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The Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) approach plays an essential role in English as a lingua franca. Previous GELT studies only examined the influence of Global English exposure on learners' attitudes in the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles. This study added explicit instruction on phonological features in addition to a variety of exposures to enhance listening proficiency. The participants were 88 first-year students majoring in Applied English at a central Taiwanese university, assigned either to an exposure or an experimental group. Both groups were exposed to English Received Pronunciation, Singaporean English, Japanese English, Standard American English, and Taiwanese English. In addition, the experimental group received explicit instruction on the first three varieties mentioned above. Pre- and post-listening comprehension tests and multiple-choice accent identification tests were quantitatively collected for comparisons. Semi-structured interviews allowed the participants to qualitatively elaborate on their performances and the effects of phonological instruction. The results showed that a variety of exposures with additional phonological explanations significantly increased their overall listening scores and raised their phonological awareness.

This research paper presents empirical evidence aimed at establishing a causal relationship between explicit critical thinking skills and adolescent-parent career congruence among undergraduate students. Additionally, it seeks to identify the mediating role of friendship quality in this relationship. The study employs structural equation modeling as a method to establish causality. The findings of this research have implications for educators and instructors in higher education, as well as career exploration consultants in schools. The study provides valuable evidence on the most effective approach to promoting adolescent-parent career congruence by utilizing critical thinking skills and fostering high-quality friendships.

This research explores the innovative integration of OpenAI's GPT-3.5 within a university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing course, illustrating a novel approach to academic instruction. The course follows the ADDIE instructional design model, encompassing five systematic stages: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. This model serves as the backbone of the course structure, ensuring a comprehensive educational experience. The incorporation of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework in this course facilitates the effective integration of GPT-3.5 by enabling instructors to align advanced AI capabilities with appropriate pedagogical strategies, thereby enhancing the learning experience. TPACK guides educators in applying GPT-3.5's features in a manner that is contextually relevant and pedagogically sound, ensuring the technology's use complements the course content. The findings from this research are significant. They reveal that GPT-3.5 addresses three fundamental challenges often encountered in academic writing courses. Firstly, it enhances efficiency by providing immediate feedback and generating content ideas, accelerating the writing process. Secondly, GPT-3.5 ensures cohesive organization within students' writing, guiding them to structure their thoughts more logically. Lastly, it serves as a reliable substitute for traditional peer reviewers, offering critical and objective feedback that students can use to refine their drafts. As students engage with AI, they enter a dynamic partnership. This collaboration with GPT-3.5 fosters critical thinking and empowers students to develop a distinctive writing voice. Through this interaction, students are not merely passive recipients of knowledge but active participants in a learning process that is augmented by cutting-edge technology. This study not only provides insight into the potential of AI-augmented academic writing but also highlights GPT-3.5's role in promoting writing proficiency. It demonstrates that the application of AI in education can enhance the learning experience without compromising the individuality of student expression.

In Taiwan, the education system places a strong emphasis on higher education. Students who perform well in the National High School Entrance Examination are given priority admission to public high schools, while those with lower scores tend to enroll in vocational schools. It's worth noting that students with low scores in this examination often struggle with reading and natural literacy, typically scoring below level 2 in PISA assessments. This study examined the impact of implementing the mobile platform OK4R reading strategy on students' comprehension of popular science reading and their logical thinking abilities. The research was conducted with two classes of first-year vocational school students. The findings indicate that when students used the OK4R mobile platform for popular science reading, it had a positive effect on their popular science reading comprehension and their logical thinking skills. Notably, female students outperformed their male counterparts. The study also revealed that several factors, including gender, basic abilities, and other variables, influenced the effectiveness of the OK4R mobile platform for vocational students. Those with lower science scores appeared to benefit the most from this approach.

This study examined the effects of students' argumentation standpoints on their argumentation learning in the context of socio-scientific issues (SSIs). To that end, four kinds of argumentation standpoints were defined: affirmative standpoints, oppositional standpoints, multiple standpoints, and non-standpoints. These four kinds of standpoints allow for six possible combinations of any two of the different kinds of standpoints, which enabled us to conduct six kinds of 2-team format debates. The resulting differences of students' four types of arguments (i.e., claims, warrants, rebuttals, and qualifiers) generated in six types of debates were examined. This study invited 208 10th-grade students to participate in a quasi-experimental research design. The results showed the affirmative group students demonstrated superior performance in terms of claims and warrants, and the oppositional group students had the largest number of rebuttals. The students in the debate with combinations of affirmative and oppositional groups exhibited the best performance regarding the generation of claims, warrants, and rebuttals. Based on the results, the present study concluded the standpoint had significant effects on the students' argumentation learning, which suggests that teachers can investigate students' standpoint on the learning topic of SSI and their prior knowledge about the standpoint before teaching.

This article casts light on informal caregiving, an essential aspect of the international postgraduate researcher (PGR) experience, but which is often invisible in literature and discourses on international education. Drawing from qualitative semi-structured interviews with international PGRs in a British university, it highlights their dual role as care recipients and lesser known caregivers across transnational and local spaces. It gives insights into the forms and dynamics of care that they give to and receive from family, friends and others, uncovering the emotional and affective aspects of undertaking a postgraduate research degree overseas which impact on their mental wellbeing. The findings have implications for the improvement of university support for international PGRs which has relevance for the wider international student community.

