Bob Adamson – författare

Multilingual China explores the dynamics of multilingualism in one of the most multilingual countries in the world. This edited collection comprises frontline empirical research into a range of important issues that arise from the presence of 55 official ethnic minority groups, plus China’s search to modernize and strengthen the nation’s place in the world order. Topics focus on the dynamics of national, ethnic minority and foreign languages in use, policy making and education, inside China and beyond. Micro-studies of language contact and variation are included, as are chapters dealing with multilingual media and linguistic landscapes. The book highlights tensions such as threats to the sustainability of weak languages and dialects, the role and status of foreign languages (especially English) and how Chinese can be presented as a viable regional or international language.Multilingual China will appeal to academics and researchers working in multilingualism and multilingual education, as well as sinologists keen to examine the interplay of languages in this complex multilingual context.

Multilingual China explores the dynamics of multilingualism in one of the most multilingual countries in the world. This edited collection comprises frontline empirical research into a range of important issues that arise from the presence of 55 official ethnic minority groups, plus China’s search to modernize and strengthen the nation’s place in the world order. Topics focus on the dynamics of national, ethnic minority and foreign languages in use, policy making and education, inside China and beyond. Micro-studies of language contact and variation are included, as are chapters dealing with multilingual media and linguistic landscapes. The book highlights tensions such as threats to the sustainability of weak languages and dialects, the role and status of foreign languages (especially English) and how Chinese can be presented as a viable regional or international language.Multilingual China will appeal to academics and researchers working in multilingualism and multilingual education, as well as sinologists keen to examine the interplay of languages in this complex multilingual context.

A timely contribution to the study of transnational higher education in China, this volume focuses on graduate employability and how to nurture Glocal Talents via Glocalised Higher Education, specifically in the context of transnational higher education programmes and transnational universities. Offering readers a background on the conceptualisation of glocal talents, education policy frameworks of glocalised higher education and the approaches to cultivating the desired talents in and beyond China, Part 1 of the book suggests various practical models and frameworks for nurturing glocal talents in different regions and universities. In Part 2, the authors use a focal case study to present in-depth investigations into leadership, formal and informal curricula, and employability of graduates from the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Institution (SFCEI). The book makes an argument for how glocal talents should be better equipped to fit into a profession or an environment that requires the mindset and competence to bring the global, national and local into individual relationships for sustainable development of mankind. This comprehensive investigation into every section of glocal knowledge and visions provides readers a clear picture on how glocal talents could be practically nurtured through glocalised higher education. Due to its unique exploration of the visions and practices of the leaders, academics, curriculum designers, and practitioners in the specific context of the more than 2000 SFCEIs, this is a must-read for students, researchers, policymakers, leaders, as well as formal and informal curriculum designers involved in international higher education (IHE), comparative education, and educational research.

A timely contribution to the study of transnational higher education in China, this volume focuses on graduate employability and how to nurture Glocal Talents via Glocalised Higher Education, specifically in the context of transnational higher education programmes and transnational universities. Offering readers a background on the conceptualisation of glocal talents, education policy frameworks of glocalised higher education and the approaches to cultivating the desired talents in and beyond China, Part 1 of the book suggests various practical models and frameworks for nurturing glocal talents in different regions and universities. In Part 2, the authors use a focal case study to present in-depth investigations into leadership, formal and informal curricula, and employability of graduates from the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Institution (SFCEI). The book makes an argument for how glocal talents should be better equipped to fit into a profession or an environment that requires the mindset and competence to bring the global, national and local into individual relationships for sustainable development of mankind. This comprehensive investigation into every section of glocal knowledge and visions provides readers a clear picture on how glocal talents could be practically nurtured through glocalised higher education. Due to its unique exploration of the visions and practices of the leaders, academics, curriculum designers, and practitioners in the specific context of the more than 2000 SFCEIs, this is a must-read for students, researchers, policymakers, leaders, as well as formal and informal curriculum designers involved in international higher education (IHE), comparative education, and educational research.

As already demonstrated by the first edition of the book, the work will be of great value not only to producers of comparative education research but also to users who wish to understand more thoroughly the parameters and value of the field.

As already demonstrated by the first edition of the book, the work will be of great value not only to producers of comparative education research but also to users who wish to understand more thoroughly the parameters and value of the field.

This volume seeks to examine the skills development agenda for youth by exploring two key questions for sustainable livelihoods: What are the skills needed for employability in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia?  And, what skills are currently possessed by students and secondary school leavers? An introductory chapter will set the stage for the discussion and analysis to follow by reviewing in broad terms the current research on relevant topics such as global youth unemployment, the relationship between skills and economic growth, and the expansion of secondary education. The following chapters synthesize a series of background studies focused on Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia, including both a general overview and an in-depth look at several countries. The chapters introduce innovative models for skills delivery, and highlight some of the key elements of successful skills models, including multi-stakeholder partnerships, updatedpedagogy, and innovative financing mechanisms. Each of the five core chapters of the book covers one theme, with the support of case studies to illustrate successes, challenges, and lessons in real world examples.

This volume seeks to examine the skills development agenda for youth by exploring two key questions for sustainable livelihoods: What are the skills needed for employability in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia?

