Despite decades of research on human motivation within an educational context, there emerges neither one theory nor one pragmatic intervention that is commonly accepted. These observations raise two fundamental questions: why does human motivation confound a common theoretical base and why does it appear to resist interventions? Addressing these two fundamental questions, this thesis offers a literature critique that highlights motivation in education as value-laden. The thesis then posits that to understand motivational adjustment the critical focus lies not on the value-agents (lecturers, parents) but on the value-receivers (the students). Additionally, the thesis posits that an adequate comprehension of students' motivational adjustment requires a research methodology that embraces the defining context. The research subjects are two cohorts of trainee (Primary) teachers. The first cohort (N=47) comprises incoming students direct from Secondary education. The second cohort (N=33) are post Certificate in Education students with prior work and teaching experience. Both cohorts are enrolled in first semester, Batchelor of Education programmes at the Hong Kong Institute of Education in Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the Peoples' Republic of China. A feature of this study is that the research subjects are ethnic Chinese. Reporting a semester-long study, a critique of 'motivation' is provided in the light of data collated from both pre and post semester questionnaires (N= 160) and mid and end semester interviews (N= 38). Data analysis displays the emergence over one semester of an underlying motivational conformity towards prioritising 'self-defense'. Three effects of prioritising 'self-defense' are noted: first, students' perception of an event is subservient to its short-term experience; second, cognition is subservient to affective responses and third, goals are determined by the interaction between the affective and cognitive responses. The thesis concludes by noting implications for further research in both human motivation and cultural studies. Key words: Motivation, teacher-training, culture. ethnic Chinese, Hong Kong (PRC).

The research aims to investigate Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of a junior high school Chinese teacher, and to analyze its content, sources of construct, reasoning and action, and its instructional presentation. This research adopted case study that targeted an experienced Chinese teacher (Pseudonym: Miss Huang). The researcher, a main research instrument, entered Miss Huang¡¦s teaching field to collect data for one semester by means of classroom observation, formal and informal interviews and documents, expecting the research findings can be used as reference of Chinese-related curriculum of Teachers Training Institute. The results indicated as follows. First of all, the content of Miss Huang¡¦s PCK, based on teaching belief, and integrates the knowledge of subject matter, of teaching, understanding to the learners and the grasp of context. Miss Huang continuously expanded her content and her PCK presents three characteristics: (1) Teacher¡¦s belief and attitude toward subject affect the development of PCK (2) Teacher adopts appropriate ways to solve students¡¦ problems by realizing their difficulties in learning (3) Teacher¡¦s cognition to context influences the presentation of PCK. Secondly, there are three sources of constructing Miss Huang¡¦s PCK. (1) The practical teaching experience is the most important source of PCK. The novice¡¦s teaching experience plays an important role in learning teaching. (2) With the accumulation of the teaching experience, the source of constructing PCK becomes diversified. (3) The practical teaching and learning experience complement each other. Miss Huang¡¦s reasoning and action is divided into three stages: pre-teaching, in-teaching, after-teaching. The pre-teaching preparation is based on the previous teaching experience, and derives new thought from prior experience. The in-teaching presentation is diversified, and the interpretation is the most common way of presentation. The after-teaching evaluation still adopts paper-and-pencil test, together with other ways of evaluation, such as reports, learning sheets, and activities.

The thesis explores Chinese teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning Chinese at Chinese complementary schools in Scotland. The teachers taught either Cantonese or Mandarin, the two main Chinese languages spoken by Scotland’s Chinese communities; teaching took place on a voluntary basis at weekends; the teachers were drawn from a variety of occupations; most of the pupils were of Chinese ethnicity, with in addition some non-Chinese children. The research mainly draws on phenomenography, a research approach that investigates variation in conceptions of different phenomena as these appear to particular groups of people – in this case, teachers of Chinese in Scottish complementary schools. The variation refers to the different conceptions of teaching and learning that were identified in the group of teachers as a whole. Semi-structured interviews with each individual teacher were devised, conducted and analysed according to phenomenographic procedures. From the group as a whole six key conceptions of teaching were identified, and likewise six key conceptions of learning. In addition, the research focused on a smaller number of teachers in order to identify individual profiles in greater depth. The teacher interviews also elicited the metaphors that the teachers considered represented good teaching and learning. The interviews also served to identify the factors that the teachers considered had most influenced their conceptions, and they were complemented by qualitative classroom observations designed to identify factors that would allow the researcher to better understand the context in which the teachers had formed their conceptions. The findings showed that Mandarin and Cantonese teachers had much in common, but that also there were clear differences in particular areas that seemed to be explained both by differences in culture between Mandarin-speaking Mainland China and Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, and also by emerging differences in power and status, with Mandarin assuming a dominant role and Cantonese showing some decline in numbers and in optimism, with some parents switching their children over from Cantonese to Mandarin. More generally, the findings suggested that the teachers were dedicated, adaptable, and different from the stereotypical perception of Chinese teachers of the sort that emphasises examinations, rote-learning and authoritarian teaching style. The teachers in the present study generally understood their pupils had multiple identities and they sought to teach in a child-centred way, and to help their pupils preserve moral values and a Chinese component of their identity through learning Chinese language and experiencing Chinese culture.

