Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Davis, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-236).

This thesis explores the identity formation of three EFL pre-service teachers during their teaching practicum in a school-university partnership school in Mainland China. Drawing on the sociocultural perspective, learning-to-teach is conceptualized as student teachers participating in and becoming a member of the communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) which consist of boundary-crossing members from both activity systems of the university and the school (Engestrom, 1987, 1999, 2001). Following a poststructural perspective, the student teachers’ learning-to-teach is also conceptualized as a process of “arguing for” (MacLure, 1993) their professional identities under dominant social discourses. Foucault’s (1983, 1985) concept of ethical identity formation elaborated into a framework of four ethico-political dimensions for doing teacher identity (Clarke, 2009) is adopted to further analysethe interactions between social structure and individual identity transformation. An ethnographic qualitative case study approach was adopted. Data collection methods included ethnographic observations of classroom interactions, focus group discussions and routine school activities, semi-structured interviews of student teachers and mentors, and collectioin of documents such as university teaching practicum documents, lesson plans, reflective diaries and newsletters. Both “content analysis” and “modified analytic induction” (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007; Merriam, 1998; Patton, 2002) were adopted to conduct within-case and cross-case data analysis. The multi-method approach allowed the researcher to collect and interpret data from both holistic and in-depth research perspectives which also enabled triangulations during data analysis. The analysis indicated that historical, cultural, political and economic forces intertwined and formed general social discourses. Their influences permeated into the discourses of both the university and the school activity systems. Due to the contradictory discourses of ELT education between the two institutions, the boundary-crossing learning-to-teach activities were replete with tensions, asymmetrical power relationships, and interpersonal conflicts, which combined to become driving forces for the different transformations of the three student teachers’ identities within the school-university partnership activity system as a global community of practice (COP). Due to different individual backgrounds, inner tensions and interpersonal conflicts within the COP, the student teachers led dissimilar legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991)trajectories through identifying themselves with different local sub-cops (T-cop and S-cop) in various modes of belonging. Under the domination of contradictory institutional discourses, the student teachers exercised their creative agencies and managed to find the “spaces” for their own freedom of self-formation via four ethico-political dimensions. Through critical reflection on the relation between the care of self and the care of others, the student teachers clarified, readjusted and reinforced their telos which is part and parcel of the ongoing interactions among the four ethico-political aspects of teacher identity. Based on the contradictions identified in this research, a critical and ethical pedagogy framework for EFL teacher education was conceptualized for ELT and teacher education programmes. This thesis also serves as an attempt to address teacher identity issues from the integrated perspectives of both sociocultural and poststructural approaches (Morgan, 2007) and to introduce the concept of ethico-politics of teacher identity to EFL teacher education. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a kind of cooperative venture between the government (public sector) and business sector (private sector). Over the past decades, the Hong Kong Government intends to expand the use of PPP in delivery of development projects and public services, such as the Hong Kong Disneyland, the Cyberport, the construction of public infrastructures and management and operation of infrastructures. The shift in using PPP to deliver public services from traditional service delivery by government departments and non-government organizations imposes a significant implication to the governance in Hong Kong as well as in its financial and revenue aspect. The dissertation consists of four Sections. Section 1 is the introduction. In Section 2, I will conduct a literature review on the PPP in the aspects of its definition, concept, history and underlying theories. There are different forms of private sector involvement in public project, depending on the degree of private participation and involvement from the public sector. For example outsourcing in providing public services, build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode for providing infrastructure, service PPP. The various forms of PPP and the common usage of different forms on different aspects would be discussed. The considering factors, benefits and potential risks of adopting PPP will also be examined in this section. Though there exist various forms of PPP, there are common elements which must be included for a successful PPP, namely, common goal between the private and public, efficiency, transparency in selection of partner, risk sharing and accountability etc, which I will discussed in this section. In addition, the conditions for effective PPP and some recommended good practices of PPP will be detailed in this section. In Section 3, I will focus on 2 major forms of PPP adopted in Hong Kong and evaluate the performance of such applications through case study. The first PPP form is the BOT in which HK Government has adopted for providing numerous infrastructures like Cross Harbour Tunnel. The second one is the service PPP through which the Government contracts out the service provision to a contractor who works as a partner with Government. This form is widely used in the management and maintenance for road network and public lighting system. I will evaluate the above application of PPP (“Cross Harbour Tunnel” case and “Management and maintenance of road network and public lighting system” case) based on the principle and elements mentioned in Section 2. In the last part of the dissertation, recommendations are made for better development of PPP, in particular the ways for minimizing the ambiguity in accountability and responsibility between the public and private parties as well as increasing transparency to public. Finally, conclusion is drawn according to the whole study. / published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (Ph. D.)--McGill University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 336-366).

