme or application for additional instruction (ICTPAAI), in addition to the mandatory school schedule. This study aimed to understand students' participation in ICTPAAI and its relation to academic achievement. Multilevel structural equation modelling was conducted on a sample comprising 6,425 Chinese students (Mage 15.72 years; 48.9% girls) who had various forms of additional instruction during the 2014/2015 school year. Results showed that the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to complete schoolwork, whether in school or outside of school, was positively associated with students' participation in ICTPAAI; however, students' ICT interest, ICT self‐efficacy and ICT autonomy were not. Students' participation in ICTPAAI was negatively associated with their academic achievement at the end of the school year; much variance was explained at the school level. These findings suggest that students should be cautious about participating in this form of additional instruction and that schools play an important role in students' participation in ICTPAAI. Lay Description: What is already known about this topicWhen having more ICT opportunities at and outside of schools and higher ICT propensities, students are more likely to participate in ICT‐related learning activities.Students with higher achievement motivation are more likely to be involved in learning activities.ICT use at school and outside of school may not improve students' academic achievement.What this paper addsICT opportunities at and outside of school, and student gender link to participation in internet and computer tutoring with a programme or application for additional instruction (ICTPAAI), but ICT autonomy, ICT self‐efficacy, ICT interest and achievement motivation do not.More variance of participation in ICTPAAI were explained at the school level than at the student level.ICTPAAI negatively associates with academic achievement.Implications for practice and/or policySchools play an important role in students' participation in ICTPAAI.Students, at least Chinese students, should be cautious about participating in ICTPAAI.Pay more attention to boys to prevent them from spending too much time on ICTPAAI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An instructor's gestures have an effect not only on students' learning but also on teaching itself. In two experiments, this study tested whether instructors' use of gestures while recording video lectures affected their teaching performance, stress, and cognitive load. In Experiment 1, participants recorded video lectures with gestures or without gestures. As hypothesized, t tests showed that participants in the gestures condition had better teaching performance and lower cognitive load than participants in the no‐gestures condition, whereas there was no effect on stress level. In Experiment 2, participants recorded video lectures with either pointing gestures or representational gestures. The t tests indicated that participants in the pointing gestures condition showed better teaching performance and experienced lower stress than those in the representational gestures condition, but there was no difference in cognitive load. Overall, our findings suggest that in the new educational environment of video lectures, instructors should consider using gestures, especially pointing gestures, to improve their teaching and their experience of teaching. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic Instructors' gestures have benefits on learners' learning.Different types of gestures have different effect.Gestures can affect speaker's cognition. What this paper adds This study explored the effect of whether instructors' gestures and different types of gestures (pointing gestures and representational gestures) during recording instructional videos on their teaching.Instructors' gestures improved their teaching performance, induced cognitive load, and enhanced teaching efficacy.Instructors' pointing gestures were outperformed than representational gestures in teaching performance and stress level. Implications for practice and/or policy Instructors should consider using gestures when recording instructional videos, especially pointing gestures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational thinking (CT), the ability to devise computational solutions for real‐life problems, has received growing attention from both educators and researchers. To better improve university students' CT competence, collaborative programming is regarded as an effective learning approach. However, how novice programmers develop CT competence through collaborative problem solving remains unclear. This study adopted an innovative approach, quantitative ethnography, to analyze the collaborative programming activities of a high‐performing and a low‐performing team. Both the discourse analysis and epistemic network models revealed that across concepts, practices, and identity, the high‐performing team exhibited CT that was systematic, whereas the CT of the low‐performing team was characterized by tinkering or guess‐and‐check approaches. However, the low‐performing group's CT development trajectory ultimately converged towards the high‐performing group's. This study thus improves understanding of how novices learn CT, and it illustrates a useful method for modeling CT based in authentic problem‐solving contexts. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Computational thinking competence includes computational concepts, computational practices, and computational perspectives.Collaborative programming has the potential to foster computational thinking competence development.What this paper adds: The low‐performing student group adopted a bottom‐up perspective at the beginning but transformed to a top‐down approach by the end.The low‐performing group's computational thinking development trajectory had convergent evolution towards the high‐performing group's trajectory.Implications for practice and/or policy: Computational thinking competence can be developed in collaborative contexts even when students begin with a bottom‐up approach.Computational thinking should go beyond the cognitive development of computational concepts to connect computational practice and computational identity.Quantitative ethnography approach has potential to model computational thinking competence in collaborative programming context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Close links between students' conceptions of and approaches to learning were established in the past research. However, only a few quantitative studies investigated this relationship particularly with regard to mobile learning (m‐learning). The correlation between learners' conceptions and approaches to m‐learning was analysed using a partial least squares analysis applied to data obtained from a sample of 971 undergraduate students in China. The results indicated that students' conceptions of m‐learning could be classified into reproductive, transitional, and constructive levels. Students may hold multiple m‐learning applications than a predominant one; hence, examining m‐learning as one monolithic entity may provide limited information. Latent profile analysis identified four learning profiles based on students' preferred m‐learning applications: passive, mixed, surface‐supportive, and high‐engagement.. Moreover, a general trend was observed, whereby students with reproductive and surface‐supportive learning profiles showed a tendency to adopt surface approaches, whereas those expressing constructive and mixed learning profiles were more inclined to adopt deep approaches. Interestingly, students with transitional conceptions and high‐engagement learning profiles tended to take both surface and deep approaches. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic Previous studies have confirmed that conceptions of learning are closely linked with approaches to learning that tend to influence on learning performance.Conceptions of ubiquitous learning/mobile learning (m‐learning) appeared a hierarchy, ranging from reproductive to constructivist conceptions. What this paper adds This study indicated that students' conceptions of m‐learning can be classified into reproductive, transitional, and constructive levels. Accordingly, the results of the latent profile analysis revealed four learning profiles that were able to characterize students in terms of their critical applications of m‐learning, namely, the high‐engagement, mixed, surface‐supportive, and passive m‐learning profiles.A general trend was observed, whereby students with reproductive and surface‐supportive learning profiles showed a tendency to adopt surface approaches, whereas those expressing constructive and mixed learning profiles were more inclined to adopt deep approaches. Interestingly, students with transitional conceptions and high‐engagement learning profiles tended to take both surface and deep approaches. Implications for practice and/or policy The structure relationship between conceptions of and approaches to m‐learning and the role of different m‐learning profiles in approaches to m‐learning deepened the understanding of m‐learning processes and outcomes.In order to develop suitable approaches to m‐learning and motivations specific to Chinese educational context, college educators and teachers might consciously guide students to cultivate their perceptions of m‐learning based on the findings in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A semantic diagram tool is proposed in this study in order to structure collaborative problem solving (CPS) based on cognitive load theory (CLT). To investigate its effects on transaction cost and the deepening of user understandings, a comparative quasi‐experiment was designed and conducted with 49 participants from a university in East China. Analysis of group dialogic acts and self‐reported cognitive load showed that a semantic diagram tool can decrease transaction costs during CPS. It can thereby help collaborators invest less effort into those procedural conversations that are necessary for managing social interaction but which do not directly contribute to deepening collaborative learning in the task domain. Data analysis of pretested and posttested domain understanding suggested that learners achieved a greater depth of understanding after CPS supported by the semantic diagram tool. These findings are interpreted in terms of CLT. A semantic diagram tool can release the learner's limited working memory from procedural conversation, creating more working memory capacity for deepening problem understanding. Therefore, this study demonstrates one means whereby a semantic diagram tool functions as a promising technological support to structure CPS. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Group coordination and communication are conducted with a cost, which may impede learning.From the point of cognitive load theory, deep learning would occur when extraneous cognitive load is reduced to its minimal in the learning context.External representations have a positive effect on the cognitive and social dimensions of learning.What this paper adds: Semantic diagram tools can decrease transaction costs during collaborative problem solving (CPS) learning process.Semantic diagram tools can deepen student understanding during CPS.Implications for practice and/or policy: Semantic diagram tools with conceptual and sociocognitive support of CPS are a promising way to stimulate deep learning.The combination of CLT and sociocultural theory is a promising way to deepen our general theoretical understanding of social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country with Malay, Chinese and Indian being the dominant ethnic groups. This paper investigates the three ethnic cultures in Malaysia by examining the individual-level values of managers and professionals. Based on 528 responses to a Schwartz Value Survey ( SVS) questionnaire, the paper identifies partial convergence of the value systems of Malay, Chinese and Indian people. It was found that the three ethnic groups do not differ significantly in the individualistic value dimensions of Self-enhancement and Openness-to-change. However, Malays are found to be more conservative and less self-transcendent than Chinese or Indians, while Chinese and Indians attribute the same importance to these two sets of values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As preliminary research into the childbirth experience of migrants in China, this paper presents a systematic review of Chinese and English literature published between 1999 and 2011 on childbirth in migrants in China. Electronic databases were accessed and papers were found by keyword search. A total of 132 Chinese and 9 English papers were catalogued for review. These papers address migrant maternity issues concerning antenatal, intrapartum, postnatal care, institutional issues, family planning or birth control. Since China's economic reforms, the healthcare infrastructure has been inadequate for childbirth in migrants. They experience more adverse birth outcomes than local residents. This suggests that the effects of change upon childbirth and the existing urban and rural care systems cannot meet the needs of the migrants. There is a lack of research in the childbirth experience of women. Knowledge of their childbirth experience will contribute to the understanding of these needs, informing systems' reform. The medical approach results in many unnecessary interventions and higher costs. It is argued here that a midwifery model of care is most appropriate for the childbirth experience of migrant women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some scholars argue that the maintenance of social networks contributes to the lower prevalence of deviant behaviours and fewer adverse health effects among migrants. But others suggest that if migrants are embedded in homogeneous networks, such networks may enable the formation of a deviant subculture that promotes risk taking. Facing this dilemma, the present study investigates how native-place networks influence sexual risk behaviours ( SRBs), specifically the pursuit of commercial sex and condomless sex with sex workers, for male rural-urban migrants. Using a multi-stage sample of 1,591 male rural-urban migrants from two major migrant-influx cities within China, we assessed migrants' general friend network ties and native place networks (townsmen in migrants' local networks) and tested their associations with SRBs. Multiple logistic regression analyses indicate that native-place network ties are associated with paying for sex (OR = 1.33, p < 0.001) and condomless sex with sex workers (OR = 1.33, p < 0.001), while general friendship network ties reduce such risks (OR = 0.74, p < 0.001; OR = 0.84, p < 0.01) even after controlling for demographic background, housing conditions, length of stay, health beliefs and behaviours, and spousal companionship. Our findings suggest that native-place networks among Chinese male rural-urban migrants are associated with SRBs because homogenous networks may serve as a platform for the emergence of a deviant subculture that promotes risk behaviours. A Virtual Abstract of this paper is available at: . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]