Search

"Deficit remediation" as an educational governance paradigm has given rise to many problems, whereas principal positive leadership under the "strengths development" paradigm has the potential to give new impetus to school development. Based on large-scale survey data within a provincial region, this study investigates how the school context and principal positive leadership impact student academic achievement using structural equation models. Research findings show that principal positive leadership as a structural latent variable has positive impacts on student academic performance and significantly mediates the effects of the school context on student academic results; and that the patterns of the impacts of principal positive leadership differ according to the variations of the school's autonomy in operation.

Objectives: Previous studies have widely demonstrated that inhibition of return (IOR) with audiovisual targets decreases due to audiovisual integration (AVI). It is currently unclear, however, whether the impaired AVI in children with ADHD has effects on IOR. The present study used the cue-target paradigm to explore differences between the IOR of audiovisual targets and the IOR of visual targets in ADHD and typically developing (TD) children. Method: A total of 81 native Chinese speakers aged 6 to 13 years were recruited, including 38 children with ADHD and 43 age- and sex-matched TD children. Results: The results showed that there was a smaller magnitude of IOR with audiovisual targets as compared with visual targets in the two groups. Importantly, the reduction of IOR in audiovisual conditions was significantly smaller in children with ADHD than in children with TD. Race model analyses further confirmed that differences in IOR between ADHD and TD are due to deficits of audiovisual integration in ADHD. Conclusion: The results indicated that children with ADHD have impaired audiovisual integration, which has a minimal impact on IOR.

Due to the current status of English as a lingua franca in numerous domains, increasing attention has been directed toward the economic potential of English. However, research on languages other than English from an economic perspective remains limited. This study aims to address this gap by examining the labor market demand for Japanese language skills in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China. Drawing on data from the job advertisements published on two prominent job websites in mainland China in 2019 and 2022, this study suggests an increasing overall demand for Japanese language skills, as well as a request for higher proficiency in Japanese in the PRD labor market between 2019 and 2022, despite variations observed across different economic sectors. Furthermore, the results also indicate a growing tendency to interweave Japanese and global English in the PRD labor market. The findings provide implications for language instructors, job applicants, and educational institutions.

The present study aims to translate the questionnaires of Parents' Attitudes toward Early Childhood Career Development (PAECCD) and Parents' Attitudes toward Vocational Education Implementation in Preschool Curriculum (PAVEIPC) into Chinese versions (PAECCD-C and PAVEIPC-C) and examines their reliability and validity through two studies. In Study 1, exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted to evaluate their factor structure among 232 Chinese preschoolers' parents. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted to confirm their factor structures among other 355 Chinese preschoolers' parents, supporting the superiority of the initial theoretical model. Multigroup CFA comparisons indicated the measurement invariance for fathers and mothers. The PAECCD-C and PAVEIPC-C had excellent reliability values from 0.82 to 0.92. This study added to the existing research literature by supporting the applicability of PAECCD and PAVEIPC among Chinese preschoolers' parents.

Adolescence is a critical period during which youth develop and shape their behaviors. Because differences between youths are strongly connected to environmental factors, we aimed to elucidate possible pathways from home-school regulation and atmosphere to youths' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Data were derived from the China Education Panel Survey. This study involved a total of 9291 students aged 14-15 years (4834 boys, 4457 girls). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with LISREL 8.80 and Monte Carlo resampling with R to conduct the analysis strategy. In the home-school regulation, parental supervision on the one hand and teacher criticism on the other hand have direct positive and negative predictive effects on youths' prosocial behaviors, respectively, while their direct effects on antisocial behavior are the opposite; teachers praise does not directly affect adolescents' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. In the home-school atmosphere, family interaction and perceived good class climate directly positively affect youths' prosocial behaviors, while the direct effects of both on antisocial behavior are not significant. The SEM results reveal that academic self-efficacy and depressive symptoms may be underlying mediating mechanisms through which home-school regulation and atmosphere during adolescence affect students' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Intervention programs targeting home-school supportive environments and prevention programs targeting positive emotion and self-awareness may yield benefits for proper social behavior in adolescents. For example, by enhancing the way and frequency of parent-child interaction, teachers and students jointly create a good class climate of care and friendship to strengthen a home-school supportive environment. Improve adolescents' positive emotions such as contentment, optimism, and hope to reduce the possibility of depression.

Local socioeconomic advancement has given rise to great growth in language service industry of Gansu China, creating the brisk demand for full-fledged translation and interpretation (T&I) talents. However, such progress is slowed by a lack of senior T&I talents and poor T&I training. The existing literature provides little information on the further exploration of the imbalance between T&I talents supply and market demand in Gansu. Therefore, this study adopts quantitative analysis of the data collected through two structured questionnaire surveys to investigate the root causes of this discrepancy. The first survey is for the employment status and curriculum satisfaction among Gansu's Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) graduates. MTI graduates from Lanzhou University and Northwest Normal University provide 220 samples through the random sampling method. While the second survey examines employer demand for T&I talents. 52 samples are drawn from Gansu's renowned and accredited language service providers (LSPs) and non-language service providers (non-LSPs) using the stratified sampling method. Results of the research reveal that only 3.18% MTI graduates enter into the T&I industry, confirming Gansu's MTI training fail to meet the market demand. Based on the market-specific requirements for translators and interpreters, the present authors put forward several suggestions from the perspectives of aligning curriculum design with market needs, meeting the qualification requirements and enhancing the cultivation of essential T&I competences, with hope of providing effective references to the T&I training in Gansu Province and even other regions in northwest China.

