Revisiting the Chinese Learner: Changing Contexts, Changing Education

ISBN-13: 9789048138395 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 360 str.

Carol K. K. Chan; Nirmala Rao

Opis

It is seventeen years since I first formulated The paradox of the Chinese learner in a conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. My original formulation of the paradox was that westerners saw Chinese students as rote learning massive amounts of information in fierce exam-dominated classrooms yet in international comparisons, students in the Confucian heritage cla- rooms greatly outperformed western students learning in progressive western classrooms. This seeming paradox raised all sorts of questions to which many others have contributed important answers, especially that by Ference Marton on how Chinese learners construed the roles of memory and understanding in ways that were foreign to typical western educators. Much of this work was brought together in The Chinese Learner (1996), edited by David Watkins and myself. That work raised more questions still, especially about educational contexts, beliefs and practices, which were investigated in contributions to Teaching the Chinese Learner (2001). And now we have Revisiting the Chinese Learner, which is a very timely collection of excellent contributions that take into account the many changes that have taken place since 2001, changes such as: 1. The globalisation of education especially through educational technology, and enormous socio-economic changes, especially in China itself. 2. Changes in educational policy, aims, curriculum and organi- tion, and decentralisation of educational decision-making in many Confucian heritage cultures. 3."

Spis treści

Contents List of Tables vii List of Figures viii Abbreviations ix Foreword x John B. BIGGS Preface xiii INTRODUCTION 1. Moving Beyond Paradoxes: Understanding Chinese Learners and Their Teachers 3 Nirmala RAO and Carol K.K. CHAN STUDENT BELIEFS AND APPROACHES TO LEARNING 2. Learning to Self-Perfect: Chinese Beliefs about Learning 35 Jin LI 3. Motivation and Competition in Hong Kong Secondary Schools: The Students’ Perspective 71 David A. WATKINS 4. New Experiences, New Epistemology, and the Pressures of Change: The Chinese Learner in Transition 89 Nancy W.Y. LAW, Allan H.K. YUEN, Carol K.K. CHAN, Johnny K.L. YUEN, Nicol F.C. PAN, Ming LAI and Venus S.L. LEE TEACHER BELIEFS, CHANGING PEDAGOGY AND TEACHER LEARNING 5. The Chinese Learner of Tomorrow 133 Ference MARTON and the EDB Chinese Language Research Team 6. Classroom Innovation for the Chinese Learner: Transcending Dichotomies and Transforming Pedagogy 169 Carol K.K. CHAN 7. Teaching Mathematics: Observations from Urban and Rural Schools in Mainland China 211 Nirmala RAO, Jin CHI and Kai-ming CHENG 8. Teaching English to Chinese-Speaking Children 233 Linda SIEGEL, Ellen KNELL, Miao PEI, Haiyan QIANG, Wei ZHAO and Lin ZHAO 9. Preschool Pedagogy: A Fusion of Traditional Chinese Beliefs and Contemporary Notions of Appropriate Practice 255 Nirmala RAO, Sharon S.N. NG and Emma PEARSON 10. In Search of a Third Space: Teacher Development in Mainland China 281 Amy B.M. TSUI and Jocelyn L.N. WONG CONCLUSION 11. The Paradoxes Revisited: The Chinese Learner in Changing Educational Contexts 315 Carol K.K. CHAN andNirmala RAO Notes on the Authors 351 Index 357.

Blurb

This book examines teaching and learning in Chinese societies and advances understanding of ‘the Chinese learner’ in changing global contexts. Given the burgeoning research in this area, pedagogical shifts from knowledge transmission to knowledge construction to knowledge creation, wide-ranging social, economic and technological advances, and changes in educational policy, Revisiting the Chinese Learner is a timely endeavor.

The book revisits the paradox of the Chinese learner against the background of these educational changes; considers how Chinese cultural beliefs and contemporary change influence learning; and examines how Chinese teachers and learners respond to new educational goals, interweaving new and old beliefs and practices. Contributors focus on both continuity and change in analyzing student learning, pedagogical practice, teacher learning and professional development in Chinese societies. Key emerging themes emphasize transcending dichotomies and transforming pedagogy in understanding and teaching Chinese learners. The book has implications for theories of learning, development and educational innovation and will therefore be of interest to scholars and educators around the world who are changing education in their changing contexts.