This study explores how Indonesian national and institutional policies shape EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ roles in mediating ethical discourses on assessment practices in private universities. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this paper analysed how the national and institutional English Language Education policies frame EFL teachers’ roles in terms of who the agents in assessment are, what the perceived ethical duties are, and what standards are taken into consideration in assessment processes and practices. The findings demonstrate how EFL teachers are expected to be ethical guides, foregrounding institutional social and religious values. Findings also reveal the various roles framing teachers as assessment designers, communicative assessors, assessment motivators, data analysts and student surveillants. Specifically, this study examines how assessment policies frame teachers as responsible subjects to enact assessment mechanisms ethically and perform accountability through data and monitoring. This paper argues that tensions can emerge when ethical expectations are outlined without professional resources to support teachers.
This life-history narrative inquiry reflects my commitment as an English teacher educator who values sustained professional learning through a deep engagement with my student’s life story. Drawing on Anderson (1991) and Norton (1997), the study examines Noey’s narrative to theorize the contexts I encounter as an English educator in postcolonial Indonesia. It traces Noey’s life story alongside the (co)construction and reconstruction of his identity as a student in a teacher education institution, with particular focus on the challenges he has faced as a young man pursuing the aspirations that have shaped who he is today. Noey’s narrative illustrates the central role of strong academic motivation and sustained perseverance in his pursuit of becoming a professional English teacher, despite significant economic constraints. It also highlights the critical role of confidence, patience, and courage that have enabled him to transform his life journey. Taken together, the narrative elements presented in this narrative study reveal three key motivating forces in Noey’s development, namely a strong orientation toward achievement, an imagined future self as a professional English teacher, and the influence of significant others, particularly his mother, uncle, and lecturer (mentor).
This study explores how a decolonial, critical digital literacy (CDL) oriented writing pedagogy mediated pre-service English teachers' engagement with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in academic writing. Situated in a Global South context, we adopted a qualitative case study to examine how GenAI operated as both a pedagogical resource and a site of ideological tension in efforts to decolonize academic writing pedagogy. The study focused on one focal participant, Dava, a pre-service English teacher enrolled in an initial teacher education program at a private university in Indonesia. Data were collected from multiple sources, including semi-structured interviews, written responses, reflections, photovoice artefacts, AI interaction logs, and Zoom-mediated classroom interactions. The findings are organized around four interrelated dimensions: (1) Dava's investment in learning English and his strategic use of multiple AI tools, (2) his reflective engagement with learning to write using ChatGPT, (3) his development of critical interactions with AI-generated content, and (4) his need for additional pedagogical support. While GenAI supported idea development and engagement with academic discourse, it also reproduced Eurocentric norms that risked reinforcing algorithmic colonialingualism. The study underscores the importance of pedagogizing decoloniality through critical digital literacy (CDL)-oriented writing instruction to support learners in engaging with GenAI critically, ethically, and reflexively, while affirming multilingual voices and situated ways of knowing in AI-mediated writing contexts.
It is crucial to understand how language users interpret scalar implicatures, particularly the words "some" versus "all," to enhance pragmatic competence in language learners and artificial structures. This research explored how respondents reconcile literal and implied meanings and what contextual elements facilitate accurate scalar interpretation. It sought to understand how disagreement between literal and implied meaning is resolved by respondents and what contextual data supports correct scalar interpretation. A quasi-experimental design was used with ten 17-20-year-old Telugu-speaking students with no training in pragmatics for an in-depth, qualitative investigation of their linguistic behaviour. Materials included 15 visual-narrative stimuli, warm-up trials, fillers, and pre-and post-test questionnaires assessing scalar understanding and contextual cue awareness. Respondents underwent a pre-test, exposure to context-rich stimuli, and a post-test. Findings demonstrated significant improvement following intervention: the respondents who had moderate performance in the pre-test passed to the near-ceiling performance in the post-test to detect the mismatch of some-all, systematically rejected pragmatically odd but logically true utterances, and reported a better contextual-cue awareness (pre-test means 3.2-3.5 to post-test means 4.7-5.0), demonstrating the evidence of the improvement in scaling-implicature detection and pragmatic anomaly repair. These results directly address the research objectives and show the efficacy of multimodal cues in fostering pragmatic comprehension. The study proves that contextual teaching greatly enhances inferential pragmatic ability in L2 learners. A larger, more heterogeneous sample, objective tests (eye-tracking), and an experiment of subtler implicatures in virtual reality should be used in future studies.
