Chinese Normal University Research Articles

Effects of Teachers’ Technology Leadership on Postgraduate Preservice Teachers’ Application of TPACK: Perspective of Path-Goal Theory of Leadership

A tremendous amount of technology (e.g., online learning platforms, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and robots) has been utilized to create rich interactive activities to upgrade preservice teachers’ knowledge and skills. However, there is a challenge to transform teacher preparation programs into a fully realized technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) application environment. Teachers’ technology leadership (TTL) should be considered to empower preservice teachers to apply TPACK. Since there was no empirical evidence concerning the impact of technology leadership on student outcomes, this study investigated the relationship between TTL and postgraduate preservice teachers’ application of TPACK by collecting quantitative data in Chinese normal university. Factor analyses were first conducted; and results indicated that the questionnaire combined the ISTE-E standards and TPACK framework was a reliable and valid survey instrument. The descriptive statistics results showed that TTL (professional growth and leadership, digital citizenship, technology collaboration, and technology-empowered learning) was highly perceived, and postgraduate preservice teachers’ TPACK components were at medium levels. Structural equation modeling test results revealed that TTL positively and significantly influenced all dimensions of postgraduate preservice teachers’ TPACK. Finally, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are provided along with theoretical and practical implications.

Pre-service geography teachers from normal universities in China: what do their master’s degree theses focus on and imply?

Master’s degree-level graduates in Subject Teaching (Geography) (hereinafter referred to as STG) in Chinese normal universities form a valuable pool of pre-service secondary school geography teachers. These graduates provide a comprehensive picture of the quality, focus and outcomes of current geography teacher training programs. However, there is a relative dearth of research appertaining to their research capabilities and the quality of their educational development. To address this gap, the present study adopts bibliometric and comparative analysis to shed light on the overall trends and specific characteristics of STG master’s theses from 2016 to 2022. The findings indicate that universities with divergent levels of subject assessment prioritize different research emphases, leading to variations in the depth of investigation into new teaching materials and the level of alignment with frontline geography teaching. Furthermore, in comparison with cutting-edge international and domestic research, the master’s theses of STG students are characterized by microscopic scale and insufficient depth. A three-pronged collaborative framework has therefore been advocated with the aim of enhancing the quality of STG graduates as pre-service geography teachers. This comprises close interactions among on-campus and off-campus tutors and learners, a partnership between universities and secondary schools, and inter-university cooperation.

Teachers’ Technology Leadership: An Assessment of Postgraduate Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions based on NLP-augmented Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative analysis has been used to assess teachers’ technology leadership practice. However, it is not easy for qualitative researchers to reduce biases in the big data era, with issues such as big qualitative data and the complexity of data analysis. To achieve a more efficient and effective research, Natural language processing (NLP) can be a potential approach to address these methodological challenges. Since there was no study integrating qualitative analysis with NLP in this area, this study utilized an NLP-augmented qualitative analysis, which begins with qualitative data analysis then followed by NLP analysis in the design, for the assessment of teachers’ technology leadership practice. 133 postgraduate pre-service teachers in a Chinese normal university were selected to respond the open-ended question. Qualitative analysis was first conducted based on the ISTE-E standards, through categorizing codes into learners, leaders, citizens, collaborators, designers, facilitators, and analysts. NLP analysis, based on text preprocessing (including tokenization, part-of-speech tagging, and removing stop-words), feature extraction with the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) algorithm, and sentence selection and assembly, was utilized to triangulate the qualitative results. The NLP-augmented qualitative analysis results revealed that teacher educators can practice technology leadership based on the ISTE-E standards to support students’ technology integration.

The impact of flipped classroom on English proficiency of first-year Chinese urban and rural pre-service teachers.

