In recent years, the Chinese government has launched several policies to facilitate universities to develop performance measures closely related to national university rankings and resources allocation. Directed by these performance measures, academics employ various strategies to deal with the increasing requirements and pressure. Using a…

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology in Mainland China have stressed facilitating knowledge transfer of research output in recent years. By facilitating this transfer, the government aims to enhance authentic productivity and boost economic development. Due to this facilitation, universities have encouraged…

Research activity is one of the key professional learning needs noted by teacher educators working in higher education. The purpose of this study is to explore what research activities Chinese higher education-based physical education teacher educators (PETEds) prioritised and, in turn, expressed their aligned research-related professional…

During Xi Jinping's presidency, the increasingly repressive political control over Chinese universities has had a significant impact on academic research. Yet, little is known about how Chinese academics navigate such a climate. Drawing on interviews with 11 gay academics in China, this article explores their motivations and strategies for…

Studies have examined teachers' experience of organisational learning in school-based contexts but have seldom investigated teachers' cross-school learning processes. This paper explores the dynamic processes of teacher learning in cross-school settings led by local teaching and research officers. Qualitative comparative case studies based on…

The vast majority of Chinese universities have embraced higher education reform that emphasizes a "publish or perish" ideology. This brings challenges to the early-career academics, especially those working in language-related fields. This paper employs a multiple case study to explore the identity tension of early career academics in…

Educational theorizing makes use of various tools and perspectives to understand how differentiation processes in education have emerged as responses to socio-historical developments. Drawing on a systematic literature review, this article finds that educational research has framed these responses in five different ways: as structural-functional…

Since the 1980s when mixed methods emerged as "the third research methodology", it was widely adopted in Western countries. However, inadequate literature revealed how this methodology was accepted by scholars in Asian countries, such as China. Therefore, this paper used a quantitative survey to investigate Chinese scholars' perceptions…

This study investigated the effectiveness of ABRACADABRA (ABRA), a web-based literacy program, developed by the Center for the Study of Learning and Performance at Concordia University, in facilitating the literacy attainment of third-grade primary school students in an area of rural China. Researchers shared the experiences of localizing ABRA to…

Professional development of teacher educators has received growing attention in recent years owing to their important role in preparing teachers for schools and universities, however, female-dominated mid-career EFL teacher educators in regional teacher education universities remain underexplored. This study examined 18 female experienced teacher…

Purpose: This study aims to explore how a Chinese lesson study (LS) supports a teacher's learning of transforming curriculum reform ideas into classroom practices. Design/methodology/approach: Data analyzed in this study included lesson plans, three videotaped research lessons, three audio-taped group meetings, interviews, the teacher's reflection…

Developing collaborative research teams to obtain external funding has been strongly encouraged by national policies in recent years. Therefore, Chinese academics have been eager to participate in such collaborative research teams. Using qualitative methods, we conducted in-depth interviews with 18 academics who worked at first-, second- and…

This article explores how a group of teaching-oriented academics--College English (CE) teachers in China--negotiate their collective identity at the workplace amid research discourse. Drawing on an integrated theoretical framework focusing on the interrelationship between discourse, practice, and social networks, the study reveals the field of…

The current expansion of English language publishing by scholars from China is supported by national and university policies, including monetary and career incentives to publish in English. These incentives, which extend to work in the humanities and social sciences (HSS, the focus of this paper) as well as the sciences and technologies, are…

This paper reports on a comparative study that investigates English language teacher educators' ideal identities from the dual perspectives of language teachers and teacher educators in China. Drawing on data from focus and individual interviews, the findings of the study reveal a range of identities such as 'practical expert,' 'model' and…