This study investigates the identities and investment of seven Cameroonian ELT pre-service teachers (four undergraduates, three graduates) at an international university in Northern Cyprus. In this setting, where African students remain underrepresented in research, English functions as both the subject matter and the primary medium of instruction and interaction, particularly for international students. Drawing on interviews, classroom observations, and audio recordings, the study finds that geographical relocation substantially reshaped the participants’ identities, driven by the cultural and academic novelty of their new environment. The participants demonstrated strong investment in English, leveraging classroom and extracurricular opportunities for negotiation, self-expression, and growth. Informal social interactions further facilitated linguistic development and cultural adaptation. Nonetheless, the participants encountered linguistic alienation, cultural barriers, and institutional constraints that affected their confidence and identity construction. The graduate students, who navigated dual roles as both teachers and graduate students, reported additional pressures related to professional adaptation and accent modification within a diverse linguistic ecology. The findings underscore the interdependence of language, identity, and investment, showing how African students in multilingual EMI settings construct identities through both agency and adaptation. Implications of this study include fostering inclusive academic climates and addressing systemic challenges in English-medium instruction programs.
This study examines how language in environmental discourse shapes relationships between humans and the non-human world. Drawing on ecolinguistic perspectives, it investigates how discursive choices construct ecological meanings in texts addressing the Smart City reclamation initiative in Dumaguete City. Guided by the framework of Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA), the study uses salience as a key analytical lens to identify linguistic features that foreground environmental concerns and socio-ecological values. Quantitative results show that individualization (40.16%) and sensory imagery (37.80%) appear most frequently, followed by personalization (12.60%) and Actor roles in transitivity patterns (9.45%). Complementing these findings, qualitative analysis identified four recurring thematic patterns: (1) Highlighting of Dumaguete City and its marine ecosystems, (2) Impact of the Smart City project on the local community, (3) Role of marine ecosystems, and (4) Vivid imagery of destruction. Results suggest that “Smart City” discourses construct narratives that foreground environmental preservation and ecological value. The findings illustrate how patterned linguistic choices operate to promote ecological sustainability and shape public understanding of environmental issues affecting the community.
This study uses a student agency framework to examine the enactment of agency dimensions and levels within digitally mediated personalized learning (DMPL) in an Indonesian EFL bichronous (synchronous and asynchronous) setting. This qualitative case study triangulated classroom observations with an open-ended questionnaire administered to 21 undergraduates from a Content Writing course in the English department of a private university in Jakarta, who are participating in an internship program and enrolling in courses. The analysis involved a thematic investigation of individual, relational, and contextual dimensions of student agency, as well as the student agency level. The results show that students primarily demonstrated high agency, with minimal occurrences of low agency across the three project-based activities (QUEST, Playlist, and Genius Hour). It implies the need for instructional design, a sociocultural perspective, and for the teacher to set up a dynamic system of empowered learning in DMPL within the EFL writing classroom. For future direction, it suggests a longitudinal study of multicultural classrooms to examine the development of student agency over time and across courses and to discover potential factors that boost and sustain it.
This study explores the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) to improve both engineering knowledge and technical English for Vietnamese university students. As English becomes increasingly important in technical professions, combining subject learning with language development offers a practical way to strengthen students’ global competence. A quasi-experimental design was conducted with two Mold Engineering classes (n = 55) at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City. The experimental group learned using the CLIL method, in which English technical terms were introduced and explained alongside Vietnamese, while the control group followed the traditional learning method in Vietnamese. Data were collected from pre- and post-tests on technical English vocabulary, final exam results on subject knowledge, and a survey. Descriptive statistics and independent t-tests were used to analyze the data. The results showed that students who studied with CLIL made greater progress in their specialized English skills compared to the control group. Although the difference in engineering exam results was not statistically significant, CLIL helped maintain stable academic performance and encouraged more active learning. The study provides initial evidence that CLIL can be effectively applied in engineering education in Vietnam. This demonstrates that integrating technical content with English supports both language development and subject matter understanding, offering a useful approach for universities to enhance bilingual competence in engineering fields.
