Drawing on a mixed-methods cross-cultural study undertaken in five locations in Argentina, Denmark, Hong Kong, England and the United States in 2018, this paper explores how children (aged five and seven) conceive of playfulness. Following a card-sorting task, 387 children selected familiar activities that they felt were most representative of…

This article investigates the variety of factors that hinder the implementation of play (as defined by western scholars) in Asian preschools. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of policy borrowing, enactment and glocalisation, we analyse three jurisdictions that illustrate distinctive problematics: India, Mainland China and Hong Kong. The…

The purpose of this research was to explore gender differences and cultural differences in school motivation among students from eight culturally diverse groups from Western and non-Western societies. The selected groups come from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, and Qatar. More than 10,000 secondary school…

This paper discusses whether practitioners' gender subjectivities influence pedagogies and practices in early years education and care (EYEC) settings and whether an increase of men's participation can improve gender diversity in EYEC. It draws on poststructuralist theories, understanding gender as the product/outcome of the social formation of…

This article begins with a review of relevant literature and a brief introduction to dependency theory and center-periphery theory, and then it will outline major changes in general education in the United States. In the third part, the article analyzes how U.S. general education has been transferred to Japan, China, and Hong Kong; its impact on…

Within these years, there has been a significant increase in the number of Chinese Mainland sojourners studying in Hong Kong. Due to the huge differences in various aspects like language, culture, cultural value, it would be considerably difficult for the Chinese Mainland students to adapt to the Hong Kong environment. This article investigates…

This article explores how ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools discursively construct their identities in relation to culture, heritage, and social discourse. It finds that the ethnic minority students negotiate their identities within multiple positioning from parents, school, and the broader social discourse on minority…

Teachers are important social agents who affect students' cognitive and social behaviors, including students' self-directed use of technology for language learning outside the classroom. However, how teachers influence student behaviors may vary across cultures, and understanding how teacher influences vary across different cultures is critical to…

The authors examined how three social-motivational factors--approachability of teacher, relationship goal of students, and perception of cheating norms--affect the cheating behavior of business students in China and Hong Kong. It was found that the relationship goal of students and perceived cheating norms were significant predictors of their…

Social and emotional dynamics have an impact on students' learning processes in online-learning situations. This study explores university students' emotions and trust levels resulting from collaborative communication behaviors when they interacted as part of a Food and Tourism course in Taiwan and Hong Kong. More specifically, students' emotions…

Eight students from mainland China chart their learning journeys across national and continental boundaries and socio-cultural contexts. The five women and three men structure their experiences of studying in China and the West around the turning points and life changing choices they made in chasing their dreams. They embody its emergent…

The objectives of this study were to test the predictive power of self-control theory for delinquency in a Chinese context, and to explore if social factors as predicted in social bonding theory, differential association theory, general strain theory, and labeling theory have effects on delinquency in the presence of self-control. Self-report data…

This paper reviews literacy learning conducted in two laboratory preschools in Hong Kong and Canada, and examines the link between cultural values and educational practices. Both preschools maintain that a constructivist view of child learning underpins their practice. However, the author's experience in these two settings illustrates how…

Since suicide in Chinese people exhibits certain distinctive characteristics, it is important to develop indigenous measures to assess Chinese attitudes toward suicide that may be used to inform suicide reduction programs. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, we developed a Hong Kong version of the Chinese Attitude toward Suicide…

Childhood obesity is increasingly prevalent in Western and non-Western societies. The authors related multiple dimensions of physical self-concept to body composition for 763 Chinese children aged 8 to 15 and compared the results with Western research. Compared with Western research, gender differences favoring boys were generally much smaller for…