Since there are many advantages of servant leadership, such as altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship, employers and human resources are particularly concerned about these soft skills when recruiting graduates. This study explores the impact of undergraduates' servant leadership on their self-perception of employability. We utilized previously validated scale questionnaires (the Servant Leadership Scale and the Undergraduates Perceived Employability Scale) to predict the perceived employability of undergraduates. We used multiple linear regression analysis to examine the five subscales of undergraduate servant leadership. Our extensive research has uncovered substantial evidence supporting all five hypotheses presented in the paper. Five variables, derived from the five dimensions of servant leadership, were used to measure undergraduates' perceived employability as the dependent variable. Our findings confirm that the altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship dimensions of servant leadership have positive correlations with undergraduates' perceived employability. Our findings suggest that undergraduates may be more employable if they exhibit the characteristics of servant leadership. Undergraduates should therefore be encouraged to enhance their soft skills in relation to servant leadership, and universities should consider offering courses on the topic. Employers and HR professionals may want to provide training to new employees on servant leadership to align better with the company culture. This study is the first to predict how undergraduate students' servant leadership qualities affect their perceived employability. The findings indicate that undergraduates who exhibit servant leadership traits are more likely to have a positive perception of their employability.

The study examined how L2 engagement is associated with students' general life satisfaction, a core element of well-being. A total of 1,109 seventh-grade EFL learners from a rural secondary school in China completed a measure of life satisfaction (family satisfaction, environment satisfaction, academic satisfaction, school satisfaction, freedom satisfaction, and friendship satisfaction) and a measure of foreign language engagement (cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, behavioural engagement, and social engagement). Path analysis shows that life satisfaction generally predicted L2 engagement positively. Variations were found in the associations between six life satisfaction dimensions and four L2 engagement dimensions. A positive psychology lens is adopted to interpret the findings and make concrete suggestions about how to enhance learner engagement. The findings imply that a proactive preventative stance on bolstering engagement could be encouraged such as fostering learners' positive perceptions and beliefs of self, family, school, environment, study, and friends.

This study investigates the influence of environmental attitudes of Chinese students in higher education institutions (HEIs). It included 988 students at ten higher education institutions and administered an "environmental attitudes inventory" questionnaire to investigate gender, grade level of study, institution level, parental educational background, scholarships, annual household income, students' leadership experience and the extent to which variables such as participation in environment-related courses affect students' attitudes towards the environment. Furthermore, the study relied on descriptive and analytical methods. The results show significant differences in grade, school level and parents' educational backgrounds on students' environmental attitudes. In contrast, gender, scholarship, annual family income and student leader experience related to the environment did not appear as significant factors. This paper suggests that education policymakers incorporate these influences into a vision of environmental educational reform to inform the remedial actions needed by higher education institutions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, from early 2020 onwards, the adoption of synchronous online learning increased rapidly. It offers students a unique learning experience, utilizing communication modes from both in-person and asynchronous online classes. This mixed-methods study examined the impact of modes of communication (visual, bodily behaviors, spoken language, and written language) found in synchronous online contexts on students' learning experiences from the perspective of social presence and teaching presence, as well as their satisfaction with synchronous online learning experience. An online survey was distributed first to collect quantitative data. The survey results indicated that four different modes influenced students' communication to a different extent, with written and spoken language being the most effective modes of online communication. These modes were also significantly positively correlated with social presence, teaching presence, and student satisfaction; however, only spoken language was a significant predictor of student satisfaction. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine students' perceptions of how multimodality affects social presence, teaching presence, and satisfaction with online learning. This led to five major themes and highlighted how multiple modes of communication supports social presence, thereby helping teachers scaffold students. In addition, the online learning context impacts type of instruction, and the reduced distance between teachers and students improves teaching presence; however, the students felt a lack of affective belonging in their online classes. This study also provided implications for course instructors and designers to help them effectively adopt different modes in synchronous online environments and promote social and teaching presence.

The effect of technology on primary students' self-regulated vocabulary learning (SRVL) over time and its dynamic relationship with vocabulary outcomes have been scarcely studied. This quasi-experimental study reports a longitudinal inquiry into the effect of a mobile-assisted self-regulation scheme on primary students' SRVL and the relationship between the changes in the perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcome. The study lasted seven months. Participants were 174 Grade 4 students (89 girls) from four classes at a primary school in Mainland China. Two classes were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Students in both groups used the app named Vocab+, the former with and the latter without a mobile-assisted self-regulation scheme. Data collection included questionnaires on students' perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary tests. Latent Growth Modelling (LGM) was used to analyse data. The results showed that perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes increased over time. The findings further revealed that students in the experimental group exhibited a steeper increasing trend in perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes. Besides, the association between the growth rates of students' perception of SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes was stronger with the experimental group than with the control group. Our results provided theoretical implications for understanding the relationship between SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes from a developmental perspective.

