Pre-service Teachers Learning to Teach English as a Foreign Language to Preschool Learners in Macau: A Longitudinal Study

Developing and validating a scale for measuring pre-service Chinese as an additional language teacher beliefs

Teacher beliefs are a pivotal psychological quality for sustainable teacher development. Previous studies have mainly focused on the beliefs of English-as-a-second/foreign-language (ESL/EFL) teachers, while little attention has been paid to those of Chinese-as-an-additional-language (CAL) teachers. Particularly, there is a paucity of effort made to develop and validate instrument for measuring pre-service CAL teacher beliefs. Therefore, to further quantify the beliefs of CAL teachers is increasingly called for as an essential means to help teachers sensitize their beliefs system and promote teacher development as a sustainable goal. To be specific, the present study aims to construct a scale for gauging beliefs of pre-service CAL teachers. It firstly conceptualizes the dimensions of pre-service CAL teacher beliefs by means of semantic analysis with ROST CM6, and then cross-validates the reliability and validity of the scale with psychometric methods. Two independent samples composed of 221 and 222 pre-service CAL teachers participated in a questionnaire survey. The two samples were utilized for later Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), respectively. The two data sets have satisfactory psychometric results, all confirming that the scale subsumes three factors: Beliefs about Chinese Language Teaching (BCLT), Beliefs about Chinese Language (BCL), and Beliefs about Chinese Language Learners (BCLL). The scale validated in the present study contributes to research on pre-service CAL teacher beliefs, and provides implications for sustainable pre-service CAL teacher training.

Impact of Education 4.0 among engineering students for learning English language

Education 4.0 is considered a significant technology for teaching and learning. The present study aims to explore the impact and the importance of Education 4.0 for improving English language learning in the perception of students in India, especially Hyderabad City. Moreover, Education 4.0 has bloomed as an important need to move along with the fast-growing education system of the world. But, it is a fact that many Indian students have complications and difficulties in learning English due to many reasons. The traditional methods of teaching are one of those reasons. Students learn only through the conventional methods, and they may find it boring and not effective. The education and mode of teaching have changed a lot, and it has attained a newer form of using the technology. Moreover, in the current era, where work from home and online teaching has become a new normal throughout the world, the technology used for teaching is inseparable. Hence, the authors are motivated to study the impact of Education 4.0 on improving English learning from Hyderabad, India. The methodology of the study has applied quantitative research. The study has employed pre-tested, close-ended questionnaires and post-assessment to gather data from the respondents to understand students’ performance in English language learning after implying Education 4.0. The five-point Likert scale has been used to analyse the collected data and to get mean values of responses. The total number of respondents is 145 students who pursue their engineering degrees in the select region. Among the collected data, most of them were from urban. The data obtained from the respondents proved that there is a direct correlation between the students’ perception and implementation of Education 4.0 in learning the English language. This study indicated that the respondents upheld Education 4.0 to improve English language learning in Hyderabad, India.

Pre-Service Teachers Learning to Teach English to Very Young Learners in Macau: Do Beliefs Trump Practice?

The global importance of English and therefore the teaching of the English language has made the English language curriculum an integral part of all levels of teacher education, including early childhood education. The purpose of this study was to first explore the beliefs about the teaching of English to very young learners held by pre-service pre-primary teachers in Macau and then to see whether these beliefs were reflected in their microteaching. Qualitative content analysis performed on the written reflections and transcriptions of the microteaching videos of 75 pre-service pre-primary teachers found that their beliefs about classroom practices, lesson planning, and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and learning were the most predominant beliefs exhibited in their reflections and were evidenced in their microteaching. Less predominant, but still salient, were their beliefs about the goals of language learning, assessment, teaching, pedagogical knowledge, and content. No observable practices were found regarding the pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the role of teaching, learning to teach, microteaching, the self, the subject, hearsay, self-assessment, and schooling. The current study found that with only limited exposure to EFL teaching methodology from a single course, the pre-service pre-primary teachers were able to implement some of their beliefs about several important aspects of teaching English to very young learners.

Challenges to STEM education in Vietnamese high school contexts

STEM education has been considered foundational to economic growth by many countries. It has received great attention from various educational systems, but the actual implementation has triggered several problems, especially in developing countries in Asia. This qualitative study investigated the challenges to STEM education in public high schools in Vietnam. The participants were ten experienced teachers from ten different schools in a Vietnamese central province. The data were collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the transcripts of the interview recordings showed that the teachers faced many challenges regarding their interdisciplinary knowledge and teaching methods, curriculum, practical constraints, and beliefs about effective STEM education. Notably, the findings concerning the teachers' beliefs about effective STEM education and the tension between their beliefs and the teaching goals were closely related to the local cultural values and the expectations of the schooling system. The findings of the study were discussed in relation to the local contextual factors and cultural values. Implications for teacher pedagogy and professional development regarding STEM education for Vietnamese high school contexts, and beyond, are discussed.

Professionals as Collaborative Mentors in Early Childhood Family Education

Early childhood education (ECE) in China has become complex and multi-dimensional. Chinese parents/caregivers are actively involved in ECE. This qualitative study provides insights into how three ECE-related professionals, namely, a family education professional, an ECE enrichment teacher, and a founder/administrator of an ECE centre, worked collaboratively in a transdisciplinary early childhood family education (ECFE) program in a northern city of China. Qualitative data was collected via three rounds of interviews with each of the three ECE professionals and several sources of documents. The findings are generally in line with existing literature regarding the factors that influence effective transdisciplinary collaboration among ECFE team members. The ECE professionals claimed the program was a success was due to their willingness to become ergonomists, daily collaborative practice with team members, interaction with both the caregivers and their children, and non-judgmental sharing among colleagues. These positive outcomes occurred due to the continued support and instruction from other ECFE team members, especially when applying approaches outside one’s respective fields. The findings illuminate several insights relating to ECFE and offer several implications regarding hands-on practices for effective ECFE.