Background: Team-based learning (TBL) is a widely recognised pedagogical strategy used in diverse fields and courses. Despite the success of TBL, certain concerns have arisen regarding social loafing within group collaboration contexts; this loafing can reduce the overall effectiveness of learning. Objectives: This study addressed the aforementioned concerns by integrating group awareness (GA) information into each stage of TBL, resulting in a TBL + GA system designed to enhance TBL instruction. During online collaborative learning, GA information provides insights into the activities completed by peers and thus the peers' preparedness and achievement; this knowledge fosters motivation, participation, and reflection. Methods: A quasiexperiment was performed with students from two freshman classes (40 and 41 students, respectively) in a Taiwanese university; the control and experimental classes used the TBL only and TBL + GA systems, respectively. Student learning effort was evaluated in terms of preclass preparation, including the use of learning materials and online test scores. Learning achievement was evaluated by assessing the quality of students' assignments. Student feedback, including peer evaluations and students' perceptions of their TBL experience, was collected and compared for the two classes. Results and Conclusions: The TBL + GA system significantly enhanced the preclass preparation efforts of the participants, mitigating social loafing. This improvement manifested as higher practice engagement and better online assessment scores. The TBL + GA system also improved assignment quality and elicited more constructive and positive peer feedback. Implications: Integrating GA information into each stage of TBL may positively affect the effectiveness of instruction. The proposed TBL + GA system can serve as a practical model for instructors seeking to enhance TBL implementation and foster a more engaging and constructive learning environment.

Objectives: Previous studies have demonstrated poor oral hygiene in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the association between ADHD and periodontitis is still unclear. Methods: In all, 16,211 adolescents with ADHD and 162,110 age- and sex-matched controls participated in the study between 2001 and 2011. To identify the occurrence of periodontitis, the participants were followed up till the end of 2011. Confounding factors, including smoking, diabetes, and depressive disorder, were assessed and adjusted in the Cox regression models. Results: Adolescents with ADHD (HR: 2.29) were more likely to develop periodontitis later in life than controls. We additionally observed the beneficial effect of atomoxetine (HR: 0.42) on the periodontitis risk among adolescents with ADHD. However, this finding should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample (n = 290) of children taking atomoxetine in the present study. Conclusions: ADHD is an independent risk factor for subsequent periodontitis development. Oral health should be closely monitored in adolescents with ADHD. Future investigation of the shared pathomechanisms between periodontitis and ADHD is warranted.

This study investigated the effectiveness of applying a smartphone to reduce the hyperactive/impulsive behaviors of 3 students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in class. A smartphone that can simultaneously provide vibration and visual text prompts was adopted in this study to remind the participants when they exhibited hyperactive/impulsive behaviors. This study adopted the multiple baseline design across subjects under the broader rubric of the single-subject research design, including 2 baseline phases and 2 intervention phases. The results show that the time spent engaged in target behaviors decreased for participants during the intervention phases, compared to the baseline phases. The findings show that applying the vibration and visual text prompts of a smartphone is a feasible prompting strategy to assist students with ADHD to reduce their hyperactive/impulsive behaviors in class.

This study investigated the extent to which different pedagogical gestures contribute to learners' foreign or second language (L2) narrative recall, and further discussed how task complexity and task difficulty (i.e. working memory capacity or WMC) influence recall performance. Sixty-four adolescent learners, assigned to four different gesture viewing conditions (iconic gestures, deictic gestures, beat gestures, or no gesture), were required to listen to an instructor telling two stories (one complex and one simple) and then retell both stories twice: once immediately after listening (immediate recall) and a second time two weeks later (delayed recall). Recall performance was evaluated by the number of relevant pieces of event and motion information produced in the participants' retelling. The results show that L2 learners who were exposed to deictic and iconic gesture conditions outperformed the other gesture groups, particularly in delayed narrative recall, but only in complex tasks where cognitive demands were increased. It was also found that event and motion information was retained for a longer period of time in the deictic and iconic conditions respectively. Although both high and low WMC groups benefitted from viewing gestures, this finding further indicates that the beneficial effect of gestures on learners could possibly compensate for low WMC by providing scaffolding that reduces cognitive burden in narrative recall.

The 108 Curriculum Guidelines (108CG) were implemented in high schools in Taiwan in 2019 and have increased the flexibility of curriculum offerings. Schools must now offer diverse curricula, flexible options and self-directed learning courses based on students' needs and teachers' expertise. This study explores how rural high schools in Taiwan promote curriculum leadership following the implementation of the 108CG. Using a case school in southern Taiwan as the study site, it examines the current implementation of the 108CG in rural high schools, the processes and strategies that school members employ in applying curriculum leadership and the challenges they encounter. Six participants from the case school were interviewed, from August 2021 to May 2022. We also conducted observations and document analyses. The results show that the principal and mid-level leaders' collaborative efforts are integral to advancing the 108CG. However, the school faces challenges in implementing the 108CG due to its environmental context. The principal's major challenge stems from the differing curriculum interpretations by tribal chiefs and families in the community. Mid-level leaders also grapple with students' passive learning attitudes and the need for preparedness among teachers for curriculum reform. Although the 108CG have been in operation for more than 4 years, rural high schools continue to face challenges in implementing them. Introducing collaborative lesson planning and using checklists during curriculum review meetings could help track curriculum progress.

Over the past two decades, family structures have diversified. International migration has led to a rise in the number of families in which at least one parent is foreign-born. Increases have also been observed in both the rate of partnership separation, leading to a greater number of single-parent households and an increase in the number of families where grandparents have assumed caring responsibilities for their grandchildren. Evidence indicates a strong relationship between family structure and children's educational outcomes. Parental involvement is well documented as a key ingredient for the educational success of children. Drawing on Taiwanese multi-wave survey data (Taiwan Assessment of Student Achievement) and a machine-learning-based propensity score algorithm for multiple treatments, this paper aims to determine the various relationships between children from different household structures (two-parent households, skipped generation households, single-parent households, and immigrant households) and their cognitive knowledge (measured by test scores). Key findings reveal that children from skipped generation households achieve the lowest performance scores and that those from immigrant households tend to perform even better than children from traditional two-parent households in certain disciplines. Our results suggest that policy interventions targeted at providing remedial education and/or financial assistance are needed to support children from skipped generation families to redress existing educational disadvantages in Taiwan.

