Sociocultural Perspective Research Articles

Implementation Of Multiliteration Pedagogy in Education: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

This article explains the concept and benefits of multiliteracy in education and the challenges and strategies associated with implementing multiliteracy in education. Multiliteracy is an approach that accommodates different forms of literacy, such as language, text, media, and culture. Using a systematic literature review, this research aims to investigate the implementation of multiliteracy pedagogy in educational contexts from a sociocultural perspective. The literature search will be conducted in several databases, including Scopus, ERIC, and Google Scholar. The study results show that multiliteracies can benefit students by increasing awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity, expanding global horizons, and fostering intercultural communication and collaboration. However, multiliteracies also pose challenges, such as considering socio-cultural influences on learning, integrating varied texts and media, and addressing intercultural gaps and conflicts. This article provides insights into the concept and benefits of multiliteracies in education and the challenges and strategies associated with implementing multiliteracies in education. It also suggests further research on the impact and implications of multiliteracies in education.

Implementation of Informal Formative Assessment in An Elementary Math Classroom: A Case Study

A large body of research has shown the effectiveness of formative assessment on student learning. Yet research on teachers’ implementation of formative assessment is relatively underdeveloped. In addition, there has been a lack of effective instruments for observing teachers’ formative assessment practices. This study focuses on the ongoing informal formative assessment and explores the nature of one experienced elementary teacher’s formative assessment practices by drawing on a sociocultural perspective and the tool of Formative Assessment Rubrics, Reflection, and Observation Protocol. Primary data sources include classroom observations, interviews, and artifacts. Using inductive and deductive coding approaches, the study found the importance of creating a classroom culture of valuing and foregrounding student ideas when teachers communicate learning targets and elicit students’ thinking. In addition, the study sheds light on the teacher’s questioning practice with variations during informal FA. The study has implications for future research.

Fairs and Females: A Socio-cultural Perspective of 19th and 20th Century Bengal

Abstract: Fair or Mela has been an integral part of Bengali culture since time immemorial. A fair is generally a conglomeration of people in a festive arrangement for buying and selling goods centering on religious or other special occasions at a specific time and a place. Fair was an integral part of colonial Bengal’s socio-cultural and economic spheres as well. Numerous fairs used to be held in 19th and 20th century Bengal for various reasons which concerned seasonal harvesting, religious festivals, marketing, occasional cultural events, promoting entertainment including traditional games and sports, arts. In a broader aspect, fairs have played role in shaping colonial Bengal’s society and in several ways helped to develop our rich culture over the decades. Another major yet less valued aspect of these fairs is the involvement of women in these which speak in volumes about the socio-economic participation of different classes of women in colonial Bengal. Women of lower social classes participated in these fairs mostly as sellers or entertainers whereas women of higher social classes were found as occasional visitors. Though, due to ‘purdah’ restrictions the numbers of native elite women visitors were often low, women of British or Anglo-Indian families often visited such fairs in their proximity. A number of British women have written about their splendid experiences at Bengali fairs in their memoirs. This vivid participation of women of all strata in different categories in Bengali fairs has not gained much focus in earlier studies. Not merely in the lens of feminism, the role of the womenfolk in those Bengali fairs to contribute in accelerating their families’ economic standard, deserves historical recognition. This paper attempts to study the roles of such women, played in the fairs in both parts of Bengal in 19th and 20th centuries and its grave significance in revisiting gender roles in colonial Bengal’s society.

Post-Jubilee Reports of the Club of Rome: In Search of a Conceptual Strategy for Humanity’s Foreseeable Future

