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This thesis investigates the Language Learning Strategies (LLS) used by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) nursing students of higher education in Macao and the effectiveness related to students’ learning outcomes by Strategy Instruction (SI). To date there has been no literature in the area of SI among the Macao Chinese EFL higher education students on teaching all LLS groups, and on four main English skills to look at its effects on learning processes and outcomes at the same time, and this study starts to fill the gap. The research uses an embedded mixed methods research design in phase one and an embedded mixed methods quasi-experimental design in phase two. Phase one aimed to identify students’ LLS use. The findings revealed that students’ cognitive, metacognitive and compensatory strategies were used more than affective, memory-related and social strategies, and overall they used a medium to low level of LLS. In phase two, the effects of SI on students’ changes of LLS use, their proficiency and English learning processes were identified. After SI, students used LLS both more widely and frequently in all four main English skills. Most students’ motivation and self-confidence were enhanced. After SI the affective group of strategies in the treatment group statistically significantly improved, with a moderate effect size, from that of the comparison group. It was found that the widely used Strategy Inventory for Language Learning questionnaires by Oxford (1989c) had limited statistical power and some conceptual confusion. Recommendations are made for policy and practice of EFL instruction
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The thesis identifies concerns preserving, maintaining, and developing the Catholic identity of Catholic schools in Macao, the largest providers of schooling whilst being a minority religion, and with its teachers, parents, and students coming from Catholic and non-Catholic backgrounds, cultures, and values. To understand the present situation of Catholic identity in Macao’s Catholic schools, manifesting itself in part through the Catholic ethos of schools, and to identify key features, mission, vision, values, and areas for the development of Catholic identity, together with its presence and practices, this thesis reports a study of the perceptions of, and attitudes to, Catholic identity held by three key stakeholder parties in a carefully chosen representative selection of Catholic schools: teachers, parents, and students. The thesis reports their views on what the Catholic schools are currently doing in the areas of Catholic identity, and what they consider that they should be doing in these areas. The areas of focus draw on scholarship and teachings on Catholic identity, with particular emphasis placed on documents on Catholic identity and ethos from the Vatican, Archbishop Miller, and Monsignor Stock. A large-scale empirical survey here found that there was considerable support for Catholic schools in Macao, their identity, ethos, and values from the three parties. Two emergent patterns of findings are reported concerning the steps that Catholic schools were taking to promote their identity: (a) what Catholic schools should be doing concerning Catholic identity received consistently higher scores than what they were currently doing; and (b) consistently higher support for Catholic identity came from the teachers, slightly less so from the parents, and slightly less than that from the students. The study conducted a follow-up, small-scale study to investigate why these might be the case, and it suggested that the combination of Catholic values and Chinese cultural features might explain the findings on Catholic identity in the schools. The study identifies areas for possible development of, and improvements to, the identity of Catholic schools, that take account of the local cultural contexts and the teachings of the Catholic church on identity, and how these might be addressed in practice
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This thesis reports a mixed methods empirical research which included a university-wide survey and action research in form of a quasi-experiment in collaborative blended learning (CBL) with Macau undergraduate students. The intervention embodied the principles of social constructivism and investigated the putative benefits and challenges of CBL. The purpose of the study was to identify how to promote effective CBL in undergraduate students and to increase effective learning, motivation, autonomy, empowerment, and communication. It found that only small improvements to students’ CBL took place over time, and found that the students needed specific instruction, practice and development in how to collaborate, both with and without online learning. Despite being in a world-leading, enriched digital environment, the students were new to collaboration and online learning. Students discovered and appreciated the benefits and challenges to collaboration and CBL largely by doing it. The thesis shows that CBL does not release teachers from their instructional and pedagogical roles; rather they place teachers at the heart of effective practice and improvements. The study underpins the need for explicit training of students in CBL. It identifies several strategies and tools which can be useful to promote effective genuine CBL
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