Children with developmental disabilities lack sufficient physical activity in their daily lives. The purpose of this study was to see if children with developmental disabilities who participated in stair-climbing exercises had better physical performance and health status than children with developmental disabilities who did not. This study adopted a pre-and-post-test experimental design, enrolling 30 subjects (experimental group, 15; control group, 15) with developmental disabilities aged 5-7 years from pediatric rehabilitation treatment departments of two regional teaching hospitals in Taiwan. The experimental group received stair-climbing exercises and physical therapy twice a week for eight consecutive weeks. The primary outcomes were health-related physical fitness assessment items, including body composition (body mass index: BMI), cardiorespiratory fitness (stair-climbing test), muscular fitness (knee-bend sit-ups), and flexibility (Chair Sit and Reach Test). The post-test measurements of BMI, cardiorespiratory fitness, sit-ups, and muscular flexibility of children in the experimental group were significantly better than the pre-test measurements. The stair-climbing exercise training results for cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, and muscular flexibility in the experimental group were significantly better than those in the control group. Stair-climbing exercise improves the physical fitness of children with developmental disabilities. The results of this study suggest that children with developmental disabilities should be encouraged to engage in this convenient and easy stair-climbing exercise to improve physical performance and health status.

This research attempted to explore, based on the broaden--and--build theory of positive emotions, the relationships among high school teachers' savoring and instructional design imagination, and to verify the mediating effects of resilience and inspiration through action on the aforementioned relationships. Data were collected from 497 high school teachers in Taiwan. PLS-SEM was used to validate the research hypotheses. The results show that: (a) Savoring positively influences instructional design imagination; (b) Resilience has a complementary mediation effect on the relationship between savoring and instructional design imagination; (c) Inspiration through action has a complementary mediation effect on the relationship between savoring and instructional design imagination. Accordingly, this study bears important theoretical and practical implications for the professional development of teachers' instructional design imagination.

This pilot study investigates the feasibility and assesses the impact of "Lactobacillus plantarum" PS128 probiotics on the neurological function in Rett syndrome. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial on Rett syndrome with MECP2 mutation aged between 1 and 50 years in Taiwan. In this pilot study, twice-daily "L. plantarum" PS128 or placebo was administered for 16 weeks. In addition to feasibility, we also assessed the changes utilizing the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. In total, 36 participants were finally randomized into "L. plantarum" PS128 (n = 18) or placebo (n = 18) groups. At the end of intervention, the retention rates were 100% for "L. plantarum" PS128 and 94.44% for placebo, with withdrawal rates of 5.56% for the placebo group. Both groups tolerated well, except for one "L. plantarum" PS128 participant who reported loose stool. The probiotic group showed a change of 2.19 ± 3.76, while the placebo group had -0.85 ± 5.09 (p = 0.051) in the total age-equivalent scores of Mullen Scales of Early Learning. There was a significant difference in the change of the total score on the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Movement Scale between probiotic group and placebo group (-12.19 ± 12.12 vs -4.59 ± 4.20, p = 0.020). In leg dystonia, the probiotic group exhibited a change of -4.11 ± 5.11 compared with -0.38 ± 1.50 in the placebo group (p = 0.008). Our findings affirm the feasibility of "L. plantarum" PS128 in Rett syndrome. Future clinical trials are mandatory to further explore its long-term impact on Rett syndrome.

Based on expectancy-value theory, this study adopted a person-centred approach to explore the heterogeneous profiles of secondary German and Taiwanese students' mathematical modelling task values, and examined the differences in their mathematical modelling performance, controlling for the variable of intra-mathematical knowledge among the heterogeneous profiles. Authors conducted a survey study of 452 ninth graders (201 German students and 251 Taiwanese students). The results showed that German and Taiwanese students respectively displayed three profiles of mathematical modelling task values: a) moderate utility and moderate interest/attainment, b) high utility but low interest/attainment, and c) low utility but high interest/attainment. Furthermore, different profiles of mathematical modelling task values showed significant differences in mathematical modelling performance for Taiwanese students but not for German students, even after removing the variable of intra-mathematical knowledge. This study advances the understanding of students' mathematical modelling task values and its relation with their mathematical modelling performance by the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation and person-centred analyses, and sheds light on the learning and teaching of mathematical modelling.

Existing literature attests to the importance of assessing the learning enjoyment and learning interest of students toward socio-scientific issues (SSI). However, there are few existing studies that examine how ecological stimuli, which are crucial to young learners' perceptual development and the shaping of ethical judgment, predict their learning enjoyment and learning interest in SSI. This investigation addresses this gap in the available literature by investigating and assessing the effects of self-perceived influences of three ecological stimuli constructs--textbooks, family/classmates, and news media--on a learning interest in SSI construct and a learning enjoyment from SSI construct among Taiwanese high school students. A structural equation model consisting of these five constructs was fitted to data collected from 966 students. Results show that influence on students' ethical judgments from textbooks and news media directly predict learning interest in SSI, with effects partially mediated by learning enjoyment from SSI. The influence of family/classmates on students' learning interest was fully mediated by learning enjoyment. The role of enjoyment and learning interest as predictors of these outcomes is discussed within the context of genuine interest in learning SSI content. The value and implications of these results for science education specialists and interest researchers are forwarded and suggested directions of future investigation submitted.