The past few decades have seen a boom in English-medium instruction (EMI) in Chinese universities. Despite growing research interest in EMI policy and practices in China, little is known about how students' motivation to study in the EMI programs is influenced by EMI policy and its implementation at the meso and micro levels. This study addresses this gap by examining an EMI program at a Chinese medical college. Through a survey of 118 students and interviews with 10 students and 6 teachers, we investigated students' EMI learning motivation, how and why it changed over time, and different stakeholders' perceptions of the EMI implementation. The questionnaire and interview data were triangulated with textual analysis results of institutional EMI policy documents. It was found that students' motivation generally declined over the course of EMI study and was often influenced by implementation factors such as pedagogical practices, assessment-related policies, and incentive strategies. Interactions and contradictions between the EMI policy goals, EMI implementation at different levels and students' motivation change were also analyzed through the Activity Theory lens to shed light on how higher education institutions could better sustain students' EMI motivation and enhance the quality of EMI programs.

Based on the ERG (Existence, Relatedness and Growth) theory, a scale was developed to evaluate the professional needs of psychological counsellors in China and its related factors were explored. A total of 209 counsellors participated in the study and completed two online questionnaires. The majority of participants were female (n = 163, 78%). The average age of participants is 41.00 (SD = 8.66). The results showed that the existence needs ([x-bar] = 4.49, SD = 0.60), relatedness needs ([x-bar] = 4.20, SD = 0.65) and growth needs ([x-bar] = 4.66, SD = 0.50) of counsellors were all at a high level. Work setting, marital status and regular supervision had a significant influence on the professional needs of counsellors. Counsellors working in private practice had more existence and growth needs compared to those working in institutions. Counsellors, who were married, had more existence and relatedness needs than those who were single. Counsellors without regular supervision had more existence, relatedness and growth needs.

Measurement concepts are an essential foundation for more advanced mathematical concepts. To address the challenges of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in learning measurement concepts, this study investigated the effects of using a combination of explicit instruction and virtual manipulatives (VMs) to teach measurement concepts to students with ASD in China. Using a single-case multiple-probe across skills design, researchers examined whether the intervention could support the acquisition and maintenance of measurement concepts in students with ASD. Based on visual analysis, a functional relation was found between the independent variable (i.e., explicit instruction with VMs) and student performance on solving measurement concepts problems. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Since the twenty-first century, universities in many countries, including China, have introduced tenure-track employment to attract outstanding faculty. Through a survey of 1,099 faculty members from 21 high-level research universities in China, this study used a quasi-experimental method to examine the effect of the tenure track on faculty members' academic performance. The results suggest that the implementation of the tenure track led to an increase in the number of academic publications, but a decrease in the number of high-quality academic articles. The study further analyzed the underlying mechanisms by which the tenure track affected faculty members' academic performance, and found that introducing the tenure track increased cross-institutional collaboration, thereby promoting academic productivity. However, it resulted in a reduction in research collaboration within the institution, which hindered academic publication in high-impact journals. In terms of disciplinary heterogeneity, this study shows that the negative effect of the tenure track on publication quality was more significant in science than in engineering. Based on the research results above, this paper proposed several suggestions for improving the tenure system to ensure research excellence.

In China, higher education institutions (HEIs) have a governance arrangement in which the university president and the party secretary occupy key roles. However, their legal roles as institutional leaders are vaguely specified in existing legal frameworks. Based on a four-dimensional theoretical model, this paper (i) clarifies the leadership roles in the dual governance structure, (ii) explores how HEI leaders (i.e. presidents and party secretaries) perceive their leadership, and (iii) applies the unique Chinese practices as a valuable test bed for critical reflections on how existing theoretical models of leadership are relevant in Chinese contexts. Through in-depth interviews with six top-level leaders from six Chinese public HEIs, our findings indicate that Chinese HEI leaders apply more structural than symbolic dimensions in their leadership practices. Whereas studies on institutional leadership conducted outside China tend to highlight the symbolic dimensions of leadership practices, our study suggests that top-level Chinese HEI leaders may assume the role of university managers rather than institutional leaders. We offer some reflections on the relevance of existing theoretical models of leadership and suggest the directions for further theoretical enhancement.

