BackgroundDepression is among the most prevalent mental disorders globally and is frequently accompanied by impairments in attention, memory, and executive functioning that substantially diminish quality of life and social functioning. Taekwondo has increasingly been recognized as a holistic mind–body discipline that integrates physical training, attentional regulation, and ethical cultivation and may offer benefits for both psychological well-being and cognitive health. However, the existing evidence has not been systematically synthesized.MethodsThis systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and synthesized relevant literature published through September 2025. Searches were conducted across major English- and Chinese-language Taekwondodatabases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Ovid Medline and CNKI), and 14 randomized controlled trials were ultimately included. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the RoB 2.0 tool, and rated the certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach. Random-effects models were applied to estimate standardized mean difference (SMD) and corresponding 95% CI. Heterogeneity was examined using Cochran's Q-test and the I2 statistic. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression were performed to evaluate the moderating effects of intervention duration, weekly frequency, session length, and gender ratio. Publication bias was assessed using Begg and Egger tests, and sensitivity analyses were conducted.ResultsFourteen randomized controlled trials involving 906 participants were included. Taekwondo training was associated with significant, moderate improvements in depressive symptoms (SMD = −0.54; 95% CI: −0.84 to −0.24; I2 = 59.2%) and cognitive function (SMD = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.17–0.81; I2 = 51.4%). Subgroup analyses indicated that interventions delivered ≥3 times per week, with total durations ≤12 weeks and session lengths ≤40 min, produced the greatest improvements in depressive symptoms. In contrast, interventions delivered ≥3 times per week, with sessions lasting 30–50 min and durations exceeding 16 weeks, were more effective in enhancing cognitive function. More consistent treatment effects were observed among female participants.ConclusionTaekwondo training appears to exert meaningful benefits for both depressive symptoms and cognitive function, supporting its potential as a comprehensive exercise-based intervention with psychological and cognitive health value.
Background. The article discusses the need to improve the method of monitoring extracurricular activities in order to increase the motivation of Chinese students in the absence of a natural language environment.
Objectives. The study aims to develop and test key principles for organizing a long-term competition using online technology, taking into account the mentality of modern Chinese university students in order to maximize their motivation to learn. The purpose of the publication is to propose an innovative approach to integrating learning across several disciplines and organizing general extracurricular activities while ensuring the academic motivation of participating students.
Study Participants. 116 Chinese students studying in Chinese or Russian universities, including 14 sophomores (graduation year: 2027) of the Russian language profile of the Institute of Foreign Languages and Culture of the South China Normal University, took part in the experiment conducted at the end of 2024.
Methods. At the stage of theoretical research, the methods of literature review and comparative analysis of Chinese and Russian standards of RFL teaching were used. At the empirical research stage, the key methods are experiment, interviews with teachers and students participating in the experiment, as well as observation of teaching according to the proposed methodology.
Results. The typical difficulties in teaching foreign languages, increasing with the spread of digital technologies and Internet resources, are described; the immediate cause of their occurrence — lack of motivation — is noted; the following issues relevant to teaching Russian as a foreign language are considered: the advantages and prospects of using online technology in testing and organizing extracurricular activities for students, the application of Vroom's expectancy theory in pedagogical work, and principles for organizing a long-term competition to maximize the engagement of Chinese students. The study describes an experiment in an online environment, which is a 51-day competition in listening comprehension exercises using online technology called ‘Audition Marathon 2024’. As a result of the experiment, the motivational role and high pedagogical effectiveness of the approach put forward in the work were proven by comparing the results of exams in the discipline ‘Visual-Aural-Oral Russian’ for two semesters.
Conclusions. The results of research suggest that the main significance of organizing competitions using online technologies lies in stimulating extracurricular activities, increasing the amount of time students spend working on the language they are learning, and saving time in class for oral practice. Testing in an environment without direct supervision by the teacher should be accompanied by a productive way of motivating students to achieve high learning efficiency. In addition, when developing innovative means of motivating students to learn Russian, it is necessary to pay considerable attention to the modern mentality of the target audience, its learning traditions, and the available technical equipment.