In recent years, China has made strides in adopting student-oriented teaching approaches, particularly in tertiary English education, through the integration of enhanced technology. This study aimed to investigate the impact of flipped classroom on the English proficiency of first-year pre-service teachers at a Chinese normal university. It also sought to determine whether educational background (urban or rural) interacted with the teaching approach (flipped or traditional) in affecting the language proficiency of the learners. A quasi-experimental design was utilized with two treatments: a flipped classroom approach and a traditional teacher-centered teaching approach. Both approaches were implemented in the Integrated English Course over a 12-week semester. Two randomly selected classes, consisting of 60 pre-service teachers in each class, were assigned to either the experimental or control group. Data were collected from pretest and post-test assessments and analyzed using two-way ANOVA. The results revealed a positive impact of the flipped classroom and a significant interaction between educational background and teaching approach on English proficiency. Specifically, urban pre-service teachers achieved higher English proficiency than their rural peers when taught in the flipped classroom, but not in the traditional classroom. Furthermore, urban pre-service teachers in the flipped classroom outperformed their urban peers in the traditional classroom, while rural pre-service teachers did not show any significant difference in their performance between the two classes. The findings suggested that the flipped classroom approach was more effective than the traditional approach for Chinese pre-service teachers, particularly those with an urban educational background. However, it is important to ensure that rural learners receive sufficient support to benefit equally from this innovative teaching approach. Accordingly, implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Educational environment and college students: an investigation of scientific literacy of early childhood education students in two Chinese normal universities

Scientific literacy was seen as an important component of national quality, also as the foundation of social civilization. This study investigated the scientific literacy (SL) of early childhood education students (ECEs) in two Chinese normal universities. Altogether 177 ECEs were surveyed and randomized semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 ECEs. The results revealed that ECEs demonstrated unbalanced and uneven scientific knowledge reserves. While they possessed positive attitudes in improving the SL, there was minimal progress in terms of taking action. Clearly, school, family and society, the so called educational environment, had insufficient support for ECEs' SL development.

Learning burnout of college learners and countermeasures analysis in the context of Chinese normal university

The research purpose of this study is to explore the status and causes of learning burnout among college students and dig out the countermeasures of solving this issue. The study takes 400 students of different majors, grades and genders from three normal universities as subjective in Southwest China, and the questionnaires including demographic information, learning burnout status, learning burnout causes were distributed to them, finally, 395 valid questionnaires were collected. Using IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 software for statistical analysis (T-test), the results shows that there exists the phenomenon of learning burnout among university students, and there are significant differences in learning burnout in terms of gender, grade and major; Meanwhile, through regression analysis, it can be seen that each factor has different degrees of influencing the learning burnout, so the accordingly countermeasures are suggested. The study is hoped to put forward some countermeasures for learning burnout, so that it is better service the educational quality.

Research on Information Technology Teaching Competence of Chinese Normal University Students: Current Status, Stages, and Trends — Visual Analysis Based on CiteSpace

Research on Information Technology Teaching Competence of Chinese Normal University Students: Current Status, Stages, and Trends — Visual Analysis Based on CiteSpace

Effects of Profession-Related Support from Different Sources on Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese Tuition-Free Normal University Students: The Mediation of Intrinsic Motivation for Teaching and Moderation of Dispositional Gratitude.

Tuition-free normal university students (TFNUS) have become an important group in Chinese normal university. The subjective well-being of TFNUS not only affects their own mental health, and decisions to stay in the teaching profession, but also can significantly influence their future student's perception of stress, learning motivation and academic achievement. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between positive factors and TFNUS's subjective well-being and the underlying mechanism and boundary condition. The purpose of this study is to examine whether, how and when profession-related support from different sources influences TFNUS's subjective well-being. Based on the Conservation of Resource Theory and Self-Determination Theory, a time-lagged design was used to collect two wave data (N=526), and we use dominance analysis to examine the relative importance of profession-related support from significant others (eg, government, teachers, and parents) in relation to subjective well-being among Chinese tuition-free normal university students, and propose a moderated mediation model to reveal the mediating (intrinsic motivation for teaching) and moderating (dispositional gratitude) effects of this relation. Profession-related government, teacher, and parent support were all positively related to subjective well-being, in a descending order of relative importance were as follows: teacher, parent and government. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation for teaching mediated the relationship between profession-related support and subjective well-being. In addition, dispositional gratitude only moderated the relationship between two sources (teacher and parent, respectively) of profession-related support and intrinsic motivation for teaching. Moreover, dispositional gratitude moderated the strength of the indirect effect of profession-related teacher support and parent support on subjective well-being (through intrinsic motivation for teaching), and the mediated relationship was stronger for those with high (vs low) dispositional gratitude. The profession-related support had positive direct effect on tuition-free normal university students' subjective well-being, as well as indirect effect through intrinsic motivation for teaching. Dispositional gratitude moderated the relationship between of profession-related teacher, parent support and intrinsic motivation for teaching, and the strength of the indirect effect of this support on subjective well-being.