Internationalization policy in higher education facilitates a nation's economic growth and demonstrates generosity to other nations. This study investigates the impact of the International Higher Education Scholarship Program of the International Cooperation and Development Fund on recipients' perceptions of and experiences in Taiwan. Based on the management, education, medical science, and engineering programs of four case study universities, it finds attitudinal changes, increased intercultural competence, and signs of institution transfer and knowledge network formation. Socialization has fostered scholarship holders' cultural affinity and shared identity with Taiwan. As higher education institutions promote knowledge sharing and cultural diffusion, international students are also a nexus of cultural diplomacy, the attractions of which are more conspicuous than knowledge diplomacy's benefits. The empirical evidence of this study helps delineate theoretical frameworks of diplomacy in international higher education. Its longitudinal observation of alumni career trajectories can enrich cross-sectional evaluation.

Reading requires appropriate strategies to spark initial interest and sustain engagement. One promising strategy is the pedagogical approach of learning-by-teaching, transforming learners into active participants. Integrating this approach into digitalized and individualized reading contexts has the potential to foster the development of young readers. Currently, AI techniques are primarily used in chatbots as tutors, with limited focus on tutee chatbots that employ the learning-by-teaching pedagogy. Therefore, this study adopted a teachable Q&A agent and probed into the effect of chatbot training, employing AI techniques and utilizing student-generated questions and answers, with the aim of enhancing students' reading interest and engagement. Ninety-five fifth graders participated in a 9-week reading program. A quasi-experimental design was conducted. The results proved that incorporating a learning-by-teaching approach into the chatbot training activity significantly enhanced their reading interest and engagement. However, the quantity of certain question types is negatively correlated with interest and engagement. This implies that asking diverse questions poses a certain level of challenge to young readers, which requires deliberate training and incubation. Additionally, the identification of four distinct student clusters exhibited the affordances and limitations of tutee chatbots for reading.

Cultural competence is a continuously developing process that requires transition-to-practice program training to enable new graduate nurses (NGNs) to transfer their knowledge and skills to clinical practice in a culturally sensitive manner. The development and implementation of residency programs, including a cultural competence curriculum, could support this transition. This study aimed to evaluate the preliminary effects of a hybrid learning module of cultural competence for NGNs. A quasi-experimental design was used in a 3,000-bed hospital in North Taiwan. We randomly allocated 37 NGNs to the experimental and control groups. The Cultural Competence Scale for Pre-Graduate Students to Licensed Professionals (CS-SP) was adopted to measure cultural competence before and after the intervention. We evaluated the correlations between learning time and cultural competence scores using a paired t-test, chi-square test, and Mann--Whitney test for statistical analysis. The curriculum for the learning application comprised three courses covering six topics. The experimental group scored significantly higher in awareness and skills after the intervention (p < 0.05), but there was no significant improvement in knowledge or self-efficacy. The control group showed no significant differences in any of the cultural competence subscale scores after intervention. The Mann-Whitney test showed that different learning times led to significant differences in the mean cultural competence scores (Z = 3.04, p < 0.05). Integrating cultural competency education into web-based NGNs' postgraduate year of nursing programs improved their cultural competence awareness and skills. The learning application can be adapted to target NGNs at different stages of the postgraduate year of nursing programs to maximize its benefits.

This prospective longitudinal study assessed the effects of the course management system, EDU3, on the effectiveness of the dissemination of holistic health care and evidence-based medicine (EBM) courses. Between January 2014 and December 2021, delinked data (n = 354,229) from EDU3 were analyzed. In addition to analyzing the main educational team or seed teachers responsible for opening the courses, yearly changing trends in the number and teaching styles of courses, main participants, and the diversity of teaching activities were evaluated. EDU3 precisely announced the courses opened by non-doctor major departments, including departments of medical education, nursing, and medical research, for non-doctor medical personnel. Meanwhile, the system smoothly announced doctor major departments which opened courses for doctors. A 2 times/4.5 times parallel increase in holistic health care/EBM courses from institution to department and the yearly increasing trends in the number of these courses indicated the success of this system. This study revealed that centralized training of seed teachers motivated them to open diverse department-oriented teaching activities for holistic health care and EBM. The parallel increasing trends of the number of courses opened by the institution and departments indicated the effective dissemination of holistic health care and EBM from institution to department.

Bully victimization is known to cause adverse psychological outcomes; however, resilience may mitigate the more adverse effects. Little is known regarding the role played by BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in youth resilience against psychological harm caused by bully victimization. In this cross-sectional study, a community sample of 598 participants (M[subscript age] = 20.1 ± 1.4 years, 48.8% males) completed the questionnaire on bully victimization, resilience, and psychological symptoms. Salivary genomic DNA was genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism. A path analysis was used to test the mediating role of resilience in the association between bully victimization and psychological symptoms. Furthermore, the BDNF genotype was added to the model to explore its moderating effects on the mediating role of resilience in the path with 5000 bootstrapped samplings using SPSS PROCESS Macro. Results revealed a significant indirect effect via resilience that accounted for 17.2% of the association between bully victimization and psychological symptoms. While the Val66Met polymorphism interacted with bully victimization to predict resilience scores, bully victimization was more strongly associated with poor resilience (F = 4.59, p = 0.03) in subjects with the Met/Met genotype ([beta] = -3.22, p < 0.001), as compared to participants with other genotypes ([beta] = -1.33, p = 0.051). Findings suggest a gene-environment interaction effect on psychological resilience in bully-victimized youth.

