English School Research Articles

SELF-IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEM IN CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA

Children with dyslexia often face challenges beyond academic performance, which can lead to negative self-perceptions and reduced self-esteem. The association between self-image and self-esteem was assessed in the current study of sixty children with dyslexia (boys = 36, girls = 24). It was assumed that the self-image and self-esteem of children with dyslexia were directly associated with dyslexia. It was also hypothesized that children with dyslexia would have a negative self-image and low self-esteem. Children of 7-12 years (M = 9.7 SD = 1.66) were recruited from English medium schools of Faisalabad for the study. The Bangor Dyslexia Test was used as a quick screening device for finding out whether the subject’s difficulties were or were not typically dyslexic. Urdu version of Self Image Profile (Butler, 1998) was administered to children to find their self-image (positive and negative) and self-esteem (low and high). The results suggested that most children with dyslexia had a negative self-image and low self-esteem. Results depicted that 63 % of the sample had a negative self-image and 60 % of the sample had low self-esteem. Boys showed more negative self-image than girls; on the contrary, girls showed lower self-esteem than boys. It was concluded that children with dyslexia showed a negative self-image and low self-esteem. The findings of the current study might be helpful for the parents and the school teachers to get acquainted with the issue of dyslexia in the school population and its impact on their academic performance.

WILLIAM GELL'S ENCOUNTERS WITH ISLAMIC SPAIN, 1808–36

The British antiquary William Gell (1777–1836) is known for his work on ancient Greece and Rome, which he based on a lifetime of Mediterranean travel and two decades of residence in Italy. This article uses a remarkable notebook held at the British School at Rome to explore his unheralded interest in Islamic Spain (al-Andalus), which emerged from his Iberian travels of 1808–11 and took up much of his energy in the early 1830s, the final years of his life. As such, the notebook shows how engagement with other cultures might continue well beyond an initial encounter through travel. It brings together Gell's on-the-spot sketches and descriptions of the Alhambra, his copious later reading on the Emirate of Granada and evidence that he was teaching himself Arabic, offering a case study of early nineteenth-century scholarship that straddles the transition between eighteenth-century antiquarianism and Romantic, Orientalist approaches. The materiality and the contents of Gell's notebook chart the changing ways in which British travellers and writers incorporated al-Andalus into their understandings of Europe and the Mediterranean.

Racial capitalism and the ordinary extractivism of British elite schools overseas

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the relationship between elite British boarding schools and the overseas branches (‘satellites’) that they have established around the world. While British schools are categorised as charities, the satellites are operated as commercial ventures through subsidiaries. The UK-based schools can thus profit from the export of their ‘brands’, extracting capital from their satellites overseas and channelling it back to the UK. Drawing on interviews with staff of these satellite schools and on documentary analysis (including Charity Commission reports), we use the lens of racial capitalism to analyse the relationships between British elite schools and their overseas branches. We argue that through their overseas operations, British elite schools engage in extractive practices and are complicit in processes of enclosure and dispossession. These processes are premised along racialised lines and ultimately ensure that the promised ‘British eliteness’ remains out of reach for those who subsidise its social reproduction.

Selling world-class education: British private schools, whiteness and the soft-sell technique

ABSTRACT Education-UK and British private schools more specifically are often framed as a global brand of ‘world-class’ quality. However, the increased competition within the international education market has meant British private schools cannot rest on their laurels but instead must continue to project their ‘world-classness’ in a way that does not diminish their brand image. Drawing on interviews of parents and key gatekeepers, this paper examines how British private schools in Nigeria (BPS-NIG) and British private boarding schools in the UK (BPBS-UK) evoked and projected their supposed world-classness through the strategic use of white symbolism and the expensive admission process. The paper contends that the latter are types of soft-sell marketing techniques utilised by BPS-NIG and BPBS-UK to sell British schools without imperilling their brand image. The paper concludes by drawing attention to the racial implication of framing whiteness and white British specifically as synonymous with high-quality, ‘world-class’ education.

