This study seeks to understand students' perceptions of self-agency and how they demonstrate their agency by engaging in discussions of a highly controversial wetland policy facing their community. Five focal students participating in this 13-month long curriculum were selected for further explorations. We traced their learning trajectories to…

Contemporary educational reform discourses in Taiwan call for the modernization of education to meet the needs of society of the 21st century. The principles and rules of 'reason' that historically order educational discourses can't be taken for granted. This article uses Popkewitz's notion of alchemy to think about the principles. The notions of…

This study discusses the relationship between Taiwanese adult learners' identity development and language curriculum, exploring how students (re)constructed their identities within the Taiwanese social context. Influenced by exam culture and educational credentialism, Taiwanese language education is mainly exam-oriented and teacher-centered.…

To determine intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for work among college students, an online survey was conducted to collect participants' self-reported motivation and personality traits, as well as academic performance in samples of 310 American and 686 Taiwanese college student respondents. Data suggest that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations…

The Internet has offered many opportunities for interactions and participation. The current study positioned YouTube as a possible affinity space (Gee, 2003, 2004) for students to showcase their personal talents. The participants were recruited from a group of senior students in a Taiwanese university who volunteered to participate in this study.…

This study investigates the affordances of Exploratory Practice to engage the teacher and students in dialogically researching cultures and intercultural issues in a language classroom. Aiming to engage students in learning about the world from Taiwan's diplomatic allies, the central classroom puzzle involved whether such engagement facilitated…

The benefits of problem-based learning (PBL) to student learning have prompted researchers to investigate this pedagogical approach over the past few decades. However, little research has examined how PBL can be applied to mathematics learning and teaching, especially in countries like Taiwan, where the majority of teachers are accustomed to…

Although research has found that student-constructed tests (SCT) have some potential for promoting cognitive elaboration, as yet there are no systems available to support the associated activities. This study designed and developed an SCT learning system guided by the ideology of contribution-based pedagogies, accentuating the principles of…

This study examined the determinants of students' willingness to intervene in bullying incidents, as well as the process underlying students' defending behaviors. The participants were 24 students (12 defenders and 12 outsiders) recruited from six secondary schools in southern Taiwan. The study used semi-structured interviews to collect…

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived severity of school bullying among participants with different roles (victims, bullies, bullies/victims and non-involved individuals) and to determine whether interactions between type of bullying and participant roles exist. Two Olweus-like global items and a revised School Bullying Severity…

This study describes the peer mentoring experience from doctoral student mentors' point of view. Twelve science and engineering doctoral students participated in this phenomenology study. The findings suggest doctoral peer mentors served instrumental, psychosocial, buffering, and liaison roles; they passed on their social, professional, and…

This study explores an activity designed to promote critical literacy in Taiwan. This activity had 23 college students perform different exercises all stressing the theme of self-identity as presented in a picture book and other learning sources. Data included classroom observations, reflection entries from the researcher­-instructor, classroom…

Research on preparing language teachers for blended teaching of summary writing, a mix of on-site and online instruction for college students to grasp the gist of the texts, is scarce in higher education. This study examined the problems encountered and solutions proposed by six language teachers, who altogether instructed 214 college students on…

Learning happens through interaction with others. The purpose of this study is to investigate how online interaction patterns affect students' text revisions. As a sample, 25 undergraduate students were recruited to play multiple roles as writers, editors, and commentators in online text revisions. In playing different roles, they chose to read…

With the advent of communicative language teaching in East Asia, the idea of learner autonomy has become a topic of discussion and a goal among language teachers. The idea of autonomy raises important questions that need to be further explored, particularly in terms of students taking responsibility for learning. While examining the English…