the iafor

journal of
education
Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016
Editor: Bernard Montoneri

ISSN: 2187-0594

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 4 – Issue – I

IAFOR Publications
The International Academic ForumThe IAFOR Journal of Education
Editor:Bernard Montoneri, Tamkang University, Taiwan
Co-editor:
Lucy K. Spence, University of South Carolina, USA

Published by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
IAFOR Publications. Sakae 1-16-26-201, Naka-ward, Aichi, Japan 460-0008

Executive Editor, IAFOR Publications: Joseph Haldane
Design: Bernard Montoneri

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016

IAFOR Publications © Copyright 2016
ISSN: 2187-0594 (Online) joe.iafor.org

Cover Image: FlickrCreativeCommons/ClaireMono

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016
Edited by Bernard Montoneri

Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors

1

Journal of Education Editors and Reviewers

3

Editors Introduction

10

Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Experience ofHong Kong University Students
Eunice Tang
Edsoulla Chung
Eddy Li
Steven Yeung

13

Analysis of Compositions Written by a Chinese Child in Japan
Lucy Spence
Yang Tao31

How to Practice Posthumanism in Environmental Learning:Experiences with North American andSouth Asian Indigenous Communities
Ranjan Datta

52

Attitudes and Behavior of Ajman University of Scienceand Technology Students Towards the Environment
Rasha Abdel Raman

69

Understanding Student Attitudes about Distance Education:
The Importance of Excitement and Fear
Esther Smidt
Jennifer Bunk
Rui Li
Ashley McAndrew
Matthew Florence

90

Teacher’s Influence Scale from their Colleagues and Principals:
Its Relation with School Performance in Public Schools of the
Albanian Educational System
Valbona Nathanaili

106

Exemplary Chinese University Professors:
Qualities and Impact on Students
Eugene P. Kim
Mathias Olson

123

Japanese University Athletes’ Dilemma:
Study, Sport Performance, or Boths
Yoshihiko Yamamoto
	
  

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016

Notes on Contributors
Edsoulla Chung is currently a PhD student in Second Language Education at the Universityof Cambridge. Prior to joining Cambridge, she taught English courses for both academic andspecific purposes at the English Language Teaching Unit of the Chinese University of HongKong. Her research interests include vocabulary input and treatment, beliefs about language
teaching and learning and teacher professional development.
E-mail: hyec5@cam.ac.uk
Eunice Tang, Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong. Her recent publications include vocabulary teaching, online learning
community and teaching belief.
E-mail: tangeunice@cuhk.edu.hk
Eddy Li received his teacher education from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the
University of Cambridge. His research interests include Chinese learners, inclusive pedagogy
in Confucian-heritage Cultures, professional craft knowledge and eLearning strategies. He isparticularly interested in constructing/deconstructing the cultural model of inclusion, andexploring how quality education for all could be facilitated in Chinese communities.
E-mail: eddyli@cantab.net
Steven Yeung is Lecturer at the English Language Teaching Unit, The Chinese University ofHong Kong. He has been teaching EAP and ESP courses and his research interests include
second language acquisition and e-Learning.
E-mail: stevenyeung@cuhk.edu.hk
Lucy Spence is an associate professor of Language & Literacy in the Department ofInstruction & Teacher Education at the Univeristy of South Carolina, USA. Her researchinterests are multilingualism, student writing, English and Japanese writing instruction and 21st
century literacies.
E-mail: lucyspence@sc.edu
Yang Tao is a part-time English teacher at Kansai University, Japan. Her recent interests areautonomous learning, interdisciplinary learning and multilingualism.
E-mail: poplarwave@hotmail.com
Ranjan Datta is a research facilitator in the College of Education at the University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada. His research interests include Indigenous
Environmental Sustainability, Social Justice, Environmental Education, and Community-based
Participatory Research.
E-mail: ranjan.datta@usak.ca
Rasha Abdel Rahman is an assistant professor at Ajman University of science andtechnology, UAE, where she teaches psychology. Her PhD in Psychology is from Ain Shams
University, Cairo, Egypt, with ten years’ experience in teaching psychology. She has extensive
experience in couselling and training, and has published work on metacognitive awareness.
E-mail: r.abdelrahman@ajman.ac.ae
Esther Smidt is an Assistant Professor of TESOL in the Department of Languages andCultures at West Chester University. Her research interests include distance education,
computer-assisted language learning, immigrant identities, immigrant education and second
language teacher education.

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016

E-mail: CSmidt@wcupa.edu
Jennifer Bunk is an Associate Professor of Psychology at West Chester University. She
teaches online and hybrid courses in industrial/organizational psychology and researchmethods. She is interested in understanding distance education through a psychological lensand also researches workplace stress, workplace incivility and work-family conflict.
E-mail: JBunk@wcupa.edu
Rui Li is the Executive Director of Distance Education and Instructional Design at West
Chester University. She has taught online/blended courses both nationally and internationallyand her research focuses on distance education and technology as cognitive tools.
E-mail: RLi@wcupa.edu
Ashley McAndrew is currently a third year graduate student at West Chester University
completing the Masters of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She
holds a Master's of Education in Elementary Education from Bloomsburg University ofPennsylvania. Her research interests include TESOL in distance education and second
language acquisition. She is currently conducting research on quality in distance education at
the university level.
E-mail: AM580325@wcupa.edu
Matthew Florence is a graduate student enrolled in West Chester University's M.A. programin Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
His research and work interests include
leadership/executive coaching and development, motivation, teamwork, organizational
development, talent management and change management.	
  	
  E-mail: MF672263@wcupa.edu
Valbona Nathanaili earned a degree in physics at the University of Tirana, Albania, where
she is now a PhD candidate in educational sciences. Her current research focuses on school
systems and leadership, democracy and development and the history and sociology ofeducation. She is currently the director for publishing for UET Press, part of the European
University of Tirana and teaches in the Educational Department of the European University ofTirana.
E-mail: valbona.nathanaili@uet.edu.al
Eugene P. Kim With a Ph.D. In Comparative Education from UCLA, Eugene Kim is dean at
Concordia University Irvine in China, responsible for relations, offices and programs in Asia.
His academic expertise and research interests center on China and touch diverse fields
including international education, film analysis, and global business environments.
E-mail: eugene.kim@cui.edu
Matthias Olson is a ninth grade English and social studies teacher at Tathva International
School in Tokyo, Japan. His masters degree from Concordia University, Irvine is inInternational Education. His research interests are multicultural education, teacher quality,classroom dynamics, education philosophy and extracurricular activities.
E-mail: Matthias.olson@eagles.cui.edu
Yoshihiko Yamamoto is currently teaching English at Shizuoka University and has lived inboth Australia and New Zealand for more than 10 years. He holds a PhD in education from the
University of Canberra. His research areas are discourse analysis (gender talk), sociolinguistics(gender stereotypes) and applied linguistics (in general).
E-mail: auyamayoshi@yahoo.co.jp	  2The IAFOR Journal of Education

Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016

IAFOR Journal of Education Editors
Editor: Dr. Bernard Montoneri
Tamkang University, Taiwan
Bernard Montoneri is the co-founder of the Journal of Education. He earned his Ph.D. (African,
Arab, and Asian Words; History, Languages, Literature) and his BA in Chinese from the
University of Provence, Aix-Marseille I, France. He taught Literature (European, Children,
American, and British) and languages (French, English, and Italian) at Providence University
for 16 years. He is currently an Associate Professor at Tamkang University, French
Department, Taiwan. Bernard has around 40 publications, including journal papers (including
SSCI, SCI, and THCI), conference papers, and books and has obtained many teaching andresearch projects. His research interests include French literature, children’s literature, English
writing, automated scoring systems, teaching and learning evaluation, data envelopment
analysis, networking, and teaching methods. He is a reviewer for top academic journals such
as Review of Educational Research (ranked #1 in Education), American Educational Research
Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, and European journal of Operational Research.
E-mail: montonerishu@gmail.com
Co-editor: Dr. Lucy K. Spence
University of South Carolina, USA
Lucy K. Spence received her Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from Arizona State University,
USA in 2006 and her BS in teaching from Grand Canyon University in 1989. She has taught
multilingual students since 1989. She is currently an associate professor in the College of
Education at the University of South Carolina, USA. Her current research interests are teacher
perceptions of multilingual student writing, bilingual education, and writing instruction in
Japan and the USA. In 2013, she was invited to Kansai University in Osaka, Japan as a visiting
researcher, and then returned for a sabbatical research project in 2015. Her book on student
writing was published in 2014. She has published articles in national and international journals
and reviews books and articles for top journals related to her interest area, such as Teacher'sCollege Record, Language Arts, and English Education.
E-mail: lucyspence@sc.edu
Associate Editor: Dr. Cassandra Atherton
Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Australia
Cassandra Atherton is an award winning writer, critic and senior lecturer at the Alfred Deakin
Research Institute. She has a Harvard Visiting Scholar's position from August 2015-September
2016 to work on a project concerning public intellectuals in academe. A Visiting Fellow at
Sophia University, Tokyo in 2014 and an affiliate of the Monash Japanese Studies Centre in
2015, Cassandra is currently working on a book analysing Miyazaki Hayao's anime. Cassandra
has published eight books and was invited be on the judging panel of the Victorian Premier's
Literary Awards, Prize for Poetry in 2015.
Associate Editor: Vasileios Paliktzoglou
University of Eastern Finland, Finland; Bahrain Polytechnic, Bahrain
Vasileios has several years of experience in universities such as the University of Pisa, theAegean University, Robert Gordon University, Mediterranean University College and the
University of Wales having an active role as: Researcher, Tutor, Supervisor, Lecturer and	
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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016

Program Manager. He is active in research with papers presented at international conferences,and published in academic journals. His research interests are in the fields of social media, web2.0, communities of practices, e-learning in which he is actively involved in several
international research projects. He is currently a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern
Finland and faculty member at Bahrain Polytechnic.
Members of the Editorial Board
Dr. Santosh Kumar Behera, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, India
Santosh Kumar Behera is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education, Sidho-KanhoBirsha University, India. After completion of a Graduate Degree from Fakir Mohan University,
Orissa, he was admitted to the M.A. in Education program at Vinaya Bhavana, Visva Bharati
and then did his Ph.D. at Vinaya Bhavana. He has published several research papers and articles
in various journals and edited volumes of national and international repute across the country.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of EDUQUEST, An International Refereed Journal in Education,
International Journal of Academic Research in Education and Review and Academic Research
Journal of History and Culture.
Dr. Yilin Chen, Asia University, Taiwan
Yilin Chen (Ph.D. in Drama and Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London) is an
Associate Professor at the Department of English Language, Literature and Linguistics,
Providence University in Taiwan. She studies Shakespeare and theatre history from 1600 to
the present. She has published in several drama and theatre journals. Her current researchinterests are the global dissemination of Japanese manga Shakespeare and the representationof gender and sexuality in manga adaptations of Shakespeare. She is also funded by the
Ministry of Education to undertake a MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) project on thesubject of Global/Local Shakespeare in 2014.
Dr. Shiao-Wei Chu, University of Idaho, USA
Shiao-Wei is originally from Taichung, Taiwan. She received her Ph.D. with an emphasis inprofessional development for ESL and EFL instructors from College of Education at the
University of Idaho in Fall of 2013. She holds her master’s degree in TESOL from Chaoyang
University of Technology in Taichung, Taiwan. Her research focuses are English as a secondand foreign language teaching and professional development for English language teachers inboth face-to-face and web-based environments. Shiao-Wei was funded by the Ministry of
Education in Taiwan to conduct a three-week face-to-face professional development projectwith Taiwanese English teachers in the summer of 2012.
Dr. Raymond Q. Datuon, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Philippines
Raymond Q. Datuon completed a Bachelor in Secondary Education, majoring in history at thePhilippine Normal University, a Masters in Educational Management in Polytechnic
University of the Philippines-Open University Systems and a Doctorate in Educational
Management in Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Dr. Datuon is a Licensed Secondary
Teacher, President of the PUP-Doctor in Educational Management Society, member of theBoard of Incorporators and PRO-External; Vice-President for Internal Affairs of Kalipunan ng
mga Guro ng Araling Panlipunan, Senior Paper Reviewer in the American Journal of
Educational Research.

	
  

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Dr. Heloísa Orsi Koch Delgado, Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Heloísa Orsi Koch Delgado is an English language educator and a translator of scientific
literature. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages, which she has
been coordinating for five years. She teaches the discipline Translation Practice of Specialised
Languages in the specialisation program at PUCRS. She holds a BA in Translation andpostgraduate qualifications in Tertiary Education and Terminology (University Pompeu Fabra,
Spain). She holds a Master degree in Education and a Ph.D. in Language Studies (Federal
University of Rio Grande do Sul/UFRGS). Her major fields of interest are medical and legal
terminologies, translation pedagogy and multicultural/multidisciplinary education.
Dr. Alaster Scott Douglas, University of Roehampton, London
Alaster Scott Douglas is Assistant Director of Education and a Reader in Education andProfessional Practice. Having completed an M.A. in Education (Publishing), and an MSc in
Educational Research Methodology, Dr. Douglas earned a Ph.D. in teacher education from the
University of Oxford. His research interests include cultural-historical activity theory anddevelopmental work research in general. Current research is focused on universities andschools in the preparation of teachers. Dr. Douglas has been the recipient of funded research
projects on the differentiated teaching practices in UK and USA classrooms, the relationshipbetween teaching, learning and research and the education and learning of pre-service teachers.
Dr. Sandra Fahmy, Al Falah University, Dubai, UAE
Sandra Fahmy is an assistant Professor of Management in Al Falah University based in Dubai,
UAE with a research focus on course design and teaching using problem based learning (PBL).
Dr Sandra is an M.D with a Ph.D. from Aalborg University in Denmark and 20+ years ofexperience in management and teaching. Dr. Fahmy’s research interests are e-learning course
design, cultural impact on globalisation of education and ICT4D. Dr. Fahmy is affiliated withand an active participant in a number of research networks such as e-learning lab (ELL) of
Aalborg University and ICT4D and International Council of Business Schools and Programs(ACBSP).
Dr. Leda Kamenopoulou, University of Roehampton, London
Kamenopoulou is a Senior Lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education at the University of
Roehampton and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. After completing a Master’s
degree in Special Educational Needs from the Graduate School of Education at the Universityof Bristol, she obtained a Ph.D. in SEN and inclusion from the Institute of Education,
University of London. Her research expertise is in systematic literature reviews, qualitative,
mixed methods and evaluation research designs, participatory research with children and young
people, and sensory/multi-sensory and emotional needs.
Eddy Li, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Eddy Li received his initial teaching training from Hong Kong and Cambridge. Before
rejoining The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012 as a Lecturer in its English Language
Teaching Unit, he had worked in secondary schools as a teacher of English and English
Literature. His research interests include inclusive pedagogy in Confucian-heritage Culture,

	
  

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eLearning strategies, professional craft knowledge, and second language teacher education. He
is particularly interested in constructing/deconstructing the cultural model of inclusion, andexploring how quality education for all could be fostered in Chinese communities.
Jillian Marchant, James Cook University, Australia
Jillian Marchant holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a major in Policy andis presently a Ph.D. Candidate with the School of Education at James Cook University inAustralia. She is a published author of several articles that seek to appreciate the unfolding
association between increasingly accessible formal adult learning and social development inremote and sparsely populated areas. She is an invited ad hoc reviewer for Australian education
conferences as well as recently contributing as an associate editor at Common Ground
Publishing. Her research interests include the impact of adult education on the life chances ofindividuals and other practices that interrupt social and political stratification.
Dr. Dave E. Marcial, College of Computer Studies, Dumaguete City, Philippines
Marcial holds various positions in many professional organizations in the Philippines. He is
the founder of the Society for ICT in Teacher Education, the founding president of the
ICAssociation of Dumaguete & Negros Oriental and is currently Board of Trustee of thePhilippine e-Learning Society. He is also member of the Technical Committee for Information
Technology of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education. His research interest lies in elearning, local knowledge computing, and information systems where he has been the recipientof some local, national and international research grants. Dr. Marcial is the dean of the Collegeof Computer Studies, Dumaguete City, Philippines.
Dr. Yvonne Masters, University of New England, Australia
Yvonne Masters is currently a Senior Lecturer in Professional Classroom Practice in the Schoolof Education, UNE. Prior to taking up her position at UNE Yvonne had 30 years’ experiencein secondary schools including in the roles of Curriculum Coordinator, Deputy Principal andPrincipal; roles that developed her skills in leadership, project management, curriculum andassessment. Her teaching experience spans three Australian states. Yvonne’s research interests
centre on teacher education, professional experience and virtual worlds, with a particular focus
on distance education students. Her most current project, a 2015 OLT project examines thereadiness of pre-service teachers for virtual teaching experiences.
Dr. Richard Mather, Buckinghamshire New University, United Kingdom
Richard Mather is a Course Leader in the Department of Computing where he teaches software
engineering and co-leads research in Technology Enhanced Learning. He holds postgraduate
qualifications in software engineering and in environmental sciences. His pedagogic researchand PhD supervision include adaptive assessment practices, technologies and collaborative
behaviours for learning computer science subjects. In 2010 he was awarded The Institution of
Analysts and Programmers Prize for Software Engineering after developing a system toautomate vegetation mapping from aerial imagery. His geospatial project outputs provide a richsource of case studies for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

	
  

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Dr. Catalino N. Mendoza, University of Batangas, Philippines
Catalino N. Mendoza is an academic consultant, module designer and developer, writer,
professor/lecturer, research editor and thesis and dissertation consultant. He has to his credit
almost two doctorate degrees – Doctor of Management Science, Doctor of Philosophy in
Human Resource Management and a candidate for Doctor of Business Administration. He isan awardee in the 2009 International Business and Economics Research and International
Teaching and Learning Research Conference and has published two books. He is now working
as the Director for Publications, Research, Linkages and Liaison and as professor at the
University of Batangas, Philippines.
Dr. Massoud Moslehpour, Asia University, Taiwan
Moslehpour is assistant professor of Business Administration and Foreign Languages.
Doctorate of Philosophy, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri, December 1995
Industrial Technology (Support Areas: Higher and Adult Education; Curriculum Development;
Spanish). His major areas of interest are: Marketing, Management, Culture and Foreign
Languages. During the past ten years he has written several textbooks related to: Internet
English, Culture through Movies and Presentation Skills. He has also published several journal
articles in various international peer-reviewed journals in the areas of: Purchase Intention,
Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Freshman English and Internet Addiction.
Dr. Alice Schmidt Hanbidge, Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Canada
Alice Schmidt Hanbidge, Assistant Professor in the Bachelor and Masters degree programs in
the School of Social Work at Renison University College, University of Waterloo combines
the applied practices of community mental health within an academic setting to effectively
contribute to the advancement of knowledge, research and program delivery. Key researchareas include advancing technology in the teaching of social work, community mental health,children’s programming and evaluation, evidence-based group work methodology, andfurthering social work field education. Her 20-year experience includes a specialisation incommunity mental health that contributes to her clinical, teaching and research interests.
Dr. Ilana Ronen, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Ilana Ronen earned her Ph.D. in Science Education from Tel Aviv University. Following five
years of biochemistry research she began her educational career. She headed the Science
specialisation at Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and Arts. As a member of thescience faculty, she is teaching physics and chemistry courses and supervising M.Ed students
who conduct research in environmental education. Her research interests include alternative
conceptions in science education; emergent knowledge in communities of learners; improving
science education via professional development schools access; community service learning;collaborative learning; and ICT implementation in education.
Dr. Raimond Selke, School of Foreign Studies, Osaka University
Raimond Selke holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Regensburg, Bavaria,
Germany, specialising in 19th-century Victorian Painting and Art of the Weimar Republic. He
is currently Associate Professor at Osaka University, Graduate School of Language andCulture. He teaches undergraduate and post graduate students in German language and Ethics
in Business and Intercultural Competence and Communication plus German Art History. He

	
  

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016has been researching and teaching overseas, including at the University of Warwick, UK, The
Cleveland Museum of Art, USA, East China University of Science, Technology, China, andUniversiti Putra Malaysia.
Dr. Andrzej Sokolowski, Texas A&M University, USA
Andrzej Sokolowski earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, emphasis in Mathematics
Education from Texas A&M University and a MS in Physics, emphasis in Didactics of Physics
from Gdansk University. His interests include research in mathematical modeling, in particular,
its effects on students’ learning of mathematics. He is an author of several articles and bookchapters. While in the Ph.D. program, he has published 18 journal articles, 4 book chapters, 4conference proceeding papers, and had 16 conference presentations at the state and national
levels. Dr. Sokolowski currently teaches Integrated Math and Science course for pre-service
teachers at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Anna Toom, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, USA
Anna Toom is Associate Professor of Psychology and Education at Touro College Graduate
School of Education, USA. She earned a M.S. in Computer Science from Moscow Institute ofRadio Engineering, Electronics and Automation in 1972 and a MS in Psychology from
Moscow State University, Russia, in 1978. In 1991, she attained her PhD in Psychology from
Moscow State University of Management, Russia. Dr. Toom now teaches Child Development
and Learning in Cultural Context and History of Education Internet-based courses. Her primaryinterest concerns learning in the virtual environment. She studies online students’ adjustment,
motivation, cognitive activity, and communication in the virtual classroom.
Dr. Daniel Velasco, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, USA
Daniel Velasco earned his B.A. in both English and French from UCLA, and his M.Ed. from
National University. He earned an M.A. in psychology from Antioch University. He earned a
Ph.D. in International Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Dr
Velasco currently resides in Japan, where he is a mental health counsellor, associate professor,
researcher, and public speaker. He regularly lectures on intercultural communication, teachingstrategies, positive psychology, and counselling strategies with a focus on adaptation andacculturation.
Tony Yeigh, Southern Cross University, Australia
Dr. Yeigh is a Lecturer in the School of Education at Southern Cross University, Australia,
where he teaches in the areas of educational psychology and classroom management. His
research interests are in the areas of working memory and classroom instructional design. Dr.
Yeigh is a research associate with the Centre for Children and Young People, as well as amember of the Association for Mindfulness in Education and of the Teacher Education
Research Group. He is also leader of the School of Education Learning Sciences ResearchGroup. Dr. Yeigh is currently pursuing research in the areas of pre-service teacher training,educational mindfulness and social-emotional wellbeing.
Dr. Yoshihiko Yamamotoe, Shizuoka University, Japan
Yoshihiko Yamamoto is currently teaching English at Shizuoka University and has lived inboth Australia and New Zealand for more than 10 years. He holds a PhD (Education),

	
  

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University of Canberra, M.A. in TESOL, University of Canberra, B.A. in Education & in
Linguistics, Victoria University of Wellington. His research areas are Discourse Analysis(gender talk), Sociolinguistics (gender stereotypes) and Applied Linguistics (in general).

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Introduction
It is our great pleasure and honour to introduce Volume 4, issue 1 of IAFOR Journal of
Education. This issue is a selection of papers submitted directly to our journal as well as studies
presented during:
1.   The Seventh Asian Conference on Education (ACE 2015), “Education, Power andEmpowerment: Transcending Boundaries”, held in Art Center of Kobe, Kobe, Japan,
in October 2015.
2.   The European Conference on Education (ECE 2015)- Brighton (July 2015).
Our journal is proud to introduce scholars from all over the world. This edition focuses on the
behavior and learning performance of students from countries such as Albania, China and Hong
Kong, Japan, United Arab Emirates, as well as learners from North American and South Asian
Indigenous Communities.
The first paper, co-authored by Eunice Tang, Edsoulla Chung, Eddy Li, and Steven Yeung is
entitled “Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Experience of Hong Kong University
Students.” Their paper presents an overview of the contents of an independent vocabulary
learning platform designed to equip undergraduates in Hong Kong with proper knowledge andskills for vocabulary expansion. It also introduces the theoretical underpinnings of its design,
and reports on the experience of its users after an eight-week self-learning period. Based on thefindings, the researchers concluded that most learners placed emphasis on only certain aspectsof word knowledge, considered the use of dictionary the most straightforward method to learn
new words, and showed limited use of strategies for learning and remembering new words.
Several implications, such as the importance of enhancing comprehensive vocabulary
instructions at early years, the need to enhance autonomous vocabulary learning at tertiarylevel, and the use of technology to foster vocabulary learning are addressed.
The second paper, entitled “Analysis of Compositions Written by a Chinese Child in Japan” isco-authored by Lucy Spence and Yang Tao. The authors examined one multilingual child's
writing over three years and used discourse analysis to uncover themes in the child's life andhow she was developing as a writer. The child sustained an interest in helping others andcontributing to the betterment of the world around her by taking action regarding her family's
well-being and environmental responsibility. The authors argue for the use of discourse
analysis in order to better understand the writing development of multilingual students.
The third paper, entitled “How to Practice Posthumanism in Environmental Learning:Experiences with North American and South Asian Indigenous Communities” is written by
Ranjan Datta. Posthumanism is used as a theoretical frame with which Datta explores fieldwork
conducted in Bangladesh with the Laitu Khyeng Indigenous Community and in Canada with
the Dene First Nation Community. The Bangladesh field experience involved participatory
research exploring sustainability goals. Findings demonstrated that indigenous people’sknowledge is necessary and important to land management and indigenous people’s wellbeing. The Canadian field experience involved a science ambassador program working withgrade eight and nine students. Findings revealed differences in environmental science
definitions between the ambassador program and Dene First Nation participants.

	
  

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The fourth paper, entitled “Attitudes and Behavior of Ajman University of Science andTechnology Students Towards the Environment” is written by Rasha Abdel Raman.
Undergraduate students enrolled in environmental science classes were surveyed to determine
their attitudes and behavior toward the environment and the course itself. Findings indicateddifferences in attitudes and behavior toward the environment according to the college in which
the students were enrolled. The students had generally positive attitudes toward the class, whilesuggesting ways to make it more current and practical.
The fifth paper, entitled “Understanding Student Attitudes about Distance Education: The
Importance of Excitement and Fear”, is co-authored by Esther Smidt, Jennifer Bunk, Rui Li,
Ashley McAndrew, and Matthew Florence. The research question of this quantitative study
was “Do feelings of excitement and fear moderate and/or mediate the relationship between
online learning experience and student opinions about the current state of online education,
namely that institutions were pushing too much instruction online?” Data consisted of a student
survey and findings revealed that firstly, students with online experience who were fearful of
this learning mode were the most likely to report that their institutions were pushing too much
online learning, and secondly, regardless of online learning experience, students who were
excited about this learning mode were less likely to think that their institutions were pushing
too much online learning.
The sixth paper, entitled “Teacher’s Influence Scale from their Colleagues and Principals: Its
Relation with School Performance in Public Schools of the Albanian Educational System” iswritten by Valbona Nathanaili. The author tries to estimate this relation based on aquestionnaire. The conclusion is that in the case of public educational system of Albania, theinfluence by the colleagues, regarding school performance, is slightly higher than by theprincipals. In this system, there is no effort to evaluate the school performance based on thecollective efforts of teacher and principals and there is no mechanism to initiate or support ahealthy relation, in function of this dimension. The perception of teacher about the student’s
achievements is formed, mostly, based on individual impression. A strong factor that continues
to influence school achievements is the background of the school community. Schools with
better results (or schools with higher performance) are located in the community, where parents
have high expectations towards their children.
The seventh paper, entitled “Exemplary Chinese University Professors: Qualities and Impact
on Students”, is co-authored by Eugene P. Kim and Mathias Olson. Social learning is based on
exemplars, models of values and behaviors that influence our own attitudes and actions.
Teachers are an identifiable source of social learning, with influences on students that are
beyond pedogogical. This study identifies characteristics of favorite and least favorite teachersof university students in China. It evaluates the influence of these teachers on student learningand motivation.
The eighth paper, written by Yoshihiko Yamamoto, is entitled “Japanese University Athletes’
Dilemma: Study, Sport Performance, or Both”. This paper explores Japanese university
athletes’ dilemma of managing both study and sport performance effectively. Some university
athletes will become professionals and they could earn enough money to support their entire
life after their graduation. However, there are also many university athletes who do not become
professionals and who will choose other careers. The author of this study believes that auniversity is a place for students to have the opportunity to learn what they are interested inand to prepare for their future careers. This study adopts both quantitative and qualitative
approaches to analyze the data. A total of 216 responses to questionnaires were collected. The
results of the questionnaires found that university athletes in this study were faced with two
	
  

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dilemmas. They were busy for their sport club activities and they felt pressure to seriously
participate in their club activities. In order to support university athletes, this study discusses
three suggestions, such as enough financial support for university athletes, promotion of peer
learning to university athletes, and collaborative work between university lecturers and sportclub team coaches.
Please note that we welcome original research papers in the field of education submitted byteachers, scholars, and education professionals. They may send their manuscript even though
they did not participate in one of the conferences held by IAFOR.
We also welcome book reviews, reviews of the literature in the field, and contributions
introducing key educational scholars. The next issue scheduled for August 15, 2016 will also
be a selection of papers submitted during the above mentioned conferences. IAFOR
publications are freely accessible on the website (Open Access).
Moreover, there is no publication fee for authors. Please find the guidelines at this end of thisissue and follow our guide for authors before submitting your paper.
Best regards,
Bernard Montoneri and Lucy Spence

	
  

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Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Experience ofHong Kong University Students

Eunice Tang, Edsoulla Chung, Eddy Li, and Steven Yeung

	
  

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Abstract

In response to the limited vocabulary size of its undergraduates, an independent vocabulary
learning platform, VLearn was designed and launched in a university in Hong Kong. As an elearning environment that supports self-directed vocabulary learning of Chinese learners, theprimary aim of VLearn is to equip users with appropriate knowledge and skills for vocabulary
expansion. This paper introduces the contents of VLearn, and the theoretical underpinnings of
its design. It also reports on the vocabulary learning experience of its users during an eightweek evaluation study. Suggestions are made on how independent vocabulary building at
higher education, as well as comprehensive vocabulary instruction at early years could be
supported by means of technology.
Keywords: vocabulary teaching and learning; e-learning strategies; Chinese learners; selfdirected learning; English language education

	
  

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Introduction
A second language learner must possess an 8,000 to 9,000 word-family vocabulary in order tocomprehend most written discourse in English and a vocabulary of 15,000 in order to read withminimal disturbance (Nation, 2001; 2006). However, a number of studies have shown that the
vocabulary size of Hong Kong university students does not measure up to such a standard.
Cobb and Horst (2000), for example, found that undergraduates in Hong Kong performed wellat only between 3,000 and 5,000 frequency word levels. In a more recent study, Chui (2005)
investigated the first-year entrants of a local university and concluded that the majority ofstudents possess no more than a 3,000 word vocabulary. In other words, most Hong Kong
undergraduates do not seem to have acquired the ‘threshold’ level of vocabulary to interact
with English academic texts effectively at university where English is adopted as a medium of
instruction.
Literature Review
Hong Kong students begin their compulsory English learning in the second/foreign language
classroom in primary one. In the English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum
Guide (P1-S3) (CDC, 2002), broad learning outcomes of the four language skills are stipulated
clearly for each key stage. The role and function of vocabulary, however, is not specificallymentioned. As Zimmerman (1997) puts it, the teaching and learning of vocabulary has long
been undervalued in the field of teaching English as a second language. Systematic learningand acquisition of English lexicon appears to be secondary to that of grammar and otherlinguistic skills (Coady, 1997). With the implementation of communicative language teachingin Hong Kong (Curriculum Development Council, 1999), which focuses largely on developing
the communicative competence of learners, the teaching of vocabulary seems to be largely at
the implicit and incidental end (DeCarrico, 2006). Learners’ attention is usually directed tousing the language for communicative purposes, rather than to the structural learning of
unknown words (Nation, 1990). When approaching a text, for instance, teachers may
frequently suggest the importance of understanding the general sense of the discourse, rather
than the meaning of individual lexical items (Hill, 2005).
Since the handover in 1997, the role of English language has been greatly reduced in HongKong. Meanwhile, the use of Chinese has been actively promoted in various social domains(Bolton, 2002). The degree of bilingualism in the community has further been weakened withthe ‘mother tongue policy’ in 1997 (Poon, 1999), by which the majority of schools aremandated to use Chinese as the medium of instruction. Rose (1999) argued that English has
gradually shifted from a second language to a foreign language in the post-colonial Hong Kong,and learners’ authentic exposure to it is rare. The growing dominance of Chinese language use
in the social context supports the argument that Hong Kong appears to be a largely monolingual
Chinese society, whereas English remains more a foreign than a second language for most of
its citizens. While incidental vocabulary learning works well for native speakers, who arealways immersed in their mother language, it may be less effective for second or foreign
language learners due to their limited exposure (DeCarrico, 2006). Opportunities for learners
to practice the target language, either in or outside the classroom, are very limited.
Despite such a restricted authentic exposure to the target language, the literature tends tosuggest that incidental vocabulary learning could greatly be facilitated if learners are equippedwith appropriate vocabulary learning strategies (DeCarrico, 2006). Examples of these include
determination strategies, cognitive strategies, and metacognitive strategies (Schmitt, 1997).
Nevertheless, as revealed by various studies, most Chinese students seem to possess a narrow

	
  

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range of vocabulary learning strategies. Zhang (2009), for example, investigated the English
vocabulary size of 481 students from six universities in Western China, and studied their
vocabulary learning approach. Results indicate that the most common strategies used by thestudents were: using a dictionary, guessing meaning in contexts, and taking notes. In his study
with 850 students from Beijing, Gu (1997) concludes that low proficient students tend to resort
to visual repetition when they attempt to learn unfamiliar words, which is “the kind of strategy
they might have used in primary school to memorize Chinese characters” (p.666), This suggeststhat weaker students would rely much on their first language learning strategy in learning asecond/foreign language. As for learners of English in Hong Kong, usingbilingual/monolingual dictionaries is considered as the most helpful discovery strategy ofvocabulary learning, followed by guessing from textual context (Xu, 2010).
Chinese learners of English appear to have strong preferences for guessing and dictionary
strategies vis-à-vis strategies like social strategies and metacognitive strategies (Marin, 2006;
Gu, 2010). The reasons that govern such learning styles, however, are hitherto speculative.
Xing and Jordan (2012) attribute such phenomena to the examination-oriented education
system in the cultural context.
Alongside rigid language course design, learners are rarely provided with ample opportunities
to learn the language through social interaction, nor do they consider it necessary to do so. Gu(2002), on the other hand, related these word study strategies to the way Chinese learners
perceive educational achievement. From a cultural perspective, success in Chinese societies isgreatly associated with diligence, while failure with lack of effort (Biggs, 1996, & Phillipson,2007). Thus, it is not surprising to find that learners tend to devote their time to ways that could
demonstrate their hard work (e.g. taking notes) amid the learning process.
In the Hong Kong primary and secondary classrooms, English teaching often follows a P-P-P
model (i.e. Presentation, Practice and Production). When a new item is introduced, the teacher
will first provide adequate input before students are assigned with opportunities to practice thetaught item and use it on their own in some learning tasks (Tang, 2004). This is the case when
direct vocabulary teaching is involved. As noted by Tang and Nesi (2003), English language
teachers in Hong Kong did not plan to teach a lot of new words in a lesson. The teaching of a
new word was often confined to the provision of input on pronunciation and/or meaning. Also,
there was no occasion when students were asked to take part in output activities.
In view of the English vocabulary learning environment in Hong Kong and the learning
characteristics of Chinese learners as mentioned above, boosting the vocabulary size of Hong
Kong students at university level may require consideration of learning needs, learnercharacteristics, and self-disposition. First, these undergraduates have limited knowledge ofword meanings as there are no guidelines for systematic second language vocabularydevelopment in the curriculum and in the classroom. Second, given the low status ofvocabulary teaching in second language education, it seems unlikely that explicit vocabulary
learning alone would bring forth sustainable growth in the target vocabulary. Third, themajority of Chinese learners are found to be under-equipped with appropriate vocabulary
learning strategies that foster incidental or independent vocabulary learning. Their restricted
use of, among other things, social strategies and metacognitive regulation suggests thatvocabulary learning occurs primarily in a controlled environment with instruction, rather thanin an autonomous manner that drives self-learning. Self-initiated learning is not practised nor
promoted in the second or foreign language classroom.

