Many scholars and teachers in EFL education should agree that compared with reading and writing, listening has received much less attention. This brief article discusses important gaps existing in EFL listening and overall proficiency development. It presents the case for a greater focus on sounds and actual listening in the classroom and spoken…

Social and emotional skills are important for students in 21st century study, life, and future work. In 2018, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) officially launched the first round of social and emotional skills tests for 10-year-old and 15-year-old students worldwide. After 3 years of research, the first round of…

In the past few decades, especially since the 2008-09 economic downturn, the faculty of American colleges and universities has undergone a far-reaching transformation. Multiple factors, mainly extraneous to the campus itself, are reshaping higher education, and as a result a reprioritizing of the internal allocation of resources is occurring. The…

This paper describes the development of BOLE, a MATLAB-based interactive learning environment, that facilitates the process of learning bio-inspired optimization algorithms, and that is dedicated exclusively to unmanned aerial vehicle path planning. As a complement to conventional teaching methods, BOLE is designed to help students consolidate the…

Childhood obesity and its repercussions will be one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Promoting physical activity and preventing the decline of children's fitness and the increase of childhood obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease therefore need to be a high priority. So far, besides a few large-scale…

At present in mainland China, competition in education has become excessive; competition has been increasing, and a competitive mentality is on the rise. The formative causes of excess competition in education are complex; with both practical and conceptual causes. Its roots can be traced to intensifying social competition, a one-sided…

Interview and survey data in China suggest a high degree of patriotism, and Western public opinion polls reveal that many people see China as the world's second most powerful country. Yet Chinese Internet surveys find that Chinese citizens still lack self-confidence in dealing with Westerners. The authors explain this seeming paradox by suggesting…

This paper focused on issues of retention and the individual needs of international students at a southern university through videotaped group interviews with six students from Africa, China, India, Japan, Jordan, and Nepal. Students were asked questions concerning their first experiences at the university, experiences out in the community,…

In modern society, the essence of social competition is the competition of talents who are in need of education, and the education's quality can decide a nation's future and destiny. With the continuous development of China, Chinese educational system is also facing a new stage of development. Starting with analyzing the case of New Oriental…

Teaching Chinese students in an American university can be both challenging and rewarding. Cultural and language differences can lead to some superficial confusion and interpretational problems. However, the vast differences in the ways Chinese students view the role of the public sector, as compared to the US, can mean that the instructors and…

Institutions of higher education in China and the United States are increasingly seeking international partners to deliver degree programs to the Chinese populace. This article illustrates how shared and divergent partner motivations and outcome expectations in a Chinese cross-border higher education program have created synergy and challenged the…

A former British colony, Hong Kong was reunited with the People's Republic of China in 1997 under the "one country two systems" model. The Hong Kong Basic Law contains detailed provisions for academic freedom, ensuring that local academics enjoy far greater freedom than their counterparts in mainland China. Hong Kong academics and the…

There is in higher education a powerful discourse of "independent learning". While there may be pedagogical rationales to support the desirability of increased independence at the tertiary stage, it may also serve other institutional agendas, such as functioning as a way for academic staff to "manage" the frustrations…

The paper introduces data on the employment of postgraduates in the Department of Information Management of Peking University in 2000-2009. Master's graduates in LIS in Peking University have a wide job choice. In China, the job market for postgraduates in LIS is composed of enterprises and business organizations, rather than libraries and…

Modern Educational Technology is a common course in many normal universities in China. The Modern Educational Technology Center (METC) of East China Normal University (ECNU) decided to improve the course for pre-service teachers at the end of 2010. The enhanced course has some additional features, such as emphasising knowledge and skills transfer,…