English School Research Articles

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.

Change in international order? An institutional analysis

Abstract Many are now discussing the possible demise of the so called ‘liberal international order’, but how can we know whether any international order is changing? This article argues for understanding order as maintained by institutions of international society and further theorises the role those institutions play in the stability or transformation of international order. To usefully put institutional analysis to work, this article, first, models the stylised evolution of a primary institution. Second, it illustrates this evolution with a discussion of the historical institution of trusteeship in order to historicise adaptation and transformation in international order. Finally, this leads to a generalised idea of how institutional analysis can be employed to study stability and transformation in international order. Beyond making a contribution to the wider debates about the possible demise of the current international order, this piece also fills a gap in English School theory, which is quite silent on the question of when international society furthers transformation, and when it furthers stability. Accepting the view of history that the future is contingent on today’s events, this study suggests possible points where push comes to shove for change and continuity in international order more generally.

Intelligence in international society: An English school perspective on the ‘five eyes’

AbstractDespite the recent prominence of intelligence in post‐Ukraine global policy, it is a Cinderella in international relations studies. Using English School (ES) theorisation, we locate intelligence within the constellation of primary and secondary institutions in international society. Through looking at the Five Eyes, we explore where intelligence sits within widespread claims of a crisis of the post‐1945 liberal international order (LIO) and what role intelligence plays in diplomacy, war and great power management in the context of shifting global power dynamics. Following major twenty‐first century Western intelligence controversies, we argue against raison d'état approaches and for raison de système thinking. In the face of claims of a new Cold War between Russia, China and the West, we see an urgency for policymakers in open societies to re‐think intelligence from an international society perspective that is realistic and normative, and that pays attention to Global South dynamics. Insulating intelligence from politicisation is more important than ever but does not mean that intelligence is a value‐neutral government function.

Students’ Perception Toward English Meeting Club of Their Speaking Skill

This research aims to assess the students' perceptions of English meeting club of their speaking in the language. Istiqlal Islamic Boarding School's English class chose three students to participate in the research. The researchers used a descriptive qualitative method and collected data using two steps: an observational and an interview. The result of this research is majority of students in this research had a positive perception of English meeting club. The students are believing that by joining the English club, they would be able to improve their speaking skills. Another thing the student thought would help them improve their communication skills, especially their pronunciation, was going to English club meetings. On top of that, it might stand in for students who have problems with public speaking fear and low confidence.

A Rifle and a Bag of Rice: Excluding Climate Disasters from the Scope of the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract The connection between climate change and atrocities has recently attracted scholarly attention. To illuminate the constraints of r2p as a response to climate-induced crises, I examine two debates on the applicability of r2p to natural disasters utilising Quentin Skinner’s ideas on intentions and the English School concepts of pluralism and solidarism. I propose an idea of r2p as a social contract of which the English School concepts provide competing readings and study the debates through this framework. I examine how pluralist and solidarist convictions were used in arguing for the same conception of the scope of r2p. Although it was broadly agreed that the concept did not apply to natural disasters, the statements given exposed a division of intentions: whereas solidarists sought to keep r2p alive, pluralists strived to safeguard sovereign rights. I argue that despite r2p’s narrow focus, the links between climate change and atrocities should not be ignored.

The Effects of Intensive English Podcast Listening on High School Students’ Comprehension Skills and Impact on Learning Motivations

Listening is one of the most essential basic skills in foreign language learning. In recent years, technological advances have provided students with a wide range of digital applications, including podcasts, to improve their listening skills. This study aims to determine the impact of intensive listening to English podcasts on high school students’ comprehension skills and motivation to learn. The research centers on the following questions: “Does intensive podcast listening in a foreign language improve high school English learners’ language comprehension competence? Does intensive podcast listening in a foreign language provide retention in high school English learners’ listening skills? Does intensive podcast listening in a foreign language increase high school English learners’ motivation for language learning?” The study sample consists of 27 male and 27 female students studying in the 10th grade of Atatürk Anatolian High School affiliated with Erzurum National Education Directorate in the second semester of the 2022 academic year. The podcast listening practices with the participants were conducted in two 40-minute class hours each week for 12 weeks. Podcasts with an average duration of three to six minutes in the BBC Learning English application were used in the study. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the study. Quantitative methods were used to analyze the data, and qualitative methods were used to interpret them. The survey results show that podcasts improve English high school students’ listening skills and increase their motivation to learn. Podcasts make high school students willing to listen and understand English.