	
  

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Regardless of their discipline, university undergraduates in Hong Kong have to take a few
credit-bearing English courses in their junior years. However, these courses primarily focus onacademic reading and writing and job-related communication. There is no particular English
course which aims to expand students’ vocabulary knowledge and size. Consequently, these
university students have to take greater responsibility for their own learning if they want tolearn more words. They are expected to take control and responsibility for their own learningby choosing appropriate materials to read and adopting different strategies to consolidate theirlearning. Over the past few decades, researchers have argued that autonomous learning should
be promoted as it encourages the active involvement of learners and enables them to become
more independent in what they think, learn and how they behave (Littlewood, 1996a).
However, typical Chinese learners are perceived as dependent (Pierson, 1996) and passive(Tang & Nesi, 2003). It was also claimed that many students in Asia have very weak intentionin learning independently outside class, which in turn limits their second language learning(Lee, 1998). Thus, by developing both procedural and personal autonomy (White, 2011),
Chinese university students may be better motivated to take an active role in improving thequality of their own learning, to spend time on vocabulary learning, and to choose appropriatematerials that suit their learning needs.
An Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Platform
Learner autonomy is regarded as a crucial characteristic of all sustained learning that attains
long-term success (Littlewood, 1996b), and an e-learning platform is considered a virtual
language coach that supports self-directed learning (Wielgolawski, 2011). In order to address
the concern of vocabulary learning needs and the learning characteristics of Hong Kong
university students, an independent vocabulary learning support platform VLearn was designed
and launched in a university in Hong Kong. The aim was to (a) empower university students
with the knowledge and skills to learn new words independently outside the classroom (b)strengthen their knowledge of words and strategies to learn and remember words; (c) engage
them in online strategies-based instruction for independent learning. An evaluation project wasdeveloped to examine learners’ experiences using VLearn. The project consisted of threestages. In Stage 1, participants were invited to a workshop on vocabulary learning in VLearn.
Stage 2 was an eight week self-report study in which participants were provided withvocabulary learning logbooks to record their vocabulary learning experiences. The final stage
was an evaluation study designed to collect feedback from participants on the content design
and track their vocabulary learning profiles. The data collected helps understand the usefulness
of VLearn, and how university students tackle new words in an independent vocabulary
learning environment. The results of the evaluation study would help improve English
vocabulary instruction at university in the future.
Content design. Better learning is likely to take place when learners are aware of how theirlearning is carried out (Nation, 2001). Thus, the different aspects of word knowledge and awide range of vocabulary learning strategies with sequenced learning activities are included in
VLearn. The learning materials are divided into four sections: word knowledge, word
formation, meaning relations, and vocabulary learning. A taxonomy of vocabulary learning
strategies from Gu and Johnson (1996), Oxford (1990) and Schmitt (1997) was adopted todevise relevant methods for students to discover meaning of new words and to remember them.
Table 1 below outlines the contents of each section in VLearn, while Table 2 provides a simple
taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies in the Vocabulary Learning section.

	
  

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Table 1. Organization of VLearn
Word Knowledge•  •  Word Formation•  •  Meaning Relations•  Vocabulary Learning•  Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016

Word meaning
Aspects of word knowledge
Internal structure of a word
Word formation processes
Various types of semantic relationship
Various vocabulary learning methods and vocabularybuilding strategies

Table 2. Taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies introduced in VLearn
Strategies for the discovery of a new
Strategies for consolidating a word once
it has been encounteredword’s meaning
Determination strategies (DET)Social strategies (SOC)

Social strategies (SOC)

Memory strategies (MEM)
Cognitive strategies (COG)
Metacognitive strategies (MET)

Sequenced learning activities. To meet the expected teaching and learning styles inherant in
the Hong Kong English classroom, the contents of each section are structured into threelearning sequences: input, practice, and quiz.
Input. The input section focuses on the conceptualization of word knowledge, word formation
process, meaning relations and descriptions of vocabulary learning strategies. To be more
specific, learners are not only introduced to the different aspects of word knowledge, but alsopresented with word formation mechanisms and morphological knowledge which facilitates
the decoding and understanding of lexical items they may encounter. In addition to theconceptualization of word knowledge, there are a number of tools and strategies to remember
and consolidate words learned.
Practice. The practice section provides students with ample examples of applications ofvocabulary learning strategies and self-assessed exercises for consolidation. With instantfeedback provided, learners can check their mastery of concepts and are directed to revisit thecontent of the relevant webpages for better understanding.
Quiz. Quizzes are available in the end of the sections ‘Word Knowledge,’ ‘Word Formation’and ‘Word Sense Relation.’ The quiz section is used for learners’ active retrieval of word
knowledge and self-assessment. It offers students concrete opportunities to assume
responsibility for their learning through assessing their learning progress.
Methods
Twenty undergraduates from different disciplines signed up for the workshop in Stage 1. In theworkshop, participants attended a lecture about the contents of VLearn. Topics included word
knowledge, word formation, meaning relations and vocabulary strategies. At the end of theworkshop, participants were invited to join an eight week self-report study of their vocabulary
learning journey. Fifteen of them volunteered to take part in Stage 2.

	
  

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In the self-report study, participants were asked to go through the contents of VLearn in detail.
Hyperlinks to reading materials such as online newspaper articles were provided on a weekly
basis to support their reading. Strategies employed to learn different vocabulary items were
subsequently documented in their logbooks (Figure 1) which were then collected at the end of
the eighth week for quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Figure 1. A sample page of VLearn logbook
One week after the completion of the self-report study, participants were invited to fill out aquestionnaire and attend individual interviews. The questionnaire was conducted to examine
students’ feedback and attitudes towards the usage of VLearn. The questionnaire, adopting a
7-point Likert scale ranging from 7 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree), consisted of 28
questions based on the design framework, usefulness and effectiveness of input, technicaldesign and technical support. Individual interviews were subsequently conducted. Data fromthe questionnaire and logbook analysis were triangulated with the interviews to verify thevalidity and reliability of the data.
Findings
Survey on Perceived Usefulness and Effectiveness of the Contents
The overall design of having input, practice and quiz appeared to be well-received by theparticipants. They rated positively towards the usefulness and appropriate level of difficulty of
the contents at each stage (see Table 3 for an overview). In particular, the input section was
rated relatively highly. It is not surprising to find that participants favored input as the contents
were probably new to them and might not have been covered in formal English classes atprimary and secondary levels and at university if they were non-English majors. In theinterview, some participants expressed they would like to have more examples and more
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Table 3. Perceived usefulness and level of difficulty of the contents

Input
Exercises
Quizzes

Usefulness
Mean
5.14
4.71
4.71

Appropriate Level of Difficulty
Mean
SD
5.29
1.14
5.21
1.19
5.21
1.19

SD
0.86
0.73
0.99

Although the standard deviation indicated different perceptions of the level of difficulty of thecontent, it is encouraging that these participants, who are all non-English majors, did not findthe contents difficult for them to learn on their own. The discrepancy within the group could
possibly be explained by their disciplines of study and language backgrounds. In fact, around40 per cent of the participants were science majors, whereas the other participants study withinArts, Business Administration, Engineering, and Social Science. Similarly, around 35 per centof the participants received outstanding English results in the public examination before
entering the university, while the rest of them only attained the minimum English requirement
for university entry. Notwithstanding limited coverage in the local English curriculum andEnglish courses at university, the input in different sections appeared to be favored by theparticipants in a self-access learning environment (see Table 4).
In the Vocabulary Learning Strategies section, the ‘Keyword method’, ‘Imagery’, ‘Stories’,and ‘Semantic map’ scored relatively lower than other strategies. As reported in the interviews,
these methods were new to the participants. They were, somehow, considered as lessstraightforward. At the same time, they required a certain degree of creativity. As argued byWong (2004), the Chinese education system demanded conformity and ‘might not be
conducive to the development of creative thinking’ (p. 156). This could possibly explain why
our participants appear not to favor the ‘creative’ methods of learning vocabulary, which theywould consider difficult to master. Not surprisingly, the nature of the strategies andparticipants’ familiarity with the strategies are likely to be associated with the participants’
perceived usefulness of the input given.
Table 4. Perceived usefulness of the input sections
Input
Word Knowledge
Word Formation Processes
Word Sense Relations
Vocabulary Learning Strategies Vocabulary Collector
Word List
Keyword Method
Imagery
Stories
Semantic Map

Mean
5.43
5.50
5.21
5.07
5.36
4.62
3.92
4.00
4.07

SD
1.02
1.09
0.58
1.00
0.93
0.77
1.26
1.75
1.14

When participants showed a clear preference of different vocabulary learning methods, it isalso predictable to find similar results for the effectiveness of using those methods in learningand remembering new words (Table 5). Participants also rated ‘Vocabulary Collector’ and‘Word List’ strategies considerably higher, showing they would still rely on familiar strategies
when they encountered new words. However, participants seemed to be quite receptive to otherunfamiliar strategies as well. They were aware of the effectiveness of ‘Imagery’, ‘Stories’, and

	
  

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‘Semantic Map’ in helping them remember new words, suggesting they understood the natureof these methods. They also made use of the sounds in their first/native language to learn andremember the pronunciation of new words.
Learning Journey: A Logbook Analysis
During the eight week self-learning period, fifteen participants encountered a total number of
626 new words. The sources of those new words mainly came from academic materials (e.g.
IELTS word lists, GRE word lists, course materials), leisure reading materials (e.g. magazines,
newspaper articles), and entertainment (e.g. television, songs, movies). Yet, it is noteworthy
that the students did not seem to have developed English reading habits and needed to beprovided with reading sources or materials to facilitate their learning.
Table 5. Perceived effectiveness in Vocabulary Learning Strategies in learning andremembering new words

Vocabulary Collector
Word List
Keyword Method
Imagery
Stories
Semantic Map

Learning new words
Mean
SD
5.00
1.24
5.29
0.99
4.21
0.97
3.71
1.38
3.31
1.49
3.71
1.33

Remembering new words
Mean
SD
5.07
1.14
5.21
1.37
4.43
1.16
4.14
1.61
3.57
1.45
4.00
1.30

Aspects of word knowledge. Of all the 626 new words, participants showed a clear interest in
knowing the meaning, pronunciation, spelling, and parts of speech (Figure 2). Of these aspects,
word meaning received by far the most attention. With the belief that understanding themeaning of a new word is crucial, some participants expressed they consistently looked formeanings when they encountered unfamiliar vocabulary items. The result is not surprising, forlearning vocabulary is often perceived as learning meanings (Brown, 2010). Mastering thepronunciation of a word also appears to be an important part of the participants’ vocabulary
learning process. According to these second/foreign language learners, they habitually madean effort to check the pronunciation of unfamiliar lexical items. It is noteworthy that technology
has promoted the practice. One participant related this habit to the availability of the mobile
application in his smartphone, which allowed him to check the pronunciation more readily. The
results on aspects of word knowledge are consistent with the direct vocabulary teachingobserved in Hong Kong schools where teaching meaning and pronunciation were the principal
treatments of new words (Tang & Nesi, 2003).

	
  

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Figure 1: Aspects of word knowledge
Noticeably, the learning of connotation, collocation, synonyms or antonyms, and other formsof a word were not the major concerns of the participants. Whilst a participant suggested that
he only put effort into learning a word by identifying its connotation and collocation when hefound the lexical item particularly sophisticated, other participants commented that theirEnglish teachers seldom encouraged them to focus on these two aspects during their lessons.
As a result, they did not even understand what these concepts mean. Also remarkable to note,
whether or not a word has ‘other forms’ received the least attention of all eight aspects of word
knowledge. One probable explanation may be that the participants were very much goaloriented. They were satisfied with their learning after comprehending the meaning or knowing
the sound of the word and therefore did not explore its word family.
Vocabulary Learning Strategies. An examination of the learning logs reveals an unbalanced
use of vocabulary learning strategies by the participants. They tended to use strategies which
are useful and effective in learning new words rather than remembering or consolidating thelearning of new words. Table 6 below shows how frequently vocabulary learning strategies
were used by the participants. Determination strategies, particularly ‘consulting dictionaries’and ‘guessing from context’ methods, played a pivotal role in the vocabulary learning process.
Social strategies, however, were rarely adopted by participants, implying that they might findlearning a more personal or individual process.

	
  

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Table 6. Vocabulary learning strategies adopted by the participants (Total number of newwords = 626)
Vocabulary Learning Strategies Adopted(in order of frequency)
Consult dictionary
Guess from context
Practice new word
Continue to revise
Keep a vocabulary notebook
Use a thesaurus
Connect words with already known words
Analyze its word parts
Connect the word to its synonym, etc.
Find out L1 translation
Narrate a story with new words
Ask other people
Associate word with mother tongue
Compile a word list
Create an image / picture
Draw a semantic map
Other strategies

Taxonomy

%

DET
DET
COG
MET
COG
MEM
MEM
DET
MEM
DET
MEM
SOC
MEM
DET/COG
MEM
MEM
/

96
38
23
20
18
15
14
8
7
6
4
3
3
3
2
1
0

It may be worth noting that consulting a dictionary was by far the most valued determination
strategy in the self-report study. Apparently, the participants relied heavily on dictionaries invocabulary learning because dictionaries can provide word knowledge (meaning,pronunciation, spelling, and parts of speech) they were most eager to learn about a new word.
Most participants also suggested that consulting dictionaries was the most ‘straightforward’and ‘effective’ method to gain vocabulary knowledge. Indeed, technology also reinforced theirchoice as the online dictionaries and mobile applications on dictionaries have greatly enhanced
the readiness and availability of the resource.
Guessing from context was another popular determination strategy adopted. One participant
explained that she usually tried to guess the meaning of an unknown word from the context
due to her belief that such practice “might facilitate deep processing.” Yet, she considered
confirming her guesses via consulting dictionaries to be necessary since she was worried she
might misinterpret the meaning of a word without doing so.
Certain strategies were rarely used by the participants. In particular, social strategies wererarely adopted. Out of the 626 words learned, only 16 words (3%) had been learned throughasking other people. While a participant admitted that she would ask her friend, who was an
English major, only if she studied in the library with her, other participants indicated that they
‘did not see the need of doing so.’ From their perspective, asking other people for help was‘unnecessary’ because they could always check the meaning of a word using online dictionaries
with ease.
Indeed, various types of memory strategies, including forming an image, narrating a story withnew words, creating an image/picture and drawing a semantic map, were scarcely adopted. To
	
  

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most participants, these methods of learning vocabulary were “too creative” and “imeconsuming.” Not seeing “the purpose of using the methods” and being “uncertain about how
the methods worked.” they were more willing to spend time memorizing new words as they
perceived it a “more direct method” to learn vocabulary. These comments suggested thatparticipants were not familiar with these methods or they did not even know these memory
strategies for new words.
Discussion
Aspects of Word Knowledge
In most Asian countries, explicit or direct teaching of vocabulary is common in English as a
Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. However, thegreat majority of the planned and unplanned new words to be taught in Chinese ESL/EFL
classrooms is only treated with unmodified or premodified input, indicating that teachers
mostly focus on sound and meaning of the new words, and the presentation was short and direct(Tang and Nesi, 2003). According to Brown (2010), form and meaning often receive the mostattention in general English textbooks at different levels, while the other aspects of word
knowledge receive negligible or even no attention. Vocabulary teaching and learning in the
Asian ESF/EFL context attends mainly to the ‘partial-precise dimension’ of receptive word
knowledge. They fail to address the ‘depth dimension’ in developing vocabulary knowledge(Zhang, 2012, p.33).
Although participants in this study favored the word knowledge content in the input section, in
the actual learning process, it is obvious that they still put great emphasis on meaning, form
and pronunciation with little attention given to collocations, connotations and other forms
because most aspects of word knowledge are neglected in earlier years of English vocabulary
instruction.
Use of Dictionaries
Consistently, a dictionary is perceived by both teachers and students as the moststraightforward method to understand and learn new words. However, most traditional
analogue dictionaries can only provide limited knowledge of a word. A comprehensive
coverage of all aspects of word knowledge in a single dictionary is always impossible becauseof pragmatic concerns, e.g. price, page limit and weight. Online dictionaries or mobile
applications on dictionaries, on the other hand, are considered as “convenient,” “handy” and“accessible” vocabulary learning tools for most participants in this study. Most digitised
dictionaries will include popular aspects of word knowledge, e.g. sound, spelling, grammar,
and synonyms, which are also found in traditional dictionaries. Some well-developed digitized
dictionaries include word origins, word lists and forum to stimulate interest, suggest learningneeds, and promote collaborative learning. With easy accessibility to technology and detailed
information, online dictionaries or mobile applications on dictionaries are more preferredresources to enhance the depth dimension in vocabulary knowledge development among
second language learners. Although most analogue and digitized dictionaries provide examples
to illustrate the use and usage of the target word, abundant exposure and authentic language
use in different contexts and genres and in spoken and written modes enables learners tohypothesize and understand form, meaning, and use of the word (Nation, 2001). The language
corpus available as internet resources (e.g., Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English,
British National Corpus) allows learners to see how the word is used appropriately andcorrectly in authentic texts so as to strengthen their exposure to aspects of word knowledge.

	
  

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Vocabulary Instruction
In this study, participants claimed that most input in VLearn were unfamiliar to them. The
failure to provide relevant and adequate input about the meaning of a word and different
vocabulary learning strategies in instruction and textbooks has led to participants overlooking
the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of learning a word. The instruction on new words in local textbooks
primarily attends to receptive knowledge with explanation of meaning and form. In classroom
practice, teachers will teach the sound as well. As noted by Waring (2002), teachers often leave
vocabulary learning to students themselves and rarely introduce different vocabulary learning
strategies for vocabulary development. Strategies which require creative use of language were
not practised in the classroom. Imagery, narrating a story with new words, and drawing asemantic map are not favored by English teachers because these methods require more classtime than can be afforded. Participants’ past learning experience indeed had a strong influenceon their choice of vocabulary learning strategies during the learning process. As noted,
vocabulary treatment in textbooks and instructional practices are not conducive to strategy
development. Participants in this study showed an imbalance in the use of strategies forlearning and remembering new words. They adopted memory, cognitive, and metacognitive
strategies sparingly. Thus, it is not surprising that most students learn and forget new words
easily. Consequently, this limits their vocabulary growth throughout their years of English
study.
Vocabulary instruction in the early years seems to initiate impoverished word knowledge andword processing problems. As such, English curriculum developers, textbook writers andEnglish teachers should take greater responsibility for ensuring an extensive and systematic
coverage of the various aspects of word knowledge and the different vocabulary learning
strategies at different stages of schooling. It is important that systematic introduction of aspectsof word knowledge should start in early years of English education and the practice of a variety
of vocabulary learning and building strategies should also be strengthened through instruction.
Online Independent Learning for Asian Students
To promote independent second language learning, it is crucial to help learners develop a
positive learning attitude, set specific learning goals, and develop a process for language
knowledge and use. However, effective independent online platforms must not ignore thecontextual and cultural background of the target users. Studies have shown that Asian students
prefer teacher guidance (Gan, 2009) and they often see teachers as an authority in their learning
process (Littlewood, 2000). Second language learners at all ages, levels and learning modes
need guidance and support during the language learning process. Rich content on word
knowledge and a variety of vocabulary learning strategies were viewed by the participants as
helpful in setting vocabulary learning goals and raising their awareness of the process ofacquiring vocabulary knowledge. The design of VLearn addresses the learning culture of these
Chinese second language learners who expect a familiar structured and sequenced learning
path to guide them in the process of learning.
Future Development
To date, numerous online resources and websites on vocabulary learning are available online.
Yet, to maintain interest and motivation to access the site for continuous self-improvement andself-learning, elements for sustainment are required. At present, most vocabulary learning
platforms are static pages with regular reviewing and updating. To improve the sustainabilityof an online platform for independent learning, learners need to be ‘activated’ and ‘involved’.
They need to develop a sense of ownership of the platform and be a member of the bigger
	
  

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016vocabulary learning community. With the popularity of social interaction in the virtualenvironment, VLearn can be transformed to create an interactive and dialogic setting forcollaborative learning with the Web 2.0 concept. The shared learning experience will then be
more conducive and supportive to provide a vigorous learning environment where students
have full autonomy to be in charge of their own vocabulary learning. VLearn can also beenhanced by integrating more interactive components such as discussion boards, which canallow an exchange of ideas among users. As such, new information and knowledge can begenerated in order for VLearn to serve as a self-managed platform and a growing learning
community.
Conclusion
VLearn seemed to be a fruitful experience among this particular cohort of university students.
Participants claimed to have learned more about how to learn new words. However, theevaluation study also showed that learners’ word knowledge and strategy use were to a great
extent affected by what they were taught at school. These results can be used to make informed
curriculum and pedagogical decisions to support comprehensive vocabulary instruction in theearly years and promote independent vocabulary building in higher education. The study also
sheds light on the great potential of making use of existing technology to develop the depth
dimension of word knowledge, exchange learning experiences, reflect on one’s own learningand refine vocabulary learning goals independently in this digital native era. Asian classrooms
share a lot of similarities – learning culture, teaching style, examination system, as well as
learning difficulties. In learning a second or foreign language, most Asian students findvocabulary particularly problematic. The difficulties of learning vocabulary cannot be ignored,
both in the early years or at a tertiary level. Different aspects of word knowledge and a variety
of vocabulary learning strategies should be systematically introduced and practiced throughout
the instructed second/foreign language learning process and in a self-directed learning
experience.

	
  

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Xing, P., & Jordan, E. (2012, September). Chinese learners’ vocabulary learning strategies
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Analysis of Compositions Written by a Chinese Child in Japan

Lucy Spence and Yang Tao

	
  

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Abstract
This discourse analysis focuses on the Chinese and Japanese writing of a young student living
in Japan who is ethnically Chinese and multilingual. A method for analyzing linguisticallydiverse student writing was used to explore the literary elements and heteroglossic voices inthis student’s writing. Such analysis has been shown to be beneficial to teachers forunderstanding linguistically diverse student writers. The findings were triangulated withobservational data from the student’s home and school, an interview with the student’s teacher
and interviews with the mother, who is the co-author of this study. The analysis revealed
evidence of writing strengths in two languages, including flexible bilingualism and agency.
Implications for school curriculum that develops student languages as a resource for learning
are explored.
Keywords: multilingual; writing; children; discourse analysis; translanguaging; flexible
bilingualism; agency

	
  

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Introduction
Multiple languages are prevalent in our increasingly connected world, and thisinterconnectivity brings languages together in contact zones (Pratt, 1991) where speakers ofmultiple languages interact with one another. Schools are a common contact zone, yet whilemost educators are comfortable with the dominant language of instruction, they need tools forunderstanding multilingualism (Piccardo, 2013). Discourse analysis can shed light on how
children develop multilingual competency, providing much needed information to educators,
especially at the elementary school level.
Literature Review
Discourse Analysis of Student Writing
Discourse analysis in literacy research most often involves analyzing transcripts of oral
discourse in order to understand how the literacy education of all students can be accomplished(Rex, et al., 2010). The present study however, analyzes multilingual student-generated
writing. A socially situated perspective on student writing undergirds this study (Mercer, 2004;
Lemke, 1995; Street, 1995). In this view, writing is understood as constructed within a culturalcontext, embedded in activity (Lave & Wenger, 1990). It is productive to analyze student
writing from a socially situated perspective because students draw upon authentic experiences
as they construct the written text. Discourse analysis can be used to reveal aspects of student
experiences that informed their writing. Studies that use discourse analysis with multilingual
writing are few, however we review several such studies in this emerging area of scholarship.
The following studies reveal how multilingual students draw upon their linguistic resources as
they write for a variety of purposes.
Harman and Varga-Dobai (2012) used a critical socio-cultural approach to discourse analysis
to explore writing within an arts-based participatory education experience of middle school(ages 10-13) multilingual students in the United States. The students chose to write about issuesof discrimination in their community and created a newsletter to publicize these issues. The
young people exercised agency by using all their linguistic resources, choosing their topic, anddisseminating information to others. The study illustrated how discourse analysis of children’s
writing can reveal issues that are important to students as well as actions students take to create
better conditions in their lives and the lives of others. Discourse analysis can also be used tounderstand how writing styles interact among cultures. Curdt-Christiansen (2006) analyzed thewriting of a nine year old Chinese heritage language learner in Canada. The analysis revealed
direct quotes, which the student used in a culturally appropriate manner. Although the practiceof quoting famous writers and poets in Chinese writing can be seen as reliance on authoritative
discourse, Curdt-Christianson discussed how authoritative discourse co-existed with internallypersuasive discourse. This process combines the literacy practices of multiple cultures to create
written works that express the writer’s identity. This process is highlighted in translanguaging
theory (García & Wei, 2014), which enourages students to draw upon multiple language
practices in their writing. This theory posits that multiple languages are part of an integrated
system, and speakers move between languages as needed during a speech event as well as inwriting. Canagarajah (2011) described how one college student strategically used her homelanguage to compose an English essay that included Arabic words and phrases. The student
forgrounded communication above correctness while writing an essay that deviated from theexpected form.

	
  

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Students not only use multiple languages, but also rely on multiple media in crafting texts. Lam(2000) described a Japanese high school English learner who designed a webpage melding
extracts from magazines, music, celebreties, and other websites. The webpage allowed thestudent to connect with an international audience as he adjusted to life in a new culture. The
present study builds upon these previous studies by using a discourse analysis method uniquely
suited to discovering the resources students draw upon in their writing including languages, thewords of others, media, and concerns that lead to agency. This study situates the multilingual
student within a social world in which multilingualism is an asset.
Multilingualism is an Asset for Learning
It is important for educators to understand why multilingualism is an asset. “Bilinguals havean expanded repertoire with which to amplify communication and express comprehension.
These resources have the potential to be both communicative tools and pedagogical tools”(Hopewell, 2013, p. 235). This stance is in opposition to educators who believe that multiple
languages interfere with one another or that children should use only one language in order toincrease the speed of language acquisition (Schwartz & Soifer, 2012). In the US, the state of
Arizona mandated English-only instruction for English learners. However, JiménezCastellanos, Blanchard, Atwill and Jiménez-Silva (2014) found that when children studied in
the English-only model, less than half met age or grade level performance. Ignoring students’multiple languages does not benefit their learning.
The advantages of learning and using multiple languages are many. Some multilingual students
use their languages to help their families understand school, medical, and other official
documents and to negotiate parent-teacher conferences. Although such language brokering has
its problems, some families rely on it for everyday life (Corona, et al., 2011). Anotheradvantage for multilingual students is in learning world languages for academic purposes(Hernández-León & Lakhani, 2013) and students’ multiple languages may also eventuallyprovide employment opportunities (Kondo, 1999). Additionally, multilingualism is an asset forcognitive development. Neuroscientists have discovered cognitive benefits to bilingualism
such as enhanced performance of the attentional system (Costa, Hernández & Sebastián-Gallés,
2008). Multilingualism can be an asset to learning. Canagarajah (2011) illustrated how using a
dialogic approach to instruction develops students’ linguistic resources in order to create texts
in which two languages are complimentary. While writing, students draw upon their languages
to make rhetorical choices. Indeed, even people who view themselves as monolingual use otherlanguages in writing. For example, English authors often use French, German, Spanish, andLatin to illustrate their meaning.
There are benefits to writing in multiple languages, just as there are benefits to speaking
multiple languages (Creese & Blackledge, 2010; Riley, 2015). For example, early oral
language abilities are a resource that can lead to accomplished readers and writers whensufficient educational contexts are employed. Taylor, Bernhard, Garg and Cummins (2008)
depicted such a learning context in a Canadian kindergarten where children wrote dual
language books in collaboration with the classroom teacher and multiple generations of family
members in the child’s home. Educators are increasingly utilizing students’ multiple languages
for writing instruction (Fu, 2009), therefore, it is necessary to analyze such writing tounderstand the rhetorical strategies used. Building on previous work using discourse analysis
with multilingual writing, our paper traces the linguistic moves made by a multilingual childwhen writing in two languages, Japanese and Chinese. Writing samples from her third, fourth,and fifth grade school years were chosen for analysis in order to explore how she wasdeveloping as a multilingual writer. Theories of translanguaging and multilingualism
	
  

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contributed to our exploration of the following question: What can be learned throughanalyzing a bilingual Chinese/Japanese student’s writing in both languages?
MethodA Discourse Analysis Method for Student Writing
Spence (2014) developed a method for analyzing linguistically diverse student writing called
Generous Reading. In a study of 61 fifth grade students and their teachers (Spence, Fan,
Speece, and Bushaala, forthcoming) it was found that when teachers used this method in a
professional development setting, the teachers made more nuanced observations than a control
group of teachers. The Generous Reading teachers drew from broader sources of knowledge
about student writing. They noticed how their students used description, explanation, concepts,
and expression contrasted with the control group, which took very little or no notice of theseand continued to utilize a skills discourse of writing instruction.
Generous Reading draws from composition scholars and childhood educators who haveanalyzed student writing for contributing voices, or influences (Bakhtin, 1986; Dyson, 2003;
Freedman & Ball, 2004; Halasek, 1999; Ryan & Barton, 2014; Welch, 1993) and for literaryor descriptive language (Armstrong, 2006; Coady and Escamilla, 2005). Bakhtin referred tolanguage as a heteroglossia, or diversity of voices. Analysis of voices “explicitly bridges the
linguistic and the sociohistorical, enriching analysis of human interaction” (Bailey, 200, p.
269). Such an analysis helps uncover the historical and social influences in writing.
Heteroglossic voices and literary language are internalized ways of using language, notauthorial embellishments to writing. “The generalizations governing poetic metaphoricalexpressions are not in language, but in thought” (Lakoff, 1992, p. 203). Literary elements suchas figures of speech used in everyday language can be analyzed to reveal the thought process
behind that language.
Discourse analysis focusing on voices and literary language provided a framework foranalyzing the writing of one child, Lala. First, we read one written work to get an overall
understanding. Then we read it again, sentence by sentence, looking for voices of others in thewriting. These voices could be from Chinese or Japanese literary tradition, phrases the family
used at home, videos, or school events, for example. Next, we read the piece a third timelooking for literary language for example, metaphors, symbols, repetition, alliteration andrhyme. Finally, we discussed what this analysis revealed about the child as a person and as awriter. We analyzed each of three pieces of one child’s writing in this way, taking notes on the
Generous Reading form (Table 1).
Data Collection
In the present study, the researchers collected all Lala’s writing over a three year time spanwhen she was 9, 10, and 11 years old. We chose a representative written work from each ofthese years. In addition to visiting Lala’s school and interviewing one of her teachers, Spence
engaged in four research visits to Lala’s home. Observational notes were recorded at Lala’s
school and her home. Second author, Yang Tao is Lala’s mother, a college-level teacher ofEnglish language who provided insights into Lala’s early childhood and family life throughseveral interviews. Yang Tao analyzed Lala’s Japanese and Chinese writings and translated
them into English.

