E-learning has become a viable mean to both Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and Small Private Open Courses (SPOCs). Research has shown that the quality and effectiveness of these types of courses depend largely on the contextual factors that may impact the design and development of online courses. This study highlights a design framework for a SPOC offered at Sultan Qaboos University. It employs a design-based research methodology, which is a systematic research approach aimed to improve instructional practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation to produce contextually-sensitive design principles. The sample of this study consists of a diverse group of subjects including instructional designers, subject-matter experts, as well as students. The findings illustrate the importance of contextual logistics that need to be considered in the design and development of SPOCs. The findings also highlight the importance of the DBR as a suitable research methodology for similar developmental studies.

Speaking is considered as a challenging skill to improve as it is a productive one which requires the learners to be unique and creative in the way they express themselves. Therefore, teaching speaking takes the attention of the researchers in the field of English language teaching. Therefore, the way “speaking” was integrated into the curriculum of a School of Foreign Languages in one of the state universities in Istanbul was investigated by the researcher to find out whether the speaking component of the program helped students improve their oral language proficiency and to learn both efficiency and sufficiency of it from the perspectives of the students as well as the instructors in that institution. For this purpose, eight students within the program were taken into five different speaking tests in five different weeks sequentially and were interviewed by the researcher afterwards. Additionally, six students who had taken this program of the school previously and were taking their departmental courses at the time of the study were also interviewed to give them the chance to reflect back on their past experiences as learners who applied the knowledge they had acquired from this school. Six different instructors working in this institution were also interviewed. One of them was also observed in her real class environment. Results showed that the program was found “efficient” in some aspects such as the importance given to “speaking” but there were some points that needed consolidation just like the materials.

Time management for educational leaders has remained highly relevant to scholars, policymakers and practitioners. We analyzed survey responses from 98 public high school principals to examine the congruency between average total hours they worked per week against the sum total of the average hours worked per week in each of five distinct categories of leadership tasks. The observed congruence was 0.32, while Cohen’s kappa coefficient was 0.10. Female principals tended to underreport, and male principals tended to overreport, total work time. Principals with doctorate degrees exhibited higher congruence than those without, and overreporting was inversely related to highest degree. Principals in charge of large teaching staffs were more likely than their counterparts to be congruent and less likely to overreport total work time. Self-report appears to be an inaccurate method to measure time use among high school principals. If time use is a key component of the quality of principal leadership, more detailed and robust techniques for collecting time use data should be utilized in future studies.

The language, in the most basic sense, is a means of communication among people. Since the proper and effective use of people’s native language will shape the whole life of an individual, individuals are expected to have native language awareness. There is a strong bilateral relationship between the effective use of native language and native language awareness. All the teachers/preservice teachers and especially native language teachers/preservice teachers, who are role models as being instructors, are expected to have this awareness and help students to gain and transfer it to the future generations.  By this motivation, this study aims to examine language awareness of preservice teachers, an example from Turkey. Through phenomenological design of the qualitative research methods, it has been aimed to reach this goal.  Accordingly, the data were collected through semi-structured and structured opinion forms from 60 preservice teachers studying in a state university. In the study, it was seen that preservice teachers generally have this awareness. It has been revealed that the preservice teachers tend to correct their use of language that they think is wrong, they investigate the word they do not know the spelling when they are indecisive, and they mostly find it necessary to obey the language rules in multimedia. It was concluded that attention in the use of language emphasizes the negativities to be encountered in the dimension of providing social communication in daily life.

Contemporary studies related to teacher autonomy mostly deal with research into how autonomy is perceived by teachers and which variables it is associated with. On the other hand, there are very few studies dealing with how teachers’ instructional autonomy over the curriculum is reflected in the education process. The aim of this study is to reveal in depth the practices carried out in the context of instructional autonomy by science teachers who have different levels of autonomy. The study is based on data gathered from eight teachers employed at different schools in the province of Izmir in Turkey. Interviews, observations and documents were used for collecting the data. The results reveal that while teachers with high instructional autonomy successfully apply contemporary teaching methods, alternative evaluation techniques, high-order thinking skills and effective classroom management, teachers with low instructional autonomy fall short in all of these areas.

