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University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting Template

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University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting Template DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A QUESTIONNAIRE USED TO EVALUATE CHINESE PRESCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES ABOUT SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL, AND BEHAVIORAL TEACHING PRACTICES By LI LUO A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2017 © 2017 Li Luo To my parents, Mr. Ronghua Luo and Mrs. Meixiu Wei, who have given their best to me and my sister, for teaching me and engraving these words on my heart: “The very beginning mind itself is the most accomplished mind of true enlightenment.” ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Pursuing a Ph.D. overseas is not a journey I could have accomplished on my own. There are many people who made my doctoral journey possible and to whom I will be forever grateful. Since the beginning of my undergraduate program in 2005, I have been receiving tremendous formal and informal supports that led me to the pursuit and completion of a doctoral degree. I have no doubt that these supports have shaped who I now am, personally and professionally. I have had the good fortune to embark on a years-long passion project as my doctoral dissertation research and to be surrounded by people who have helped ensure the completion of my dissertation research. My words are too insufficient to express how thankful I am from the bottom of my heart. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my committee chair, whom I consider my “academic mother,” Dr. Patricia Snyder. As a Chinese proverb says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Dr. Pat not only gave me fishes generously when I came for help, but also taught me how to catch fish using individualized and effective instructional strategies. Throughout my doctoral program, Dr. Pat has always made herself available to support my research interests and projects, my future career, and me. I have experienced and witnessed her passion and commitment to excellence in mentoring, teaching, research, and service in the field of early intervention. Dr. Pat has been an exemplary academic role model and my research experiences under her guidance will serve as the foundation of my future work. Having the opportunity to learn from and work closely with her has been one of the most valuable assets in my life. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have an excellent supervisory committee and want to thank my other committee members, Drs. Maureen Conroy, Brian Reichow, 4 Anne Corinne Huggins-Manley, and Fonda Davis Eyler, for their support over the years. I sincerely thank Dr. Maureen for her ongoing caring, encouragement, and insightful comments and for inspiring me by her remarkable experience in early intervention research and passionate attitude. I am very grateful to Dr. Brian for providing supportive guidance and his expertise in systematic review to my qualifying examination, research projects, and dissertation work. I am greatly indebted to Dr. Corinne for deepening my understanding of methodological issues as I pursued a minor in research and evaluation methodology and for walking me through the data analyses for my dissertation. I deeply appreciate Dr. Fonda for her warm encouragement and continuous confidence in me and for mentoring me in scholarly writing and conducting cross-cultural research. Finally, although he was not a committee member, I would like to thank Dr. James Algina for his valuable guidance and support in the CFA model comparison tests for my dissertation. I also want to extend special appreciation to Dr. Robert Crow for his wonderful sense of humor, warm smile, and emotional support that have brightened my days in Gainesville. I am also thankful to my former major professors (Drs. Xiaoying Wang and Xiumin Hong) and colleague (Dr. Haijun Yu) in China. Dr. Wang at Northeast Normal University has provided invaluable advice at my key turning points and was the reason why I decided to pursue a career in early childhood. I am appreciative of Dr. Hong at Beijing Normal University for bringing me to the field of research during my master’s program and for providing endless guidance and support even after my graduation. I also show gratitude for Dr. Yu, who treats me like his little sister in both my personal and professional lives. Each of them was very supportive and has played a crucial role 5 in my dissertation data collection in China. This research would not have been possible without their strong and continuous support. I would like to thank each member of Snyder research lab at the University of Florida for their precious friendship, support, and encouragement: Dr. Crystal Bishop, Dr. Cinda Clark, JinHee Hur, Yaqin Li, Mackenzie Martin, Dr. Jose Martinez, Dr. Tara McLaughlin, Dr. Kimberley Megrath, Dr. Joy Polignano, Debra Prykanowski, Dr. Salih Rakap, Serpil Rakap, Dr. Darbianne Shannon, Sara Smith, Tiantian Sun, and Shujia “Jennie” Sun. I also thank my other friends and colleagues at the University of Florida, Beijing Normal University, and Northeast Normal University for their assistance and support in my dissertation research: Dr. Miao Gao, Ke “Tracy” Huang, Cheng Li, Xiaoli Li, Chengcheng Ma, Qun Ma, Yuxi Qiu, Dr. Lina Shi, Li Shu, Dr. Jun Wang, Dr. Wei Xu, and Chenhui Zhang. I have special thanks to Dr. Jun Wang and her husband, Dr. Shiming Liu, and Ke “Tracy” Huang and Yuxi Qiu for providing me with temporary housing assistance during my dissertation research-related back-and-forth travels. I would like to thank Dr. Wei Xu for her emotional support and statistical advice related to my research projects and dissertation research. I have been truly blessed to be a part of my family that has provided me with unconditional love, sacrifice, trust, and understanding through every step of this process. My parents always serve as the primary “secure base” for my exploration of the world and engaging in a wide range of experiences. They showed faith in me, gave me liberty to choose what I desired, and stood by to support me along the way. My sister and brother-in-law supported me in pursuing my dream in numerous ways. My 2-year-old niece, Timmy, is the softest point of my heart, who has prompted me to become a better 6 version of myself and be a better early childhood researcher. A very special thank you goes to my fiancé, Dr. Hua Bai for his commitment to our six-year long-distance dating relationship. Further, I am so grateful to him for traveling with me across provinces while I collected my dissertation data, assuming (almost) all the household chores, trying to cheer me up, assisting me in my job search, providing substantial financial support, and purchasing a home of our own in Beijing during the last year of my program of study. Finally, I am thankful to the China Scholarship Council affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China for offering me a four-year scholarship for my doctoral study. Thank you to the Graduate School of the University of Florida for their support to conduct this research. This research was supported, in part, by the University of Florida Graduate School Doctoral Research Travel Award. I am grateful to have had support from the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies throughout my doctoral program and as a doctoral student affiliate of the Center. Opinions expressed in this dissertation reflect those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies. In addition, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to thousands of Chinese early childhood leaders and practitioners who participated in my doctoral dissertation research. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... 11 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 13 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 14 LIST OF DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................. 16 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 20 Context for the Study .............................................................................................. 22 Policy Context for the Study ............................................................................. 22 Importance of Social-Emotional Competence in the Early Years ..................... 25 Preschool Social Education in Mainland China ................................................ 27 Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence in Young Children ......................................................................................................... 30 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 32 Purposes of the Present Study ............................................................................... 34 Conceptual Framework Guiding the Present Study ................................................ 35 Pyramid Model ................................................................................................
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