	
  

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Table 1. Generous Reading Form

Generous Reading
Student
Genre

Date

Grade

Teacher

Title
Voices of Others

Literary Elements

What does this tell you about the person?

What does this tell you about the writer?

What does this reveal about the writing?

What is the student doing especially well that I want to reinforce?

What can I teach that will help the student grow as a person or as a writer?

What can I teach that will help improve this piece or future writing?

	
  

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Context
We report on the multilingual writing of an ethnically Chinese elementary student who wasborn and raised in Japan. Chinese are a significant population group in Japan. As of 2015, theethnic breakdown of population was Japanese 98.5%, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other 0.6%
(Central Intelligence Agency, 2015). The researchers and child participant, Lala (pseudonym),
became acquainted through a previous study of Japanese writing instruction when Lala was astudent at one of the schools where the researchers observed her fourth grade teacher (Spence& Kite, 2013).
Lala’s Early Years
Lala’s father and mother are both Chinese and moved to Japan soon after they were married.
Lala was born in Japan and began attending Japanese nursery school at nine months. She was
immersed in the Japanese language while at nursery school. At home, her mother spoke to her
in Mandarin Chinese, English, and Japanese, depending on the situation. Her father spoke toher only in Mandarin Chinese. Thus, Lala was multilingual from infancy. She continued toattend Japanese nursery school until the age of three, when she spent most of her third year in
China with her grandmother. There, she attended a Chinese preschool. She came back to Japanat four years old, and continued to attend Japanese schools until the present time. Lala’s family
lived in the center of a large city in Japan within a predominantly Japanese neighborhood. In
general, the family did not interact with a Chinese community, so Lala had little Chinese
language input from the local environment. Beginning when Lala was five, her mother taught
her about three hundred Chinese written characters using the Chinese national textbook. She
continued teaching Chinese characters until Lala was in third grade, when she stopped. She
thought Lala might be confusing Japanese kanji with Chinese writing, as the two are sometimes
subtly different.
Analysis
We used the Generous Reading method to analyze three written works that were chosen as
exemplars of Lala’s multilingual writing (see appendix for the original language versions). The
Japanese works were chosen as typical writings from third and fifth grade. The Chinese piece
was one of only two Chinese writings that Lala completed during third, fourth, and fifth grade.
Lala’s only encouragement to write in Chinese during these years were through the open
exploration notebook and the Chinese speech contest.
Yang Tao was familiar with the Generous Reading method. Thinking about the voices andliterary elements in the writing, she read through each written work, while verbally translating
into English for Spence. Together we discussed the heteroglossic voices within the written
work, followed by a discussion of the literary elements. Finally, we discussed what this analysis
revealed about Lala as a person, and as a writer. As this occurred, Lala played with her brothernearby, therefore, we could ask Lala to clarify aspects of the written work throughout theanalysis and discussion.
Although we found many voices and literary elements in each piece of writing, we focus on
those which suggest a pattern in how Lala was developing as a person and as a writer. For eachpiece of writing, we present contextual information and an English translation of each piece ofwriting, followed by our findings from the discourse analysis. The names of places and people
are pseudonyms.

	
  

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Findings
Japanese Nikki Entry
The first Japanese text we analyzed was written when Lala was in third grade. Her teacher
asked the class to write on Monday about something they did on the weekend. The students
wrote in a nikki (journal) and the teacher subsequently read the entries and commented in red
pen, focusing on the content of the writing. Nikki is a common type of writing practiced inJapanese elementary schools. Lala’s teacher required writing in the nikki every week. She also
assigned writing during language arts lessons and across school subjects. The teacher provided
the students with a notebook to explore topics of their own choice at home. Lala used thisnotebook extensively during her third grade year, and even used the notebook to engage in aself-study of Chinese. One Japanese nikki entry was analyzed for this study.
Takihotobashiru Park
Yesterday, because of good weather, we went to Takihotobashiru. We always go thereby car but yesterday I asked my father, “Let’s go there by bicycle.”
And then my father said, “Okay.” And I felt happy. We rode bicycles to the park.
I felt like only a few minutes later, my brother said, “Hey, look, Takihotobashiru is overthere. Look, look.” he said.
Really, it’s true. We realized we arrived already. So we went to Children’s Square. We
tried our best to play. First of all, I played on the monkey bars. My brother worked very
hard on it at that time and I said, “You can do it.”
But my brother fell down from the monkey bars repeatedly, with one more to go. Only
one more! So he cried very loudly. At that time I went to his side and said, “Are you
okay? I’m sure you can do it!” I comforted him.
So with my words, my brother stopped crying. He said, “Okay, I’ll try to pass the bars
again, so please, my sister, watch me. Focus on me only, please.” he requested.
So once again he started from the very beginning and went to the very end. He finishedit, he did it! “Great,” I said, “you worked so hard, congratulations.”
My brother smiled. “Thank you” he said. That was fun for me, so I would like to go
there again.
The hetergolossic voices and the literary language found in this piece of writing illustrate how
Lala explored the power of words. The heteroglossic voices were cultural maxims, direct
quotes of the father and brother, and dialogue typical of children’s talk to each other. The
literary elements were repetition, comparisons and theme development. These aspects of Lala’s
narrative initiated and sustained a theme: the power of words. For example, the dialogue
between Lala and her father began with “We always go there by car but yesterday I asked myfather, ‘Let’s go there by bicycle.’” Her father agreed, the first instance of Lala using the powerof words to influence others.
Lala also used common Japanese maxims such as ganbare, “you can do it!” that indicate thebelief that encouragement is important and can lead to success. This idea was reinforced by
Lala’s use of the phrase ishokenme, “do as well as you can.” The idea that one can succeed

	
  

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through trying hard was reinforced in the narrative through repetition, “I’ll try to pass the bars
again” and “So once again he started” The dialogue between brother and sister continued thetheme of the power of words as Lala’s words of encouragement had the effect of her brothersuccessfully completing the monkey bars. Lala directly addressed the theme by writing, “Sowith my words, my brother stopped crying.” Lala expressed the power of words to comfort,
motivate, and create a successful outcome.
Lala also expressed agency by helping her brother to achieve a goal. This agency was directed
toward the betterment of the family unit. This narrative revealed Lala as an agent inencouraging physical activity for her family. First, she encouraged her father to allow thefamily to bicycle to the park, rather than take the car. Second, she encouraged her brother toachieve an athletic goal of completing the monkey bars. Lala’s actions resulted in increased
physical activity for the whole family.
Chinese Speech
The next written work we present is the Chinese speech, written in fourth grade for a speech
contest. The contest officials provided the topic, which was to write about a future goal or
dream.	
   The Chinese speech contest was held in a nearby city with a substantial Chinese
population. Lala wrote the speech mainly in Chinese, using Japanese when she did not know
how to express an idea in Chinese. Once she had written a draft of the speech, she asked hermother for suggestions of how to express the Japanese words and phrases in Chinese. She used
her mother’s suggestions to rewrite the speech completely in Chinese. Then she continued torevise the speech until she had a final copy to be used in the speech contest.
What is Your Dream?
I want to be a person who is helpful to people who need help and to protect the earth.
Even though I am still in elementary school, I can do two things. The first one, I candeposit my pocket money so I can do something. Every day I help my mom do somehousework, washing dishes, cleaning house, watching my brother. My mom gives me
400 yen a month and I deposit this money and I never spend it at all. In Szechuanprovince there was an earthquake and also in Japan. My family and I donated money alittle bit. One day a TV program introduced a place in Thailand where there was a flood.
Every day it flooded and the school floated away. Money was donated for a floating
school and the teachers taught in the floating school. That inspired me.
The second one, it is very important to separate trash in Japan. It is important to protect
the environment. Separating garbage is a very good idea to protect the environment. It
can decrease the pollution in the air and save the environment. Unfortunately Chinese
people do not do very well on this point. I would like to tell my friends, my relatives,
my family members about pollution and teach them how to separate garbage. In my
opinion separating garbage is a good idea. What’s more I think carbon dioxide will
pollute the environment very much, so I always persuade my father not to drive. If we
can take a bus or take a train, I don’t want my father to take a car.
What’s more I decided not to eat potato chips. Potato chips are really delicious, but itneeds a lot of palm oil. In order to make potato chips, a lot of forests are cut down toinstead grow palms for oil. The earth’s environment has been destroyed and a lot ofanimals have lost their homes. This I remember from a good book. So I decided not to
eat potato chips but it is something I can do to protect the environment. So my

	
  

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and I want to realize my dream bit by bit.
The hetergolossic voices and the literary language found in this piece of writing illustrate how
Lala explored helping others in society. The heteroglossic voices in this speech were: television
broadcasts of the Szechuan and Fukushima earthquakes and Thailand flood, people who camefrom Fukushima to the school, environmental slogans in Japanese lessons, books, pamphlets,and posters from the train station. The literary language was reminiscent of proverbs.
The speech had an obvious theme due to the nature of the writing prompt for a future goal or
dream. Lala’s dream was to help others in society. Lala developed this theme through texts she
encountered, including television, posters, books, and pamphlets. Although the family does not
usually watch television, the media had a strong influence on the speech. The natural disasters
and resulting nuclear power plant accident at Fukushima had a devastating effect across Japan.
Everyone was affected in some way. News broadcasts were shown at Lala’s elementary school
and in the aftermath of the disaster, people from Fukushima came to the school to speak. Thatsame year, Thailand was devastated by their worst flooding in five decades and as a result many
people were left homeless and many buildings were destroyed.
Lala directly referred to television broadcasts in her speech, “One day a TV program introduced
a place in Thailand where there was a flood.” Lala also directly referred to a book about habitat
destruction in the rainforest, “The earth’s environment has been destroyed and a lot of animals
have lost their homes. This I remember from a good book.” Lala’s writing was also influenced
by community pamphlets with detailed instructions on how to separate household trash forrecycling; “Separating garbage is a very good idea to protect the environment.” These
influential voices in Lala’s world reflected her growing awareness of her place in the worldand society.
Lala felt that she could make a small difference in the world, but that small gestures by many
people can have a large impact. The phrase, “bit by bit” is reminiscent of proverbs from China
and other cultures that mean something like, “A single drop of water helps to swell the ocean.”Lala’s speech is a series of small actions that when combined with the actions of other people
around the world, can have a larger impact.
The speech shares a message from the previously analyzed narrative. In both, Lala told herfather not to drive the car. In the speech, she directly states that driving causes carbon dioxide
emissions, which pollute the air. By analyzing Lala’s writing across time, a clear picture of herinterests and concerns begins to emerge. In the speech, she told her family in China that theyshould recycle their trash. This shows that Lala continued to take action for for the bettermentof the planet. She tries to make an impact on her immediate family in Japan and on her extended
family in China. Her writing reveals her as a responsible world citizen.
Japanese Impression
The last work we will present was written in Japanese when Lala was in fifth grade. In thisnarrative, Lala described a school activity in which team members worked together to read a
map to find their way to each teacher, who then gave them a quiz that they must answer inorder to move on to finding the next teacher. It is an impression written after a school activity.
The school she attended was small, so all the grade levels engaged in outdoor activities together
and the school principal promoted the practice of writing impressions about such activities. Her
fifth grade teacher required impression writing only infrequently, and he did not require thestudents to write as often as Lala had in third and fourth grade. Also, Lala began attending juku,
	
  

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after-school lessons in math, language arts, and science. So she did not have much time to write
at home for her own purposes as she had in third grade. Lala’s body of written work in fifth
grade was much smaller than in the previous years.
Enjoyable, Exciting Picnic
On May sixteenth, we had an exciting picnic. We went and came back on foot, so ourlegs became more and more heavy. At first we tried to reach the goal as fast as we could
so we chose a short cut and arrived at Ms. Nomura’s place. But from there we became
more and more lost. So we took out the map and had a look and went back to the placeof Ms. Nomura.
From there we were able to find the other teachers. After answering the quiz from Mr.
Yamada, homeroom teacher of second grade, about ten meters from him, we saw a firstyear girl fall down on the ground. Her legs were bleeding. The leader said, “Can I carryyou?”
She said, “No.” So listening to her words I felt how stubborn she was as a first year girl.
But I saw the blood came out of her mouth more and more, and her steps became
weaker.
So the leader said again, “Can I carry you on my back?” But the girl seemed she didn’t
want to be carried. Her arms and legs were wobbly and it was hard for her to jump on
the back to be carried.
I was called because I had a brother and was used to carrying my brother, so I
immediately carried her to the place of Ms. Kimura then to the main office for treatment
for her injuries. Although it had many troubles, this exciting picnic was fun for me.
The hetergolossic voices and the literary language found in this piece of writing illustrate how
Lala explored overcoming obstacles and solving problems in her social world. The
heteroglossic voices in this writing were an English loan word and Japanese maxims. The
literary language included repetition, alliteration, and opposites. Lala used the word goru, goal,
an English loan word. This word was spelled with the alphabet used for foreign words and canbe found in sporting events and games. The repetition and alliteration in words such as waku
waku, exciting, don don, more and more, and chikamichi, short cut, have the effect of recreating
the children’s sense of urgency as they read the map and rushed to each goal. Lala also usedbinary opposites, tsuyoi and yowai, to describe the first-year girl’s strong mind and her weaklegs. This narrative ends with another opposite pair, “Although it had many troubles, thisexciting picnic was fun for me.” The contrast between “many troubles” and “fun” suggests thatfor Lala, overcoming obstacles is what makes an event worthwhile and enjoyable. Lala showedagency by solving the problems of becoming lost and finding a hurt child and helped her teamtoward a social purpose within the school setting.
This narrative connects with themes in the previous two pieces of writing. In all three, Lala
was concerned with helping others. In all three, Lala showed agency through her interventions
and her words. In the nikki writing, Lala helped her family to be more physically active, avoid
causing air pollution, and she helped her brother achieve a goal. In the speech, Lala encouraged
her father and grandparents to avoid causing pollution and took action to help others by saving
her money to donate to disaster victims. In the final narrative, she took action to help her teamand to help a little girl who was hurt. The three pieces of writing, from three consecutive years
show that Lala was developing into a caring, concerned citizen. Lala ultimately used writing

	
  

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to achieve a social purpose and influence a wider audience when her Chinese speech was
published in a newspaper.
The three pieces of writing also show us how Lala was developing as a writer. Lala drew upon
resources to write, such as proverbs, books, news reports, and people. She internalized aspectsof Japanese language that helped her compose, such as using alliteration to stress action, andusing repetition for emphasis. She discussed her writing with her mother in both Chinese andJapanese in order to write in Chinese, using flexible bilingualism to accomplish writing tasks
in each of her languages.
Discussion
The analysis of Lala’s three compositions revealed aspects of agency and flexible bilingualism.
In this discussion, we connect previous work on agency and flexible bilingualism with thecurrent study.
AgencyLooking across the three written works over a time span of three years, it is clear that Lalacontinued to address themes that were important to her. When she was confronted withobstacles in life, she relished overcoming the obstacles. It is also evident that Lala demonstrated
agency in nurturing the actions of others such as her brother, her father, and her peers. Whenher brother could not succeed at the monkey bars, she comforted and motivated him until he
was successful, demonstrating the power of words. When her group became lost during aschool activity and they found a hurt child, Lala expressed agency in solving the problems.
Lala also extended her agency to problems in society such as natural disasters andenvironmental issues. She expressed agency by asking her father not to drive the car, and byasking her grandparents in China to recycle items from their trash. Lala made the decision to
not eat potato chips in order to help prevent deforestation. As Lala learned about problems in
the world, she responded as a responsible world citizen. Lala’s writing was strong because ofher sense of agency. She understood that words have power and actions can make a difference.
Previous research on multilingual writing has shown how children use multiple languages in
identity development and agency. Kabuto (2012) described how young children used English
and Japanese scripts in identity formation when writing at home. Maguire and Grave’s, (2001)
analysis of bilingual students’ daily journal entries revealed children’s views of the world andtheir sense of selves as writers. Multilingual children must develop an identity that includes
multiple languages and cultures. Writing teachers can facilitate identity development throughproviding opportunities for children to draw upon all their linguistic resources. Teachers canencourage writing at home or in school using journals, or open exploration notebooks. Parents
can be encouraged to provide materials and opportunities for children to write at home and in
multiple languages.
Harman and Varga Dobai’s (2012) study provided the opportunity to write about social topics
that were meaningful to the students. They expressed agency by researching, revising, anddisseminating information on discriminatory practices. Multilingual students have realconcerns about social issues. They may experience discrimination or bias in their social life
both inside and outside school. They are often globally aware, due to familial ties to multiple
countires. Teachers can learn about students concerns through analysis of their journal writingand explore some of their concerns within the school curriculum. Japanese approved textbooks
contain examples of social issues such as the large amount of trash discarded each day in Japan,

	
  

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and the declining physical activity of Japanese children (Sanseido, 2015). Children’s own
concerns can be connected to the curriculum through exploratory writing.
This study adds to the literature exploring discourse analysis of student generated writing. Suchanalysis reveals the complexity, identity development, and social concerns embedded in written
works. Lala’s three writings reveal how she was developing her identity and agency as ahelpful, encouraging person, who cares about the environment. She was not afraid to express
her views to others and encourage others to act in accordance with her views in order toimprove the environment and improve society.
Flexible Bilingualism and Translanguaging
Flexible bilingualism and translanguaging were used by Lala and her mother. Flexible
bilingualism was used as a strategy within the process of writing and resulted in a persuasive
speech for a contest. Such bilingual strategies have also been found in classrooms. Flexible
bilingualism has been used by teachers to link the social, cultural, community, and linguistic
domains of student’s lives (Creese & Blackledge, 2010). The multiple languages in suchclassrooms overlap languages, rather than artificially separating them. Multilingual students
engage in literacy practices using various languages outside of school. Although school literacy
pratices are of consequence for developing academic identities, non-school settings are equallyimportanat in the overall development of students’ identities (Haneda, 2006) .
Lala and her mother moved fluidly between Japanese and Chinese in the co-creation of the
speech. First, Lala wrote a draft of the speech using as much Chinese language as she could on
her own. She used Japanese words and phrases when she did not know how to express the idea
in Chinese. Then Lala asked her mother for help in thinking of Chinese phrases. Through thisinteraction, the mother-daughter pair engaged in flexible bilingualism, in which the boundaries
between the languages were permeable (Creese and Blackledge, 2010). By discussing the ideas
in both languages, Lala developed concepts that could be described in both Japanese andChinese.
Lala and her mother used translanguaging, drawing upon multiple languages to communicate(Canagarajah, 2013; Garcia and Wei, 2013). Moving between languages was the usual methodof communication for Lala’s family. Spence observed Lala’s family engaging intranslanguaging in informal dialogue in their home during each of the four research visits. For
Lala’s family, translanguaging was a natural way to communicate. This was clearly benificial
to Lala as she developed as a writer of Chinese and Japanese. Yet, this strength was seldom
drawn upon in Lala’s school life.
Lala is now in sixth garde and to date, has only once been asked by her teachers to use Chinese
in school. At that time, the class was studying classical Chinese poetry, written in Japanese.
This is a conventional unit of study in Japanese elementary school. However, in this case theteacher asked Lala to read a poem with original Chinese pronunciation for the whole class tohear. Lala was a bit shy, but performed the reading to the best of her ability. Multilingual
students have linguistic abilities that can be valuable assets for their own learning and to sharewith others. These assets should not be ignored by educators. Although there are ethnic schools
in Japan (Japanese-Chinese, or Japanese-Chinese-English), they are not protected under theJapanese Education Law Act (Sakamoto, 2012). Hence, Japan does not currently place value
on developing children’s languages other than Japanese and English. This study adds to theargument for valuing multilingual educational practices, such as incorporating flexible
bilingualism into writing instruction.

	
  

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Early language experiences are important in developing multilingual literacy. Lala’s Chinesewriting highlights a combination of experiences that led to multilingual literacy. Theseexperiences were: early learning of Chinese literacy, continued exposure to Chinese in a varietyof venues, and using translanguaging and flexible bilingualism in order to express ideas inwriting. By revising the speech with her mother’s help, Lala was successful in writing andperforming a polished Chinese version of her speech for the contest. Her speech was also
published in a Chinese language newspaper. Early exposure to languages, continuing
development of languages and utilizing flexible bilingualism are valuable practices that
educators might draw upon in crafting curriculum and policy.
Implications
Discourse analysis using Generous Reading is one way to analyze student writing, revealing
who students are becoming as people in relation to society. Through her writing, Lala is seen
as a person who thrives on solving problems and helping others in difficult situations. This canbe seen in her simple narratives of family and school life, as well as the speech she wrote toexpress her dreams for the future. Often educators do not look beyond surface features ofwriting such as spelling, handwriting, grammar, and organization. They never see the person
behind the writing, even when the words are clearly describing that person’s ideas. Educators
should take the time to read student writing, thinking about who the student is becoming andwhat the student is thinking. Discourse analysis can also help educators to see what the student
is doing as a writer. By noticing their literary language, educators can see that students haveinternalized aspects of language such as alliteration and repetition. Students use metaphors,
proverbs and symbolism without intentionally trying to embellish their writing. Educators
should pay attention to what students are doing with language in their writing. This information
also reveals aspects of the student’s life such as their interests and concerns.
Parents and family members of multilingual children are tremendous assets in helping
educators understand how children are translanguaging (Canagarajah, 2013; Garcia and Wei,
2013). When given opportunities, children will use all their linguistic resources to develop
themselves as people in society and as writers. Teachers and parents should share student
writing and together discuss the child as a person and how the child is using their linguistic
repertoire in speaking and writing. Teachers could ask how language is used in the home, andencourage the family to discuss ideas in multiple languages. Homework assignments that
include opportunities for translanguaging would be beneficial to students’ writing and language
development. Pre-service teachers would also benefit from learning how to accomplish agenerous reading in order to provide them a better understanding of student writing. Finally,
policy makers should consider the benefits of bilingual education opportunities. There is very
little opportunity for Mandarin Chinese development in Japan, yet the development of bilingual
Chinese can benefit Japanese society, filling a need for translation services and intercultural
understandings.
Conclusion
This discourse analysis adds to the research on translanguaging and flexible bilingualism. By
exploring one child’s Japanese and Chinese writing over three years, we have shown how thischild continued to write about themes that expressed her agency as a family member, a memberof a school team, and as a responsible citizen. The study also revealed how translanguaging
was used in the home setting and in academic writing for a speech contest. The mother andchild engaged in flexible bilingualism, stimulating the development of biliteracy. The discourse
analysis method uncovered heteroglossic voices and literary elements in writing and provided

	
  

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insights into the child as a person and as a writer. In future studies, this method could be used
to analyze the writing of multilingual students in classroom settings in order to see how writing
ability in multiple languages can be developed through flexible bilingualism in the classroom.

	
  

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Appendix
Lala’s third grade Japanese writing
１１月２６日月曜日「三年生」	
 わたしは、きのう、お天気がよかったのでつるみりょくちに行きました。	
 いつもなら、車だけど、わたしがお父さんに、「自てん車で行こうよ。」	
 と、いいました。そしたら、お父さんが、	 「いいよ。」と、いってくれてうれしかったです。	
 そして自でん車で何分かこいてたら弟が「あ、つるみりょくちがあったよ。ほらみて。」	
 と、いいました。そしたらみんなもきづいて、「ほんまや。」	
 といいました。そして、子ども広場にいって、いっしょけんめい遊びました。わた
しは、とにかくうんていであそんでいると、前に弟がいっしょけんめいうんていでがんばていました。わたしは、「がんばれ＿。」	
 といいました。けれど弟が半分でおちたり、あといっぽんでいけれたところをおちらり。とうとうないでしまいました。わたしは、弟のそばにいって、	 「だうじょうぶ。ぜったいいつかできるよ。」	
 となぐさめてあげました。そしたらなきやんで、弟が	 「もう一ど、うんていを、がんばるから、おねえちゃん、しっかりみていてね。」	
 と、いってくれました。それから一回目、さいしょうからさいごまで弟がいけました。わたしは、「よく、ここまでがんばったね。おめでとう。」	
 といいました。弟はえがおになって、「ありがとう。」	
 といいました。とても楽しかったです。また行きたいです。	
 	
 Lala’s Chinese fourth grade writing
我的梦想	
  	
  李晓	
  （女）	
  10岁	
  小学四年级	  日本大阪	  	  我长大了，想当一个对社会有用的人，帮助那些需要帮助的人，并且全力保护地球环
境。	
  
	
  
我现在是小学四年级学生，还不能直接去帮助别人，但是我可以做两件事情。第一件
事情是我可以积攒一些零花钱，积少成多，就能做一些善事。我每天都帮妈妈做一些
家务活儿，	  洗碗，叠衣服，收拾屋子，照顾弟弟等等。这样妈妈一个月给我四百日元，我把这些钱都攒起来，从来不乱花。在中国发生大地震时，在日本海啸时，我和家里人都捐过钱。在电视里，我看到一个地方每年都发大水，把学校都冲了。孩子们没有学校，不能学习，非常可怜。我长大了，一定好好工作，攒更多的钱给那些孩子建新的学校。	
  
	
  

	
  

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另外一件事我可以做的是保护地球环境。在日本，把垃圾分类是一个保护环境的好办法。不仅可以减少对大气的污染，还可以节约能源。但可惜的是中国在这方面做的不好。我要告诉我在中国的朋友和亲人，教给他们把垃圾分类处理。另外，汽车尾气会
污染环境，所以我经常劝告我爸爸，不让他开车出门。我真想大声呼吁，少开汽车吧！还有，我决定不吃土豆片了。土豆片好吃是好吃，但需要很多很多的椰子油。很
多地区为了制造更多的椰子油，砍了大片森林种上油椰子，这样导致了生态被破坏，动物们无家可归。这是我在一本书上看到的。所以我不吃土豆片也是对环境保护做贡
献。	
  
	
  
我的梦想是做一个对社会有用的人。我要从现在做起，从一点一滴做起。	
  Lala’s Japanese fifth grade writing
楽しかったわくわく遠足（五年生）	
 

わたしは５月１６日にわくわく遠足へ行きました。	
 行きも帰りも歩いていったので足がどんどん重たくなっていきました。	
 最初は、できるだけ速くゴールに行きたかったから、近道をして中東先生の所に行きました。	 けれど、そこからは、どんどん道に迷ってしまいました。そこで地図を見て、また中東先生の所へもどってしまいました。でも、そこからはどんどん先生たちを見つけていき、２年生の担任の西川先生のクイズに答え終わって歩いて１０ｍくらいのところで、一年生がころんでしまいました。足からは血が出ていました。そこでわたしは、	
 「おんぶしようか。」	
 と聞いたけど、「いやだ。」	
 と、言われ、わたしは、「一年生なのに強いな。」と思いました。けれどきず口から血がどんどん出ていて、あるいてもよろけるだけたっだので、班長が、「やっぱりおんぶするよ。」といいました。	
 けれど、１年生は、されたくなかったので、手や足をぶらんとして、おんぶができなかったので、わたしが、	 「おんぶかわるよ。」	
 といいました。弟がいるので、おんぶをするのはなれているから、おんぶしてすぐに竹下先生の所へ行き、それから本部へもどりきず口をふせげました。	
 このわくわく遠足は、いろいろこまったこともあったけど、楽しかったです。	
 
	
  

	
  

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How to Practice Posthumanism in Environmental Learning: Experienceswith North American and South Asian Indigenous Communities

Ranjan Datta

	
  

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Abstract
This paper explores how to practice posthumanism in everyday life. This idea has increasingly
come under scrutiny by posthumanist theorists, who are addressing fundamental ontologicaland epistemological questions in regard to defining an essential ‘human,' as well as the elastic
boundary work between the human and nonhuman subject. Posthumanism is essential for
considering today’s environmental problems and environmental science education. This paper
then has three goals: developing posthumanist ontology, exploring methodology, andinvestigating whether environmental science education and practices can help students,
teachers, and community in learning, teaching, and practicing processes. I demonstrate thecomplementary contributions from two Indigenous communities’ field studies that can be madewhen a researcher moves beyond an exclusive focus on western interests and considers
participants as co-researchers. This paper concludes with a discussion of implications for thisfield.
Keywords: human; posthumanism; ontology; methodology; practices; Indigenous
	
  

	
  

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Introduction
It is a fact that posthumanism has gained a strong foothold within human geography andenvironmental sustainability (Castree, Nash, Badmington, Braun, Murdoch, & Whatmore,
2004; Castree & Nash, 2006; Murdoch, 2004; Simonsen, 2013). At the same time, what is often
neglected in analysis of practice is the suggestion of how to practice posthumanism (Whatmore,
2013a). This paper aims to explore how a posthumanist ontology and methodology can be
developed. The focus is given not only on philosophical discussion, but also on connections
between theory and practice.
Humanism as a philosophical approach has long been problematic in environmental andscience education. It claims that the figure of ‘human’ naturally stands at the center of things;
is entirely distinct from animals, machines, and other nonhuman entities; is absolutely known
and knowledgeable to himself, is the origin of meaning and history, and shares with all otherhuman beings a universal essence (Whatmore, 2013a). Whatmore (2013b) further argued thatit “is a mistake to posit humanity (culture) as somehow existing apart from the world of things(nature); rather, the human comes into being with this world” (p. 6). Haraway (2004) also
criticized humanist projected knowledge processes and asked how, when, and why did we
become human? Haraway (2004) strongly criticized artificial projected knowledge and argued
that scientific projected knowledge has created Homo sapiens as pioneers, opportunists, andsurvivors. Likewise, Latour (2001) also rejected the assumption that human actors have a
special status; instead, the activities of things and humans should be taken into account in thesame way when examining social reality. Thus, Latour (2004) and Canadian Indigenous
scholar Little-bear (2009) suggest that we need to redefine all social actors, both human andnon-human from everyday practices.	
  The term everyday indicates a way of thinking about theplaces in which we live; maintain relationships, and the spaces we move through on a daily
basis (Herbert, 2000).
Posthumanism, Whatmore (2013a) and Haraway (2004) identified, is a crux in understanding
relationships between people and the material world. The term material explains ourrelationships with our physical, mental, and spiritual environment (Castree, 1995). Practices inposthumanism have emerged in feminist and poststructural thought and include many different
relational approaches. In a recent and cogent reflection, Castree and Nash (2006, p. 501)
identified that posthumanist practices can be seen as disturbances on humanity, for example,
new biotechnology, or as an idealized definition of the posthuman subject as separated andliberated from human. Fukuyama (2003) also asserts that new biotechnology threatens both thevery definition of a human being and the existing social fabric. Posthumanist practice can be
explained either as more-than-human thinking and doing or as a fracturing of the human subject(Latour, 2004; Simonsen, 2012).
My intention, however, is not to promote posthumanism as the largest term or name newtheoretical directions or rename established themes. This paper’s main target is to explore how
to practice posthumanism in everyday practices. For this, I first discuss how to develop
posthumanist ontology. Second, I explore methodology. I then point to how to practice
posthumanism in everyday practice through two empirical experiences with Indigenous
communities (Datta, Khyang, Khyang, Kheyang, Khyang, & Chapola, 2014; Ginn, 2008).
Finally, I discuss my everyday environmental learning experience with two field studies: The
Laitu Indigenous community in Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh and the Dene First Nation
community, Fund Du Lac, Saskatchewan, Canada. I learned from both studies how practicebased learning can have diverse impacts in our research and education such as (a) it can disturb
the western notion of only human-oriented learning; (b) it can claim to reframe research and
	
  

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education to focus on how we are always already related to animals, plants, and machines, andthings within everyday practice; and (c) it can enable us to begin exploring new posthumanist
directions in research, policy development, curriculum design, and pedagogy practices.
Posthumanist Ontology
Envisioning the future of both posthumanism and everyday practices, it is clear to thoseworking in political ecology and others in human sciences that posthumanist ontologicalunderstandings of the world are the key to a process of practice that values and enacts
environmental education. Ontology corresponds to multiple relational realities; “there is no one
definite reality but rather different sets of relationships” (Wilson, 2008, p.7). Drawing from
Whatmore (2013a), Haraway (2004), Latour (2004), and others (e.g. Escobar, 2008; Little
Bear, 2009), I proceed by articulating a basis for engaging “practices,” not as static, but assimultaneously shaping and being shaped by more-than-human relationships.
According to Whatmore (2013b) a posthumanist or more-than-human theoretical approach issignificant for understanding everyday relationships (i.e., both human and nonhuman). She
suggests, “Living/ness is a relational condition that reconnects the intimate fabric ofcorporeality, including that of human becoming, to the seemingly indifferent stuff of the worldthat makes living possible” (p. 4). Whatmore suggests that posthumanist ontology is able tochallenge human prioritized ontology. Whatmore argues that humanist ontology (i.e., ways ofknowing relationships) is constructed and structured. Whatmore (2013a, 2006) states that
posthumanist ontology centers on questions such as how the world makes itself known, thepowers and forces that make our everyday life, political structures, economic arrangements,and so on. Her idea of posthumanist ontology helps us to understand what human andnonhuman relationships are in practice.
The posthumanist ontology deeply relies on the concept of heterogeneity (Murdoch, 2006).
The term heterogeneity denotes the condition of being composed of different elements; the usesof the term are neither uniform nor are the differences or similarities of the related terms
obvious. It is rather a complex assembly of relationships (Merkel & Weiffen, 2012). The
poststructural geographer Jon Murdoch (2006) posits that heterogeneity in environment (i.e.,
geography or environmental sustainability) helps us to understand the complexities of humanand nature relationships where nature and society are outcomes rather than causes. In
heterogeneity both humans and nonhumans construct each other. He further explains thatheterogeneity is significant in practice as it answers a number of questions such as: What is left
out in humanism? Why is it important to know the diversity? How the social life of humans
did construct us as being?
Post-humanistic ontology is interconnected thinking; it is neither singular nor a different
discipline (Simonsen, 2013). Posthumanism in practice considers everything as mixed, forexample, environmental management is relational and includes spiritual practices among
human, animals, plants, birds, land, forest (Ingold, 2011; Little-bear, 2009). Whatmore’s(2013a) also points out that posthumanist ontology considers relationships a significant concept
which is able to open our mind, bodies, diversities, and possibilities. Relationships suggest asignificant move from human family (i.e., singular western thought) to the existential family(i.e., diverse but interconnected thoughts) from human rights to existential rights. She further
explains that relationships are considered a political conception which can connect us witheverything, and shapes others as us. In developing posthumanist ontology, Whatmore andothers (Agamben, 2004; Derrida, 2003) suggested three kinds of views.

