The rising integration of technology in EFL teacher education highlights the need for effective, structured, and reflective training models that support pre-service teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) development. However, previous studies have largely emphasized self-reported TPACK with limited evidence from practice-based interventions. This study aims to examine the effects of Microteaching Lesson Study (MLS) training on the development of TPACK among pre-service EFL teachers and explores their reflections on the implementation of the training. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study involved 27 pre-service EFL teachers at a private university in Riau Kepulauan, Indonesia. Quantitative data gained from pre-experimental research with EFL-TPACK surveys were analyzed using a paired-samples t-test, which revealed significant improvements in participants’ TPACK after treatment (t = -17.812, p = <001) with a very large effect size (Cohen’s d = 3.49), indicating a strong positive effect of the training. Qualitative narratives were analyzed thematically, revealing how collaborative learning, pedagogical refinement, technological integration, emotional development, and professional learning experiences shaped their development during the MLS-TPACK training. The study offers pedagogical implications for designing technology-enhanced teacher preparation programs, highlighting the value of combining MLS with the TPACK framework in EFL contexts.
The growing ecological crisis has increased the urgency of integrating sustainability into education, including English language teaching (ELT). Although ecological English language teaching (Eco-ELT) has received increasing scholarly attention, existing studies remain conceptually fragmented and pedagogically uneven. This study aims to systematically map the development of Eco-ELT research published between 2015 and 2025 by identifying dominant pedagogical models, theoretical orientations, and reported learning outcomes. Employing a Systematic Literature Review guided by PRISMA, bibliographic data were retrieved from the Scopus database. A total of 37 empirical studies were selected from an initial dataset of 185 publications. The study combined bibliometric mapping using VOSviewer with qualitative thematic analysis. The findings reveal four dominant pedagogical clusters in Eco-ELT research: environmental content-based ELT, critical eco-literacy tasks, eco-critical literature and multimodal texts, and place-based community projects. The review further shows that sustainability integration in ELT is predominantly mediated through teacher agency, instructional design, and curriculum practices, while deeper ecological epistemologies and long-term behavioral transformation remain underexplored. This study contributes an integrative conceptual framework that links pedagogical approaches, theoretical orientations, and sustainability objectives within Eco-ELT research.
Authentic news is increasingly recommended in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), yet little is known about how news-based Problem-Based Learning (PBL) supports policy reasoning and academic writing in English for Political Science. This study aimed to examine how students demonstrated engagement and response quality, comparative policy reasoning and climate-policy vocabulary, and writing challenges during a four-week news-based PBL intervention. This qualitative case study, supplemented by descriptive frequency counts, analyzed written policy reflections from 19 second-year undergraduates using flood-related news from Southern Thailand and Malaysia. Directed qualitative content analysis examined response quality, comparative reasoning, climate-policy vocabulary, and writing clarity. Results showed strong topical relevance and connections to regional events, although engagement was inferred from written content rather than directly observed. Most responses remained descriptive or moderately analytical, with limited evaluative comparison, uneven use of specialized vocabulary, and recurring problems in coherence, sentence structure, verb tense, and transitions. The findings indicate that authentic news-based PBL can create meaningful ESP learning opportunities but requires explicit cognitive and linguistic scaffolding to support analytical policy writing. The study identifies where staged support is needed and informs the application of Vygotskian scaffolding concepts to policy-oriented ESP.
Despite growing concern regarding English language achievement in Lao higher education, empirical evidence on factors associated with students’ academic achievement remains limited. This study examined the relationships between six factors—student, family, teacher, school, social, and accommodation factors—and the academic achievement (CGPA) of Lao EFL students at a public university in Vientiane, Laos. Using a quantitative cross-sectional correlational design, data were collected from 272 randomly selected English-major students through a validated Likert-scale questionnaire (α = .855). Pearson correlation analysis revealed that the Student Factor was the only variable significantly associated with CGPA (r = .140, p < .05), although the relationship was weak. No significant associations were found for the other factors. However, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc comparisons showed significant differences in family factors across achievement groups, F(2, 269) = 4.22, p = .016, with high-achieving students reporting stronger family support than moderate- and low-achieving students. The findings suggest that learner-related characteristics are more closely associated with academic achievement than external factors. The study highlights the importance of fostering learner autonomy and strengthening family support to enhance academic achievement among Lao EFL university students.
Previous research has examined project-based learning (PBL), video-based tasks, and environmental education in EFL contexts. However, research on how a single video-based project can assist students in enhancing speaking skills while simultaneously fostering environmental awareness remains underexplored. This descriptive qualitative study aims to investigate students' perceptions of the project, determine the most enhanced speaking components, and assess the project's impact on their environmental awareness and dedication. During a two-week study on local environmental concerns, forty-one EFL students from the second semester at a university in Sumatera Utara took part in this study. Data were gathered using a ten-item open-ended questionnaire completed after the study and examined thematically to discover recurring trends in students' perspectives. The results demonstrate that students found the project intriguing since it was collaborative, innovative, and real-world in nature. The enormous improvements in speaking elements such as fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation, and confidence have resulted in less focus on grammar. It also increases students' environmental consciousness and sense of responsibility by teaching them about local ecological challenges and the need for environmental protection. This study implies that video-based PBL has the potential to increase both speaking skills and environmental awareness, making it a meaningful and socially relevant method for language learning.
