Compared pronunciation of targeted vocabulary items in spontaneous speech by 23 adult Chinese learners of English as a Second Language grouped according to mode of instruction: (1) traditional drilling activities; (2) self-study with tape recordings; (3) interactive activities; and (4) nonintervention control condition. Ratings of pronunciation by…

A Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language learner in Taiwan was tutored online by two American preservice teachers. Discourse patterns in the student's essays were perceived very differently by the preservice teachers and the student's Taiwanese instructor. Deeper psycholinguistic analysis revealed connections between the student's linguistic…

Global and domain-specific self-concepts of 205 Chinese gifted adolescents in Hong Kong were assessed using 7 scales of the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. They differentiated 6 self-concept domains: scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, and class friendship. Homogeneous…

The reciprocal relationship between mathematics achievement and self-concept is examined in this study to expand the existing knowledge to a cross-cultural setting. Based on analyses of educational data two years before and after Hong Kong's sovereignty switch in 1997, this investigation shows a weak reciprocal relationship among the eighth-grade…

Chinese learners are often stereotyped as high achievers and overlooked in literacy research. This year-long, qualitative study in a combined Grade 4/5 classroom presents the cases of two struggling Chinese-Canadian learners. The study offers a new perspective on struggling learners by revealing a complex, multilayered understanding of these…

While Government commitments to supporting instruction in languages other than English have largely been honoured, bilingual education as a form of learning has not been widespread. Acknowledging the benefits of learning a language other than English, the most recent Australian national languages policy statement nonetheless makes no mention of…

This paper proposes an identity theory of Chinese as a Heritage Language (hereafter CHL) development, based on the characteristics of the Chinese as a Heritage Language learner and drawing insights from Language Socialization, Second Language Acquisition, and Conversation Analysis. It posits that CHL development takes place in a three-dimensional…

Four groups of second language (L2) learners of English from different language backgrounds (Chinese, Japanese, German, and Greek) and a group of native speaker controls participated in an online reading time experiment with sentences involving long-distance "wh"-dependencies. Although the native speakers showed evidence of making use of…

The availability of multi-media technologies in education has made the option of independent learning increasingly attractive. Whilst independent learning presents learners with a more flexible learning context, it also presents new challenges in assessment in that the onus is placed upon the learners themselves to monitor and evaluate their own…

This study examined contextual and personality factors and their relation to perceived life satisfaction among adolescents in five sociocultural groups. Variations in the contribution of specific predictors were noted for the five groups, but no one factor accounted for a large amount of variance in any group. Among the most consistent predictors…

This article examines maternal everyday teaching strategies in Chinese, American, Hutterite, and Native American cultural communities. It moves beyond a theoretical framework based on distancing by suggesting that effective adult teaching strategies are contextually and culturally determined. The authors urge early childhood educators to make…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the writing processes of second language (L2) writers, specifically examining the writing strategies of three Chinese post-graduate students in an Australian higher education institution. The study was prompted by the paucity of second language writing strategies of Chinese students in an authentic…

Research in second language acquisition and reading in particular indicate that certain literacy skills transfer across languages. This study examines the reading strategies used by advanced Korean and Chinese ESL learners. Particular attention is devoted to how word recognition and processing skills developed in learners' native languages (L1)…

With the shift of the concept of English teaching, learning beliefs and learning strategies are increasingly attracting researchers' attention. This study, based on a questionnaire, centered on the current situation of learning beliefs and learning strategies used by three-year college students. The result shows: (1) the students have the…

This paper explores student and teacher perspectives of challenges relating to the levels of competence in English of Chinese students studying overseas from the perspective of critical pedagogy. It draws on two complementary studies undertaken by colleagues at the University of Reading. The first--a research seminar attended by representatives…