To retrospectively explore the characteristics of plasma amino acids (PAAs) in children with autism spectrum disorder and their clinical association via case-control study. A total of 110 autistic and 55 healthy children were recruited from 2014 to 2018. The clinical phenotypes included severity of autism, cognition, adaptability, and regression. Compared with the control group, autistic children had significantly elevated glutamate, [gamma]-Amino-n-butyric acid, glutamine, sarcosine, [delta]-aminolevulinic acid, glycine and citrulline. In contrast, their plasma level of ethanolamine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, homocysteine, pyroglutamic acid, hydroxyproline, ornithine, histidine, lysine, and glutathione were significantly lower. Elevated neuroactive amino acids (glutamate) and decreased essential amino acids were mostly distinct characteristics of PAAs of autistic children. Increased level of tryptophan might be associated with severity of autism.

In China, the innovative development of education for older people is an important response to the aging population, and an important way to meet the spiritual, cultural, and social needs of older people. Current academic research mainly focuses on the social factors that affect the participation of older people in education and there are few empirical studies on the individual psychological characteristics of older adult learning behavior. This study takes a positive psychology approach to the exploration of the factors influencing the participation of older adults in education in a number of universities of the Third Age in Fujian Province, China. The study is based on curriculum preferences and frequency of participation in extracurricular activities. The results show that the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism, as well as gender, age, level of educational attainment, and family economic status significantly affect frequency of participation in extracurricular activities and the curriculum preferences of older learners. The results of this study suggest that we can strengthen personality matching to promote the learning enthusiasm of older people in education, and adhere to the demand-oriented to promote the Third age education curriculum personalized. Furthermore, we should increase the scope for popularizing Third age education, improve the accessibility of education for the older people, accelerate the integration of older adult education with the Internet, innovate the form of older adult education, and then promote the development of customized curricula.

With the development of information technology and the internet, preschool education needs more innovative thinking and methods to promote its development. However, current preschool education faces many problems, such as limited resources, uneven educational quality, and difficulty in achieving personalized education, which seriously affect children's physical and mental health and social adaptability. Therefore, this paper selects preschool education innovation in the "internet plus" era as the research object. This paper will use literature review and empirical research methods to analyze problems and explain the theoretical basis; put forward teaching, management, service innovation; and at the same time promote educational system reform, optimize resource allocation, strengthen teacher construction, improve teaching quality and other pre-school education innovation strategies in the "internet plus" era. The research results can provide reference and inspiration for innovation in preschool education.

The focus of this study was on the associations between air pollution, outdoor activities and symptoms of wheeze and rhinitis for pre-school children over Wuhan and surrounding cities. Air pollutants had downward trends over the study region from 2015 to 2020. Sulfur dioxide (SO[subscript 2]) content decreased significantly. Particulate matter was concentrated on the north side of the study area and nitrogen dioxide (NO[subscript 2]) was concentrated near Wuhan urban, while the distribution of ozone (O[subscript 3]) was relatively uniform. Odds Ratio (OR) showed that an increase in NO[subscript 2] was associated with a high incidence of rhinitis, with an OR of 1.043 (1.025, 1.062 95% confidence interval). Reduction of O[subscript 3] was associated with remissions of rhinitis symptoms in spring and autumn. The living environment is an important factor. Living near lakes was associated with the incidence of wheeze and living near roads was associated with the incidence of wheeze rhinitis, respectively. Additionally, appropriate outdoor activities showed association with a low incidence of wheeze and rhinitis symptoms in this region. This research improved our understanding of air pollution, outdoor activities and pre-school children's respiratory health. It was also a guide on the design of outdoor activities and outdoor courses for pre-school children during the process of urban construction.

Teacher work engagement is essential for schools to achieve their educational objectives and student learning outcomes. Among all the influencing factors, supportive workplace resources from diverse sources such as distributed leadership, trust, and self-efficacy have been cited as important factors affecting teachers' engagement in their work. Conservation of resources theory proposes a theoretical mechanism of how supportive resources can facilitate employee engagement; this study aims to further examine and investigate the ways in which teacher work engagement is enhanced by distributed leadership and the role of teacher efficacy and trust in this relationship. The findings of a survey involving 577 Chinese primary school teachers reveal that teacher efficacy completely mediates the positive relationship between distributed leadership and teacher work engagement. Distributed leadership also leads to increased teacher efficacy owing to higher levels of trust. These results suggest that distributed leadership is a highly effective approach that school administrators can adopt and that a workplace climate with a high level of interpersonal trust should be considered to further improve the effectiveness of school leadership and management.

Based on data from the China Statistical Yearbook and China Family Panel Survey (CFPS), this article investigated the influence of regional transportation infrastructure development on family education expectations. Research results show that there is a significant positive correlation between transportation infrastructure and family educational expectations and that the improvement of transportation infrastructure can enhance the family's willingness to engage their children in higher education. According to the results of influencing mechanism analysis, transportation infrastructure development affects family education expectations by increasing family income and changing family reproduction concepts and educational ideas. In addition, the impact of transportation infrastructure construction on family education expectations is heterogeneous: the positive correlation between them is particularly significant in rural areas with less developed transportation infrastructure, in areas with low average education level of parents and slow information communication, and among families of lower social classes; however, the relationship between the two variables is not prominent in urban areas, in areas where information communication is fast and parents have a higher average education level, and among families with higher social classes. These research findings offer the nation and government new implications for better promoting poverty alleviation through education and rural revitalization in underdeveloped areas.

