Journal of Education, Innovation and Communication
The Journal of Education, Innovation, and Communication (JEICOM) is a biannual, fully double-blind reviewed, open-access journal, without any costs related to publication, publishing articles from all areas of education, innovation, and communication. JEICOM provides a free and open platform for academics, researchers, professionals, and postgraduate students to communicate and share knowledge in the form of high-quality empirical and theoretical research that is of interest not only to academic readers but also to practitioners. Aims and Scope JEICOM aims to advance scholarly and practice-informed understanding of how education, innovation, and communication interact to shape learning, organisational development, and societal transformation. The journal publishes research that contributes rigorous evidence, conceptual insight, or methodological advancement within these fields, including but not limited to teaching and learning processes, educational technologies, social pedagogy, communication practices, organisational innovation, and policy development. JEICOM prioritises studies that demonstrate clear relevance, methodological transparency, and theoretical or applied significance for both academic and professional audiences. Types of Papers JEICOM publishes original theoretical and empirical research articles, methodological papers, case studies, and book reviews. Submissions must demonstrate scholarly depth and contribute meaningfully to debates in education, communication, innovation studies, and related disciplines. Articles that offer interdisciplinary perspectives or address emerging issues in social pedagogy, educational innovation, or communication practice are particularly encouraged. JEICOM is fully open access with no fees for authors or readers; all intellectual property rights remain with the authors. The journal adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and maintains a clear publication ethics and malpractice statement.
Redefining Education and Leadership: Perspectives from Pedagogy, Well-Being, and Digital Transformation
Contemporary societies are undergoing rapid and profound transformations shaped by globalization, digitalization, and shifting social expectations. These developments have placed education and leadership at the center of scholarly and professional debates. Educational institutions are challenged to prepare individuals not only with technical knowledge but also with critical thinking, emotional resilience, ethical awareness, and the capacity for innovative action. At the same time, leaders across sectors are called upon to navigate increasingly complex environments, fostering inclusive cultures and sustainable practices. This issue, entitled Redefining Education and Leadership: Perspectives from Pedagogy, Well-Being, and Digital Transformation brings together four insightful contributions that address these challenges from diverse methodological, cultural, and disciplinary perspectives. The papers included in this issue reflect the growing recognition that effective leadership and meaningful education require holistic, human-centered, and evidence-based approaches.
Copyright (c) 2026 Margarita Kefalaki, Fotini Diamantidaki (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
When Marketing Education Meets Artificial Intelligence: Boosting Students’ Career Optimism in Tunisia
The rapid advent of artificial intelligence evolves considerably in the marketing sector, prompting many academic institutions to modernize their training programs. Therefore, in an attempt to evaluate the effect of these new methods on their confidence in training, and their capacity to generate new work opportunities, in this research among future marketing professionals in Tunisia. The empirical investigation was carried out from a questionnaire administered to students in the final year of their bachelor’s degree in marketing in Tunisia. The realization of our research objective was ensured through a factor analysis of the collected data. Despite the challenges faced, students express an intense interest in marketing and believe in the abundance of opportunities in this field in Tunisia. Analysis of the results reveals that their level of optimism influences their future aspirations: optimists envision local entrepreneurial projects, while others turn to careers abroad or specific specializations. In summary, marketing students are confident in their professional future in Tunisia and see digital marketing as a promising avenue for creating new forms of work despite their limited resources.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anyssa Trimech, Ibticem Azouzi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Exploring Keller's Arcs instructional design model and Bloom’s taxonomy in teaching entrepreneurship in translation and interpreting studies
Instructional design benefits from integrating models like Bloom's Taxonomy and Keller's ARCS Model to create engaging and compelling learning experiences. This is particularly relevant for teaching entrepreneurship in translation and interpreting studies, which requires both theoretical knowledge and practical application. Entrepreneurship education is vital in this field, as it empowers graduates to adapt to rapid industry changes and pursue opportunities beyond traditional roles. Keller's ARCS Model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) is a widely used motivational model in online and blended learning to address learner motivation. Bloom's Taxonomy is a long-standing framework that classifies ways of thinking and is used for curriculum design and assessment. The proposed framework integrates these two models to align motivational strategies with cognitive development. It guides learning outcomes through a step-by-step path, fostering deeper cognitive engagement with entrepreneurial ideas (Bloom's levels) while supporting sustained motivation (ARCS). This comprehensive approach equips students to acquire essential entrepreneurial skills and remain engaged, preparing them for success as entrepreneurial translators.
