Cootie Catchers and Fortune Tellers

Regulation of the Minister of National Education number 16 of 2007 stated that Teachers at the Elementary school level (SD/MI), or other equivalent forms, must have a minimum educational academic qualification of diploma four (D-IV) or bachelor (S1) in the field of Primary Education (D-IV/S1 PGSD/PGMI) or psychology obtained from an accredited study program. Thus, there are many schools that have English teachers from non-English educational backgrounds (NEB) rather than English teachers from English educational backgrounds (EEB). This condition will affect the quality of English teaching in Elementary schools. In order to evaluate further the suitability of government regulation regarding teachers’ criteria in teaching Elementary students, this study was to compare the pedagogical competence of English and non-English educational background teachers in teaching English at the elementary school level. The design of the study is qualitative research with a case study approach. The researcher took four English teachers consisting of two English teachers with EEB and two English teachers with NEB. This study used interviews, observation, and questionnaires to collect the data. This study used 10 indicators from the Ministry of Education, 2007. The results showed that from the 10 aspects, it can be highlighted that English teachers from EEB and English teachers from NEB have similarities and differences in implementing the indicators of pedagogical competence established by the Ministry of Education, 2007. It showed that the English teachers from EEB are more dominant in implementing indicators 1,2,8,9,10. Furthermore, the English teachers from NEB are more dominant in indicators 6 and 7. Thus, they have similarities in the rest of the indicators (3,4,5).

‘Transcending the limits of logic’: poetic inquiry as a qualitative research method for working with vulnerable communities

Poetic inquiry, an increasingly popularized form of arts-based research, is an expressive and evocative method and methodology, where the lines of responsibility and roles assumed of a researcher mandate that the researcher is a social science and expressive artist. It is defined broadly as a reseach process and research product. As a process, poetic inquiry is the foundation of or central component to research endeavors where poetry can be the data source, the analytical and interpretative lenses, and/or the presentation. As a product, poetic inquiry results in poems singularly constructed by the researcher or participants or collaboratively crafted with both researcher and participants using notes, transcripts, memos, documents, texts, and so on. While all research is the interpretation of one voice through yet another voice, poetic inquiry offers the opportunity for participants to truly speak for themselves. The emergence of poetry within arts-based research is connected not only to the overall increase in arts-based practices but also to broader epistemological and theoretical insights such as those posed by postmodern and post-structural theory. As such, feminist and other politically motivated researchers may be interested in the transformational possibilities of poetry, as poetry can be a vehicle through which the patriarchal suffocation of research can be challenged. Thus, many researchers utilizing poetic inquiry focus on race, gender, identity, social justice, etc. As with any research, there are methodological and quality-related criticisms of poetic inquiry. However, poetic inquiry researchers acknowledge poetic inquiry is subjective, emotional, complex, connected, and sometimes messy in that it is constantly evolving, influencing, and being influenced by the social world. The quality of poetry used in and presented as poetic inquiry is more of a concern than a critique as arts-based researchers steer clear of promoting the minimized accessibility of poetic inquiry that would be the result of poetic elitism. Nevertheless, poetic inquiry researchers must consider the quality of their poetic inquiry work. They should study the craft of poetry, be aware of the traditions, understand the techniques, and engage in reflection prior to and while conducting any research project. There are a number of considerations to be had regarding the future directions of poetic inquiry. First, poetic inquiry continues to grow and bear fruit. If researchers are to employ convincingly poetic inquiry, they cannot be bound by draconian definitions. Poetic inquiry is not a welcome all for poorly constructed poetry; however, advocating for tightly bound definitions of work that is intended to be exploratory, evocative, and expressive would debilitate the field. Next, while there are some generally accepted and expected practices, there is no mandated linear process one must employ in poetic inquiry. The continued evolution of the poetic inquiry process is expected. Finally, the impact of poetic inquiry has been increasing steadily for at least 15 years as researchers have become more interested in engaging, questioning, refining, and adopting poetic inquiry. A journal dedicated specifically to defining, exploring, and presenting poetic inquiry could further this impact.

This poetic narrative autoethnographic inquiry explores lived experiences of a transracial adoptee Asian American coming to terms with his identity through the examination of the complexities of his inaccessible familial roots. As a method of qualitative research, poetic inquiry is interested in creative language-based processes of constraint, synthesis, crystallization, image, and lyrical form exercised as a phenomenological and existential choice that extends beyond the use of poetic methods to a way of being in the world [Prendergast, M., Leggo, C., & Sameshima, P. (2009). Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social sciences. Sense Publishing]. Supported by this theoretical underpinning, this piece employs poetic narrative autoethnography to explore notions identity development through expressive reflection. Working from Hanauer’s (2012. Growing up in the unseen shadow of the Kindertransport. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(10), 845–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800412456960) model, the author selected four of his previously written poems and then wrote narrative reflections on each poem in order to use the poems as a transcript for analysis. This study provides insights into how transracial adoptees may construct their identities through poetry.