	
  

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The first view challenges human historical conditions through biotechnology and genetic
science (Fukuyama, 2002). Fukuyama (2002) and Whatmore (2013a) suggest thatbiotechnology created a kind of crisis on humanity; a crisis of ‘human’ thinking. Fukuyama(2002) gave examples from genetic science engineering, which can modify us and our known
ideas. Haraway (2004) similarly explains through posthumanist ideas (e.g., genetic science)that we can reshape ourselves from our everyday practices. Thus, Whatmore (2013a) thinksthat posthumanism is fundamental to environmental history in challenging the western idea of
human.
Second, deconstructing the figure of ‘human’ (western sense) (Agamben, 2004; Derrida, 2002).
Agamben (2004) and Derrida (2002) argued that the concept of ‘human’ needs deconstruction.
Both Agamben and Derrida asked why and how the ‘human’ idea deploys through the politics
of power. For example Escobar’s works (2011, 2010) explained how the ‘human’ idea became
prioritized in modern humanist politics over the traditional every practice.
Third, (re)making the human/body/ecology through choreography concerned with relational
practices or networks (Whatmore, 2013b). According to Haraway (1991) choreography means
remaking ideas from a material sense, not a linguistic or figurative sense. In this theoreticalthought, the boundaries (e.g., body/human/ecology) are highly fluid. The boundaries are
explained as constructed in historical processes. The main focus is on diverse and alternative
ways of understanding the concept of human as more-than-human.
In sum, posthumanist ontology can be seen as various relationships that connect us in complex
networks (Latour, 2004). Mudoch (2006), Latour (2004), and Whatmore (2013 a & b) advocate
for alternative ontology that rejects western dualisms such as fact and value, human andnonhuman, along with nature and culture, and rather looks to emphasize relations between
entities. Thus, like Murdoch (2006), I also see posthumanist ontology in practical life as how“the mingling of various entities in complex assemblages, networks and/or systems, might now
comprise geography’s main intellectual concern” (p. 196). Therefore, in posthumanist ontology
there is a need to put the idea of relational politics into our everyday practice
Methodology in Posthumanism
Posthumanist methodology relies on Haraway’s (2004) and Whatmore’s (2013a, 2009)
concepts of interdisciplinary and knowledge controversies. For explaining these two concepts
in a posthumanist methodological framework, Whatmore (2013a) identifies three significant
concepts: amplifying inter-corporeality, mapping into knowledge, and redistributing expertise.
Such concepts answer a number of methodological questions: how do we study the humanenvironment and why do we study the human environment differently with posthumanism.
Both of these concepts (interdisciplinary and knowledge controversies), as Haraway andWhatmore explain, are able to breakdown the boundaries among human and non-humans.
The first aspect is amplifying which means interconnectedness or fluidity in posthumanism
methodology (Whatmore, 2013a). Whatmore defines interconnectedness as different ways ofthinking, as all bodies (not only human bodies rather all kinds of bodies within earth), as awhole body. According to her, our body is not only controlled by our cognition, but also our
cognition also can be controlled by our body. For example, if our finger touches anything, it
has effects on our entire body and/or our cognition. So the idea is that our finger has the ability
to control our cognition, instead of our brain having complete control of our body. New bodily
approaches need to evolve from amplifying in posthumanist methodology. Haraway (2004)
	
  

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also makes a similar point, that our knowledge interferes by a set of factors, and each setting
has relational influences on the others. Similar arguments are made by Indigenous scholars
Smith (2005) and Wilson (2013) that all action is relational. Such relational actions help us tounderstand how we come to know, and how we can achieve our goals.
The second aspect is mapping into knowledge. Whatmore’s (2013a) mapping is the idea thatthrough training we can control our bodies and capacities to move in the world and to sense
the world and how other kinds influence us. Drawing from Latour (2004) and Haraway (2008)
Whatmore (2013a) explains that mapping into knowledge is an idea that we need to learn andpractice to understand these kinds of effects on us. Mapping into knowledge is the ability to
influence the way the world wants to speak to us.
The third aspect is redistributing expertise. According to Whatmore (2013a) our knowledge
needs to redistribute in collaborative ways, for example working with science and collaboration
between science and public policies by the source of knowledge that we want to build
ourselves. Redistributing expertise is a deconstruction of our material understanding of theways of understanding, the way in which we relate, and the ways in which we act with ourmaterial world (Haraway, 2004).
The three points previously discussed are helpful for understandings the concepts ofinterdisciplinary and knowledge controversies (Whatmore, 2013a; 2009). The interdisciplinary
notion is significant posthumanism methodology (Haraway, 2004). Whatmore (2013a)
explains the concept of interdisciplinary through the term of ‘disciplinary in-between’. Insteadof multidisciplinary (i.e., collection of disciplines), the disciplinary in-between term lead us
toward disciplinary coherence. The disciplinary in-between has many similarities withinterdisciplinary understandings and practices. Whatmore (2013a; 2013b) pointed to acollaborative methodological framework and gave examples that both (human geography andenvironmental sustainability) have shifted from disciplinary to collaborative disciplinary inbetween (such as: science and technology studies (STS), performance arts, and animal studies).
Thus, the interdisciplinary concept is a significant concept for posthumanism methodology inbridging science, technology, natural and social sciences as whole.
In addition to the interdisciplinary concept as a significant turning point in post-humanmethodology, the knowledge controversies are also a vital concept to create political
ideological urgencies (Whatmore, 2013a; 2009). Whatmore (2009) explains three different
political implications for redistributing expertise including: first, knowledge controversy aims
for enabling interested citizens to trace the ‘partisanship’ of scientific knowledge claims; thesecond is accounting for the political force of techno scientific controversies by mapping theintense entanglements of scientific knowledge claims with legal, moral, economic and social
concerns on the web; and the third is meshing the borders of animal/machine, social/material,
flash/information, cultural/natural.
In sum, Whatmore and Haraway’s contributions are helpful in order to develop a posthumanist
methodological framework. Such a methodological framework is able to question humanists
along the lines of: What are the underlying assumptions of post-human practice? To whom are
we giving voice and agency, and at whose expense? And, which forms of science knowledge
and practice are privileged and which forms are relegated to the margins? Therefore, I think a
posthumanist methodological framework provides not only new representations, but also
includes new forms of practices and other ways of living that result in humans and non-humans
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Posthumanism in Practice
Example A: Experience with Laitu Khyeng Indigenous Community, Chittagong Hill
Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh. Exploring an Indigenous perspective on meanings of land,
management, and sustainability were at the heart of this research, we tried to demonstrate how
research can be used to involve empowered participants that challenges different agencies’(i.e., government and non-governmental) anti-community land and forest management
policies, and also to explore the linkage between traditional cultivation practices andsustainability. As such, our research engaged participants of community Elders, knowledgeholders, leaders, and youths in research processes such as conducting research, data analyzing,and identifying research themes that encouraged critical thinking, taking responsibility, andbuilding community-based sustainability. This was a collaborative and participatory research
journey that included an academic non-Indigenous researcher, Indigenous participant
community co-researchers, Elders, leaders, and knowledge-holders who collaboratively owned
research results (Datta et. al., 2015).
Research participants were engaged throughout our research by collectively identifying
research questions and collecting and analyzing research data. As part of our posthumanist
methodological framework we acquired consent during each research method process such as:
traditional collective story sharing circle, individual story sharing, photo voice, and participant
observation. We shared our community co-researcher translated transcripts with eachparticipant and requested them to add and/or change anything our participants wanted.
Throughout our research we followed Laitu Indigenous research protocols.
This posthumanist research focus was concerned with building a space in which participants
felt enabled to share their stories, as well as explore possibilities and actions in sustainability.
As a result, throughout the field study, the participants steered their traditional cultivation
culture and took an active stand against different agencies’ anti-community land management
policies, in order to achieve their own sustainability goals.
We chose to use a posthumanist methodological framework of relational participatory action
research (PAR) methodology in order to include and engage participants in meaningful
participations. As one of the Elder participants shared:
This PAR is different from other research approaches as this PAR not only created aknowledge sharing space for writing our own oppressions and suffering stories, but also
put our voice, our needs, and our abilities at its center (Datta et al, 2015).
To support posthumanist methodology as a relational PAR we drew a number of methods andtechniques to engage participants in conducting field research, analyzing, and identifying
themes that were important to them.
Drawing from posthumanist ontology, one of the main concerns was to explore meanings ofland from community perspectives. According to the community’s perceptions their land isinterconnected. For example, both Elders and knowledge-holders participants described thatthe meanings of land and water are interconnected with both human and non-human. In
addition, both are considered to be available for everyone. For example the Elder Kosomo Pure
Khyeng explained:
Land and water are everything for us, including: our cultivated land, uncultivated land,
food production, water, birds, animals, hills, the sky, winds, insects, plants, trees andfeelings as well as spirituality, sounds, father-mother, brother and sister, and many

	
  

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others. Land and water are for both visible and invisible things such as: visible things
are human, animals, birds, crops, lands, insects, mountains, rocks, moon, sun, water,and so on; and invisible things are our feelings, winds, smells, sounds, spirituality, andso on.
It is revealed by our participants’ stories that the community does not see a difference between
human and nonhuman. These two concepts (i.e., human and nonhuman) are indistinguishable.
For instance, Elder Okko Khyeng explicitly stated that “We do not differentiate ourselves,animals, plants, water, and land. For us, we are collective.”
Both Elders and knowledge-holders describe the meanings of land and water as relational
practices. For example Nyojy U Khyang gives an example in his commonplace book, stating,“When we climb up to a big tree for food, we pray and ask permission from the plant by saying,‘Do you allow me to take your creation (fruit) for us?’” He wrote that, “The community
believes that if they ask permission to the trees, indicating the community may not overuse
their resources, the trees may continue blessing the community.”
In relational practice, the community acknowledges (mainly Elders and knowledge-holders
during first sharing circle) the plants and trees by praying, “We will not hurt you and will nottake more than we need,” explains Nyojy U Khyang.
In contrast, it is clear from our participants’ discussions that the current government and nongovernment agencies’ definitions and meanings of land differ from the community’sunderstandings and management practice. Participants explained that the outsider, nonIndigenous agencies’ land and forest management policies (i.e., mainly projects) have focusedon projected knowledge and economic profit instead of traditional relational practices that havenever been intended to benefit the community. According to Elder Basa Khyeng, the different
agencies’ anti-community management policies (i.e., prioritized profit for outsiders) rendered
the community essentially unsustainable.
It became obvious during the study that participants challenged the current government’s profit
oriented idea of land and management. The knowledge-holders Ching Cho Khyeng expressedthat different agencies’ profit oriented definitions of land and management have created serious
challenges for the community’s traditional management practices. According to him, outsiders’definitions promote suffering, exploitation, and displacement. The community’s everyday
relational and spiritual practices of Mother-land, forestland, and water bodies (i.e., lakes fromhills’ waterfalls) were transformed as a source of profit in the different agencies’ (government
and non-government) projects.
In order to understand traditional meanings of land and water, it is evident that participants—
particularly Elders and knowledge-holders—position their understanding of land and water intheir everyday relational knowledge and practice. Like posthumanist ontology, thecommunity’s attitude towards land and water is also based on relational practices, and they are
obligated to care for, honor, and learn relational practices in their everyday practices.
Example B: Experience with Dene First Nation Community, Fond du Lac, Saskatchewan,
Canada. Posthumanist learning from traditional cultivation culture and spirituality stories havethe power, perhaps, to recreate posthumanism in science if we, as researchers and educators,
are willing to consider a relational theoretical framework and place-based approach (Datta etal., 2014; Escobar, 2011, 2008, Massey, 2004; Willson, 2008). This informs the approach we
took with a group of students in an attempt to lead them to a state or center of their traditional
knowledge whereby they would challenges current hierarchical science and environmental
	
  

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education. The Dene First Nation community is situated on the east side of Lake Athabasca(Treaty 8). According to Fond-du-Lac School Principal, Fond-du-Lac is one of the oldest
settlements (colonized) in Canada. I was part of the science and environment scienceambassador program in spring 2014 from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan,
Canada. One of the Elders argued that the classroom settings (i.e., particular ways of knowing)teaching science does not include proper connections with their traditional practices andlearning.
Like posthumanist ontology, the Dene First Nation community does not consider human as aseparate entity from their environmental entities (e.g., plants, animals, sun, moon, forest). For
example, one of the nine students expressed that “We are not human [according to scientificsense], we are First Nation”. I invited him to elaborate on his comments. He further explained,“We are everything, and our science education is also about everything, such as: our Caribou,
our birds and our lakes, the plants and the sun along with the moon, our stones, and our land”(see figure 1).

Figure 1. Relational meanings of human beings. One of the grade nine students (from DeneFirst Nation community) drew this art work to explain their relational and scientific education.
A similar story was explained by an Elder, that everything in the environment has purpose andscientific meanings. The Elder commented about more than human views of environmental
science in their practices, “if our traditional stories can bring successes for present and future,
why should we not consider our traditional stories as scientific knowledge. Our scientificeducation is defined by our relational practices, care for our environment, and natural laws.”
He further explained that science “comes from land and goes back to the land.” He also
believes, “if we are able to learn science from our relational and spiritual practices, we neither
need to create artificial science or our science will get lost.” He further comments that
relationships with both human and non-human are scientific ceremonies; each action hasscientific meaning and purpose to him and to the community.
Posthumanist ontology in practice is considered as relational responsibilities in the community(see figure 2). For example, one of the Knowledge-holders explained that every relationship isconsidered a significant responsibility to the community, and it begins with me. Every

	
  

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016individual is responsible for maintaining their relationships with their animals, birds, plants,
and fish. He used the word me to explain that responsibility starts with me; everything isdependent on my responsibilities. He said our relational responsibilities have scientificmeanings that “we will respect, honor, and care for everything, for instance: our land, animals,
plants, fish, lakes, and so on.” One of the Elders considers this practice as human and nonhuman’s relational responsibilities, and through these responsibilities Dene communities areconnected with everything. For example, the animals (such as the bear and caribou) havespiritual and relational meanings to the Dene First Nation. The animals have deterring powerin hunting, producing and distributing food, and predicting weather. The wing refers to birds(e.g., Eagle, Crow). Each bird has a different purpose to the community, such as the Eagle isadmired as a living symbol of power, freedom, and transcendence. The plants are used formany purposes (e.g., medicine, healing). The fish are used to signify water and the flow of life.
Thus, one Knowledge-holder thinks their traditional knowledge has scientific value to them.
Their practice-based science teaches them how they need to think together, see together, andact together. He said, “my learned science is from my everyday practices, including stories,
arts, dance, and songs. Through our practices, we have been protecting our environment fromgeneration to generation.” Therefore, he said, “science education is to me collective practices,which make us responsible in developing strong eyes and strong ears, to survive no matter
where I go.” Therefore, Indigenous scholar Shawn Wilson (2008) argued that practice-basedlearning makes us accountable towards our relationships.

Figure 2. Relational responsibilities figure. Dene First Nation Knowledge-holder drew thisfigure during his collaborate talk in Fond du Lac school. This figure illustrates relational
responsibilities in environmental science education from everyday practices.
Including posthumanism in modern science education is not easy; however, it is necessary if
we (as a researchers, educators, and community members) wish to uphold traditional
community-based science knowledge and everyday practices in our education systems. In
relation to this argument I have asked a number of students their views on current
environmental science study and their traditional everyday practices (i.e., hunting, fishing,clothing, and relations with ecology). Most students in grade eight and nine answered that they
were more interested to learn different things from their practices. For example, the Elderexplained that the traditional practices have given direction on how to think, how to look, andhow to act when it came to conquering difficulties (see figure 2).
Grade eight and nine students explained that there were many differences between Indigenousand scientific ways of practicing and understanding science. For instance, one of grade nine
students expressed that “we cannot share our science knowledge [classroom science

	
  

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educations] with our parents or community members.” He explained further that “classroom
science education doesn’t have similarities with our traditional knowledge and practices. In
most cases, we need to memorize. If we are not able to memorize and we will not able to write
during our exam.” On the same point, a grade eight student expressed that “our science classes
are not fun.” One of the science teachers also expressed that she had been facing difficultyacquiring science students in her class. She gave an example that “grade 6-12 classes havemore than 100 students and she had less than 10 students. We also discovered similardifficulties during science ambassador experiments (such as DNA, optics, magnet, fossil
findings, and other experiments) though I did not agree with their teaching techniques (i.e.,
particular ways of knowing, settings, and designs). One of the students also explained why she
did not in particular like the ways of comprehending during environmental science education.
For example she said, “We are not opposing science education. In fact, we need scienceeducation; however, we do not like memorizing science.”
It was a learning experience for me that many modern techno scientific (i.e., humanism) study
curriculums do not consider traditional knowledge as a sustainable learning structure (Littlebear, 2009, 2000). For instance, during my science and environmental science experience I
wanted to obtain students in a cultural camp. Cultural camp is an annual traditional knowledge
sharing and activity camp. It is organized by the First Nation community particularly forcommunity children. My co-science ambassador wanted to caution that “I should not change
our classroom science and environmental teaching techniques for a less significant teaching
technique [cultural camp].” He further argued that, “according to scientific study traditional
knowledge does not carry significant scientific value, at least not according to my experienceduring my four years of core science study.”
Although I was seriously shocked by my co-science ambassador’s comment, I knew that
individual personal opinions were not the issue, rather his own scientific education (Haraway,2004). Moreover, one of the science teachers and my co-science ambassador commented that,“science has been created for particular skills and if students do not have particular skills they
will not be able to understand.” Yet, one of the students commented that, “during scienceclasses I feel bored since a large portion of class is having to memorize. Memorizing is not fun
to me.”
Interestingly, student learning and views about science have changed greatly since inviting
community knowledge-holders to our science class. We requested knowledge-holders to sharepractice-based science knowledge when following students during outdoor science activities
and a school principal helped me in contacting community knowledge-holders for science classtalks. From grade 6-10, classes of almost 50-60 students participated in knowledge-holder talks
and outdoor activities. Students were divided into six groups and took several pictures withschool provided iPads. During the outdoor activities, students took pictures of rocks, plants,
trees, the lake and fish. They wrote many relational stories such as poems and storytelling, andcreated art to explain their relationships with their ecology and scientific understandings.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to explore posthumanism in everyday practices. The two empiricalexamples presented above demonstrate ways in which research can engage and cultivate
communities. Indeed, it seems clear that practices in posthumanism are central (Whatmore,
2013a). Both of the studies’ results revealed that posthumanist knowledge is able to protect
local people, their knowledge, and interest (Escobar, 2008; Berkes, 2012, 2003). Further, wehave seen that post-humanist practices consider relational and spiritual knowledge as

	
  

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significant sources of science. On the contrary, both studies’ findings indicate that westernhuman (i.e., profit) oriented definitions of science education and management have perhaps
been too simplistic, too projected, and too far from local practice (Escobar, 2008; Haraway,2004). Environmental science education and environmental resource management, both inWestern science, are regarded as a concern of elites who are insensitive to local Indigenous
people and their livelihood and needs (Bekers, 2003). Thus, Haraway (2004) and Franklin(2008) and others elsewhere argue that the more-than-human practices in management andenvironmental science education remains weak.
One important finding of the study in example A suggests that the current profit-oriented
environmental resource management practices are artificial and projected. Experience from
Laitu Indigenous community, CHT, Bangladesh shows that the expulsion of Indigenous
communities’ knowledge from the current government and non-government environmental
management practice may result in their (local people) displacement and poverty by powerfuloutside economic groups. In current outsiders’ profit oriented management policies, small
Indigenous farmers, fishers, and forest users may not fit well with outsider definitions ofmanagement (Anderson, 2003, 2001).
The concept of posthumanist ontology has been one of the most powerful means of reexamining and reconfiguring everyday practices in a way that values diversity and honors
interconnectedness among multiple actors. In the Laitu Khyeng context, posthumanist
understandings of environment (i.e., land, water, and management) are significant for thecommunity’s land rights and identity. Such a correlation seeks to advance the discussion of
Whatmore’s concept of posthumanism as a means of understanding the transformative anddynamic interplay of cultural land practice. For example, as Elder Kosomo Prue Khyengexplained, “For us, both land and water are our parents, culture, and our identity.”
I also learned from the Laitu Khyeng Indigenous community that posthumanist meanings ofenvironment are connected to their strength (Escobar, 2008). For example, knowledge-holder
Ching Cho Khyeng characterized traditional land and water practices as sustainable
management practice.” The knowledge-holder further stated that “our natural crisis [which is
not imposed] is also our strength as our crisis also teaches us how to face challenging
situations.” Consequently, notions of more than human approaches are conveyed discursively
through community operations in order to establish this strength.
In Example B, Dene First Nation Community, Fond du Lac, Saskatchewan, Canada, land-basedlearning was able to break the boundaries between humans and nonhumans. For example, agrade nine student’s comments on human science broke the boundaries between human andnonhuman. This student explained that current science education in school “only benefits tohumans and denies community’s plants, animals, and other non-human rights. Such limitedscience education creates danger for community’s traditional education of environment.” A
similar point was raised by Heimans (2012) that, “the bodies, human and other, which areproduced through everyday practice… Practice is always both discursive and material; reimpose the messiness of bodies into accounts of practice” (p. 318). Similarly Latour (2004)
argued that ‘‘without the nonhuman, the humans would not last for a minute” (p. 91). He further
explained the importance of practice:
What is human, what is material and how they are related are what comes to--matter?
Here then we can call on the material to become accountable…The argument here is that“objects as things” cannot and do not speak for themselves. They can be most articulately

	
  

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heard when placed within the purview of practice. Practice can articulate objects; makethem articulate (p. 318).
Similarly Elders of this study explained that western scientific knowledge has not only shiftedfrom reality, but is also limited by its specific dimensions. This study’s findings have
similarities with Little-bears (2009) arguments that science is about new knowledge and reality(i.e., practices). The aims of scientific knowledge, as Einstein (cited in Little-bear, 2009)
explains, is to seek something new or unknown from reality. In this view, environmental
science education and knowledge definitions are not from outside of reality or limited byparticular settings. Similarly Chalmers (2004) says science is derived from reality. “Science is
to be based on what we can see, hear, and touch rather than on personal opinions [structured
knowledge] or speculative imaginings” (p. 1). Dene First Nation students and their Elders
suggest that science is always engaged with spiritual and relational practices, but the current
western notion of science in education is from reality. Thus, Dene First Nation and other studies(Franklin, 2008; Heimlich & Andoin, 2008) suggest that both (researcher and research) needto diversify practice oriented learning and sharing processes on the basis of people who speak
for both human and non-human and build constituencies for sustainability.
In this study, Dene First Nation students and Elders emphasized collaborative (human andnonhuman) practice oriented science education. To explain collaborative science education
they focus on a community’s relational and spiritual practices. Both Elders and Knowledgeholders explained that the language of spirituality and relationships were the window of reality.
According to them, spiritual and relational practices can produce bridges among scientificnotions and can create new knowledge. Such practice-based knowledge, according to DeneFirst Nation students is easy to learn, teach, and appreciate; class room oriented scienceeducation is much more difficult to teach and practice.
In summary, both study examples investigated how Indigenous environmental practice isneeded as forms of knowledge, policies, and rituals in order to promote environmental
sustainability. Both studies make a significant contribution to the existing literature in general,
as well as contribute to the future of environment-related educational practices. The studies’
findings reveal that “science education and practices are spiritual and relational celebrations.”
Their stewardship, learning, teaching, and practicing ethics may not fit well with westernscience education and management practice. Elders of this study explained that the practicebased complex learning systems are not only able to create collaborative learning and teachingprocesses, but are also able to break down the artificial boundaries among human/non-human,nature/culture, theory/practice, and body/mind.
In addition to the studies’ findings, there were some limitations in both studies. First, in bothstudies the academic researcher’s identity was non-Indigenous; however, in both studies
Indigenous participants were considered as co-researchers and Indigenous people and theirneeds were a first priority. Second, both studies were conducted in non-Native language (i.e.,
English); but Indigenous participants were engaged throughout the research processes such ascollecting data and analysis processes. Finally, as a posthumanist researcher I would like tomake two arguments through both of the study experiences. First, it is useful to consider the
local community and their needs. Their interests are a main and significant source of researchknowledge and practice. Second, we need to shift our vision and develop empathy and respect(i.e., practice-oriented posthumanist ontology and methodology) for the needs, practices andvoices of our participants.

	
  

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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to both communities (i.e., the Laitu Khyeng Indigenous community, Chittagong
Hill Tracts, Bangladesh and the Dene First Nation Community, Fond du Lac, Saskatchewan,
Canada) Elders, Knowledge-holders, leaders, youths, students, and school teachers for sharing
their stories, cooperation, hospitality, and friendships. I appreciate Dr. Marcia McKenzie forher great supervision, continuous support, and inspiration. For helpful comments andsuggestion, I thank Dr. Andrew Bieler. Thanks also to Dr. Sandra Bonny for the Science
Ambassador’s opportunity and support.

	
  

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Attitudes and Behavior of Ajman University of Science and Technology
Students Towards the Environment

Rasha Abdel Raman

	
  

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Abstract
This study examined the attitudes and behavior of Ajman University of Science andTechnology (AUST) students towards the environment according to their gender and college.
The research was based on a descriptive approach. The sample consisted of (375) students (230males and 145 females) from different colleges (Law, Information Technology, Mass
Communication and Humanities, Engineering, Dentistry and Pharmacy). The Attitudes andBehavior Scale Towards the Environment (ABSTE) was used to investigate students’ attitudes
and behavior Towards the environment, and a questionnaire was used to evaluate theenvironmental sciences course. Results revealed wide differences in the environmental
attitudes and behaviors between the undergraduate students enrolled in environmental sciences
course and others who did not study the course yet. Findings also showed that females havehigher positive environmental attitudes and behaviors than males. Students of Dentistry andPharmacy colleges have higher positive environmental attitudes and behaviors than students of
Law and Information Technology or Mass Communication and Humanities colleges.
Engineering students have the least positive environmental attitudes and behaviors. The results
generally assert the importance of environmental education in university.
Keywords: environmental education; attitudes, behavior; university students

	
  

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Introduction
Environmental deterioration has emerged as a serious issue in the current world. The humanfactor is the largest contributor to the creation and exacerbation of many environmental
problems that might advance into serious threats to humans and all living organisms (Gore,
1993). These environmental problems may increase greatly, mainly due to global negative
activities or lack of environmental legislations in countries rather than individual activity.
However, individuals with negative attitudes towards the environment will continue to pose
problems regarding the environment (Uzun and Saglam, 2006). Individuals who haveenvironmental literacy, awareness and sensibility might contribute to the solution of theseenvironmental problems.
Environmental education has been viewed as an important approach to educate students about
environmental issues, and to identify challenging environmental problems at all educational
levels, including university (Fernández-Manzanal, Rodríguez-Barreiro, & Carrasquer, 2007;
Tuncer, 2009). Therefore, environmental education is crucial to prepare environmentally
literate graduates who will play an active role in protecting the environment by making
informed decisions and engaging in environmental-friendly behaviors (UNESCO, 1980; Roth,
1992).
Literature Review
Environmental Education
The main aim of environmental education is to encourage citizens to act in an environmentallyconscious manner that balances current social, economic, and environmental needs withoutcompromising those of the future (Yorek, Ugudu, Salin, & Dogan, 2010); as well as to defineand set goals at the cognitive, metacognitive, affective and behavioral levels (Sanera, 1998).
Furthermore, environmental education aims to help people develop positive attitudes,
emotions, thoughts or behaviors that increase their sensitivity towards the environment (Erten,Özdemir & Güler, 2003). Therefore, many studies put forward outcomes of environmental
education that, given in different systems of education (formal and informal), enable people to:(a) develop positive changes in their attitudes and behaviors towards the environment (b)protect and sustain the environment. Thus, environmental education should be an essential partof education at all levels, including university (Grodzińska-Jurczak, Stepska, Katarzyna, &Bryda, 2006; Palmberg and Kuru, 2000).
Attitudes and Behavior
It is assumed in social psychology that an individual’s personal evaluations are more
informative of the person’s attitude than what she/he claims to do (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993).
Atkinson has defined attitudes as “favorable or unfavorable evaluations of/and reactions to
objects, people, situations, or any other aspects of the world.” They help us to predict andchange people’s behavior (Atkinson et al., 1996). To be precise, attitude can also be considered
as an “overall evaluation that expresses how much we like or dislike an object, issue, person or
action” (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2001, p. 128). Schultz and Zelezny (2000) pointed out that theattitude of environmental concern originates from the individual’s concept of himself and fromthe degree of self-perception as a fundamental part of the natural environment. It is believedthat behavior is what people do, whether it is appropriate for the environment or not (Hernandez& Monroe, 2000). In general, behavior is supported by knowledge and attitude, but the direct

	
  

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connections between knowledge to attitude and to behavior do not always exist (Hernandez &Monroe, 2000).
Many studies confirmed that knowledge itself is not enough to change individuals’ attitudes oreven to motivate them to adopt a new behavior (Stern, 2000; Schultz, 2002), although the lackof knowledge may represent an obstacle for behavioral changes (DeYoung, 2000; Schultz,
2002). That means knowledge is not the only thing that affects individual environmental
awareness, but there is also a combination of awareness, attitudes and values; social, culturaland psychological. Newhouse (1990) confirmed also that the lack of knowledge about a certain
aspect of life may be considered as a barrier for attitude change. Only attitudes, which are aderived from life experiences and education, can affect behavior. (Oweini and Houri, 2006).
Environmental Attitude, Environmental Behavior and Environmental Education
The educational and ecological literature contains various approaches in defining
environmental attitudes. These approaches consist of attitudes, psychosocial variables,
personal responsibility, and locus of control (Hines, Hungerford & Tomera, 1986). Attitudes
have been expressed as common feelings towards the environment, being concerned about
specific environmental issues, and taking action to reform environmental problems. Whilepersonal responsibility expresses the individual's feeling of obligation toward the environment,
locus of control stands for the individual’s understanding of their ability to bring about
environmental change through personal behavior (Peer et al., 2007). Therefore, the individual
characteristics that change according to external factors will have little to no effect on thesituation. Those that change according to internal factors will have a strong effect on thesituation.
Internal locus of control describes people who believe in their ability to bring about change
through personal procedures (Peyton & Miller 1980; Hungerford & Volk 1990). One of thecritical goals in establishing environmental literacy is to support people in believing in theirability to contribute in solving environmental problems through personal behavior, either as
individuals or as a part of a group (Peer, Goldman & Yavitz, 2007; Mondéjar-Jiménez, 2012).
Consequently, environmental behavior can be defined as the action of an individual or groupthat promotes the sustainable use of natural resources (Sivek and Hungerford, 1989). Thus,
students’ attitudes affect their behavior, especially their choice of action and their decisions.
For instance in schools, students who have high scientific knowledge tend to choose more
appropriate decisions (Ugulu, Sahin, & Baslar, 2013). This means there is a direct relationshipbetween environmental education and environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviors(Vlaardingerbroek and Taylor 2007).
Certain previous studies pointed out the correlation between cognitive and affective attributes
is weak and non-linear (Myers, Boyes, & Stanisstreet, 2004). They also suggested thatknowledge is not enough to change attitudes and adopt responsible behavior. On the other hand,
many researchers found significant effects of environmental education on students’ attitudes.
(Bradley & Walickzek, 1999; Pooley & O’Connor, 2000; Sama, 2003; Maki, Abddel-Khalick,& Boujaoude, 2003; Yılmaz, Boone, & Anderson, 2004; Alp, 2005; Koses, Gezer, Eroll, &Bilen, 2006; Uzun & Saglam, 2006; Fernández-Manzanal, et al., 2007; Aslan & Cansaran,
2008; Ozsoy, 2012). Some research indicates that attitudes can be a predictor of environmental
behavior (Bamberg & Moser, 2000; Chewla, 2006; Sivek, 1988).
Various researchers found significant differences between male and female attitudes towards
environmental problems and behavior towards the environment. Females had higher proenvironmental attitudes than males (Kuitunen & Tynys, 2000; Talay, Gunduz, & Akpinar,

	
  

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2003; Sherkat and Ellison, 2007;	
  Fernández-Manzanal et al., 2007; Torgler, García-Valiñas, &Macintyre, 2008; Ek, et al., 2009; Kose et al., 2011; Ozsoy, 2012).