Entrepreneurship, Instructional Design, ARCS Model, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Translation Studies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Evriklea Dogoriti (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Reimagined Futures: Interpreting Pedagogy through the Student Voice in Higher Education
This Special Edition of JEICOM aims to extend and contribute to our understandings of the engagement with the student voice in higher education. It brings together a collection of papers that evidence the editors’ shared commitment to student voice, partnership, and agency in higher education. Under the theme Reimagined Futures: Interpreting Pedagogy through the Student Voice in Higher Education, the contributions explore how pedagogic practice can be developed, enriched, and reimagined when students are positioned not as passive recipients of knowledge, but as partners, co-creators, and collaborators in learning, teaching, and research.
Student Voice, Liberatory Pedagogy, Experiential Learning, Co-Creation in Education, Higher Education Professional Development, Participatory Teaching and Learning
Copyright (c) 2026 Jan Bamford, Sophie Karanicholas, Elena Moschini (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Transformative Role of Participatory Design in Shaping Educational Content: A Journey from Student Co-Designer to Learning Designer
This paper explores the transformative potential of participatory design in higher education, highlighting how the integration of student perspectives can drive the creation of more effective educational content. Drawing on my personal journey as a student co-designer, the paper reflects on my involvement in creating user-centred, gamified, and visually engaging educational materials for informal university courses. Through my experience in co-designing the Gateway, an e-learning platform for personal and skills development at a UK university, I examine how integrating student input led to the development of interactive learning modules tailored to their needs. A central theme of this paper is the vital role of students as active co-designers in the educational process. As a student, my engagement in the iterative design process encompassing elements such as course content, narratives, visuals, and gamification, ensured that the final product was aligned with student expectations. A key feature of the design was the strategic use of gamification, including storytelling, multimedia, point systems, and challenges, which helped motivate students, especially in a voluntary program running alongside their degree courses. Reflecting on the methods, feedback, and lessons learned from the project, the paper discusses how these insights have shaped my current practice as a learning designer. It also suggests ways to implement this participatory design approach in educational contexts, highlighting its potential to foster more engaging and inclusive learning environments.
Participatory design, Gamification, Student-centred Learning, Interactive E-learning, Co-design.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pratistha Poudel (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
The role of student voice in reimagining pedagogic practice in the heat of Generative AI: law and legal education
In the era of rapid growth of Generative AI, it is hard not to notice excitement and expansion of its use. At the same time, concerns stemming from an inconsiderate reliance on Generative AI also arise. The objective of the first part of this research paper is to identify elements (advantages, challenges, limitations, risks) of the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in legal practice (including law firms, courts, case law) and research. In the second part, we focus on legal education: through collaborative multi case studies supported with other data collection sources (eg surveys/questionnaires), we explore gaps and uncertainty in the existing knowledge of students, by testing their understanding of important theories (eg academic integrity compliance, proper and effective use of AI) and seeking their view on the way forward, with the utmost aim of improving our pedagogic practice. After reflecting on the steps that legal practice has taken in relation to AI, the aim is to show how this shapes legal education and research, and that, through our, student and lecturer intervention, it can be the other way around.
Copyright (c) 2026 ELENI MAGKLASI, IOANNA MAGKLASI (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
A Study of EFL Tutor-Student Interaction in Writing Tutorials: Exploring Discourse Features and Student Attitudes
This study investigates the discourse features and attitudes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) college students during one-on-one writing tutorials, framing the interaction within Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory for collaborative learning. Existing research primarily focuses on first language (L1) or English as a Second Language (ESL) contexts, leaving a critical gap in the understanding of Asian students in foreign language settings. To address this, we analyzed the dynamics between an EFL peer tutor and nine sophomore English majors across two argumentative essays. Dialogues from two individual tutorials per student were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for interaction patterns, supplemented by student interviews and post-questionnaires. Findings indicate that EFL students typically exhibited passive interactions compared to the tutor, who employed a diverse range of discourse features. Nevertheless, certain students showed potential for making tutorials more collaborative and student-centered. Student attitudes varied; most preferred the tutor to lead, but a minority favored a more collaborative partnership. The success of writing tutorials hinged on students' expectations, personal preferences, and learning styles, underscoring the necessity for tutors to adapt their interaction styles for each student. Findings highlight the need for balanced tutor scaffolding that fosters student agency and engagement in EFL writing contexts. They support the importance of creating a collaborative learning atmosphere and confirm the positive impact of peer tutoring on student writing.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ya-Ting Chuang, Ming-Tzu Liao (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Liberating Student Voice: A Transformative Approach to Professional Development in Higher Education