This paper articulates the findings of a two-year Canadian federally-funded postdoctoral study — Poetic inquiry in qualitative research: A critical survey — on the use of poetry in social science qualitative research practices. Based on a 1000+ page annotated bibliography gathered into a critical anthology as the data for this project, the discoveries emerged that are expressed below. The bibliography consists solely of poems included in over 230 studies found for this multidisciplinary project, supported by abstracts and brief contextual notes. Selection criteria for included studies were peer-reviewed journal contributions only, bracketing out anything that had appeared in book form, in ‘Poet's Corners’, and also excluding poems appearing in theses or dissertations. Some of these excluded poems are cited in a separate Appendix. These criteria were made simply to limit the scope of the study to a manageable scale. Most of this poetically-informed scholarship has appeared in the past decade, although some entries date as far back as the 1970's and 80's. Conclusions are that poetic inquiry most often addresses topics with clear affective dimensions, and can be distinguished between participant-based and self-study foci, with occasional examples of theoretical studies. Participant-based studies generally draw on the literary tradition of found poetry to represent participant data. Self-studies may address more philosophical, phenomenological and/or poststucturalist opportunities that present themselves through the use of poetry in social science contexts.

The purpose of this study was to determine the types of communication strategies used by English teachers in the teaching and learning process and to explain the reasons for using these strategies at Junior High School Number 17 Jambi City in the 2021/2022 academic year. This study used qualitative research and data analysis was carried out by classroom observations and interviews with English teachers. The subjects of this study were four English teachers at Junior High School Number 17 Jambi City, using total sampling. The results of this study indicate that there are two approach communication strategies used by teachers in the teaching and learning process of English, namely two-way communication is the most widely used strategy by teachers in the classroom and one teacher uses two-way communication and also transactional communication in the learning process. learn to teach it. Thus, from the results of observations and interviews, this research concluded that teachers often use various communication strategies in the teaching and learning process of English so that students understand the lesson more easily.

Continuous teacher reflection is part of the teachers’ education literature. However, in practice, teachers rarely carry out self-reflection processes to make a number of improvements toward their professional performance. This research aimed to know (1) the professional competency of State Primary Islamic School (MIN) English teachers in Mataram in conducting learning process; (2) the reflective practice of these teachers to improve their professional competencies in conducting learning process. This is a qualitative descriptive research as it describes data of the professional competency and the reflective practice of State Primary Islamic School (MIN) English teachers in Mataram in conducting learning process. To collect data, the reseracher uses observation, interview and dokumentation. The research informen are MIN headmasters, English language teachers, and some students. The data analysis technique used (1) data reduction; (2) data verification; and (3) Conclusion. The reserach result showed that (1) the professional competency of State Primary Islamic School (MIN) English teachers in Mataram in conducting learning process is good enough. It is indicated through implementation of three learning activities (Introduction Activity, Main Activity, and Closing Activity) with the supported activities; (2) There are 3 types of reflective practice done by English teachers of State Primary Islamic School (MIN) in Mataram through learning process namely (a) the use of learning media; (b) the addition of exercise score; and (c) the chianging of exercise content.

Teacher quality is sine qua non of student achievement; however, choosing a qualified teacher is possible only when a valid and fair teacher assessment and evaluation (TAE) model is in place. The present mixed-method research aimed to develop a TAE model that can tell apart qualified English prospective teachers (who have required knowledge, skills, and attitudes) from unqualified ones. The qualitative data used in this research were collected from 78 stakeholders, whereas quantitative data were obtained from 271 in-service English teachers. Stakeholders’ perceptions of testing were gathered as they are informative in terms of consequential validity of exams. The sample of prospective teachers and in-service teachers involved graduates of both English Language Teaching (ELT) and other departments such as English Language and Literature (ELL) since they could become English language teachers by obtaining a teacher certificate. Semi-structured and focus group interview techniques were used to obtain quantitative data. Regarding quantitative data, the English Teachers’ Attitudes towards Recruitment System (ETARS), a valid and reliable scale developed by the researcher, was applied. SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data, and content analysis was used for qualitative data. The codes and categories were formed primarily by the researcher, and NVivo 12 was used to prevent data loss. Quantitative data showed that English teachers had a negative attitude towards the current TAE model. The qualitative findings were supported by quantitative data and indicated that the current TAE model is ineffective and unfair as it has both construct under-representation and construct-irrelevant variance (favouring graduates of ELL in terms of scoring). In this context, a new TAE model that can evaluate applicants’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes has been developed. This model is considered to be helpful in selecting qualified teachers, thus improving the quality of foreign language education.