Education (General), Theory and practice of education
Under globalization and digitalization, China's cultural dissemination is shifting from symbolic export to value-based integration. Digital technologies enable this transition, with interactive media like games playing a key role. Black Myth: Wukong, for instance, achieved global success by blending indigenous storytelling with cutting-edge technology, sparking international interest in related cultural elements like ancient architecture and music . It moved beyond simple translation by using terms like "Wu Kong" and "Loong," demonstrating cultural confidence . However, simply "adapting" content for foreign audiences can dilute its essence. Future efforts should focus on cultural re-creation rooted in indigenous values. This involves leveraging multimodal semiotic innovation, technological empowerment (e.g., AI, VR), and fostering community interaction to create deep resonance . The goal is a leap from merely "going out" to being genuinely embraced globally, facilitated by platforms that encourage cross-cultural co-creation and immersive experiences
Parataxis refers to the implicit logic in Chinese, where the logical relationships between sentences are not conveyed through formal linguistic devices (e.g., conjunctions) but rather through semantic coherence. In contrast, hypotaxis denotes the overt logic in English, where inter-sentence logical relationships rely on formal linguistic means (including grammatical and lexical cohesion), emphasizing structural coherence. The distinction between hypotaxis and par-ataxis is one of the most prominent features in English-Chinese language com-parison and constitutes a fundamental difference between the two lan-guages. In recent years, with the deepening of cultural exchange and integration be-tween China and the West, increasing attention has been paid to hypotaxis and parataxis in English and Chinese. This paper conducts a comparative study of hypotaxis and parataxis in English and Chinese by analyzing Zhu Ziqing’s prose The Sight of Father’s Back and its English translations. The paper aims to enhance translators’ understanding and mastery of the distinct linguistic fea-tures of both languages, thereby improving their bilingual translation compe-tence. The selected translations in this paper are all produced by re-nowned translators. Through analysis, the paper seeks to derive effective trans-lation strategies and techniques, providing theoretical guidance for future translation practice. Additionally, it calls for greater emphasis on Chi-nese-to-English translation studies in the field of translation research.
Metaphor is a prominent linguistic device in human language and literature, as they add color, imagery, and emphasis to enhance effective communication. This paper introduces a large-scale high quality annotated Chinese Metaphor Corpus, which comprises around 28K sentences drawn from a diverse range of Chinese literary sources, such as poems, prose, song lyrics, etc. To ensure the accuracy and consistency of our annotations, we introduce a comprehensive set of guidelines. These guidelines address the facets of metaphor annotation, including identifying tenors, vehicles, and grounds to handling the complexities of similes, personifications, juxtapositions, and hyperboles. Breaking tradition, our approach to metaphor generation emphasizes tenors and their distinct features rather than the conventional combination of tenors and vehicles. By integrating “ground” as a CoT (Chain of Thoughts) input, we are able to generate metaphors that resonate more with real-world intuition. We test generative models such as Belle, Baichuan, and Chinese-alpaca-33B using our annotated corpus. These models are able to generate creative and fluent metaphor sentences more frequently induced by selected samples from our dataset, demonstrating the value of our corpus for Chinese metaphor research.
In this work, we develop a pipeline for historical-psychological text analysis in classical Chinese. Humans have produced texts in various languages for thousands of years; however, most of the computational literature is focused on contemporary languages and corpora. The emerging field of historical psychology relies on computational techniques to extract aspects of psychology from historical corpora using new methods developed in natural language processing (NLP). The present pipeline, called Contextualized Construct Representations (CCR), combines expert knowledge in psychometrics (i.e., psychological surveys) with text representations generated via Transformer-based language models to measure psychological constructs such as traditionalism, norm strength, and collectivism in classical Chinese corpora. Considering the scarcity of available data, we propose an indirect supervised contrastive learning approach and build the first Chinese historical psychology corpus (C-HI-PSY) to fine-tune pre-trained models. We evaluate the pipeline to demonstrate its superior performance compared with other approaches. The CCR method outperforms word-embedding-based approaches across all of our tasks and exceeds prompting with GPT-4 in most tasks. Finally, we benchmark the pipeline against objective, external data to further verify its validity.