由於全球「華語熱」的風潮，「華語」逐漸躍升為世界前三大強勢語言，因此近年來許多外籍生多選擇至中國大陸或臺灣進行短期或長期的專業中文培訓。然而，外籍生在正式接觸漢字及中華文化之前，首先必須面臨的課題便是中文名字的命名。由於「姓名」承載了各國語言中特定的文化內涵與社會風尚，因此不同國籍的外籍生在面臨中文姓名的命名時，必定也會受到不同程度的文化衝擊(Culture shock)。 本研究屬於質性研究，所採用的研究方法為內容分析法及訪談調查法，樣本資料的蒐集與訪談對象的來源是就讀於國立政治大學的外籍生。本文主要探討的核心問題有三：第一，分析外籍生的中文姓名在形、音、義的語言結構與文化特徵；第二，了解外籍生對中文姓名的偏好及對中華文化的認同程度；第三，釐清華語教師為外籍生命名的過程、所依據之原則以及與學生溝通協調的情形。另外，本文也將一併探討中英姓名文化的歷史源流，並比較其背後所隱含的民族心理與社會價值觀，以作為研究核心問題的基礎架構。 研究結果顯示：外籍生的中文姓名在語言結構上的特徵為筆畫偏少、從原名音譯為主、多選用具有正面意義的用字；在文化特徵上，其中文姓名具有明顯的性別特徵，且選字的自由度較高。此外，外籍生對於中文姓名的字形及字義較為重視，且多偏好漢化程度較高的中文名字。在華語教師的命名原則方面，則是以符合華人命名習慣、中文名字能配合學生母語姓名的發音、讀音和諧、易寫好記為主。 探究外籍生中文命名的課題，對於華語課堂教學本身及中華文化的弘揚都有重要的價值與意義，不僅能強化外籍生對於中華文化的認同感，更能營造良好的教學氛圍，對於提高其跨文化交際的能力也有莫大的裨益。 / Chinese has gradually emerged as the world's top three significant languages because of the hot trend of Chinese learning around the world. Therefore, many international students have been visiting Taiwan or China, where provides the professional teaching quality and learning environment to train their Chinese abilities. Hence, naming becomes the first issue which these international students may confront before they formally explore the Chinese characters and cultures. Chinese name is a complicated language symbol which represents one’s uniqueness and contains specific culture connotations and customs, so the cultural differences may possibly lead “culture shock” to the international students during the naming process. This qualitative research is conducted by content research method(N=1666)and interview survey method(N=18), the data sources was mainly gathered from the international students of NCCU. The main issues of this research are listed as follows: 1.To analyze the language structures and culture connotations associated with the characters, pronunciation and meanings of the students’ Chinese names. 2. To investigate the students’ personal preferences and the intensity for their cultural inclination. 3. To realize the process and basic principles of the naming issues which the Chinese teachers adopt as well as the communication and negotiation between the teachers and students. In addition, the study will investigate the historical origins of the Chinese and English cultures, and compare the ethnic psychology and social norms behind these different cultures to establish a basic structure for the main issues in this research. The result of this research demonstrated that on the structure of the language aspects, the international students prefer the Chinese names which are characterized by simple strokes, transliterated from the original names and including positive meanings. Furthermore, on the cultural aspects, it showed obvious gender characteristics and greater extensive selectivity of characters of the Chinese names. In addition, the international students attach more importance to the characters and the meanings of the Chinese names and showed more preferences to the names which are corresponded with the naming convention of the Chinese community. As for the Chinese teachers, their main naming strategies are: Sticking to the Chinese naming convention, transliterating from the original names, easy pronouncing, writing and memorizing. It is undeniable that this research represents essential values for upgrading the teaching achievement for the Chinese teachers and enhances the cultural inclination for the international students. The last but not least, it is also helpful for the students to promote their ability of intercultural communication with proper Chinese names.