This study explores the relationship between language competence and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners through a mixed-methods approach. A sample of 196 Chinese EFL learners was divided into three proficiency groups (low, intermediate, and high), with data collected through Likert-scale questionnaires and semi-structured interviews involving 16 participants. Quantitative analysis revealed that higher language proficiency is linked to improved overall ICC scores and its specific dimensions. The Kruskal-Wallis H test confirmed significant differences in overall ICC, attitude, and skill across proficiency levels, with attitude showing the strongest effect. Spearman's correlation analysis demonstrated small but significant positive correlations between English proficiency and overall ICC, attitude, and skill. Qualitative findings further enriched the quantitative results, emphasizing the foundational and catalytic role of language competence in enhancing ICC and its dimensions. However, participants acknowledged that language competence alone is insufficient for fully successful intercultural interactions. This study expands Byram’s model by offering detailed insights into the intricate relationship between language competence and various ICC dimensions. The study recommends that to fully cultivate ICC, it is essential to integrate the development of language competence into instructional practices.

This study delved into Terry Borton’s reflective model and 7E instructional model to produce comprehensive and guided tools that fit as observation and reflective tools for enhancing learners’ engagement and outcomes in Mathematics lessons. The aim was to gather insights that can inform strategies to adapt Borton’s model to produce tools to be used to observe and analyse 7E model-based Mathematics lessons to contribute to improved student outcomes. Literature information was used to explore, analyse, and synthesise the study’s related existing theories and models to provide a deeper understanding of constraints and prompt question descriptors to produce 21st-century tools to observe and reflect on a Mathematics lesson. After comparing different prompt question descriptors from different literature and Borton’s model, concise descriptors were retained for educational purposes to be analysed, considering the 7E model phases, to produce the guided tools. As a result, two products. “Classroom Observation-Guided Tool”, which includes a guided tool table with a last column for the observer to write comments during class. This column is used to identify gaps in student engagement and learning practices across the 7E phases, which may have been misused. The “Post-Lesson Discussion Guided Tool”, to make a positive post-lesson discussion session, enabling teachers to identify areas for improvement in student engagement to achieve better outcomes next time. Other researchers can study the applicability of 21st-century observation and reflection-guided tools to other subjects, exploring their long-term impact on teacher professional development to improve overall student achievement across all school subjects.

This qualitative study explored the implementation of Differentiated Instruction (DI) in Philippine multigrade classrooms with the aim of understanding teachers’ experiences, strategies, and challenges, as well as developing a performance appraisal tool. Guided by its specific objectives, the research examined how teachers plan, deliver, and manage differentiated lessons while addressing the diverse learning needs of students across multiple grade levels. Findings revealed that effective DI is rooted in intentional instructional planning, including learner profiling, curriculum mapping, and flexible pacing. Instructional delivery was enriched through the use of thematic and multimodal strategies, ability-based groupings, and contextually relevant teaching aids, although technological access and training remained persistent barriers. Classroom management practices emphasized inclusive routines, peer collaboration, and adaptive learning spaces. Teachers also highlighted the importance of assessment tools and reflective teaching practices in continuously improving instruction. In response to these findings, the study developed the Multigrade Differentiated Instruction Performance Appraisal Tool (MDI-PAT), which synthesizes theoretical frameworks with authentic classroom practices. The MDI-PAT serves as both a self-assessment and professional development guide for multigrade educators, promoting ongoing improvement in DI competencies. The study concludes that enhancing teacher capacities in planning, delivery, assessment, classroom management, and reflective practice is essential for fostering inclusive and effective learning environments in multigrade contexts. The insights and tools presented provide a practical framework for educational stakeholders seeking to enhance multigrade instruction in resource-constrained settings.

Team-based learning (TBL) is a popular form of collaborative learning designed to increase student engagement and motivate students to learn. A growing body of research, particularly in the health sciences, has demonstrated that TBL has positive impacts on student performance and classroom dynamics. However, much less is known about the student outcomes associated with TBL courses in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, fields in which active learning is especially important for student success and retention. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review of the student outcomes associated with TBL in undergraduate STEM education. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, we identified 55 empirical and qualitative research articles published between 2005 and 2024 that reported on TBL implementation practices and student outcomes. Importantly, we found that most studies described increased student performance and improved measures of classroom dynamics when TBL was compared to lecture-based teaching approaches. These findings provide further evidence that TBL is an effective instructional method and suggest that TBL can be implemented successfully across a wide range of student populations and undergraduate STEM disciplines.

This qualitative study examines how leadership and organizational dynamics cultivate lecturers’ readiness for change in higher education. Drawing on transformational leadership theory, it explores the interconnected influence of leadership style, organizational culture, and perceived organizational support on 20 English-language lecturers in an Israeli college that has recently faced multiple overlapping changes: the national transition to CEFR-aligned instruction, the shift to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the institutional and emotional disruptions caused by wartime conditions. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a thematic content-analysis approach. Findings reveal that lecturers’ openness to reform was strengthened by leadership characterized by competence, emotional intelligence, and accessibility; by a communicative and developmental organizational culture; and by perceived institutional care and support. Together, these dimensions fostered a sense of secure attachment to the organization-an underexplored relational mechanism linking leadership and readiness for change. The study contributes to leadership theory by proposing that Attachment Theory offers a valuable interpretive lens for understanding how relational trust and emotional security may support adaptive capacity in educational institutions. Implications are discussed for leaders seeking to sustain reform during crisis and instability through relational, emotionally attuned leadership practices.  

Binary classifications of teaching as transmission or constructivism obscure how participation, authority, knowledge practices, and conceptual work can vary within one lesson. This article introduces the social, procedural, epistemic, and conceptual (SPEC) framework for episode-level lesson analysis. SPEC was developed through a structured purposive theory synthesis rather than an exhaustive systematic review. A documented corpus of foundational traditions, observation systems, and targeted verification sources was compared using explicit inclusion, boundary, and disposition rules. Candidate constructs were assigned by observable target; three indicators per dimension were retained as a parsimonious authorial proposal; and qualitative descriptors were generated from theoretically warranted adjacent distinctions checked against cross-dimensional counterexamples. The dimensions are analytically distinguishable but potentially related. Their descriptor codes form non-additive, non-normative profiles rather than composite scores or judgments of teaching quality. An instructional episode is the primary unit; a hypothetical transcript illustrates indicator coding, opportunity/evidence flags, and rejection of nearby alternatives. SPEC is an initial conceptual proposal requiring operationalization, reliability examination, and validity testing. Ordering, thresholds, and cross-domain use require study before evaluative application.