This paper aims to analyze the Scientific Initiation (SI) as public policy of higher education in Brazil, from meanings and peculiarities of this device in the undergraduate academic's formation, created jointly wi...This paper aims to analyze the Scientific Initiation (SI) as public policy of higher education in Brazil, from meanings and peculiarities of this device in the undergraduate academic's formation, created jointly with the National Research Council in 1951 currently National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). This corporation emerged from the recognition of the strategic importance of science and necessity of institutionalization of encouragement and fostering research. This is a theoretical bibliographical study and documentary that evidences the contributions and limits of SI while political science training should be part of academic activities to provide the development and support of investigative spirit. The concept of SI was established in universities as an activity to be developed in order to encourage the student to become familiar with scientific practices. The study concluded that SI is based on institutionalized norms within higher education to foster the development of science, and it is considered as an important strategy of expansion of graduate studies in Brazil.展开更多
Since the turn of the century, higher education policy in China has highlighted the importance of cultivating students' intercultural competences, particularly in the context of English language teaching. In spite of...Since the turn of the century, higher education policy in China has highlighted the importance of cultivating students' intercultural competences, particularly in the context of English language teaching. In spite of this, studies show that to this day Chinese ELT classrooms in higher education have rarely taken a cultural turn and teachers' understanding of interculturalism remains insufficient. This paper reports an action research study on how intercultural awareness was developed in the context of an English reading course at an independent college of a major Chinese university. The study followed a teaching flow that integrates intercultural learning with critical thinking by challenging students to select, analyze, and raise questions about English texts on aspects of Chinese culture. Mapping the outputs of a cohort of 77 second-year undergraduate students onto Baker's (2012; 2015) model of intercultural awareness, the study shows that a majority of participants demonstrated a level beyond basic awareness. The paper concludes that reading courses can be used to help foster intercultural awareness among Chinese students, and it offers some pedagogical and theoretical reflections on integrating intercultural learning with ELT, and formulates a number of suggestions for further studies.展开更多
文摘This paper aims to analyze the Scientific Initiation (SI) as public policy of higher education in Brazil, from meanings and peculiarities of this device in the undergraduate academic's formation, created jointly with the National Research Council in 1951 currently National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). This corporation emerged from the recognition of the strategic importance of science and necessity of institutionalization of encouragement and fostering research. This is a theoretical bibliographical study and documentary that evidences the contributions and limits of SI while political science training should be part of academic activities to provide the development and support of investigative spirit. The concept of SI was established in universities as an activity to be developed in order to encourage the student to become familiar with scientific practices. The study concluded that SI is based on institutionalized norms within higher education to foster the development of science, and it is considered as an important strategy of expansion of graduate studies in Brazil.
文摘Since the turn of the century, higher education policy in China has highlighted the importance of cultivating students' intercultural competences, particularly in the context of English language teaching. In spite of this, studies show that to this day Chinese ELT classrooms in higher education have rarely taken a cultural turn and teachers' understanding of interculturalism remains insufficient. This paper reports an action research study on how intercultural awareness was developed in the context of an English reading course at an independent college of a major Chinese university. The study followed a teaching flow that integrates intercultural learning with critical thinking by challenging students to select, analyze, and raise questions about English texts on aspects of Chinese culture. Mapping the outputs of a cohort of 77 second-year undergraduate students onto Baker's (2012; 2015) model of intercultural awareness, the study shows that a majority of participants demonstrated a level beyond basic awareness. The paper concludes that reading courses can be used to help foster intercultural awareness among Chinese students, and it offers some pedagogical and theoretical reflections on integrating intercultural learning with ELT, and formulates a number of suggestions for further studies.