This article employs Bourdieu's conceptual tools to unpack family influences on students' subject and university choices in China. This empirical study employed mixed research approaches, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, to examine students' choices of subjects and universities in a sample of secondary school students from the age…

In our study we analyse how the same interactional dynamic is produced in two different pedagogical settings exploiting a desktop videoconference system. We propose to focus our attention on a specific type of conversational side sequence, known in the Francophone literature as sequences of normative evaluation. More particularly, we analyse data…

China's recent curriculum reform of English as a foreign language programs has shifted toward an integration of language abilities and transferable skills such as intercultural skills. This study is part of an internal evaluation project that examines the implementation and impact of a newly reformed writing course at one of China's top foreign…

Enhancing students' learning autonomy has been emphasized in the current round of English curriculum reforms by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in China. The initial aim of the new guidelines was developed to enhance students' English proficiency to better fulfil their basic education (Nine-year compulsory education). However, up until now, very…

A long existing compulsive curriculum of ideological and political education is employed by the Chinese government to promote citizenship education among Chinese university students. This article builds on the findings of a mixed-methods research that examined the role of ideological and political education on university students' civic…

Mathematics and Science classes in schools have become a focus to be considered in terms of educational systems and administration around the world in the last decade. Related to the mentioned classes, there are many benefits that lead students to academic success. In the recent years, educators have found that there are so many different factors…

The influence exerted by language tests on language teaching and learning has been called washback (Pearson, 1988). Although an increasing number of empirical washback studies have appeared after the call by Alderson and Wall (1993), the perspectives of the most immediate stakeholders, the test takers, are largely under-researched. Equally…

This article reports on an exploratory study investigating mobile-assisted oral feedback in teaching Chinese as a second language (CSL). It is aimed at exploring the characteristics of mobile-assisted feedback on oral production with the smartphone social communication app WeChat as a case in point and examining learners' perceptions of…

This paper reports a series of research studies on the use of automated writing evaluation (awe) in secondary and university settings in China. The secondary school study featured the use of awe in six intact classes of 268 senior high school students for one academic year. The university study group comprised 460 students from five universities…

This study reports a quasi-experiment in collaborative blended learning (CBL) with undergraduate students who, despite being in a world-leading, enriched digital environment, were new to collaboration and CBL. The mixed-methods research found that only small improvements to students' CBL took place over time, and explanations for this are…

This dissertation study focuses on a current and controversial phenomenon in Chinese universities and colleges--student working during academic semesters. The massification of Chinese higher education since the year of 1999 raises the level of competition in the job market of college graduates. More and more undergraduate students participate in…

In view of ongoing debates about the future of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in contexts of English as a foreign language (EFL), we present a detailed case study of teacher beliefs and practices regarding TBLT conducted in a secondary school in mainland China with a long history of communicative and task-based teaching approaches. We used a…

Feedback has long been utilised as an effective tool to enhance learning. Between students and teachers; students and students; students and schools, feedback provides a channel of communication between all parties within an education system. With the emergence and development of social networking sites (SNSs) over the past decade, it has become…

This study examines manifestations of verbal aggression in an intergroup context between Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese on computer-mediated communication (CMC) discussion boards. We examine the role of perceptions of national identity and face in occasioning instances of aggression in Sino-Taiwanese online interactions. It will be argued that…

This research aims to understand the key competencies and characteristics for innovative teaching as perceived by Chinese secondary teachers. A mixed-methods research was used to investigate secondary teachers' views. First, a qualitative study was conducted with interviews of teachers to understand the perceived key competencies and…