A Study on the Effect of Psychological Resilience on Career Decision-making Anxiety of Chinese Normal University Graduating Students: Mediating Effect of Coping Styles

Objectives As the number of college graduating students increases year by year, the problem of employment dif-ficulties of graduating students has become increasingly prominent, followed by psychological changes resulting in career decision-making anxiety. From the perspective of educational psychology, this study explores the influ-ence of normal university graduating students’ psychological resilience on career decision-making anxiety and the mediating effect of coping styles, and finds out the influencing factors of career decision-making anxiety, so as to put forward coping styles to alleviate normal university graduating students’ career decision-making anxiety.
 Methods The study used quantitative method to analyze the relationship between psychological resilience and career decision-making anxiety among 469 soon-to-be Chinese normal graduating students. SPSS 25.0 stat-istical software was used for descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis. By using AMOS 24.0 software, structural equation models are established to analyze path coefficients and mediating effects.
 Results The psychological resilience and the career decision-making anxiety of normal graduating students are generally at a moderate level, with significant differences in demographic variables such as gender, and student cadre experience. There are the significant negative correlation between psychological resilience and career deci-sion-making anxiety. The mediating effect test shows that the psychological resilience of college graduating stu-dents can indirectly affect career decision-making anxiety through (positive and negative) coping styles. Coping styles (positive and negative coping style) have a partial mediating effect between psychological resilience and ca-reer decision-making anxiety.
 Conclusions Psychological resilience and coping styles of normal university graduating students are closely re-lated to career decision-making anxiety. Psychological resilience can directly affect career decision-making anxi-ety, but also indirectly affect career decision-making anxiety through (positive and negative) coping styles.

Establishment of Flipped Chinese Course Based on Socially Shared Learning Regulations in Chinese Normal University Students

With the continuous development of the social environment and the continuous advancement of technology, digital learning has increasingly higher requirements to optimize self-regulated learning, and it has become a popular trend designed to cultivate the self-regulated learning of normal university students. This study examines how the teachers of Chinese normal students integrate their courses based on socially shared regulations of learning theory to supplement the existing coursework. Based on modern Chinese, in a flipped professional course for a normal university student in northwest China, this study provides the teaching objectives, teaching contents, teaching methods, learning methods, and teaching evaluation methods. Ultimately, this study explores how to improve students’ self-regulated learning and Chinese language proficiency through the cultivation of self-regulated learning strategies.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Instructional Innovation Capabilities: A Many-Faceted Rasch Model Analysis

Innovation capability has become a necessary requirement for qualified teachers in the context of informatization. However, the validity and objectivity of existing assessments are unclear. Therefore, this study selected nine researchers to evaluate the instructional innovation capabilities of 60 pre-service teachers from a Chinese normal university. The Many-Faceted Rasch Model (MFRM) was used to measure and analyze the rater severity, difficulty of evaluation criteria, and instructional innovation capability of pre-service teachers. Combined with qualitative analysis, the results showed that most participants had moderate instructional innovation capability, and only certain individuals demonstrated a high level. In addition, innovation related to teaching content and learning activities was easier than innovation related to instructional and evaluation strategies. These results suggest directions for fostering pre-service teachers’ instructional innovation capabilities.

