Effects of corrective feedback on EFL speaking task complexity in China’s university classroom

Corrective feedback (CF) and task complexity are two important pedagogical topics in second language acquisition research in recent years, but there is few research investigating effects of CF on speaking task complexity in China’s university classroom settings. This research, through conducting different versions of speaking task experiments among 24 university students in China, explores the effect of teachers’ CF on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speaking task complexity. According to the analysis of first-hand data, this research finds CF has different effects on EFL oral production with different task complexity. In simple speaking task, the effects of five kinds of CF (from largest to smallest) are listed as follows: clarification quest, metalinguistic feedback, recast, repetition and confirmation check. Regarding complex speaking task, the effects of five categorized CF are ranked from largest to smallest as follows: metalinguistic feedback, confirmation check, recast, clarification request and repetition. Improving to provide CF in pedagogical practice is an important contribution to promote EFL speaking task, so, on the basis of above research results, appropriate ways and forms of providing CF are expected to promote efficiency of CF in EFL classroom under the context of Chinese university classroom

Social mobility and international graduates in China

By comparing the social and spatial mobility of international and home graduates, this is a unique study into Chinese international graduates’ post-study living and working experiences. It aims to address the overarching research question: What is the social mobility of international graduates in China? To answer this question, I proposed five sub-questions: 1) What are the labour market outcomes of Chinese students obtaining master’s degrees abroad compared with those of non-mobile Chinese graduates? 2) What factors affect international and home graduates’ labour market success in China? 3) What is the perceived social mobility of international graduates compared with that of home graduates in China? 4) What is the relationship between social and spatial mobility of international and home graduates in China? 5) What roles do international graduates play in social class formation and culture and lifestyle change in China? Adopting a mixed-methods approach to research and a pragmatic paradigm, this study employs survey and in-depth interviews to collect data. A multi-regression model, mapping analysis and thematic analysis are used to analyse the data. Although home graduates perform better in the labour market and upward social mobility than the international graduates, the international graduates are still favoured by China’s labour market and have more opportunities to develop their careers through their accumulated cultural and social capital. Interestingly, their labour market outcomes and social mobility are closely connected to their spatial mobility. The analyses reveal that the likelihood of studying abroad is linked to one’s place of origin and positively associated with parental socio-economic status. Moreover, the results of the mapping analysis highlight the uneven opportunities for spatial mobility when comparing international returnees with their peers. Therefore, this study recommends that policymakers should focus on social security and institutions for high-end home graduates. Increasing equality of education opportunities, especially the chances of studying abroad, can shrink the social mobility and inequality gaps

Factors for Chinese students choosing Australian higher education and motivation for returning: a systematic review

Under the third wave of international student mobility, Australia has become the third largest country receiving international students. Compared with the United States and the United Kingdom, Australia can still maintain a stable increase in terms of hosting Chinese students. For Australia, attracting international students becomes an important part of Australian universities’ business and cultural diversity. This paper reports the Chinese students’ initiations of choosing Australian higher education and motivations for returning, aiming at contributing to a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of Chinese students’ international flows. By retrieving all relevant literature published from 2000 to 2017, this paper engages with a systematic review to provide an overview of what exactly motivates Chinese students choosing Australian higher education and returning. Based on the robust assessment criteria, we selected 68 articles for analysis, and according to the coding results, we developed four themes influencing Chinese students’ choice of Australia, including academic requirement and attainment, employment and future career prospects, host country environment, and social connections and three themes for returning: emotional needs, culture and integration in Australia, and career opportunities in China. The research results contribute to policy implications for Australian international higher education development

The impact of place of origin on international and domestic graduates’ mobility in China

This article addresses the cumulative effect of graduate migration and opportunities for career development. Using data from an online survey of 756 master’s-level graduates educated in China and the UK, it examines their geographical mobility patterns and reveals significant differences between Chinese students who graduated from domestic universities and those who were educated abroad. Spatial autocorrelation analysis shows that international returnees, who usually had more privileged family backgrounds, clustered in China’s highly developed core cities of the Bohai Economic Rim and Yangtze River Delta regions, such as Beijing and Shanghai, while domestic graduates tended to work and live in less affluent medium-sized cities around these regions. Women international graduates were more mobile than their men counterparts. Our results provide new evidence that draws attention to migration’s role in graduate career development opportunities and highlights inherent economic discrimination within China, which is perpetuated by the national residency permit system — Hukou. The case of Chinese graduates shows that the mobility patterns of international and domestic graduates are influenced by and contribute to growing regional inequalities for career development in China

Perceived sustainable urbanization based on geographically hierarchical data structures in Nanjing, China

