This study adds to the current literature on teacher technology integration with an investigation into five beginning teachers’ technology use in the language classroom in their first two career-entry years. The longitudinal interview study reveals that these teachers went through a developmental trajectory of technology use towards using it for more diversified instructional purposes and with a greater orientation towards student learning over the years. The study also finds that the teachers’ developing understanding of technology use intertwined with their growing teaching competency and identity. It further finds that school culture not only had a direct influence on their technology use but also moderated the influence of teaching competency and identity on the nature of this technology use. This study concludes with suggestions for promoting research on the support needed for beginning teachers and the school culture in technology use.
As a form of teacher leadership, class teacher (banzhuren) leadership has not received sufficient attention in academia. In order to delineate the paths and practices of the class teacher in exercising leadership for improving student learning, this study applies the multiple case studies approach along with in-depth interviews so as to understand this phenomenon thoroughly. The findings suggest that moral management, routine management, collaboration with subject teachers and parents, facilitation of collaboration among students and other leadership strategies can effectively contribute to student learning in these schools. The theoretical and practical implication of this study is also discussed to facilitate research in this regard.
Despite the rapid increase of international students in the Chinese higher education sector, little is known about their experiences in China. This paper reports a longitudinal study investigating experiences of a small group of international students during their undergraduate study in an English-medium medical course at a Chinese university. Data were generated through annual interviews, complemented by two rounds of questionnaire surveys respectively held at the beginning and end of the course. Drawing on self-determination theory, findings reveal the learning process through which the participants, responding to and interacting with new academic and social environments, gradually achieved adaptation and personal growth. Meanwhile, the research presents evidence of the students’ dissatisfaction, arising mainly from three aspects of their university environments: linguistic, pedagogical, and attitudinal. Policy implications are discussed and suggestions for future studies are given.
This qualitative study explores how to better attract international students as perceived from the viewpoints of both international students and university administrators. The 7Ps marketing mix conceptual framework and thematic analysis were utilized to analyze qualitative data solicited from both focus group discussions involving 75 international students and in-depth interviews with four administrators at two public universities in Yunnan province, China. The results indicate that two factors mainly affect students’ decisions on an international education destination: geographical location (Place) and cost of study (Price). Furthermore, the study recommends applying the 7Ps as a totality in university recruitment practices.
With the expansion of the higher education system in China since the late 1990s, questions on the distribution of higher education opportunities and resources have attracted increasing attention from academics, policymakers, and the general public. While there have been an increasing studies on the development of higher education opportunity equality in China, quantitative, systematic research on the distribution of higher education resources across China is still rather limited. This paper aims at filling this gap. It provides quantitative and comprehensive evidence on the development of the distribution of higher education resources across Chinese provinces. The analysis is based on a provincial panel dataset and uses a generalized Theil index to measure inequality. Results show that higher education resources have been far from equally provided in relation to the size of provincial student populations in China. The unequal distribution has become even more pronounced over the past decade. In other words, even if high school students have an increasingly equal access to higher education in China (Bickenbach & Liu, 2013b), the increasingly unequal distribution of higher education resources makes it difficult for university students to equally benefit from higher education.