This paper examines the implications of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for literacy learning through the lens of multimodality and pedagogy as design. I argue that the rapid proliferation of digital technologies has fundamentally reshaped the epistemic conditions of literacy, necessitating a reconceptualisation of literacy beyond traditional notions of reading and writing as well as necessitating the role of the teacher to be a designer of learning experiences. While GenAI offers significant potential in supporting literacy learning, it also raises critical concerns related to bias, authorship, and reliability. These tensions underscore the need for critical multimodal literacy, enabling students to engage reflexively with AI-generated content. Building on these insights, I outline key educational implications for curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Specifically, I advocate for a shift towards multimodal and process-oriented assessment, the integration of GenAI as a pedagogical aide, and the development of students’ semiotic capital.
The present study explores the emotions of EFL teachers and how they exercised agency to implement online L2 writing instruction for adult learners. Seventeen Vietnamese EFL teachers with prior experience teaching online L2 writing for distance English bachelor classes were recruited on a voluntary basis. Each was interviewed twice in a semi-structured format to probe into their experienced emotions and enacted agency in online L2 writing instruction. The results revealed a wide spectrum of (un)pleasant emotions that the teachers experienced and particularly, the interdependent relationship between teacher emotions and their enacted agency in different manifestations. Acting upon their emotions, the teachers agentively reshaped learner engagement beyond the verbal channel, and found contentment and joy through technological affordances, multimodal feedback giving, and 'star' learner engagement. However, learners' misaligned and plagiarised texts featured as a plaguing issue that evoked intense emotional distress despite the (un)critical agency enacted. Interestingly, teachers' "enlightened" agency in seeking meaning through the rich life stories and viewpoints conveyed in their adult learners' writings were reported as bright moments amidst limited verbal interaction, a lack of social presence, and plagiarism. Pedagogical implications for L2 writing instruction for adult learners as well as research suggestions are discussed.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into English language learning has transformed personalized learning through immediate feedback, adaptive content, and tailor-made learning paths for students. This study examines the potential of AI to enhance English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning among higher education students in Bangladesh by exploring the benefits, learners’ attitudes, and motivation for AI-based personalized language learning. Based on Sociocultural Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study employed a quantitative design and collected data via an online survey administered to 203 undergraduate and graduate students. Stratified random sampling assured satisfactory representation in terms of academic years and disciplines. The findings show that artificial intelligence, valuing its ability to personalize learning, motivates students through immediate feedback and provides suggestions for further improvement. Concerns were noted that over-reliance on AI may detract from human instruction and raise issues regarding its reliability. This study extends the literature by addressing some important gaps in knowledge about the role of AI in EFL learning in resource-scarce settings, such as Bangladesh. The impacts of AI on motivation and language acquisition, along with the development of teacher-training and student-orientation programs, underscore a critical need for cooperation among universities, policymakers, and developers to ensure that AI tools align with educational requirements and facilitate effective, tailored English-language instruction.
In recent years, the study of language teacher identity (LTI) has gained substantial traction, reflecting a shift in the perception of language teachers from passive technicians to knowledgeable and proactive professionals. This paper conducts an in-depth review of twelve categories of theoretical frameworks used to explore LTI, including poststructuralism, positioning theory, sociocultural theory, community of practice, and others. The review indicates that teacher identity is a highly complex, dynamic, and context-specific concept, influenced by a multitude of internal and external factors such as emotions, beliefs, social interactions, and power relations. Each theoretical framework offers unique insights into different aspects of LTI. While each theory has its strengths, no single framework can fully capture the complexity of LTI. The review also identifies several overarching themes, including the importance of context, the role of power, and the dynamic nature of identity. It is evident that combining multiple theories and constructs provides a more holistic understanding of LTI. Complexity theory emerges as a potential approach to address the limitations of existing theories, given its emphasis on context, agency, and adaptation. This review contributes to the ongoing dialogue on LTI and offers valuable directions for future research and language teacher education.