The teaching competency of rural teachers is fundamental to providing rural pupils with a high-quality education. Nonetheless, China has not yet established standardized competence criteria for rural science teachers, making it difficult to ascertain the actual competence of the rural teaching force on the front lines. Consequently, this study aimed at accessing Chinese rural science teachers' teaching competency and exploring rural-urban differences by developing a measurement instrument. Factor analyses confirmed the reliability and validity of this instrument, which consisted of 21 items and four dimensions. In addition, the questionnaire was employed to examine 393 science teachers in China, discovering the significant rural-urban differences in terms of teaching implementation and learning evaluation together with teacher distribution. This study was hoped to promote the building of the teaching competency system and provide references for rural science teachers' professional development.

The current landscape of English as a global language has generated disputes concerning the role of English in academic and social settings, particularly how it should be taught and learned in diverse contexts. On one hand, native speakerism has long been advocated in traditional English language teaching (ELT) settings where teachers and students follow a so-called native standard. On the other hand, classroom practice has generated opportunities for stakeholders to adopt "translanguaging" and "multimodality" to facilitate learning and maintain their identities. This study investigated teachers' usage of and attitudes toward translanguaging at two universities in Macau and the Chinese mainland. Data were collected through classroom observations of four ELT teachers and in semi-structured interviews. The results of the qualitative content analysis showed that various translanguaging strategies were used, including deepening understanding, explaining key terms, and creating classroom rapport in classroom discourse. However, although the findings were generally positive, some teachers experienced difficulty in accepting translanguaging and multimodal classroom practices. The implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations are offered regarding the need to raise awareness among TESOL researchers and practitioners in recognizing multimodal resources for a multilingual and multimodal TESOL in the future.

This study examined characteristics of problem posing and its relationship with the teaching experience of elementary school mathematics teachers from ethnic minority areas in the Southwest of China. Eighty-one (N = 81) elementary school mathematics teachers responded to a task-based questionnaire and posed mathematical problems based on given problem situations. Characteristics of their mathematical problem posing were observed through the total numbers, appropriateness, difficultly, and flexibility levels of the problems posed by the teachers. Results show that elementary school mathematics teachers were capable of posing a considerable number of appropriate mathematical problems. Significant differences were found in the flexibility of the posed problems among the teachers with different years of teaching experience. This finding suggests that teachers' capability in mathematical problem posing may not necessarily grow along with teaching experience. Limitations of the study and implications in developing teachers' mathematical problem posing are discussed.

In 2020, the lockdown of Wuhan due to the outbreak of COVID-19 impacted various aspects of local college students' life and may further negatively affect their psychological state. This study was conducted among 652 Wuhan local college students during the quarantine of this city. We assessed their psychological state using Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale 21 and evaluated their living condition including diet, schedule, recreational activities, social contact, academic life, and attention paid to pandemic news. Results showed that 16.87% of the students reported stress, 28.68% with anxiety, and 35.12% had depression. According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, having a medical background was associated with higher stress levels; students who had an irregular diet and schedule were more likely to develop stress, anxiety, and depression; students with their academic life affected had a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression. By studying local students in the hardest-hit area during the pandemic, our findings can provide references for the improvement of college students' mental health in the long term.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, blended learning became exceptionally widespread, especially in higher education. As a result, many college students became beginners in this learning method. To identify key factors that impact beginners' continuance intention in blended learning, this study surveyed 1845 first-year college students at a university in central China in the falls of 2020 and 2021 who used blended learning for the first time. Structural equation modeling was employed to verify a model that integrates intrinsic motivation and academic self-efficacy in the Expectation-Confirmation Model of Information System Continuance. The results show that performance expectancy, intrinsic motivation, and satisfaction significantly impact beginners' continuance intention in blended learning. Moreover, performance expectancy, intrinsic motivation, and confirmation significantly impact beginners' continuance intention through mediating variable satisfaction. Academic self-efficacy does not directly impact college students' continuance intention but indirectly impacts their continuance intention through intrinsic motivation. Finally, this study provides suggestions for educators to improve beginners' blended learning experience thus promoting their continuance intention in blended learning.

Research identifying the core features of Growth Mindset Pedagogy (GMP) in Chinese mathematics education is limited. This is also the first time we have examined the barriers to implementing GMP. We used semi-structured interviews to collect data. By analyzing the interview data, we identified four core features of GMP in mathematics classrooms: differentiation as the foundation of pedagogical practice, no stereotypes about mathematics learning, encouraging students to think in a process-oriented manner, and promoting a persistent learning attitude. We also found five barriers to GMP implementation: (a) lack of professional support; (b) lack of time; (c) student differences and class size; (d) ignoring cultural contextual elements; and (e) poor partnership between parents and teachers. In our discussion section, we outlined the implications of these findings for research and practice in educational contexts.

