After higher education expansion in the private sector and technical college system starting in 1985, students' opportunities to attend four-year institutions in Taiwan are increasing. This study extends Cabrera and La Nasa's model of student college choice to examine not only choices of institutional types but choices of college pathways after…

Engineering design thinking is at the core of engineering competence. Project-Based learning (PjBL) about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), which is based on engineering design, has brought enormous success in students' gaining and applying knowledge about STEM subjects. However, there are few studies on the perceived…

Previous studies have indicated the challenges posed by large classes in promoting quality education and better student learning. This paper argues that empirically exploring other latent variables inherent in the pedagogical triangle of the teacher, the learner and the content hold a number of promises in elucidating the dynamics of large classes…

Modelling ability is one of the essential elements of the latest educational reforms, and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a curriculum-based assessment which allows educational systems worldwide to inspect the curricular influences. The aims of this study were to examine the role of modelling ability in the…

This empirical study attempted to examine cultural and national values in relation to the teaching of musical multiculturalism, which is defined as music from regions around the world, as well as Taiwanese nationalism (i.e., a desinicized version of national identity based on Taiwan's localization movement) in school music education. Data were…

While existing research has well-recognized educational plan as an important predictor of students' educational achievement, the alignment of educational plan and achievement should not be taken for granted. As plan-achievement misalignment is liable to negative psychological and social consequences, this study aims to examine the extent to which…

In Asia, in order to keep up with internationalization, the English-Medium Instruction (EMI) course has become a phenomenon in higher education. In turn, EMI literature has increasingly focused on the role of instructor's pedagogy in reducing students' negative response to EMI courses. Additionally, we further explore, from the students'…

This study implemented differentiated instruction (DI) featuring tiered tasks and heterogeneous grouping tasks in three mixed-level English classes at a military institution in Taiwan, a setting that is small, admits students with varying English proficiency levels, and is culturally cohesive. The end-of-semester student survey and interview show…

Imposing the policy lessons from higher-performing countries may involve the complex interplays of socio-cultural and institutional contexts. This article attempts to observe Taiwan's progress in higher education from an explicit cultural perspective. It locates Taiwan among the rising group of higher education systems in East Asia. The study…

Students of middling achievement who achieve intermediate results on the Basic Competence Test, a national high-stakes entrance examination in Taiwan, experience the highest test anxiety. The present study explored why such students experienced greater test anxiety and the source of that anxiety. A questionnaire survey was administered to 5,220…

This study is aimed at exploring how teachers make curricular-instructional decisions regarding teaching contemporary controversial public issues in Taiwan (e.g., national identity, sovereignty, and ethnic issues). Using a case study design, this study documents how six social studies teachers make curricular decisions about whether to teach…

The main objective of this study was to examine the factors of individual characteristics (e.g., self-regulation in terms of metacognition and motivation) and learning environmental expectancy (e.g., performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence) that influence students' behavioural intention to continue online courses. The…

Potential high-risk freshmen for three core courses (BasicMath, Calculus, and Computing) in the university were identified based on the "College Students' Adjustment Check List (CSACL)" data available with the Student Development Centre in the Office of Students' Affairs of the university. The study demonstrates that to ameliorate the…

International large-scale assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have emerged as important tools for understanding educational systems within Asia and around the world. Although the achievement scales tend to capture the majority of the world's attention the background scales have become important tools in…

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a scale assessing students' moral thinking and communication (MTC) functioning as well as to explore the implications for moral development and education. The rationale of MTC functioning, including interaction of four independent competencies: moral awareness, moral judgement, moral discourse, and…