Within the research process, the analysis of the data emerges as one of the most important steps. In qualitative research, the analysis of data is a difficult task for even the most experienced researchers and often brings up many doubts about the way to implement it. It is therefore necessary to have material that facilitates the analysis process. Even though there are numerous manuals that focus on the analysis of qualitative data, researchers often can be confused with the large number of names that this type of analysis receives (e.g. Thematic Analysis, Content Analysis) or with the various qualitative methods (e.g. Phenomenology, Grounded Theory) that are available. Each of these qualitative approaches presents a particular language to detail the research process, which makes it difficult to recognize common aspects shared by these methods. Recently, the American Psychological Association has emphasized the need to identify, within the various qualitative methods and procedures, shared standards for reporting this type of work. In agreement with the above, several qualitative researchers have pointed out that beyond the aforementioned diversity it is possible to identify a basic core with regard to qualitative analysis, without having to match the different perspectives of the qualitative method, such as Grounded Theory, Ethnography ore Phenomenology. Focusing on this communality will facilitate a simpler and clearer approach to the data analysis process. The analysis process mainly involves 1) data condensation, and 2) presentation of results. Following this line, the present manuscript aims to: (a) develop what the basic core of data analysis consists of, (b) show the necessary steps to carry out this analysis process, (c) review specific techniques for the detection of categories, (d) present examples using the Atlas.ti software, and (e) show the possible ways of presenting the results. Researchers have realized the importance of having methodological works that facilitate the analysis of qualitative data, and allow answering the question: What does qualitative analysis look like in practice?. The development of this type of work pretends on the one hand to facilitate the understanding of the process of qualitative data analysis and, on the other hand, serve to shape better and in a more standard way which was the data analysis procedure applied in the respective investigations. This material should be taken as a first step in the understanding of the process, and it should not be understood that the qualitative analysis is reduced only to what is developed in this article. For example, in the first level grouping step or first coding cycle, the researcher can make use of 25 different types or forms of coding (e.g., live coding). Even so, the development of works such as the present manuscript is intended to facilitate the understanding and reporting the process of qualitative data analysis. Beyond the name with which the researcher calls the analysis procedure carried out, it is relevant to report in his works the basic steps (i.e. Identification, First and Second Level of Categorization), and the specific techniques used to detect categories or topics (e.g. repetition or similarities). Likewise, it is advisable to follow the guidelines recently published by the APA for the publication of qualitative research. We hope that this material will be useful especially for new researchers who need an introductory text to carry out the qualitative data analysis.

The differentiation of contemporary approaches to qualitative data analysis can seem daunting even for experienced social science researchers. Especially when they move forward in the data analysis process from general analytical strategies used in qualitative research to more specific approaches for different types of qualitative data, including interviews, text, audio, images, videos, and so-called virtual data, by discovering the domain ontology of the qualitative research field, we see that there are more than twice as many different classes of data analysis methods as qualitative research methods. This article critically reflects on qualitative research and the qualitative computer data analysis process, emphasising its significance in harnessing digital opportunities and shaping collaborative work. Using our extensive analytical and research project experience, the last research results, and a literature review, we try to show the impact of new technologies and digital possibilities on our thinking. We also try to do the qualitative data analysis. The essence of this procedure is a dialectical interplay between the new world of digital technology and the classic methodology. The use of digital possibilities in qualitative research practices shapes the researcher’s identity and their analytical and research workshop. Moreover, it teaches collaborative thinking and teamwork and fosters the development of new analytical, digital, and Information Technology (IT) skills. Imagining contemporary qualitative research and data analysis in the humanities and social sciences is difficult. Opening to modern technologies in computer-based qualitative data analysis shapes our interpretation frameworks and changes the optics and perception of research problems.