Reading is the foundation of mastering a language as well as a primary instrument to obtain information. Reading teaching has always been a hot topic in English language teaching (ELT). The present study sought to trace the characteristics of existing studies on English reading teaching in China. Based on research articles in the CNKI database collected by Chinese core journals and CSSCI in the past two decades, 603 studies on English reading teaching were selected and analyzed. Firstly, the Cite Space software is used to visualize the annual number of published papers, research hotspots and research trends. Subsequently, a detailed content analysis was conducted to distil and summarise the predominant research foci in English reading instruction in China over the past twenty years. The results show that the number of published papers on reading teaching research in China increases first and then fluctuates. The evolution of research topics is discerned to encompass three distinct stages and was influenced by prevailing educational policies. The research foci mainly include three aspects: English reading teaching modes, English reading teaching strategies and English reading ability. This comprehensive review aims to map out the current research landscape, shedding light on future scholarly inquiry in English reading teaching
Chinese word segmentation refers to the process of dividing a sequence of Chinese characters into individual words. It constitutes a fundamental component of Chinese natural language processing. Due to the intricacies of the Chinese language, Chinese word segmentation has garnered significant attention from researchers. Based on a review of historical literature, segmentation methods can be broadly categorized into rule-based, statistical, semantic-based, and comprehension-based approaches. With the advancement of machine learning, neural networks have emerged as the mainstream algorithm for word segmentation. However, Chinese presents several unique challenges, leading to segmentation results that are less effective compared to morphological analysis in languages like English. Moreover, word segmentation faces new challenges such as dependency on the quality and scale of corpora, as well as domain-specific segmentation in diverse fields. Addressing these emerging challenges will undoubtedly become a focal point in future research endeavors in this field. This review provides a comprehensive summary of existing methods, discusses the current state of Chinese word segmentation, and outlines directions for addressing the evolving complexities in the field. As Chinese language processing continues to advance, finding robust solutions for accurate word segmentation remains a critical area of research.
Jeffrey H. Gamble, Hai-Min Li, Xiao-Ling Liao
et al.
Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic’s “Great Online Transition” significantly impacted teachers. Existing research on Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) lacks longitudinal designs and consideration of subject-specific contexts. This study, using the Stressor-Strain-Outcome framework, investigates psychological needs thwarting (PNT) during ERT on teachers’ well-being and online teaching intentions, considering subject of instruction as a potential factor. Methods Data were collected from 1,369 Chinese primary and middle school teachers of Chinese literature, mathematics, and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at two time points: two weeks after ERT implementation (Time 1, mid-November 2021) and two months later, after returning to face-to-face teaching (Time 2, mid-January 2022). PNT, emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, and intention towards online teaching were evaluated. Results Among the types of PNT, competence thwarting emerged as the strongest predictor of emotional exhaustion, which was, in turn, associated with reduced online teaching intention and increased psychological distress. EFL teachers showed stronger associations between PNT, emotional exhaustion, and adverse outcomes, indicating higher susceptibility to strain during ERT. Conclusion Subject of instruction, particularly for EFL teachers, significantly influences the relationship between PNT and teacher outcomes during ERT. Our findings underscore the need for subject-specific support strategies in online teaching environments.