This study conducted a psychometric examination into the application of positive behavior support (PBS) principles, focusing on how its trajectory differs between Taiwan and the United States. Eighteen items from the Beliefs about Behavior Survey were adapted to gauge educators' perception of implementing PBS strategies within different cultural contexts. The sample comprised 643 educators, split between northern Taiwan (N = 267) and a mid-mountain region in the United States (N = 376). Results from the confirmatory factor analysis suggest that the previously identified four-factor model determined using a US sample presents a satisfactory fit with the Taiwanese data set. Furthermore, reliability estimates vouch for the internal consistency of the model. Interestingly, it was observed that general education teachers reported the least supportive beliefs across all four factors, relative to their colleagues. In a direct comparison with the US sample, the Taiwanese respondents scored significantly lower on two out of the four PBS belief factors. This trend could be attributed to a relative scarcity of exposure to, and training in, PBS principles in Taiwan, particularly beyond tertiary remedial services. The revised survey questionnaire presents a useful tool for informing the design of professional development initiatives and system-wide changes in Taiwanese schools. The study concludes with a discussion on the impact of differing cultural contexts and the potential directions for future research.

In higher education, it is challenging to cultivate non-computer science majors' programming concepts. This study used the GAME model (gamification, assessment, modeling, and enquiry) in a programming education course to enhance undergraduates' self-efficacy and performance of basic programming concepts. There were 83 undergraduates taking part in this study, which adopted a quasi-experimental research design. Students in the experimental group (n = 43) experienced a course in which the GAME model was used to design the block-based programming course. The control group (n = 40) was given a general information education course covering similar learning concepts without the game-based learning strategy. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was adopted to investigate the effect of the GAME model on students' learning outcomes for the quantitative data. In the qualitative analysis, students' responses to the course perception questionnaire were coded and analyzed. The results showed that students in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts regarding self-efficacy and basic programming concepts. The experimental treatment resulted in a small to medium effect size difference between the two groups. The results showed that incorporating the GAME model into block-based programming teaching helped improve undergraduates' self-efficacy and performance of basic programming concepts. In addition, these experimental group undergraduates also perceived the pedagogic GAME model positively. Several research suggestions are proposed based on the findings of the present study.

One of the most well-known instructional methods used to enhance Chinese character reading (CCR) is Chinese stem-deriving instruction (CSDI). In this method, CCR is taught via a group of characters (e.g., [foreign character omitted], [foreign character omitted], and [foreign character omitted]) that share the same stem (e.g., [foreign character omitted]). However, the effectiveness of CSDI on the CCR of Chinese children with dyslexia remains inconsistent, and the reason may be the diverse designs of this method across studies. Thus, this study aimed to use a quasiexperiment-design study to compare the effects of various forms of CSDI based on the (in)consistency of the extending characters' sounds, their appearances, and their amount (i.e., how many of them). In total, 122 Chinese third to sixth graders with dyslexia were recruited from primary schools, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) visuospatially controlled CSDI (n = 37; all taught characters shared the same pronunciation), (b) verbally controlled CSDI (n = 45; all taught characters shared the same structure), and (c) noncontrolled CSDI (n = 40; all taught characters selected only on the basis of their frequencies). They were tested by CCR and dictation before and after the instruction. We found that CCR was significantly improved in all three CSDI groups, whereas only the verbally controlled CSDI group showed significant improvements in dictation. Furthermore, verbally and visuospatially controlled CSDI earned the greatest benefits in decreasing the visual errors and phonetic errors in CCR and decreasing the radical errors and homophone errors in dictation. Our findings shed light on the effectiveness of CSDI in terms of diverse designs, and frontline practitioners should take our findings into consideration when using CSDI.

The combination of education and robots is becoming an increasingly important issue. Although researchers have conducted some studies on educational robotics in STEM education at the undergraduate level, no research examined the effects of gamified educational robotics on participants' motivation and creativity. Therefore, this study examines the effects of gamified educational robots on participants' learning motivation and creativity in STEM. A quasi-experimental research design was used in this study. A total of 108 students from two classes enrolled in the information technology course were involved as participants. Learning motivation and creativity scales were used to collect data. The participants were introduced to a gamified educational robot as the course objective, learning content, and game mechanism to increase motivation and help students solve problems. In contrast, students in the control group received conventional instruction consisting of group discussions and lectures. Activities in both groups were held for eighteen weeks in three phases. The results showed that gamified educational robots could enhance learning motivation and positively influence learners' creativity. The results also indicate that learning motivation has significant effects on creativity, and students with high motivation perform better in terms of creativity. The results strengthen interdisciplinary STEM teaching and promote students' learning outcomes.

Local tour guides' English speaking competence determines inbound international tourists' travel experiences. This study investigated student tour guides' English learning by adopting role-play tasks. The communicative tasks were designed to explore how real interactions prepared English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners to become cultural ambassadors who introduce Taiwanese features to the world. Twenty-nine students were recruited from an "English for Tourism Purposes" course to interact with international students who acted as tourists. The student tour guides took turns introducing a topic unique to Taiwan. Data included recorded conversational interactions between the international and local students, comments on tour-guiding performances, and reflective notes. Adopting conversation and thematic analysis, the researcher analyzed the objective learning outcomes by observing how students performed in the tour-guiding tasks and examined the subjective viewpoints from the participants' reflective notes. The results revealed distinctive spoken features for communicative competence and the benefits of gaining a deeper intercultural understanding of how to communicate Taiwanese culture in English and developing various communication skills for interacting with foreigners. Pedagogical implications are discussed in terms of the design of English for Tourism teaching.

A purposive sampling was conducted with 109 students from Anding elementary school, Taiwan. First, we found perceived ease of learning, enjoyment, self-efficacy, social interaction and learning attitude have significant differences between integrated teaching approach and Spoon-feeding instruction in this study. Second, the research framework has been proven perceived ease of learning and enjoyment positively influence on self-efficacy and learning attitude. Furthermore, we have verified self-efficacy positively influence on social interaction. Moreover, social interaction positively influences on learning attitude. Two contributions are found in this study. First, we adopted the concept of open innovation to design digital orchid game and integrated teaching approach. Second, we verified the connections of the research model with great model fit.