Deconstructing gender stereotypes in standardized English language school textbooks in Algeria: Implications for equitable instructional materials

The pressing need to promote gender equality in today’s globalized society is underscored in Sustainable Development Goals and juxtaposed with the goal of cultivating global citizenship. Despite these efforts, mainstream post-colonial discourse on Maghrebi women categorizes them as less citizens neglecting ‘the complexity’ of their lives and experiences. The scarcity of research that depicts Algerian women’s experiences along with the treatment of the topic of gender as ‘taboo’ restricted opportunities on researching this important category of society. While there are numerous studies conducted in the Algerian context on female’s stereotypical depiction and invisibility in school textbooks, the discussion of the topic remains ahistorical. It relegates the status of women as ‘the oppressed’ which runs the risk of reproducing colonial epistemologies. Guided by Goffman’s gender stereotype theory and Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis conceptual framework, the paper draws on data collected from four standardized English language school textbooks that are currently used in Algeria. The textbooks content affirms the ‘subaltern’ categorization of Algerian women through emphasizing their deagentialization, dependence, and disempowerment. These findings have implications for gender equity in Algeria, the Maghreb, and the broader North Africa contexts.

Lilian Harrison: the making of a pioneering swimmer, 1904–1923

ABSTRACT Lilian Harrison was a pioneering South American swimmer who established new records for open water distance swimming, and time spent swimming, in December 1923, as she became the first person to swim across the Rio de la Plata, from Uruguay to Argentina. Until now, her achievements have been remembered and studied as a South American history, from Harrison’s birth in Quilmes to her training in Tigre, to the tumultuous reception she received when returning to Buenos Aires after her successful swim. In this article, we situate Harrison’s achievement within the historical context of her early life and education, which was spent in an idealistic and pioneering school in Letchworth Garden City, in England. We argue that Harrison’s English schooling was a vital ingredient in her 1923 success that was generally overlooked in the press reports. Using existing newspaper sources as well as privately-held family papers which we have been fortunate to consult, we look at Harrison’s education at school, in the pool and her family upbringing. The article concludes with some reflections on the nature of global sporting histories in the early twentieth century.

Foreign Language Anxiety in Learning English: Students’ Perspectives and Experiences of Learning from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic forced all schools in Indonesia to carry out the online learning since March 2020 which could certainly make the students feel anxious. So, within this paper, the writers report a study which explored the sources and effects of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) through perceptions and experiences of junior high school students in grade eight of MTs Nurul Huda Mereng, Warungpring, Pemalang regency during learning from home due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The design of this study is descriptive qualitative research. The data were collected through the perspectives using interviews and getting the responses to open ended questions of ten students. The findings indicate that in general, students exhibited suffering from anxiety more than benefiting learning English school subject from home. In conclusion, following the foreign language anxiety especially when students learn English from home during the COVID-19 Pandemic can be said as an essential necessary for the English teacher in contributing to the teaching evaluation and reflection.

‘Tu connais le answer?’: Multilingual children's attempts to navigate monolingual English Medium classrooms in Cameroon

This paper explores the ways that multilingual children attempt to access the English medium curriculum in Cameroonian primary education. We focus on Francophone Yaoundé where there has been a sharp rise in the number of children from predominantly Francophone multilingual homes attending English medium schools. The paper draws from a child-centred case study and data generated through classroom observations, child-group and individual interviews and recordings of student interactions around unsupervised tasks to show how learners are drawing from their multilingual resources to attempt to transgress monolingual norms in the classroom. The data also shows that learners are doing what they can to ‘get by’ but they are doing this in ways that are not supported by policy, pedagogy, or teaching materials. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways that monolingual policies epistemically exclude children in an immensely complex multilingual context and draws implications for more inclusive policy and classroom practice.

Encountering the Face of Tū-mata-uenga: The Educational Experiences of Rangatahi Māori Apprehended for Offending

AbstractMarginalised and ousted from the New Zealand education system, 70% of youths apprehended for offending and appearing in a New Zealand Youth Court or Rangatahi Court experiencing complex needs are not engaged in education, employment, or training (Oranga Tamariki, Oranga Tamariki. (2020). Quarterly report—September 2020). This article reports findings from a broader PhD study investigating the educational experiences of 10 rangatahi Māori (Māori youth) aged 15–17 years apprehended for serious youth offending and excluded from mainstream education. Drawing on mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and kaupapa Māori, notions of indigenous resilience are used to unpack the rangatahi Māori participants’ responses to negative educational experiences in the mainstream English medium secondary school education system. This article posits that resilience was evident when the rangatahi Māori exercised tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty) through boldness (a characteristic of Tū-mata-uenga the guardian of war), resistance and liminality to reject educational spaces where they perceived they were underserved, discriminated against, and marginalised. Changing the negative Māori student exclusion and disengagement statistics in mainstream education is critical. To address the exclusion statistics, classroom practitioners could be more responsive to rangatahi Māori experiencing complex needs by recognising their experiences and understanding their responses to those experiences. Understanding how resilience as resistance, liminality, and boldness is understood within te ao Māori (the Māori world) perspectives will enable a more culturally responsive approach to working with these rangatahi Māori in mainstream education.

