In world music ensembles such as African and African Caribbean percussion ensembles, the Gamelan ensemble, and the Latin marimba ensemble, members may sing a song, play instruments, and dance simultaneously. This practice is known as music multitasking. For musicians in Western art music traditions, music multitasking can be a challenge. This…

Traditional approaches to English language learning, which focused on grammar rules, vocabulary memorization, and rote learning, must be replaced with innovative methods of teaching. This study explored the integration of board games as an alternative English language teaching method. By making use of mixed method research design, the study…

Widely prevalent in a variety of educational contexts around the world, rote learning practices entail repetition techniques to acquire new knowledge. These practices have long been critiqued because of the emphasis on recall rather than deep understanding. Less attention has been directed, however, at the literacy ideologies underpinning such…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) considers education a top priority, and more emphasis has been placed on this following the 2016 announcement of Saudi Vision 2030. Since then, the country has witnessed several economic and social changes. As a result, the Kingdom has initiated a plan to invest in human capital through education to diversify its…

Many Indonesian scholars (Azra, 2002; Darmaningtyas, 2004; Yunus, 2004), have attempted to bring progressive education to their country. They believe that progressive practices such as critical thinking, critical dialogue and child-centered instruction will help students learn better. However, this implementation is resisted because of cultural…

Medium of instruction (MOI) is a highly controversial and thorny educational issue in Hong Kong. Despite the Hong Kong government's strenuous efforts to promote Chinese-medium instruction since 1984, social and community pressure for English-medium instruction (EMI) has been immense and continues to increase. However, the dominance of English as…

"National and Civic Education" is a program of study compulsory across all grade levels in Lebanon aimed at promoting social cohesion and active citizenship. A sample of 19 civics teachers in Lebanon across four of the six governorates participated in semi-structured interviews. The conversations delved into their conceptions of…

Ramanathan (2013a, 2013b) urged scholars to expand the notion of citizenship beyond its typically bounded understandings, towards conceptualizing it as "being able to participate fully" (p. 162). This view highlights the "processual" aspects of citizenship, shifting away from the more categorical meanings that underpin the term…

Millions of Muslim children around the world participate in Qur'anic schooling. For some, this is their only formal schooling experience; others attend both Qur'anic school and secular school. Qur'anic schooling emphasizes memorization and reproduction (recitation, reading, and transcription) of Qur'anic texts without comprehension of their…

This paper examines the nature and socio-political functions of Hong Kong's "Chinese history curriculum" during colonialism and since decolonization and argues that these functions have resulted in a curriculum characterized by rote-learning and geared towards social control. Students are initiated into the traditional, orthodox view of…

Nowadays education in the madrassahs (Muslim schools) is constantly being placed under the spotlight, such as being considered as seedbeds for terrorism. This article takes a critical look at some South African madrassahs with the aim to find out what these educational institutions do and whether or not the possibility for radicalisation and…

The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of reflection by a higher education institution on its engagement with the community. In this article the authors demonstrate how the Faculty of Education at the University of the Free State engaged with school educators in a module concerning teaching and learning styles. A quantitative…

Social Studies course aims not only the socialization of children but also providing them with some vital skills. And it is obvious that such aim can not be achieved only via the transfer of information and values. Taking as basis the USA practice, Social Studies course was started to be taught in primary schools of Turkey in place of history and…

Although Hong Kong's education system has long been criticized as lacking in creativity and over-emphasising rote learning, on the whole it has served Hong Kong well in the past years, breeding outstanding business, academic and political leaders who continue to maintain Hong Kong's competitive edge. The traditional elite schools have played a…

This paper presents the differing sides to the discussion of how much assessment is too much. A teacher survey was administered to practicing teachers in the Lincoln Memorial University graduate program to determine how assessment affects classroom instruction and student learning. The research reflects more often than not that assessment does…