KONG Yan, ZUO Yanli, LIU Jianghua, WU Huabei, CHEN Enran, WEI Siyu
Background In order to change the shortage of general practitioners in primary care, China has been implementing a rural order-oriented medical student training program in 2010. Currently, the overall performance intention, performance situation and retention intention of order-oriented medical students in China still remains unclear and need to be supported by more reliable evidence. Objective To systematically evaluate the performance intention rate, actual performance rate and retention intention rate of order-oriented medical students in China and analyze its influencing factors. Methods From January to June 2022, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, PubMed and Embase databases were searched to collect literature related to service intention, performance intention and retention intention for primary care of order-oriented medical students in China with a time period from 2010 to 2021, and the language of the literature was limited to Chinese and English. Two investigators independently screened literature and extracted data independently to evaluate the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis of single-group rates was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. Results A total of 49 papers were included with a survey period of 2010-2020, involving 22 413 order-oriented medical students. The performance intention rate of order-oriented medical students was 62% [95%CI (55%-69%) ], the performance rate was 95% [95%CI (93%-96%) ], the retention intention rate was 16% [95%CI (13%-19%) ]. The results of subgroup analysis showed that the performance intention rate of the literature published in 2011 [90%, 95%CI (84%-96%) ] was higher than the other years (P<0.01), the performance intention rate was higher in North China [87%, 95%CI (84%-90%) ] than the other regions, the performance intention rate of college students [68%, 95%CI (67%-69%) ] was higher than the residents in standardization training (P<0.01) ; the performance rate of the published literature in 2020 [99%, 95%CI (99%-100%) ] was higher than the other years (P<0.01), and the performance rate [100%, 95%CI (99%-100%) ] in Central China was higher than the other regions (P<0.01) ; the retention intention rate of the literature published in 2015 [36%, 95%CI (2%-70%) ] was higher than the other years (P<0.01), the retention intention rate [23%, 95%CI (4%-41%) ] was higher in South China than the other regions (P<0.01), the retention intention rate of the college students [18%, 95%CI (13%-22%) ] was higher than the residents in standardization training and primary care providers performing contracts (P<0.01) . Conclusion The actual performance rate of order-oriented medical students in China is high, but the performance intention rate and retention intention rate are low. Region, time and medical education stage are the influencing factors.
BackgroundThis scoping review aims to examine the extant literature and summarize findings related to barriers to accessing health care faced by older Chinese immigrants in Canada.MethodsWe conducted a search of electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles using a comprehensive set of keywords without limiting the search to a specific time period. To be included in our review, articles had to meet the following criteria: (a) published in a peer-reviewed journal, (b) written in English, (c) provide a clear description of the methods used, and (d) respond to our research question, which focuses on identifying barriers to accessing healthcare for older Chinese immigrants living in Canada.ResultsFifteen papers were selected based on the criteria, and five main barriers were identified, which are ranked in descending order according to the number of times they were mentioned: culture and health beliefs (N = 13), language and communication (N = 7), structural and circumstances (N = 2), health literacy and information (N = 2), and demographic, social, and economic factors (N = 2).ConclusionsThe issue of accessing healthcare for older Chinese immigrants in Canada is complex, as it involves multiple aspects that are relevant to both patients and healthcare providers. Our research findings suggest that the culturally and linguistically sensitive education programs, inter-sectoral coordination, and social support should be improved for older Chinese immigrants and those of other ethnic backgrounds.
This paper investigates the integration of augmented reality (AR) technology into English translation teaching for college students, emphasizing the pivotal role of innovative teaching methods in enhancing students' translation skills and learning experiences. To address the issue of insufficient interest in English translation teaching, the paper initially assesses the purpose and significance of learning English translation through a questionnaire survey, elucidating challenges encountered in English language acquisition. Subsequently, adhering to AR principles, a teaching demonstration platform rooted in AR technology is conceived and developed, intricately aligned with English translation instruction. The platform serves as a solution to issues in English learning, such as inadequate course comprehension, low utilization of teaching resources, and instructors' lack of experience. The research culminates in the analysis of survey results, wherein the quantitative disparities in translation ability between students utilizing the research platform and those subjected to traditional teaching methods are examined. The findings underscore the positive impact of the AR-based research platform on improving students' translation proficiency. The AR platform heightens learners' engagement in the learning process, contributes to constructing a robust knowledge framework, and enhances overall learning outcomes. The platform offers educators opportunities to optimize experimental courses and elevate teaching standards. The paper's outcomes present novel pedagogical scenarios for learners, propose technical solutions for other technical disciplines and furnish a theoretical foundation and application model for a new generation of experimental demonstration platforms.
Minor characters usually refer to characters in novels with ordinary character settings and no background. This paper takes the specific writing of minor nobodies in Rickshaw Boy as the object of study. In terms of character categorization, the gender of minor nobodies is used as a criterion to make a simple distinction, and then the characters’ personality traits are analyzed in detail. Through character analysis, it is found that the number of female nobodies is relatively small, and the types of roles are relatively single, and among them, there is more emphasis on the role of disenfranchised women, which shows the tragic situation of women who lost their human rights at that time under the social environment. The role of male nobodies is more complex and three-dimensional, with both writing in individual roles and in group image, and the significance of writing is not confined to the role portrayal and the metaphor behind it, but also plays a role in promoting the development of the plot.