The purpose of these researchers is to determine the implementation of reading strategies in the classroom used by English teachers at stage junior high school in kulisusu utara. These researchers use a qualitative design, employing observation and interview instruments. The subject of this research was an English language teacher who has taught English for five years. The researchers' data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman's (2014) qualitative data analysis. The research results show that the English teacher has implemented several reading strategies in class. In the pre-reading, the teacher uses brainstorming, encourages the use of dictionaries and discusses text types. While reading, the teacher uses reading aloud and Jigsaw and uses pictures. Post-reading teachers use evaluating comprehension, in particular, tasks, Clarifying and Justifying Student Answers, Questioning Specific Information, and Reviewing Strategies. The additional benefits include: improved comprehension, increased vocabulary, enhanced critical thinking skills, and improved concentration. This study adopts a qualitative approach, and data collection methods such as observation, interviews, and documentation are employed. Data analysis involves data collection, data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing. Based on the results of research conducted at a stage junior high school in kulisusu utara, the teacher uses a variety of different strategies with the aim of making it easy for students to understand the material. The teacher once taught without using any strategies. Most students are not serious about learning and make a lot of noise. So, the teacher often uses strategies. Using strategi reading is very beneficial for students. Apart from increasing learning concentration, it can also foster students' interest in reading.

Qualitative inquiry is increasingly popular in health professions education, and there has been a move to solidify processes of analysis to demystify the practice and increase rigour. Whilst important, being bound too heavily by methodological processes potentially represses the imaginative creativity of qualitative expression and interpretation—traditional cornerstones of the approach. Rigid adherence to analytic steps risks leaving no time or space for moments of ‘wonder’ or emotional responses which facilitate rich engagement. Poetic inquiry, defined as research which uses poetry ‘as, in, [or] for inquiry’, offers ways to encourage creativity and deep engagement with qualitative data within health professions education. Poetic inquiry attends carefully to participant language, can deepen researcher reflexivity, may increase the emotive impact of research, and promotes an efficiency of qualitative expression through the use of ‘razor sharp’ language. This A Qualitative Space paper introduces the approach by outlining how it may be applied to inquiry within health professions education. Approaches to engaging with poetic inquiry are discussed and illustrated using examples from the field’s scholarship. Finally, recommendations for interested researchers on how to engage with poetic inquiry are made, including suggestions as to how to poetize existing qualitative research practices.Supplementary InformationThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-021-00682-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The purpose of this research was to examine the difficulties encountered by English language teachers when instructing mixed-ability classes, as well as the strategies they used to overcome these challenges. The study used a qualitative research design, where data was collected through classroom observation and interviews with five different English teachers from secondary schools in Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan city of Banke district, Nepal through judgmental non-random sampling procedures. The study had three research questions that concentrated on understanding teachers’ views of mixed-ability classes, finding the difficulties teachers experience while teaching in mixed-ability classes, and proposing some educational consequences for the same. The findings of the study are significant for teachers, students, school administrations, course designers, textbook writers, and policy makers, as they will be able to manage different types of learners better in the classroom. The study concludes that mixed-ability classes are challenging, but they offer rich diversity in learners. Teachers encountered difficulties due to variations in language learning ability, learning style, cultural background, age, learning experiences, and mother tongue. The study suggests that teachers use various strategies, such as differentiated instruction, peer teaching, and collaborative learning, to address the challenges of mixed-ability classes. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the perceptions, issues, and practices of English teachers in mixed-ability classes.

The Merdeka Belajar curriculum emphasizes flexibility and student-centered learning, making diagnostic assessment crucial for teach English effectively. By identifying each student’s language proficiency and learning needs early on, teachers can tailor instruction to meet diverse abilities within the classroom. This aligns with the curriculum’s goal of fostering independent and meaningful learning experiences. Diagnostic assessment also supports differentiated instruction, ensuring that students receive targeted support and challenges based on their individual progress. As a result, it enhances both student engagement and mastery in English, making it an essential tool for teachers implementing Merdeka Belajar curriculum. Despite the curriculum’s clear benefits, there is a pressing need for a study investigating how teachers utilize diagnostic assessments to identify students’ learning profiles, interests, and readiness. Therefore, this study intends to capture the utilization of diagnostic assessment to promote the differentiated learning, especially in junior high school. By employing qualitative research design, this study involved 19 English teachers in state and private junior high schools in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Participatory observation and semi-structured interviews were used as the instrument to collect data. Through the qualitative analysis, this study revealed that English teachers utilized some tools such Kahoot!, quizzes, Google Form, and questionnaires to implement diagnostic assessments. This study also delineated seven crucial procedures that English teachers conducted to successfully execute differentiated learning. These measures encompass structuring classroom arrangements, employing varied educational resources, implementing adaptable instructional strategies, and performing consistent assessment alongside prompt feedback. The incorporation of diagnostic assessment in the Merdeka Belajar curriculum is essential for developing effective differentiated learning modules. This method allows teachers to cater to the distinct needs of each student, hence improving their learning experiences and academic results.

The Coming of Age for Qualitative Research: Embracing the Diversity of Qualitative Methods