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Nowadays, many university students (in Macau) are required to attend computer literacy courses to develop their basic skill levels and knowledge as part of their literacy foundation requirements. To be effective, such courses, which are very staff intensive and require access to expensive equipment and software, necessitate high levels of individual teaching. Evidence gathered at two study sites during this research, strongly suggests that many students may not be benefiting sufficiently from their computer literacy courses. Teachers frequently complain about the weak IT skills of many course graduates. This research proposes an innovative model for designing and delivering computer literacy courses based on constructivist principles, using peer-tutoring and blended learning to increase cost effectiveness and to improve student outcomes. Central to the model being proposed is the training and deployment of former course graduates as peer instructors and assessors. Constructivist principles provide a conceptual framework to ensure that the curriculum content, teaching strategies, learning styles and assessment procedures are properly aligned and fully understood by both the instructors and students to achieve high quality learning outcomes. An action research approach was used during the pilot and trail phases of the research to monitor the implementation of the model and evaluate its effectiveness using mixed methods. The planned two–phase action evaluation used a questionnaire to investigate the effectiveness of knowledge and skill transfer to students, and tutors’ learning progress; in-depth semi-structured interviews were used to survey, interpret and evaluate students’ and tutors’ perceptions of the new teaching and learning approach. Most respondents had a Confucian Heritage Cultural Background. For the first time, the research provides new insights into ways in which Confucian Heritage Cultural factors, interact with constructive principles in developing peer-tutoring methods in a university setting inMacau, and more widely

This doctoral dissertation focuses on teacher education in the context of experienced tertiary English language teachers in mainland China. It investigates the changes in teachers’ beliefs and attitudes, and in their classroom practice, that result from an external inservice education and training (INSET) course. It follows up subsequent change in teachers’ classroom practice, and in their beliefs and attitudes, in their teaching contexts one year after the INSET course. This dissertation presents a review of the literature in the field of second language teacher education, shifts in research paradigms in the field, and the characterisation of inservice teacher professional development. The nature of teachers’ beliefs and attitudes, and of teachers’ classroom practice, are synthesised from the literature, and are related to research on stages of innovations. Models of change (from beliefs and attitudes to classroom practice, as well as alternative pathways) are discussed, and a conceptualisation of the processes of teacher change in the context of innovations for experienced inservice teachers is proposed. The research presents a case study of one group of teachers attending an INSET course, and uses qualitative data collection, analysis and interpretation. Findings are discussed which provide insight and guidance for INSET provision in the context of experienced teachers, and which add to the research in the field of teacher education in the context of China. The findings suggest that in the complexity of INSET among individual teachers any one model of the process of teacher change may not be applicable, but rather that multiple possible models of change exist for each teacher—in beliefs and attitudes, and in classroom practice—and for each innovation. It is likely that each individual teacher experiences different change models for different innovations during the same INSET course. The significance and implications of the findings are discussed in relation to INSET provision, teacher change, and theories of teacher education and development, as well as the limits of the study, and future research areas suggested

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

Esta dissertação reporta uma investigação realizada com o objectivo de se compreender a persistente dificuldade de integração sentida no patamar transnacional de um projeto educacional europeu Comenius, de parceria entre escolas. A Grounded Theory foi a metodologia selecionada para orientar a recolha e análise de dados. Os dados empíricos primários foram extraídos de entrevistas abertas, não estruturadas, realizadas aos professores europeus envolvidos nas atividades do projeto. Identificou-se, como principal fator obstrutivo da unidade operacional a esse nível no projeto, a existência de significativas barreiras à comunicação entre os diferentes parceiros europeus, latentes, pouco compreensíveis, mas extraordinariamente operativas. Implicações do estudo e sugestões para esforços subsequentes visando evitar ou, pelo menos, contornar o mesmo tipo de problema, ou problemas similares, estão incluídas

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