Concentrating on geographically hierarchical data structures and using large-scale satisfaction survey data in Nanjing, this study employs Bayesian spatial multilevel model (MLM) to evaluate Nanjing’s perceived sustainable urbanization. In this study, we consider the geographically hierarchical data structures and the city’s individual perceptions of sustainable urbanization to explore the effect of environment and self-rated health on perceived sustainable urbanization, controlling for individual sociodemographic attributes and household. Through clarifying the spatial dependence and heterogeneity, this paper provides a flexible framework for assessing sustainable urbanization and dealing with the geographical hierarchical data. In particular, by drawing on existing studies, our questionnaire is more representative of the overall characteristics of Nanjing’s population than census data, which can be helpful for understanding whether urbanization is sustainable from individual perspective and further for correcting practices. Based on a survey of 10,077 questionnaires, this paper finds the geographically hierarchical data structures have significantly influenced the evaluation of sustainable urbanization, and the Bayesian spatial MLM is an effective tool for evaluating China’s sustainable urbanization. In particular, this paper takes spatial effects into consideration and compares the geographically hierarchical data. Results show that spatial patterns significantly influence the assessment of sustainable urbanization, and perceived pollution, age, education level, and income are the four key factors influencing individual perceived sustainable urbanization

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Postpartum Depression: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background. Postpartum depression (PPD) does great harm to women following childbirth. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature to assess the efficacy and safety of CHM for the treatment of PPD. Methods. Published or ongoing registered trials were searched for from the inception of the various databases to December 31, 2015. Data extraction and methodology assessment were conducted independently by two researchers. RevMan 5.3 software was used to analyze the data. Results. Forty-seven registered clinical trials (RCTs) were identified and reviewed. The results showed CHM alone or in combination with routine treatments could reduce HAMD score, EPDS score, incidence of adverse events, TESS, and SERS. CHM combined with routine treatment was more effective in increasing serum estradiol levels and reducing progesterone levels than routine treatment alone. Meanwhile, pooled data revealed that MRLQS combined with routine treatments or MRLQS plus MSHS combined with routine treatments were more effective than other therapeutic methods in TCM. MRLQS plus MSHS alone was found to be an effective alternative when compared to routine treatments. Conclusions. This review suggested that CHM was safe and effective in the treatment of PPD. However, this could not be proven conclusively. To ensure evidence-based clinical practice, more rigorously designed trials are warranted

An Evaluation of Environmental Governance in Urban China Based on a Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Analytic Network Process

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of urban environmental governance by developing hesitant fuzzy linguistic analytic network process (HFL-ANP). The study bridges the gaps in current knowledge in the following ways: the study methodically develops the HFL-ANP method to evaluate and pick the optimal environmental governance strategy from alternatives; theoretically, network structure of evaluation indicators system on environmental governance is constructed, and the objective and subjective information in the evaluation process of environmental governance is combined. In detail, based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and the pollution haven hypothesis, the paper constructs the evaluation indexes system of environmental governance and takes observation time length into consideration. Then, we choose three urban cases of environmental governance by exploring the existing literature. Furthermore, we develop the HFL-ANP method and apply it to the cases. The study calculates the initial weights of all indexes by using multiplicative consistency of the HFL preference relation, and derives the decision matrix through combining objective information with subjective information of environmental governance. Finally, we come to the following conclusions: ANP network stricture is close to real-world practical problems and provides the basis for HFL-ANP method; HFL-ANP is a very suitable method of assessing environmental governance; and based on the urban cases of environmental governance, Shanghai is the optimal alternative. In addition, this indicator system can only be applied to cities in China, and the administrative hierarchy of policies has not been considered by this method. Thus, future studies should expand this method and indicator network to contain different countries and different administrative hierarchy

Compelled to compete: Chinese graduates on employment and social mobility after international and domestic study

The article offers unique insights into international and domestic graduates’ career progression and social mobility experiences in China. Drawing on in-depth interview data with master-level graduates, the analytical results reveal that the majority of the participants (both domestic and international) perceive that international graduates have more opportunities and better career progression, but the analytical results show that both domestic and international graduates secured positive employment outcomes. Significant gender disparities exist, as women, both international and domestic graduates, are still disadvantaged in terms of occupational attainment and career prospects and report lower employment satisfaction. All domestic graduates reported not only positive employment outcomes in the labour market but upward social mobility. In contrast, the majority of international graduates reported not having achieved the same level of social status as their parents. Graduates’ differentiated relations to China’s state institutions of Bianzhi, Danwei and Hukou and social connections (Guanxi) heavily influenced their employment trajectories and social mobility. We argue that the participants’ conflicting perceptions are linked to the intense labour market competition encouraged by the sustained expansion of domestic higher education enrolment and amplified by the increasing number of international graduates. The societal institutions defuse to some extent conflicts over economic interests arising from the marketisation of social life

The Role of Sleep Quality in the Psychological Well-Being of Final Year UndergraduateStudents in China

There are increasing numbers of university students in China suffering from poor sleep and psychological well-being problems. In particular, the issues are more severe among the final year undergraduate students, because they are experiencing a transitory period from university life to the workplace. However, extant research has rarely explored sleep quality and psychological well-being of final year university students. To better understand the role of sleep quality in psychological well-being, we examined the association between different sleep quality and mental health. Based on a cross-sectional survey of 2495 full-time final year university students in China, we employed multivariable logistic regression to assess association between sleep quality and psychological well-being by controlling for sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, education, marital or relationship status, household conditions, place of birth, study subjects and etc. According to the research results, we can find strong association between sleep quality and psychological well-being. Having normal sleep quality is associated with lower level of psychological well-being problems. By contrast, poor sleep quality is associated with high level of negative psychological well-being. Poor sleep quality has higher potency than normal sleep quality due to negative bias. Among covariates, age, gender and education have significant effects on psychological well-being