Physical and virtual labs have unique capabilities that can influence how students learn from them. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of physical and virtual manipulatives on students' learning of heat and temperature and to examine the influence of various combinations of physical and virtual manipulatives. A total of 205 participants were divided into four groups: only physical manipulatives, only virtual manipulatives, physical-virtual manipulatives, and virtual-physical manipulatives. Students' knowledge acquisition was tested using Pretest--Post-test design. The results showed that physical and virtual manipulatives are as effective in facilitating students' learning of state changes, but virtual manipulatives are more beneficial to students' learning of thermal expansion and contraction than physical manipulatives are. Physical-virtual manipulatives are more effective than virtual-physical manipulatives or physical manipulatives alone are to promote students' learning of heat and temperature, but this effect is similar to that of virtual manipulatives alone. The results suggest that virtual laboratories can effectively model abstract concepts. The better effect of the physical-virtual operation sequence on learning does not depend on whether the two types of experiments are combined or on the sequence of operations but on the type of experiment when its advantages actually contribute to learning.

This study examined the effectiveness of guided data-driven learning (DDL) activities on helping technological university students with a lower-intermediate proficiency level to learn grammar and vocabulary topics for the TOEIC test. The question of whether inductive learners make more progress than deductive learners was also addressed. A total of fifty-one non-English majors in a freshman English class participated in the study. Five computer-based and four paper-based DDL lessons were developed to increase students' awareness of the usage of particular grammar items and the distinction between three sets of synonyms. In order to determine the effects of the treatments, all the participants took pre-tests and immediate posttests. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between pre- and post-tests on grammar and vocabulary. However, inductive learners did not outperform deductive learners. As for students' perception of the treatments, it is noteworthy that they tended to take a neutral to less than positive attitude towards this DDL experience even though such an experience helped them significantly improve. The results suggested the existence of a gap between students' perceived satisfaction and their actual achievement. Pedagogical implications of these findings were discussed to improve the efficacy of DDL in Taiwan's EFL context.

This study aims to assist preschools in achieving sustainable development by providing system thinking training for teachers and administrators. By promoting system thinking and PDCA, training helps preschool staff and teachers construct their knowledge and culture for organizational growth and effective operation. The research procedure encompasses stages of preparation, knowledge diffusion, knowledge adaptation, and establishing support networks. A total of 744 training participants engage in case studies, discussions, and self-evaluation activities to enhance their understanding and application of the PDCA framework. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to collect the research participants' perceptions and intentions on this training. Research data is collected using 5-point Likert questionnaires, supplemented with open-ended questions to gather participants' perceptions and suggestions. In addition, qualitative data is obtained through onsite observation, focus groups, and individual interviews. The research results indicate that participants in the training program positively perceive the training activities. Also, those with administrative roles and from non-profit preschools exhibit higher interest and motivation for training, reflecting the need for sustainability knowledge in changing environments.

Team-Based Learning (TBL) has been widely applied in different fields (courses) and has been indicated to be efficient. Meanwhile, many studies have asserted that Group awareness (GA) information, which visually displays peers' learning context and activities, can increase peer participation within an online collaborative learning environment. As the level of preparation by students before class affects their subsequent learning performance in the TBL process, this study incorporates GA information into the preparation stage of TBL process and further develops the online TBL + GA system in order to raise peer preparation level. Furthermore, self-regulated learning (SRL) levels of a student and online learning environment interactively influence learning effectiveness. Accordingly, this study further investigates how the TBL + GA environment influences students with different SRL levels. Two freshman classes were randomly chosen, with one as the control class (using the traditional TBL) and the other as the experimental class using the TBL + GA. Analytical results indicate that although the two classes do not reach significance overall on preparation level, TBL + GA can significantly enhance preparation levels for high-SRL students, but not low-SRL students.

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

The purpose of civic education is to prepare students to become 'good citizens' aligned with the policies and political purposes of the regime to which they belong. This exploratory study employed a mixed methods design to construct a typology of 'good citizens' to understand university students' perceptions of citizenship in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China. It found that the university students' perceptions of 'good citizens' is constructed from two components: internal political efficacy and the connection between 'good citizens' and the regime. Students in these societies share a similar understanding of the first component but have significant divergences in the second component. These findings demonstrate a correlation between regime type and the perceptions of 'good citizens' and our typology could provide a conceptual framework to guide researchers in organising and conducting further comparative studies.

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology rapidly develops and is deployed, students increasingly need to understand and learn AI-related skills for future employment. This study investigates how students' AI learning anxiety and AI job replacement anxiety affect intrinsic/extrinsic learning motivations and subsequent AI learning intention. The moderating effect of learning self-efficacy is also examined. An online survey instrument collected data from a sample of students in Taiwan, and partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was employed to test the proposed model. The results indicate AI learning anxiety negatively affects learning motivations, but AI job replacement anxiety has a positive impact on extrinsic motivation. Learning self-efficacy and intrinsic/extrinsic motivations positively affect learning intention. Learning self-efficacy positively moderates the influence of intrinsic learning motivation on student AI learning intention but negatively moderates the influence of extrinsic learning motivation on student AI learning intention. The findings highlight the importance of AI anxiety and can be used to guide course design in an AI learning setting.

