An exploratory study on secondary teachers’ conceptualisation of the cognitive discourse function ‘define’ and its scaffolding in classroom interaction

The My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTPS) program demonstrated improvements in classroom interactions and student outcomes in secondary schools using one-on-one coaching between study staff and teachers. Despite promising results, the time, cost, and oversight from a university research team may pose barriers to adoption of coaching programs like MTPS at scale. The My Teaching Team (MTT) project sought to translate key ingredients from MTPS into existing professional development contexts that are already built into many middle and high school educators’ weekly schedules: co-planning or professional learning community meetings. Six teams of secondary teachers (N = 30 teachers) participated in a pilot test of the usability of MTT materials across 5 months in one school year. Three teams elected to use MTT materials, and three elected to be a comparison group who continued their typical practices. Teams adopting MTT materials were observed to do so with good implementation integrity, and reported satisfaction with the intervention. Compared to typical practice teams, those using MTT were observed to spend more meeting time discussing teaching practice and less time discussing logistics/mechanics, and engaged in more video sharing and feedback to team members in the MTT sessions that explicitly encouraged this. The number of MTT meetings completed by a team, as well as spending more time discussing teaching practices and video sharing (but not feedback provided) during team meetings, predicted students’ self-reports of greater engagement and observations of higher levels of emotional support provided in the classroom. Implications for translating empirically supported interventions from the lab to real-world school settings are discussed.

This study centred on peer mentoring as an intervention strategy for improving classroom interaction and attitude towards teaching among Benue State secondary school science teachers. The study employed two research designs: the survey and the quasi experimental designs. The survey design was relevant in the determination of the kind of classroom interactions that teachers engage in as well as how to persuade the teachers to develop positive attitude to teaching science. The quasi experimental design was the pre-test, post-test type to determine efficacy of the mentoring procedure in teachers’ classroom interaction while they underwent mentoring. A total of 36 science teachers participated in mentorship that lasted 4 months. Four instruments were used: the Mentoring Guide (MG), the Mentees Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ), a Modified Flander’s Interaction Analysis Category (MFIAC) and the Mentees Evaluation Comments Questionnaire (MECQ). Reliability of MAQ was found to be 0.86 using Cronbach Alpha dand that of MFIAC was 0.69 using Phi coefficient. The MG was researcher-designed and all other mentors were trained on how to use it effectively. The findings showed that biology, chemistry and physics teachers’ classrooms shifted from being lecture-dominated as recorded before mentoring to students’ non-verbal activity-dominated especially in setting and washing apparatus, writing tests, and filling workbooks. Thus the reduction in interaction under direct teacher behaviour led to increase in interaction under students’ non-verbal behaviour. The teachers’ non-verbal behaviour equally reduced after mentoring since the classes became less teacher-dominated. Mentoring had significant effect on the attitude of science teachers exposed to it. The male teachers had greater change in attitude after mentoring compared to the females though this was not statistically significant. Mentoring was found to assist science teachers develop positive attitude towards the teaching profession. Both male and female science teachers enjoyed the mentoring relationship and indicated their willingness to become mentors to other teachers. Majority of the mentees prefer a longer (3 years and above) period for mentoring. Inadequate visitations by mentors as well as inadequate time for contacts were the major challenges. Reasons for recommending mentoring as one positive way to help science teachers grow were: for knowledge acquisition, improving teaching skills, building confidence in teachers and encouragement of hard work. It is recommended among others, that mentorship of beginning science teachers should be integrated into the state policy as done elsewhere outside Nigeria to guarantee its regularity, financing and effectiveness. As a gradual process, the duration of mentoring should be steadily increased until it comes to a time when it will be a policy matter in the state. Teacher training institutions as a matter of policy and in collaboration with government should ensure internship (or mentorship as may be called in this study) for all graduating teachers for one year before they go for national service (NYSC).