Blocked out: reflections on the potential of intensive modes of teaching to enhance post-COVID-19 graduate employability in large-scale educational settings

PurposeThis paper explores the potential that block teaching offers to enhance employability in the context of large-scale classes. It suggests that block teaching, with its condensed structure, necessitates curriculum innovation, fosters participatory learning and peer-to-peer networking, and has been shown to increase student focus and enhance engagement and attainment, especially amongst diverse learners. As these are the same challenges that large-scale teaching faces, it is proposed that intensive modes of delivery could be scaled up in a way that may help to mitigate such problems as cohorts in business schools continue to increase in size.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on secondary research and provides an overview of literature that looks at block teaching, followed by that which explores the challenges of large-scale teaching contexts. It compares and contrasts the gaps in both to suggest a way that they could be combined.FindingsThe paper provides key insights into changes in the contemporary landscape of teaching within UK business schools, which have seen increasingly large cohorts and draws out the key strengths of intensive modes of delivery, which include helping students to time manage effectively, encouraging curriculum innovation and the creation of participatory learning opportunities as well as providing closer personal relationships between students and staff. Outlining some of the well-documented issues that can arise when teaching larger cohorts, the paper suggests that scaling up blocked delivery may offer a new way help to overcome them.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the chosen research approach, the research results are subject to generalisation. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions in large-scale teaching scenarios.Practical implicationsThis paper includes implications for the development of innovative modes of teaching in the context of large cohorts, an experience that is increasingly common amongst British business schools and beyond.Originality/valueThis paper brings together two bodies of literature for the first time – that of intensive modes of teaching and that focuses on large-scale teaching contexts – for the first time to show how the former may help to overcome some of the key issues arising in the latter.

Elite schools and slavery in the UK – capital, violence and extractivism

ABSTRACT Elite schools in the UK are bound to the history of British colonialism. This paper examines the material ties between these schools and the transatlantic slave trade. We combine multiple sources to examine which schools and their alumni accrued substantial economic capital derived from the enslavement of Black people. We find two principal connections: first, in donations and foundations of schools from those who made their fortune in the slave trade; and second, through income of boys attending these schools. Drawing on the Legacies of British Slavery dataset, we show that schools with alumni benefitting from the slave trade include the most prestigious British private schools. Moreover, this paper traces the histories of several secondary schools founded by, or in receipt of, substantial donations from slave-owning families. We argue that extractive, violent forms of colonial capital accumulation have been central to, the formation and maintenance of these elite educational institutions.

The threat of three-fold failure: ‘low attainers’ in English primary schools

Recent education research raises concerns about the damage low attainment designation can do to pupils’ self-worth but there has been little detailed exploration of the dynamics of this. Using in-depth interview data, this article explores how four pupils experience and respond to their low attainment, and their struggles to maintain their self-worth. It identifies three pressures they experience: the pressure to perform academically, to assume full responsibility for this performance and to maintain a positive mental attitude. I suggest that these can usefully be seen as forming a triangle of mutually reinforcing pressures that can put ‘low attainers’ in an impossible position where they feel shamed, blamed and stigmatised for their low attainment while expected to deny or overcome the distress this can cause them.

A qualitative study exploring how undergraduate pharmacy students undertake a drug allergy history

Abstract Introduction If antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not controlled, a post-antibiotic era could result in common infections and minor injuries becoming fatal. One way to combat AMR is the ‘de-labelling’ or removal of incorrect antibiotic allergy labels. At least 92% of labels corresponding to penicillin allergy are incorrect when tested.[1] This means that patients may not be receiving the correct antibiotic treatment and take longer to recover. Therefore, taking an accurate allergy history is important. Pharmacists routinely take drug allergy histories. From 2026, pharmacy students in England will graduate as prescribers, highlighting the importance of drug allergy knowledge and skills. Aim To explore how undergraduate pharmacy students undertake a drug allergy history. Methods A qualitative study utilising a constructivist approach involving a low-fidelity simulation followed by a one-to-one face-to-face semi-structured interview was conducted. Final year undergraduate Master of Pharmacy students of an English school of pharmacy were recruited via email and word-of-mouth to take part in this study. Following informed consent, participants simulated taking a drug allergy history with a student researcher. The simulation was audio-recorded and then played back to the participant as a cue for a subsequent audio-recorded semi-structured interview that explored their thought-process when taking a drug allergy history. All audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.[2] Results Nine participants took part in the study. The simulation and interview lasted seven minutes on average. Four themes were generated through the analysis. Theme 1: taking drug allergy history is learnt mainly through practice-based learning. Theme 2: nature, type and severity of allergic reactions information were deemed important for making clinical judgements. Theme 3: skills for taking drug allergy history are underdeveloped despite having knowledge. Theme 4: real patient contact exposure is needed to translate learning into practice. Most participants remembered learning about taking drug allergy history through practice-based learning sessions such as workshops, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and hospital placements. Participants seemed to follow a set of ‘rules’ when undertaking the simulation. For example, they stopped asking questions about allergies and decide not to dispense penicillin when they were informed that the patient was allergic to penicillin. Most participants recognised the risk of serious harm to patients if they made a mistake about patient allergies, and the need to have more real-world experiences to help translate their learning into practice. Conclusion Pharmacy students appeared to have the theoretical knowledge about drug allergies, but they were not yet able to make an appropriate clinical judgement in real-world situations. An increase in real-world clinical experience such as patient consultations in work-based placements can provide pharmacy students with valuable opportunities. By knowing how to undertake an accurate allergy history, fewer people will be inaccurately labelled as allergic, promoting antimicrobial stewardship. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating how United Kingdom undergraduate pharmacy students undertake a drug allergy history. Our participants studied in one pharmacy school and undergraduate pharmacy students studying in other pharmacy schools may have different experiences around drug allergy history taking.