Enhancing Students' Knowledge of HIV/AIDS through Peer Education Activities: A Case Study of One Awarded Chinese Normal University

Yunnan Normal University has received awards for HIV/AIDS education and prevention among Chinese universities. Therefore, exploring their education methods and activities could provide a guideline for other universities to develop their education plan. This Single-Case Study has three objectives:1) to study peer education activities increasing students’ learning about HIV/AIDS and safe sex practice in Yunnan Normal University, 2) to review HIV/AIDS and safe sex learning content discussed in its Peer education program, and 3) to study major aspects contributing to the success of students’ learning about HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex practice through a peer education program. Three data collection techniques were a semi-structured interview, observation, and document review. The participants include six teachers who have worked in HIV/AIDS education or safe sex education activities for more than five years and nine students in grade 4. The research results include 1) healthy living perspectives and sexual morality are the essential contents of HIV/ AIDS education in Chinese universities, 2) a good relationship between the educators and learners is vital to eliminate embarrassment when teaching sensitive knowledge, 3) organizing activities by well-trained peer educators is one of the most effective methods when conducting HIV/ AIDS education. Keywords: Peer education activities, HIV/AIDS education, Awarded University, Chinese Normal University DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-27-03 Publication date: September 30 th 2022

Developing pre-service teachers’ practical knowledge through formative interventions

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study examines the use of a mandatory learning module in an initial teacher education (ITE) programme that aims to develop the practical knowledge of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a Chinese Normal university. Guided by formative interventions, data were collected from videotaped discussion meetings, teaching activities, and reflective journals of PSTs. The data were then analysed from the theoretical perspectives of expansive learning and the components of teachers’ practical knowledge. The results identified the intervention trajectory as three consecutive cycles and the intervention outcomes as different development trends among knowledge components in PSTs’ practical knowledge. This study contributes to the methodology of formative intervention and its empirical utility, and therefore has global implications for ITE transformation by regarding teacher practical knowledge as a complex knowledge system with evolutionary dynamics.

A Study on the Regression Analysis between Employment Stress and Career Decision-making Anxiety of Chinese Normal University Graduates

목적 코로나19 사태로 일반 졸업생들이 겪는 취업 스트레스(Stress)와 직업 선택에 대한 불안이 더 큰 영향을 미칠 것으로 보인다. 중국 사범대학 졸업생의 직업 선택에 영향을 미치는 주요 요인을 찾기 위해 사범대학 졸업생의 취업 스트레스와 직업 선택 불안에 대한 상관관계 및 회귀분석을 탐구한다. 방법 본 연구는 정량적인 분석 방법을 채택하고 있다. 중국의 사범대학 졸업예정 대학생 410명을 대상으로 취업 스트레스와 직업 선택의 불안에 대한 설문조사를 실시하였다. 본 논문에서는 SPSS 23.0 통계 분석 소프트웨어를 사용하여 독립 표본 t-검정, 일원 분산 분석, Pearson 상관분석과 회귀분석에 대하여 데이터를 분석하였다. 결과 사범대학 졸업생의 취업 스트레스와 직업 선택의 불안은 전체적으로 중간 수준에 있다. 성별, 전공, 진원지(place of origin), 학생 간부, 취업 여부(employment status), 학업 성적 등 인구학적 변수에 현저한 차이가 있었다. 취업 스트레스는 직업 선택의 불안과 현저한 상관관계 및 회귀분석가 있다. 회귀분석 결과 사범대학 졸업생의 취업 스트레스는 직업 선택의 불안에 대해 예측 효과가 있었다. 결론 상관관계 및 회귀분석 결과 사범대학 졸업생의 취업 스트레스는 직업 선택의 불안과 밀접한 관련이 있음을 알 수 있었다. 사회와 학교는 마땅히 적당한 조치를 취해 사범대학 졸업생의 스트레스를 줄여야 한다. 졸업생들도 스트레스(Stress)를 동기(motivation)로 바꾸고 직업 선택의 불안을 완화하는 자기 조절을 학습해야 한다.

