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By investigating the first thirty minutes of ten initial student group meetings (cf. Rampazzo & Aranha, 2019), this study explores the interactional resources that participants display during online talk-ininteraction. Multimodal Conversation Analysis is applied to the data consisting of "Gesprächsanalytisches Transkriptionssystem 2" (GAT2) transcriptions of recorded Zoom video conferences. Virtual Exchange (VE), also referred to as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), is a method of intercultural online learning in which groups of learners collaborate with partners from another culture or geographical area in an authentic and immersive setting. Despite the collaborative and immersive nature of virtual exchanges, microanalytic studies regarding interaction in this field are still underrepresented (Dooly, 2017). This is also and particularly true for the concept of interactional competence (IC) (Kramsch, 1986) which has hardly been considered in VE research so far. IC is a competence model that comprises interlocutors' interactional resources such as turn-taking, repair, sequence-organization, multimodal resources and other. This paper depicts the interactional strategies that EFL students adopt in online video team meetings. Further, it argues that some L2 IC features, such as turn-taking and multilingual resources, come with particular dynamics and characteristics in a VE context and provides examples for these practices.

Deception is a misrepresentation of reality that attracted many researchers examining it from various perspectives. However, no due attention has been given to the discursive deception strategies in the work of think tanks. This study aims at exposing the deception strategies deployed in the conservative American think tanks' discourse which concern itself with the (re)production of socio-political realities. The study holds the significance of the detection and explication of argumentative and pragmatic discursive deception strategies which impose ideological hegemony and socio-political polarization of the positively presented "Self" against the negatively presented "Other." This study attempts to answer a twofold question: what are the discursive deception strategies involved in the work of think tanks, and why/how these strategies are applied? To this end, eight political texts from three think tanks were analyzed adopting an eclectic model based on van Dijk (2000) and Yule (1996). The analyzed data mainly focuses on four political themes namely (1) terrorism in Islam, (2) Russian role in the Middle East, (3) the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, (4) the U.S. policy in the Middle East. The results demonstrate the pervasiveness of discursive deception strategies in the think tanks' discourse which endeavor to communicate an ideological polarization of a positive presentation of the "Self" against a negative presentation of the "Other" and reinforce a hegemony of particular socio-political realities. Findings can be beneficial for students of (critical) discourse analysis, media, communications studies, and English for special purposes.

This study aims to explore the political cartoons that highlight the displacement of Palestinians in the village of Sheikh Jarrah. It investigates the way this discourse is portrayed as well as the predominant themes of these cartoons. The data of this study consists of eight political cartoons drawn from Palestinian online newspapers from May to July 2021, featuring the displacement issue of Sheik Jarrah by well-known local cartoonists. Multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) in which language analysis is combined with the analysis of other semiotic resources including colors, gestures, images, etc. for interpreting meaning (O'Halloran et al., 2011), is adopted for the analysis. Visual Social Semiotics of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) is also used as a linguistic framework. The study asserts that understanding the three different aspects of the visual compositions, namely, representational, interactive and compositional, that serve as a semiotic mode of communication, is essential for conveying the intended message of the visual compositions. The study also identifies the predominant themes or messages of the selected cartoons, which mainly focus on two main points: (i) the tyranny and oppression of Israel over Palestinians through eradication and displacement; and (ii) the Palestinians' struggle, steadfastness and resistance in the event of Israel's forced displacement.

Variation in language has been acknowledged as central to the characterization of spoken and written discourse. Speakers' ability to change and adjust language according to the communicative circumstances is a prominent factor that demonstrates their linguistic literacy and skill. Nonetheless, few studies have explored the characterization of discursively motivated variation in sign languages, and little is known about the topic. The purpose of the current study is to present features of variation in Israeli Sign Language as they appear in two discourse types--narrative versus expository texts. We present this aspect of linguistic literacy as it is expressed in two case studies of two adult signers in two domains: sign parameters and the use of signing space. The findings reveal a discourse type effect on the way that these aspects are expressed and highlight the importance of discourse and linguistic knowledge to educators of deaf students.

There is an increased interest within the history education community in introducing students to the multi-perspective and interpretative nature of history. When these educational goals are pursued within collaborative contexts, what are the relationships of individuals from conflicting groups with historical accounts that they produced as a group? How does the joint writing influence their historical understanding? We analyzed the joint accounts produced by high-school Israeli students, Jews and Arab/Palestinians, who collaboratively investigated historical events related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Employing a thematic analysis and a Bakhtinian-inspired discourse analysis, we found that the joint texts were constructed of themes from both in-groups' perspectives. The students constructed a dialogic relationship between these themes, which enabled them to legitimize the other's voice, yet keep the voices unmerged. Additionally, although they never abandoned their in-group narratives, the joint account reflected a new, multi-perspective historical meaning of the historical event.

This study analyses the "de facto" emerging intra-school competition between the Israeli Ministry of Education (MOE) and external organisations at public Israeli secondary schools by exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes. Given on-going privatisation processes within the education system, the participation of external organisations in schools has become significant, greatly affecting municipalities' authority and schools principals' autonomy. This case-study provides a comprehensive examination of this new form of intra-school competition and its possible impact on schools, based on in-depth interviews with school principals, representatives of STEM programmes, and officials at the MOE and a local education authority, as well as analysis of supporting documents. We show that despite its supposed regulatory role, the MOE is pushed to function as an additional player in this quasi-market, competing with external organisations and substituting its regulatory roles for additional market-player opportunities. Theoretical and empirical implications are suggested.

Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this study aims to elicit and expose the perceptions and attitudes of different policy makers in leadership positions at the Ministry of Education in Israel with regard to inclusion. The first stage of the research consisted of individual in-depth semi-structured interviews (N = 8). In the second stage the participants (N = 21) responded to a written questionnaire (Perceptions about Inclusive Education-PIE) and then took part in group discussions. The texts of the interviews and the group discussions were analyzed using qualitative measures. The findings point to a sensitive situation, one that is difficult to deal with and creates much disagreement. Although inclusion is the official and unanimously agreed upon policy, the discourse reflects some differences between and within groups of policy makers with regard to several issues: identification of the target population; factors and key figures affecting implementation and teacher training.

A qualitative research focused on a case study aiming to monitor emergent knowledge in a discourse group by tracking the development of the concept "goal." The analysis, based on "Semiotic Evolution" methodology facilitates the description of interactions between personal perceptions in the group discourse, illustrating the change process and signs development. It is suggested that knowledge was emerged from a free, self-organized discourse interaction which was encouraged by a constructivist leadership. The new knowledge was manifested by expanding the boundaries of the concept "goal" and it changed the members' behavior. Understanding emergent knowledge is useful in teaching and Teacher Education processes as well as in Adult Education.

In a teaching context fraught with conflicts on religious and ethnic backgrounds, I decide as a teacher researcher to address these issues with Israeli-Arab middle school students in my EFL classroom. Picture books on religious diversity and minority issues are used as a springboard for providing spaces for students to discuss these issues orally, in writing and through arts. I attempt to explore what happens when reading aloud and discussing multicultural children's literature with Israeli Arab EFL teenagers and inviting them to respond. To what extent, if any, will the enacted critical literacy curriculum inform how they begin to address social justice issues in their responses? How, and in what ways? This article presents a visual analysis of two of my students' sketches symbolising how the story "Feathers and Fools" (Fox, 1989) relates to their reality. The findings reveal that my critical literacy curriculum afforded profound responses and critique of social injustice. (Contains 6 figures.)