Objective discrete-point language tests are widely used across various EFL contexts, including Morocco, because of their practicality, neutrality and precision. Therefore, it is crucial to explore effective methods for systematically analysing test scores to guide formative instructional decisions and improve test item quality, given the pervasive use of their results for high-stakes decisions, such as accountability and placement. To this end, this study investigates the use of the Guttman chart to analyse an objective test, identify a group of high school Common Core Science students’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and develop a suitable remedial. Additionally, it assesses the performance of test items at both the general and individual levels. Employing a repeated-measures pre-test and post-test design, this study examines the impact of the remedial work, based on a Guttman chart analysis of a written pre-test, on students’ performance in an online post-test. The findings demonstrate that the Guttman chart is effective for analysing objective test scores, facilitating formative decision-making, and evaluating test item functionality. This is supported by the statistically significant improvement in students’ scores from the pre-test to the post-test. Furthermore, the study offers valuable implications for applying the Guttman chart in test score analysis.
Second language (L2) writing often involves rapid, idiosyncratic shifts in anxiety, motivation, and perceived control, yet these dynamics remain underexplored in generative AI-mediated writing. Guided by Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), this study examined second-by-second affective trajectories as two Turkish EFL learners with contrasting profiles (one typically anxious, one confident) completed comparable timed academic essays with and without a GPT-based writing assistant. Methodologically, this qualitative two-case study employed a CDST-informed idiodynamic approach, combining second-by-second self-ratings of anxiety, motivation, and perceived control during video-replay sessions with stimulated recall interviews. The anxious writer showed pronounced volatility in the traditional condition, with anxiety spikes and concurrent drops in motivation and control; AI support attenuated these fluctuations by restoring perceived control and stabilizing affect. The confident writer maintained consistently high control and motivation and low anxiety in both conditions, using AI mainly for reassurance. Overall, perceived control emerged as a key attractor shaping affective self-regulation, and AI operated as a context-sensitive co-regulator rather than a uniform aid. Pedagogically and technologically, the findings suggest that AI-enhanced writing environments should provide adaptive, profile-sensitive scaffolding, while teachers should monitor learners’ momentary sense of control and integrate metacognitive support to foster sustainable self-regulation.
Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have transformed educational practices and research methodologies; however, a deeper understanding of its pedagogical role in postgraduate education is still developing. This qualitative study investigates how Iranian postgraduate students leverage ChatGPT in academic research to enhance the quality of their outputs. Specifically, the study explores how this AI-driven tool contributes to developing research proficiency while highlighting students’ satisfaction with its use for research support. Additionally, it describes their perspectives on the benefits and challenges of integrating AI technologies into this process. This research focuses on postgraduates in Applied Linguistics at a university in Shiraz, Iran, seeking to understand their experiences through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The results indicated that participants held positive attitudes toward incorporating ChatGPT into their research workflow, emphasizing its beneficial impact on academic writing, research quality, problem-solving, and motivation. ChatGPT was found to facilitate personalized learning, enhance productive team discussions, and support the comprehension of complex English concepts. Nevertheless, the findings highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance between technological assistance and human guidance and cautioned against over-reliance, which could undermine research skills and language proficiency. Ethical considerations were also identified as a crucial factor in using ChatGPT.
Although publishing during doctoral candidature is increasingly central to academic success, yet research on L2 doctoral students’ writing for publication has largely focused on Anglophone contexts or examined challenges primarily at the linguistic level. Less is known about how L2 doctoral students in non-English-dominant settings navigate the combined linguistic, structural and epistemological demands of academic publishing. Addressing this gap, this qualitative case study examines how two L2 doctoral students, one Malaysian ESL student and one Algerian EFL student are socialised into publishing practices at a research-intensive university in Malaysia. Guided by second language socialisation, academic discourse socialisation and communities of practice frameworks, data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal a trajectory from struggles to strategies in L2 doctoral publishing socialisation. Students initially faced linguistic difficulties in academic expression, structural challenges in navigating reviewer feedback and publication processes, and epistemological challenges in positioning their research. Over time, they developed strategies through supervisory guidance, sustained writing practices, and distributed support networks.