Concerned for student safety and intrigued by how research could impact institutional policy and practice, this paper describes findings from an action research project to raise questions and awareness about sexual harassment on an international branch campus in China. Due to the multicultural environment of the campus, it was felt that culturally grounded research that adds to our awareness and perceptions of sexual harassment would be imperative to facilitate prevention strategies in similar higher education environments. Through this case study, which received substantial institutional support, we also sought to learn more about students' experiences. Different attitudes and perceptions on gender, identity, sexuality, and multicultural relationships were revealed by survey responses and interview conversations. Furthermore, data revealed that students were confused about sexual harassment consequences and responsibilities, and social media was misleading. The findings from this study point to the need for more research, especially concerning cultural attitudes and perspectives about sexual harassment, and can contribute to institutional mechanisms in preventing sexual harassment amongst an increasingly internationalized higher education community.

Employers believe that people with the ability to work in teams can bring success to their business. Therefore, it is very essential to start cultivating students' teamwork skills in lower-secondary school to prepare students for the future. This study took "Physics in Bicycles" as an example to explore the effect of Teaching and Learning-Scrum (TL-Scrum) on students' physics achievement and team collaboration ability. It was conducted at a lower-secondary school in Changsha, China. "Physical Knowledge of Bicycles" Test and "Team Collaboration Ability" Measurement were applied to the two groups prior to and following the experiment. The experimental group (N=61) participated in TL-Scrum teaching, whereas the control group (N=58) participated without TL-Scrum teaching. The results revealed a significant difference between the two groups, with the experimental group learners performing better than the control group in the academic achievement. In addition, the results showed better positive effects of TL-Scrum on experimental group learners in team collaboration ability. Results suggested that learners achieved better academic achievements and team collaboration with the approach of TL-Scrum, which pointed to certain implications for physics teaching research, as well as in education of future physics teachers.

Under the current decentralization system in China, individual characteristics of the local political elites and collective characteristics of the standing committees of the local party have an impact on local education fiscal policy. Yet published research on the similarities and differences between the collective influence of the Standing committee and the individual influence of the political elite are lacking. To address this gap in the literature, our study discussed the impact of local political elites represented by the mayor and the secretary and the collective of standing committees of the local party on education fiscal expenditure. We construct multiple regression models and analyze the R[superscript 2] Change of variables is based on the cross-sectional data from 2015 of 283 prefecture-level administrative units in China. We find that both political elites and the standing committees have significant impacts on fiscal expenditure in education, and that the influence of the latter is greater than that of the former. The effect of individual characteristics and collective characteristics on education fiscal expenditure is not completely consistent across prefectures. China's prefectural governments implement China's unique principle of democratic centralism when they make decisions on local spending for education and the collective decision-making under the leadership of the committee plays an important role in education fiscal expenditure. Based on this, we put forward policy suggestions to further develop the principle of democratic centralism and to optimize optimizing the local government education supply and evaluation mechanism. [Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the China Education Finance Professional Committee (2018).]

In Dynamic Assessment (DA), the observation that individuals respond differently to support, or mediation, is important for diagnoses of development. The concept of learning potential refers to openness to mediation, i.e., the extent of change to performance when mediation is available, which may suggest learners will need less overall instruction to develop. The current study investigates this prediction and the premise that aligning DA mediation with learner needs promotes development. Mediation, as a systematic interactional process, is more likely to appropriately identify learner needs that are sensitive to future development. Thirty-four secondary school learners of L2 Chinese participating in a two-month study abroad in China completed narration tasks following an instructional intervention, one group receiving DA mediation and the other explicit feedback. The "ba" ([character omitted])-construction, recognized as particularly challenging for learners of Chinese, was the focal language feature. Analysis revealed significant differences, with the group receiving DA mediation showing greater improvement with mediation and more accuracy during independent functioning.

This study uses a cognitive diagnosis model (CDM) approach to investigate the associations among specific L2 reading subskills. Participants include 1,203 Year-4 English major college students randomly selected from the nationwide test takers of Band 8 of Test for English Majors (TEM8), a large-scale English proficiency test for senior English majors in China. Their English reading was measured using a reading comprehension subtest of the TEM8. Based on the CDM output on latent class size estimates, the chi-square test of independence was used to uncover the associations among reading subskills, and odds ratio estimation was used to determine the strengths of those associations. The CDM output on attribute mastery prevalence was used to establish the stochastic direction of the associations between reading subskills. The study has the following findings: a reading subskill network displaying significant subskill associations together with their strengths and directions can be established through a CDM approach, and the patterns of reading subskill associations based on cognitive levels and local/global comprehension resonate with major reading process models and reflect the hierarchical and compensatory characteristics of reading subskills.