The article analyzes the reports of the Club of Rome issued subsequent to its semicentennial celebration. The analysis uncovers the evolutionary trajectory of the Club’s conceptual frameworks, transitioning from the stark alarmism prevalent in the early 1970s to a grounded optimism characteristic of the early 21st century. The majority of its publications, in explicit or implicit form, essentially respond to a question of Hamletian scale that arose within the discussions of the “limits to growth” model: Is it possible, and if so, how, to overcome the antagonism between the continuous growth of the needs of an increasing humanity and the relatively limited natural-resource potential of the biosphere? The analysis introduces an analysis of world development scenarios by 2050, ranging from inertial extrapolation of current trends to radical transformations of global political, socio-economic, and cultural processes. The discourse reflects on the report authors’ contemplations regarding societal adaptability to undergo a “true human revolution,” entailing a fundamental reassessment of established economic models and advancement toward innovative global governance strategies. The paper scrutinizes the assertion that society’s “unlearnability” is one of the key obstacles to the sustainable development of civilization. Significant emphasis is placed on the imperative for a comprehensive transformation encompassing the global educational landscape and the cultivation of a novel (sustainable) mindset, one that appreciates the intricate interplay among economic, environmental, and sociocultural perspectives on the global dynamics of the “humanity – biosphere – civilization” system. Humanity, overcoming the turbulences of contemporary world development, possesses all the prerequisites for a constructive analysis and design of strategic perspectives of the foreseeable future.

Projection, representation and rationality: analysis of the reception of low-income consumers to advertisements using characters and real people

This article investigates the reception and acceptance of advertising messages that use "characters" (animated and human) and "real people" to reach low-income consumers. To do this, we conducted a reception study through three focus groups in the Northeast, Midwest, and South regions of Brazil, with men and women enrolled in the "Cadastro Único" of the Federal Government, a system that groups families characterized by this income profile. The research was grounded in the sociocultural perspective, in which communication is conceived as a complex cultural process, and the audience is recognized as a meaning producer. The results point to the levels of effectiveness of the formats to persuade and engage this specific target, as well as lessons that can guide the future application of similar formats.

The conformance level to Grice’s Cooperative Principle by Iraqi Kurdistan University Lecturers and Students

The paper is an attempt to reveal the level of conformance to the Co-operative Principle (CP), which was first developed by Grice (1975), in the academia in Iraqi Kurdistan. The research has been done in an intra-cultural context. The number of the participants is 134 people who were sent a researchers-made questionnaire of sixteen items via online Google Forms. The items reflect the CP maxims which have been arranged in the form of multiple choice questions. The principle states that interlocutors should abide by the maxims of quantity, quality, manner, and relevance as far as they can during communication in order for them to convey their messages best. Being a quantitative research, the paper seeks to show the difference between lecturers and students as well as between male and female participants with respect to their observance of the CP maxims using SPSS program. The paper also has a socio-cultural perspective in that it focuses upon two different groups of people on the basis of their occupations. Also, it takes the gender difference into account between the participants by

Weaning and nutritional status of under-three children

The duration of weaning can be influential to malnutrition in children. The proper weaning duration, supported with appropriate provision of solid food (in terms of the amount and types of food), contribute positively towards the children’s growth and development. The present study was aimed to investigate the correlation of weaning duration and the determinants with infants’ and under-three children’s nutritional status in Siduan sub-district, Paguat district, Pohuwato regency. The research employed descriptive methods and involved the following variables: weaning duration, nutritional status, education level, sociocultural perspectives on weaning, and economic level. The purposive sampling technique was involved to acquire the sample of mothers with infants and under-three children undergoing weaning period; the samples consisted of 39 children: seven infants and 32 under-three children. The implementation and the duration of weaning in most samples in the research site were considered as appropriate in accordance to the WHO recommendation. The determinant factors of the weaning duration involved reasoning of weaning, sociocultural aspect, education aspect, level of economy, and mothers’ activities. The children’s nutritional status was described as follows: the percentage of infants having overweight, healthy weight, and underweight status were 28.6% each, while severely underweight infants 14.2%. Moreover, 25% of the under-three children had healthy weight, while 59.4% of the children were underweight and 15.6% were severely underweight. Proper weaning duration is not an absolute determinant factor of infants’ and children’s nutritional status. However, the appropriate implementation of weaning is proven useful to promote children’s nutritional status.