Possible beings: Deaf children and linguistic justice

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the case of Carter Churchill v. Newfoundland and Labrador English School District and analyses legal documents as they illuminate current understanding of linguistic justice and relational ethics. This case is a test case for the standard of education provided to deaf learners in Canada who benefit from sign language. Linguistic justice considers language issues as they are relevant to social justice. The paper first discusses the linguistic justice framework in relation to deaf children’s right to sign language, then analyses legal documents from the case for what they reveal about patterns of inaction on the part of senior educational administrators and deficiency views of American Sign Language (ASL) that are pervasive in Canadian early intervention and education systems for deaf children. While the 2023 Human Rights Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Board of Inquiry decision found the school district failed to provide reasonable accommodation and discriminated against Carter during the first four years of his education, this decision and related events stop short of ordering linguistic justice for deaf children in the form of sign language policy and planning that fulfils a society’s ethical responsibilities to deaf people.

The American contribution to attachment theory: John Bowlby’s WHO trip to the USA in 1950 and the development of his ideas on separation and attachment

ABSTRACT This paper explores John Bowlby’s foundational contributions to attachment theory, particularly his fascination with ‘separation’ and its impact on child development. Tracing the origins of Bowlby’s interest to his personal experiences and his exposure to ideas of mental hygiene and child guidance in the 1930s, it underscores the alignment of his ideas with key figures in the English school of psychoanalysis. The central narrative of this paper unfolds during Bowlby’s 1950 WHO research trip, investigating orphaned and separated children in Europe and the USA. Utilizing archival materials from the Wellcome Library in London, the authors offer unique insights into Bowlby’s journey, highlighting his evolving views on mother-child separation through interactions with his American colleagues. This comprehensive exploration sheds light on Bowlby’s pioneering work, emphasizing the American influence on his ideas, and the evolving theoretical framework that continues to shape our understanding of child development and attachment today.

“Cansada, agobiada, frustrada”: Desafíos emocionales de docentes de inglés en primaria durante la pandemia: Estudio de caso en San Carlos, Costa Rica

Introduction. COVID-19’s health crisis put a hold on all educational processes worldwide. This was not the exception for Costa Rica at the Ministry of Education. In March 2020, it was proposed that distance education was going to be put into practice. Purpose. This paper focuses on the feelings the participants communicated during the study. This was part of a principal investigation that used a case study methodology based on inductive qualitative research. It had the purpose of describing the perceptions of four English primary school teachers from the Dirección Regional de Educación San Carlos (San Carlos Regional Education Office) regarding distance education during the sanitary emergency of COVID-19. Methodology. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, lesson plans, and video recordings of pedagogical mediation and professional contexts. The data were analyzed using semantic categories from content analysis (Hatch, 2002) and the Web Qualitative Data Analysis (webQDA) software (Costa et al., 2019). Results. Results suggest that teachers reported experiencing a range of emotions before and during the pandemic, with the majority being negative in nature. Among the most notable were uncertainty, stress, confusion, overwork, a sense of difficulty, sadness, and worry. Other feelings included discrimination, impotence, and disrespect towards the teachers and the families’ specific contexts. This study presents the teachers from their human dimension as professionals who endured the pandemic within their own educational contexts. The study also shows the importance of effective communication and taking into consideration psychological support to strengthen the emotional integrity of the teachers.

