International Education Research Research Articles

Differential Adjustment Outcomes of International Students at U.S. Universities

We present a methodological example of an initial use of critical quantitative analysis (CritQuant) in international education research focused on international students to explore differences in social-emotional experiences intersectionally. Drawing on a sample of 558 international students attending 14 colleges and universities in the United States, we examined students' belonging, social support, academic stress and confidence, COVID-19 related stress, and social integration by students' gender, graduate level, and region of origin as well as by combinations of gender, graduate level, and region of origin. Key findings include that graduate and undergraduate female students as well as graduate male students reported better social-emotional experiences compared with undergraduate male students and that students' region of origin accounted for a range of differences in student outcomes. Findings are discussed in relation to the current literature and with respect to opportunities in the field of international student engagement and global student mobility.

Integration of Mathematics History into Junior Middle School Education: A Pedagogical Approach to Enhance Mathematical Literacy

The integration of the history of mathematics into junior middle school mathematics education represents a significant focus of international research in mathematics and education. The mathematics curriculum standards for compulsory education have emphasized the importance of incorporating the history of mathematics, aiming to gradually integrate it into the mathematics classroom. However, in the practical implementation of junior middle school mathematics education, the effective combination of the history of mathematics with teaching methodologies remains largely unexplored. This article explores the integration of junior middle school mathematics education and the history of mathematics, aiming to provide classroom teaching recommendations for teachers and promote the formation of students’ mathematical literacy.

Review of studies applying Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory in international and intercultural education research.

The Russian-born American psychologist Bronfenbrenner's bioecological perspective on human development is an ideal framework for understanding how individuals negotiate the dynamic environment and their own identities in international and intercultural education settings. However, a review of the current literature shows that most studies either adopted the earlier version of the theory (i.e., the ecological systems theory) or inadequately presented the most recent developments of the bioecological model (i.e., the process-person-context-time model). The construct of proximal processes-the primary mechanisms producing human development according to Bronfenbrenner-has seldom been explored in depth, which means the true value of bioecological theory is largely underrepresented in international and intercultural education research. This article first presents a review of studies that adopt Bronfenbrenner's theory and then offers future directions for the scope and design of international and intercultural education research.

Visual analysis of commognitive conflict in collaborative problem solving in classrooms.

In today's knowledge-intensive and digital society, collaborative problem-solving (CPS) is considered a critical skill for students to develop. Moreover, international education research has embraced a new paradigm of communication-focused inquiry, and the commognitive theory helps enhance the understanding of CPS work. This paper aims to enhance the CPS skills by identifying, diagnosing, and visualizing commognitive conflicts during the CPS process, thereby fostering a learning-oriented innovative approach and even giving the script of technology-assisted feedback practices. Specifically, we utilized open-ended mathematical tasks and multi-camera video recordings to analyze the commognitive conflicts in CPS among 32 pairs, comprising 64 Year 7 students. After selecting the high-quality, medium-quality, and low-quality student pairs based on the SOLO theory, further investigations were made in the discourse diagnosis and visual analysis for the knowledge dimensions of commognitive conflict. Finally, it was discovered that there is a need to encourage students to focus on and resolve commognitive conflicts while providing timely feedback. Visual studies of commognitive conflict can empower AI-assisted teaching, and the intelligent diagnosis and visual analysis of CPS provide innovative solutions for teaching feedback.

Learning motivation and environmental support: how first-generation college students achieve success?

With the continuous expansion of higher education worldwide, the academic performance of first-generation college students has become an essential topic in the scope of international educational research. This study examines the impact of learning motivation (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) and environmental support (i.e., instructional, relational, and campus support) on the academic outcomes of first-generation college students based on the Cultural Mismatch Theory and Self-Determination Theory from both individual and environmental perspectives. A two-stage stratified sampling strategy was adopted to guarantee that the samples were representative of the national populations of college students in mainland China. 87418 data were collected from the China College Student Survey (CCSS) 2020, among which 58,864 were first-generation college students. This study primarily employed descriptive statistical analysis and regression analysis methods. Data analysis revealed that intrinsic learning motivation, relational support, campus support, and academic performance of first-generation college students are significantly lower than those of non-first-generation students. However, this study found no significant differences concerning external learning motivation and teaching support. Regression analysis showed that both learning motivation and environmental support positively predicted learning outcomes, with intrinsic learning motivation having the most substantial influence. Moreover, learning motivation and environmental support interact in jointly promoting the student's academic success. This study highlighted that the academic development of first-generation college students results from the interplay between individual characteristics and the surrounding environment. Postnatal factors, particularly individual learning motivation, and institutional environment support, play a crucial role in their academic achievements.