Recent studies on ethnic minority students in Hong Kong have highlighted the difficulties they face when learning Chinese-as-an-Additional-Language (CAL). These linguistic challenges can cause anxiety and hinder their integration into Hong Kong society. Transpositioning is an emerging notion in the field of Applied Linguistics and involves individuals stepping out of their assigned roles and adopting different perspectives through translanguaging. It has been argued that engaging in transpositioning can potentially engage students’ learning and participation in classroom interaction. However, there is limited research on how multilingual classroom teachers can suspend their social roles to alleviate students' anxiety while learning a second language in classrooms. This paper seeks to fill this research gap by examining how a Chinese teacher creates a safe translanguaging space for co-learning, which allows him to move beyond his predefined social roles and alleviate ethnic minority students' anxiety in learning CAL. The study uses Multimodal Conversation Analysis to analyse classroom interaction data. The fine-grained classroom analysis is triangulated with the video-stimulated-recall-interviews with the teacher and students which are analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The paper argues for a Transpositioning-Translanguaging-Co-Learning approach to reduce students' anxiety related to CAL learning. By positioning both the teacher and students as equal contributors to knowledge, this can foster student engagement and active participation in classroom interactions.

Background and Context Based on issues arising around how to best prepare CS teachers and the constantly changing nature of the CS education content, curriculum, and instructional methods, it is crucial to examine the needs of secondary CS teachers. Objective The primary purpose of this study was to identify secondary computer science (CS) teachers’ needs and make recommendations for future CS education research and practices in the U.S. Method Using a mixed-method research design, the data were collected from Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)’s email listserv member discussions (n = 1,706 from 482 unique members), questionnaire responses from 222 secondary CS teachers, and semi-structured interviews with eight CS teachers in the US. Findings Updating curriculum resources was an important ongoing need for secondary CS teachers. Curriculum resources, materials to assess students learning, and embedding the principles of computational thinking into curriculum were reported as major needs for secondary teachers. Teachers also reported that they need to learn more about student-centered teaching strategies (e.g. problem-based learning and pair programming) and guide students’ learning using scaffolding and team-management strategies. The findings suggest that teachers perceived the need for administrators’, parents’, and other CS teachers’ support. Having an online community for teachers was critical to address their curricular and pedagogical needs. Furthermore, increasing student enrollment and interest in CS was critical for the future of CS education. Implications The findings of this research have implications for creating professional development plans and support that can address secondary CS teachers’ needs in the US.

The purpose of this study is to identify secondary computer science (CS) teachers’ pedagogical needs in the United States. Participants were selected from secondary teachers who were teaching CS courses or content in a school setting (public, private, or charter) or an after-school program during the time of data collection. This is a qualitative study using CS teachers’ discussions in Computer Science Teachers Association’s (CSTA) email listserv, responses to open-ended questions in a questionnaire, and discussions in follow-up interviews. Content analysis, thematic analysis and constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis were used to analyze the data. The most common pedagogical need expressed was learning student-centered strategies for teaching CS and guiding students’ understanding with the use of scaffolding and team-management strategies in CS classes. Furthermore, addressing students’ beliefs in CS and their preconceptions in math and reading were important factors influencing teaching CS effectively in secondary schools.

In Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts, the quality of learning academic content through the L2 and the effect it might have on the development of students’ academic language competence (both in the L2 and L1) are among the key concerns of the different stakeholders involved. To address this issue, this study adopts Dalton-Puffer’s (A construct of cognitive discourse functions for conceptualising content-language integration in CLIL and multilingual education. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 216–253, 2013) theoretical construct of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) to examine teachers’ use of subject-specific academic language, and more specifically teachers’ classification practices, in CLIL classrooms in Spain. The construct of CDFs combines linguistic and educational approaches to academic language and ‘links subject-specific cognitive learning goals with the linguistic representations they receive in classroom interaction’ (Dalton-Puffer, Cognitive discourse functions: Specifying and integrative interdisciplinary construct. In T. Nikula, E. Dafouz, P. Moore, & U. Smit (Eds.), Conceptualising Integration in CLIL and Multilingual Education (pp. 29–54). Bristol and Buffalo and Toronto: Multilingual Matters, 2016, p. 30). Classifying is essential for knowledge construction in any school discipline as they help learners move from specific to abstract (Mohan, Language and Content. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1986). However, empirical research on how CDFs are realised in CLIL classroom interaction is still in its beginnings. This chapter contributes to the on-going research by examining in detail one CLIL science teacher’s classifying practices when constructing scientific knowledge, from a multimodal conversation-analytic perspective (Jefferson, Glossary of Transcript Symbols with an Introduction. Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation. Retrieved from http://www.liso.ucsb.edu/liso_archives/Jefferson/Transcript.pdf, 2004; Mondada, Conventions for Multimodal Transcription. Basel: Romanisches Seminar der Universitat, 2014).