The Popular Republic of China occupies an important position on the African continent. Although China and Africa have already been in contact in antiquity, the intensive cooperation had started after the Popular Republic of China had been created in 1949. While the Chinese government had focused on its political interests in the second half of the twentieth century, the Chinese strategy is now dominated by economic interests. The bilateral trade exceeded 100 billion USD in 2008 and China has become the second most important trading partner of African countries. The Chinese presence is significant in many economic areas. The Sino-African cooperation is not only characterized by the export of African raw materials but also the Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa have become increasingly important and the Chinese enterprises are very successful in the construction industry. The aim of this thesis is to analyze China's position on the African continent and present how intensive the Sino-African relations are.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

To solve the conflict between limited fiscal funds and increasing demands to strengthen infrastructure construction, Public Private Partnership (PPP) was introduced by the Chinese government as an effective approach to make use of private investment to implement infrastructure projects. To provide services or facilities for public use, in PPP, participants pool their skills and resources while at the same time sharing the risks and rewards. The application of PPP could not only ease the government’s financial pressure, but also improve the efficiency of infrastructure construction and ensure the service quality of projects. Although PPP produces these benefits, the complexity and long-term features of PPP projects expose participants to more risks than in traditional projects. Therefore, risk management of participants is critical to the success of PPP projects. As an innovative procurement approach involves a variety of stakeholders over a long time span, it is necessary to investigate how to appraise and recognize PPP project success. In addition, although risk management has attracted much attention, few studies examine the detailed link between various dimensions of risk management and PPP project success. This research therefore intends to fill these two gaps. Compared with countries in the West, PPP was introduced into China relatively recently. A comparative study was employed in this research in order to understand the Chinese situation and to make use of the experience of other countries to critique PPP project performance in Mainland China. In this study, a two-pronged research program—comprising quantitative and qualitative approaches—was used to test and validate the tripartite theoretical model which was set up based on Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), Resource-based View (RBV) and Relational Exchange Theory (RET). In the quantitative study, questionnaire surveys were conducted concurrently in Mainland China and other places. Hierarchical Multiple Regression was used to explore the relationships posited in the research framework. To provide supportive and complementary evidence to the quantitative data, a case study of a PPP project in Mainland China was undertaken. Open-ended interviews and the thematic analysis technique were adopted in the case study. Taken together, the findings indicated that although the facets of risk management significantly affect project success, there are subtle different influences on different stakeholders’ benefits. For example, the uncertainty of social issues and economic issues will affect public partner’s benefits while the uncertainty of political & institutional issues, economic issues and project specific issues are directly influence private partner’s benefits. To maximize their own interests, different stakeholders should pay more attention to the influencing factors that are specifically associated with them. Meanwhile, it is demonstrated that individual efforts on risk management also contribute to the benefits of other stakeholders as well as to the whole industry development. In addition, the comparative study suggests that public partners of PPP projects in Mainland China could refer to the risk management experience of public partners from other countries to make an appropriate risk management commitment and better manage risks. On the other hand, private partners of PPP projects in Mainland China need to pay more attention to the macro-control of the government so as to protect their rights and interests. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

published_or_final_version / abstract / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration