The Critical Language Reflection Tool

Critical reflection is an integral part of the teaching and learning process that requires educators to reflect on their assumptions and practices to promote equity in their classrooms. While critical reflection practices and frameworks have been proposed in teacher education, a TESOL-specific tool that engages with the unique complexities of world Englishes has not been developed. The current chapter, thus, engages in critical praxis by providing an evidence-based, step-by-step reflection tool for TESOL educators to enact inquiry. The reflection tool is called the critical language reflection tool, which offers open-ended questions surrounding assumption analysis, contextual awareness, and reflection-based action. Moreover, it applies a critical lens to the TESOL international teaching standards to help TESOL educators and teacher educators foster critical consciousness in TESOL classroom contexts.

The Scientisation of Economics

Lionel Robbins was appointed head of the Department of Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1929 following the sudden death of Allyn Young, the incumbent professor. Young had not made any significant alteration to the teaching at LSE, but from the very first Robbins set about reorganising the profile of economics teaching. The framework within which he did this was one of a ‘science’ based upon ‘economic principles’, and in 1932 his Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science provided the methodological template for his project. This work appears to owe a great deal to Austrian economics, but it can be demonstrated that this was indirect, chiefly through the work of Wicksteed and Wicksell, hence reflecting economics where it had stood in the 1880s. Nonetheless, Robbins was successful in repackaging this work, and his Essay stimulated the development of discussions of economic method. In addition, Robbins’s lectures provided the template for the textbook literature of the 1950s, cementing the influence of the LSE on the training of young economists. However, this training remained at the undergraduate level for the most part due to the lack of labour market demand for economists in Britain; in the United States, by contrast, graduate teaching became the motor through which American economics came to dominate the international teaching of economics.

Challenges and Adjustments in Undertaking Teaching Practice Across Countries in Disruptive Era of Education

This article disseminates a small part of the result of a research project in relation to teaching practice across countries. Specifically, it investigated the challenges & adjustments of EFL pre-service teachers’ experience in undertaking international teaching practice. The empirical research has been conducted in an interpretive qualitative paradigm underpinned by a complexity theory conceptual framework. Convenience sampling has been used in this study. This study employed interviews and questionnaires to collect the data. Pre-service teachers’ perspectives offered further depth of understanding and highlighted unforeseen difficulties during international internship. The findings of the study revealed challenges faced by pre-service teachers that ranged from designing - Lesson plans, preparing teaching media, and learning material, managing teaching time allocation, adjusting a new environment and culture, adjusting a new education system, adjusting high demand of teaching material (level of complexity, understanding the new country context) and facing students’ criticality. From this study, some meaningful insights are presented that can further provide the discussion of professional practice in the context of teacher preparation, not only nationally but also globally. Field based learning and teaching experience across countries are important components in constructing distinctive English teacher identities and achieving international recognition. Keywords: Adjustment, Education Disruptive Era, Flexibility, Lesson Plan, Internship, Pre-Service Teachers, Teaching Practice

Being and becoming internationally minded: Snapshots of novice Canadian teachers in international schools

This paper examines the experiences of three Canadian teachers beginning their formal careers in international schools. International mindedness is taken up as a sensitivity that international schoolteachers both bring to their international teaching assignments and further develop in the transnational spaces of international schools. As such, the internationally minded teacher is able to respond and learn from the intercultural complexities of teaching and living overseas. Findings suggest some elements of international mindedness are more readily appreciated and practiced by these novice teachers while others require greater awareness and effort to attain. The findings also suggest that ‘cosmopolitan learning’ (Rizvi, 2009), foregrounding the importance of critically reflecting upon one’s ‘locatedness’ in the world, represents a generative orientation for teachers wanting to deepen their international mindedness.

What the analytic versus holistic scoring of international teaching assistants can reveal: Lexical grammar matters

Second-language (L2) testing researchers have explored the relationship between speakers’ overall speaking ability, reflected by holistic scores, and the speakers’ performance on speaking subcomponents, reflected by analytic scores (e.g., McNamara, 1990; Sato, 2011). These research studies have advanced applied linguists’ understanding of how raters view the components of effective speaking skills, but the authors of the studies either used analytic composite scores, instead of true holistic ratings, or ran regression analyses with highly correlated subscores, which is problematic. To address these issues, 10 experienced ITA raters rated the speaking of 127 international teaching assistant (ITA) candidates using a four-component analytic rubric. In addition, holistic ratings were provided for the 127 test takers from a separate (earlier) scoring by two experienced ITA raters. The two types of scores differentiated examinees in similar ways. The variability observed in students’ holistic scores was reflected in their analytic scores. However, among the four analytic subscales, examinees’ scores on Lexical and Grammatical Competence had the greatest differentiating power. Its scores indicated with a high level of accuracy who passed the test and who did not. The paper discusses the components contributing to ITAs’ L2 oral speaking proficiency, and reviews pedagogical implications.

Anne Smith, Ina Lohr (1903-1983). Transcending the Boundaries of Early Music

This is a book that had to be written. And that is meant in a thoroughly positive way. Ina Lohr, ‘Paul Sacher's assistant’, is a well-known figure in insider circles, who contributed immensely to the creation of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, one of the most important international teaching institutions for Early Music and historically informed performance practice. Lohr made a significant contribution to the emergence of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, which made a name for itself not only in Early Music but also, through regular commissions from the Sacher-family, in the field of New Music as yet another unique Basel contribution to the international music life. However, the exact nature of the contributions of Lohr is not entirely clear even to locals and insiders who did have the privilege of meeting her themselves. Especially, her own compositional activity has so far been carefully left out of the prevailing ‘image’ of the conservatively dressed and coiffed Lohr who taught ‘house music courses’ (the name of teacher training at the time).

Role of Prophylactic Bolus Dose of Ephedrine to Prevent Hypotension after Spinal Anesthesia; A Single Center Experience

Aim: To compare the efficacy of prophylactic bolus dose of ephedrine 10mg to prevent hypotension after spinal anesthesia for elective caesarean section. Methods: The study was conducted in Gynecological operation theatre suite of Bahria international teaching Hospital Lahore, from 15th September 2020 to 14th January 2021. It was quasi experimental study. It was conducted on ninety women admitted in gynecology department of Bahria international teaching Hospital Lahore, for caesarean delivery. These women were divided randomly into 2 groups: a) Patients in group E10 received ephedrine 1ml from 5ml syringe containing ephedrine 10mg/mland b)’ Results: Patients in group R acted as a control group and received normal saline 1ml from 5ml syringe.Blood pressure was recorded every minute for first 3 minutes, every 2 minutes for next 6 minutes, and then every 3 minutes till the procedure was completed. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Conclusion: It was concluded that prophylactic intravenous ephedrine bolus 10mg is more effective in preventing hypotension than fluid preload alone. It is simple and effective means of reducing the incidence of hypotension undergoing C- section in spinal anaesthesia. Keywords: Ephedrine, Hypotension, Spinal anesthesia.