THE USE OF KAHOOT! IN INCREASING THE MOTIVATION OF PUPILS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

The Malaysian Ministry of Education has ensured equality of education for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in learning English in schools. Despite the passing years and a significant investment in teaching the English language, there are still several pupils who have not yet reached a high level of language proficiency. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent of the use of the Kahoot! application! contribute to motivating SEN in learning English. The study used a quasi-experimental design. Plus, quantitative and qualitative methods are used in the study. Fourteen SEN pupils from Sekolah Kebangsaan Paya Rumput, Melaka were selected as sample studies through purposeful sampling techniques. Data collection procedures are implemented with the permission of the Education Policy Planning and Research Division (eRAS) and study schools. Next, pre-test and post-test as well as teaching using the Kahoot! module conducted after a pilot study was conducted at the study site. In the data analysis, the data obtained from the post-test is compared with the results of the pre-test to identify the level of SEN achievement. Followed, the qualitative feedback was analyzed thematically to determine the level of motivation of the treatment group in learning English. Therefore, the results of the pre-test and post-test are used to identify the level of SEN's motivation in learning English. The results show that the motivation level of SEN is high with the use of Kahoot! in learning.

Image of the Future: Methodological Foundations

Relevance. This article analyzes the categories "image" and "image of the future" as a fundamental for various concepts of the image of the future. The relevance of this article is dictated by the radical changes taking place in Russia and in the world, which have called into question the existence of previous socio-economic and political systems. The purpose of the study is to analyze the methodological foundations of the image of the future. Objectives: to consider the concepts of "image" and "image of the future", based on the etymology of the words themselves and their relationship with other words and phrases: "model" (of the future), "picture" (of the future), "concept" (of the future); show the differences and similarities of the concept of "image" in psychology, philosophy and fiction; reveal the connection between the image of the future and the memory of the past. Methodology. The methodological basis of the article is the historical-critical method developed in the German (R. Koselleck) and English (K. Skinner, J. A. Pocock) schools of the history of concepts. Results. The relationship between the concept of "image" and the concepts of "model", "picture", and "concept" has been studied. It has been proven that it is the concept of "image" that is most suitable for connection with the concept of "future", because in the phrase "image of the future" two sides are inextricably linked: subjective and objective, which makes it possible to take into account both fantasies and real projects about the future. It is shown that the subject of the image of the future is not so much an individual as a certain community of people and that the image itself is between them, in the interaction that exists between people in society. Conclusions. The conducted methodological analysis creates a philosophical basis for further research, both for subsequent methodological research and for various analyzes of specific aspects of the image of the future of Russia and the world as a whole.

Prevention starts here: effectiveness of substance abuse prevention module among adolescent students in Bengaluru- a quasi experimental study.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured educational module on substance abuse prevention program among adolescents in enhancing their knowledge against substance abuse. A quasi-experimental design was employed involving 120 students (mean age: 14.3±1.03 years, 59.2% boys) from two English medium schools. Participants were exposed to a structured module on substance abuse over a month. The study assessed changes in knowledge through pretest and post-test evaluations. Statistical analyses examined improvements in scores and the relationship between class of study and post-test knowledge scores. The intervention significantly improved students' knowledge about substance abuse (p<0.001) across all measured domains, genders, and classes, with the exception of the 7th class. A positive correlation was found between the class of study and post-test scores (Rs=0.288, p<0.001), indicating that higher classes were associated with greater improvements in knowledge. These findings suggest that the training effectively increased awareness and understanding of substance abuse among participants. The substance abuse prevention program successfully enhanced adolescents' knowledge and equipped them with resilience and coping strategies, thus reducing their vulnerability to peer pressure and substance abuse. Despite the lack of significant improvement in the 7th class, the overall positive outcomes underscore the importance of implementing such educational interventions to foster healthy development and well-being among students. Further research is encouraged to explore the specific barriers to effectiveness in younger classes and to refine program content accordingly.