The interplay between identity and emotion of young LOTE (languages other than English) teachers in their early careers: A sociocultural theory perspective

There is conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between teachers’ identities and emotions. The inconsistency may be explained by a one-way causal relationship or two-way support. However, from a sociocultural perspective, the two might dialectically influence each other. Furthermore, most studies on teacher identities have focused solely on teaching and research identities without considering their social service roles as well. Further, little is known about LOTE (Languages Other than English) teachers in higher education, and even less is known about younger novice teachers. To fill these gaps, this study included a survey of 843 young LOTE teachers and in-depth interviews with three respondents at universities to gain a deeper understanding of their identities and emotions. As a result, the interaction between the two variables in the teaching dimension was observed to have a more robust relationship. Teachers’ identities and emotions were inextricably linked in either a positive or negative manner. Specifically, a higher sense of identity and positive emotion correlated closely, whereas a lower sense of identity and negative emotion walked together. As a result of the weak sense of research identity, this relationship was evident in teaching and social service, de-emphasizing research. The present study provides additional evidence with respect to the dialectical relationship between teacher identity and teacher emotion. FUNDING INFORMATION. The project has been primarily supported by Research Fund for Yunshan Outstanding Scholar, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (No. 2023RC031), the MOE Project at Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Shanghai International Studies University Peak Discipline (Linguistics) Construction Project (N0. 41004525/001), and Shanghai International Studies University Mentor Academic Leadership Program (N0. 2022113041). The paper has also been supported by: An Empirical Study on the Impact of Public Sponsored Study Abroad on the Professional Development of University Teachers-Taking Guangdong as an Example (N0: GD22CJY10).

Motivation and genre as social action: a phenomenological perspective on academic writing.

This article discusses the relationship between motivation and genre in the context of academic writing, aiming to further bridge the gap between information-processing (IP) cognitive approaches and socio-cultural or dialogical approaches to understanding cognition. The author takes one significant recent article bridging the gap, Graham's Writers Within Communities (WWC) model, as a starting point and attempts to add concepts from genre as social action and Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The article explores how genre as social action is intimately connected with motivation and how SDT's principles of competence, autonomy, and relatedness align with the phenomenological perspective on genre and motivation. The author suggests that these theories provide a more comprehensive understanding of writing motivation, emphasizing that the perception of genre as social action is a crucial motivator for writers and that self-determination is vital to authentic self-regulation in academic writing. The article illustrates the uses of the additional theories with an interview-based case study of a dissertation writer. It ends by discussing the possible implications of this theoretical research for empirical research on student motivation from both IP cognitive and sociocultural perspectives.

Constructing an ethnic minority culture-enriched kindergarten curriculum in southwest China: the role of teacher agency

ABSTRACT A policy called ‘ethnic culture into campus’ was set to facilitate cultural transmission via the K-12 schooling in China. To understand how teachers’ agentive roles play out to enact this policy in a certain ethnic minority district in southwest China, this study examined the local voices of city, town, and village kindergarten teachers from a socio-cultural perspective. An ethnographically informed and inductive-interpretative approach was adopted to collect and analyse various types of data. Results showed four perspectives among these teachers: i) explorative and engaging, ii) suggestive and distancing, (iii) spatial and temporal, and (iv) resisting and defying. Also, it was evidenced that only the explorative and engaging agentive perspective could lead to specific strategies in mobilising various cultural resources. Teacher resilience and collective momentum together were found to activate limited yet much needed local efforts and resources to enact the government policy in terms of cultural transmission.

Dacha as a social and economic phenomenon and its role in rural development in Russia

This article delves into the proliferation of dacha as a second / temporary country residence for urbanites in Russia. The phenomenon is viewed from a socio-cultural and economic perspective, uncovering the reasons behind their popularity among Russian city dwellers­. These reasons are related to the geographical, historical, and economic features of the nation as well as to the evolution of rural areas and agriculture across various zones. The article analyzes the diversity of second homes, their types, quantities as well as ­preferences and activities of dacha dwellers (dachniks), their socio-economic composition­ and the challenges they face, contingent on the geographic location of these estates and the demand for them among specific urban groups. It is found that the interaction ­between dachniks who come from urban centers, local communities, and rural economies, as well as the distinctive facets of dacha life, vary markedly depending on the natural and socio-economic conditions, which are largely shaped by the remoteness of a place from cities. Special emphasis is put on the distribution and distinctiveness of dachas in the Non-Black Earth zone regions of central Russia, where their prevalence and significance are especially pronounced.