Aim/Purpose: The study examines the teachers’ perceptions towards a set of socio-emotional characteristics of distance education (DE) in primary and secondary schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. The examined characteristics include perceived joy, stress, effort/fatigue, isolation, inclusiveness, and collaboration/interaction. Background: The transition to emergency distance education had a large socio-emotional impact on teachers. Recent evidence certifies an increase in mental health issues like stress and load. Studies also recognized online teaching barriers including difficulties in communication and interaction with students. This study focuses on the examination of the socio-emotional characteristics of distance education as perceived by primary and secondary education teachers in Greece. The study also investigates differences between primary and secondary education, teaching disciplines, and the role of individual factors like gender, age, and experience. Methodology: The study used a mixed-method research design with closed-ended and open-ended questions on a sample of 845 teachers of primary and secondary education in Greece. The closed-ended questionnaire consisted of 19 items of socio-emotional DE characteristics, measured in a 5-point bipolar format. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)was conducted on 16 items, indicating three components: (a) effort/fatigue, (b) inclusiveness, and (c) collaboration/interactivity. A single-item scale was considered for joy, fatigue, stress, and isolation. The finalized measurement model was evaluated in terms of item loadings, reliability of measures, convergent, and discriminant validity, with the help of the SmartPLS software. Descriptive statistics and percentages were calculated with the help of SPSS software. Because of the non-normal distribution of the data, non-parametric methods of Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis were performed to examine significant differences in teacher groups. The qualitative part of the analysis was conducted on text data received from two open-ended questions, on a sample of 602 cases. The identified qualitative constructs were investigated through content thematic analysis focusing on the identification of the socio-emotional codes and references, excluding non-relevant themes and cases. Contribution: The findings of the study contribute towards the deeper understanding of the teachers’ psychological or emotional state during the early stage of the Covid-19 emergency DE, as well as on the role of individual and other factors like gender, age, teaching stage, and teaching subject. The results can be leveraged during or after the pandemic, to design pedagogical or psychological practices and strategies to encourage and facilitate the teachers’ transition to DE. Findings: A measurement model of the teachers’ perceived socio-emotional characteristics towards emergency distance education was developed and validated. The model includes the components of: (a) effort/fatigue, (b) inclusiveness, (c) collaboration/interactivity, (d) isolation, (e) joy, and (f) stress. The quantitative results indicated that teachers experienced increased levels of fatigue, and perceived DE as difficult and time-consuming. Teachers of primary education reported significantly lower levels of perceived collaboration/interaction than secondary teachers. Female teachers reported significantly higher scores of both joy and stress, while the youngest age groups expressed the highest scores of joy. The teaching subject also revealed differences in fatigue. Through qualitative analysis, this study also identified several socio-emotional thematic codes revealing the teachers’ difficulties in interaction and communication with students as well as a set of emotional attributes like fatigue, joy, and stress. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teachers should modify their face-to-face teaching material and adjust it to online teaching principles, avoiding future load and frustration. Different approaches should be implemented in primary and secondary education and indifferent teaching disciplines. Also, teachers should be trained on DE-oriented digital skills, ICT competencies, and socio-emotional skills, e.g., by receiving psychological and socio-emotional support from experts. Strategies to decrease fatigue and stress, especially in synchronous teaching should be traced by schools and educators. Recommendation for Researchers: The findings provide theoretical evidence on the teachers’ socio-emotional attitude towards DE and their experiences in the first stages of the emergency remote education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Impact on Society: This research highlights the perceived DE characteristics and the barriers to online teaching during Covid-19. Schools, educators, and society should collaborate to provide awareness and opportunities for successful distance education practices. Future Research: The survey is based on individual self-reported measures, and this restricts the deeper understanding of the findings. Hence, future research should extend this work by using different methods of data collection like for instance observations, course recordings, interviews, or focus groups.