Methodology
Purpose of the Study
Understanding and consciousness about environmental issues seem to be of particularimportance in examining university students’ attitudes and behaviors towards the environment,
given the importance of a strong positive attitude towards the environment related toenvironmental behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore undergraduate
students’ attitudes and behaviors toward the environment. The research questions to beaddressed in this study are as follows:
1. What are undergraduate students’ attitudes and behaviors towards the environment in Ajman
University?
2. Are there any differences among undergraduate students’ attitudes and behaviors in Ajman
University towards the environment regarding their gender?
3. Are there any differences among undergraduate students’ attitudes and behaviors in Ajman
University towards the environment regarding their colleges?
4. Are there any differences between attitudes and behavior of undergraduate students enrolled
in environmental sciences course and others who did not yet study environmental sciences
course?
5. What are the students’ evaluation of the course materials and their suggestions to improveit?
Importance of the Study
Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) has integrated an environmental
sciences course as a required course. This study is important because it investigated factors that
affect students to adopt positive attitudes and responsible behaviors towards their environment.
Additionally, this study may help in developing course material and activities, as well as
provide suggestions to protect the environment and explore solutions to environmental
problems.
Methods
Participants
The sample was taken from undergraduate students enrolled in environmental sciences classes
in the first semester for the academic year of 2014/2015 (Table 1). It consisted of (375)
students; 230 females (61.3%) and 145 males (38.7%). The sample included students withliteracy or science backgrounds. The students with a literacy background were 180 students(49.4%) from Law, Information Technology, Mass Communication and Humanities colleges.
The students with a science background were 140 students (37.3%) from Engineering and 50
students (13.3%) from Dentistry and Pharmacy. All participants attended Ajman University in
UAE, Participants were volunteers in this study.

	
  

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Table 1. Profile of participantsCollege

Female

Male

Total

Ratio %

Law & Information, Mass
communication and Humanities

110

75

185

49.4%

Engineering

90

50

140

37.3%

Dentistry& pharmacy

30

20

50

13.3%

Total

230

145

375

Ratio

61.3%

38.7 %

100%

Instruments
The Attitudes and Behavior Scale Towards the Environment (ABSTE). ABSTE wasdesigned to determine students’ attitudes and behavior towards the environment. The scaleconsists of (30) items put in two groups on a 5-point Likert scale that ranged from 1 (strongly
agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). The two main factors of the scale were (a) Students’ Attitudes
towards the Environment (SATE). (15 items) (b) Students’ Responsible Behavior towards theEnvironment (SRBTE). (15 items).
Environmental sciences course evaluation questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed
to evaluate students’ opinions towards the environmental sciences course, it consisted of 10
items with a 5 point Likert scale, that ranged from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree),and one open question about their suggestions to improve the environmental sciences course.
Validation and Reliability of ABSTE. ABSTE was designed and tested for validity andreliability.
Validity. The attitudes and behavior scale towards the environment originally consisted of 38
items. It was subjected to content validity by submitting it to experts in psychology and experts
in measurement and evaluation for their input and necessary corrections. According to theircomments some items were deleted and some items have been modified, therefore theinstrument ultimately included 30 items.
Internal consistency validity was determined by applying ABSTE to another sample consistingof 40 students and calculating Pearson r between every item of the scale and the total score of
the scale, the correlation coefficients ranged between 0.59 and 0.77. Pearson r was calculated
between every item and the total of its factor. The correlation coefficients ranged between 0.67
and 0.89. All correlation coefficients were significant, which confirmed the validity of thescale.
Reliability. The ABSTE was subjected to Cronbach’s alpha reliability measure in the present
study. Student’s attitudes towards the environment (SATE) were 0.77, Student’s responsible
behavior towards the environment (SRBTE) was 0.75, and the total of (ABSTE) was 0.78.
These are satisfactory reliability coefficients.

	
  

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Results
Table 2. Mean, Standard Deviation and Relative Weight for ABSTE
Highestpoints

mean

SD

RW

order

Factor 1

75

55.8

6.94

77.39

1

Factor 2

75

49.65

8.15

66.34

2

Total scale

150

105.6

11.37

71.87

Table 3. Means, Standard Deviations and Relative Weight of the Sample Respondents’ scoresof ABSTE
N

ITEM

Mean

SD

Rel.
Weig
ht

Desc.
Order

-Factor (1): Student’s Attitudes towards the environment(SATE).
5

Awareness of environmental problems contributes to countries’
development.

4.42

0.75

88.49

1

3

Environmental problems have to be discussed in all the countries.

4.40

0.70

88.00

2

13

Media mast have role in spreading environmental awareness.

4.29

0.69

85.85

3

1

I concerned about problems affecting the current environment in
the world

4.21

0.67

84.29

4

2

There are a little to be done about current environmental problems

3.98

0.71

79.61

5

14

I think that is essential to raise the awareness about the dangerousof environmental problem among all citizens

3.90

0.69

79.10

6

15

I think the recycling bins around the country are valuable.

3.87

0.88

77.46

7

12

I appreciate the efforts made to preserve and protect theenvironment

3.85

0.99

77.20

8

7

Environmental problems in the UAE is not critical

3.80

0.94

76.00

9

8

Seminars and workshops regarding development of environmental
awareness are useful

3.50

1.06

75.33

10

6

It’s useless to warn people about environmental problems

3.34

1.07

73.24

11

9

I enjoy reading books and magazines on environmental issues

3.12

1.06

72.10

12

10

Knowledge about environmental problems in not my specialty.

3.10

1.01

69.91

13

	
  

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The so-called ecological crisis facing humankind has been greatly
exaggerated

2.99

1.14

68.10

14

11

I am bored by news related to environmental issues

2.97

1.10

66.23

15

Total score of factor (1)

3.72

1.65

77.39

- Factor (2): Student’s Responsible Behavior towards theenvironment (SRBE)
1

For saving energy, I turn off the light in my house when it is not
used.

4.43

0.65

88.78

1

2

I willingly join activities to help save the environment.

4.36

0.70

88.00

2

6

I don’t consume long time while I’m showering

4.21

0.79

86.24

3

7

I don’t waste much water while I’m brushing my teeth

4.17

0.79

84.78

4

15

I’ve always reused the white paper in old notebook.

3.59

0.86

77.86

5

11

I always put any old staff (clothes, shoes…etc.) in recycling bins.

3.55

0.89

73.11

6

8

I buy only as much as needed while I’m shopping

3.41

1.03

71.02

7

5

I always watch T.V program about environmental problems.

3.38

0.91

68.50

8

4

I always talk with people around me about environmental matters.

3.34

0.96

67.57

9

13

I share links relevant environment and environmental awarenesson social networks (Facebook / Twitter, Linked in,…)

3.01

1.12

66.72

10

3

I avoid buying products in aerosol containers

2.91

1.14

52.39

11

14

I read labels on products to see if the contents are environmentally
safe

2.40

1.03

47.34

12

10

I feel happy when I see people recycle used bottles, cans andpapers

2.39

1.00

43.56

13

12

My friends know me as sensible person towards environment

2.30

1.34

40.25

14

9

I prefer using environmental harmless products

2.24

1.42

38.93

15

Total score of factor (2)

3.31

1.74

66.34

Total of the scale

3.52

1.15

71.87

To answer the questions and investigate the attitudes and behavior of undergraduate students
enrolled in the environmental sciences course towards the environment, we considered a rankof 3.0 as the midpoint, which meant the item indicated positive if scored 3.0 or above.
As seen in Table 2, the undergraduate students indicated somewhat positive attitudes andbehaviors toward the environment in the total scale; the total mean of the scale was 3.52 with
SD 1.15 and RW 71.87. For factor 1 students’ attitudes towards the environment total mean

	
  

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was 3.72 with SD 1.65 RW 77.39. For factor 2, Students’ Environmentally Responsible
Behavior (SERB), the total mean of the scale was 3.31 with SD 1.75 and RW 66.34.
Factor 1: Student’s Attitudes towards the Environment
As seen in Table 3, students scored the three relatively highest in the following items: five, M= 4.42, which was “Awareness of environmental problems contributing to countries’
development” then item three, M = 4.40, which was “Environmental problems have to be
discussed in all the countries” then item thirteen, M = 4.29, which was “Media must have arole in spreading environmental awareness.” In these items, students showed theirunderstanding about the importance of environmental awareness and its effect on countries’
development and how as a result, students thought it essential to discuss environmental
problems among all countries together, not separately. They understood very well the importantrole of media in spreading awareness about the environment. The lowest item was item four,
M = 2.96, which was “I am bored by news related to environmental issues.”
Factor 2: Student’s Responsible Behavior towards the Environment
We can see that students scored the following three items relatively higher in item one, M =4.43, “For saving energy, I turn off the light in my house when it is not used”, then item two,M = 4.36, “I willingly join activities to help in saving the environment” then item six, M = 4.2“I don’t consume long time while I’m showering.” In these items students translate theirenvironmental awareness to many practical reactions and responsible environmental behaviors
for saving environmental resources like water and energy. The lowest item was item nine, “I
prefer using environmental harmless products” M = 2.24.
Table 5: Descriptive statistics of the sample

GenderCollege type

N

M

SD

Female

230

83.95

18.20

Male

145

49.57

14.25

Law, Information
Technology, Mass
Communication and
Humanities

185

73.12

23.18

Engineering

140

54.05

18.01

Dentistry andPharmacy

50

83.39

8.98

In order to investigate if there were any difference in students’ attitudes and behaviors towards
the environment according to their gender or college, a two-way Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) was conducted on the ABTES.

	
  

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Table 6: Results of two-way ANOVA on the ABTE scale
SourceDf

Means squareF

P

Gender1

26469.112

147.208

0.000

college type29205.579

50.8350.000

College* gender

29967.041

56.412

0.000

Error

370

Corrected total

373

According to Table 6 there is a significant mean difference between females and males in theirattitudes and behaviors toward the environment. It was found that females have higher positive
attitudes and behaviors towards the environment than males. Additionally, regarding the main
effect of students’ college, a statistically significant mean difference was found among Law
and Information Technology, Mass Communication and Humanities colleges, compared to
Dentistry and Pharmacy and Engineering colleges on the AFTE scale, F = 50.835, p = 0.000.
The Scheffé post hoc tests were conducted to determine the mean score differences between
groups. The comparison of mean scores according to the college type indicates that Dentistry
and Pharmacy students expressed more positive attitudes and behaviors toward theenvironment than both Law and Information Technology, Mass Communication and
Humanities colleges and the Engineering College. However, Law and Information
Technology, Mass Communication and Humanities students showed more positive attitudes
and behaviors than engineering students. The results also show that females in Law andInformation Technology, Mass Communication and Humanities have the highest score in the
ABSTE than other colleges, while males in Dentistry and Pharmacy have highest score in the
ABSTE.
In order to investigate if there are any differences in attitudes and behaviors towards theenvironment between undergraduate students enrolled in the environmental sciences course
and others who did not study the course yet, a group of 120 students (32%) has been taken fromthe main sample (375), and another group with 120 students (32%) who did not yet study theenvironmental course was taken randomly. A t-test was determined for independent samples
for the two groups.
Table 7. Difference between students enrolled in the environmental course and others who are
not studying the course yet
N

M

SD

Group 1120

113.7 6.78

Group 2

120

84.3

Df

T

P

238 28.12 0.001

9.23

As shown in Table 7 there is a significant mean difference in the attitudes and behaviors
towards the environment between Group 1 (undergraduate students enrolled in theenvironmental sciences course) and Group 2 (students who did not study the course yet) intheir attitudes and behaviors towards the environment for Group 1, t (238) = 28.12, p = 0.001.

	
  

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Student Evaluations of the Environmental Course
In order to investigate the students’ evaluation of the course materials and their suggestions toimprove the course, the environmental sciences course evaluation questionnaire was applied.
As shown in Table 8 students indicated somewhat positive attitudes towards the environmental
course. The total mean was M = 3.27 with SD = 2.09 and RW = 73.06. Regarding the open
question about students’ suggestions to improve the course, they proposed many suggestions:
1.  Environmental sciences classes should not exceed 30-40 students. That gives students
chances to be more involved in class activities (discussion, presentation, projects).
2.  Environmental sciences course material should be updated and focused on some current
critical environmental problems that affect humankind like climate change and nuclear
problems and should mention some practical solutions that students can do to share insaving the environment.
3.  Environmental course materials contained much information, so they should be divided
into two parts: information to know and information for the exam.
4.  Environmental course materials should be presented in an interesting way with morepractical and interactive work.
5.  Environmental sciences courses must have practical activities to make students more
involved in environmental issues such as:•   Trips to (planetarium, Masder city, desalination factories, groundwater wells,
solar power plants)•   Visits to organizations working in the environmental field (Abu Dhabi
Authority for Environment, Ministry of Environment, etc.)•   Invite organizations working in environmental industries to hold some activities
in Ajman University such as workshops, seminars, training, lectures andcompetitions to make students more caring and aware of their environment.

	
  

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Table 8. Mean, standard deviations and relative weight of respondents’ scores on theenvironmental sciences course evaluation questionnaire
N

Item

M

SD

RW

order

1

Environmental sciences course is somewhat difficult.

3.56

1.72

73.21

5

2

If the environmental courses was not required course, I think
will choose it to study.

2.61

1.46

66.11

8

3

Environmental sciences course is an important course forstudents in science major (medicine - pharmacy …….)

2.43

0.99

65.53

9

4

Environmental sciences course provide very important
information about environmental issues.

3.93

0.98

85.46

1

5

Environmental sciences course is only necessary for passing
examination.

2.41

1.33

64.38

10

6

After studying environmental sciences course ,I feel
responsibility towards the environment

3.82

1.31

79.45

3

7

Environmental sciences course made me think to findsolutions for environmental problems

3.78

1.47

75.17

4

8

The course content successfully covered all environmental
issues in very simple way.

2.98

1.12

68.62

7

9

Environmental sciences course need more practical activities

3.87

1.03

83.22

2

10

Feeling satisfied of studying Environmental sciences course

3.33

0.89

69.44

6

3.27

2.09

73.06

Discussion
According to the descriptive results of this study, it has been observed that there weresignificant differences in the environmental attitudes and environmental behaviors between theundergraduate students enrolled in the environmental sciences course and undergraduate
students that did not study the course. The students enrolled in the environmental sciences
course indicated positive environmental attitudes and environmental behavior. However, thetotal scale score and item scores were clustered just above the mid-point.
These findings support previous studies which observed that students who had environmental
education were more aware of environmental attitudes than other students (Bradley et al., 1999;
Thapa, 1999; Pooley & O’Connor, 2000; Talay et al., 2003; Sama, 2003; Maki et al., 2003;
Yılmaz, et al., 2004; Alp, 2005; Erol & Gezer, 2006; Uzun & Saglam, 2006; FernándezManzanal et al., 2007; Aslan & Cansaran, 2008; Ozsoy, 2012). The results also agree withother studies that found significant effects of environmental education on students’environmental behaviors (Bamberg & Moser, 2000; Chewla, 2006; Sivek , 1988). Otherwise,
it disagrees with some previous studies that found environmental education does not affectstudents’ environmental attitudes and environmental behavior (Kahraman, Yalcın, Ozkan, &Aggul, 2008; Ozdemir, Yıldız, Ocaktan, & Sarısen, 2004; Müderrisoðlu & Altanlar, 2011).

	
  

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Concerning factor one of the scale related to students’ attitudes towards the environment, theitems that scored the three relatively highest were: “Awareness of environmental problems
contributes to countries’ development,” “Environmental problems have to be discussed in all
the countries,” and “Media must have role in spreading environmental awareness.” These three
items reflect the students’ consciousness and understanding, the importance of environmental
awareness and its effect on countries’ development, and how the ecological crisis is threatening
humankind through environmental problems. The results show how the students understandthe role of media in spreading environmental awareness. They are keen to know and care about
the environment which indicates students’ positive attitudes towards the environment. The
lowest item was “I am bored by news related to environmental issues.” The students did notseem to mind reading news about the environment.
Concerning factor two of the scale related to students’ responsible behavior towards theenvironment, students scoring the three relatively highest were: “For saving energy, I turn off
the light in my house when it is not used,” “I willingly join activities to help in saving theenvironment,” “I don’t consume long time while I’m showering.” In these items students
translate their environmental awareness and environmental attitudes in many practical
reactions like saving environmental recourses (water and energy). This asserts the positiveeffect of environmental awareness and attitudes on responsible behavior towards theenvironment. The lowest item was, “I prefer using environmentally harmless products.” Thisfinding might be logical because the harmless product is somewhat expensive for them as they
are still students.
Overall, it is clear that students have background knowledge about the environment, which istranslated to their attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. Although there are manyfactors that could affect their attitudes and behaviors, environmental education could be one of
the most important factors that affect their attitudes and behaviors towards the environment.
The significant difference between students enrolled in the environmental sciences course andothers who did not study it yet, confirmed the importance of environmental education that isreflected in students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, it is a good sign that
Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) has integrated an environmental
sciences course as a required course.
As Ozmen et al., (2005) and Ek et al. (2009) showed, an environmental course should be
included in university education as well as primary and secondary education. For future
implications, the content and delivery of the environmental course might be restructured toobtain more interests of university students from a wide range colleges and different
backgrounds in handling environmental issues and improving their environmental attitudes andbehaviors.
The two way ANOVA results revealed significant differences in the perceptions of male andfemale students’ attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. Female students expressedmore positive attitudes and behaviors towards the environment than males. This finding is
consistent with many other studies (Kuitunen and Tynys, 2000; Talay et al, 2003; Sherkat andEllison, 2007; Fernández-Manzanal et al., 2007; Torgler et al., 2008; Ek & Kılıç et al., 2009;
Kose et al., 2011; Ozsoy, 2012). As Jenkins and Pell (2006) found, females show a high degreeof social responsibility and make a significant contribution to environmental protection.
These findings indicated that there are differences among the mean scores of students based on
their colleges on the Attitude and Behavior Scale towards the Environment. The comparisonof mean scores according to their colleges indicated that male students from Dentistry andPharmacy colleges displayed more positive attitudes and behaviors towards environment than

	
  

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Law and Information Technology, Mass Communication and Humanities and Engineeringcolleges. On the other hand female students from Law and Information Technology, Mass
Communication and Humanities expressed more positive attitudes and behavior towards theenvironment than Dentistry and Pharmacy and Engineering colleges. Differences amongcolleges may reflect that some students may have learned or read about the environment for
the first time. Consequently, they might be more interested in environmental issues which arereflected in their positive attitudes than students who had previously taken course work on
environmental studies.
Findings regarding the evaluation of the environmental course showed positive attitudes
towards course materials, which was clear in the choices for the three highest items:“Environmental sciences course provides very important information about environmental
issues,” “Environmental sciences course needs more practical activities” and “After studying
the environmental sciences course, I feel responsibility towards the environment.” These items
reflected students’ understanding of the importance of environmental sciences information in
their life. The results also showed their interaction with course material that made them thinkand decide that the course needed more practical activities. In addition the students consideredthat the course information had a positive impact on them because it made them feel responsible
towards the environment. Also students were very keen to share positive suggestions toimprove the course.
Conclusion
Environmental problems have emerged as a serious issue in the world today and educating
people is the main way to reduce environmental problems by raising awareness andresponsiveness towards the environment. Environmental education has an effective impact on
students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors. It is an essential way to reduce environmental
problems that are due to lack of environmental legislation all over the globe. Education is along-life process, so it is crucial to teach about the environment at all educational stages
beginning from pre-school and continuing to university education. University students of thepresent will be the leaders of the future. Some of them may be engineers in large factories oradministrative staff in private and public places in the future, or as direct policy makers who
can apply pressure for diminishing environmental problems. Therefore, universities should
offer an environmental education program covering environmental sciences for all programs
and colleges in order to improve the awareness and consciousness of students towards
environment.

	
  

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Appendix A
Attitudes and Behavior Scale towards the Environment (ABSTE)
Dear Students,
This questionnaire discusses some items about the environment and our relation with it. It consists of 30 items. Write yourpersonal information, then read carefully every item and choose only one option out of five (strongly agree- agree-not suredisagree-strongly disagree). We ensure you full confidentially and will only use for scientific research purpose.

Name :……………………………….

Gender :…………………………………..

College :………………………………

Midterm mark :…………………………….

Class :………………………………..

Age :……………………………………….

ITEM

Stron
gly
agree

1

I concerned about problems affecting the current environment in the
world

2

For saving energy, I turn off the light in my house when it is not used.

3

There are a little to be done about current environmental problems.

4

Environmental problems have to be discussed in all the countries.

5

I willingly join activities to help save the environment.

6

I avoid buying products in aerosol containers

7

The so-called ecological crisis facing humankind has been greatly
exaggerated

8

I always talk with people around me about environmental matters.

9

Awareness of environmental problems contributes to countries’
development.

10

I always watch T.V program about environmental problems.

11

I don’t consume long time while I’m showering

12

I don’t waste much water while I’m brushing my teeth

13

It’s useless to warn people about environmental problems

14

I think the recycling bins around the country are valuable.

15

Environmental problems in the UAE is not critical.

16

I buy only as much as needed while I’m shopping

17

Seminars and workshops regarding development of environmental
awareness are useful18

I enjoy reading books and magazines on environmental issues

	
  

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agre
e

Not
sure

disagree

Stronglydisagreed

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I prefer using environmental harmless products

20

Knowledge about environmental problems in not my specialty.

21

I feel happy when I see people recycle used bottles, cans and papers.

22

I am bored by news related to environmental issues

23

I appreciate the efforts made to preserve and protect the environment

24

Media mast have role in spreading environmental awareness.

25

I always put any old staff (clothes, shoes…etc.) in recycling bins.

26

My friends know me as sensible person towards environment27

I share links relevant environment and environmental awareness onsocial networks (Facebook / twitter ,…)28

I read labels on products to see if the contents are environmentally safe

29

I think that is essential to raise the awareness about the dangerous ofenvironmental problem among all citizens

30

I’ve always reused the white paper in old notebook.

Thank you for your cooperation

	
  

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Appendix B
Environmental Sciences Course Evaluation
Dear students,
In order to develop the content of environmental sciences course, we kindly ask you to selectone option for your point of view for every item. We ensure you full confidentially and will
only use for scientific research purpose.
N

ITEM

1

Environmental sciences course is somewhat difficult.

2

If the environmental courses was not required course, I think I will choose it
to study.

3

Environmental sciences course is an important course for students in science
major (medicine - pharmacy …….)

4

Environmental sciences course provide very important information about
environmental issues.

5

Environmental sciences course is only necessary for passing examination.

6

After studying environmental sciences course ,I feel responsibility towards
the environment

7

Environmental sciences course made me think to find solutions forenvironmental problems

8

The course content successfully covered all environmental issues in very
simple way .

9

Environmental sciences course need more practical activities

10

Feeling satisfied of studying Environmental sciences course

Strongly agree

Agree

Not
sure

disagreeStrongly
disagreeThank you for your cooperation
DO you think that course material of environmental sciences is satisfied? Yes ( )No ( )
If your answer no, please write your suggestion for improving course materials:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………........................

	
  

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Understanding Student Attitudes about Distance Education:
The Importance of Excitement and Fear

Esther Smidt, Jennifer Bunk, Rui Li, Ashley McAndrew, and Matthew Florence

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Abstract
This quantitative study investigated student attitudes toward distance education at a midsized,
mid-Atlantic state university in the United States. The research question was: Do feelings ofexcitement and fear moderate and/or mediate the relationship between online learning
experiences and student opinions about the current state of online education, namely that
institutions were pushing too much instruction online? Data was collected from students via an
online survey. Findings suggested: (a) students with online experience who were fearful of thislearning mode were the most likely to report that their institutions were pushing too much
online learning, (b) regardless of online learning experience, students who were excited about
this learning mode were less likely to think that their institutions were pushing too much online
learning.
Keywords: student attitudes; distance education; excitement; fear

	
  

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Introduction
Distance education has grown exponentially in the last few decades. Between fall 2012 and2013, online student enrollment grew by 5.2%, growing at a higher rate than overall student
enrollment (Lokken & Mullins, 2014). In view of this growth, it is important to investigate theattitudes, perceptions, experiences, and learning outcomes of students, to see how they can
inform the implementation of distance education. This study sought to understand student
attitudes by looking at the psychological processes, specifically the emotions of excitement andfear and their influence on students’ online learning experience. As such, this study aimed tocontribute theoretically by adding to the existing body of knowledge, particularly in the areaof emotion and online learning, and practically, by considering the influence of excitement andfear on students’ online learning experiences.
Literature Review
Students’ Online Course Experiences
As indicated above, the collegiate mode of learning is rapidly changing, and more and more
students are taking online courses during their undergraduate and graduate careers. The online
course experiences and face-to-face experiences of students vary from institution to institution.
Research suggests that student performance in online courses is at least as good as, if not better
than those in face-to-face courses (Lapsley, Kulik, Moody, & Arbaugh, 2008; Reisetter,
Lapointe, & Korcuska, 2007; Sitzmann, Kraiger, Stewart, & Wisher, 2006; Warren &Holloman, 2005). In a study conducted by Ernst (2008), a large percentage of respondents,
85%, were at ease in an online learning environment. Similarly, students in online andtraditional classes did not differ in terms of their attitudes about and feelings of self-efficacy
toward technology. Students in both types of courses had relatively positive attitudes regarding
technology and felt moderately self-efficacious about using technology (Stevens & Switzer,
2006).
Factors that Adversely Impact Student Emotions
An online course experience can negatively impact a student’s emotions about the course for avariety of reasons. Inexperience creates the biggest obstacle. Understanding Internet culture is
an important factor when it comes to finding ease in utilizing the Internet in an online course.
Furthermore, lack of experience leads to lack of confidence, which results in a fear of using
certain functions on the part of students (Carswell, Thomas, Patre, Price, & Richards, 2000).
Other sources of anxiety for most students include lack of experience participating in online
courses, not being accustomed to the electronic environment, and not possessing control overthe systems processes (O’Regan, 2003).
The second factor that negatively impacts a student’s distance education experience is therelationship with the instructor in the online environment. In online courses, students may
experience confusion if instructor feedback is not clear or timely, which leads to anxiety (Hara& Kling, 1999). For instance, if instructors fail to reply to questions in a timely manner, thisleads to an increase in anxiety, especially when there is an issue with an assignment close to
the assignment’s deadline (O’Regan, 2003). These experiences could ultimately result in
students dropping out of online courses (Ivankova & Stick, 2007).
The third factor that is found to create anxiety and dissatisfaction in the online classroom is themode of communication. Many students reported that they felt lost in the multi-threaded
discussion environment. They became confused and frustrated, having difficulty determining

	
  

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“who” was talking to “whom” about “what.” Generally, students tended to “withdraw” or “justobserve.” These reactions would create a negative impact on online communications, such as
creating “discontinued” feelings and interfered with students’ ability to think and reflect on themessages (Tu & McIsaac, 2002).
Factors that Positively Impact Student Emotions
On the other hand, positive experiences in the distance education setting can create a welcome
environment, which can lead to higher levels of satisfaction regarding their course. The biggest
factor contributing towards a positive online learning experience has to do with the instructor.
An instructor has a definite role in making the online environment successful (Ali & Ahmad,2011). Interaction is different in this environment (Walker & Hackman, 1991), with its
emphasis on the instructor’s role as the mediator between student and materials (Beaudoin,1990) or between student and technology (Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena, 1994). Therefore,
the instructor must be cognizant of the increased diversity of learners, and then accordingly
determine test formats, measurement practices, and assessment strategies (Banerjee &Brinckerhoff, 2002). Doing so may persuade and motivate students to accept the e-learning
environment (Selim, 2005).
The instructor must also be available to the student, for example, by quickly replying toquestions through email. Even if the responses are not solutions, showing that the problem isbeing worked on is helpful (Carswell, et. al., 2000). According to Inman, Kerwin, & Mayes (ascited in Ali & Ahmad, 2011), students expect three things from an instructor in the distancelearning environment: helpful materials for interacting with the distance learning medium,some on-campus sessions, and availability in the time of need. In online learning environments,
obtaining student feedback about needs and preferences is crucial for the successful design andimplementation of this environment (Sahin, 2007). E-learning environments demand atransition of the roles of students and instructor. The instructor’s role is to become a facilitator
who stimulates, guides, and challenges his/her students by providing students with freedom
and responsibility, rather than that of a lecturer focusing on the delivery of instruction (Huynh,2005). Learner satisfaction is felt when there is a perceived learner-instructor interaction taking
place in the virtual classroom (Abdous, 2010).
Another factor that contributes towards the positive emotions of online learners is tailoring
instruction to students’ learning styles. Findings suggest that online education can be a superiormode of instruction if it is targeted to learners with specific learning styles (e.g., visual andread/write learning styles) and with timely, helpful instructor feedback of various types.
Although cognitive and diagnostic feedbacks are important factors that improve perceived
learning outcomes, metacognitive feedback can induce students to become self-regulated
learners (Eom, Ashill, & Wen, 2006).
Yet another aspect that facilitates a positive emotional experience by online learners istechnological support and training. There is a need to educate students on technologies andother tools used in order to minimize communication breakdown. Distance education students
must understand how Internet connections work in order to avoid issues with bandwidth,
dropped connections, and other factors that impede communication (McDyre, McAndrew, &Smidt, 2015). Adequate technical training in student success and learning is important (Holder,2007); however, not all Internet-delivered courses assess students’ computer skills prior toenrollment or provide technology and computer skill training during the course. Many
university instructors assume traditional college students are “computer literate” and“technology savvy.” However, recent research has appeared questioning the computer skills

	
  

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and technology knowledge of K-16 students (Koroghlanian & Brinkerhoff, 2007). A task
analysis of each Internet-delivered course should be undertaken to determine the technicalskills needed in the course. These skills should be specified, and tutorials, handouts or selfstudy guides concerning the technical skills needed should be provided to students prior to thestart of the course (Koroghlanian & Brinkerhoff, 2007). Institutions offering Internet-delivered
courses through course management systems such as WebCT, Desire2Learn, or Blackboard
should provide scaffolds addressing shortcomings in the Help and other documentation
incorporated into these systems based on the frequency of questions posed by students at thoseinstitutions (Koroghlanian & Brinkerhoff, 2007).
Excitement and Fear
Following from the research above, there is reason to believe that excitement and fear are
relevant emotions when considering how experience with online courses relates to student
reactions to online learning. For example, lack of experience with Internet culture can beassociated with decreased confidence and increased fear of technology (Carswell et al., 2000;
O’Reagan, 2003). In addition, experience with online courses can result in fear when students
get confused about feedback (Hara & Kling, 1999) or uneasy about the multi-threaded natureof online discussion (Tu & McIsaac, 2002). Also, several research studies cited above indicatedthat when instructors are responsive, providing timely feedback and tech support, students can
respond positively and with excitement (e.g., Ali & Ahmad, 2001; Koroghlanian &Brinkerhoff, 2007).
There are also theoretical reasons to explore excitement and fear. From a theoretical standpoint,
the study of discrete emotions dates back to mid-1980. Several theorists have categorizedemotions and linked them with core cognitive processes. (See Roseman & Smith, 2001 for an
overview such approaches.) Smith and Lazarus (Lazarus, 1991; 2001; Smith & Lazarus, 1990),
for example, define fear as a core negative emotion that indicates an inability to copeemotionally with a stimulus. Izard (2013) defines excitement as a fundamental human emotionthat is characterized by interest in what is new or possible. Thus, by investigating these twocore emotions, one negative and one positive, we can further understand the cognition
associated with them and ultimately get a glimpse into why students may be reacting the way
they are.
Institutional Pressure for Online Courses
There has been some research focusing on the institutional pressure brought to bear on faculty
to teach online (Baran, Correia, & Thompson, 2011; Kang, 2012; Redmond, 2011). Grant(2004), for example, investigated factors that contributed to teacher education faculty’s
decision to pursue professional development in distance education technologies. Factors
mentioned by Grant included extrinsic factors, namely external pressures from department anduniversity administration for faculty to teach online. It should be noted, however, that thepressure was “moderate (but not overwhelming)” (p. 335), which contrasted with Lesht &Windes’ (2011) finding that “some felt excessive pressure” to teach online. Meanwhile, Bower(2001) stated that “[m]ost faculty … have not responded as quickly and enthusiastically asadministrators would like” (para. 2). Furthermore, while Betts (1998) found that 25% of
surveyed faculty experienced institutional pressure to teach online, Vernon, Vakalahi, Pierce,
Pittman-Munke, and Adkins (2009) discovered that nearly 67% of social work faculty
experienced the same pressure.
In contrast, in spite of anecdotal data suggesting that students experience a similar pressure to
take online courses, for example, when there are no seats left in their preferred face-to-face
	
  

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016sections (Filimban, 2008), there has been a dearth of research focusing on students being forced
to take online courses.
In view of this, our research question follows: Do feelings of excitement and fear moderate
and/or mediate the relationship between online learning experiences and student opinions about
the current state of online education, namely that institutions are pushing too much instruction
online?
MethodParticipantsParticipants were 16,000 part- and full-time students from a mid-sized public university in the
Mid-Atlantic region of the US who were invited via email to participate in an online survey on
distance learning attitudes. Participation in the study was voluntary and participants were free
to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. A total of 1,453 students responded,yielding a 9.1% response rate. Data for 53 of the participants was discarded due to failure tocomplete at least half of the survey (final N = 1400). Participants consisted of 20% males and
80% females. 85% of the students who completed the survey reported their status as full-timeand 67% of students in the sample completed 91 or more credits. 12% of respondents were
graduate students and 88% were undergraduates. The breakdown of participants by the collegeof their major was as follows: 26.5% from the College of Arts and Science, 24.2% from theCollege of Business and Public Affairs, 18% from the College of Education, 25.3% from theCollege of Health Sciences and 2.5% from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and 3.6%
undeclared. The mean age of the respondents was 23.06 (SD = 6.9) with a range of 17-67 years.
The ethnic breakdown of the survey respondents was as follows: 3.4% Asian or PacificIslander, 8.3% Black, African or African American, 3.4% Hispanic, 82.8% White or European
and 2.1% Other.
Measures
Demographic Variables
The following variables were used: gender (0 = male; 1 = female), part-time/full-time status (0= part-time; 1 = full-time), number of credits completed, and age (in years).
Online Course Experience
Participants were asked if they had taken any of the following types of courses during the mostrecent academic year: face-to-face, hybrid/blended, and online. Students who selected “online”
were coded as “1” (having online course experience) and students who did not choose “online”
were coded as “0” (not having online course experience). 22% of participants reported taking
an online course during the most recent academic year.
Excitement/Fear
The survey included the prompt: “Do the following developments fill you more withexcitement or with fear?” Response options included “more fear than excitement” or “moreexcitement than fear” and the responses were coded such that a higher score indicated more
excitement than fear. The item we used in our analyses was “the growth of online education.”
50% of respondents endorsed “more fear than excitement” and 50% endorsed “moreexcitement than fear.”