A gift, a bond, a prize that binds: examining scholarship awards in the era of ‘Ethical internationalisation’

ABSTRACT The paper examines preconceptions and assumptions behind common understandings of ‘scholarship awards’ in international higher education research, and analyses how these influence the production of knowledge on scholarship programs and their effects. The paper aims to make a major theoretical contribution by proposing an alternative approach to studying these programs. First, drawing on a comprehensive review of the scholarships literature, the paper posits that prevalent theoretical approaches – often drawn from the logic of the scholarship programs themselves – limit our view of what scholarship programs do and can do. Such research constrains understandings of program design and its effects on and implications for sponsored students. Examples of underexplored ethical aspects of sponsorship arrangements are highlighted through examples and vignettes. Then, turning to contemporary discussions related to ethical internationalisation and student mobility, the paper asks which theoretical approaches could aid a focus upon and analysis of these programs in relation to ethics-related themes. Conventions theory (and specifically the orders of worth approach) is proposed as a useful theoretical lens. The paper then synthesises a novel framework using this approach to examine explicit and implicit aspects of sponsorship arrangements, explaining its suitability and potential to produce deeper insights into and more nuanced understanding of the consequences of modern scholarship program design for actors involved in sponsored international student mobility. In conclusion, the promise and significance of this framework utilizing the orders of worth approach for studying questions related to valuation processes and ethical internationalisation is recapitulated and future research is discussed.

Focus on education: Taking stock of key themes, topics, trends and communities in international business and international management education research

This paper sheds light on education in International Business (IB) and International Management (IM) by identifying the main topics, themes, trends and subdomain clusters in their education-focused literature. Using a combination of text- and network-based analysis, only recently introduced for data analysis in IB/IM, we reveal themes focused mainly on five areas: global focus; learning and skill development; teaching and curriculum development; economic and management issues; and student types and experience. Further, we examine the extent to which keywords associated with critical perspectives enter the education literature to gain insight into the embrace of issues related to sustainability, ethics, empathy and gender.

Reimagining the researcher-participant ethics relationship: a participant-centred, values-based ethics approach in comparative and international education

ABSTRACT Conventional approaches to ethics in comparative and international educational research often entail researchers seeking institutional ethics approval; attempting to manage fieldwork’s practical ethical dilemmas using institutional and disciplinary protocols; and ‘writing up’ methodology, primarily an account of the institutional ethics approval process. This approach largely excludes participants’ conceptions of ethics, manifested through their ethical values, virtues, worldviews, knowledge, perspectives, traditions, norms, epistemologies, etc. This paper proposes a participant-centred, values-based approach which deepens the conventional approach by positioning participants’ values alongside institutional and disciplinary ones; centring participants’ values during fieldwork’s ethical dilemmas; and articulating a situated ethics account. This alternative approach deepens researchers’ capabilities for situated ethical action, and underscores the need for continuous negotiation of ethics with participants towards meaningful ethical partnerships. Such partnerships are ultimately facilitated by institutional ethics committees’ flexibility in enabling, and even encouraging, researcher-participant ethical negotiations at various stages of research.

O potrzebie badań empirycznych w pedagogice. Kilka refleksji i postulatów teoretyczno-metodologicznych

On the Need for Empirical Research in Pedagogy: Some Reflections and Theoretical and Methodological Demands: The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate theoretical and methodological approaches in designed empirical research in pedagogy. We point out that pedagogy and with it educational research are crucial to the overall development of various fields of study and learning as a whole. They are important because they seek to describe, understand and explain how learning takes place throughout a person’s life and how the formal and informal contexts of education affect all forms of learning at different levels (from micro to macro) of understanding educational processes. Educational research should therefore become a priority, as it plays an important role for understanding the processes of upbringing, teaching, learning, educating, etc., and their theoretical and conceptual definition and reliability testing within the framework of adequate curricula for the individual and society and the formulation of educational policy. So that pedagogical sciences guarantee the highest quality of upbringing and education in the country and can develop at the height of the international educational research. Therefore, attention should be paid to the aspects that will allow pedagogy and educational research to obtain the appropriate appropriate status in the field of domestic social sciences and humanities and, as a result, their internationalization.

Linking beliefs in reading with lifelong learning tendencies among undergraduates: The mediating role of enthusiasm for reading

AbstractToday, learning no longer takes place on a definite place or time; rather, it has an ongoing and interactive nature, lasting throughout one's life. Relatedly, reading is usually considered to enhance learning, communication and the exchange of ideas. Given the importance of becoming a lifelong learner, this study focuses on the influence of reading habits on lifelong learning tendencies of university students as mediated by their enthusiasm for reading. A predictive correlational research model was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. A total of 376 undergraduates with diverse backgrounds were surveyed in a central city of Turkey. The mediated‐path analysis demonstrated that belief in the impact of reading is a prominent predictor of university students' lifelong learning tendencies. Further, enthusiasm for reading was explored to mediate the link between beliefs in the impact of reading and lifelong learning tendencies. This study contributes to the debate and research on lifelong learning by using a national case which is relatively understudied and underrepresented international higher education research. It also adds to the theme by revealing direct and indirect paths between university students' beliefs in reading and lifelong learning tendencies as mediated by their enthusiasm for reading.

The role of social networks in academic discourse socialization: insights from degree-seeking multilingual international students in China

Abstract This study adopted a social network perspective to explore the academic discourse socialization experiences of eight degree-seeking multilingual international students at a university in eastern China. Based on a triangulation of ethnographic interviews, social network questionnaires, and supplementary sources (e.g., voluntarily submitted recordings, texts about academic exchanges), the study revealed five patterns of students’ social networks, including heterogeneous-sparse network, heterogeneous-dense network, homogeneous-sparse network, homogeneous-dense network, and balanced network. This resulting network typology was utilized to interpret the role of social networks in individuals’ socialization trajectories, which were observed to include affecting capacities to negotiate academic norms, structuring channels to build and transform expertise, and shaping space for multicompetence development. While different network connections demonstrated different roles, networks with similar characteristics could exert divergent impacts, highlighting the mediation of a range of individual and sociocultural dynamics. Based on the findings, the study contributes to critical multilingual studies by offering theoretical implications for socialization research on community and competence, and providing practical suggestions for research, education, and program administration in international education.

Romanticizing decolonization and Asian epistemology: reflections on identity and space

Recent calls for the decolonization of the academy demand recognition for diverse canons of knowledge . Asia’s economic ascent also imparts rising confidence among Asian scholars and institutions to promote indigenous knowledge. While these global calls for emancipation are invigorating, decolonial scholarship is prone to sterile theorization, historical fixity, and an overt romanticization of the Global South. Drawing on my lived experiences as an Asian academic, I reflect on decolonization and Asian epistemology from five different spaces in my life: (1) Northern Europe, (2) Toronto, (3) Southeast Asia, (4) Kazakhstan and (5) the United Kingdom. I analyze these spaces by using the concepts of intellectual captivity and decolonization from Syed Hussein Alatas and Kuan-Hsing Chen. Specifically, the tendency for decolonization movements to descend into nationalism, nativism, and civilizationalism provides provocative insights on epistemic justice (Chen, 2010). I demonstrate how epistemology as practice can reveal a colonial mindset even among academics who engage in social justice discourse and international work. I also highlight examples of indigenous knowledge that reinforce inequality based on race, gender, sexual orientation and religion. As more individuals with hybrid identities (race, culture, and nationality) enter academe and pursue careers that require international mobility, it is imperative that decolonization moves beyond reductive categories of identity that reproduce stereotypes. I conclude with reflections on the role of comparative and international education research in decolonization movements.