Embracing diversity under isolation and cease-fire: a poststructuralist look at administrators’ policy on multilingualism

Although multilingualism in higher education context continues to garner increasing scholarly interest, research remains scarce on school administrators’ policies on multilingualism. To the best of our knowledge, this study constitutes one of the very few attempts to tackle this issue in higher education context and the first of its kind to pursue such endeavour in North Cyprus setting. This study seeks to investigate, through a post-structuralist perspective, the perceptions and policies of multilingualism by the director and assistant directors of an English preparatory school in a North Cyprus university which has flourished as a haven for international education. The study combines a multiplicity of data through semi-structured interviews and informal chats to provide a richer insight into the multifaceted case being investigated. The findings demonstrate that administrators regard multilingualism as a seal of internationalism and educational quality. They remain hesitant and even mostly sceptical, however, about whether translingual practice could offer any meaningful contribution to language learning processes. Although poststructuralist understanding considers truth and identity to be decentred and forever changing, and despite the scope of our study being limited to one particular institution only, our findings promise great potential for inspiring reflection and research in other universities in North Cyprus and elsewhere, which similarly aspire to international competition in higher education.

Conceptualising and navigating bullying in English secondary schools: a figurational analysis of power imbalances in physical education

ABSTRACT This article focuses on how secondary school pupils and teachers conceptualise bullying and how pupils navigate bullying within physical education (PE). This ethnographic case study presents findings from participant observations, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews. Applying figurational sociology, power imbalances central to bullying within the PE figuration are analysed. Elias and Scotson’s [(1994). The established and the outsiders. Sage. (Original work published 1965)] model of established–outsider relations is applied to demonstrate how peer commentary proved an effective power resource that some sporty pupils used to marginalise and exclude perceived less sporty peers. Elias’s [(2001). The society of individuals. Bloomsbury] personal pronoun model is also utilised to analyse how fear, stigmatisation, and identity self-preservation underpinned a culture of silence in reporting bullying. Throughout our results and discussion, we provided much-needed empirically and theoretically informed insights into the gendered nuances, and similarities, in boys’ and girls’ experiences of bullying in PE. Finally, we propose a more negotiated PE-specific code of conduct may be more beneficial.

Feedback in the Very Young Learner EFL Classroom: A Review Study

This review article contributes to addressing an urgent issue in today's globalised world. English has become the world lingua franca and many countries are seeking to equip their workforce with English competence so as to engage fully in international social, economic and academic fora. This often entails lowering the age at which children start to learn English in school, which places a heavy responsibility on the educational system in countries, such as Saudi Arabia, where English is a foreign language, i.e., not widely used in day-to-day life in the country outside the English classroom. Yet many aspects of teaching young learners a foreign language at age six onwards have not been extensively investigated. One of these is the key issue of how the teacher should best give feedback to children of that age. Feedback is widely regarded as the key to learning, but not all its types are necessarily effective. Furthermore, most research has been on older children and adults. The present study therefore uses the method of qualitative systematic literature review to assemble and analyse existing research and theory with the aim to extract guidelines for feedback by teachers in foreign language classrooms with very young learners. It is found that attention should be given not only to negative, corrective feedback on the language used, which is often the focus of teacher attention. A case is made for the place and value of positive feedback and feedback of communicative and emotional types. Even in corrective feedback it is often better to use partial rather than total correction, so as to give the child space to self-correct.

Investigating the employment motivation, job satisfaction, and dissatisfaction of international high school teachers in China: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

International education has become increasingly challenging to manage in an unpredictable world beset by pandemics, regional disputes, and evolving market practices. The last few decades have seen a huge demand for international education in China, and numerous acclaimed international brand names set up operations in China's K12 schooling sector. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exerted a noticeably negative impact on international high schools and their staff in China, and exacerbated a difficult period of management for these institutions. Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the actual operation of these educational workplaces remains under investigated in academic studies. This paper therefore attempts to examine international high schools in China by focusing on their teachers and their associated employment motivation, job satisfaction, and dissatisfaction which has been perceptibly influenced by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a qualitative, case-study approach which adopted semi-structured interviews, an acclaimed British high school, now closed, was investigated. The study found that international high school teachers were driven by diverse work motives such as the school's reputation, values, salary, environment, and chances for career development. Their job satisfaction was also multi-faceted, and their dissatisfaction in certain areas concerning. That is, they derived an early satisfaction from a range of facets, such as the students, class sizes, initial workloads, autonomy and collegiality. However, these early feelings were replaced by a sense of dissatisfaction and noticeable unhappiness resulting from leadership changes and subsequent management practices, increased workload, unmet employment package expectations and obligations, as well as limited professional development opportunities. This study highlights the importance of recruiting well, generating the right starting and longer-term conditions, retaining key staff and managing astutely. The work will be of interest to policy makers, investors, leaders, managers and staff alike. It will also extend educational research in the areas of teacher motivation, satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and in particular in China in international K12 settings.