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The 21st century education is to provide students with digital learning experiences alongside creating a path to independent and collaborative learning. In this regard, computer-mediated communication (CMC) is receiving great attention in the field of education. Using a case study mixed methods approach, this paper examines the communication strategies used by postgraduate students, who are also in-service teachers, using the asynchronous WeChat mobile app for academic problem-solving purposes. It also explores their opinions on the practicality of using the oral asynchronous communication programme for problem-solving activities. It is found that the asynchronous spoken medium triggers 'presentation speech' patterns that reflect both spoken and written features. The problem-solving process in the asynchronous spoken medium also is mediated via a low frequency of the use of communication strategies. The findings shed light on teaching and learning via oral-based asynchronous medium pertaining to the types of tasks and learning objectives to be achieved.

Researchers have theorized that cultural emphasis on education plays a major role in explaining Asian students' achievement. While Asian parents often view education as the main vehicle for upward social mobility, the social and cultural make-up of Asian societies and the context within which education is conducted in Asia often clash with the modern approaches and methodologies adopted into Asian classrooms. Contemporary approaches to education especially in relation to autonomous, learner-centred and online philosophies though theoretically supported and statistically proven successful in the west have been slow to capture Asian learners' interest and engagement. This paper discusses some of the reasons for the problems and challenges that need to be confronted prior to the introduction and effective implementation of autonomous online learning programmes. It further describes an attempt at confronting the above issues through a research project conducted by group of academics from the National University of Malaysia. The paper concludes by featuring some of the principles and strategies employed in the online programme developed for the research and the implication of their use on learner engagement to online autonomous learning programmes.

While anxiety is widely regarded as a type of negative emotion, it has been noticed that certain types of people could be more motivated when they face certain degrees of anxiety. However, previous studies have not provided definitive results on anxiety's correlation with motivation in foreign language learning contexts. We aim to investigate the relationship between anxiety and motivation in order to explore the possibility of using anxiety to boost motivation in foreign language contexts. This study adopted the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) and the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), which led to the analysis of data collected from 173 Chinese participants using the Pearson Correlation Method. The findings reveal that facilitating anxiety is significantly and positively correlated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as amotivation (the status of not intrinsically or extrinsically motivated). In addition, debilitating anxiety is also significantly correlated with extrinsic motivation and amotivation. The findings provide theoretical support for the possibility of using anxiety to boost motivation in foreign language learning contexts. Future studies could use the findings to explore the causes of facilitating anxiety, the contributory factor of motivation and then draw a connection between anxiety and motivation for enhanced foreign language learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creativity has been flagged as an essential 21st century skill. The move in the 21st century teaching and learning environment, is the development of skills supporting the creation of knowledge and innovation. As a result, creativity in education has become an international concern that has led to a greater emphasis of promoting and rewarding creativity of teachers. Teaching through creative practices ensures that classroom approaches are interesting and thus, is a more efficient way of fostering learning and personal growth. However, the key question to raise is therefore how to ensure successful creative teaching takes place in the classroom. Here, we discuss the development and use of a mentoring tool that may be used to nurture English language teacher creativity. The paper also makes a critical differentiation between teaching creatively and teaching for creativity. The mentoring tool serves as a training framework for teachers and covers key professional development areas as instructional planning, observations and discussions aimed at systematising teachers' efforts and procedural knowledge in creativity. Through a careful and extensive review of literature and theorising, this paper reconciles the fundamental elements of creativity and collaborative mentoring to develop a framework to enhance teachers' creative practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses reactions of adolescent learners of a Malaysian institution of higher learning (IHL) on the infusion of Adolescent Literature in their language classroom towards augmenting their understanding of real world issues. Findings from the research obtained qualitatively via in depth interviews suggest that adolescent literature has the ability to assist adolescents understand the kinds of preparations they would have to undertake to face their multicultural working environment, increase their awareness on the importance of developing life skills to face adulthood, as well as negotiate their transition from adolescence to adulthood. Implications of the use of adolescent literature are also discussed with the hope of giving literature and language educators a foretaste of the potential of including adolescent literature in the English language classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]