	
  

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OutcomeThe survey included the prompt “What are your opinions about the current state of online
education?” and the following item was used in analyses as our outcome: “[my institution] is
pushing too much instruction online.” The item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale with
Strongly Disagree (1) and Strongly Agree (5) as anchors and 16.7% of respondents endorsed
agree/strongly agree, 30.4% endorsed neutral, and 52.8% endorsed disagree/strongly disagree.
Results
Correlation Analyses
To explore our research question, “Do feelings of excitement and fear moderate and/or mediate
the relationship between online learning experience and student opinions about the current stateof online education, namely that institutions are pushing too much instruction online?” we firstran a set of preliminary correlations which are reported in Table 1.
Table 1. Correlations among all study variables
Measure1 Part/FullTime
2 Number ofcredits
3 Age

M
.852
2.90
23.0
6

4 Gender.798

5 Onlinecourseexperience.220

6
Excitement/fea
r

1.50

7 My
institution ispushing too
much
instruction
online

2.52

SD
.35
5
1.4
4
6.9
5
.40
2
.41
3
.50
0
1.0
6

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

--.008

--

-

.171*
*

--

.502

-.048

-.001

-.015

--

-

.111*

.197*

.007

--

.043

.107*

-.011

.174**

--

-.034

-.007

.056
*

.092*
*

.364*
*

*
*

*

*

.181

*

*

-

*

.101

*

*

.042

-

* p < .05. ** p < .01.
Pairwise N= 1292-1400
An inspection of the correlation table indicated that the following variables were significantly
correlated with the extent to which students thought their institution was pushing too much
instruction online: gender (r = -.056; p < .05), online course experience (r = -.092; p < .001)
and excitement/fear (r = -.364; p < .001).

	
  

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Moderation Analyses
Given that the preliminary correlation analyses revealed that gender, online course experience,and excitement/fear were all predictive of our outcome, we ran an exploratory moderation
analyses to test for possible interactions among these three variables. Multiple regression
analyses were performed using the method suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986). The
following control variables were entered in the first step of the regression: part/full time,number of credits, and age. Next, the main effect variables (gender, online course experience,and excitement/fear) were added in step 2 of the regression. All two-way interaction terms wereentered in step 3 and finally the three-way interaction (gender X experience X excitement/fear)
was added in the fourth step. The results can be viewed in Table 2.
Table 2. Moderation Analysis

Predictors
Step 1
Part/Full Time
# Credits
Age

Outcome: My institution is pushing too much
instruction online
R2
β
ΔR2
.033
-.002
.057

Step 2
GenderOnline Teaching Experience
Excitement/Fear

.004

.004

.145

.141***.155.010**

.155

.000

-.003
.219*
-.275***

Step 3
Gender X Online Teaching Experience
Gender X Excitement/Fear
Online Teaching Experience X
Excitement/Fear

-.090
.081
-.339***

Step 4
Gender X Online Teaching Experience
X Excitement/Fear--Note. Standardized regression coefficients from the best-fitting model are shown.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
Listwise N = 1234
A significant change in R2 at the third step (after adding the two-way interactions; (ΔR2 = .01,
p < .01)) indicated that, as a group, the two-way interactions explained significant variance inoutcome over and above the effects of the control and main effect variables. Inspection of the
	
  

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My Institution is Pushing Too Much Instruction Online

standardized regression coefficients revealed that the two-way interaction between experienceand excitement/fear (β = -.339, p < .001) was significant in predicting our outcome. The othertwo two-way interactions were not significant. This significant interaction is illustrated in
Figure 1. As indicated by the figure, excitement/fear and online course experience interacted
to predict the extent to which respondents felt that their institution was pushing too much online
instruction. The relationship between experience and the outcome was positive for those who
were fearful but negative for those who were excited. Those students who were the most likely
to believe that their institution was pushing too much instruction online were those who had
online course experience and were fearful about the growth of online education.
3.5

3

2.5
More Fearful
More Excited

2

1.5

1
No Online Course Exp.

Online Course Exp.

Figure 1. Excitement/fear and online course experience interaction to predict the extent towhich respondents felt that their institution was pushing too much online instruction
Mediation Analyses
Given the strong correlation between fear/excitement and our outcome, and in an attempt todemonstrate the importance of fear/excitement over and above online course experience, we
also tested whether feelings of excitement or fear mediated the relationship between online
course experience and the extent to which students believed that their institution was pushing
too much instruction online. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using the methodsuggested by Baron and Kenny (1986). The following variables were used as controls: gender,
part/full time, number of credits, and age. The first step was to establish a connection between
our predictor and outcome variable. In this instance our predictor was online course experience.
We thus regressed our outcome onto online course experience and online course experience
	
  

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was significant (β = -.082; p < .01). With the predictor showing a significant relationship, we
proceeded to step 2 which consisted of showing the relationship between the predictor (online
course experience) and the mediator (excitement/fear). For this step the mediator(excitement/fear) was regressed onto the predictor (online course experience) and it wassignificant (β = .158; p < .001). With the relationship between predictor and mediator
established, the final step was to conduct a multiple regression with both online course
experience and excitement/fear as predictors. To establish mediation, it was necessary to showthat excitement/fear was significant in predicting our outcome and that once excitement/fear
was added to the regression equation, the relationship between online course experience andthe outcome weakened. To test this, the outcome was regressed onto online course experienceand excitement/fear. The results showed that excitement/fear significantly predicted ouroutcome (β = -.371; p < .001). In addition, the relationship between experience and the outcome
became non-significant (β = -.025; p = .373). Thus, the results indicated that excitement/fear
mediated the relationship between online course experience and the extent to which student
thought that our institution was pushing too much instruction online such that those students
who had online course experience were more likely to be excited about the growth of online
education and this excitement, in turn, was negatively related to believing that our institution
was pushing too much instruction online.
Discussion
This study investigated students’ attitudes by considering how emotion influenced theirperceptions of their online learning experiences. More specifically, the research question asked“Do feelings of excitement and fear moderate and/or mediate the relationship between online
learning experience and student opinions about the current state of online education, namelythat institutions are pushing too much instruction online?”
Our moderation analyses demonstrated that the relationship between online course experiences
and the extent to which students thought that our institution was pushing too much online
instruction depended on fear/excitement. Specifically, this relationship was positive for thosestudents who reported being more fearful than excited about the growth of online educationand negative for those students who reported being more excited than fearful. Students who
had online course experience and were fearful about the growth of online education were themost likely to think that our institution was pushing too much instruction online. This might bebecause they had already gained online course experience and might be pressured by theinstitution to take more online courses. Conversely, of the students who were excited about thegrowth of online education, students with online course experience were less likely to consider
that our institution was pushing too much instruction online in comparison to students without
online course experience. Furthermore, as a general group (without regard to online course
experience), students who were fearful about the growth of online education were more likely
to consider that our institution was pushing too much instruction online in comparison withstudents who were excited about the growth of online education. This was perhaps because
being excited about online education predisposed students towards online education and theywould not feel institutional pressure to take online courses.
In addition, our mediation analyses revealed that excitement/fear about the growth of online
education mediated the relationship between online course experience and students’ opinions
that institutions were pushing too much instruction online. In other words, excitement/fear wasa key explanatory variable in understanding why course experience was related to the tendency
to think that one’s institution was pushing too much instruction online. This finding has
important practical value because emotions like excitement or fear can be modified but

	
  

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students’ past online course experience cannot. Administrators and faculty can, for example,
help engender an excitement for online learning among all students, whether or not students
have taken an online course. In addition, our findings also suggest that increased online course
experiences may result in more excitement and a decreased sense of pressure to take online
courses. However, further research is needed to confirm our findings and to better understandthe relationship among online course experience, excitement/fear, and students’ perception of
the institutional pressure to take online courses
In other words (and as demonstrated in Figure 1), of the students who were fearful about thegrowth of online education, students with online course experience were more likely toconsider that their institutions were pushing too much instruction online in comparison to
students without online course experience. The former might feel so because they had alreadygained online course experience and might feel pressurized by the institution to take more
online courses. Furthermore, as a general group (without regard to online course experience),
students who were fearful about the growth of online education were more likely to consider
that their institutions were pushing too much instruction online in comparison with students
who were excited about the growth of online education, the latter perhaps because they werealready predisposed towards online education and would not feel institutional pressure to takeonline courses. And finally, the magnitude of opinion about institutions pushing too much
instruction online was greater between students with online course experience who were more
fearful and more excited in comparison with the same two groups of students without online
course experience.
Conclusion
Although our research begins to demonstrate how excitement/fear shapes student opinions
about distance education, this study is not without its limitations. The standard limitations of
single-source, correlational survey data certainly apply to this study – e.g., causal inferences
cannot be made and common method bias may explain some of the relationships. In addition,although we were able to demonstrate that students who had online course experience and were
fearful about the growth of online education were the most likely to think that their institution
was pushing too much instruction online, there are other factors that can affect these negative
opinions. For example, the exact nature of the online course experience (e.g., Was it an elective
or required course? How much online teaching experience did the instructor have? What kindsof interactions did the students have with peers?) and other affective reactions (e.g., anger,
cynicism) may play a role in these opinions. Future research should explore these and otherfactors in order to paint a more complete picture of why and how students are affected bydistance education.
Future research should also delve deeper into some of our results. Qualitative data testing ourassumption that excitement about online education predisposes students to feeling less pressure
to take online courses would be fruitful. In addition, further research should explore therelationship between online course experience and student opinions. In what cases are moreexperience associated with positive vs. negative opinions? Lastly, given that our results
revealed the key role that excitement/fear plays in shaping student opinions, further researchshould continue down this avenue to not only confirm our findings, but to also explore how
institutional efforts to engender excitement might be associated with more positive opinions
about online learning.
Distance education is rapidly growing and it is important to understand how students’emotions, particularly excitement and fear, can affect their perception of the online learning
experience. Findings of this study suggested that when students were fearful of the growth of

	
  

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online learning, they felt that their institution was pushing too much online instruction.
However, we also found that excitement/fear played a key role in shaping students opinions
about online education and that increasing excitement might help create a more positive climate
among students with regards to their opinions about online learning.

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Teacher’s Influence Scale from their Colleagues and Principals: Its
Relation with School Performance in Public Schools of the
Albanian Educational System

Valbona Nathanaili

	
  

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Abstract

This article aims to evaluate the relation between school performance and the Teacher’s
Influence Scale on certain issues from their colleagues and principals in the public educational
system of Albania. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used. The sample consisted of 428
teachers, teaching at 20 public schools in the pre-university educational system in Albania who
filled in self-report questionnaires with six items. The schools were chosen based on
performance criteria, with higher and lower performance based on the Educational Directoryof each city: Tirana, Kamëz, Elbasan and Shkodra. One of the conclusions is that teacher’s
influence by their colleagues is very low, (M=2.5197), as is teacher’s influence by theirprincipals (M=2.1789); but teachers are slightly more influenced by their colleagues. The
school performance, in the case of Albanian public schools, is related very weak with the scaleof teachers’ influence. However, this relation is slightly higher in schools with lower
performance. Furthermore, the school performance is overall more than the collective efforts
of teacher and principals and involves the background of the school community.
Keywords: teacher collaboration; reform; pupils’ expectations; social relations

	
  

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Introduction
The Educational System in Albania, during these last two decades, has undertaken a series ofreforms. Most of them are related to the core of schooling, for example: curricula, textbooks,
standardized tests, school leadership, and professional development. Professional development
is related to the classification of a school based on school performance (IShA, 2014). School
performance include: general data about the school, the percent of passed pupils on the State
exams, average grade, the percent of dropouts, staff development, teacher results on thequalification tests, the percent of teachers/principals in professional networks, socio-economic
environment and the scale of teacher satisfaction at school. During the scholastic year 20132014, for the first time in Albania, the schools are listed based on their performance; hence,school performance is becoming a very important concept. This new shift is an effort toevaluate the schools based on criteria. It creates an opportunity to see what happens inside theschools or to evaluate schools from the inside-out (Elmore, 2008) rather than vice versa.
According to data from the Educational Directory of each city, taken in consideration in thisstudy, the schools with better performance are located at the center of cities, in communities
with high socio-economic backgrounds, have parents with high expectations for their children
and are able to help and support their children with home-duties or other responsibilities
assigned by the school. According to PISA results of 2009 (OECD, 2010, p.13-14), “Homebackground influences educational success, and schooling often appears to reinforce its effects.
Although poor performance in school does not automatically stem from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background, the socio-economic background of students and schools does appear tohave powerful influence on learning outcomes. In Albania, as well as in many other countries,
students in urban schools perform better than students in rural schools.”
The same must be said for the teachers: the teachers of schools with better performance usually
have more training or more qualifications, including the right diploma. Teacher results of theseschools, in qualification exams of the last 3 years are better. PISA results of 2009 (OECD,2010) confirm this fact. In Albania, the correlation between the socio-economic background of
schools and the percentage of teachers with university-level (ISCED 5A) among all full-timeteachers is 0.38 Additionally, it is of note that the Educational System in Albania is very poorin granting teacher rewards or other bonuses for high performance. The socio-economic
background of students and teacher performance influences student outcomes. This inquiry
focuses on certain teacher attributes. The question is, “How much public school performance,
in a selection of Albanian districts, is related to the influence between teachers or from theprincipal on school performance?”
Literature Review
Studies regarding the teaching profession has shifted from isolation to collaboration andinfluence (Elmore, 2008; Payne, 2011). For the Consortium on Chicago Schools Research(Payne, 2011), one of the five fundamentals ways for improving school systems is professional
capacity, including the capacity of teachers to talk about their teaching with one another andthe degree to which the adults in a building take collective responsibility for what happens
there. For Dewey (2007), as the most mature member of the group, the teacher has a peculiar
responsibility for the conduct of the interactions and communications which are the very lifeof the group as a community. For Payne (2011, p. 32) in the USA, “many reform initiatives of
the 1990s agreed on the need for collegiality and collaboration among teachers... Norms of
isolation and competitiveness may be very strong.” High quality human relationships arestrongly predictive of whether or not a school can gather itself to get better. Low quality

	
  

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relationships, manifested in teacher isolation, even when their numbers are small, may beenough to shape the non-cooperation culture at school. For example teaches may think that“what goes on in my classroom is my business” (Payne, 2011, p. 80). For Elmore (2008) oneof the reason why successful instructional practices never take root in a small proportion ofclassrooms and schools, is because teaching continues to be isolated work. Hill, Pierce andGuthrie (1997, p. 8), in addition to listing what we need to have good public schools state:“Schools should be whole organizations and true communities, act like serious enterprises thathave definite goals... schools exist because their work is to do what individuals alone cannot
accomplish.” Johnson & Kolderie (2011) emphasize the necessity to widen the role of teacher
in decision-making of how the school runs and how the learning is handled. “This might meanthat teachers form the kind of partnerships we see in other professional occupations, fully incharge and with the administrators working for them. What form this takes, or how thearrangements evolves over time in a particular school, can be left to the staff in the school todecide based on what they prefer and believe will best ensure school and student success” (p.
185).
For Elmore (2018), professional development is related with group work and collaborative
practice within schools. If we want good educational practice we have to study how “teachers
relate to each other in the course of their daily work” (p. 15) and we have to construct collective
expectations: when expectations are collective they are factors for better achievement andperformance. Cole & Weinbaum (2010) in research conducted towards reform and the scale ofsuccess, have focused on reform related to teachers’ attitudes. More than their own individual
attributes, and more than new structures and materials a reform may bring to the school,teachers are influenced by the peers with whom they have formed relationship over time.
Johnson (1976) examines the relationship between school type and the participation andinfluence of teachers in school management, as well as between school type and the principal’s
influence in certain issues and professional interaction with teachers in elementary schools.
Johnson (1976) connects the word “influence” with power and control, which are born throughinterdependent relationships. According to Johnson, teachers involved in team teaching andjoint teaching demonstrated considerably more influence in school decisions on personnel,
administration, pupil management, curricula, and teaching methods than did teachers in schools
where there was no collaboration. In schools where there were many teams, much joint teachingand shared decision-making, principals as well as teachers felt more, rather than less,influential. The present study is grounded in the work of research that has studied social
relations that are created at school and their role in the scale of school performance (Elmore,
2008; Daly, 2010; Payne, 2011; Hess & Manno, 2011; Hill, Pierce and Guthrie, 1997, Johnson,1976).
MethodThe purpose of this study is to investigate the Teacher’s Influence Scale from their colleagues
and principals, as well as its relation with school performance in public schools of the Albanian
Educational System. Influence, in this study, is used according to Johnson (1976): The act ofbasically making the decision in question. Johnson examined teachers’ influence on four typesof decisions. This study takes into consideration only pupil management, focusing on
expectations regarding quality of achievement. There are three hypotheses:
H 1: Teachers are influenced by their colleagues and principals regarding expectations for thequality of pupil achievement.
H 2: Teaching years of experience are not significantly related to how influenced teachers areby their colleagues and principals.
	
  

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H 3: School performance is related to how influenced teachers are by colleagues and principals.
In order to test the hypotheses, a set of questions was developed, asking teachers to assess how
much they are influenced by their colleagues and principals. For this reason, the present study
used a short questionnaire with six items. The survey instrument comprised demographic andinfluence questions. The first three items are related to demography and included: age, teaching
years of experience, and gender. Two other items are related to influence by the colleagues andprincipal. Each of these items was scored into a Likert-type scale from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always);reliability for the influence: N = 2; Cronbach's Alpha .693. The items related to influence are:1.   Does your colleague influence your expectations regarding the quality of achievementof your pupil/student?
2.   Does your principal influence your expectations regarding the quality of achievementof your pupil/student?
The last item, the sixth, regarding the quality of school performance, was fulfilled by the
researcher according to the data collected from the Educational Directory. All thequestionnaires were administrated by the author, in order to minimize the validity problems
relating to interviewer variation and bias. The data were collected for a group of 428 Albanianteachers, teaching in low-secondary and high-secondary level, respectively: 214 teaching inschools with higher performance and 214 teaching in schools with lower performance. The
schools are, in total, 20: 10 schools with higher performance and 10 with lower performance.
For each city (Tirana, Kamëz, Elbasan and Shkodra) the number of chosen schools are 4 (2 foreach level of performance), except Tirana city (8 schools in total, 4 of each level of
performance). The sample consisted of: 332 Women (77.6 %), 58 Men (13.6 %); 38 (8.9 %failed to reply).
SampleData for age (4 groups), teacher years of experience (5 groups) and the statistic regarding thesample are in the tables below (1, 2 and 3). The sample is composed mostly of female teachers.
Table 1. Data regarding age of the sample
Age
Valid

21-30 years old (1)31-40 years old (2)41-50 years old (3)Over 51 years old (4)Total
Missing Without answer
Total

Frequency Percent
27
6.3
143
33.4
161
37.6
94
22.0
425
99.3
3
.7
428
100.0

	
  

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Valid %
6.4
33.6
37.9
22.1
100.0

Cumulative %
6.4
40.0
77.9
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Table 2. Data regarding the teacher years of experience of the sample
Teacher years of experienceValid
1-5 years (1)6-10 years (2)11-20 years (3)21-30 years (4)Over 31 years (5)Total
Missing Without answer
Total

Frequency Percent
35
8.2
60
14.0
146
34.1
116
27.1
59
13.8
416
97.2
12
2.8
428
100.0

Valid %
8.4
14.4
35.1
27.9
14.2
100.0

Cumulative %
8.4
22.8
57.9
85.8
100.0

Table 3. Statistics
School performancehigher or lower
N
Valid
428
Missing0Mean1.5000Median1.5000
Minimum
1.00
Maximum
2.00
Percentiles 25
1.0000501.500075
2.0000Gender Age
390
38
1.14871.00001.00
2.00
1.00001.00001.0000Teacher yearsof experience
425
416
3
12
2.7576 3.2500
3.0000 3.0000
1.00
1.00
4.00
5.00
2.0000 3.0000
3.0000 3.0000
3.0000 4.0000

Results
Teacher-Teacher Influence and Teacher-Principal Influence: Results of Questionnaire
Table 4 shows the mean, median and mode of all teachers’ reports, independent of the type ofschool performance. In each of the columns are reports for both kinds of influence: teachers
from colleagues and from the principals.
Table 4. Mean, median and mode of teachers reporting
Statistics

Teacher-teacher influence, Teacher-principal influence, for:for: "expectations regarding "expectations regarding thethe quality of achievement quality of achievement of yourof your pupil"
pupil"
N
Valid
406
408
Missing 22
20
Mean
2.51972.1789Median2.00002.0000
a
Mode
2.00
2.00
a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown
Tables 5 and 6 show the ranking answers with: frequency, percent, valid and cumulative
percent. The responses are divided in two tables: table 5 teacher-teacher influence and table 6teacher-principal influence. Important differences among these influences are apparent. The
great majority of teachers perceived themselves to be “never” and “rarely” influenced by their

	
  

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colleagues and principals. 22.9 of teachers report that they never are influenced by theircolleagues and 31.1% of teachers report that they never are influenced by their principals.
At the other extreme are the answers “always” and “very often.” 2.3 % of teachers report thatthey always are influenced by the principals regarding setting expectations for the quality ofachievement of their pupils and 4.7 % of them report that they are “always” influenced by theircolleagues for the same issue.
Table 5. Ranking answers for teacher-teacher influence
Teacher-teacher influence, for: "expectations regarding the quality ofachievement of your pupil"
Frequency Percent Valid % Cumulative %
Valid
Never
98
22.9
24.1
24.1
Rarely
109
25.5
26.8
51.0
Sometimes
109
25.5
26.8
77.8
Very often
70
16.4
17.2
95.1
Always
20
4.7
4.9
100.0
Total
406
94.9
100.0
Missing Without answer 22
5.1
Total
428
100.0
Table 6. Ranking answers for teacher-principal influence
Teacher-principal influence, for: "expectations regarding the quality ofachievement of your pupil"
Frequency Percent Valid %Cumulative %
Valid
Never
127
29.7
31.1
31.1
Rarely
148
34.6
36.3
67.4
Sometimes
76
17.8
18.6
86.0
Very often
47
11.0
11.5
97.5
Always
10
2.3
2.5
100.0
Total
408
95.3
100.0
Missing
Without answer 20
4.7
Total
428
100.0
Correlation of Influence with Other Variables: Teacher Years of Experience and Age
In these data, gender is excluded because the sample is mostly from females. The results of thequestionnaire show the absence of any correlation between influence and teacher years ofexperience and between influence and age. These variables do not play any important role inthe scale of influence.

	
  

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Table 7. Correlation with teacher years of experience and age
Correlation

Teacher-teacher Teacher-principal Teacher Age
influence:
influence:years of"expectations, "expectations,experience
quality ofquality ofachievement of achievement of
your pupil"
your pupil"
1.532**
.035
-.015
.000
.488
.757

TeacherPearson CorrelationteacherSig. (2-tailed)influence:
Sum of Squares and557.342"expectations Cross-products
the quality of Covariance
1.376
achievement N
406
of your pupil"
TeacherPearson Correlation .532**
principal
Sig. (2-tailed).000
influence:
Sum of Squares and260.815"expectations Cross-products
the quality of Covariance.662
achievement N
395
of your pupil"

260.815

18.177-6.355

.662

.046

-.016

395

395

403

1

.014
.773

-.022
.653

467.939

6.899-8.272

1.150

.017

-.020

408

397

405

In the data collected regarding teaching years of experience (Tables 8a and 8b), teachers with
1-5 years (Table 8a) of experience have the more significant and interesting data: 35.3% ofthem report they are never influenced by their colleagues and 0% of them report they are always
influenced by their colleagues. The same could be said (Table 8b), for this group of teaching
years, about the influence from their principals. 34.3% of them report they are never influenced
by their principals and 0% of them report they are always influenced by their principals.
Teachers with over 31 years of experience are more accepting of these two kinds of influences:
9.1% report they are always influenced by their colleagues and 7.3% report they are always
influenced by their principals. But in all groups of teaching years of experience, the answers
are mostly “never” and “rarely” regarding the influence from both colleagues and principals(see Figure 1 for Teacher-teacher influence according to teaching years of experience).

	
  

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Table 8a. Teacher-teacher influence according to teaching years of experience
Crosstab
Teaching years of experience
Influence: “expectations of the quality of
1-5
6-10
11-20 21-30
achievement of your pupil”
years years years years
Teacher- Never
Count
12
11
32
28
teacher% within teaching
35.3% 19.6% 22.7% 25.7%
years
Rarely
Count
5
12
46
30
% within teaching
14.7% 21.4% 32.6% 27.5%
years
Sometimes Count
9
20
39
27
% within teaching
26.5% 35.7% 27.7% 24.8%
years
Very often Count
7
13
16
19
% within teaching
20.6% 23.2% 11.3% 17.4%
years
Always
Count
1
0
8
5
% within teaching
2.9% 0.0% 5.7% 4.6%
years
Total
Count
34
56
141
109
% within teaching
100% 100% 100% 100%
years

Total
over 31years
13
96
23.6% 24.3%
13106

23.6% 26.8%
11106

20.0% 26.8%
1368

23.6% 17.2%
5

19

9.1%

4.8%

55

395

100%

100%

(Chi-square test: Pearson Chi-Square = 20.515a, df = 16, Asymp. Sig. 2-sided = .198, a. 3 cells(12.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.64.).

Figure 1. Teacher-teacher influence according to teaching years of experience

	
  

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Table 8b. Teacher-principal influence according to teaching years of experience
CrosstabInfluence, for: “expectations regarding
the quality of achievement of your pupil”
Teacher- NeverCount
principal% within teaching
years
RarelyCount% within teaching
years
SomeCounttimes% within teaching
years
Very
Count
often
% within teaching
years
Always Count% within teaching
years
Total
Count
% within teaching
years

1-5
years
12

Teaching years of experience
Total
6-10
11-20
21-30
over 31
years
years
years
years
14
41
37
19
123

34.3%

24.1%

29.9%

33.0%

34.5%

31.0%

12

20

55

39

20

146

34.3%

34.5%

40.1%

34.8%

36.4%

36.8%

8

19

24

17

6

74

22.9%

32.8%

17.5%

15.2%

10.9%

18.6%

3

5

14

17

6

45

8.6%

8.6%

10.2%

15.2%

10.9%

11.3%

0

0

3

2

4

9

0.0%

0.0%

2.2%

1.8%

7.3%

2.3%

35

58

137

112

55

397

100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%(Chi-square test: Pearson Chi-Square = 21.761a, df =16, Asymp. Sig. 2-sided = .151, a. 6 cells(24.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .79).
Teacher-Teacher and Teacher-Principal Influence Related to School Performance:
Results of the Questionnaire
The information presented in this section aims to evaluate the relation between teacher-teacher
and teacher-principal influence with school performance. Information is classified according
to school performance: schools with higher and lower performance. The evaluation of school
performance is based on the same criteria, but the schools are located in different cities ofAlbania (Tirana, Kamëz, Elbasan and Shkodra). Data on school performance were taken fromthe Educational Directory of each city. In Table 9a and 9b are data for the mean, median,standard deviation, standard error, 95% confidence interval for mean, minimum and maximum
and between-component variance. Schools with lower performance have a slightly greater
value for the teachers’ influence from their principals. Figures 2 and 3 show the medians forteacher-teacher influence and teacher-principal influence according to the level of school
performance.

	
  

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Table 9a. Data for the mean, median, standard deviation, standard error, 95% confidence
interval for mean (Min. = 1 and Max. = 5) and between-component variance for both kinds ofinfluence
Descriptive
Influence, for: "expectations
regarding the quality ofachievement of your pupil"
Teacherteacher

N

Schools with
204
higher perform.
Schools with202
lower perform.
Total
406
Model
Fixed
Effects
Rand.
Effects
Teacher- School with
206
principal higher perform.
influence School with202
lower perform.
Total
408
Model
Fixed
Effects
Rand.
Effects

Mean

Std.
Deviat.

Std.
Error

95% Confidence Betw.
Interval for
Comp.
Mean
Varian.
Lower Upper
Bound Bound

2.4755 1.05718 .07402

2.32952.62142.5644 1.28067 .09011

2.38672.74202.5197 1.17310 .05822

2.40532.6342

1.17370 .05825

2.40522.6342.05825a 1.7796a 3.2598a -.00284
2.0097 .93699.065281.88102.13842.3515 1.17190 .08245

2.18892.51412.1789 1.07225 .05308

2.07462.2833

1.05982 .05247

2.07582.2821.17089.0075

4.3503 .05290

Table 9b. Between and within group analysis
ANOVA
Influence, for: "expectations regarding thequality of achievement of your pupil"
Teacher-teacher
Between Groups
influenceWithin Groups
Total
Teacher-principal
Between Groups
influenceWithin Groups
Total

Sum ofSquaresdf

Mean
Square

F

Sig.

.802
556.541557.342
11.914456.025467.939

1
404
405
1
406
407

.802
1.378

.582

.446

11.914
1.123

10.607

.001

	
  

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Figure 2. Teacher-teacher influence for: “Quality of achievement of pupil” (Legend: school+with higher performance and school- lower performance)

Figure 3. Teacher-principal influence for “Quality of achievement of pupil” (Legend: school+with higher performance and school- lower performance)
Table 10 and Table 11 have detailed data for the answers: never, rarely, sometimes, very often
and always. The greatest tendency for both kinds of influence takes place in never, rarely andsometimes. The lowest percentage is for the answer: always.

	
  

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Table 10. Teacher-teacher influence, for: "expectations regarding the quality of achievementof your pupil”
CrosstabInfluence, for: "expectations regarding the quality ofachievement of your pupil"

Schoolperformance
Higher Lower

Teacher-teacher
influence

42
20.6%
65
31.9%
59
28.9%
34
16.7%
4
2.0%
204
100.0%

Total

Never

Count
% within school performance
Rarely Count% within school performanceSome- Count
times% within school performance
Very
Count
often
% within School performance
Always Count% within School performanceCount% within School performance

Total

56
98
27.7% 24.1%
44109
21.8% 26.8%
50
109
24.8% 26.8%
3670
17.8% 17.2%
16
20
7.9%
4.9%
202
406
100.0% 100.0%

School performance, results of questionnaire (Chi-square test: Pearson Chi-Square = 14.037a,
df = 4, Asymp. Sig. 2-sided = .007, a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The
minimum expected count is 9.95).
	  Table 11. Teacher-principal influence, for: "expectations regarding the quality of achievementof your pupil"	  Crosstab
School performance
Influence, for: "expectations regarding the quality ofHigher Lower
achievement of your pupil"
Teacher- Never
Count
68
59
principal% within school performance 33.0% 29.2%
influence Rarely
Count
87
61
% within school performance 42.2% 30.2%
Some-times Count
34
42% within school performance 16.5% 20.8%
Very often Count15
32% within school performance 7.3%
15.8%
AlwaysCount
2
8% within school performance 1.0%
4.0%
Total
Count
206
202
% within school performance 100.0% 100.0%

Total
127
31.1%
148
36.3%
76
18.6%
47
11.5%
10
2.5%
408
100.0%

School performance, results of questionnaire (Chi-square test: Pearson Chi-Square = 15.759a,
df = 4, Asymp. Sig. 2-sided = .003, a. 1 cells (10.0%) have expected count less than 5. The
minimum expected count is 4.95).