Text Chat-Mediated Dynamic Assessment Towards Self-Regulation in Language Learning

Even though the importance of corrective feedback (CF) is widely recognized, there is no agreement on the most effective type of CF for promoting self-regulation. Thus, this study adopts a sociocultural perspective on learning and employs dynamic assessment (DA) as a CF form. DA is considered a theoretically promising approach to CF as it focuses on the learning process rather than the end product. Instead of the common teacher-learner interaction, this study initiates a teacher-learner group interaction with the support of text chat. Text chat helps teachers to cater to all students in the class simultaneously through several chat groups. This longitudinal study was part of an ongoing, university-level three-month English-as-a-second-language course. The findings demonstrate that this collaborative approach facilitates self-regulation through teacher mediation and peer scaffolding, and that the text chat supports implementing DA in the classroom while its features support mediational and reciprocity moves of the DA process.

Sociocultural dimensions of health: contributions to studies on risk, digital sociology, and disinformation

Deborah Lupton is a renowned academic whose research has made significant contributions to the field of digital sociology and the sociocultural dimensions of medicine and public health. In an interview with Reciis, Lupton discusses one of the main contemporary challenges - misinformation and fake news - through the lens of digital sociology and addresses the sociocultural perspectives of risk based on the release of the third edition of her book Risk. In this edition, she includes a new chapter on the issues related to risk and the spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. With comments on the Australian and Brazilian scenarios, Lupton delves into the issues of anti-science, denialism, and the role played by populist governments in combating the disease. Finally, she explores the potential of creative methods in qualitative studies, especially those that seek to understand people's rationalities, logics, and feelings.

Performance in propitiatory reconciliation among the Nandi community

Propitiation is part of what it means to be human. Traditionally, propitiation has been studied from a broad sociocultural perspective with little consideration of the performance processes at play. Among the Nandi community in Kenya, propitiatory offering reconciliation forms the core of restoration of inter-communities relationships. It defines and enriches their culture, but what is propitiatory offering reconciliation? How is it performed? Are there any steps followed in its execution? Is there a specific place of performance? In this article we provide a framework to understand the Nandi propitiatory reconciliation through a literary perspective. We expound on the steps followed: investigation, interrogation, and cleansing, and the three features of performance: that is, place of performance, actions and signs, formulaic expression, costumes, and audience. The data collection took place in Kabiyet and Kipkaren Wards in Nandi county and was collected through participatory observation, interviews, and questionnaires. The sample population was 30 adults between the ages of 45–90 years who were selected using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The data collected on performance in propitiatory reconciliation rites was analysed by use of functionalism theory as expounded by Foley. We found that the stages of propitiatory reconciliation must be religiously adhered to for its effectiveness and that the success of its performance heavily depends on the participation of its performers and audience. This article also brings out performance in form of particular acts, singing, and chanting.

Sociocultural ways of conceptualizing professional vision to support and study novice science teachers’ learning

ABSTRACT Professional Vision (PV) has been used in teacher education to interpret novice teachers’ learning in various educational contexts. To date, research has conceptualized this framework largely from a cognitive perspective of learning, overlooking the affordances of taking a sociocultural perspective. This theoretical paper aims to articulate the affordances of conceptualizing novice science teachers’ PV from a sociocultural perspective of learning, specifically drawing from its foundation (Goodwin, 1994). Four central affordances are considered: (a) teacher education pedagogies as supports for novices to develop their PV, (b) discourses as sources of evidence, (c) discursive practices as analytical lenses to study novices’ PV development, and (d) material representations as both learning and research objects. We ground our articulation of these affordances in examples of our work with novice science teachers when learning to plan modelling-based investigations (MBIs). We provide new insights into the design and study of learning environments that effectively sustain novice science teachers’ professional learning through practice.

‘I Should Do Her Finger Here, on Her Cheek—Hmm, to Play or to Draw? That’s How One Thinks’: What Preschoolers Tell Us about Thinking through Drawing

As the importance of developing good thinkers from an early age is widely recognised as an overarching goal of contemporary early childhood curricula, research on nurturing children’s thinking continues to grow. This study sought to gain insight into kindergarten children’s understanding of the concept and process of thinking. A socio-cultural perspective that conceptualises thinking and its development as a dynamic, socially mediated process, in which signs, including drawing, guided the research. 35 children from Greece, aged 4–6 years, participated in the study and were involved in a drawing-telling activity. Thematic analysis, which included both the drawings and verbal responses of the participants, resulted in five main themes that reveal new aspects of children’s perceptions and reflect the inherent complexity of the concept of thinking. Although the findings have direct implications for teaching and learning in early childhood classrooms, the discussion calls for further research in this area.