Student voice is so much more than feedback and evaluations; rather, it involves bringing students into the teaching-learning conversation: welcoming them as they are, valuing their experiences and contributions, and socially co-constructing knowledge within the curriculum space itself. Pedagogy and ethics need to be nurtured and developed to facilitate student agency and voice - and that is the role of our Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching (PGCert) in Higher Education programme. This conceptual paper explores the transformative impact of the programme as a case study of liberatory and experiential pedagogy that fosters student voice from within: with staff-as-students. Drawing on collaborative contributions from current and past PGCert participants, the paper weaves together short vignettes to reveal how co-created teaching, learning, and assessment practices have fostered student voice within participants - and how this, in turn, has allowed them to meaningfully integrate student voice, agency, and action into their own teaching and in support of their students.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sandra Abbeglen, John Desire, Janet Gordon, Sandra Sinfield (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Collaborative toolkit creation to support reflective practice in teacher education
Reflection in practice and on practice is a vital aspect of teacher education, especially in enabling student teachers to link theory and practice. However, student teachers’ perceptions of what reflection is, and how to reflect on their teaching, varies. Additionally, student teachers may often view reflective practice as a course requirement rather than a supportive tool to enable development of practice. This project aimed to support student teachers to develop confidence when reflecting on their practice by identifying features of effective reflection and considering approaches that they could adopt. This was achieved by developing a stronger understanding of the theoretical models that can support reflective practice and understanding the challenges experienced by student teachers. The participatory study involved eight student teachers and four teacher educators, with existing reflective models reviewed and trialled. Prior to an initial workshop, student teachers approached their reflective practice in a variety of ways. Some needed to write their reflections, whilst others felt that oral reflection and professional discussion supported them more effectively. Student teachers felt supported when they had a staged model to scaffold this process and were drawn towards reflective models with such structure. Drawing on their experiences a toolkit has been co-created that offers student teachers an evidence-informed framework to assist with confident and effective reflective practice. Indicative findings show that reflecting on practice is a very personal choice. During the co-creation of the toolkit, the student teachers drew on features they had evaluated to be the most effective from existing models whilst allowing for personal tailoring of bespoke models. More than 200 student teachers on a blended teacher education programme will be introduced to the co-created toolkit and encouraged to use it to support confident and effective reflective practice.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Alison Glover, Dr. Catharine Bleasdale, Nerys Defis, Angela Thomas, Nigel Wills, Cally Campbell, Mary Esufali, Hannah Vaughan (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Mindful Moments: Strategies for Alleviating Anxiety in Elementary Students, Both Onsite and Online
Anxiety in young children has increasingly become a significant concern for classroom teachers in recent years. This issue not only disrupts the learning environment but also contributes to a range of other health-related problems. If left unaddressed, childhood anxiety can lead to long-term mental health issues such as depression and social isolation, as children become accustomed to coping with anxiety on a daily basis. Recognizing the urgency of this problem, this curriculum project was developed to design and implement a series of mindfulness lessons aimed at alleviating anxiety among second-grade students. Initially, these lessons were delivered in person on a weekly basis. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a shift to remote learning. Despite this transition, the mindfulness activities continued to be delivered through online instruction, providing significant benefits to the young students during this challenging period. The primary objective of this qualitative action research study was to create and evaluate mindfulness-based interventions as a viable approach to enhancing student learning and emotional well-being in the classroom. The results of the study indicated that mindfulness-based interventions were highly effective in both settings. Teachers reported noticeable improvements in students' ability to manage anxiety and enhance their overall emotional well-being. Consequently, the study recommends the inclusion of mindfulness practices in the daily routines of elementary schools to foster a supportive and nurturing learning environment. This approach not only addresses immediate anxiety-related issues but also contributes to the long-term mental health and resilience of young students.
Copyright (c) 2025 Gina Solano (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Cultivating Spiritual Self-Leadership: A Pathway towards Authentic Spiritual Leadership
Finding ways to promote connection and inclusivity in our increasingly diverse workplaces, and doing so authentically, can often be a challenge for leaders. Being authentic requires leaders who have the ability to lead others towards holistic well-being that mirrors how they lead themselves. Spiritual self-leadership provides one pathway for leaders to know and develop their own inner lives which, in turn, allows them to create space for connectedness and purpose within their organizations. In this study employing narrative inquiry, the lived experiences of 25 Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs), ranging in age from 18 to almost 80, were examined for how spiritual self-leadership can foster identity development and sense of belonging in ATCKs in order for them to elevate their potential and value contribution in the workplace. ATCKs have experienced highly mobile, cross-cultural childhoods and, as a result, bring both benefits and challenges into their personal and professional lives. The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify how ATCKs’ professional lives are impacted by their cross-cultural mobile life before the age of 18; 2) explore how the Spiritual Leadership model can foster identity development (inner life) and sense of belonging (membership) for ATCKs within the workplace; 3) examine how ATCKs’ deconstruction and/or construction of faith impacts their inner life and, by extension, spiritual self-leadership; and, 4) propose recommendations for how ATCKs can cultivate spiritual self-leadership for themselves and leverage their value within their workplaces. A signature contribution from this study is my Spiritual Self-Leadership model, which arose from the fourth objective and is examined in this paper. This model is an important tool, not just for ATCKs, but for anyone who would like to cultivate their own inner life and spiritual self-leadership, and exercise spiritual leadership within their organizations.