	
  

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Research Limitations
This study has some limitations:•   Schools were classified based on their performance. They were located in different cities,
and included in different Educational Directories. Although the criteria are the same, theschool performance of different cities is not always the same.
•   The limited number of items used on the questionnaire.
•   The perception of influence may have been different among teachers.
The study reports only the perceptions of' teachers about this issue. The principals’ view of thematter was not asked. An assumption is that, because all the reporters hold the same position,
their perception about the influence, at least regarding these issues, must be the same. Also,
this study focused on extreme cases: schools with the higher and lower performance. Even withthese limitations, empirical studies such as this help examine what happens at the school level.
For if we want improvements on a large scale, we have to go to the schools and study themfrom inside (Elmore, 2008).
Discussion and Conclusions
In this study, influence is examined from teacher to teacher and from principal to teacher, for
an important issue: the quality of expectations for pupils’ achievement. In order to test thetheory that a greater degree of influence is related to better decision making, achievement andattitudes towards influence, were considered.
H 1: Teachers are influenced by their colleagues and principals regarding the
expectations for the quality of pupil achievement
Pearson correlation for the two items of influence is 0.532. The results show that the teachers
are influenced, in average terms, more from their colleagues than from the principals,
respectively. The scale of teachers influence, regarding the expectations for the quality ofpupil’s achievement by their colleagues and principals, is very low. About the influence ofprincipals, Johnson (1976) argued that “he needs only a few good communication links rather
than many in order to be reasonably well informed and to exert influence by making his ideas
and his judgment known.” These links, in the case of principals of Albanian Public schools,
seem that they are in this level: only 2.5% of the teachers say that are always influenced byprincipals and 11.5% very often. 31.1% of the teachers declared that they are never influenced
by their principals. In Johnson’s study, the result about principals’ influence regarding pupil
achievement is 41% (N = 77 out of 188). In the case of Albanian schools, if we group all theanswers: sometimes, very often and always, this is altogether 128 teachers or 32.3% of thesample. So, regarding the teachers’ perception, only 32.3 % report that they are influenced bytheir principals. The situation is a little bit better in the case of teacher-teacher influence.
H 2: Teaching years of experience are not significantly related to how influenced teachers
are by their colleagues and principals
The Chi-Square test had a reasonable value 20.515 (df =16), although this value was not
significant. According to Fox (2003: 303) for df = 16, Chi-Square must be a value of 26.296(.05). Pearson Correlation and sig. (2 tailed) confirmed the same.
H 3: School performance is related to how influenced teachers are by colleagues andprincipals
In the case of Albanian Public schools, both kinds of influences are very low. It’s worthwhile
to note that the influence from the colleagues and principals on teachers from schools with
	
  

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lower performance represent a better value (although slight). More than results of collective
teacher and principal effort, school success is the result of other factors, including, but not only,
the school community background. Further study also might explore another issue for Albanianpublic schools: the instability of principals. In almost all the schools, the principals wereassigned recently, mostly after the last political election. Even after 25 years of transition, theprincipal position continues to be political and is under the influence of different politicalparties. Further studies might explore how school improvement is perhaps related to theabsence of teachers' desire to set up close collaboration with principals, which makes theteachers’ profession more isolated and potentially undermines school performance.

	
  

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References
Cole, R., & Wienbaum, E. (2010). Changes in attitude: Peer influence in high school reform.
In
A. J. Daly (Ed.). Social network theory and educational change (pp.
77-95). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.
Daly, A. J. (2010). Social network theory and educational change. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard Education Press.
Dewey, J. (2007). Social control. In R. Curren (Ed.), Philosophy of Education. An Anthology(pp. 368-371). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Elmore, R. F. (2008). School reform from the inside out. Policy, Practice and Performance.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.
Fox, W. (2003). Social statistics. A text using micro case. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group,Thomson Learning, Inc.
Hess, F. M., & Manno, B. V. (Eds.). (2011). Customized schooling. Beyond whole-school
reform. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.
Hill, P., Pierce, L. C., & Guthrie, J. W. (1997). Reinventing public education. How contracting
can transform America's schools. University Chicago Press.
https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226336534.001.0001
Inspektorati Shtetëror i Arsimit (IShA), (2014). Karta e performancës së shkollës. Tiranë:Ministria e Arsimit dhe e Sporteve.
Johnson, R. (1976). Teacher collaboration, principal influence and decision making inelementary schools. Technical report No. 48. Stanford University, Stanford Center for
Research and Development in Teaching. Retrieved January 05, 2016 fromhttp://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED126083.pdf.
Johnson, C., & Kolderie, T. (2011). Will policy let demand drive change? In F. M. Hess &B.V. Manno (Eds.), Customized Schooling. Beyond whole-school reform (pp. 173-190).
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.
OECD (2010). PISA 2009 Results: Overcoming social background – Equity in learning
opportunities and outcomes. Volume II.
Payne, C. M. (2011). So much reform, so little change. The persistence of failure in urban
schools. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.

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Exemplary Chinese University Professors: Qualities and Impact onStudents

Eugene P. Kim and Mathias Olson

	
  

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Abstract
This study focuses on the qualities of Chinese university professors as perceived by theirstudents and the effects of those qualities on student learning and motivation. Specifically, what
qualities and personal characteristics do Chinese university students attribute to their favorite
and least favorite professors, and how do those qualities and characteristics affect Chinese
university students? Out of 280 students surveyed from three different universities, 226
surveys were completed, returned and included in the final analysis (response rate of 80.7%).
The research found that Chinese students favored professors who are entertaining, who help
them learn more and who provide them with helpful feedback on their assignments. Students
disfavor professors who are boring, arrogant and do not provide helpful feedback or help themlearn more. Linear regressions revealed a connection between high quality professors andstudent learning and motivation. Along with other studies, this research provides evidence that
effective university professors are those who not only possess expertise in their fields, but in
addition are engaging, student-focused and able to build rapport with their students.
Keywords: teacher quality; teacher evaluation; characteristics of teachers; model teachers;
teacher impact; teacher-student relationship; student motivation; student-centered education;affect in education

	
  

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Introduction
Stemming from a Confucian worldview, teachers have historically been honored and reveredin Chinese society. Over the past 2,500 years, generations of students have dedicatedthemselves to arduous study in order to meet the rigorous requirements of China’s civil
examination systems (Hayhoe, 1984). The Confucian worldview places importance on ahierarchical form of obedience in which students are submissive to teachers as children would
be submissive to parents. It also places morality and memorization as the cornerstones oflearning. In the past, students who were able to memorize the classics and carry themselveswith a high standard of moral uprightness were granted high places in government offices (Lee,1985). Beginning in the mid-19th century, China was exposed to outside influence and internalreorganization (the end of several millenia of dynastic rule) resulting in tumultuous changes
that left no sector unscathed, including the education system. The invasion of foreign powers,
the tenuous Republican experiment, and the subsequent Communist liberation led to diverse
and numerous reforms in Chinese education that have impacted how students in China learn
today.
In contemporary China, the past few decades have ushered in even greater liberalization andexperimentation in Chinese education. Deng Xiaoping’s initiated the Reform Era in 1979,
characterized by modernization, globalization and economic reform. Education in the Reform
Era has experienced many changes in its own lifespan, but has generally been known for its
emphasis on competition (Parker & Parker, 1986). Nonetheless, these changes are not without
precedence as seen in the increase in household spending on education with the sole focus of
preparation for the Gaokao, the standardized test – much like the civil examinations in the past
– taken at the end of a student’s high school career. The exam determines the higher education
prospects for and potential future earnings of each student. Competition is also seen in the
opening up of the private education sector with a plethora of private schools and test
preparation centers expanding throughout China. Some of these Chinese education companies
such as Xueda Education Group and New Oriental Education & Technology Group haverecord-breaking IPOs on the US stock exchange.
Teachers in China have traditionally been trained and expected to teach to the test; to help
students memorize the information that is needed to do well on what will be the most important
test of their lives. Recently however, research has indicated that rote memorization andstandardized testing may not be the all-encompassing indicator of a productive or successful
individual (Zhao & Ting, 2013). Although Chinese students rank high in standardized testscores when compared to the rest of the world (Al Jazeera, 2013), their perceived ability toinnovate and think creatively is lacking. This is seen in China’s Ministry of Education’s desire
to improve critical thinking skills (Ministry of Education, 2001). The traditional Chinese“virtuoso” teacher (Paine, 1990), a teacher with a vast knowledge base who teaches students
to recite what he knows, is becoming less relevant in an increasingly globalized China.
As education in China changes, so does the concept of good teaching. Tam, Heng and Jiang(2009) noted that Chinese official policy have pushed toward a jiaoren (to teach the people)
view of teaching and away from a jiaoshu (to teach books) view. Although some teachers andprofessors still hold to a more traditional view of what good teaching ought to be (Walsh &Maffei, 1994), there is a notable move towards student-centered teaching. Countries that haveembraced a more student-centered methodology of teaching correlate with higher levels ofcritical thinking skills developed in their students (Socha & Sigler, 2012), where teachers focus
on intrinsic motivation, learning for understanding, and open-ended instruction.

	
  

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Primary Research Question
The purpose of this study is to examine university student perceptions of teacher quality incontemporary China. What are Chinese university students' perceptions of their professors’
characteristics? How do they believe their professors affect student outcomes? In this study,
teacher quality is defined as the teacher’s “personality traits that help to build strong rapport
with students and knowledge and skills about subject content, curriculum, and instruction”(Tam, Heng, & Jiang, 2009, p. 151). Specifically, the study aims to learn what characteristics
university students attribute to exemplary and non-exemplary professors and how this might
affect their academic performance.
Other Research Questions to Consider
The study also aims to know the reasons behind student preferences and whether specificprofessor characteristics influence the academic performance of their students. Do students
work harder for professors they like? Do they learn more in their favorite professors’ classes?
What is the significance of student and teacher relationships? What do Chinese university
students value in their professors? A study done by Tam, Heng and Jiang (2009) suggested thatstudents in contemporary China are seeking not only a transformation of the mind, but also of
the heart, arguing for the importance of student-teacher relationships and affective teaching in
China.
This study is particularly relevant to university human resources offices in China and those
who make decisions regarding faculty hiring, training and supervision, as these results provide
evidence of characteristics and qualities that are prefered by and positively impact Chinese
university students. University faculty, particularly those primarily engaged in teaching, may
benefit greatly from the same results, which if applied can make them more effective in theclassroom and increase student learning and motivation. Research in this field is wellestablished in the West, but is relatively sparse in Asia, thus the results of this study can beused as a springboard for future research in the area of teacher effectiveness, teacher
qualification, and student impact.
Literature Review
Student Motivation
Student motivation is one of the most powerful determinants of student success in theclassroom (Dorneyi, 1994; 2000; Jung, 2011; Oxford & Shearin, 1994; Williams, 1994). It
greatly influences student involvement and achievement (Rugutt & Chemosit, 2009). When
students are not motivated, they fail to grasp the concepts being taught. This is reflected in theirgrades and feedback from their instructors (Gan, Humphreys, & Hamp-Lyons, 2004). There isa wide range of motivation types and consequently varied approaches to motivating students.
In this study, motivation will be categorized into two types, extrinsic and intrinsic. The study
will primarily deal with intrinsic motivation and how teachers play a role in intrinsicallymotivating students. Teachers also provide extrinsic rewards such as grades or special
treatment for high academic performance and participation.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation can be defined as the energy and desire one directs towards a certain task;
it is fueled by the possibility of external gains such as money, good grades, rewards, praise,and so on (Brown, 2007; Rugutt & Chemosit, 2009). Extrinsic motivation is also fueled by the

	
  

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avoidance of punishment (Brown, 2007). Many students are motivated extrinsically throughgrades, praise from their instructors, and the prospect of securing a good job in the future (Pratt,Agnello, & Santos, 2009; Rugutt & Chemositt, 2009). Extrinsic motivation helps to pushstudents toward a goal when there is a loss of intrinsic motivation. A study by Pratt et al. (2009)
found that the strongest motivator among Spanish language students to continue taking Spanishclasses was grades. In addition, students who received high marks persisted in studying thelanguage because they thought it would be relevant for their future and they felt competent in
the task of learning Spanish (Pratt et al., 2009). Another extrinsic motivator, which may also
be categorized as intrinsic, is personal relationships. Students are motivated by the relationships
they have with other students and faculty (Pratt et al., 2009; Rugutt & Chemosit, 2009). It is
however unclear as to whether relationships qualify as an extrinsic or intrisic motivator. Do
students achieve for the sake of developing positive relationships, or do existing positive
relationships intrinsically motivate them to achieve? Furthermore, do positive relationships
correlate with academic success and learning?
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation represents the energy and desire directed toward a particular task; it isfueled by an innate sense of satisfaction (Brown, 2007; Rugutt & Chemosit, 2009). Intrinsic
motivation is often stronger than extrinsic motivation, as it does not require an external reward
or punishment, rather, it involves innate desires which are typically more stable and enduring.
Students who desire to learn often have a high aptitude for a certain subject, prior knowledge,strong attention skills, and strong critical thinking skills; based on such intrinsic motivators,
they also have a statistically greater chance of academic success (Rugutt & Chemositt, 2009;
Socha & Sigler, 2012). This makes academic choice an important factor in motivating students.
Teachers and Students
The interaction between teachers and students has a noticeable effect on students’ motivations,attitudes, and success (Micari & Pazos, 2012). In more difficult university courses, students
may have less peer support and must rely on the relationships they have with their professor(Micari & Pazos, 2012). However, the impact of student–teacher interaction stretches beyond
difficult courses. Greater and more positive student–teacher interaction results in more engaged
students and a higher academic self-concept (Komarraju, Musulkin, & Bhattacharya, 2010;
Micari & Pazos, 2012; Umbach & Wawrzynski, 2005). When considering this interaction, it isimportant to take into account the relationships that teachers develop with their students andthe effects these relationships have.
Teachers’ Relationships with Students
Human interaction has consequences that influence the behaviors and outcomes of ourselves
and others. In academia, it is no different. In the context of an organic chemistry course, a study
by Micari and Pazos (2012) revealed that students who felt they had a positive relationshipwith their professor scored higher in the course than those who felt they did not have a positive
relationship. In that study, the researchers defined a positive relationship as “looking up to theprofessor, feeling comfortable approaching the professor, and feeling that the professor
respects the students.” In other words, according to Micari and Pazos (2012), positive
relationships are correlated to positive academic results.
Estepp and Roberts (2013) found a positive relationship between rapport and student
expectancy for success. Students who have good relationships with their professors tend to
	
  

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think they will succeed in class. However, the quality of the teacher–student relationshipdepends both on the teacher as well as the student.
Teachers’ Influence on Student Motivation
Studies have shown that an emphasis on student–faculty interaction, encouraging students,
providing positive feedback to students, developing personal connections with students, andcultivating a positive environment in the classroom all strongly affect student motivation(Rugutt & Chemosit, 2009; Hardre, 2012; Hardre, Sullivan, & Crowson, 2009; Tam, Heng, &Jiang, 2009). Positive teacher interactions with students are a statistically significant predictorof student motivation, thereby influencing positive academic change (Rugutt & Chemosit,2009). Motivational teachers are able to identify learning barriers and create effective strategies
to help their students overcome them, most often giving relevance to the subject matter,creating student interest and developing a genuine and personal connection with students(Hardre, 2012; Hardre & Sullivan, 2009). One study showed that uninteresting classes and lackof will to study discouraged students from learning (Jung, 2011). Another found that
overarching themes of caring and high expectations motivated at-risk adolescent students tograduate from high school (Rowan, 2013). Students respond to teachers who are genuinely
interested in them as individuals, not just an audience to relay information to.
Teacher Qualities
The personal and professional qualities and characteristics of teachers influence the motivationand output of students at all school levels (Gennerman, 2009; Liu & Meng, 2000; Miller, 1987;
Reynolds & Tedlie, 2000). Teachers who have positive social, professional, and organizational
qualities tend to have students that are more likely to be motivated and produce quality learning
outcomes (Buchanan, 2007; Liu & Meng, 2009; Miller, 1987; Reynolds & Tedlie, 2000; Tamet al., 2009). When teachers are unorganized, unprofessional, apathetic, and boring, student
learning outcomes and motivation are negatively affected (Foote, Vermette, Wisniewski,
Agnello, & Pagano, 2000; Strickland, 1998). It is important to consider the personal andprofessional qualities of a teacher in light of the motivation and learning outcomes of students.
Characteristics of Exemplary Teachers
Great teaching is instruction communicated to students that is effectively processed by students
and applied to their studies and life. According to students in a study by Miller (1987),
exemplary teachers have contagious enthusiasm, time for student questions and comments,
control of the classroom pace, and competency in their chosen field. They are humorous,
encouraging, patient, caring, creative, and challenging. Effective teaching processes include
time management, classroom organization (preparing lessons in advance), explaining the
purpose and structure of the lesson, using effective teaching practices, and adapting practices
to different sets of learners (Liu & Meng, 2009; Reynolds & Tedlie, 2000). Exemplary teachers
put forth a persistent effort to see students achieve and want to grow in their own profession as
well (Gennerman, 2009).
Exmplary teachers possess a set of both internal and external characteristics. These internal
characteristics include a strong view of self, a positive view of others and the work of teaching,use of humor in the classroom, desire to learn continuously, and commitment to giving students
what they need (Gennerman, 2009). In conjunction, exemplary teachers possess the following
external characteristics: working in a risk-taking environment, using research-based practices,having a strong connection with students, and working together with colleagues and

	
  

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administration. Numerous studies support these findings, reporting that exemplary teachers
have a strong connection with their students, are humorous in class, and tend to be positive(Buchanan, 2007; Liu & Meng, 2009; Miller, 1987; Reynolds & Tedlie, 2000; Tam et al.,2009).
In contrast, weak teachers do not have adequate knowledge of the subject they are teaching,have poor classroom control, act unprofessionally, focus on inappropriate teaching goals or
have no goals at all, and emphasize methods rather than students (Foote et al., 2000; Strickland,1998). Poor teachers make students dislike the subject matter by making it seem boring or
irrelevant (Foote et al., 2000). One obvious characteristic that weak teachers share isinconsistency (Foote et al., 2000; Strickland, 1998). They may be too strict at times and toolenient at other times, often emotionally temperamental and lacking self-control whendisplaying their displeasure with students. Weak teachers do not work well with theircolleagues and administration and are found to be lazy (Foote et al., 2000). Many of thecharacteristics of examplary teachers are the opposite of those of weak teachers.
Chinese Student Perceptions of Teachers
Student performance is influenced by their perceptions of and interactions with their teachers(Buchanan, 2007; Hardre, 2012; Hardre & Sullivan, 2009; Rugutt & Chemosit, 2009; Tam etal., 2009). In China, these effects are comparable with undergraduate students reporting thatthey desire teachers who are enthusiastic about their class, have a sense of humor, arecompetent, show a certain degree of expertise, are caring, are entertaining, use different
teaching methods, are able to communicate effectively, are fair and approachable, are able to
make students feel smart, are organized, use relevant material, lead lively discussions, andencourage students to be creative (Levy & Peters, 2002; Mu, 2002; Tam et al., 2009). Mu(2002) classified qualities of a good teacher into three categories, namely personality,competence, and delivery. Medical students in Mu’s (2002) study reported that their favorite
teachers were those who possessed these qualities. Although some of these attributes arecongruent with the traditional view of a Chinese teacher, many have been influenced by reformand globalization. Chinese undergraduate students in the 21st century have the world at theirfingertips. Because of the internet, different social and political ideologies are a finger click
away. They exercise a greater amount of freedom than their parents and have not experienced
major social or political commotion in their lifetime (Tam et al., 2009). These factors, among
others, influence what Chinese undergraduate students want from their professors. Students
want teachers who are competent and knowledgeable, genuinely interested in the subject, andchallenge their thinking. They want a close relationship with their teacher (Buchanan, 2007).
In contrast, students do not want teachers and professors who are arrogant, selfish, and teachdirectly from the book (Buchanan, 2007; Hardre, 2012; Hardre & Sullivan, 2009, National
Public Radio [NPR], 1977). They want to be interested in the subject they are studying, andthey want their teachers to make the subject interesting.
Methodology
Approach
Empirical survey research, soliciting both quantitative and qualitative data, was utilized forthis study. Data was collected from January to March, 2014 in Shanghai.

	
  

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Sampling
This study used convenience sampling and purposive sampling, similar to the sampling
employed by Tam et al. (2009). Surveys were sent out to three different universities inShanghai, and Chinese students ages 18–36 were recruited as participants. The sampling was
focused on students who had completed at least one year of university, as their responses would
more likely reflect their experience with higher education rather than secondary schooling. The
participants were limited to English majors or those with a sufficient command of the English
language as the survey was written in English. Students in English elective courses on thecampuses of Chinese universities were surveyed. In addition, participants were solicited in hightraffic areas of the campus. The total number of surveys distributed was 279. Only 226 surveys
were completed thoroughly enough to be suitable for analysis.
Instrument
Participants were asked to provide demographic information such as their age, gender, major,
average grade point average (GPA), home province, and year of school. They were then asked
to identify the ethnicity of their favorite teacher and their least favorite teacher, the subjects
they taught, and three qualities to describe each of the two teachers. A five-­‐point Likert scale
was then employed to determine whether students completely disagreed or completely agreed
with a set of 10 statements about their favorite professor and their least favorite professor. The
first five statements were about professor characteristics: expertise, caring, entertaining, highexpectations, and good lecturing ability . The next five statements focused on student feelingsin the class: feeling smarter, learning more, feeling respected, receiving helpful feedback, andtrying harder. The final question was open ended and asked students to finish the statement
taken from the survey by Tam et al. in their 2009 study: “I wish my university professor
would…” The surveys were anonymous and the information provided was given voluntarily.
Similar to Tam et al. (2009), the qualitative data collected were analyzed, coded, andcategorized according to similar words, phrases, and sentences. Descriptives and regressions
were applied to the quantitative data.
Demographics
Age of Participants
The youngest student surveyed was 18 years old and the oldest was 36 years old at the time ofthe survey. The range of ages spanned 18 years. The mean age of students surveyed was 21.5
years (SD=2.8). The median age of students surveyed was 20.5 years. The mode age of students
surveyed was 20 years.
Gender of Participants
Of the students surveyed, 55% (119) were male and 45% (97) were female. Ten respondents
did not answer the gender question on the survey. In 2009, the ratio between males to femalesin Shanghai was 103–107 males to every 100 females (Caguioa, 2010), and between 50.3%
and 51.9% of college admissions in China were female in 2013 (Xinhuanet.com, 2013). The
data collected slightly exceeded the normal population distribution as reported by Caguioa(2010). It was also off by approximately 5% in relation to the male to female ratio among
students in Chinese universities.

	
  

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Household Income of Participants
The average Chinese national monthly income is 2,600 RMB; however, Shanghai has a higher
average monthly income, at 3,200 RMB (NY Times, 2013). The vast majority of student
households earned above the national average of 2,600 RMB per month. In fact, they earned
more than double the national average. Only 16% (30) of participants’ families earned similar
to or less than the national average. Exactly 84% (152) of participant’ families earned morethan the national monthly average, while 51% of participants’ families earned more than double
the national monthly average. The average monthly income in China varies greatly dependingon location (rural or urban, coastal or inland) and educational background (Gaokao, college
graduates). It is expected that their status as elite university students contributes to the higher
than average family income ranges.
Participants’ Majors
Student majors were broken down into seven categories, which included medical,
humanities/communications, engineering/technology, language, life/physical sciences, math,or economics/business majors. The medical major category included nursing, pre-med, surgery
and gynecology students. Humanities included law, art history, and philosophy. Language
majors (of which there were only 10; 5% of the sample) were studying Chinese language,
English, and teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages. Life and physical science majors
included biology, physics, chemistry, and anatomy. Math and economics/business majors wereself-inclusive. Of the 226 students surveyed, 28 (12%) left the question of college major blank,
which left the participant pool at N=198. Most of the students were majoring in the fields oftechnology/engineering (33%) and medicine (29%). As stated above, only 5% of participantsstudied a language. However, the lowest percentages were found in economics/business andmath, only 8% of the sample.
Data Analysis
The following data reveals what undergraduate college students in Shanghai think of theirfavorite and least favorite teachers visualized through frequency tables and descriptive
statistics. The goal during analysis was to determine the qualities of students’ favorite teachers
and least favorite teachers and identify attributes that favorite teachers have in common with
one another and that least favorite teachers have in common with one another. Frequency tables
show how common answers were distributed among survey participants.
Favorite Professors
The first five items related to characteristics of favorite professors and the next five related to
how favorite professors made students feel. The first five items were as follows:“My favorite professor is an expert in his/her field,”“My favorite professor cares about students,”“My favorite professor is entertaining,”“My favorite professor has high expectations of his/her students,”“My favorite professor is a strong lecturer.”
Students indicated greatest agreement concerning three characteristics of favorite teachers,
namely expertise (85%), being entertaining (84%), and caring (83%).
The next five statements concerning favorite professors were directed at how the professors
made the student feel and act. These statements were as follows:
	
  

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“As a student, I feel smarter in my favorite professor’s class,”“I learn more in my favorite professor’s class,”“I feel respected by my favorite professor,”“I receive helpful feedback from my favorite professor,”“I try harder for my favorite professor.”
Students indicated greatest agreement with three effects on students, as follows: feelingrespected (82%), learning more (79%), and receiving helpful feedback (78%).
Linear Correlations for Respondents’ Favorite Professor
As seen in Table 1, the mean scores for favorite professor characteristics ranked expertise in
the field as the highest ranked (mean = 4.34, s.d.=0.99). Entertaining (mean = 4.28, s.d. =1.04) and cares about students (mean = 4.23, s.d. = 0.98) rank second and third. Ranking bymean score ran parallel to the results of frequencies measuring agreement with the samecharacteristics of favorite professors.
In addition, we measured means and standard deviations of questions evaluating students’
perceptions of the effect that favorite professors had on them. As seen in Table 1, amongst thefive questions, students rated “feeling respected” highest (mean = 4.21, s.d. = 1.03), followedby “learning more” (mean = 4.19, s.d. = 1.01) and “receiving helpful feedback” (mean = 4.12,
s.d. = 0.99). Similarly, these rankings by mean scores were identical to the rankings whenmeasuring agreement with the respective set of questions measuring student perceptions offavorite professors’ effects on student outcomes.
Table 1. Means and standard deviations of how participants think and feel about their favorite
professors
Teacher Quality
Expert in the Field
Cares about Students
Entertaining
Has High Expectations
Strong Lecturer
Professor’s Effect on Student
Feeling Smarter
Learn MoreFeel Respected
Receive Helpful Feedback
Try Harder

Mean
4.34
4.23
4.28
4.07
4.15

Standard Deviation(0.99)(0.98)(1.04)(0.99)(1.01)

3.89
4.19
4.21
4.12
4.04

(1.02)(1.01)(1.03)(0.99)(1.03)

Participant responses were measured on a Likert scale where 1=completely disagree and 5=completely agree.

	
  Analyzing for relationships between the questions measuring favorite professor qualities andthose measuring effect of favorite professors, a linear correlation was conducted with thefollowing results (see Table 2).

	
  

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Table 2. Correlations between five teacher qualities and five effects on participants for favorite
professors
Measures1.   Expertise2.   Caring
3.   Entertaining
4.   Expectations
5.   Good Lecturer
6.   Feel Smarter7.   Learn More
8.   Feel Respected9.   Good Feedback
10.  Try Harder

1
0.68
0.62
0.57
0.64
0.57
0.59
0.63
0.58
0.55

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0.68
0.58
0.61
0.58
0.57
0.68
0.61
0.56

0.46
0.61
0.55
0.50
0.61
0.51
0.45

0.59
0.44
0.39
0.51
0.45
0.44

0.58
0.56
0.52
0.59
0.56

0.63
0.51
0.52
0.51

0.64 0.64 0.69 0.62 0.59 0.66 -Participant responses were measured on a Likert scale where 1 = completely disagree and 5 = completely
agree.
All p-values < 0.05.

As seen in Table 2, all questions measuring favorite teachers’ qualities revealed a moderatecorrelation with questions measuring student perceptions of favorite teachers’ affect on student
outcomes (with correlation coefficents ranging from r = 0.39 to r = 0.68, p < 0.05). The
strongest correlations were seen between feeling respected and caring (r = 0.68, p < 0.05),
feeling respected and expertise (r = 0.63, p < 0.05), feeling respected and entertaining (r = 0.61,
p < 0.05) and good feedback and caring (r = 0.61, p < 0.05). Caring had the highest averagecorrelation with student outcomes (rave = 0.60, p < .05). High expectations had the weakest
average correlation with student outcomes (rave = 0.45, p < .05).
Favorite Professor Qualities
Student participants were asked to name three qualities of their favorite professor. Throughopen and selective coding, nine types of qualities that students attributed to their favorite
professor were identified. These were as follows: appearance, ease, enthusiasm, experience,
entertaining, intelligence, professional skills, personal relationship, and negative qualities.

	
  

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Frequency	
  of	
  Participant	
  Response	
  in	
  %

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35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Figure 1. Percentage of all responses to the prompt “Name three qualities of your favorite
professor” (N = 207).
When we aggregated all three responses from each student (see Figure 1), relational connection(32%) and keeping students interested (24%) were the top ranked characteristics offered by
students.
Least Favorite Professors
The first five items in this section of the survey related to characteristics of least favorite
professors and the next five related to how least favorite professors made students feel. The
first five items were as follows:“My least favorite professor is an expert in his/her field,”“My least favorite professor cares about students,”“My least favorite professor is entertaining,”“My least favorite professor has high expectations of his/her students,”“My least favorite professor is a strong lecturer.”
For the majority of students, their least favorite professors lacked all of the qualities that theirmost favorite professors possessed. Out of the five characteristics, expertise was ranked themost prevalent characteristic (45%) for least favorite professors. However, only 19% of
students agreed that their least favorite professor was entertaining. Likewise, less than one thirdof participants agreed that their least favorite professor was caring (28%), had highexpectations (29%) or was a good lecturer (30%).
The next five statements concerning least favorite professors were directed at how the professor
made the student feel and act. These statements were as follows:“As a student I feel smarter in my least favorite professor’s class,”“I learn more in my least favorite professor’s class,”“I feel respected by my least favorite professor,”“I receive helpful feedback from my least favorite professor,”“I try harder for my least favorite professor.”
	
  

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There was no effect that reached the threshold of 25% of the sample. The greatest agreement
was found for the responses “feel respected” (24%) and “try harder” (23%). Relatively few
participants in the sample indicated agreement that their least favorite professor helped themto learn more (15%), feel smarter (16%) or receive helpful feedback (18%).
Linear Correlations for the Least Favorite Professor
As seen in Table 3, the mean scores for least favorite professor characteristics ranked expertisein the field as the highest ranked (mean = 3.33, s.d.= 1.71). High expectations (mean = 2.90,
s.d. = 1.20) and cares about students (mean = 2.80, s.d. = 1.13) rank second and third. Though
the highest ranked category remained the same, the mean scores largely differed from thefrequency analysis of agreement with the same characteristics of least favorite professors.
In addition, we measured means and standard deviations of questions evaluating students’
perceptions of the effect that least favorite professors had on them. As seen in Table 3, amongst
the five questions, students rated “feeling respected” highest (mean = 2.73, s.d. = 1.15),
followed by “try harder” (mean = 2.68, s.d. = 1.20) and “feel smarter” (mean = 2.55, s.d. =1.15). These rankings by mean scores were similar to the rankings when measuring agreementwith the respective set of questions measuring student perceptions of least favorite professors’
effects on student outcomes.
Table 3. Means and Standard Deviations of How Participants Think and Feel about Their Least
Favorite Professors
Teacher Quality
Mean
Standard Deviation
Expert in Field
3.33(1.71)
Cares about Students
2.80(1.13)
Entertaining
2.34(1.25)Has High Expectations
2.90(1.20)
Strong Lecturer
2.78(1.23)
Professor’s Effect onStudents
Feel Smarter
Learn MoreFeel Respected
Receive Good Feedback
Try Harder

2.55
2.53
2.73
2.54
2.68

(1.15)(1.17)(1.15)(1.16)(1.20)

Participant responses were measured on a Likert scale where 1=completely disagree and 5=completely agree.

Analyzing for relationships between the questions measuring least favorite professor qualities
and those measuring effect of least favorite professors, a linear correlation was conducted withthe following results (see Table 4).

	
  

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Table 4. Correlations between Five Teacher Qualities and Five Effects on Participants Related
to Least Favorite Professors
Measures1.   Expertise2.   Caring
3.   Entertaining
4.   Expectations
5.   Good Lecturer
6.   Feel Smarter7.   Learn More
8.   Feel Respected9.   Good Feedback
10.  Try Harder

1
0.53
0.28
0.40
0.50
0.23
0.27
0.35
0.33
0.35

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0.53
0.45
0.52
0.45
0.56
0.58
0.53
0.47

0.43
0.46
0.49
0.58
0.49
0.59
0.51

0.52
0.35
0.42
0.38
0.47
0.44

0.41
0.55
0.45
0.50
0.51

0.73
0.59
0.66
0.55

0.53 0.72 0.64 0.64 0.53 0.62 -Note. Participant responses were measured on a Likert scale with 1=completely disagree and 5=completely
agree.
All p-values = < 0.05.

As seen in Table 4, questions measuring favorite teachers’ qualities revealed a range ofcorrelation coefficients with questions measuring student perceptions of least favorite teachers’
affect on student outcomes (with correlation coefficents ranging from r = 0.23 to r = 0.59, p <0.05). The strongest correlations were seen between entertaining and good feedback (r = 0.59,
p < 0.05), entertaining and learn more (r = 0.58, p < 0.05), and caring and feel respected (r =0.58, p < 0.05). Caring had the highest average correlation with student outcomes (rave = 0.60,
p < .05). High expectations had the weakest average correlation with student outcomes (rave =0.45, p < .05).
Qualities of the Least Favorite Professor
Student participants were also asked to name three qualities of their least favorite professor.
Through open and selective coding, nine types of quality that students attributed to their least
favorite professor were found: poor appearance, difficult, irresponsibility, unfriendliness,dullness, arrogance, lack of qualifications, communication issues, and positive qualities.