A request is a common speech act in any language and is essential for successful communication. The study aims to compare the Chinese and Thai speech act of request in the campus scenario. Using the oral discourse completion test method, it examines the characteristics of request speech acts among 20 native Chinese speakers and 20 native Thai speakers. It focuses on analyzing the use of the initial action language in the request speech act, and the use of internal and external modifiers in the central action language. According to the research, it was found that although these two languages had some similarities in the implementation of the speech act of request, there were differences in many aspects and both had their own characteristics. This study argued that this difference was closely related to the Chinese and Thai socio-cultural characteristics.
Dalam dunia pendidikan, kompetensi guru dapat diringkas menjadi empat dimensi utama yang terbagi menjadi kompetensi pedagogik, kompetensi kepribadian, kompetensi sosial dan kompetensi profesional. Dalam empat dimensi ini, kompetensi kepribadian memiliki pengaruh yang paling signifikan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi besarnya pengaruh kompetensi kepribadian guru terhadap motivasi murid dalam belajar bahasa Mandarin, dilaksanakan di kursus bahasa Mandarin TianTian ZhongWen (TTZW). Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif. Pertama dengan menyebarkan angket penelitian melalui formulir Google, total terdapat 55 murid yang berpartisipasi dalam pengisian angket, kemudian menggunakan Excel dan aplikasi SPSS untuk mengolah dan menghitung data. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kompetensi kepribadian guru selama pembelajaran memberikan pengaruh positif terhadap motivasi murid dalam belajar bahasa Mandarin. Di waktu yang sama menemukan bahwa kompetensi kepribadian guru di TianTian ZhongWen (TTZW) secara umum baik, motivasi murid dalam belajar bahasa Mandarin juga cukup tinggi. Penelitian ini menyajikan data yang dapat dijadikan fondasi dasar bagi guru dalam mengembangkan dan meningkatkan kompetensi kepribadian dalam pembelajaran bahasa.
The present study attempts to investigate the difference of the use of modal markers in the Chinese e-mails by students of CFL (Learning Chinese as Foreign Language) at different proficiency Chinese levels. 35 CFL from the department of the School of Chinese Language and Literature, SooChow University, were divided into two groups according to their Chinese proficiency. The politeness of participants’ performance was evaluated based on two aspects: modal expressions and whole appropriateness. They were asked to write 8 e-mails on the topics provided, including two discourse styles (formal-informal) and four speech acts (suggestions, invitations, refusals, requests). Quantitative analysis revealed the differences between the two groups in the usage of modal expressions in e-mails, so as to distinguish the pragmatic awareness and pragmatic knowledge of Chinese foreign language learners at the different proficiency levels.
Against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, a large number of third-level institutes have had to transfer all teaching and learning activities online. This inevitable and urgently needed remote teaching is likely to lead to difficulties in the study of Chinese characters for beginner learners. Due to the pictographic origin and logographic nature of Chinese script, previous research shows the writeto-read effect and the importance of handwriting-to-character recognition. However, the nature of online learning suggests that all pedagogical practices will have to rely on digital input rather than pen and paper, which minimises the opportunities for handwriting. Furthermore, the worldwide crisis has also led to a lack of time and resources needed to develop a well-paced online curriculum that allow beginner learners to acquire characters while developing their character typing skills. Building upon narrative inquiry, this study explores the approach to studying Chinese characters during the pandemic. It first examines the challenges of teaching and learning Chinese characters online, and then reflects on the first-hand experience of teaching characters online among five CFL teachers based in Ireland and the UK. This study finds that a structured approach seems to benefit
the teaching of Chinese characters. Knowledge of Chinese characters should also be explicitly
incorporated into online teaching. The study will be one of the first contributing to the design and delivery of online teaching of Chinese characters in the context of a crisis scenario.