In science, gravity refers to the universal force of attraction acting on and between all matter. No one on earth can escape the force of gravity. In a similar vein, the stringent requirements of publications, research grants, and research output in the academic world can be metaphorically described as “academic gravity,” the force of which pushes university academics to struggle and strive in pursuit

This review, which can be seen as a scoping review, highlights 92 empirical studies about the learning and instruction of reading Chinese as an additional language (CAL) published in English between 1976 and 2018. It first identifies and evaluates the trends of CAL reading research over the past four decades, including the developmental trajectory of the field, topics that are hot versus those not-so-hot

This paper reports the results of a review of 33 journal articles chosen from 87 empirical studies on learner identity in Chinese as a foreign/second language (CFL/CSL) education, published during the years 2005–2019. By analyzing the co-occurrence of keywords in these Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journal articles, this review identifies the theoretical perspectives and topical trends of CFL/CSL

In this opening commentary, we highlight the development of the teaching and learning of Chinese as a second or foreign language (CSL/CFL), which has attracted much attention from researchers, language educators, and other stakeholders worldwide. To contribute to this ongoing examination and discussion, this special issue documents the collective efforts of scholars in different educational contexts

With the promise of achieving bilingualism, biliteracy, and cultural pluralism, Chinese immersion programs for students from kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) in North America, especially the US, have been proliferating in the past two decades. Research on this rapidly growing population of non-native Chinese learners is also growing. This research synthesis focuses on 35 selected studies published

This paper presents a critical overview of studies on mobile assisted language learning (MALL) in teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) during the period 2007–2019. In the review, keyword and reference searches were conducted to identify and select empirical studies during the review period. Thematic and frequency analyses were employed on the data. This identified methodological trends and

This study reports the development and validation of an instrument, “Undergraduate STEM Educational Process Questionnaire” (USEPQ) to assess the learning experiences of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-major undergraduates from the perspective of a conceptualized comprehensive STEM educational process framework that consists of key essentials such as course learning and instruction

Based on four longitudinal evaluation reports of the China-England Mathematics Teacher Exchange (MTE) and related materials provided by the Chinese and English program teams, this article analyzes the impact of the MTE on English mathematics education. Certain positive impacts on mathematics teaching in England were found, especially regarding the formation of new knowledge concepts, the sharing of

This article introduces Frontiers of Education in China’s special issue on China-Europe higher education cooperation. It is more than simply an introduction to the five studies collected for the special issue. Rather, it provides an overview of higher education cooperation between China and Europe from the perspective of opportunities and challenges. Such background information will help readers not

This study reports how an expert Chinese teacher implements mathematics textbook lessons in enacted instruction. Our video analysis indicates that both textbook and enacted teaching included only one worked example; however, the teacher engaged students in unpacking the example in great depth. Both the textbook and the enacted teaching showed “concreteness fading” in students’ use of representations

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study is to examine whether attention cueing benefits learners of ancient Egyptian culture using mobile-assisted instrumentation. A self-regulatory, mobile phone based set of visualizations depicting ancient Egyptian culture served as the primary instrument. A total of 50 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from two sections of a reading course were

The assessment of quality in higher education from the perspective of students has three dimensions: students’ assessment of teaching, students’ satisfaction and students’ learning engagement. These differ in conceptions of quality, evaluation methods, evaluation content, evaluation purposes, traits and priorities. The authors conducted three rounds of empirical investigations to study higher education

This study adds to the current literature on teacher technology integration with an investigation into five beginning teachers’ technology use in the language classroom in their first two career-entry years. The longitudinal interview study reveals that these teachers went through a developmental trajectory of technology use towards using it for more diversified instructional purposes and with a greater

To implement quality-oriented education in colleges and universities, the courses guide and significantly promote the holistic cultivation of students’ personalities, while also rounding out the university curriculum. However, the learning effects are not expected. The authors develop a model on student learning intentions based on a questionnaire survey of 5,000 undergraduates in Eastern China, utilizing

This paper reports the impact of a new Canada and China school network on its participating teachers in the context of the Canada−China Partnership Grant Project. Eight schools formed four pairs of sister schools, and teachers in these schools created collaborations embedded in their practices. The data include interviews of teachers and principals in both countries and records of teachers’ cross-cultural

Resource allocation and funding in higher education is crucial to the success of reform and transformation of our higher education system. With a view to identifying trends and best practices in the area, utilizing a method of systematic literature review, we have critically reviewed relevant theories and practices from developed counties that are covered in the scholarly literature published in English

The aim of this paper is to explore perspectives on equity, quality, motivation, and resilience by focusing in depth on the perspectives of educators in one small, semi-rural school in Japan. The paper is intended to provide rich, in-depth data and discussion as a way of providing insights from different perspectives into findings from large-scale international assessments. The two key questions addressed

We are now living in an era of big data. From the perspective of data analysis of classroom questioning, the paper chooses three districts in City B that have significant differences. These are educationally developed District D, less developed District F, and developing District M. The study uses the stratified sampling method to choose from three different groups of teachers, namely novice teachers