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In the context of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), paradoxical findings concerning the relationship between questionnaire scales and student achievement are often documented. These questionnaire scales are found to correlate positively with student achievement within countries at the individual level, but negatively at the between-country level (i.e., when correlating questionnaire scale and achievement values aggregated at the level of countries, the countries being the unit of analysis). These anomalous findings can be caused by the differences in reporting behavior of students in different countries and might lead educators and educational policy-makers to erroneous conclusions. In this paper, we examine the relationship between the teacher support scale and student achievement across three PISA cycles - 2012, 2015, and 2018. Our results show that there is a consistent negative between-country correlation between teacher support and student achievement in all three examined PISA cycles, which is in line with the previously documented paradoxes. We have also found that some countries, which participated in all three PISA cycles under study, consistently contribute to this paradox by having quite high levels of student-reported teacher support but rather low achievement scores. Future research should take into account the differences in reporting behavior between students when making cross-country analyses and consider the application of methodological approaches to identify and adjust for these differences such as the anchoring vignette method and the overclaiming technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International large-scale assessments, such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), are a crucial source of information for education researchers and policymakers. The assessment also includes a student questionnaire, however, the data can be biased by the differences in reporting behavior between students. In this paper, we analyse differences in response styles of students in the Czech Republic and New Zealand based on data gathered in PISA 2018. The results show that Czech students use, on average, the acquiescence response style (ARS) and extreme response style (ERS) less than their counterparts in New Zealand. Contrarily, Czech students use, on average, the disacquiescence response style (DARS) more than students from New Zealand. A closer analysis according to the school type in the Czech Republic, showed that students from 4-year secondary general schools score, on average, the highest on ARS and ERS, but the lowest on DARS among all school types. The analysis in New Zealand according to the Year of study showed that students in Years 12-13 score, on average, the highest on ARS and ERS among all Year-of-study groups, the DARS values being similar across the Year-of-study groups. The mean ARS and ERS of each of the Czech school types remains below that of any of the New Zealand Year-of-study groups. For DARS, the mean score of the highest-scoring Year-of-study group in New Zealand (Years 9-10) remains below that of the lowest-scoring Czech school type (4-year secondary general school). Analysis of response styles is a crucial tool for the identification of some of the potential biases in student-reported data. Future research should take the differences in student reporting behavior into account and perhaps also employ other methodological approaches for their identification, such as the overclaiming technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to recent unrest around the world, the number of refugees has increased dramatically in the last decade. In order to meet the needs of this population, host countries have had to quickly adapt to provide these refugees with basic needs. One such need is to have quality education for refugee children. The aim of this paper is to compare the policies of educational inclusion in Germany and Turkey that have accepted a large influx of refugees. Our findings suggest that both the German city-state of Hamburg and Turkey have made major strides over the past ten years to accommodate and provide for refugee children's educational needs. We list some of the policies that have led to greater inclusion and accessibility for refugee children in mainstream education. Key findings from the comparative document analysis show that although the two countries are distinguished by different levels of income and development, both have similarities in terms of (1) providing compulsory education for all children, (2) the delay in preparing and applying policy-based legislations for refugee education, and (3) the main activities such as additional language support and teacher training for the purpose of social inclusion of refugee students. Furthermore, both countries have had similar challenges such as the necessity of improvements in second language instruction and teacher training, thus highlighting the need for refugee education-oriented global solutions for the host countries. We recommend continued efforts to include multi-culturally rich school curriculums to create educational settings that feel inclusive and comfortable for refugee children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the necessity of English knowledge for international education, business, and travel, students, parents, and educators have made English language learning a priority from an early age. However, traditional English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms are no longer the only option. Types of classes which integrate language learning and course subject material are becoming more common throughout Europe and worldwide. This study aims to investigate the relationship between students' participation in non-language (e.g., math, science, history) classes taught fully or partly in English and their use of English during free time activities. Data collected from a large-scale survey of 1,403 Czech lower secondary students from different types of schools is examined. About half of the students in the sample came from public or private multi-year grammar schools, which are generally prestigious and selective institutions. The other half of the students came from public or private basic schools. Findings suggest that students who participate in Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English as a medium of instruction (EMI) classes are overall more likely to engage in English-related free time activities and are significantly more likely to participate in activities that require active communication with other English speakers. Thus, these CLIL and EMI students use English in free time activities more often, which further supports their English knowledge and skills. These students also are more likely to hold a certificate in English and more likely to use English for active communication. In future research, the role that socio-economic status (SES) plays in free time activities and CLIL and EMI participation is examined, as it is possible that both activities are supported by highly-educated, high SES parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English as a medium of instruction (EMI) are emerging as the preferred contexts of language learning. CLIL and EMI classes continue to proliferate in schools around the globe. The aim of this paper is to investigate the current research trends in studies of motivation to learn within EMI and CLIL settings. We sought to identify the current countries of research, educational levels, and themes that prevail in EMI and CLIL motivation research. We performed a topic search of the keywords "CLIL" or "EMI" and the keyword "motivation" in the Web of Science database for Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) articles published in 2020. We analyzed 17 articles related to motivation within EMI or CLIL contexts. The results showed that European countries produced the most research, with Spain being the most prolific. A majority of the studies took place at the secondary and tertiary levels of education. Comparative studies of CLIL or EMI contexts with that of traditional classrooms emerged as the prevailing theme. Future research could include more studies regarding the impact of CLIL on students at the primary level of education, in addition to studies of students from varied socio-economic backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the need for English as a foreign language (EFL) education in schools has become a priority worldwide. The aim of our paper is to investigate which countries currently focus on researching motivation to learn EFL and what potential reasons are behind the focus. We performed a topic search of the keywords "EFL" and "motivation" in the Web of Science database for 2020. In total, we found 61 Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) articles. Asia prevails, especially Eastern Asian Chinese speaking regions (Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong). Policies in Asian regions such as China and Taiwan highly support EFL. There is the aim to develop Taiwan into a "bilingual nation". Likewise, the European Union promotes the establishment of the so-called European Education Area within which studying and training should be accessible and profitable for people living in the EU. Spain remains the European country with the highest number of EFL motivation publications. There were only a few papers from the Americas. In South America, we see evidence of the beginnings of a CLIL push, which has the potential to lead to expanded EFL motivation research in these previously under researched areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]