Spiritual self-leadership, spiritual leadership, self-leadership, adult third culture kids, authentic leadership
Copyright (c) 2025 Shelly Lyons (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Evaluating ChatGPT’s Memory and Conversation Continuity: Insights from Academic Prompting
As ChatGPT becomes a prominent tool in education, a growing challenge emerges: should educators start a new chat for each task, or continue an existing thread to retain context? This decision has become particularly pertinent with the advent of ChatGPT’s memory feature, which allows the system to remember user information and past interactions across sessions. While this capability introduces opportunities for efficiency and personalisation, it also presents risks such as context drift, irrelevant recall, or unintentional bias especially in academic settings that demand precision and adaptability. This study explores the implications of ChatGPT’s memory feature through structured and emergent prompting exercises conducted with five academics. Each academic was provided with the same sequence of prompts, addressing common academic tasks including assessment design, feedback generation, and curriculum alignment. Their interactions were observed under two conditions: (1) continuing conversations with memory enabled, and (2) starting fresh sessions without memory. The authors analysed these interactions to assess accuracy, coherence, responsiveness, and relevance. Reflections based on this analysis suggest that continuing conversations allowed for more nuanced and context-aware responses, particularly valuable for iterative educational tasks. However, these benefits were occasionally offset by outdated or misplaced contextual references that hindered objectivity and clarity. Conversely, fresh chats supported cleaner outputs in tasks requiring analytical rigor or neutrality. The study suggests that educators must adopt a context-sensitive approach when engaging with ChatGPT, selectively leveraging memory for continuity-driven tasks while favouring new chats for objectivity-critical outputs.
Copyright (c) 2025 Meena Jha, Sanjay Jha, Goldie Gabrani, Monika Kansal, Anuradha Mathrani (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Designing and implementing a module to foster critical thinking in management education: An exploration of rationale and methods
This article presents a critical analysis of a tutorial redesign within a final-year undergraduate management module at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). In response to student disengagement, limited critical thinking, and surface-level learning, the module was restructured to emphasise student-led inquiry, case-based learning, and dialogic engagement. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, including student reflections, tutor observations, survey responses, and assessment outcomes, the study explores how the intervention impacted learning experience, academic confidence, and epistemological development. We found five interrelated shifts: from disengagement to relevance, repetition to critique, silence to voice, and resistance to reflexivity. Students reported increased confidence in applying theory, engaging in complex reasoning, and articulating independent arguments. Final assessments showed enhanced depth, originality, and theoretical synthesis. This study contributes to the literature on critical pedagogy and management education by demonstrating how small-scale, well-aligned pedagogical interventions can cultivate deeper engagement, critical capacity, and student voice. It calls for continued reflection on inherited teaching models and supports the integration of critical, participatory learning environments in higher education.
Higher Education, critical thinking, inclusive learning, engagement, business education, employability skills
Copyright (c) 2025 elton Xhetani, Ailson (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Understanding the Shaping of Teachers’ Educational Philosophies within International Baccalaureate Contexts in Japan
With the increasing adoption of the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum in Japan, actively promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), there is a need to understand its impact on educators. This study explores how teaching within IB contexts shapes the educational philosophies of Japanese teachers. Through semi-structured interviews with two experienced Japanese language teachers—one from the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and one from the Middle Years Programme (MYP)—this research investigates the influence of the IB framework on their professional beliefs and practices. Reflective thematic analysis of the interview data reveals three core themes: (1) the enrichment of life through learning, where education is seen as a means to cultivate curiosity and see interconnectedness in the world; (2) the development of lifelong learners, a goal that teachers apply not only to their students but also to their own professional growth; and (3) a belief in the potential of the IB to foster holistic development by focusing on “how to learn.” The findings suggest that the IB curriculum influences teachers to develop a more student-centered, long-term, and reflective approach to education. This study also indicates that prior teaching experience can be an asset for successfully integrating the IB philosophy and highlights the importance of reflective practice. These insights have implications for teacher training programs and educational policy as Japan continues to expand its IB offerings.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rika Nakano, Hyeun Yun, Tasha Eunjoo Lee (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Educational Transformation in Action: Insights into Leadership, Innovation, and Assessment
This editorial, entitled “Educational Transformation in Action: Insights into Leadership, Innovation, and Assessment”, introduces a set of articles featured in the June 2025 issue of the Journal of Education, Innovation and Communication, highlighting interdisciplinary research that reflects the evolving realities of global education systems. The collective insights from these studies serve not only as scholarly contributions but also as practical guidance for educators, leaders, and researchers striving to reimagine education for a rapidly changing world.