In recent years, smart healthcare technologies used to facilitate precision medicine in clinical practice have increasingly become a topic of discussion. Nurses and nurse preceptors are critical professionals in hospitals, and are also the frontline staff using smart healthcare. The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses' and nurse preceptors' perceptions of smart healthcare (including learning motivation, learning attitudes, and personal innovativeness) and the differences in their conceptions of learning in smart healthcare technology contexts. The research findings showed that nurse preceptors had higher mean scores than nurses for learning motivation, learning attitudes, and personal innovativeness in smart healthcare, especially for learning attitudes and personal innovativeness. The nurse preceptors' conceptions of learning in smart healthcare technology contexts were also more diverse than those of nurses. The main differences are that nurses' drawings showed a healthcare setting where learners (both patients and nurses) use computers to connect to cloud services for online visits, and where patients can engage in online health education learning activities via computers or mobile devices. The nurse preceptors' drawings focused on the delivery of nursing knowledge and skills to learners via VR technologies, helping diagnose patients, analyzing medical data, and predicting healthcare through smart healthcare technologies.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been widely adopted in educational research; however, its implementation in the classroom is still not as well known as in the research field. In other words, there is a gap between researchers and practitioners regarding the pedagogical issue. This study aimed to explore how VR could be applied in science classrooms using the 5E learning model approach, thus providing an overview of VR implementation from teachers' perspectives. The method was a qualitative study in which it was validated using methodological triangulation, including open-ended questions, video-recording observations, and field notes. The finding revealed that learning science using VR for visualizing abstract concepts was suitable to be integrated with the 5E learning model, which provided an authentic opportunity for students to become curious and engage in the inquiry process. However, teachers should guide students to avoid misconceptions during the learning process. Moreover, this finding provides practical insights where an elaboration prompt is required before using a VR headset to turn the potential of VR into actual in-depth learning. Finally, 5E learning implementation can be integrated with other learning approaches, such as situated learning and guided inquiry learning, to suit the contents and teachers' pedagogical knowledge.

This study aimed to develop a maker spirit problem-based learning (PBL) innovation and entrepreneurship course and explore its impact on students' learning effectiveness. A mixed research method was adopted for this study, in which qualitative and quantitative data were collected for inductive analysis. The research subjects comprised 49 students who took the 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course' at a university of science and technology. Further, an 18-week experimental teaching activity was implemented, in which the 'Maker Spirit -- PBL Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course' was innovatively developed. Results revealed that most students showed significant positive learning effectiveness in two levels, namely 'innovation and entrepreneurship', and 'maker practice', after the experimental teaching. Therefore, five major implementation points of the 'Maker Spirit -- PBL Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course' were proposed to provide references for future implementations and applications in the teaching field.

Background: Educational board games have been receiving attention from educators in recent years. Designing the rules of board games based on cognitive theory, and further analysing educational board games from more dimensions are important issues that warrant further study. Purpose: The research designed a board game called Chemistry Story to promote students' learning of the concept of element combination in chemical substances. The design of the cognitive mechanism of the board game was based on three cognitive design principles, namely schema connection theory, attention, and cognitive scaffolding. Sample: The participants were 48 eighth-grade students in Taiwan. Their average age was 13.8. Design and methods: A one-group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The research explored students' learning achievement, flow, and acceptance after using this board game for learning. Moreover, this research analysed the differences in students' flow while playing with game components made of different materials (paper, wood, and plastic), and explored the relationship with learning achievement, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use. Results: The results showed that students' concept of element combination in chemical substances improved through playing this board game. In addition, students had considerable engagement and acceptance of the board game's learning activities with the game components made of different materials. The results of the correlation analysis showed that students with low academic achievement were more likely to feel that Chemistry Story was helpful to their studies. It was also found that the wooden material components brought a better sense of engagement and game acceptance. Conclusion: When designing educational board game products, we should not only consider the target knowledge of the board game and the design of the game mechanism, but also consider the students' feelings about the materials used to make the components, and choose materials that can bring students a better learning experience, so as to enhance the positive influence on their learning.

Although research suggests a relationship among personal characteristics, behaviors, and performance, there has been limited examination of these influences in the context of intelligence tests using eye movement techniques. Thus, this study explored the roles of personal characteristics (i.e., visual/verbal cognitive styles, self-efficacy) and reading behaviors in the reasoning performance of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test based on social cognitive perspectives using eye movement techniques, in order to provide more authentic information about individuals' actual behaviors. A total of 53 undergraduate and graduate students participated. Thirty participants were classified as visual style and the others were classified as verbal style learners. Regarding the role of cognitive styles in reading behaviors and reasoning performance, the results indicated a marginal difference in dispersion reading behavior between participants with visual and verbal cognitive style, and a significant relationship between visual style and dispersion reading behavior. However, no difference was found in performance between these two styles. As for the role of self-efficacy, the results showed that it was positively related to horizontal reading and APM-short performance. Mediation analyses revealed that self-efficacy not only directly impacted reasoning performance, but also had an indirect effect on performance through horizontal and tilted reading. On the other hand, cognitive style had no direct or indirect effect on reasoning performance. Moreover, the results showed that horizontal, vertical and tilted reading significantly predicted reasoning performance. The findings suggest that educators could enhance learners' self-efficacy through goal setting, feedback, and strategy instruction, which would help facilitate their learning behaviors and performance.