Quality improvement path and countermeasures for future-oriented film and animation teaching: based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method

As the latest and hottest concept in the international arena, the metaverse concept has attracted the attention of various industries including information, economy, art, management, education and teaching for its application and technology integration research, but whether to define metaverse as a technology or a scenario has not yet reached a unified understanding in the academic and scientific communities. We believe that metaverse should be used as a key concept and emerging theory in building the future intelligent field. Therefore, we introduce the concept of metaverse in future film and animation teaching as a novel, strategic and disruptive teaching field with great potential, and the constructed metaverse self-directed learning field will become an important part of school education resource optimization. In this study, we focus on the quality improvement path of film and animation teaching in the context of metaverse, and conduct a study on the assessment method of teaching quality after the introduction of metaverse concept. Specifically, we discuss the quality improvement measures in the future teaching of film and animation, construct a teaching field of film and animation based on the metaverse, and propose a related teaching quality assessment model and establish an index system for the quality assessment of film and animation teaching in the context of the metaverse. The index system is composed of 3 primary indicators, 9 secondary indicators and 27 tertiary indicators, and the quantitative calculation is carried out by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in fuzzy mathematics, and the weighting results of the indicators are calculated. The research goal of combining quantitative analysis and qualitative research was achieved. What can be seen through our research is that the metaverse online classroom built with virtual reality and other technologies will have more advantages than the traditional teaching classroom. In the future, similar learning devices can be introduced in film and animation teaching, and diversified learning modules can be established. Not only can the learning efficiency of offline classroom be improved, but also more learning space can be opened for online classroom. This study bridges the gap in the theory of quality assessment of film and animation teaching after the introduction of the future metaverse concept, innovates the analysis of the new concept and the improvement of the old method, builds a new scenario of organic combination of new technology and traditional education teaching, and provides a new idea for international and domestic future education research.

Comparing outcomes of an innovative interprofessional student placement model to standard placement models in rural healthcare settings

ABSTRACT This unique study investigated the educational and service delivery impacts of a team-based, innovative model of interprofessional education (IPE) namely the Rural Interprofessional Education and Supervision (RIPES) model on participating students, clinical educators, and their workplaces, in rural Australian healthcare settings. Participating professions included dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech pathology. Outcomes from the RIPES model were compared with regular uni-professional placement models. A multi-site, pre-post, comparative design was used. The main data collection measures included were the Students Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education – Revised scale, the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale, and time-usage data. The RIPES model resulted in significant improvement in students’ beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that underpin interprofessional socialization and collaborative practice in healthcare settings. Importantly, students were able to benefit from the RIPES learning activities without compromising their contact time with patients. Clinical educators spent significantly more time in non-patient contact activities than the uni-professional group. This important work was undertaken in response to previous calls to address a gap in IPE models in rural areas. It involved students from multiple professions and universities, measured impacts on multiple stakeholders, and followed international best practice interprofessional education research recommendations.

Understanding Chinese international students in the U.S. in Times of the COVID-19 crisis: from a Chinese discourse studies perspective

ABSTRACT Using the Chinese Discourse Studies (CNDS) as a theoretical framework, this study seeks to challenge the cultural essentialism and uncritical roots of existing literature, with an aim to expose long-standing patterns of Western totalizing discourse in the field of international education research. This exploratory article explores how Chinese international students as cultural agents respond to the global pandemic and pandemic-related stereotypes. Through a critical analysis of 21 Chinese students’ narratives, this article identifies three culturally specific characteristics that pervade Chinese normative dialogues: (1) Chinese dialectics, (2) Chinese harmony, and (3) Chinese self-criticism. They are often employed to emphasize Chinese optimistic attitudes in times of crisis, avoidance of confrontation for harmonious communication, and moral character of self-introspection to conform to the social norm. This article offers new empirical evidence for the reconstruction of the Chinese paradigm of discourse studies and reveals the inappropriateness of Western scholarship for understanding non-Western linguistic and communicative events and practices. In sum, this article demonstrates that Chinese discourse studies can be a potential decolonial option to depart from deep-seated scholarship in Western intellectual supremacy and a visionary framework to advance multicultural discourses about international education against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and anti-Asian racism.

Current Situation and Analysis of STEM Education Competencies of Education Majors

In recent years, STEM education has become a common concern in international education reform and research as a method of teaching that requires teachers to help students integrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics into real-world problem-solving. STEM teaching has gradually entered primary and secondary education classrooms. However, the STEM education capacity of primary and secondary schools is currently weak, the teachers are inadequate, and the STEM education capacity of teachers directly affects the learning outcomes of students. This study used a questionnaire to investigate the current STEM education competencies of education majors. As far as the results are concerned, they reflect that the STEM education concept is widely recognised, and the current status of education majors’ overall STEM education competency is at an intermediate level. Therefore, this study expects the future instructional design to emphasise disciplinary integration, pay attention to the gender ratio of the education profession, and use technology tools to assist STEM teaching.