The purpose of the study is to examine pre-service teachers' impromptu speaking skills on the basis of the evaluations of the instructor, peers and their own. The study employed a descriptive case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. A total of 23 pre-service math teachers taking the course of Art of Effective Speech in a state university in Turkey in the 2016-2017 academic year participated in the study. The data of the study were collected through the observations of the researcher and pre-service teachers. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it was found that in most of the observation items, the pre-service teachers found themselves inadequate in terms of impromptu speaking skills while they were found to be adequate by their peers and instructor. In addition, it was revealed that the pre-service teachers found themselves inadequate in some items related to the use of voice while they found themselves adequate in most of the items related to articulation/diction and body language and in all of the items related to communication. However, while the instructor observed that the pre-service teachers were generally competent in all the sub-dimensions, she determined that they needed improvement in the sub-dimensions of eye contact, pausing at the appropriate place and speaking without repeating words.  

The research aims were to examine the relationship among psychological resilience, patience, and happiness levels of physical education teachers employing in İzmir, Afyonkarahisar, and Muğla provinces in the Aegean Region and was to explain whether psychological resilience and patience levels predict happiness. The research was a descriptive study in the relational scanning model. The study participants consisted of 336 PE teachers, 182 (54.2%) were males, and 154 (45.8%) were females.. The data were obtained using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Patience Scale and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. In the analysis of data were used SPSS 25 statistical program. The analysis of the data descriptive statistics, correlation, and statistical regression methods were used. As a result of the research, it was determined that the psychological resilience, patience, and happiness levels were at medium levels according to the average score the PE teachers got from the scales. It was found that there is a moderate positive relationship between PE teachers' psychological resilience, patience, and happiness levels, and psychological resilience and patience levels are a significant predictor of happiness.

In the field of education, globally, teachers are recognised as important contributors in shaping learners’ interaction in a cooperative learning environment through effective lesson planning. There is a plethora of research conducted internally on lesson planning, as a critical instructional competency for good teaching and as a purposeful activity that precedes the delivery of instruction. This study aimed to explore Life Orientation teachers’ lesson planning incorporating a cooperative teaching and learning approach in secondary schools in De Aar, South Africa. The researchers adopted a mixed-methods phenomenological research design. Seven Grade 10 Life Orientation teachers were purposely selected to collect semi-structured interviews data, non-participatory observation, and document analysis. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and supported with the literature review and the theory underpinning this study. This paper suggests an enactment between teachers’ subject and pedagogical content knowledge and instructional material. Lastly, it is also evident that many teachers lack knowledge, insufficient instructional resources, and an understanding of effective lesson planning to implement a cooperative teaching approach.

The early phase is the decisive period for the teachers’ career. Intellectual styles (particularly thinking styles) play a vital role in teachers’ professional development. With the purpose of measuring thinking styles of teachers at the early phase, this study was designed to validate a revised inventory of thinking styles (TSI-R2) for pre-service and early career teachers. A sample of pre-service teachers (n = 248) were invited to join the pilot study and a sample of teachers with one year work experience (n = 252) participated in the main study. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were performed. The results suggested that with slight modification, TSI-R2 was a reliable and valid instrument to measure thinking styles of pre-service teachers and early career teachers, which has some implications to enhancing teacher education and development.

Fictional characters give literary works a sense of reality. The actions of fictional characters play a crucial role in children's personality development. Young readers who lack critical reading skills are more likely to incorporate fictional characters into their lives because they have a hard time telling reality from fiction. Therefore, we should determine how children perceive fictional characters and teach them that they are imaginary figures. In this way, we can help them approach those characters' actions from an external and critical perspective. This study adopted a qualitative research design (case study) to investigate secondary school students' perceptions of fictional characters. The sample consisted of 45 secondary school students (28 female and 17 male). Data were collected through interviews and document review techniques. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results showed that participants were more likely to be interested in and identify with characters with appealing personality traits. They had four types of approaches to fictional characters: (1) Wanting to change the storyline depending on what the fictional character goes through, (2) being influenced by them, (3) seeing them as role models, or (4) ignoring them. They wanted to change the storyline, especially when the villain got what he wanted or when the hero or the victim was unhappy, suggesting that they mostly took the protagonist's side (the good guy). While most participants attributed an ontological meaning to anthropomorphic characters, the symbolic meaning became of secondary importance. They were more interested in and identified more with characters with good living conditions and no death experiences.