The facilitative role of scaffolding has been highlighted by research with empirical evidence on learners’ engagement in classroom interaction and their uptake of teacher instruction but the body of empirical research focusing on genre-based pedagogical approaches for Vietnamese learners as second language (L2) writers remains relatively limited. The present study extends this line of enquiry by investigating how five experienced EFL teachers at two Vietnamese colleges apply scaffolding strategies in genre-based L2 writing classes and how teacher professional development workshops shifted the teachers’ beliefs about such an approach to teaching EFL writing. Data were collected from 30 classroom observations (10 before and 20 after the workshops) and five individual semi-structured interviews with the teachers. A content-based approach was adopted for qualitative data analysis. Findings show that the teachers used a much wider range of scaffolding strategies, with questioning and giving feedback being the most frequently-used strategies, in their EFL writing classes compared to those observed before the workshops. The study further shows that there were remarkable changes in the teachers’ beliefs about genre-based L2 writing pedagogy and that they highly valued the potential impact of this approach on learners’ uptake in writing skills. Implications for second language writing pedagogy and teacher professional development will be discussed.

This research analyses how teachers' management abilities in the classroom affect how well their students perform in academic science courses at secondary schools in the city of Lahore. This research utilized a quantitative, descriptive survey design methodology whereby 400 secondary school science teachers from 45 different public and private secondary schools within Lahore were surveyed. The survey consisted of a 37-item structured questionnaire measuring five different Classroom Management dimensions (Discipline Management, Teaching/Learning Organization, Classroom Interaction, Teacher/Student Communication, and Psychological/Social Classroom Environment). It also contained a measure of students perceived academic performance as well as the internal consistency of the questionnaire.Descriptive results indicated that most classroom management strategies used by teachers are used moderately, however teacher-student communication and classroom climate received higher scores compared to all other strategies. There was no significant difference in teacher management skills and student performance when comparing demographic variables such as gender and service status or the classification of the school sector in which the teachers work (public/private). Correlation Analysis indicated that there exists a positive correlation between student academic performance and the dimensions that measure teachers’ use of classroom management strategies, specifically (structured teaching practices, lesson organization, and classroom interactions). Regression results supported the hypotheses that the dimensions of Classroom Management had a significant positive effect on predicted student performance; this indicates that organized teaching and providing quality instructional practices and implementing positive classroom interaction has a positive impact on student learning. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate the importance of effective classroom management practices in improving secondary level Science Students’ Academic Performance and highlight the need for greater emphasis on structured Classroom Management Training for Teachers.

Classroom interaction has always been considered at the heart of the teaching-learning process since it allows students to deepen their comprehension of the course subject and improve their speaking skills. However, the previous studies denoted that teachers dominate when speaking in the classroom. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the nature of teacher talk along with the categories which are frequently used in the classroom based on the FLINT analysis system. The design of this research is descriptive qualitative. The sample of the study was 7 Moroccan secondary EFL teachers in Agadir. The data was gathered by naturalistic observation and recording. The data were processed using Moskowitz's (1971) Foreign Language Interaction (FLINT) system. The findings confirmed teachers’ use all of the categories of teacher talk as mentioned in FLINT. However, the most often utilized categories were found to be giving direction and lecturing. Moreover, the teachers primarily assumed the role of controllers in the classroom, frequently leading the flow of engagement. The findings have a number of implications for Moroccan EFL secondary classrooms.

Positioned within the context of educational reform in Iran, the study explores shifts in secondary school English language teachers’ practices as they trialled aspects of task-based pedagogy during a short professional learning intervention. Engestrom’s (1996, 2001) third generation activity theory is used to investigate the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their use of communicative pedagogical practices. The results reveals small changes in the teachers’ practices despite their focus on literacy, accuracy and controlled classroom interactions. The results will highlight the need for greater flexibility in adapting communicative practices and inform policy and program implementation processes to support sustainable teaching reforms.