Psychological factors may play an important role in interpreting performance and its development during training; meanwhile, the development of interpreting competence may influence psychological factors reactively. We conducted two studies to assess the bidirectional relationship between three psychological factors (self-efficacy, motivation, and anxiety) and interpreting performance in interpreting students. Study 1 was a longitudinal study, assessing 51 undergraduate students of interpreting twice, at the beginning (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of their first training year. Study 2 collected data from 40 Master's students of interpreting to enable a cross-sectional comparison with Study 1. The correlation analyses and hierarchical regression analyses showed that in Study 1, learning motivation and self-efficacy decreased whereas anxiety remained relatively stable; interpreting-specific anxiety was negatively correlated with concurrent interpreting performance at both times; motivation at Time 1 significantly contributed to the development of interpreting competence. When the two studies were compared, Master's students had higher learning motivation and self-efficacy but lower anxiety than undergraduate students (at both times). The findings illustrated the differential development of psychological factors and their relations to interpreting competence. The results have implications for research in interpreting competence and interpreting training.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is one of the most important learning strategies. Augmented Reality (AR) is an effective way to support this strategy, which is considered conducive to enhance academic achievements of students during IBL. This paper investigated teacher-student interactions during AR-supported IBL by comparison and case study. First, four video clips carried by two high schools were coded by improved Flanders Interaction Analysis System (iFIAS) with two clips in AR-supported class and others in no AR-supported class. Then, Lag Sequence Analysis (LSA) was used to extract sequence features based on the codes. Finally, suggestions on using AR in IBL and details about study were discussed. Results show that AR-supported IBL has more active responses from students and a higher response rate from teachers. Student responses in AR-supported IBL have more tendency to be approved by teachers. The interactive component of AR software is in positive relation to its capacity of flexible inquiry, but it requires more time to learn to operate and demands more demonstration behavior from teachers. Teachers should develop skills of asking questions to guide and give timely feedback when carrying out IBL supported by AR.

A fundamental understanding of internationalized education is needed to decide whether to utilize the methodology in innovation instructional frameworks. Internationalized education is described as developing and executing global education programs. As a result, instructors incorporate principles of globalization into curriculum. Instructors facilitate student understanding of the tenets of globalization; incorporate a high-level of engagement; provide opportunities for innovation; extend curriculum beyond traditional modes of instruction; encourage students to use personal and professional experience to express how they understand topical matter; set deadlines and guidelines, but extend exceptions to students or student groups who elevate topical matter by incorporating innovation, reflectivity, and entrepreneurship. Further, improving the execution of innovation in the classroom is critical in providing substantive examples to extend innovative practices to students. Additionally, this expose provides an analytical discourse of content formats that are most effective for online learning for internationalized education. There are many instructional and curriculum design elements that instructors must be aware of when developing internationalized education programs. Likewise, institutions must focus on learner needs with regard to preparing students for the workforce.

To improve children's academic achievements, parents often try to provide them with adequate nutrition or/and send them to attend extracurricular tutoring classes. The effect of extracurricular tutoring on students' performance has been well explored, whereas no rigorous empirical study was conducted to observe the relationship between breakfast and students' academic performance. Besides, little empirical evidence has been presented to compare the effect of breakfast and that of extracurricular tutoring on students' academic achievements. This study fills this gap by adopting the multiple linear regression model and Shapley Value Decomposition to analyze the academic quality monitoring data of 50,516 Year-3 students and 83,505 Year-8 students in Jiangsu, China. The results showed that both breakfast and extracurricular tutoring can improve students' grades, and breakfast was superior to the tutoring in efficacy. This conclusion is of great significance for planning family education strategies scientifically and improving family education efficiently. It is necessarily convincible for parents and educators to rationally understand the role of extracurricular tutoring and pay enough attention to breakfast in improving students' performance.

In the field of second language assessment, there is limited empirical research on the alignment of different language proficiency standards. This study aims to establish level correspondences for overall language proficiency between China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE) and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). All 467 CEFR descriptors and 104 CSE anchor descriptors were used in 15 questionnaires. Approximately 5441 teacher ratings and 23,260 student ratings were collected and analysed by Rasch analysis, fixed common item equating, and statistical comparison. The results show that CSE descriptors of a certain level tend to scatter at several adjacent CEFR levels, one of which is relatively predominant. CSE level 1 corresponds mainly to the CEFR below A1 level, level 2 to A1, level 3 to A2, level 4 and level 5 to B1, level 6 to B2, level 7 to B2 and C1, level 8 to C1 and C2, and level 9 to C2. This study enriches the literature on alignment between standards. It has implications for language teaching, learning, and assessment for different stakeholders in China and abroad.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the world, creating significant impact on people's lives and subjective wellbeing. While previous studies have shown that students' wellbeing and how they manage their emotions are critical to students' learning, less research has considered their specific impacts on student engagement in online learning. Aims: The aim of this study is to examine how students' subjective wellbeing and emotion regulation strategies (viz cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) are associated with student engagement in online learning during the pandemic. Sample: A total of 965 students from a university in China participated in the study. Methods: The data were collected online during the COVID-19 from March to July 2020, which included measures of wellbeing, emotion regulation strategies, and online learning engagement. Results: Structural equation modelling results showed that wellbeing was positively associated with both the use of reappraisal and suppression. Moreover, mediation analysis showed that reappraisal partially mediated the relationship between wellbeing and all types of online learning engagement (including cognitive, emotional and behavioural engagements). Conversely, suppression was found to have a small mediating effect between wellbeing and behavioural engagement of online learning only. No such effect was found on cognitive and emotional engagements. Conclusions: The findings provide evidence on the positive relationship between wellbeing and both the strategies of suppression and reappraisal during the pandemic. However, only reappraisal has positive impact on learning, suggesting the importance of effective regulation strategies on students' online engagement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Infusing undergraduate curricula with authentic research training is an important contemporary challenge. Such exposure typically occurs through mentored research (MR) or course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). In Asian contexts, CURE implementation is rare, while MR is often a graduation requirement. In this study, mentor interviews and mentee focus groups were used to characterize the learning challenges associated with this requirement at a Chinese university. An intensive 6-week CURE was then implemented as an MR preparatory program to help mitigate the identified challenges. This program contained seven site-specific features not typically included in other CUREs, each designed to improve different aspects of student readiness for MR. Post-CURE surveys, focus groups, and interviews demonstrated CURE enrollment significantly improved subsequent MR outcomes. Almost 90% of all enrollees, for example, began their first MR experience in their second year, more than twice the rate of non-enrollees. Enrollees also reported greater confidence in their research skills and more frequent experiences working in multiple labs. This study reports both immediate CURE and downstream MR outcomes, using the former to help explain the latter. A comprehensive CURE implementation process is described, offering a potential model for the design of other programs with similar research enhancement goals.

