This paper presents data derived from a larger study related to the expectations and experiences of international students from the People's Republic of China with regard to studying in Australian secondary schools. The study involved 116 international students, and data were collected in two phases using questionnaires and semi-structured…

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…

In Thailand's schools, after almost 20 years of using the Basic Education Core Curriculum 2008, alarm bells are finally ringing. We know well that native speakerism ideologies are embedded in the curriculum, but we know little about their impact on TESOL practices. Native speakerism stems from colonial power structures, privileging White Western…

The current Finnish core curriculum requires all teachers in basic education to be linguistically responsive. However, studies on the linguistically responsive practices used by teachers are scarce. The frequency with which teachers (N = 820) use 21 linguistically responsive practices was investigated through data that were gathered via an online…

Despite the decreasing number of immigrants and their negligible presence, migration has dominated Hungarian public discourse. The article investigates issues related to migration in three contexts. First, samples from the government's immigration discourse, including a legislative package proposal and billboards, are subjected to critical…

This qualitative study aimed at exploring English teachers' understanding of the Basic Education Core Curriculum in Thailand and to investigate the contributing factors. The selected research with triangulation design was used to analyze the data, which was obtained from 66 English teachers. The drawings and questionnaire data showed that most…

This article focuses on how Finnish CLIL teachers and students orient to and experience diversity in CLIL. The data consist of teacher and student interviews that were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify recurrent themes with regard to diversity. The findings indicate that the theme of equality in the sense of 'the same for…

This article reviews possibilities of raising learners' language and culture awareness or that of multilingualism as subjectively experienced, based on a review of two collections of studies that have made use of arts-based methodologies. This kind of data makes it possible to recollect past experiences, envision future events and reflect on…

This article explores student motivation to learn French as a second language (FSL) in school. Ontario Grade 9 students (N = 63) were surveyed on their intention to (dis)continue studying French in the Core French (CF) program in Grade 10 when FSL becomes optional. Survey participants shared their reasoning, and a subset (n = 7) took part in a…

This paper presents an innovative project-based learning activity meant to support language beginner students to develop, via their core curriculum, five enterprise capabilities ("authentic problem-solving;" "innovation and creativity;" "risk-taking;" "taking action;" and "true collaboration"),…

This study aims to provide information for researchers and policy-makers targeting at improving foreign (English) language education in their countries by showing the differences between the foreign language curricula of Turkey and Finland. Finnish National Core Curricula, along with the new curricula launched by the Finnish National Board of…

Japanese is a popular choice amongst higher education students on IWLPs (Institution-Wide Language Programmes), but the language presents challenges for many learners. Students on university elective programmes begin their courses with enthusiasm but often become discouraged and drop out at the post-beginner stage. Thus Japanese elective…

Terms such as recreation, leisure, functions of spare time, physical hygiene, mental hygiene or forms of spare time are among the issues discussed in the branch of educational science. The majority of educationalists are convinced that the issue of active leisure should form part of the core curriculum and should be an objective of education in…

In this article, I first take on the issue of standards and the degree to which they do or do not contribute to the improvement of language and literacy outcomes for children in multilingual societies. Then I consider the relation of standards to language and, finally, raise the vexed issue of content knowledge and its relation to standards, on…

There is still relatively little research on how well the CEFR and similar holistic scales work when they are used to rate L2 texts. Using both multifaceted Rasch analyses and qualitative data from rater comments and interviews, the ratings obtained by using a CEFR-based writing scale and the Finnish National Core Curriculum scale for L2 writing…