Forced Labour of Polish and Soviet Children Under Nazi Occupation Discussion by Prof. Johannes-Dieter Steinert and Prof. Beata Halicka, 1 December 2022

The following conversation is an abridged transcript of a discussion that Prof. Dr. Beata Halicka (UAM) held with Prof. Dr. Johannes-Dieter Steinert of the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. It took place on December 1, 2022 and was the opening event of a conference entitled Little Workers: Child Labor in socio-cultural and economic perspectives throughout history. The conference was organized by the Department of Economic History, the Department of Eastern European History and the Research Unit of Cultural History and was held at the Faculty of History of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Johannes-Dieter Steinert is a prominent specialist in the field of child forced laborers in National Socialist Germany and German occupied Eastern Europe. His books on the subject have been published in English, German and Polish.

Home as the Third Place: Stories of movement among immigrant caregivers in an intercultural Chilean city

AbstractParenting practices are inherently related to the sociocultural and material contexts in which children and their caregivers live. Rooted in sociocultural perspectives, this research contributes to the study of contextualized caregiving by ethnographically examining the daily caregiving practices of seven low‐income immigrant mothers and their young children. Research participants all live in a precarious material context in a Chilean intercultural city. This study illuminates how caregivers use their understanding of the world to make sense of their realities, both resources and constraints, and actively negotiate with the elements of everyday life. We discuss (a) the mobilizing effect of their hopes and dreams on potential future life (we refer to it as the Third Place), manifested in a constant search for a “better life” and (b) the personal and contextual resources that mothers draw on to provide physical care to their children, despite social constraints and scarcity of material resources.

The effect of gender in binge eating behavior in Chinese culture: the serial mediation model of body dissatisfaction and self-acceptance.

The gender difference of binge eating behavior been highlighted by previous studies. However, psychological mechanisms underlying the gender difference of binge eating behavior remain unclear. This study addressed this issue from a sociocultural perspective. Firstly, we investigated the mediation effect of body dissatisfaction on the gender difference of binge eating behavior. Secondly, we examine the serial mediating role of body dissatisfaction and self-acceptance in gender differences of binge eating behavior. Here, we analyzed data from 703 Chinese university students using SPSS 26.0 and SPSS PROCESS. In Chinese culture, body dissatisfaction and self-acceptance independently or through a serial way mediate the gender differences in binge eating behaviors. We discussed the implications and limitations of the present study.

DemenTitude® ‐ Applying the Concept of “LAN” with 16‐grid Dementia Care Model through the Voice of People with Dementia

AbstractUnderstanding the self‐perception of people with dementia and their interaction with the surrounding others is highly vital to exploring the unmet needs of people with dementia. In preserving the personhood through the person‐centred care approach, the synchronization with the experience of the person with dementia and listening to his/her voice of interpreting the surrounding things should be promoted. What is the meaning of the dialogues and the behavior of people with dementia? How can the “LAN” with 16‐grid dementia care model be applied to guide the care providers and the care partners in maintaining a good quality of care? In‐depth interviews and participatory observations were conducted during interviews in the community care and residential care homes of Hong Kong. Following the theoretical framework blending interpretivism and the sociocultural perspective on dementia, the finding was not only being used for getting more familiar with the experience of people with dementia but also designing the content of educational programme to the care providers and the care partners in Hong Kong.“LAN” model stands for “L‐listening to the experience and voice of people with dementia; A‐assess the condition of people with dementia through person‐centred care approach; N‐Needs of people with dementia to preserve personhood”. As the care providers and the care partners are trying to synchronize the experience of people with dementia, the subjective views and feeling of people with dementia formed by their interpretation will be the key to respond their unmet needs. A particular educational programme with 16‐grid of dementia care model was designed for the care providers and care partners. Focusing on the synchronization of the experience of people with dementia with LAN model, the participants got reflection and insights on this idea. In satisfying the needs of people with dementia, the participant should learn from the lens of people with dementia and VIPS approach. A proper caring attitude with this “LAN” model, called as DemenTitude®, was introduced. The evaluation of the educational training showed a significant improvement in the positive perception of dementia among the participants.