Background: Asking questions is an important scientific practice, and students around the world are expected to learn how to ask their own research questions while performing inquiry. In contrast to authentic scientific inquiry, in most simple inquiry tasks that are carried out in schools, the research questions are given to the students. Here, we characterized the teaching and learning of research-question-asking in the context of an innovative inquiry-oriented program for high-school biotechnology majors, focusing on two case studies of lessons in which students were expected to formulate their research questions. Results: In-depth examination of students' questions, written during the two lessons, revealed that only in one of the lessons students' ability to ask research questions improved. A connection was found between the more student-centered, dialogic, and interactive teaching strategy and the development of students' ability to ask research questions in that class. Most of the research questions that were investigated by the students originated from a peer-critique activity during the student-centered lesson, unlike the teacher-focused lesson from which none of the students' suggested research questions were selected for investigation. Conclusions: It can be concluded that a student-centered, dialogic, and interactive teaching strategy may contribute to the development of students' ability to ask research questions in an inquiry-oriented high-school program. Encouraging teachers to implement dialogic and interactive classroom discourse in authentic inquiry could be a meaningful tool to support the teaching and learning of scientific abilities such as asking research questions.

We present an instructional model involving a computer-supported collaborative learning environment, in which students from two conflicting groups collaboratively investigate an event relevant to their past using historical texts. We traced one enactment of the model by a group comprised of two Israeli Jewish and two Israeli Arab students. Our data sources included the texts participants wrote--pre-, post- and during the activity, jointly and individually--the transcripts of the e-discussion and reflections written after the activity. The setting enabled us to further our understanding of what collaboration means when students' voices do not converge. We examined whether the activity was productive in terms of learning, and the dynamics of collaboration within the milieu, especially the intersubjective meaning making. The e-discussion that was co-constructed by participants was a chain of disagreements. However, participants' reflections reveal that the group structure and the e-communication method were perceived as affording sensitive collaboration. Furthermore, a comparison between the individual texts, pre- and post- the group discussion, revealed that the activity was productive, since students moved from a one-sided presentation of the event to a more multi-sided representation. Based on the analysis of the e-discussion, we conclude that the setting provided students with opportunities to examine their voices in light of alternatives. We propose the term "fission" to articulate certain moments of intersubjectivity, where a crack is formed in one's voice as the Other's voice impacts it, and one's voice become more polyphonic.

This study furthers the understanding of the connections between learning approaches and learning strengths. The research population embraced 65 males from the Jewish ultraorthodox community, who abide by distinct methods of study. One group follows the very didactic, linear and structured approach with performance orientation, while the second group follows the multi-directional approach that emphasises global, abstract thought with learning orientation. The study employed a mixed research method, with the research tools including textual analysis and closed questionnaires. The findings show that those following the multi-directional method indicated greater spatial and inter-personal intelligence, while those following the linear approach demonstrated higher linguistic intelligence. The question of how learning and teaching paradigms influence individual study is also discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Teachers often embed their labor demands within a broader context to claim high moral ground and build community support. We analyze a recent teachers' strike in Israel, looking at how the strike played out in a country where the challenges of globalization collided with a socialist legacy in the face of an existential threat. The analysis reveals how metaphors were used to shift the discourse from that of a labor dispute to an epic struggle that evoked existential, geopolitical, integrative, and comparative meanings. We compare the Israeli example to teachers' strikes in other countries embedded in their respective contexts. (Contains 3 figures and 7 footnotes.)

Theoretical foundation of Response mechanisms in networks of online learners are revealed by Statistical Analysis of p* Markov Models for the Networks. Our comparative analysis of two networks shows that the minimal-effort hunt-for-social-capital mechanism controls a major behavior of both networks: negative tendency to respond. Differences in designs of the networks enhance certain mechanisms while suppressing others: cognition balance, predicted by the theories of cognitive balance, and peer pressure, predicted by the theories of collective action are enhanced in a team like network but suppressed in a Q&A like forum. On the other hand, exchange mechanism, predicted by the theory of exchange & resource dependency and tutor's responsibility mechanism are enhanced in the Q&A type forum but suppressed in the team like network. Contagion mechanism, predicted by the theory of collective action did not develop in both networks. The different mechanisms lead to the formation of different micro and macro structures in the topologies of the responses of the networks and hence in the buildup of collaborative knowledge. The techniques presented in this work can be extended to other types of mechanisms and networks. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