This book discusses the recent assessment movements in the eastern and western worlds with particular focuses on the policies, implementation, and impacts of assessment reform on education. A new perspective of assessment sees assessment as a means to enhance learning.This book examines the tensions, challenges and outcomes (intended and unintended) of assessment reform arising at the interface of policy and implementation, and implementation and student learning. The book reviews the experiences insights gained from research, and identifies the facilitators and hindrances to effective change. It reflects current thinking of assessment and provides the readers with ample background information of assessment development in many countries including USA, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

This book discusses the recent assessment movements in the eastern and western worlds with particular focuses on the policies, implementation, and impacts of assessment reform on education. A new perspective of assessment sees assessment as a means to enhance learning.This book examines the tensions, challenges and outcomes (intended and unintended) of assessment reform arising at the interface of policy and implementation, and implementation and student learning. The book reviews the experiences insights gained from research, and identifies the facilitators and hindrances to effective change. It reflects current thinking of assessment and provides the readers with ample background information of assessment development in many countries including USA, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

This book presents accounts of the repositioning of higher education institutions across a range of contexts in the East and the West. It argues that global governance, institutional organisation and academic practice are complementary elements within the process of institutional repositioning. While systems, institutions and individuals in the different contexts are subjected to similar global trends and pressures, the reorientation of higher education takes diverse forms as a result of the particularities of those contexts. That reorientation cannot be explained in terms of East-West dichotomies and divisions, but only with reference to the interflow across and within systems. Globalisation necessitates complex interconnectivities of regionality, culture and geopolitics that this book explores in relation to specific cases and contexts. ​

This book presents accounts of the repositioning of higher education institutions across a range of contexts in the East and the West.

This book examines language policies and practices in schools in regions of China populated by indigenous minority groups. It focuses on models of trilingual education, i.e. education in the home language, Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese, the national language), and English (the main foreign language). Special attention is given to the study of the vitality of the minority home language in each region and issues relating to and the effects of the teaching and learning of the minority home language on minority students’ acquisition of Mandarin Chinese and English and on their school performance in general. The book also examines the case of Cantonese in Guangdong, where the local Chinese ‘dialect’ is strong but distant from the mainstream language, Putonghua. It takes a new approach to researching sociolinguistic phenomena, and presents a new methodology that emerged from studies of bi/trilingualism in European societies and was then tailored to the trilingual context in China. The methodology encompasses policy analysis and community language profiles, as well as school-based fieldwork, and provides rich data that facilitate multilevel analysis of policy-in-context.

This book examines language policies and practices in schools in regions of China populated by indigenous minority groups. It focuses on models of trilingual education, i.e. education in the home language, Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese, the national language), and English (the main foreign language). Special attention is given to the study of the vitality of the minority home language in each region and issues relating to and the effects of the teaching and learning of the minority home language on minority students’ acquisition of Mandarin Chinese and English and on their school performance in general. The book also examines the case of Cantonese in Guangdong, where the local Chinese ‘dialect’ is strong but distant from the mainstream language, Putonghua. It takes a new approach to researching sociolinguistic phenomena, and presents a new methodology that emerged from studies of bi/trilingualism in European societies and was then tailored to the trilingual context in China. The methodology encompasses policy analysis and community language profiles, as well as school-based fieldwork, and provides rich data that facilitate multilevel analysis of policy-in-context.

This book presents accounts of the repositioning of higher education institutions across a range of contexts in the East and the West. It argues that global governance, institutional organization, and academic practice are complementary elements within the process of institutional repositioning. While systems, institutions, and individuals in different contexts are subjected to similar global trends and pressures, the reorientation of higher education takes diverse forms as a result of the particularities of those contexts. That reorientation cannot be explained in terms of East-West dichotomies and divisions but only with reference to the interflow across and within systems. Globalization necessitates complex interconnectivities of regionality, culture, and geopolitics that this book explores in relation to specific cases and contexts.

Approaches and methods in comparative education are of obvious importance, but do not always receive adequate attention. This second edition of a well-received book, containing thoroughly updated and additional material, contributes new insights within the longstanding traditions of the field. A particular feature is the focus on different units of analysis. Individual chapters compare places, systems, times, cultures, values, policies, curricula and other units. These chapters are contextualised within broader analytical frameworks which identify the purposes and strengths of the field. The book includes a focus on intra-national as well as cross-national comparisons, and highlights the value of approaching themes from different angles.

The book presents a specific analysis of the Hong Kong school curriculum and highlights the ways in which the curriculum both reflects and changes in response to broader socio-political shifts.

This book looks beyond the articulated goals and accomplishments of the modernization of higher education in China. It delves into the grass roots reality and identifies the true achievements, the unintended outcomes and the major obstacles that still have to be overcome.

The Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC) is arguably the most comprehensive, fundamental and controversial attempt to promote systemic curriculum reform in Hong Kong. It aimed at a radical change in the nature of knowledge, pedagogy and assessment in schools.

This book traces the history of English education in the People's Republic of China from 1949 to the present day. It uses the junior secondary school curriculum as the means to examine how English curriculum developers and textbook writers have confronted the shifting ambiguities and dilemmas over five distinct historical periods.