Copyright (c) 2025 Margarita Kefalaki, Fotini Diamantidaki (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Cross-border collaboration to promote STEM education
This study explores cross-border collaboration within the EUTech project, an educational initiative to promote STEM among lower secondary students in the Euregion Meuse-Rhine. The EUTech Award, central to this project, involved students in a three-phase design competition rooted in design- and inquiry-based learning. To support sustainable implementation and inform future partnerships, this study investigated the collaborative dynamics within a multidisciplinary project team via the theoretical lenses of boundary crossing (interprofessional learning) and team developmental space (intraprofessional learning). Data were collected across six partner meetings via storyline methodology, which captured participants’ perceived moments of flow and friction. The results revealed that flow occurred more frequently and intensely than friction did. Flow emerged primarily from structured coordination, clear communication, and shared ownership, whereas friction arose from inconsistent information sharing, professional and cultural differences, and administrative burdens. All four boundary learning mechanisms (identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation) were observed, which developed iteratively throughout the project. The team’s developmental space initially revealed a strong performance orientation (organising, goal setting) that was increasingly complemented by sense-making activities (dialoguing, reflecting), with frictions often prompting deeper reflection and learning. The findings highlight how the integration of boundary crossing and developmental space theories offers a nuanced and holistic understanding of inter- and intraprofessional collaboration in complex, cross-boundary settings. Practical implications include fostering mutual understanding, ensuring shared ownership, and proactively addressing boundary tensions.
team developmental space, boundary crossing, cross-border collaboration, EUTech Award
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Dave van Breukelen, Dr. Frank Crasborn (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Fostering a plurilingual curriculum: from theory to practice
This special issue is drawn out of the ‘plurilingualism in School’ day held at Collège Sévigné, in Paris, France, December 2024. A day where academics, teachers, researchers and government stakeholders came together, to discuss plurilingualism in school and articulate connections between theory and practice. The school is a pioneer in bilingual education in Paris, France and offers a bilingual curriculum with equal access to English – French. It is a rich context where teachers and students enter in constant dialogue, reflect and innovate. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) principles are at the core of Collège Sévigné’s metamorphosis into a plurilingual school nearly a decade ago. Sévigné’s higher education department (founded in 1885) and almost as old as the school itself (founded five years earlier, in 1880), makes it possible to combine innovative teaching practices with theoretical underpinnings. This makes it both a school and a place for reflexivity. Action research is active and encouraged in Collège Sévigné which enables teachers to act as researchers who constantly reflect and strive to improve their own practice. The collaborations between higher education institutions and Collège Sévigné allow for the development of a fruitful dialogue between higher education academics who are experts in their field and teachers in our school. In this way everyone benefits.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jean-Pierre de Giorgio, Piet Van de Craen, Giulia Puma, Sarah Beal (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Using AI in the Bilingual Classroom to Enhance Writing Skills in Second Language Learning: A Case Study
This is a study of how AI was used in a bilingual classroom for second language learners in English to help master the skills needed at their grade level for written expression skills during the 2024-2025 school year. The study's objective is to see if AI is useful, how it is useful, and how it could be improved. We will focus our paper on the results from one grade level as a case study of 16 to 17-year-old language learners in Paris, France, in which an online AI teaching tool was used for several months by two teachers to track students’ progress. The AI program was used to help teachers with time management in a two-year program where class time had been reduced, and students showed a need for the reinforcement of basic grammar and vocabulary skills to succeed in the bilingual program. It was noted that students did improve overall on the accuracy of their basic grammar level in English, and on the precision of their analytical skills. The study found that the feedback given instantaneously to students was extremely helpful for them and for the teachers, enabling teachers to focus specifically on particular areas of need rather than broad schemes of work that would address global issues in language learning for that age group. One challenge to the students which they often protested, was that in their speed to respond before time ran out, they made spelling mistakes due to mistyping words. This would lower their grade and not be a realistic representation of their abilities. As this group of students will be passing an exam in their final year of study in 2026, it was found that honing the language skills in the first part of their two-year program; helped them better understand the methodology which in turn left them more time to focus on the in-depth analysis of the program content. For students struggling with basic language skills, the use of AI helped increase their grade point average. The main limitation noticed by teachers and students was that most students produced typed work, which did not help them practice their handwriting which would be needed the day of the exam as this was an option that would require payment. Since this project was experimental, we thought it better to have more information before committing to a subscription.