A few years ago, the United States (US) officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and shortly afterwards the American diplomatic mission was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem/al-Quds1, although internationally the decision was heavily criticized and met with protests on several levels. The US initiative was adopted as such by other countries supportive of US policy overseas, while Israeli and Palestinian politicians were given a new subject of confrontation at least at the level of speeches and official statements. The purpose of this research is to map universal and particular claims linked to the historic Jerusalem/al-Quds in official Israeli and Palestinian statements at the beginning of the 21st century in selected speeches or official statements of the following Israeli and Palestinian politicians: Naftali Bennet, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal by using discourse analysis in order to identify to which type of techniques and arguments the analysed political personalities resorted to in their speeches, in order to convince and influence their audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In democracies, civic education aims at fostering a common civic identity that prepares citizens to embrace disagreements about basic values and settle conflicts in legitimate ways, an acute need following social, political, and media polarization. Using the Israeli media debate about civic education as a case study, this study illustrates how, in a deeply polarized society, the debate regarding civic education has become yet another tool for aggravating polarization and "othering" of the opposing side of the debate while bringing this polarization into the classroom. Using dialectic discourse analysis, this study strives to disclose the central discursive resources used by both liberal and conservative "camps" to appropriate central societal values toward their position on civic studies. It illustrates how each camp attempts to present itself as aligning with "neutral" political education by appropriating "nonideological" societal values to advance its approach toward civics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, after vociferous public debate and strong opposition, Israel ratified a law sanctioning establishment of a mandatory biometric database. This study examines online vernacular texts that address this initiative through Holocaust imageries in four participatory platforms: Facebook, Twitter, user comments to journalistic items, and open forums (N = 272). Applying discourse analysis to these texts, it asks (1) how participants construct Israel's Biometric Project and how the narratives promoted thereby coalesce into a larger story about the country's surveillance; (2) how this construction shapes the public status of the Holocaust in Israel; and (3) whether and how new media affordances support and encourage these processes. The article corresponds with perspectives that are alternative to the traditional model of the public sphere. Drawing on the concepts of vernacular creativity and cultural citizenship, it conceptualizes the discursive merger of biometrics and the Holocaust as online vernacular politics that attests to civic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the educational character of Israel's post-secondary religious seminaries for women who identify as Haredi-Leumi (ultra-Orthodox nationalist). On the basis of rabbinic texts originating in the Haredi-Leumi "Har Hamor" circle, it describes the educational goals of these institutions; their doctrines regarding women's roles in public and political life; their construction of feminine identity; and their ways of dealing with the alternative narratives in modern society concerning women's roles in the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts of literacy and illiteracy are fluid; their meanings vary according to sociocultural-political trends and language ideologies. Reflections of literacy workers about their involvement in national literacy campaigns are a source of data for such fluctuations. This paper analyzes the recollections of Israeli former soldier-teachers from the time of the campaign, and additional data collected decades later in personal interviews. Close attention to discourse strategies used in both sets of data demonstrates how changes in the structure of society, and the public discourse of identity, affect the cluster of meanings along the continuum of literacy-illiteracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE ESSAY LOOKS AT THREE SPHERES IN WHICH IDEOLOGICAL BIAS and political activism work to delegitimize the State of Israel by maligning Israel and Zionism in mainstream British public discourse. Postcolonial theory is one weight against any objective treatment of the Jewish state. The demonization of Israel in the press draws on conspiracy theories and stereotypes familiar from anti-Semitic tropes. British Jews are fairly supportive of Israel, though divided on solutions to the Arab-Israel conflict, however a small group of anti-Zionist Jews assert their moral stance "as Jews" by defaming Israel's allegedly criminal activities. The analysis of public discourse in Britain in the first decade of the twenty-first century raises disturbing questions about the complex relationship between the anti-Israel campaign and latent anti-Semitism on the left and the right, and draws attention to the local context of race relations as well as the global Jihad against Israel and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research reports an experiment which took place in an Arab middle school in Israel. The experiment was led by three pre-service teachers who were carrying out their final project in the field of teaching mathematics using mobile phones. The pre-service teachers worked with 32 eighth grade students to carry out authentic real life outdoor activities in the nature. We used discourse analysis and grounded theory to analyze the perceptions of the students regarding their mathematics learning using mobile phones. We found that the novelty of the experiment and the use of mobile phones in mathematics learning were the main characteristics perceived by the students as influencing their decision to join the experiment. Furthermore, the students perceived various qualities of the mathematics learning that were enabled by the use of mobile phones: (1) exploring mathematics independently (2) learning mathematics through collaboration and team work; where the collaboration is on equal terms (3) learning mathematics in a societal and humanistic environment (4) learning mathematics in authentic real life situations (5) visualizing mathematics and investigating it dynamically (6) carrying out diversified mathematical actions using new and advanced technologies (7) learning mathematics easily and efficiently. In the overall, the students were positively impressed by the potentialities and capabilities of the mobile phones used in the mathematics learning process. This indicates that mathematics education could benefit form utilizing these new technological tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the Israeli women's group Checkpoint Watch (CPW), which stands at checkpoints throughout the Palestinian Occupied Territories to protest checkpoints and the occupation. The authors examine the role of the CPW activists through the lens of gender, the female body, and corporeal excess, arguing that corporeal excess occurs when one component of the body becomes dominant over the others and subsequently materializes outside of accepted norms. The authors explore the ways in which checkpoints create corporeal excess in the bodies of the CPW activists, Israelis, the soldiers at the checkpoints, and Palestinians in popular discourse and in relation to the activities of the CPW.