	
  

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Frequency	
  of	
  Participant	
  Response	
  in	
  %

30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Figure 2. Percentage of all responses to the prompt, “Name three qualities of your favorite
professor” (N =164).
When we aggregate all three responses from each student (see Figure 2), boring (29%) is themost common characteristic attributed to least favorite professors by our sample.
Communications issues (13%), difficulty (13%), and arrogance (11%) were also common
responses offered by students.
Comparing Favorite and Least Favorite Professors
On average, students agreed that their favorite professors possessed the five positive
characteristics; at the same time, relatively few agreed that their least favorite professors
possessed those same characteristics. Likewise, most students agreed that their favorite
professors had effects on student outcomes, but the majority did not express agreement that
their least favorite professors had a similar effect.

	
  

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Percentage	
  of	
  Participants	
  in	
  Agreement

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90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Favorite	  Professor
Least	  Favorite	
  Professor

Figure 3. Percentage of participants in agreement or complete agreement with each of the fivestatements about the favorite and least favorite professors (N = 209).

Percentage	
  of	
  Participants	
  in	
  Agreement

As seen in Figure 3, there is a range, 40% to 65%, of gaps between characteristics of favorite
and least favorite professors. The gap between favorite and least favorite professors is greatest
in “entertaining” with a 65% difference. The characteristic with the smallest gap between
favorite and least favorite professors is “expertise” with a 40% difference.

90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Favorite	  Professor
Least	  Favorite	
  Professor
Effects	
  on	
  Participants

Figure 10. Percentage of participants in agreement or complete agreement with each of thefive statements about favorite and least favorite professors’ effects on students (N = 209).
As seen in Figure 10, there is a 43% to 53% gap between the impact of favorite and least
favorite professors. The gap between favorite and least favorite professors is greatest in “feelrespected” with a 53% difference. The characteristic with the smallest gap between favorite
and least favorite professors is “feel smarter” with a 43% difference.

	
  

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Conclusions
SummaryThis study examined Chinese university students’ perceptions of their professors’
characteristics. Students described their favorite professors as entertaining and caring experts
in their field; these results were confirmed by both means of responses as well as frequenciesof agreement. Similarly, two of those same characteristics were missing from students
descriptions of their least favorite professors: entertaining and caring; this was again confirmed
by both means of responses as well as frequencies of agreement. Finally, when we examine
responses to the open-ended question “Name three qualities of your favorite professor” we see
further confirmation. The top three most frequently cited qualities of favorite professors were:relational (similar to caring), keeps student interest (similar to entertaining), and professional
skill (simliar to expertise). Chinese university students, in summation, value professors who
are relational and caring, entertaining and interesting, skilled and experts.
We also examined how students believe their professors affect student outcomes. The results
based on an analysis of means of responses as well as frequencies of agreement, indicate thatprofessors influence students in divergent ways. Students expressed that they feel more
respected, learn more and receive helpful feedback from their favorite professors. They do not
express the same sentiment towards their least favorite professors, with the greatest differencein opinion in regards to feeling respected. In fact, every characteristic differed in agreement
by at least 45%.
In this study, we sought out to examine the relationship between professors’ chracteristics andstudent outcomes. Though all professors’ characteristics had moderate correlations withstudent outcomes, “caring” had the strongest correlations with student outcomes. “Feelingrespected” had the strongest correlations with professors’ characteristics.
Discussion
University students in China value many of the same characteristics that their peers all aroundthe world do. They value professors that are entertaining, caring and experts in their fields.
They expect these same professors to respect students, result in gains in student learning, andprovide helpful feedback.
The data reiterates the importance of student–faculty interaction, relationships and rapport.
Students also desire what previous studies have shown to be the characteristics of greatteachers. As mentioned above, Miller’s (1987) study demonstrated that great teachers havecontagious enthusiasm and time for student questions and comments. They are encouraging,patient, and caring (Miller, 1987). Students identified similar characteristics as desirable intheir professors. Enthusiasm, encouragement and care were all repeatedly listed by theparticipants as qualities of favorite professors.
Encouraging students, providing positive feedback, developing personal connections withstudents, and cultivating a positive environment in the classroom all positivitely andsignificantly affect student motivation (Hardre 2012; Hardre et al., 2009; Rugutt & Chemosit,
2009; Tam et al., 2009). The majority of students in our study desire professors who care about
them, show an interest in them, and give feedback that can profitably influence their learning.
When professors make their classes interesting and entertaining, it beneficially affects students’
intrinsic motivation.

	
  

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In addition to caring professors, those that were good lecturers and experts in their fields werehighly correlated with increased student learning and student effort. These results confirm thefindings of Foote et al. (2000) that demonstrate that students are motivated to learn when they
have teachers who understand their subject matter and can make learning relevant. More often
than not, educational rhetoric poses subject matter knowledge and pedagogy as the opposite
poles of a stark dichotomy. Rather, our results illustrate the two working in tandem along withpositive rapport with students.
Our conclusions are supported by additional qualitative data included at the end of the survey,
where participants were told to finish the sentence, “I wish my university professor would…”
Out of the 226 participants, 57% (N = 129) responded. Of those who gave a response, 30% (N= 68) of participants mentioned “fun,” “funny,” “humor,” “interesting,” or “entertaining.” Forexample, a 27-year-old male biology student stated, “I wish my university professor would befunny, knowledgeable and focus on the details of our class.” A 24-year-old male medical
student, made the following statement, “I wish my university professor would be an expert inhis or her field and organize the class very well… He should also be interesting.” Again,
Chinese university students wanted professors who were interesting, entertaining and experts
in their field. Several also desired interaction with their professors in and out of the classroom.
Despite these findings, many participants provided examples of extrinsic motivation in regards
to their perceptions and expectations of their professors, confirming the findings of Pratt et al.
(2009) and Rugutt and Chemosit (2009), who reported that many students are motivatedextrinsically, for example through grades and test scores.
Limitations
Among the possible confounding variables and limitations, we highlight the following three:cultural and linguistic bias, leading questions, and subjectivity of qualitative coding. The
surveys were distributed to Chinese university students in college-level English courses withthe assumption of their English ability based on their enrolment in the courses. It must be
noted, however, that it would be reasonable to expect some variability in English fluency andability. If the survey had been translated into Chinese, some of these concerns would be
mitigated. The likert scale questions, though based on the findings in the literature review,
could lead to results that were self-fulfilling. As seen in the results for the likert scale questions,frequencies of agreement were uniformly high as were the correlation coefficients. In our study,
we followed up with several open-ended questions which verified the results of our likert scalequestions. Expanding the list of characteristics to 10 or more would have potentially provided
greater variability in the results. The open-ended questions, although potentially more authentic
and valid, were subjectively coded and categorized. Again, the qualitative coding process was
systematic and informed by the literature review, but we admit the subjectivity of this approach.
Additional coders, checking for coding consistency, may have increased the reliability of thedata.
Implications
The extensions of this study are numerous and varied. Studies in other national and culturalcontexts could be applied and those results could be compared to ours. Additional
characteristics could be added so that a larger range of teacher qualities could be evaluated andcorrelated with student outcomes.
Admissions and recruiting offices would be advised to expand their application requirements
so that candidates would provide evidence not only of pedagogical and subject matter expertise,
	
  

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but in addition, demonstrate their capacity to develop rapport with students and their ability tomake learning interesting and engaging, screening out those who lack those key qualifications.
Pre- and in-service training may benefit from adding curriculum that develops compassion,
care and interpersonal skills in addition to strategies for infusing fun, excitement andengagement into their pedagogy.
We believe that the question of what makes an exemplary teacher is one that must becontinually and repeatedly asked. There are notions of teaching that persist through generations
and across contexts, but at the same time, these characteristics are not static but vary in theirappearance and outcomes. According to our data, exemplary teachers are those that care about
students, make learning interesting, and possess expertise in their field. Just a few decades ago,expertise may have had greater prominance compared to caring and entertaining as
characteristics of exemplary teachers. Most of us had a favorite teacher that stands out becauseof some set of traits or behaviors that impressed us, changed us, gave us a reason to learn. If
nothing more, our data confirms the value of teachers and their impact on our lives.

	
  

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Japanese University Athletes’ Dilemma: Study, Sport Performance, or
BothYoshihiko Yamamoto

	
  

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Abstract
The aims of this study were to investigate the Japanese university athletes’ dilemma ofmanaging both study and sport performance effectively, and to try to find answers to how theycan effectively manage both their study and sport club activities. Questionnaires were used inorder to collect the data (1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year students). A total of 216 responses werecollected. All participants of this study belonged to university sport clubs and they majored in
sport and health science at a private university in Japan. The data were both quantitatively andqualitatively analyzed. The results of questionnaires found university athletes in this study
showed two dilemmas. They were busy with their sport club activities and felt pressure toseriously participate in their club activities because they came to their university with a sport
recommendation. In order to support university athletes, this study discusses three suggestions
such as ensuring enough financial support for university athletes, promoting peer learning touniversity athletes, and collaborative work between university lecturers and sport club teamcoaches.
Keywords: university athletes; study and sport performance

	
  

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Introduction
In Japan, some university sports such as baseball and marathon relay are very popular. Private
universities in particular recruit high school athletes who are talented in sports to promote their
universities. Some university athletes will become professionals after graduation and could
earn more than enough money to support themselves. However, there are also many university
athletes who do not become professionals and who will take other careers for their future life.
The author of this study believes that a university is a place for students to have an opportunity
for both learning what they are interested in and preparing for their future careers. Althoughboth university and teaching staff try to do their best for the athletes, university athletes seemto have problems coping with both study and their sport club activities at the same time. The
aims of this study were to investigate the university athletes’ dilemma of managing both study
and sport performance effectively, and to try to find answers of how they can effectively
manage both their study and sport club activities. This study adopted both quantitative andqualitative approaches to analyze the data. There were 25 questions on the questionnaires forthe participants of this study who were all majoring in sport and health science in a private
university in Japan. All of them belonged to sport clubs. The two types of university athletes’
dilemmas are: they are busy with their club activities and they feel pressure to participate in
the activities. This article provides three recommendations to keep a balance between
university athletes’ study and sport performance. The first recommendation is to give enoughfinancial support for university athletes. The second recommendation is to promote peer
learning for university athletes. The last recommendation is collaboration between lecturers
and sport club coaches for university athletes.
Literature Review
For many university athletes, having a balance of both study and practice time for their sport
is not easy. In particular, Japanese university sport clubs are sometimes described as being likethe military, since many of them have strict rules in their clubs. Often, first or second year
students are required to do jobs such as cleaning their clubs, looking after their fields, and soforth after they finish their practice sessions. Normally Japanese first and second year students
take more subjects at their universities each semester than third year and fourth year students.
Thus, both first and second year students normally spend more time on both their club activities
and study at their university. For example, Inoue, Kunikata, and Nomi (2011) reported thatthose who belong to sport clubs do not tend to take a break as efficiently as those who do notbelong to university sport clubs. Those who belong to their sport clubs participate in their club
activities straight after they finish their last class of the day on weekdays. Also, many of them
have part time jobs on the days they do not have their club activities. As a result, those who
belong to sport clubs find it difficult to take a break. Inoue et al. (2011) explained that Japanese
university athletes were very busy and often physically tired because of their club activities.
However, there is a positive side to participating in sport clubs for university athletes. In Japan,
it is believed that university athletes tend to have an advantage in obtaining future jobs after
their graduation. For example, Kasai (2010) explains that those who belong to university sport
clubs are believed to be mentally tough, to have good communication skills, and not to give up
on things. Therefore, they tend to be preferred by companies. Matsushige (2005) points out
some companies prefer those who are physically tough as their employees, to those who studied
harder in the university. Ueno (2007) explains that university athletes often experience a lot of
	
  

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hardships through their hard practice and competitions. University athletes often learn a lot ofthings through these experiences and will grow up as mature people. Many Japanese companies
tend to prefer those who experience these hardships in their university life to those who do notexperience hardships. As past studies above showed, belonging to university sport clubs might
be advantageous for university athletes in obtaining a job after their graduation.
However, Hirano (2011) points out that belonging to a university sport club is not a great
advantage for university athletes’ employment. They also need to maintain better academic
performance. In particular, Hirano (2011) explains that academic writing is the most importantskill for university students for job seeking since they need to develop curricula vitae to apply
for jobs. Ohtake and Sasaki (2009) explain that many Japanese companies now expect
university students to have both academic knowledge and specialized skills for their jobs. In
short, it is important for university athletes to succeed in both study at university and performtheir sport at the same time.
Methodology
Participants
The participants of this study were majoring in sport and health science in one of the private
universities in Japan. The total of 216 students (1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year students) who
belonged to university sport clubs participated in this study.
Data collection
Questionnaires were implemented between October and November 2013 in the author’s
English classes with paper and pencil. The questionnaire contained 25 open-response questions
asking for demographic and lifestyle information. All questions were asked in Japanese in orderto make sure the participants understood all questions. The participants answered in Japanese,and then all questions and answers were translated into English from Japanese by the author.
All questions are listed in the appendix.
Results
The data analysis resulted in 18 graphs and 5 tables to be explained. Each graph shows thenumber of student responses to each question. To start with, graph 1 and 2 show the results ofQuestion 3: How many days do you have club activities per week? And Question 4: How long
do you practice in your club on weekdays? (Figure 1 and 2).

	
  

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Figure 1. Graph showing how many students had had club activities 1-7 days per week

Figure 2. Graph showing how many students practiced for 1- 5 hours on weekdays
As Figure 1 shows, most university athletes had either five or six days of club activities. Figure
2 shows that most had over 2 hours or over 3 hours of practice each weekday. Some university
athletes spent over four or five hours for their club activities on weekdays. Both Figures 1 and
2 illustrate the point that university athletes were very busy and did not tend to take a breakbecause of their busy club activity schedule (Inoue et al, 2011).

Figure 3. Graph showing how many students had an average of fewer than 3 to over eight
hours of sleep per day

	
  

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Figure 4. Graph showing how many students lived with parents, alone, at a dorm, or otherFigure 3 shows the average sleeping hours each day for university athletes. Most university
athletes slept over five and under seven hours on average. Graph 4 shows the places where
university athletes lived. Over half of the participants in this study lived alone (54% of the firstyear and 63% of both the second and third year). Around 30% lived with their parents (36% of
the first year students, 32% of the second year students, and 26% of the third year students).
Only around 10 % of university athletes stayed in their sport club accommodation (9% of thefirst year students, 4% of the second year students and 11% of the third year students).

Figure 5. Graph showing how many students paid for their living expenses through parents, on
their own, scholarship, or a combination
Figure 5 shows how university athletes paid for their living expenses. Over 50% of university
athletes who lived independently relied on their parents’ financial support (52% of the firstyear students, 58% of the second year students and 63% of the third year students). Only 3 %
	
  

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Figure 6. Graph showing how many students had part-time jobs
Figure 6 shows whether university athletes had part-time jobs or not. Over half of theparticipants in this study did not have part time jobs (67% of the first year students, 58% of thesecond year students, 52% of the third year students).

Figure 7. Graph showing how many students worked over one hour to over 20 hours per week
Figure 7 shows the working hours of those who had part time jobs. The result shows various
working hours. Some worked only between one and two hours, but others worked over ten
hours per week. Most university athletes in this study did not have part time jobs.

	
  

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Table 8. Graph showing how many students studied English under 30 minutes to over 4 hours
per week
Table 8 shows the study time of university athletes. As the author of this study teaches English,
the study time for English was included in the questionnaire. Most students studied between
one and two hours per week (42% of the first year students, 46% of the second year students
and 34% of the third year students). Many students also studied between two and three hours(24% of the first year students, 31% of the second year students and 18% of the third year
students).

Figure 9. Graph showing how many students studied during various time periods throughout
the day
Figure 9 shows when university athletes studied. Over 40% of the participants in this study
studied between night and midnight (45% of the first year students, 40% of the second year
students and 44% of the third year students). Interestingly, over 30% of the participants usedtheir spare time between their classes (30% of the first year students, 34% of the second year
students and 35% of the third year students).

	
  

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Figure 10. Graph showing how many students thought study at the university was different
from study at high school
Figure 10 shows whether participants in this study found study at university different fromstudy at high school. Nearly 80% of participants in this study found it different (88% of thefirst year students, 79% of the second year students and 79% of the third year students). The
first year students found that study at the university was different from study at high school
more than both the second and third year students. Both the second and third year students havebeen at university longer than the first year students. Thus both the second and third year
students were more familiar with study at university than the first year students.

Figure 11. Graph showing how many students received study support by more senior membersof their sport club

	
  

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Figure 12. Graph showing how many of the more senior students helped junior members of
their sport club with their study
Both Figures 11 and 12 show whether university athletes helped each other with study. As
graph 11 shows, nearly 50% of participants of this study, indicated “often” and “sometimes”
for their support of each other (57% of the first year students, 52% of the second year students,
and 47% of the third year students). However, nearly another 50% of the participants did notsupport each other, and indicated “hardly” and “never” (42% of the first year students, 48% of
the second year students and 53% of the third year students).

Figure 13. Graph showing how many students indicated that the sport coach said something
about the university athlete’s study

	
  

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Figure 14. Graph showing how many students studied with their teammates
Figure 13 shows whether or not the sport coach said something about the university athlete’s
study at the university. Over 60% of the participants answered either hardly or never (62% of
the first year students, 70% of the second year students and 71% of the third year students).
Figure 14 shows whether or not participants studied together with their teammates. Over 60%of the participants did study together with their teammates (62% of both the first year and thesecond year student, and 67% of the third year students).

Figure 15. Graph showing how many students thought doing both club activities and studying
was difficult
In Figure 15, over 60% of participants of this study thought doing both club activities and study
was difficult (65% of the first year students, 66% of the second year students, and 60% of thethird year students). About 30% of participants of this study did not think it so.

	
  

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Figure 16. Graph showing how many students thought club activities or study were importantto them
In Figure 16, interestingly, both the first year students (56%) and the third year students (69%)
answered that their club activities were more important than their study. However, 52% of thesecond year students answered their study was more important than their club activities. Only
30% of second year students answered their club activities were more important than theirstudy. Only 3% of first year and 4% of second year students answered that both study and club
activities were important in their university life.

Figure 17. Graph showing how many students thought that university study would help their
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Figure 18. Graph showing how many students had decided what they would do after finishing
their degree
In Figure 17, nearly 90% of participants of this study thought university study would help their
future. Figure 18 shows whether or not participants of this study had already decided their
future. Interestingly, 72% of the third year students had already decided their future, while 54%of both the first and second year students had decided.
There are five tables below which show university athletes’ reasons given for Question 14, howstudy at the university is different than study at high school (Table 1), Question 20, the mostdifficult thing about studying with sport club activities (Table 2), Question 21, why studying
is important and club activities are important (Tables 3 and 4), and Question 25, what kind ofplans after graduation the participants of this study had (Table 5).

Table 1. Number of students who gave particular reasons for thinking university and highschool study are different.
Q 14 Please write how exactly different
1st year 2nd year 3rd year
[study at the university is from study
students students students Total
at high school]
Increase of self-study time
5
3
2
10
Learner centered style classes
16
4
16
36
Increase in writing reports instead of
exams
2
2
4
Increase of research & giving opinions
5
6
11
Increase of using PC
5
6
2
13
There is no one correct answer but weneed to find our opinions
6
8
14
Contents of classes are specialized in the
area
9
3
12
There is much homework
1
10
1
12
There is more free time between classes
22
3
7There are deadlines to submit reports
2
1
3

	
  

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Table 1 shows the answers for Question 14. The most popular answer (N = 36) was that
university classes were learner-centered style classes. The next popular answer (N = 14) wasthat they found there was no one correct answer but they needed to try to find their opinions inclasses. Then “using a PC” (N = 13), “much homework” (N = 12), “learning specialized in thearea” (N = 12) and “increase of research and giving opinions” (N = 11), “increase of self-studytime” (N = 10).
Table 2.	
  Number of students who gave particular difficulties with studying
Q 20 What is the most difficult thingfor you to do both study and club
activities at the university?
I don't have enough time to study
because of my club activities
Lack of sleep
I am physically too tired to study
Lack of concentration in classMiss the class due to club activities

1st year
students

2nd year 3rd year
students students

4
29
28
4
3

25
14
38
6
2

Total

15
17
30
3
2

44
60
96
13
7

Table 2 shows the results of Question 20. 44% (N = 96) of the participants answered that they
were physically too tired to study because of their club activities. In addition, 27% (N = 60) of
the participants answered lack of sleep. Then 20% (N = 44) of the participants answered they
did not have enough time to study because of their club activities. As Table 2 shows, over 70%of the participants found that their club activities negatively affected their study.
Table 3.	
  Number of students who gave particular reasons for thinking sport club activities areimportant
Q 22 Why do you think it so? [Clubactivities are important]
Because I entered this university with a sport
recommendation
I think I can do my sport while I am auniversity student. I don't think I'll have time
to do it after I work.
I want to get a job doing something with mysport which I am playing now.
I want to be a professional sport player in the
future.
I don't think I want to be a professional but I
want to try my best for my sport now.
I love my sport.
I think sport club activities are more usefulthan study at university for the future.
I learn many things from sport club activities.
I enjoy communication with my teammates.

1st year
students

2nd year
students

9

10

9

28

8

6

11

25

1

5

4

3rd year
students

Total

2
2
8

2
3
2

6
2

11
12

1
1

1
1
1

1

Table 3 shows reasons from those who answered “club activities” for Question 21 (Which isimportant for you, club activities or study at the university?). The most popular answers were“because I entered this university with sport recommendation” (N = 28) and “I think I can do

	
  

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my sport while I am a university student. I don't think I'll have time to do it after I work” (N =25). Then “I love my sport” (N = 12) and “I don't think I want to be a professional but I want
to try my best for my sport now” (N = 11).
Table 4.	
  Number of students who gave particular reasons why study is important at university
Q 22 Why do you think it so? (Study at auniversity is important)
University is the place to study.
Study helps my future.
I don't think I can make a living with mysport in the future.
I must study to participate in my sport club
activities because of rules of the department
policy.
I want to get a degree.
I like study.

1st year 2nd year 3rd year
students students students Total
14
9
9
32
9
16
6
31
1

3

4

6
2

2
5
3

8
10
3

3

Table 4 shows the answers for Question 21 from those who answered “Study at a university.”
36% (N = 32) of the participants answered “university is the place to study” and 35% (N = 31)
of the participants answered “study helps my future.” 11% (N = 10) answered “I want to get a
degree.” Over 70% of the participants saw study at a university positively, as the first two
reasons in the Table 4 show.
Table 5. Number of students who gave particular goals for what they will do after finishing
their degree
Q 25: Please tell me what it is [that you
will do after you finish your degree]
I want to get a job in a company and keep
doing my sport as my hobby
I want to be a public servant and keep doing
my sport as a hobby.
I want to be a PE teacher at school
I want to work for a company as a contract
professional sport player.
I want to be a full time professional sport
player.
I will study at a graduate school and keep
doing my sport there
I will study at a graduate school and I will
retire from my sport
I will retire from my sport after graduation
and I will get a permanent job at a company
I want to be a fulltime coach for my sport

1st year
students

2nd year
students

3rd year
students

Total

5

6

16

27

7
2

5
2

2

14
4

4

6

3

13

3

8

5
1

3

4

1
8
8

1
9
12

13
6

30
26

Table 5 shows the answers for the participants’ future careers. 24% (N = 30) of the participants
answered, “I will retire from my sport after graduation and I will get a permanent job at acompany.” Then 21% (N = 27) of the participants answered, “I want to get a job in a company
and keep doing my sport as my hobby.” Another 21% (N = 26) answered, “I want to be a fulltime coach for my sport.” On the other hand, only 6% (N = 8) answered, “I want to be a full
	
  

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time professional sport player.” 10% (N = 13) of the participants answered “I want to work for
a company as a contract professional sport player.” In Japan, sports which are very popularsuch as baseball and soccer have their professional leagues. When professional players in these
leagues succeed in their careers, they are able to earn multi-million dollars. However, sports
which are considered as minor sports such as canoe, lacrosse, field hockey, and so forth, are
not often able to have professional leagues for financial reasons. Thus, players of these sports
often belong to teams owned by companies and they make contracts with their teams to play
and work for them.
Discussions
University Athletes’ Dilemmas
The aims of this study were to investigate university athletes’ dilemma of managing both study
and sport performance effectively, and to find answers for how university athletes could
effectively manage both their study and sport club activities. First of all, this study foundsimilar results to the point raised by Inoue et al., (2011). Based on the results in Figures 1, 2,
and 6, university athletes in this study tended to be very busy for their club activities. Because
many of them participated in their club activities almost every day and spent between two andfour hours almost every day, they did not tend to have enough sleep hours. Moreover, as Figure
15 showed, over 60% of participants of this study admitted that they found it difficult to dowell on both club activities and study at the university. These results indicate that club activities
had a negative effect on university athletes’ study in either being physically too tired or lacking
sleep time. However, as Figure 17 shows, about 90% of the participants in this study admitted
that study at the university would help their future. Thus, many university athletes in this study
were motivated to study but they were less likely to be sure how to find time for study.
Another dilemma of university athletes in this study was found. Some university athletes felt
pressure to be seriously involved in club activities because they came to the university with
their sport recommendation. As both Tables 3 and 5 show, many university athletes of thisstudy did not aim to be professional sport players after their graduation. However, because ofentering the university with the sport recommendation, university athletes felt a strong
responsibility to seriously participate in their club activities. This pressure possibly results in
one of the Japanese traditional values regarding the school sport environment. Tobashima andEbishima (2011) explain that a part of the Japanese education system encourages both types ofextreme students, such as those who try to focus on sport activities with less study, and those
who try to study hard with almost no sport activities. Under such an educational environment,
sport students in particular tend to lose their motivation to study and also take a risk regarding
future employment if they fail to become professional athletes. As opposed to Tobishima andEbishima’s study (2011), university athletes in this study showed that study at university was
important for their future as Figure 17 shows. However, many university athletes, in particular
those who came to the university with their sport recommendation, retain a strong
responsibility to seriously participate in their sport club.
Financial Support is Important for University Athletes
Two university athletes’ dilemmas were found in this study. This study proposes how
university athletes can manage these dilemmas. First, to keep a balance of both study and sportclub activities for university athletes, financial support is important for them. As Figure 6
shows, over the half of university athletes in this study did not have part time jobs. This isbecause university athletes in this study were busy with their club activities as shown in Figure
1, 2, and 6. They did not have time to do part-time work. In addition, as Figure 4 shows, around
	
  

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30% of university athletes in this study lived with their parents and as Figure 5 shows, over
50% of university athletes in this study who lived alone relied on financial support from theirparents. These results prove that university athletes in this study do not tend to have enoughtime to earn money to financially support themselves. These results also show that university
athletes in this study need to heavily rely on their parents’ financial support to keep a balanceof both study and club activities.
Peer Learning to Succeed
To support university athletes in order to succeed in both study and sport performance, peer
learning is key. In this study, there were some university athletes who studied together witheither their teammates or their seniors in their sport clubs as the both Figures 11 and 14 show.
Around 50% to 60 % of the university athletes studied with their teammates or with senior
members of their sport clubs. Students often work in small group in classes as well. For
example, Sugino (1994) explains that group work facilitates learners’ abilities in language andJohnson et al. (2001) explains that group work results in higher productivity and higher
educational achievement when group work is effectively used. Some participants in this study
effectively used study in small groups to manage both club activities and study. Thus,
promoting effective peer learning skills with university athletes is a key for their success inboth study and club activities in the university. The author believes that it is important for
lecturers to encourage university athletes to study together with others in and out of classes.
Collaborative Work between Lecturers and Sport Coaches
The third key for university athletes to succeed in both study and sport performance iscollaborative work between lecturers and sport coaches. The author believes that it is importantfor both university lecturers and sport club coaches to collaborate with each other to support
university athletes. In Japanese universities, lecturers are not often involved in club activities.
Nakazawa (2011) explains that university lecturers are often too busy with their work and they
do not normally have time to look after university clubs. In order to solve this problem, many
universities employ sport coaches for sport clubs who mainly look after their sport clubs. In
addition, sport coaches often do not involve themselves in university study. They focus on
looking after the university athletes’ sport performance. As Figure 13 shows, in this study sportclub coaches did not tend to support university athletes’ study well. There was not muchcollaborative work between lecturers and sport coaches to support university athletes. The
author of this study believes that coaches play an important role in university athletes’
academic results. According to Bell (2009), in America, university sport coaches are requiredby the NCAA to look after university athletes on both sport and study. Bell (2009) explainsthat sport coaches tend to explain how important university study is in university athletes’
futures. Such sport coaches’ involvement in university athletes’ study contributes to retaininga high graduation rate in the USA. The results of this study show that both lecturers and sport
coaches in Japan do not tend to collaborate with each other to support university athletes inorder to do well in both their study and sports. Thus, in order to solve this issue, it is importantfor both lecturers and sport coaches to communicate with each other and collaboratively
support university athletes.
Conclusion
This study investigated university athletes’ dilemma of managing both study and sport
performance effectively, and to tried to find answers for how they could effectively manage
both their study and sport club activities. This study found that many university athletes had
dilemmas. Firstly, university athletes in this study tended to be very busy for their club
	
  

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Volume 4 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016activities and they found it difficult to keep a balance between both study and their club
activities. Secondly, they felt pressure to be seriously involved in their club activities because
they came to the university with their sport recommendation. However, many university
athletes in this study admitted that study at the university helped their future and it was
important for them. Thus, they were motivated to study. In order to succeed in both study andtheir sport club activities, this study offers three recommendations. First, university athletes
need to have enough financial support in order to keep a balance on both study and their sport
performance. As this study showed, university athletes were busy with their sport club activities
and they needed to study. Thus they did not have time for part-time work to support themselves.
Second, peer learning would help university athletes to study. Some university athletes in thisstudy used it effectively with their teammates and senior members of their sport clubs. Third,
it is important to develop collaboration between university lecturers and sport club coaches foruniversity athletes. As Bell’s study (2009) pointed out, sport club coaches’ active involvementin the university athletes’ study enhanced athletes’ academic performance. Also, lecturers’
active support for university athletes would help university athletes to keep a balance of bothstudy and sport performance. This study was limited to exploring university athletes in one ofthe private universities in Japan. In order to improve the quality of this research, this study
could have included university athletes in either national or public universities in Japan tocompare the results.

	
  

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References
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to sports club activity. Kyoto University of Education Repository, 116, 116-174.
Bell, L. F. (2009). Examining academic role-set influence on the student-athlete experience.
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yoso no kensyo. Nihon Rodo Kenkyu Zatsushi, 614, September, 59-70.
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Appendix
Questions which were used in this study:
Q 1: What year are you in?
Q 2: Are you a man or woman?
Q 3: How many days do you have club activities per week?
Q 4: How long do you practice in your club on weekdays?
Q 5: How long do you sleep every day on average?
Q 6: Do you live alone or with your parents?
Q 7: Who pays for all expense for your living?
Q 8: Do you have a part time job or not?
Q 9: How long do you work per week?
Q 10: How long do you study English per week?
Q 11: Where do you normally study?
Q 12: When do you study?
Q 13: Do you think study at the university is different from study at the high school?
Q 14: How different is it?
Q 15: Do you get any study support by senior members in your sport club?
Q 16: Do you help junior members in your club to study?
Q 17: Does your sport club coach say something about your study?
Q 18: Do you study with your teammates?
Q 19: Do you think it is difficult for you to do both study and club activities at the university?
Q 20: What is the most difficult thing for you in doing both study and club activities at theuniversity?
Q 21: Which is important for you, club activities or study at the university?
Q 22: Why do you think it so?
Q 23: Do you think university study helps your future?
Q 24: Have you decided what you will do after you finish your degree?
Q 25: Please tell me what it is.

	
  

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Guide for Authors
Article structure
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length of 250 words). The abstract should
state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract
is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason,
References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, nonstandard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be definedat their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords.
Introduction
Present purposes of the study and provide background for your work.
Literature Review
Include a pertinent literature review with explicit international connections for relevant ideas.
Discuss the findings of published papers in the related field and highlight your contribution.
Methodology and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the context of the work to be thoroughly understood and/or
for the work to be reproduced. Provide sufficient detail for readers to understand how you
engaged in your inquiry. Clear descriptions of your context and participants along withstrategies used to collect and analyze data should be described.
Discussion
This section should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.
Combining your results and discussion into a single section may be suitable. Returning torelevant literature from the introduction should show how your work connects with orinterrupts already published literature.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a Conclusions section, which can
include the main findings, the implications, and limitations.
Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc.
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the referencesand do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List
here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help,
writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

	
  

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Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using
superscript Arabic numbers.
References
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and viceversa).
Reference style
Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American
Psychological Association (APA). Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, Sixth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5.
List: references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically
if necessary.
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2010). The art of writing a scientificarticle. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51–59.
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style. (4th ed.). New York: Longman,(Chapter 4).
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article.
In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). New
York: E-Publishing Inc.
Please follow the checklist:* Times New Roman font (size 12)* Single-spacing throughout the document; paragraphs, justify.
* Double space (instead of indent) to designate a new paragraph or section* Page numbers at the bottom center of each page
* Top, bottom, and side margins 0.87" or 2.2 cm* Page that includes title, authors, their affiliations, their contact information, and the topic of
the submission* Authors and affiliations repeated at the beginning of the body of the paper* There is no limt of words or pages, but manuscript too short or incomplete will be rejected.

	
  

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IAFOR Journal of Education is following the guidelines and advices proposed by top SSCI
academic journal Teaching and teacher Education on their website.
The IAFOR Journal of Education is indexed in EBSCO Discovery Service, Education Source,
SHERPA/RoMEO and Google Scholar.
The IAFOR Journal of Education – Publication Ethics Statement (PDF)

	
  

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the iafor

journal of education

ISSN: 2187-0594