Critical thinking is a multifaceted process which requires a higher level of cognitive skills. Teachers’ perceptions and practices to develop critical thinking skills among students influence their behavior in the class. This study intended to explore the perceptions and practices of secondary school teachers in developing the critical thinking skills of students. Four secondary teachers were conveniently selected for data collection by using a semi-structured interview followed by classroom observation and document analysis. The collected data was analyzed by using a thematic approach. The findings of the research study indicated that some of the secondary school teachers lack the basic knowledge about critical thinking; therefore, they were unable to define the concept of critical thinking and way to develop these skills in their students. Most of the teachers (i.e., 66.6%) were aware that it is important to develop student's critical thinking skills but except one, other teachers were unable to provide evidence of using effective classroom strategies needed to develop critical thinking skills among students. Moreover, it was observed that students were unable to analyze and apply their knowledge in new situations. Based on the findings, it was recommended that schools need to train teachers on pedagogies to enable them to create interactive classrooms to lead students to think critically. Keywords: critical thinking, reasoning skills, rote learning, teaching approaches

The construct of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) has been proposed as a bridge between linguists and educationalists, linking ‘subject specific cognitive learning goals with the linguistic representations they receive in classroom interaction’ (Dalton-Puffer 2013. “A Construct of Cognitive Discourse Functions for Conceptualising Content-Language Integration in Q4 CLIL Multilingual Education.” EuJAL 1 (2): 216–253, 220). We focus on the CDF evaluate, using the Appraisal model to analyze evaluative language in a longitudinal corpus of student texts written in L2 English across disciplines (natural science, history, art), collected from the same students at the end of primary school (aged 11+) and at the beginning and end of secondary year 2 (aged 13–14). We trace students' control of meaning-making resources for the CDF evaluate across disciplines and over time through their ability to ‘couple’ interpersonal, or evaluative, meanings with their ideational, or field-specific knowledge. The findings show some development towards appropriate field + evaluation couplings, and suggest ways teachers can focus students' attention on the language of evaluation across disciplines, aiding development of cognitive discourse competence. Our study further supports the contributions of Systemic Functional Linguistics to educational contexts, as the Appraisal framework discriminates types of evaluation for creating disciplinary knowledge.

Unpacking the Multidimensional Nature of EFL Speaking Difficulties: A Holistic Framework of Learner-Centered Needs. Speaking is a critical yet challenging skill for EFL learners due to its spontaneous nature, real-time processing, and high emotional demands. This study explores the individual challenges that students face in learning to speak English and how these affect their classroom participation and language development. Objectives: The study aims to examine the challenges that students encounter while learning to speak English and how these challenges influence their classroom participation and language development. Methods: Drawing on key theories of communicative competence, the Affective Filter Hypothesis, and pragmatic competence, this research employed a qualitative descriptive design, including open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 25 university students enrolled in a speaking class. Findings: Thematic analysis revealed five interrelated dimensions of difficulty: (1) linguistic challenges, especially vocabulary and grammar limitations; (2) psychological barriers, including anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and lack of confidence; (3) the impact of classroom environment and activity design on comfort and performance; (4) learners’ topic preferences, where familiar and casual themes are favored over abstract or technical subjects; and (5) the importance of pedagogical support, such as collaborative tasks, smaller group settings, and constructive feedback. Conclusion: The findings underscore that speaking difficulties are not merely linguistic but are deeply influenced by affective and contextual factors. Students benefit most from interactive, low-pressure environments that allow gradual confidence-building. The study concludes by recommending a more student-centered approach to speaking instruction—one that acknowledges individual learner differences, promotes meaningful interaction, and fosters both communicative competence and psychological readiness. These insights can guide teachers in designing more inclusive and engaging speaking classes that empower learners to participate actively and confidently. Keywords: EFL speaking challenges, communicative competence, affective filter, classroom interaction, learner confidence.

This study investigates how code switching, language anxiety, and classroom interaction shape English language proficiency among university students in Pakistan, with a particular focus on the mediating role of motivation. English, as both a global language and a marker of social mobility in South Asia, creates a complex linguistic environment where students often navigate between their native languages and English in academic contexts. The research aims to explore how frequent reliance on code switching affects language acquisition, how anxiety in speaking or writing English hinders proficiency, and how interactive practices in the classroom foster greater fluency and confidence. Employing a mixed-methods design, the study utilizes surveys to measure levels of anxiety, motivation, and proficiency alongside qualitative interviews to capture students’ personal experiences with code switching and interaction. Preliminary findings suggest that while code switching can ease comprehension and participation, it often slows long-term language mastery, particularly when paired with high anxiety. However, motivation emerges as a powerful mediator, transforming anxiety and linguistic challenges into opportunities for persistence and improvement. These results highlight the importance of pedagogical strategies that reduce anxiety, balance code-switching practices, and strengthen motivation to enhance overall proficiency.