Main trends and priorities in Russian and international studies on cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of academic success

Introduction. The article addresses the problem of predicting students’ academic success. The purpose of the article is to identify the main trends and priorities in Russian and international research on cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of academic success. Materials and Methods. As a methodological basis for the scientific analysis, systemic and action-oriented approaches are used, which make it possible to consider various concepts of this problem in the light of social changes in the development of society and educational systems. The research methods used in this study include analysis of scholarly literature, comparison, clarification, synthesis of outcomes and generalization. Results. The authors summarize and present trends and priorities in examining a group of predictors underlying academic success in Russian and international psychological and educational research over the past decade. The main research results consist in identifying the vector of the shift in emphasis in the studies of Russian and foreign scientists towards the priority of investigating non-cognitive predictors of the academic success of students. It has been revealed that over the past decade, non-cognitive predictors of influence at different levels have increasingly become the topic of studies by Russian and international researchers: social (level of social adjustment of students), socio-economic (socio-economic status of the family, socio-economic composition of the school), socio-psychological (school climate), personal (attitudes and positions of parents and teachers), etc. Conclusions. The level of development of society and the educational system inevitably adjusts the influence of factors (predictors) that determine the academic success of students. It has been revealed that currently the main trend and priority direction of Russian and international psychological and educational research are non-cognitive predictors: personal predictors and predictors of social influence at the macro and micro levels.

Problems of Human Resource Selection and Career Policy in Georgian Higher Education Institutions

This paper discusses the staff recruitment process policy as a systematic one, carried out by higher education institutions to attract the human resources that have the knowledge, skills and qualifications necessary to achieve the goals of the University. During the process of selection, the higher education institutions identify the applicants, according to the requirements and criteria for the vacancies. A fair, open and acceptable selection procedure enhances the image and credibility of the University. The study aimed to determine the extent to which the human resource selection and career policy in Georgian higher education institutions responds to the above mentioned, generally accepted and recognized visions. The problems of human resource selection and career policy in Georgian higher education institutions may pose a serious threat to the future of the university and society as a whole. The survey was conducted by a sociological research method. Participation in the study was offered to all authorized universities in Georgia that implement accredited programs. 11 universities agreed to participate. Participation in the survey was voluntary. It involved both academic and administrative staff. 805 respondents were interviewed. The questionnaire included open as well as closed questions. The questionnaire was based on the results of the research of contemporary scientific works related to the research problem by both international and national higher education researchers.

Human agency and legacy-innovation tensions in the internationalization of higher education: Re-orientations managed by internationally-educated scholars of Central Asia

Research on tensions between continuity and change in the internationalization of higher education remains scant. The transformative forces generating these tensions are under-investigated. Using insights from interviews with 21 internationally-educated professors from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, this paper examines the roles of human agency in shaping international perspectives in the academic profession transitioning from the Soviet model of university to a post-Soviet one. This paper focuses on the agency of academics managing the legacy-innovation tensions resulting from the growing influence of global science and networking. While international education and outreach advances research and development opportunities for scholars in Central Asia, professors educated abroad persevere in the struggle to achieve a productive balance between demands for local and global engagement. The human agency of internationalization appears to play a significant role in mitigating these tensions and driving the rejuvenation of the academic profession in the post-Soviet space.

Russian and foreign students’ involvement in the educational process in the context of the digital distance educational technologies use in the Russian universities

In the context of global changes in the world socio-economic system, the formation of an international educational research space, in the technological platform of the education system, the widespread use of distance learning technologies it is extremely relevant to conduct a comparative analysis of the involvement of Russian and foreign students in the educational process in Russian universities. The article provides the results of an electronic questionnaire survey of 760 foreign and 2,280 Russian students at universities located in 38 regions of the Russian Federation in all federal districts. Russian and foreign students assessed their level of involvement in the educational process in distance and face-to-face learning according to the parameters of four types of involvement: emotional (affective), behavioral, cognitive and academic. Involvement in the educational process during the distance learning decreases among all students, while for foreign students it is to a greater extent than for Russian students, which is due to the linguistic, cultural, mental characteristics of this category of students. Organizational, technical, psychological and emotional barriers were identified as problems that reduce the involvement in the educational process in the distance learning format of Russian and foreign students.