Willingness to communicate in a second language and the promise of complex dynamic systems theory: A narrative review

Willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) is a speaker’s voluntary engagement in communication using a target language. WTC has undergone several conceptualisations over the past twenty years or so. The aim of the current article is to present a narrative review of the major conceptual developments in research on L2 WTC. First, the article discusses the strengths and limitations of the major conceptualizations of L2 WTC, i.e. MacIntyre et al. pyramid model, Wen and Clement Chinese conceptualization, and Kang’s situational model of L2 WTC. Second, the article presents the basic features of the complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) and discusses how it serves as a meta-theory with immense explanatory power to encompass the complex, dynamic and non-linear behaviour of L2 WTC. Finally, corresponding to a CDST construal of L2 WTC, the paper discusses some of the methodological developments and possible directions for future research. The article aims to contribute to language teachers’ and teacher educators’ awareness of the complex and dynamic nature of L2 WTC and provide future researchers with an alternative theoretical framework and corresponding methods to study L2 WTC.

International organizations and the technical and professional education networks in Latin America: A comparative analysis between Brazil and Mexico

This paper presents the results of a study that investigated technical and professional educational policies in both Brazil and Mexico, and the relations of these two countries with international networks of educational organizations. The focus is on the three international organizations that have had the most influence on public education policies in both Brazil and Mexico: UNEVOC, CINTERFOR/ILO, and REDUCA. Official documents, academic articles, and information available at the websites of the organizations were analyzed. The results indicate that the main objective of these networks has been the search for consensus around educational perspectives aimed at implementing models of technical and vocational professional education that meet the interests of entrepreneurs and the labor market. The results also indicate that the network activity of international organizations has contributed to consolidate educational standards, experiences and very pragmatic and restrictive instruments that directly impact the school realities of countries such as Mexico and Brazil.

Education without evidence: Gaps in data availability for refugee, asylee, and humanitarian migrant students in US schools

The collection and use of empirical data for educational decision-making in the United States is required by the Every School Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the Results Driven Accountability mandate, but there is insufficient data available for one population, in particular: refugee, asylee, and humanitarian migrant (RAHM) students. As a result, the terms of these US federal programs are violated by all states, districts, and campuses who count refugee, asylee, or humanitarian migrant students among their populations. Evidence suggests that almost no standardized, publicly-available educational data is available for refugee, asylee, and humanitarian migrant students in the US, but what publicly-available and reported data is available is either so localized so that it can be neither replicated nor generalized or so aggregated that it cannot be disaggregated for analysis and decision-making.

Positionality and self-reflexivity: Backyard qualitative research in Palestine

Conducting qualitative, critical ethnographical research on disability in Palestine requires deep self-reflexivity, exploring positionality while claiming authorship. As a Palestinian conducting backyard research, I explored ways to conceptualize disability in light of language and macro factors related to Israeli occupation practices. While conducting interviews and observing, I learned to appreciate the advantages of being an insider and an outsider, and to be aware of the disadvantages of being both. Positionality and self-reflexivity helped me focus on my participants’ voices. Through exploring disability in Palestinian higher education, I realized I was not only the representative of the collective knowledge, but I was also reflecting on how my research was creating indigenous discourse and decolonizing methodologies that challenged being politically correct. This was especially true when using certain acceptable language and content in Western academic discourse. Positionality and reflection on my own feelings, as an outsider and an insider at the same time, were an essential part of the research, especially when participants were addressing questions on lived experiences, content, language, and concepts to use when describing macro and micro-related factors causing physical disabilities.

Gender, education, and career in the Arab world: A literature review

The underrepresentation of females in certain fields has been studied extensively in many countries. Similar to other parts of the World, the number of females graduating each year from universities in the Arab World now exceeds the number of males, yet gender differences in educational fields persist. The objective of this study is to review the extant literature on the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the Arab World. The review synthesizes the findings of 86 articles that were published in journals and conference proceedings. This review explores gender differences in mathematics performance, math anxiety, self-concept, and occupational career choices. The review also explores social barriers that contribute to the underrepresentation of females in STEM fields. The study highlights differences between results obtained in the Arab World and results obtained in Western countries while also noting the differences between the Arab countries themselves. Finally, the study suggests directions for future research.