Integrating mental health literacy in the English language arts middle school classroom

Mental health challenges are on the rise among today’s youth. Recent reports have noted an acute and significant need for school-based mental health education and supportive interventions for children and adolescents. Among these approaches, a growing focus has centered on improving students’ mental health literacy (MHL) as a foundational component in addressing overall mental health needs. While schools offer an ideal venue for access and implementation, there exist a variety of limitations to integrating MHL content, particularly within the middle school classroom. In this manuscript, we offer recommendations for educators, school social support workers, and administrators who are interested in teaming together to develop and embed a literature-based MHL curriculum into the middle school English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Our suggestions offer a framework for planning, developing, and implementing such a curriculum within the confines of current school structures and processes while maintaining the teacher’s role as educator.

Nineteenth-Century French Liberal Economists and Women's Work: The Dark Side of Industrialization

Abstract This article reconstructs the debates on the woman question in which nineteenth-century French liberal economists participated: it aims at showing that their analysis contradicted their conviction that, in Bastiat's words, “men's interests, when left to themselves, tend to . . . work together for progress and the general good.” Indeed, French liberals are usually labeled optimistic: they denounced the pessimistic and fatalist character of the “English school of economics” based on Ricardo's rent theory and Malthus's law of population. On the contrary, they attempted to prove that economic development improved the situation of all, especially that of workers. However, their optimism did not extend to their analysis of the situation of women: most of them recognized that women were not benefiting from the general improvement in terms of wages, labor conditions, and social mobility. The article then shows that the reasons they gave to explain the bad situation of women present many challenges, linked respectively to the issue of state intervention and wage theory. Moreover, it is unlikely that the only solution they proposed for improving it, that is, the promotion of female education, could have worked.

Out-of-School Exposure to English in EFL Teenage Learners: Is It Related to Academic Performance?

Learning a Foreign Language (FL) beyond the classroom has become common practice thanks to advances in technology and the use of English as a Lingua Franca. This study explores the types and amount of out-of-school informal exposure to English that Spanish secondary school students typically receive in their daily lives. Informed by recent literature on the influence of extramural activities on FL proficiency, the second aim of this study is to investigate the potential relationship between out-of-school exposure and academic performance, as measured by English school grades. Data were obtained from a questionnaire answered by secondary school students aged 12–16 (N = 2015) regarding the different types and amounts of activities they perform in English outside school. Findings revealed that teenage learners were most frequently exposed to English through audiovisual input. Social media interaction, along with reading and writing (with or without digital support), were closely associated with their English marks. Other popular activities, such as listening to music or playing video games, were not found to be related to proficiency or even showed a negative correlation with it, while less popular activities, such as watching subtitled movies and series, could have greater potential for language learning. This study contributes to the understanding of informal practices in FL learning settings and provides insights that can help bridge interactive language practices and formal curriculum to create holistic learning experiences for language learners.

Marx and the many lives of Marxism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

ABSTRACT At the turn of the century, pioneers of poststructuralist analysis in the US called for a radical and, as they argued, urgently needed upgrade of historians’ theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of history. Marxist epistemologies of the British and American schools of social history that had come to dominate the postwar decades were reprimanded for their entrenchment in flatfooted materialist determinism and naive disregard of what one scholar called ‘constitutive powers of culture’ in people’s lives. By the beginning of the new century, even those who wrote to counter these critics could not help but agree that Marxism had become a ‘name for everything that now seemed to have been superseded’. In the counter-plot I am proposing, far from being superseded, historical theory and methodology that were developed by Marxist scholars in the second half of the twentieth century play a defining even if unacknowledged role in the making of contemporary fields of social and cultural history in the US.

ANALYSIS OF CHINESE STUDENTS’ USE OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AT A COLLEGE IN HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA

This research mainly focused on the Chinese students strategies for learning English as a second language during the academic year 2023 at a college in Heilongjiang, China. A total of 292 students from the school of English at a college in Heilongjiang Province were surveyed in this study. The study adopted a questionnaire focused on students learning strategies to learn English as a second language. Based on research objectives, the researchers used frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA to analyze the collected questionnaires. Accordingly, the results showed that: 1) college students used both direct and indirect strategies for their English learning at a high level; 2) there were no significant differences in students' use of second language learning strategies according to their gender; 3) however, there were significant differences in students' use of second language learning strategies according to their grade, home location, and family income. The researchers discussed each finding and provided related recommendations for encouraging students strategies for learning English as a second language at Chinese colleges.