AI, Second Language Learning, Bilingualism, Written Expression Skills, English Language.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jennefer York Cole (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Bilingual children’s understanding of implicit meaning in primary-school
In human communication, the comprehension of implicit meaning– i.e. the hidden elements of information necessary to achieve a precise understanding of what is meant in an utterance, is fundamental to the interlocutors' construction of a coherent representation. From a cognitive perspective, the question arises as to whether the cognitive mechanism underlying the processing of implicit meaning is language-specific or language-general. This question is of particular pertinence in the investigation of comprehension mechanisms in a non-native language. The present study addressed this issue by investigating the comprehension of implicit meaning in primary school by forty-five French monolingual and eighty-six French-English bilingual pupils aged 8 and 10. The bilingual children were presented with 24 written sentences (12 in English, 12 in French) containing presuppositions, implicatures or ironies. The monolingual children were presented with the 12 French sentences. The experimental task consisted of answering a question following each trial to ascertain whether the child had recognized and understood the implicit meaning in the target sentence. The mean percentage of correct answers indicated that, despite the bilingual children not being fluent in English, their performance levels in this language were comparable to those observed in their native language, French. Furthermore, and more surprisingly, when tested in French, their native language, bilingual children even outperform monolinguals across both age groups, especially in terms of implicature and irony understanding. Taken together, these data suggest that the cognitive mechanism underlying implicit processing may be language-general. One potential strategy that bilinguals might employ is to base their analysis on contextual cues. This would account for their particularly strong performance in both languages for implicature and irony understanding, i.e., two types of implicit processing relying on contextual analysis. The hypothesis that bilingualism improves the ability to understand implicit meaning independently of language proficiency warrants further investigation.
Bilingualism, Implicitness, Presupposition, Implicatures, Irony, Primary school
Copyright (c) 2025 Aude Laloi, Frédéric Isel, Béatrice Godart-Wendling (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Translanguaging and literature: Enhancing language proficiency in the BFI classroom
The French Education system has a long history of integrating foreign curricula within its own curriculum through specific programs such as the International French Baccalaureate (BFI) (Formerly known as the OIB – International Option of the Baccalaureate). This article aims at presenting some practical ways of introducing translanguaging activities in the classroom to help students’ linguistic skills to bloom. This article seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice by presenting real class situations where students are encouraged to use translanguaging to build and strengthen their linguistic skills in. a plurilingual context of shared quadrilingual education.
Plurilingualism, Languages, Translanguaging, Education, Interlanguaging.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sebastien Malagnoux (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Emotional Engagement with Social Interactions: Exploring the Perceptions of Primary CLIL Learners
In this study, we explore the perceptions of learners and their teacher in relation to emotional engagement with social interactions in a primary Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classroom. Drawing on Philp & Duchesne’s (2016) conceptualisation of engagement and their understanding of emotional engagement, this research explores learners’ perceptions of social interactions in a CLIL classroom. Evidence suggests that some learners in CLIL contexts have negative perceptions towards learning because they do not understand the teacher or the content being taught (Barrios & Acosta-Manzano, 2020; De Smet et al., 2018; Pladevall-Ballester, 2019; Yassin et al., 2009). Recent studies exploring the emotions and engagement of CLIL learners have primarily adopted a quantitative approach to analysis which limits our understanding of the lived experiences of learners and a deeper analysis of why some learners have negative perceptions of learning in CLIL classrooms. This study seeks to shift the paradigm and adopts a qualitative approach to explore the emotional engagement of three primary-age learners and their teacher in a bilingual school in Paris. The learners share their perceptions in focus groups and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis is employed to guide data analysis. Findings reveal that contextual factors influence emotional engagement which, in turn, impacts upon other facets of engagement. A key finding is that learners need additional linguistic scaffolding to promote positive emotional engagement with social interactions. Additionally, the use of existing linguistic resources and metalinguistic strategies in CLIL classrooms support learners’ perceptions of autonomy, mutuality and equality during interactions, facilitating positive emotional engagement. These findings raise important implications for educators and have the potential to inform future practice and enhance learning opportunities in the research setting.
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Copyright (c) 2025 Sarah Beal (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Implicit Learning as a Neglected Key Concept in CLIL Learning
This contribution develops the idea that implicit learning and its influence on the brain constitute a key concept for understanding the underlying mechanisms of subject-language integration (CLIL). It thus aims to contribute to the reflection on a comprehensive theory underlying the success of the CLIL approach. It will show (i) that the way in which CLIL perceives learning has profound, even hidden, consequences on its results and (ii) which language teaching techniques should be developed to exploit this knowledge. Learning will first be briefly discussed. The concepts of explicit and implicit learning, and specifically CLIL learning, will then be examined. Its importance for brain development will then be highlighted. CLIL outcomes and their side effects will be examined with regard to the brain, aging, and dyslexia. The final sections will address the pedagogical implications of implicit learning for classroom activities, teacher training, and parent contact. This theoretical contribution draws on the findings of more than twenty years of research and experience, primarily in Belgian CLIL schools.