It is argued that the congruence of students’ and teachers’ beliefs about oral corrective feedback (OCF) enhances the effectiveness of the language learning process and students’ second language (L2) development. Hence, this needs more attention from the language teachers and language specialists. This research examines how much students’ beliefs about OCF correspond teachers’ beliefs in an Indonesian context, particularly regarding the interplay of cognition and emotion in OCF provision. This study was conducted within the paradigm of mixed-methods research. Data were collected via questionnaires, student focus groups and teacher semi-structured interviews. This involved 444 student and 54 teacher questionnaire respondents, 12 student focus group participants and 4 teachers in semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated a consensus among students and teachers that the provision of OCF is intended to develop student L2 cognition, and the employment of delayed feedback should be prioritised considering student emotion. These findings are discussed using the lens of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) to explore the relations between student L2 development of linguistic cognition and emotional wellbeing in OCF provision. Both students and teachers share the same idea about the positive impact of OCF provision if student emotion is taken into consideration. Further pedagogical and research implications are outlined.
This study investigates the interplay between power and sociocultural dynamics in Malaysian beauty advertisements and examines how these factors influence consumers’ purchasing intentions. Although advertising has long served as a key arena for the negotiation of cultural meanings, insufficient attention has been paid to how sociocultural elements and power relations embedded in Malaysian beauty commercials shape consumer behavior. Situated within the Malaysian context, where beauty advertising is deeply intertwined with cultural identity and societal values, this research analyzes how language, imagery, and symbolic representation construct beauty discourses that guide consumption practices. Drawing on Hall’s (1990) Theory of Cultural Identity and Fairclough’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), four selected digital advertisements were critically examined. The findings reveal that advertisers strategically employ persuasive language, visual aesthetics, and culturally resonant symbols to legitimize and normalize beauty ideals. Notably, Malaysian beauty advertisements foreground Eastern cultural identity through appeals to natural ingredients, halal certification, and community-oriented messaging, thereby reinforcing prevailing cultural norms while shaping consumer perceptions of beauty. By integrating multimodal analysis with critical discourse perspectives, this study offers new insights to the fields of linguistics, media, and cultural studies and underscores the importance of broader cross-cultural inquiry to deepen theoretical engagement with advertising discourse.
Grounded in the philosophy of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), this study examines Ecological Citizenship Pedagogy (ECP) as a promising framework for reorienting the educational goals in tertiary English classes toward socially and environmentally responsible learning. Despite this recognition, many students report limited motivation and suboptimal engagement in English classes, perceived to be disconnected from their disciplinary and professional development. Anchored in humanity- and science-oriented pedagogy, this study investigates how ECP fosters students’ motivation and engagement in ecological literacy and English language learning through shared inquiry, exploring how ECP influences first-year students’ motivation and attitudes toward integrated English and ecology learning and how they perceive their experiences through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. This study employed Sagor’s (2005) Collaborative Action Research (CAR) model and Hadjichambis et al.’s (2020) instructional framework. The findings grounded in the questionnaire and post-course SWOT reflection by students reveal that ECP enhances motivation and ecological literacy embodied in students’ sustained engagement in collaborative inquiries on ecological issues through the mediation of multimodal resources. While motivational gains were observed, the study underscored the need for careful interpretation of the results, particularly regarding their impact on language and ecological competencies. The research highlights the importance of tailored support, multisemiotic resources, and collaborative lessons to create a democratic learning environment that nurtures reflective, socially responsible learners.
In many EFL classrooms, teachers still rely on traditional, teacher-centred practices that may not fully support how the brain learns. Neuroscience-informed instruction (NII) has been proposed as an approach that may help improve learners’ attention and self-control during learning. This study examined the extent to which NII may influence Iranian EFL learners’ cognitive engagement and executive function. Using a quasi-experimental design, twenty-eight intermediate learners in two intact classes at a private language institute in Kerman, Iran, were assigned to an experimental group receiving NII and a control group taught through conventional practices. NII strategies included spaced repetition, emotionally meaningful tasks, multimodal activities, and guided reflection. The control group followed textbook-centred instruction. Cognitive engagement and executive function were measured using the Cognitive Engagement Subscale of the Classroom Engagement Inventory and the Executive Function Index. Results indicated greater improvement in both variables for the experimental group. Although effect sizes were substantial, they should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample and intact-class design. The findings suggest that carefully structured NII may support learners’ mental involvement and self-regulation in EFL contexts. Implications and recommendations are discussed.