Investigating Student Teachers’ Perceptions of English as a Lingua Franca and Its Teaching in Mainland China

ABSTRACT The significance of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has been promoted widely in English language teaching worldwide and has driven scholarly attention to English language teachers in Mainland China. However, little attention has been paid to English teachers’ perceptions of ELF-informed teaching during the pre-service stage of their careers. To narrow the gap, the present study aims to investigate English student-teachers’ perceptions of ELF and its teaching in a national key Chinese normal university through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that the participants held an insufficient understanding of ELF, and lacked support in their teacher education programmes regarding how to implement ELF-informed teaching practices. Additionally, the study revealed some contextual challenges encountered by the participants in relation to ELF-informed teaching. The study concludes with suggestions about promoting student English teachers’ ELF awareness and developing ELF-informed pedagogies in China.

Reflective journals: enhancing doctoral students’ engagement

ABSTRACT Reflection journals (RJs) have been recognised as a vital tool in promoting student learning. However, little is known about how doctoral students use RJs to improve academic engagement. Through a mixed-method study, this paper explored how six international students from a Chinese normal university utilized RJs in their engagement in an advanced learning sciences course. This study used reflective journals, surveys, and interviews to examine doctoral students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of reflective journals in their learning process in a 12-week ‘Frontiers of the Learning Sciences’ course. The quantitative results revealed that all items received a positive rating and were appropriate for exploring how reflective journals enhanced the participants’ critical thinking, writing skills and engagement. Overall, the findings confirmed that reflective journals facilitate critical thinking, metacognition, and self-engagement. The findings of the study likewise provide information for course instructors to adjust their lesson plans in response to students’ comments and suggestions.

On the Construction of the Course “Instruction of Academic Planning for Normal Students” in Chinese Normal Universities

The course “Instruction of Academic Planning for Normal Students” is the core content of academic planning education for normal students. Due to the current lack of academic planning for normal students in China, the absence of academic planning education for normal students, and the need to implement the reform policy of teacher education, it is very necessary to build this course. The content of the course should include four parts: understanding the environment, understanding learning, seeing the future clearly, and learning to plan, with emphasis on practical teaching.

Giving account of our (mobile) selves: embodied and relational notions of academic privilege in the international classroom

ABSTRACTContemporary models of academic work reflect a process of compression given that busy (time compression), jet setting (space compression) scholars constitute the norm of academic success. Valuable reflections from mobile academics are available, and yet, such narratives are often confined to individual voices and perspectives. In this paper, we endeavor to present a collaborative analysis of our shared experience as short-term foreign experts at a Chinese Normal University, simultaneously embracing and being troubled by our institutional and individual desires to become global. Throughout our analysis, we focus on the contrasts of our national, racial and class identities of origin and those we enacted while teaching in China. In doing so, we pay attention to the literal and metaphorical meaning of mobility. Our project explores ways in which mobility is(n’t) always privileged, as well as whether and how we experience time – space compression contrasting our class, race, nationality and sexual orientation differences.

Students’ Attitudes towards Research: A Study of Graduate Education Students at a Chinese Normal University

Students’ Attitudes towards Research: A Study of Graduate Education Students at a Chinese Normal University

Effects of instructor's facial expressions on students' learning with video lectures

AbstractThis study investigated whether video lectures instructed by a heightened level of expressiveness instructor were better than those instructed by a conventional level of expressiveness instructor or audio‐only in promoting students' online learning, and what kind of effects do instructor's facial expressions have on students' learning. Three different types of video lectures (one with a heightened level of expressiveness instructor, one with a conventional level of expressiveness instructor and one with the instructor' audio only) were used to study the effects of instructor's facial expressions. Sixty‐nine participants from Chinese Normal University were selected to learn with these video lectures. Results of this study indicated that video lectures with a heightened level of expressiveness instructor were better than those with a conventional level of expressiveness instructor and audio‐only ones with regard to improving students' arousal level and learning satisfaction. Instructor's facial expressions had no significant influence on participants' short‐term recall (p = .90), while instructor's facial expressions did influence students' medium‐term recall (p = .03). Instructor's facial expressions played a key role in students' online learning.