This paper addresses 'distractions' in the way English language education is discussed and practiced in one of the most debated systems of education in the world today: Finnish primary education. Distractions are considered as 'makers of disturbance' in educational ideologies by the authors. Examining the 2014 National Core Curriculum and…

This article explores relevant conceptual frameworks and design principles for the planning and implementation of a virtual reality (VR) learning environment in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. The primary focus is on what knowledge teachers need to acquire when designing and implementing a spherical video-based training world that…

At the preschool level in Malaysia, all preschools, including those from public and private sectors are required to follow the guidelines stated in the National Preschool Standard-based Curriculum (NPSC) issued by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2017. However, the NPSC is very general and schools are not provided with any further guidance on…

Finding affordable textbooks is a challenge within many educational contexts, including English as a foreign language (EFL) settings and English as a second language (ESL) settings, such as universities and Intensive English Programs (often referred to as IEPs) in the United States. As educators, we know it is a struggle for many of our students…

Analogies of the biotic modality within the technical sphere center on notions of vitality, differentiation of function, organization, adaptation and development. On the norm side, these organic analogies allow us to envision technical norms for the development of applied linguistic artefacts, which underlie the coming to fruition and maturation…

Early foreign language teaching has recently been made compulsory in Finland, making this an area open to development and innovation where policy-makers and teachers play a significant role in creating new kinds of learning environments, operating cultures, and pedagogy for foreign language learning. This article discusses the early foreign…

This paper presents one Colombian university English as a foreign language program's in-house teacher development program for curriculum renewal. This program is an innovative attempt to prepare teachers for implementing a new curriculum and, simultaneously, engages them in professional development activities. The program is a response to the lack…

Inspired by Gorski's (2016, 2019) framework of equity literacy and Gulliver and Thurrell's (2016, p. 57) call for more adult English as a second language (ESL) materials that feature the "uninterrupted voices" of immigrant/refugee students, this article proposes considerations for equity-minded adult ESL teachers. Specifically, the…

In February 2020, the Ministry of Education asked the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) to examine the curriculum-levelling construct that sits at the heart of The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). A key goal of the research was to investigate, whether-- and if so, how--the construct helps (or hinders)…

Reading is an important skill in learning English. However, reading class is not emphasized in some primary schools in China, and there are various problems with the reading activities, which inadequately just focus on teaching of words, sentences separately from texts. This paper aims to bring out a whole system of principles in designing…

Pearson's Learning Foundations describe the optimal conditions for learning and reflect the learner experience Pearson hopes their products will create. Pearson does this by incorporating the Learning Design Principles. Each of the Learning Design Principles goes into detail about a key principle, supporting product design and marketing by…

Many shortcomings of traditional education focus primarily on basic skills, highlighting the need for a more holistic approach to create successful global citizenship. It emphasizes the significance of fostering virtues like tolerance and dedication, as well as respecting cultural variety and heritage places. The changing educational landscape…

Concerns about the role of technology and the quality of student writing in higher education are not new. Historically, writing scholars have been at the forefront of initiatives that scrutinise and integrate new technologies in higher education. This article contends that writing scholars are again uniquely equipped to assist students, teachers…

Virtual Exchange (VE) is typically set up in an institutional context, which implies the need to verify student learning through assessment. The difficulties in designing and implementing assessment in VE arise principally from the complexity of VE itself, as well as from a combination of institutional and sociocultural factors. This chapter aims…

This article is about the college experience and the design and implementation for a first-time virtual classroom linking non-native speakers of French in the U.S. with native speakers of French in France. Virtual exchange programs have begun to appear over the past 25 years as technology has made such initiatives possible. The virtual classroom…