What were the conditions that encouraged the opening of the civic university in Tel-Aviv? What is the part of public opinion in reshaping the higher education system? This article explores the relationship between different interpretive concepts on institutions of higher education in the first decade of Israel's existence. Analysis of the media discourse around the foundation of the university in Tel-Aviv, points out that it is an essential context for understanding the formation of public opinion. More specifically, it helps to understand the paths as an innovative idea spread from marginal and insignificant newspapers to become a dominant strategy that was adopted by the municipality. By this we want to emphasize and to clarify the important and crucial role of the civic society that was raised against the power of the government and hegemonic university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Between 1948 and 1970, Israeli society witnessed a proliferation of discourses on juvenile delinquency, adopting a critical, historically informed approach. This paper shows that debates on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, as well as the inclusionary or exclusionary policies they promoted, were grounded within the project of nation building and interwoven in broader attempts to reshape the social and moral order of the new society. Reflecting an emerging conception of a "normal insider" citizen, a norm against which all individuals were measured, the discourse on juvenile delinquency created a hierarchy of "others." Middle-class juvenile delinquents were seen, in spite of their criminal acts, as deserving members of the new community. Delinquency in Orientals was attributed to their lack of readiness to participate in the socio-cultural milieu, something to be treated by resocialization. Arab delinquents were considered aliens and received limited services and treatment. Discourse analysis techniques indicate that this structuring of delinquent groups by class, ethnicity and nationality was part of a broader definition of the ideal moral traits of the Israeli citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two apparently contradictory ideas are closely linked in Israeli political discourse: Israel is powerful and independent and Israel is vulnerable and dependent. This study used content analysis and focus groups, as well as existing survey data analyzed by others, to explore how this paradox has been reflected in newspapers and conversations during six different time periods from 1948 to 1996. The goal was not to explain the paradox but to examine its consequences for Israeli perceptions of U.S. policy in the Middle East—and, in the process, to explore Israeli self-images. The nature of U.S. strategic interests was originally treated as problematic and in need of political discussion, but in the past 25 years these interests have become taken for granted. Surprisingly, even after the end of the Cold War, a critical discourse moment in which a reexamination of U.S. interests in the Middle East would seem inevitable, the U.S. role remains taken for granted and largely unexamined. The strong/vulnerable paradox explains this absence of discussion: Examining U.S. interests too closely upsets the delicate balance that keeps the sense of vulnerability in check. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]