Search

This article revisits complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) and provides a new synthesis that, the authors argue, may empower language teachers. The particular focus is on the interplay between change and stability in complex dynamic systems, including language teaching and learning. The article identifies four key dynamical properties of complex dynamic systems, which reflect change, stability, and the interplay between these two. The dynamical properties are historicity, adaptiveness, nonlinearity, and emergence. The authors associate these dynamic properties with four recognisable types of activity: normative, contingent, creative, and purposeful teaching and learning. The central argument is that language teaching and learning are interconnected, and language teaching that promotes these four types of teaching and learning activity may also promote opportunities for language learning. The authors conclude with a discussion of how teachers may use this CDST perspective to reflect on three aspects of their professional context--teaching, language, and agency--and how such reflection, followed by action, may promote opportunities for language learning in their contexts.

Limiting the search date is a common approach utilised in therapeutic/interventional rapid reviews. Yet the accuracy of pooled estimates is unknown when applied to rapid reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies. Data from all systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, until February 2022 were collected. Meta-analyses with at least five studies were included to emulate rapid reviews by limiting the search to the recent 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years. The magnitude of the pooled area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity for the full meta-analysis and the rapid reviews were compared. A total of 846 diagnostic meta-analyses were included. When the search date was limited to the recent 10 and 15 years, more than 75% and 80% of meta-analyses presented less than 5% difference between the pooled AUC, sensitivity and specificity of the full meta-analysis and the rapid review. There was little gain in the precision of the pooled estimates when the emulated rapid reviews included more than 15 years in the search. Rapid reviews restricted by search date are a valid and reliable approach for diagnostic test accuracy studies. Robust evidence can be achieved by restricting the search date to the recent 10--15 years. Future studies need to examine the reduction in workload and time to finish the rapid reviews under different search date limits.

This paper reports on an exploratory qualitative investigation of the discourses of plurilingual children's parents, with a view to developing an understanding of their family language policy. Drawing loosely on Spolsky [2004. "Language Policy." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press], family language policy was conceptualised as having two components: (a) linguistic ideology, i.e. beliefs and attitudes towards language, linguistic development and plurilingualism, and (b) language transmission and management practices. A data corpus (242,178 words) was generated by drawing data from two online parent communities, focusing on families where Modern Greek was one of the family languages. Thematic analysis was used to explore the parents' stated attitudes, beliefs and practices about language, family and education as they related to plurilingualism and linguistic development. We documented strong positive views about fostering plurilingualism, as well as a range of concerns about balancing different aspects of the children's developing linguistic repertoire. We also noted that established language development and management practices (e.g. 'OPOL', 'Minority Language at Home') were supplemented with more flexible ones, suggesting adjustment to emerging multilingual norms. The findings suggest that there is scope for developing conceptual models of family language policy that are more responsive to emerging patterns of language contact and plurilingualism.

The displacement of thousands of people from countries facing war and violence has resulted in a refugee crisis that most host countries were not prepared to cope with. As a significant number of them are children, the education systems and educators were found unprepared to respond to the rights of refugee children for education. In this paper, we will present a learning design methodology entitled CARE aimed at helping teachers, especially in the early years education to develop student-driven learning activities focusing on refugee responsive teaching and learning. The CARE methodology has been developed through the experiences gained from training interventions with teacher educators in Egypt, a country that has received thousands of refugees in recent years. We have used an exemplary theme entitled 'Refugees Crossing the Aegean: Learning from History' to show the innovative aspects of the CARE learning design methodology.

This paper presents an ecological perspective on meaning-making, conceptualised as developing intentionality and exemplified with reference to three international TESOL settings. The paper draws on philosophical and folk-psychological perspectives on intentionality, including Searle's (1983) distinction between intrinsic (individual) and derived (social) forms of intentionality and Young, DePalma and Garrett's (2002) modelling of intentional dynamics in educational settings. The paper illustrates the analytical affordances of the perspective through sample analyses of intentional dynamics found in three international TESOL settings. This includes: (i) young learners' interpretations of love and marriage in a joint writing task in a Norwegian primary L2 classroom, (ii) a Turkish teacher's first experience of teaching English to young learners, and (iii) the impact of the "English as the global language" phenomenon on the teaching of English to young learners in South Korea. The paper concludes that explorations of intentional dynamics on different levels of language education activities can enhance our ecological understanding of the cognitive, social and political dimensions of TESOL.