CLIL-implicit learning-the brain-dyslexia
Copyright (c) 2025 Piet Van de Craen (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
The role of supportive leadership style in enhancing job performance: a quantitative study of secondary school teachers in Pakistan
Secondary school teachers in Pakistan face significant occupational stressors that can impair their job performance, particularly excessive workload and emotional exhaustion. While supportive leadership has been identified as a potential buffer against workplace stressors, its effectiveness in the Pakistani educational context remains understudied. Drawing on Job-Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, this study investigated the relationships between workload, emotional exhaustion, and job performance among public sector secondary school teachers, and examined whether supportive leadership style moderates these relationships. Data were collected through a pen-and-paper survey of 274 teachers from public secondary schools in Pakistan. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis revealed that workload negatively impacts teachers' job performance and is positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Contrary to theoretical expectations, the findings indicate that principals' supportive leadership style neither moderates the relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion nor influences teachers' job performance. These results contribute to our understanding of the limitations of supportive leadership in resource-constrained educational settings and suggest the need for systemic interventions beyond leadership style to address teacher workplace stress.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sadaf Saeed, Patricia Olmos Rueda, Jo-Anne Kelder (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Designing authentic assessments for foreign language learning environments
Integrating authentic and meaningful assessment practices into the teaching and learning of foreign languages has been recognised in the second language acquisition and pedagogy literature as critical to foreign language development. This paper describes research that investigated the benefits of integrating authentic assessment tasks into a mixed level university foreign language course delivered in hybrid (blended) learning mode. Intermediate and advanced level students of Italian at an Australian university collaborated with each other and selected native speaker e-mentors to complete two tasks that reflected the critical elements of authentic tasks. Data were collected and analysed through multi-data sources including students’ assessment tasks and reflective portfolios, individual and focus group interviews with students and e-mentors and messages contributed to online group discussion forums. Findings suggest that, despite initial challenges, there were significant benefits in integrating authentic assessment tasks into this course. The paper concludes with specific recommendations to guide the successful integration of authentic tasks into the teaching and learning of hybrid foreign language learning environments.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mariolina Pais Marden, Jan Herrington (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence Across the Curriculum in Higher Education: Multi-Disciplinary Case Studies
The advent of generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) has transformed the way higher education is delivered. Gen-AI is rapidly changing how students engage with learning resources, with academics adopting these tools in the classroom to provide insightful lessons and scalable solutions that enhance educational outcomes across disciplines. We use the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework to discuss the types of knowledge teachers require to effectively use GenAI tools in their teaching. This paper reports on five case studies from an Australian higher education institution examining the integration of Gen-AI across various academic disciplines in higher education, demonstrating its impact on teaching methodologies and creating innovative educational experiences. Throughout these diverse case studies, we show how Gen-AI tools can be used to enhance academic skills, foster creativity, and address pedagogical challenges. Each case study reveals the complexities and potentials of Gen-AI in educational settings, including the development of critical thinking skills and understanding Gen-AI’s limitations. We describe how Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Content Knowledge of teachers has impacted the use of Gen-AI in the classrooms.
Copyright (c) 2025 Meena Jha (Author), Sanjay Jha, Ashley M. Holmes, Bradley Smith, Brendon Murphy, Monica Kansal, Desley Pidgeon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Navigating a Bilingual World: The Journey of a Native English Speaker Teaching in France
Part 1: Crossing the channel: How I transitioned from teaching English, to native speakers, to teaching English to bilingual speakers. Part 2: Growing Up: Joining the collège and learning how to teach LVA/ESL. Part 3: Variety is the Spice of Life: How my strategies have developed and inform the way I now teach or how does a 6è student who speaks no English become an effective English communicator by the end of collège? Part 4: Looking to the future: Utilising AI in the language learning classroom.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mathew Court (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Developing an Inclusive Higher Education
In this issue entitled Developing an Inclusive Higher Education, we consider how academic achievements and active learning can be enhanced (Rotua et al., 2025), how the internationalization of the curriculum can impact the university's financial sustainability, lead to a stronger institutional reputation, and attract international students (Krautloher & Jha, 2025), how specific workshops can help the exchange of knowledge (Ramini & Blackstone, 2025), and we finally present a book review (Tang, 2025) of «The Palgrave handbook of crisis leadership in higher education», that helps us understand how authentic leadership can become.