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) and motivation are both important predictors of student achievement. However, most studies have investigated these factors separately, and very few have looked into the interplay between SES and motivation as determinants of student reading achievement. Aims: We intend to bridge this gap by examining a model of SES predicting reading achievement through motivation (i.e., expectancy and value) at both student and school levels. Sample: We used the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 of 26,281 students from four regions in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taipei). Methods: We used multi-group multilevel path analysis to test whether SES would predict reading achievement mediated by expectancy and value in student and school levels across four regions, with gender as a covariate. Results: Results showed that at the student level, SES significantly predicted reading achievement indirectly through both expectancy and value across four regions. At the school level, the relationship between school SES and school reading achievement was mostly direct. Conclusion: The study was able to demonstrate the motivational gap as a pathway in which economic inequality can contribute to students' reading achievement gap.

The knowledge and skills that mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) need to have for teaching mathematics teaching is a fundamental issue that influences their preparation and development. In particular, considering that mathematics teaching comprises MTEs' teaching work, do MTEs need to have school teaching experience and, if so, in what ways does school teaching experience play a role in their teaching? In this exploratory study, we describe how school teaching experience relates to teaching prospective secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) how to teach mathematics, from the perspective of university-based Chinese MTEs, via in-depth interviews. The interviewees generally agreed on the importance of school teaching experience by identifying various aspects of school teaching experience that relate to the knowledge, competency, and disposition needed for teaching mathematics teaching, but they also suggested that school teaching experience requires renewal, growth, and connection with educational theories and research. This suggests that school mathematics teaching experience is necessary but insufficient on its own for teaching mathematics teaching. This study also suggests the differences in capacity between teaching-based and non-teaching-based experience in understanding of and dealing with the relation between process and product, and the relation between theory and practice involved in teaching how to teach mathematics.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of continuation writing on the usages of the second language in the argumentative writing. The research questions in this study are as follows: 1) Whether the language application of the second language learner exists in coordination with the reading text; 2) Whether the continuation writing can promote the learning of vocabulary and phrases in the second language learning; 3) Whether the comparative continuation reduce the learner's linguistic bias. In this study, the experimental group was asked to read the materials first, and through the guidance, attention, and other measures to strengthen the understanding of the reading materials while the control group without reading materials ahead of time blindly write an essay on the same topic and then compare them by corpus. The results of the study indicate that the alignment effect of the experimental group was stronger. The subjects are able to use the words and phrases that appear in the reading materials at high frequency. The research results can provide reference for the continuation writing teaching and research in the field of the second language.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is (1) to provide a critical analysis of the Finnish experience of education reforms based on published Chinese research on Finnish education and (2) to discuss how such experience can serve as a model as China embarks on its own path toward educational reform. Design/Approach/Methods: This article is based on an analysis of the research on Finnish education contained in the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database from 2000 to 2017. Findings: The analysis shows that although the various aspects of Finnish education have been extensively studied in China, the content of prior studies has generally been similar and is insufficiently in depth. In particular, current research (1) lacks effective exploration of the successful experience of Finnish education reform and (2) devotes insufficient attention to the social culture perspective and core concepts that serve as the basis of education in Finland. Originality/Value: This article extends the authors' recent review of Chinese research on Finnish education and places special emphasis on the discussions regarding how China can learn from Finland's experience with educational reform. It also identifies gaps in the current research in the field and calls for a change in the future research agenda from examining the successful elements of Finnish education to focusing on how the experience of Finnish education is relevant to reforms in China.