The study aims to analyze, in terms of content and process, the math talks between the mother and child during the shared book reading of the illustrated storybooks with math contents. The study group under the research is comprised of nine pairs of mother and child. The process of the study 18 videos which were recorded when two storybooks with math contents were read by the mothers. In the data collection process, each pair of mother and child together read two storybooks given to them in their home environment, and the entire process was video-recorded. Subsequently, interviews were held with mothers for identifying their views about supporting their children’s math skills. It was shown that the content of mother-child math talks in the home environment was mostly about the learning area of numbers and counting skills. It was a remarkable result that math concepts such as sorting/ranking and properties/features of objects were not in the contents of mother-child math talks. The results from interviews with mothers, it was inferred that the mothers viewed themselves as inadequate for talking to their children about math concepts, and performed the math talks mostly on the basic skills such as counting the numbers.

The teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa are conducted through the authorised Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT). South Africa has eleven official languages, and English is a Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) from the Intermediate and Further Education and Training (FET) Phase. This study explores teachers' views on code-switching as a communicative technique to enhance teaching mathematics in Grade 4 in selected primary schools in South Africa. This qualitative single case study employed the interpretivist paradigm and social constructivism theory. A convenient purposive sampling technique was used to sample six grade 4 mathematics teachers from three primary schools in the Alexandra township in South Africa. Researchers collected data through the use of semi-structured interviews, which were later analysed and discussed using themes. Findings indicate that teachers often code-switch from LoLT (English First Additional Language) into Home Language (H.L.) to enhance learners' understanding of the mathematics concepts. Researchers suggested the integration of code-switching into the curriculum policy and followed by in-service training for Grade 4 mathematics teachers in code-switching.

This study aims to determine the opinions of high school principals on their cultural intelligence levels, to determine the activities of these principals to increase their cultural intelligence levels, the advantages of their having a high level of cultural intelligence, the factors that prevent them from increasing their cultural intelligence levels, and their suggestions to increase their cultural intelligence levels. The data obtained from the interview forms were analyzed by the content analysis method. The findings were organized and presented under themes and sub-themes. The study group of the research consisted of 40 school principals working in Mersin central districts in the 2020-2021 academic years. According to the study results; most of the participants stated that they had a high level of cultural intelligence while some participants stated that they had a low level of cultural intelligence. Regarding the activities to increase their level of cultural intelligence, principals stated that they did activities such as increasing their knowledge, going abroad, and developing social relations. The principals expressed three different opinions on the advantages of having a high level of cultural intelligence: organizational advantages, professional advantages, and individual advantages. It was determined that factors preventing principals from increasing their cultural intelligence levels were factors unrelated to principal and factors related to principal. The principals expressed two different opinions on what could be done to increase their cultural intelligence levels: The things to be done by the superiors and the things to be done the principal.

For United States of America (USA) and other developed countries, science achievement gaps begin to emerge in elementary and primary school. Such gaps between USA student groups typically are connected to socio-economic status (SES) and issues such as students still learning the English language. Through an experimental design, this National Science Foundation funded study explores how integrating the arts into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum and leading with a more STEAM-first approach (e.g., curriculum which integrates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) might provide more equitable science learning opportunities for elementary or primary grade level students. More specifically, the project’s research efforts seek to also examine how integrating the arts into science instruction might help emerging bilingual (EB) students who are simultaneously learning the English language and science. Although results provide somewhat conflicting findings of statistical significance with small to moderate effect sizes, outcomes provide initial evidence that leading with STEAM science instruction before STEM efforts can be beneficial to early readers, and for EB students this benefit is magnified. As the title of this study suggest, sometimes finding nothing is something.

Teacher morale affects all aspects of the school and education system. Yet, the current status of teaching does not provide a rosy picture as teachers are reported to be demoralized and stressed. This qualitative study explored teachers’ experiences that influence their morale. The study was guided by the research question: How do workplace experiences affect teacher morale in selected primary schools? Qualitative data were gathered through six focus group interviews with 36 teachers in four primary schools and were analyzed using a content analysis framework. Data revealed that teacher morale was low. Participants identified school climate factors such as inappropriate professional development activities and violence as threats to their morale. Furthermore, a lack of parental involvement in the affairs of the school was regarded as a setback by teachers. This study highlighted specific issues that influence teacher morale and contribute to the understanding of the state of their morale. The study recommends that more attention is given to ensuring that teacher morale is enhanced for educational goals to be realized. Improving teacher morale has many benefits in that it helps teachers to maintain a positive attitude and be happy at work.

