Behind what is called ＂Needham＇s Grand Question＂ （why was China overshot by the West in science and technology？） lies a deeper question of how China came to lose the capacity of deeply reflective thought clearly...Behind what is called ＂Needham＇s Grand Question＂ （why was China overshot by the West in science and technology？） lies a deeper question of how China came to lose the capacity of deeply reflective thought clearly present in the ancient Chinese philosophers. This is a loss felt by all Chinese as a psychological sense of hollowness, a loss of identity, made worse by the seeming inaccessibility of the ancient Chinese wisdom to the modern Chinese mind. It is clear that at some historical point China suffered an extreme psychological blow sufficient to traumatise it at the threshold of reflective thought, unable to look inwards any more. The paper identifies that point as the utter devastation wrought by Kublai Khan and the Mongols 750 years ago. What devastates reflective thought is wilfulness, the insistent focusing of all attention and energy on external, material things, and Kublai Khan was wilful in the extreme. What confirms this as the crippling point is that, in response to Kublai Khan＇s Mongol invasion the Chinese, over time, not only completely altered the geography of China itself, moving their capital to the North （Beijing）, but have ever since fought to establish as ＂China＂ all the territory over which Kublai Khan ruled. China is clearly not free of Kublai Khan＇s shadow. But even more precisely, in the process of doing this--and showing their own wilfulness--in building the Forbidden City in Beijing they built it in the shape of the Chinese metaphysical model of the universe, the Chinese version of the Tree of Life metaphysical glyph But it has an error in it. And the error is precisely that in where it places things, it makes what would have been the attributes of reflective thought subservient to wilfulness. The model itself thus shows the hollowness of the Chinese mind from that moment on. The outer form--the ＂appearance＂---of the ancient wisdom was still there. But the content--the ＂substance＂--of it was not. And with no reflective thought, true creativity disappears.展开更多
Reflective thinking and teachers' professional development has become a focus since the new curriculum reform.Based on a case study among English teachers in Zhangjiashan Middle School, this paper aims to find out...Reflective thinking and teachers' professional development has become a focus since the new curriculum reform.Based on a case study among English teachers in Zhangjiashan Middle School, this paper aims to find out the effectiveness to improve the reflective thinking by journal writing and the extent to which the journal writing is involved. From the result, a conclusion can be reached that journal writing can provide an opportunity for teachers to write reflectively about their teaching, and teachers differ in the extent to which they can write reflectively.展开更多
Based on Dewey＇s （1933） connotation on reflection, this study focuses on the process ofpre-service EFL （English as a foreign language） teachers＇ reflective thinking. There are eight teachers participating in the...Based on Dewey＇s （1933） connotation on reflection, this study focuses on the process ofpre-service EFL （English as a foreign language） teachers＇ reflective thinking. There are eight teachers participating in the study during their practicum. Their reflective diary, the interviews between the researchers and the teachers, and classroom observation data are triangulated each other. The features of their reflection process are concluded： （1） Their reflections tend to be spontaneous interpretation; （2） their reflective thinking is partly ＂reasoning＂ phases; and （3） they depend on the authorities in the process of reflective thinking. Some implications are made for the guidelines in EFL teachers＇ practicum展开更多
This paper aims to investigate ways of assessing the quality of teachers' reflective thinking and the factors that influence reflective thinking in EFL teachers through case studies.The reflections are assessed fr...This paper aims to investigate ways of assessing the quality of teachers' reflective thinking and the factors that influence reflective thinking in EFL teachers through case studies.The reflections are assessed from three perspectives:content,depth and changes in action.The findings of this study reveal that there are three main factors which affect teachers' reflective thinking:differences of schools in different economic regions (teaching environment);mode of cooperation;teachers' beliefs.It also indicates that improvement of teaching depends on teaching context,teachers' beliefs and teachers' reflection regardless of their professional titles. EFL teachers' reflections can deepen based on changes of their personal beliefs,their teaching contexts and background,and the mode of cooperation.展开更多
文摘Behind what is called ＂Needham＇s Grand Question＂ （why was China overshot by the West in science and technology？） lies a deeper question of how China came to lose the capacity of deeply reflective thought clearly present in the ancient Chinese philosophers. This is a loss felt by all Chinese as a psychological sense of hollowness, a loss of identity, made worse by the seeming inaccessibility of the ancient Chinese wisdom to the modern Chinese mind. It is clear that at some historical point China suffered an extreme psychological blow sufficient to traumatise it at the threshold of reflective thought, unable to look inwards any more. The paper identifies that point as the utter devastation wrought by Kublai Khan and the Mongols 750 years ago. What devastates reflective thought is wilfulness, the insistent focusing of all attention and energy on external, material things, and Kublai Khan was wilful in the extreme. What confirms this as the crippling point is that, in response to Kublai Khan＇s Mongol invasion the Chinese, over time, not only completely altered the geography of China itself, moving their capital to the North （Beijing）, but have ever since fought to establish as ＂China＂ all the territory over which Kublai Khan ruled. China is clearly not free of Kublai Khan＇s shadow. But even more precisely, in the process of doing this--and showing their own wilfulness--in building the Forbidden City in Beijing they built it in the shape of the Chinese metaphysical model of the universe, the Chinese version of the Tree of Life metaphysical glyph But it has an error in it. And the error is precisely that in where it places things, it makes what would have been the attributes of reflective thought subservient to wilfulness. The model itself thus shows the hollowness of the Chinese mind from that moment on. The outer form--the ＂appearance＂---of the ancient wisdom was still there. But the content--the ＂substance＂--of it was not. And with no reflective thought, true creativity disappears.
文摘Reflective thinking and teachers' professional development has become a focus since the new curriculum reform.Based on a case study among English teachers in Zhangjiashan Middle School, this paper aims to find out the effectiveness to improve the reflective thinking by journal writing and the extent to which the journal writing is involved. From the result, a conclusion can be reached that journal writing can provide an opportunity for teachers to write reflectively about their teaching, and teachers differ in the extent to which they can write reflectively.
文摘Based on Dewey＇s （1933） connotation on reflection, this study focuses on the process ofpre-service EFL （English as a foreign language） teachers＇ reflective thinking. There are eight teachers participating in the study during their practicum. Their reflective diary, the interviews between the researchers and the teachers, and classroom observation data are triangulated each other. The features of their reflection process are concluded： （1） Their reflections tend to be spontaneous interpretation; （2） their reflective thinking is partly ＂reasoning＂ phases; and （3） they depend on the authorities in the process of reflective thinking. Some implications are made for the guidelines in EFL teachers＇ practicum
文摘This paper aims to investigate ways of assessing the quality of teachers' reflective thinking and the factors that influence reflective thinking in EFL teachers through case studies.The reflections are assessed from three perspectives:content,depth and changes in action.The findings of this study reveal that there are three main factors which affect teachers' reflective thinking:differences of schools in different economic regions (teaching environment);mode of cooperation;teachers' beliefs.It also indicates that improvement of teaching depends on teaching context,teachers' beliefs and teachers' reflection regardless of their professional titles. EFL teachers' reflections can deepen based on changes of their personal beliefs,their teaching contexts and background,and the mode of cooperation.