School-wide positive behaviour support as evidence-making interventions

Global implementation of School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) has grown considerably over the last forty years. SWPBS seeks to provide a multi-tiered approach to strategically frame integrated actions responding to matters of wellbeing, discipline and punishment in schools using Evidence-Based Interventions (EBIs). In this respect, EBIs rely on what are presumed to be value-free, reliably generated data which direct the selection, implementation and monitoring of SWPBS in schools. The paper begins by exploring how SWPBS is understood via implementation science. Following an outline of standard SWPBS EBI practice, discussion turns to instead consider this work as Evidence-Making Interventions (EMIs). To do so, first we outline how our before-the-fact anticipations influence relationships and disciplinary actions as they are realised in schools through EBIs. Our focus then turns to explain how SWPBS interventions, using multi-tiered systems of support and technology as examples, might be understood and enacted differently if engaged as EMIs. In conclusion, school-based relationships are subsequently reconsidered as a confluence of human (teachers and students) and non-human (data and policy) liaisons always and already subject to each other’s next move.

Teachers’ professional collaboration and trust relationships: An inferential social network analysis of teacher teams

In recent years, teachers around the world have been increasingly confronted with various expectations concerning the improvement of their classroom practices and school activities. One factor widely acknowledged to facilitate school and classroom improvement is a strong collaborative culture among teachers. As such, teachers are expected to work in teacher teams, to collaborate closely with colleagues, to co-construct classroom practices, and thus to strengthen trust relationships within the team. A growing number of researchers has analyzed how teachers address these expectations. They suggest that there is a link between teachers’ embeddedness in collaboration networks and teachers’ trust relationships. The present study seeks to contribute to the research literature by presenting results of Social Network Analyses (SNA) and exponential random graph models (ERGMs) on teacher collaboration in nine secondary schools in Germany (N = 366 teachers). We investigate how the involvement of teachers in co-constructive collaboration in schools, measured by the amount of team teaching (TT), relates to teachers’ trust levels. Results of our analyses suggest that a high amount of TT is not necessarily related to a higher degree of trust among teachers at the school level. However, a high involvement of teachers in TT is related positively to their being perceived as trustworthy. Furthermore, the emergence of trust relations in teacher networks depends on general network characteristics, such as homophily, reciprocity and transitivity.

Classroom teaching or academic publishing? An investigation of Philippine doctoral academics’ beliefs

Classroom teaching, academic publishing, and community service may be considered the primary responsibilities among academics in higher education institutions (HEIs). While there have been a number of studies that explored the teaching–research nexus in different contexts, little is known about the perceived roles of HEI academics with regard to teaching and research. This article explores Philippine HEI doctoral academics’ (academics with doctoral degrees) views of their roles in teaching and research. Data were obtained from interviews with 53 doctoral academics who had 11–25 years of teaching experience. Findings revealed that doctoral academics viewed themselves as classroom teachers, which undermined the teaching–research nexus due to their inadequate training and exposure to research and publication when they were pursuing their doctoral degrees. This article argues that academic orientation plays a key role toward academics’ perceptions of teaching and research in HEIs. Such findings suggest the need to revisit both national and institutional policies on teaching and research pedagogy among Philippine HEIs.

Teacher evaluation of the impact of The Imagineerium education project on the creativity of individual students: The Trowsdale Index of teacher observation of student creativity

In order to evaluate the impact of The Imagineerium a 10-week educational project, teachers were asked to observe and rate the behaviour of a pilot sample of 135 participating students both at the beginning and at the end of the 10-week period. Scores recorded on the seven-item Trowsdale Index of Teacher Observation of Student Creativity (TITOSC) showed a significant increase between time one and time two. In order to test the reproducibility of these findings the same index was employed a year later in a replication study among 139 students. On this occasion also, scores recorded on the seven-item Trowsdale Index of Teacher Observation of Student Creativity showed a significant increase between time one and time two. These data support the effectiveness of educational experience in enhancing teacher perception of creativity displayed by individual students.

What syllabus documents can tell us about the presence and position of dance in Early Childhood Teacher Education: A Swedish perspective

This study problematizes becoming early childhood teachers’ possibilities to develop knowledge relevant to teaching dance. The aim was to analyze the presence and position of dance in Swedish early childhood teacher education syllabi. Discourse analysis was used to identify patterns, regularities, hierarchies and gaps in the steering documents. The empirical material consisted of syllabi of twelve Swedish early childhood teacher programs. The results show that according to syllabi, dance as a subject has a rather weak or non-existent position in Swedish early childhood teacher education. Instead, dance often functions as a tool for learning other subjects, e.g. language and mathematics. The concept “aesthetic” was more frequently mentioned in the syllabi, but it did not explicitly explain what dance knowledge was included in the syllabi content, learning outcomes and examination forms. The frequency of dance differed between the syllabi, which might lead to unequal early childhood teacher education. Further, the potentially weak function and position of dance in early childhood teacher education might limit children’s social democratic life, bodily knowledge and experience of mind-body connection in a holistic sense.