The authors report on a study that examined how educators in Austria conceptualise research, how they engage with academic literature and what attitudes they have towards academic development. Growth mindsets, regular engagement with research in a variety of formats and inclusive understandings of research were defined as pre-conditions for teachers to benefit from engagement with research literature. A questionnaire survey was conducted among secondary- and tertiary-level teachers (N = 257), and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that educators in the sample tend to have broadly growth mindsets and invest time to read about research findings, especially through professional journals and online resources. Reasons that prevent some teachers from engaging with research were also noted. These include difficulties in accessing research, lack of time and scepticism, among some teachers, regarding the relevance of research output to their teaching. In addition, restrictive understandings of research which exclude practitioner-driven studies were also noted.

In this article, the researchers explore how insights from complex systems theory might resonate with the experience of TESOL practitioners and argue that complexity can function as a shared discourse space where connections might be drawn between research and practice. The article grew out of a meeting between TESOL practitioners and researchers at the Manchester Roundtable on Complexity Theory and English Language Teaching. It builds on that discussion by exploring how language education practices and processes that are familiar to education practitioners and researchers can be understood in complexity-informed terms. To that end, the researchers outline elements of complex systems theory that can be shown to resonate with what TESOL educators already know. These include a discussion of what complex systems are, how they operate, and how they evolve, all of which are illustrated with examples from research and language education experiences. The authors show that the complexity-informed perspective they outline can provide teachers and researchers alike with an interpretive frame that may make more accessible the interconnected, sometimes unpredictable, invariably creative, and intuitively recognisable nature of language education.

In our increasingly globalised world, it is very important to see how Europe is perceived by non-Europeans and especially from people who have for a long time been considered the "Other". In the study reported here, the image of Europe and Europeans is explored based on the perceptions of 478 Emirati (United Arab Emirates citizens) prospective teachers. In general, the results reveal that the respondents' perceptions of Europe and Europeans are mainly negative, although there are also some positive and neutral perceptions. Emirati perceptions of Europe and Europeans confer to one major point that Europe represents economic, scientific and technological development but Europeans lack moral values. The findings have to be understood as reflecting the socio-cultural, political and historical milieu to which the subjects of the present study have been exposed. Suggestions to teaching methods, school curricula and study programs are made. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This article reports on a case study of a language school in Greece, with a view to putting forward an understanding of the drivers that sustain or delay curricular innovation. Key to this understanding is the construct of intentionality, defined as "purposes" that drive teaching and learning activity. In the article, we describe three main intentionalities that were present in the language school: (1) "credentialism," an imperative to provide learners with certification; (2) "supplementation," a drive to attain learning outcomes that students failed to attain in the state school system; and (3) "protectionism," an unstated agenda of maintaining the status of local Greek L1 ELT practitioners. We describe how these intentionalities generated fluctuating dynamics, from which different pedagogical patterns emerged. Finally, we discuss the implications of this perspective for understanding and managing change and innovation in ELT settings.

In this paper, we look at the University of Crete experience to integrate the concept of sustainable development across all its operations. Through a review of current sustainability practices of universities worldwide, this paper has identified a number of principles for developing a sustainable university. These principles are then used as a framework for analysing the sustainable initiatives being implemented at the University of Crete in the context of the Reorient University Curricula to Address Sustainability (RUCAS) project--an EU-Tempus initiative. This effort has been backed-up by two research studies, which indicate the urgent need for institutionalising sustainability across all university functions.

The present study examined the perceptions of Jordanian and Greek pre-service teachers (N = 489) towards the "Other" as well as towards tolerance and intolerance. Frequencies, "t"-tests and one-way analysis of variance, as well as multiple regression analyses, were performed for the data analysis. The results show that although the two national/religious groups differ in terms of fears based on their religious views, when country substitutes religion there are no significant differences. Although differences were found with respect to nationalistic perceptions and global-mindedness perceptions (globalism), no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of tolerance and intolerance perceptions. Non-school books and television played an important role in developing perceptions of tolerance and intolerance. (Contains 2 tables.)

Investigated the extent to which 10 top-ranked global issues were covered on six popular Greek television stations, examining patterns in headline content and program descriptions from a television guide magazine. Results found that the priority of commercial criteria dominated over quality, especially in privately operated stations. There was a discernible pattern of increasing coverage of the environment and biodiversity. (SM)