Exploring Differential Effects of a Teacher Incentive Program on Student Achievement
Traditional teacher compensation systems based solely on observable characteristics (such as experience and degree) have shown weak correlations with student learning outcomes. Teacher merit-pay incentives aim to strengthen the links between teacher remuneration and student learning outcomes. In this study, we examined the student achievement outcomes associated with one such incentive in the Dallas Independent School District – the Teacher Excellence Initiative (TEI) implemented in 2015. Utilizing the 1,121,557 student-level observations from 2012 to 2019 academic years, we investigated the relationships of TEI with student achievement from different demographics. We found the overall association of TEI with student achievement in mathematics and reading to be inconclusive (i.e., weakly positive). Conversely, we observed some benefits associated with Asian American, African American and Hispanic/Latinx students, relative to White students. However, an association was observed between the TEI and seemingly disadvantaged outcomes for students with special needs.
Copyright (c) 2025 Yaxin Wang, Margarita Pivovarova, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Developing and Facilitating a Workplace Communication Workshop for Engineering Student Interns: Implications for Practice
In this paper, Engeström’s third-generation activity theory (AT; 2001) is adopted as an analytic tool to analyze a workplace communication workshop for engineering students and an experienced educator’s cognition and practices. Curricular elements of the workshop and the educator’s pedagogical approach are analyzed together with the motivation for a specific learning experience design and the rationale for adopting such practices. AT served as an invaluable analytic lens for our reflection on the workshop’s design, its activities, and the educator’s cognition and practices. This reflection provides a worked sample for AT-based reflective practice and strategies for developing workplace communication workshops. It is concluded that by using AT as an analytic tool for reflection, educators can effectively reflect upon and analyze their course design and teaching practices, thereby externalizing their knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Educators can develop their expertise through such a reflective process and create more engaging and effective courses. We also recommend that AT be adopted as an analytic tool in reflective practice modules in communication teacher education and training programs to enable prospective and novice teachers to engage in reflective practice and purposefully develop their teaching expertise throughout their careers.
Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Rahimi, Brad Blackstone (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Book Review: The Palgrave handbook of crisis leadership in higher education
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was working in a public university in Wuhan, China. As the global crisis unfolded, I saw firsthand how higher education institutions responded to unprecedented disruptions. With the urgent shift to emergency remote teaching, challenges in institutional governance, and widespread uncertainty of the pandemic’s trajectory, academic leaders and community faced enormous pressures. My own experience of being confined to China during this period afforded me a unique perspective on how institutions struggled to maintain educational continuity while managing the multifaceted challenges of the crisis (see Tang & Liu, 2022). These observations deepened my understanding of crisis leadership in higher education, especially as it pertains to institutional adaptability, resilience, and the strategic foresight required to lead our way through crises effectively. While crisis leadership can be viewed through many lenses, I find the framework proposed by the editorial team of The Palgrave Handbook of Crisis Leadership in Higher Education – Dr. Jürgen Rudolph, Dr. Joseph Crawford, Dr. Choon-Yin Sam, and Shannon Tan – particularly compelling; not mentioning that the editors are all multi-disciplinary experts and frontline academics in management, leadership, higher education policy and practices. They argue that crisis leadership in higher education is not always tied to formal titles or positions of authority. Instead, it revolves around the actions of individuals at every level – those who step up, influence, and inspire positive responses during times of crisis (Rudolph et al., 2024, pp. 7-8). Whether it was pivoting to online platforms overnight or supporting faculty and students through the emotional and logistical upheaval of lockdowns, the need for strategic, compassionate, and agile leadership became clear. At its core, true crisis leadership is about cultivating an environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute, creating a sense of psychological safety, and transcending the traditional boundaries of institutional hierarchies. It is within this framework that I approached this edited book. This timely volume addresses a broad range of crises – financial, political, environmental, and technological – and presents global case studies that offer critical insights into leadership strategies. As someone who has witnessed the direct impact of crises on higher education. I found the thematic structure of this handbook especially relevant. Each chapter rigorously explores the intersection between crisis leadership and institutional survival, demonstrating how crises like the COVID-19 pandemic or those brought upon by generative artificial intelligence (AI) serve not only as challenges but also as potential catalysts for innovation and systemic reform. In addition to the opening chapter, this handbook encompasses nine thematic chapters (Chapters 2-10) and 23 chapters that explore global case studies (Chapters 11-33) featuring some underrepresented countries or regions in the established literature such as Cambodia, Ghana, Papua New Guinea, and Uzbekistan. The topics that contributors have delved into are structured around leadership models, financial sustainability, digital transformation, social justice and equity, global and regional responses, and environmental sustainability. Due to its exhaustive content, this handbook would be of great interest to academic researchers, teaching practitioners, policy makers, institutional leaders as well as a broader international audience who seek a thorough and practical reference for future crisis handling in higher education.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Fiona Xiaofei Tang (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/