Stakeholder perceptions of primary school education about food sustainability and farm animal welfare in England

ABSTRACT Background There is growing consensus on the negative impacts of food production on the natural environment and planetary viability. UK society is also increasingly concerned about the impact of intensive farming systems on the billions of sentient farmed animals within them. In liberal democracies and capitalist economies, enlightened citizens and informed consumers are key to the solution to environmental crises, such as anthropogenic climate change. Despite this, there is minimal provision for food sustainability and farm animal welfare in England’s National Curriculum. Purpose To investigate the views of stakeholders on the provision of food sustainability and farm animal welfare education in English primary schools. Sample Ten stakeholders selected for their knowledge or interest in food sustainability and farm animal welfare education. Design and methods In-depth, semi-structured interviews, analysed naturalistically within an interpretivist framework. Results Barriers to teaching food sustainability and farm animal welfare reported by stakeholders were restraints caused by the curriculum, the need and lack of funding, a lack of teacher knowledge about the topic, and concerns about its controversy. Best methods identified for teaching were teaching from an early age and throughout all of schooling, adopting a cross-curricular approach, facilitating learning in a hands-on way, and not waiting for change from government reform. Conclusion This research informs the debate on the provision of food sustainability and farm animal welfare education in English primary schools. Given that the environmental crisis is a global one, and that sentient animals are farmed across the world, the research may also inform discussion on inclusion of food sustainability and farm animal welfare outside of the English education context.

How Do Indonesian Student-Teachers Experience Wellbeing during Research Supervision? A Qualitative Interview Study

Research supervision is a collaborative and interactive process that plays a significant role in shaping the successful outcome of a student's learning in higher education. Crucial, but often neglected, we believe that the role of students’ wellbeing during dialogic and sociocultural interaction such as communication styles and expectations during thesis supervision raises issues concerning best practice in students' success. This qualitative interview study investigated thirteen student-teachers’ wellbeing at one private and one public English school in an additional language university context. Drawing on Seligman's positive psychology and Longo’s wellbeing thematic coding analysis, we reported how professional dialogue from dialogic and sociocultural perspectives in the supervisory interaction shape student-teachers’ five wellbeing dimensions: positive emotion, positive relationship, engagement, meaning and accomplishment. Micro elements of wellbeing were identified and analysed inductively. The findings illuminated how institutional and environmental cultures intricately shape students' wellbeing, highlighting that wellbeing is not only constructed through supervisory advice but also dynamically challenged and nurtured through ongoing dialogic interactions among students. The policy and practical implications arising from this research were discussed.

Multilingualism & Motivation in Language Classrooms in England

ABSTRACT Although languages education in English schools has been in a difficult position since 2004, when the study of a language after the age of 14 was made optional, young people are (or can be) exposed to more languages than ever before as school populations in England become increasingly multilingual. As such, in this paper we draw on self-determination theory to measure student motivation and investigate links between motivation and students’ multilingualism. Using items drawn from established self-determination theory instruments alongside the Ungspråk questionnaire developed by Haukås et al, we conducted an online questionnaire with 422 students between the ages of 11–16 from 16 schools in a largely monolingual area of England. Between group comparisons (Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests) found that students with more multilingual linguistic lives had more autonomous motivation and more positive beliefs about languages, but that other characteristic such as gender and school year had little impact.

Study on the Optimization Strategies of English Graded Reading in Rural Junior High Schools

Abstract: In order to better improve the reading ability of rural students and promote the development of junior high school English in rural areas, this paper describes the importance of graded reading in English teaching in rural areas, and tries to analyze the problems and deficiencies in junior high school English reading teaching from the perspectives of students, teachers and society. The main problems are that rural students lack a correct understanding of English learning, teachers lack graded reading teaching skills, and the teaching facilities in rural schools are poor. Based on this, this paper suggests that students should change their perceptions of English learning psychologically, teachers should master the skills of English graded reading and schools should provide a good English reading environment. This study finds that in rural English reading teaching, teachers need to take into account the cognitive ability of rural middle school students, the awareness of multi-level reading teaching and the teaching facilities of rural middle school. On the basis of teachers􀆳 awareness of multi-level reading teaching, reading materials suitable for students􀆳 multi-level reading are selected and the existing teaching reading materials and teaching facilities are used to pay attention to students􀆳 subjective initiative in class and extracurricular reading and stimulate students􀆳 interest in reading, so as to promote the gradual improvement of students􀆳 reading ability.