Research on the Teaching of Landscape Engineering by Foreign Teachers in Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education in SUCC

Sino-foreign cooperative education plays an important role in undergraduate education. It has also proved itself popular in higher vocational education in recent years, in which foreign teachers are undertaking the task of teaching some specialized courses. The teaching by foreign teachers has certain irreplaceable advantages, but nonnegligible disadvantages as well. Questionnaires have been distributed to the students majoring in Landscape Engineering from Shanghai Urban Construction College to investigate the teaching of specialized courses by foreign teachers. Based on the statistics, the advantages and disadvantages of their teaching have been analyzed, and several suggestions on how to adopt the good points and avoid the shortcomings are offered, so as to improve the quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education in higher vocational college.

Students’ perceptions with different CEFR levels on foreign teachers using L1 in EFL instruction

The demand for foreign teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has been high in non-English speaking countries, including Thailand. As foreigners have resided in the country for several years, they picked up students’ first language (L1) competence. Several foreign teachers, to some extent, utilized this mastery of L1 to assist the English instruction. This research aimed to explore how students with different Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels perceive foreign English teachers’ use of L1. Three hundred twenty students from Walailak University participated in the survey. A quantitative survey and qualitative interview were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to analyze quantitative data, while content analysis was administered to investigate the qualitative data. The quantitative findings revealed a significant difference in students’ perceptions, Welch’s F(2,68.42)=11.304, p .05. The qualitative findings exposed that students in level A1 had significantly different perceptions compared to those in levels A2 and B1. Students who supported L1 integration disclosed that it ameliorated communication, enhanced learning motivation, and improved academic achievement. Additionally, students who opposed L1 expressed that English’s full usage developed their learning motivation and academic accomplishment.

Policies on teaching English in Southeast and East Asian countries

English is one of the keys to successful globalization; therefore, every country develops own English teaching policy. Teaching English in Asia is a very common issue ruled and supported by the government. This article is a contrastive study on different English policies in such Southeast and East Asian countries as China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The contrastive analysis focused on such aspects as school year of implementing English as required subject, teaching hours of English, teacher’s training, use of local and foreign teachers, teaching methods and materials, funding, etc. The contrastive study among countries mentioned above evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of certain English teaching policies. The positive results of one country can be borrowed and adapted by another country considering its cultural, political, economic or social features. On the other hand, the failures of one country’s English teaching policy can be considered and avoided by another country’s planning on English teaching policy.

Predictors of Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching EFL: An Examination of “Nativeness” and Teachers’ Training

The study aimed to establish the link between teacher training and “nativeness” on teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching English as a second language. By applying a teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, we measured the self-efficacy of a total of 281 foreign teachers in Chengdu, China. We adopted MANOVA and tested the influence of “nativeness” and teachers’ training on teachers’ self-efficacy. Our analysis shows that while being a native speaker does not necessarily influence a teacher’s self-efficacy, trained teachers have higher self-efficacy than untrained teachers. Thus, the current study lends credence to the view that language proficiency should not be allied with being a language teacher. Instead, educational administrators and policymakers should focus on language teachers’ professional development rather than emphasizing the native/non-native teachers’ distinction.

Revisiting Native Speakerism in ELT: Viewpoints of Chinese EFL Program Administrators on the Recruitment and Workplace Situations of Foreign English Teachers

This article reports on a case study that explores the views of four EFL program administrators of a university located in central China about the hiring and workplace situations of foreign English teachers. It was found that the administrators as a whole buy into the conventional pro-nativeness ideology with regard to hiring foreign English teachers, though one of them displays critical awareness to some extent. The four administrators, except one, consider it natural and reasonable to grant more favor to foreign English teachers in payment and workload, and fail to see an academic apartheid for foreign teachers in relation to teaching task allocation and engagement in academic activities. All these findings suggest the continuity and tenacity of native speakerism among most ELT administrators, in addition to critical awareness on the part of some administrators. Moreover, this study proposes that native speakerism should be seen as an ideology against both NESTs and NNESTs, though the former still enjoy more privileges.  

Autograph of the Victory. About war and peace at the lessons of Russian. Essays by the winners of the Pushkin Competition – 2020

Международный пушкинский конкурс для педагогов-русистов, появившийся благодаря «Российской газете» в 2000 году, ежегодно проводится при поддержке Министерства иностранных дел Российской Федерации, московского правительства и фонда «Русский мир». Цель конкурса – морально и материально поддержать самых талантливых и энергичных зарубежных учителей русского языка. В этом номере – эссе лауреатов XX международного пушкинского конкурса 2020 года, тема которого вынесена в заголовок. International Pushkin Competition for teachers of the Russian language and literature, initiated by «Rossiyskaya Gazeta» in 2000, is held annually with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Moscow Government and the Russkiy Mir Foundation. The purpose of the competition is to give moral and financial support to the most talented and energetic foreign teachers of Russian. Here, we present the essays by the laureates of the XX International Pushkin Competition 2020, the topic of which is given in the title.

Culturally Foreign Teachers’ Perceptions of School Climate and Its Relationship to Their Self-Efficacy

This correlational study focuses on the influence of teacher-perceived school climate on the self-efficacy of teachers working in a culturally foreign environment. Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory guides the study. Teachers who work in private and public schools in Abu Dhabi participated in the study. Teachers were surveyed using the School Climate Index to collect information about their perceptions of their school climate and the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale was used to gather information about their self-efficacy. The study found that there is a positive correlation between the overall school climate and teachers’ self-efficacy as well as between three dimensions of school climate (collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, and community engagement) and teachers’ self-efficacy. The results also found that outcome of teachers’ self-efficacy, which is the dependent variable, can be predicted by the overall school climate. However, only collegial leadership and teacher professionalism were significant predictors for teacher self-efficacy in a multiple regression analysis. It can also be noted that despite being added to the predictive model, the impact of community engagement and academic press is not statistically significant. Implications of the study for enhancing self-efficacy among culturally foreign teachers are discussed.

Effectiveness of English –Speaking Foreign Teachers from the Learners’ Perspective at Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry

Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry (HUFI) is gradually reforming and updating English teaching methods to enhance the learners’ quality. Within this context, foreign teachers are required to teach in English speaking classes with the assistance and observation of native teachers. This study developed factors that foreign teacher influencing the learner’s favour with English. An online google form questionnaire was conducted on participants called students at HUFI. The respondents answer an open-ended questionnaire. The results will benefit English-speaking-foreign teachers (ESFTs) in terms of realizing their strengths and weaknesses. This study aimed to develop solutions to minimize disadvantageous factors and maximize benefits to motivate students toward learning English in classes with foreign teachers.

PEDAGOGICAL POTENTIAL OF MASS MEDIA IN THE EDUCATION OF EMPLOYEES OF THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS BODIES OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The introduction actualizes the urgent need to use the pedagogical potential of the mass media in the education of employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation in continuing education with the use of hermeneutical and situational approaches. The purpose of this article is to substantiate the need to organize the education of employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation using the pedagogical potential of the mass media. In the main part of the article, approaches to the definition of "pedagogical potential of the media" are considered. The works of Soviet-Russian and foreign teachers who investigated the phenomenon of "pedagogical potential of the media" and its influence on a person, including an employee of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation, are studied. The article considers the aspect of the information and propaganda work of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the context of the organization of educational work on the development of the personality of a police officer using hermeneutical and situational approaches.