Professional Identity Formation (PIF) is considered a crucial process in medical education. It involves how medical students identify their role as physicians, discover their professional positioning, and gradually develop their professional identity through social interactions. This qualitative descriptive study adopted the phenomenological method; it proposed the DSCOR (Diverse thinking, Seeking advice, Construction, Organizing and sharing, and Reflection) model based on the ChatGPT as a life coach (ChatGPT-LC) selfregulated learning (SRL) approach to design a PIF course for six medical students. Data collection included digital storytelling created using AI-generated techniques, learning sheets, direct observations, reflective feedback forms, and semi-structured interviews. The data transcription and analysis were conducted using Colaizzi's method. The results revealed three benefits of Generative AI (i.e., ChatGPT), namely "increasing motivation for planning PIF," "strengthening the mastery of PIF," and "broadening the perspectives of PIF." Moreover, the ChatGPT-LC SRL approach had a positive influence on students, helping them understand the significance of PIF in their personal development at the early stage. The artificial intelligence-generated content provided positive guidance and supportive learning, offering specific suggestions and assistance. This brought about benefits for learning, and provided initial evidence for the application of ChatGPT-LC in medical education.

The understanding that students on varsity baseball teams exhibit lower academic performance amid the growth of baseball in Taiwan is well established. However, some studies have indicated a positive correlation between sports participation and academic achievement. Therefore, this study delved into the causal relationships between baseball-team participation and academic performance among ninth-grade students in Taiwan. It further explored the influence of various background factors based on the three facets of family capital on their academic performance. Data collected from an education longitudinal survey of secondary school students. Through bivariate analysis, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis, the following findings emerged: (a) Baseball-team students exhibited 47.5 points lower academic performance than non-baseball-team ones. (b)The low academic performance was not exclusively a result of the poorer academic performance of indigenous students. (c)The hypothesis that three dimensions of family capital impact on academic performance was supported. (d) Baseball-team participation contributed to the low academic performance, which was not caused by the low eighth-grade results of the students. They exhibited low BCT scores after their 8th-grade results was controlled.

Incorporating Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL) evolved from Taiwan's historical linguistic ecology and intertwined with the linguistic ecology of Taiwan's Deaf community. Utilising a qualitative document analysis incorporating a language planning and policy framework [Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language planning and social change. Cambridge University Press; Reagan, T. (2022). Language planning and language policies for sign languages: an emerging civil rights movement. Sociolinguistica, 36(1-2), 169-182], we analyze how this law fits into Taiwan's multicultural milieu. Specifically, we analyze the transmission, revival, and development of TSL by legislating status, acquisition, corpus, and prestige planning for teaching TSL to hearing learners. Secondly, gaps are identified, such as establishing early TSL access to the birth to age five deaf learners and their caregivers, promoting Chinese literacy with TSL strategies, and hiring native Deaf signing teachers. Limitations and future directions for research and practice are then outlined.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the potential of an empathetic mindset aimed at empowering undergraduate students to work toward sustainable development (SD), addressing both theoretical and practical dimensions. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed quantitative and qualitative research method was used in this study. Cross-sectional quantitative survey data on students' mindsets and actions toward SD was collected to examine the theoretical relationship between belief and behavior. Qualitative inquiry using focus-group interviews explored students' on-site learning experiences. Findings: This study provides evidence for the impact of an empathetic mindset on education for sustainable development (ESD). Results showed that students with a more empathetic mindset showed better attitudes and behaviors toward SD actions. Findings suggest that developing an empathetic mindset improves students' attitudes toward taking substantial action to protect the environment. Originality/value: This study introduces a novel perspective extending the application of empathetic mindset in ESD.

Multidimensional theory of mind assessments should include items assessing both explicit theory of mind (theory of mind knowledge) and applied theory of mind (application of theory of mind knowledge in real-life contexts). However, the two theory of mind scores cannot be interpreted collectively to identify children having mismatched explicit and applied theory of mind due to the lack of links between the two scores. To map the information between two theory of mind scores, data of 221 autistic children aged 3-12 years were extracted. Items of the Theory of Mind Task Battery and Theory of Mind Inventory-2 were used to respectively assess the explicit and applied theory of mind. Rasch analysis and correlation coefficients were used to examine the model fits/dimensionality and relationships. After the removal of misfit items, the remaining 45 items showed satisfactory model fits (infit and outfit mean squares < 1.35). Large correlation (r = 0.63) was found between the Rasch scores of the two theory of mind constructs. The scatter plots highlighted that each applied theory of mind score could reflect multiple explicit ToM scores. Accordingly, the information from each theory of mind measure is unique and irreplaceable. Moreover, cutoff scores for identifying children with mismatched explicit and applied theory of mind were proposed to determine the priority of interventions.

Grounded in career construction theory, we proposed that proactive personality (a disposition that drives people to focus on the future) influences career adaptability (the attitudes and behaviours that people use to adapt to work), which in turn influences career exploration (purposive cognition and behaviour to seek information for self-career advancement). However, psychological safety as a boundary condition may affect career adaptability's relation to career exploration. Hence, this study examined whether students' psychological safety moderates career adaptability's mediating effect on the relationship between proactive personality and career exploration. A total of 288 students who completed internships at Taiwanese sports centres or fitness clubs participated in this research. The results indicate that interns' psychological safety, functioning as a moderator, intensifies proactive personality's indirect effect on career exploration through career adaptability. The implications of this finding for students' career counselling are discussed.

This interview study takes translingual identity as its theoretical framework and a sociocultural linguistic approach as an analytical tool to examine how two Western-educated Taiwanese professors of English writing (Beth and Nita) construct a translingual professional identity. While Beth presented herself as a competent writing instructor beyond the binary of native- and nonnative-English-speaking teachers (NESTs or NNESTs) to help students develop both descriptive grammar and pragmatic knowledge of how to write, Nita saw herself as superior to not only NESTs for her knowledge in second language (L2) writing but also NNESTs for her teaching of fluency over accuracy. These complex negotiations for a translingual identity and professional legitimacy contribute to our understanding of how translingual identity can be used as a lens to understand Western-educated teachers' identity negotiation in the EFL context beyond the confined categories of NEST and NNEST.