During the pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), English as a foreign language (EFL) students have to study and submit their assignments and quizzes through online systems using electronic files instead of hardcopies. This has created an opportunity for teachers to use computer tools to conduct preliminary assessment of the students’ writing performance and then give advice to them timely. Hence, this paper proposed some indicators which were essay readability scored by Flesch Reading Ease (FRE), length of essays, errors in writing and a method to assist the teachers in providing writing feedback to the students. The results showed a large difference in FRE, the number of words, sentences, paragraphs and errors. The K-means clustering findings were applied to classify groups of students based on writing proficiency indicators. The findings also revealed that the number of words and sentences in the essays indicated some deficiencies. The concept of paragraph should be reinforced while some specific errors such as misspelling, grammatical and typographical errors found need to be eliminated. This study showcased that the computer tools should be integrated to process the students’ essays so that the teachers can pinpoint the problems and make suggestions to their students in appropriate time. Lastly, the results can be served as the guidelines for the teachers to develop and adjust teaching materials pertinent to writing to enhance the writing performance of EFL learners.

Through an exploration of language practices in an early years setting, this paper aims to examine discourses about transforming monolingual practice generated during an internally driven action research. Based on a small private nursery in an affluent part of London, this action research was conducted with the intention of reviewing internal practices that support young children who speak English as an additional language (EAL). Parents and practitioners took part in an initial questionnaire (n=21). This was followed by semi-structured interviews (n=3) and a focus group (n=5) with practitioners. The data was analysed considering some of the theoretical points proposed by Bourdieu and the discourse analysis tools suggested by van Leeuwen. Despite the recognition of potential barriers, encouraging positive dispositions towards language diversity were identified. The most significant feature of our examination was the value of local knowledge and the diverse language repertoires encountered in the setting. Our analysis evidence that action research can empower practitioners to challenge monolingual mindsets and to move towards an exploration of alternative (plurilingual) ideas, despite the monolingual ethos imposed by the curriculum and other external regulatory forces.

This study aims to determine the expectations of university students on the part of the Higher Education System and to what extent these expectations are met. Phenomenological approach, which is counted among qualitative research models, was utilized as the research model. The data obtained from student interviews were analyzed by content analysis. Findings were presented as themes and categories. The research participants consist of 21 students studying at different universities and programs in the 2020-2021 academic year. This study ascertained that the opinions of participating students in terms of themes, categories and codes and their satisfaction levels vary depending on the university they attend. Students expect from the Higher Education System that it enables them to get to their dream job, curricula and materials based on their needs, qualified lecturers, a foreign language education, academic freedom, a democratic environment, equal opportunities in education, an substructure, socio-cultural and physical-material opportunities, international interaction, practice-oriented opportunities for training/internship and participation in administration. The faculty or program choice is highly determined by the condition of a country, the gained scores in the central examination system, surroundings, offered orientation assistances in secondary education, the quality-perceptions of students related to universities, acquisition of employment and the sufficiency of universities to acquire a profession. Findings of this research made clear, that the level of The Higher Education System responding to the expectations of the students differs according to the possibilities of universities.

Students' intercultural competence and reading ability are an essential aspect of their education. Intercultural competence, defined as respect for the cultural views, beliefs, and traditions of others, is a necessary skill for effective and appropriate communication. Using a multidimensional model, this study investigated the effect of intercultural competence among Thai junior high school students on their resilience, well-being, and attitudes toward reading. A 2018 Program for International Student Assessment data set relating to 7,411 students from 289 schools in Thailand was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The research findings suggest that improved intercultural competence strengthens resilience, well-being, and attitudes toward reading.

Evaluation of the K-13 curriculum (2013 Curriculum) on the value of the national mathematics examination “Nilai Ebtanas Murni” (NEM) in every State Junior High School needs to be carried out thoroughly in order to improve the quality of education. This study uses spatial analysis to evaluate the curriculum and determine the development of NEM scores in the school year. Furthermore, the kriging interpolation method via surfer software was used to generate scores. The results showed that the 2015 K-13 mathematics curriculum did not give good results based on the 36-68 NEM score interval for the entire Pekanbaru area. In addition, the curriculum only gives good results for a small area in the north and south. In 2016, the curriculum which was accompanied by the entry of the new education unit level curriculum “Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan” (KTSP) showed a significant change in the NEM value. Although most of these areas experienced an increase in scores, the intervals still ranged from 36-68. The total revision of the K-13 curriculum carried out and used in 2017 showed a significant increase in scores for all regions with an interval of 68-84 scores. In conclusion, this study shows that the revision of the K-13 curriculum is the right step to produce quality mathematics learning.