Volume 20, Number 3, 2026

EN:

There is a scarcity of studies that delve into the potential synergy between AI and non-AI tools. This review examines the integration of AI and non-AI tools in supporting self-directed ESL/EFL. Searches were conducted using Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and EBSCO, covering publications from 2020 to the first quarter of 2025. A total of 178 peer-reviewed empirical studies were included, selected in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The findings reveal a growing trend in AI adoption, with AI-powered chatbots, language learning platforms, automatic speech recognition (ASR), automated writing evaluation (AWE), and translation tools being the most prevalent. Non-AI tools such as game-based platforms, language massive open online courses, social media, learning management systems, virtual reality, and web-based lexicographic tools also demonstrated strong support for self-directed learning. Effectiveness ratings showed both AI and non-AI tools were consistently perceived as neutral to positive. The study highlights the potential synergy between AI and non-AI tools, in which their complementary strengths address each other's limitations. This review contributes to pedagogical innovation by identifying emerging technologies and proposing integrated strategies to enhance self-directed ESL/EFL learning. It offers actionable insights for educators, curriculum designers, and researchers aiming to foster equitable, sustainable, and tech-enhanced language education.

EN:

Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into 21st-century education has attracted significant attention, particularly in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in remote areas. This study explores the integration of risk and trust among EFL teachers in Indonesia as they incorporate AI tools into their teaching practices. Using a qualitative case study approach, the research focuses on two remote EFL teachers in Jambi, Indonesia, with at least four years of experience using AI. The data collection method included semi-structured interviews and teaching artifacts, focusing on AI integration, risk, and trust. This study employed thematic analysis to examine the data and identify the key themes in the perspectives of remote EFL teachers. The findings reveal that AI significantly enhances teaching preparation, streamlining tasks, tailoring learning materials, and analyzing student progress. Trust in AI, influenced by its usability, adaptability, and perceived benefits, plays a pivotal role in its successful adoption. However, notable risks accompany these merits, including over-reliance on AI, which may reduce critical thinking and creativity, as well as privacy and data security concerns. The results highlight the importance of striking a balance between AI integration and teacher expertise to mitigate risks and foster trust for achieving significant outcomes.

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This manuscript presents a bibliometric analysis of personal learning environments (PLEs) over 25 years, drawing on 494 documents from 318 sources. Three scientometric software programs were used in data analysis: VOSviewer, Bibliometrix, and Publish & Perish. It reveals a steady growth in the field, with an average annual increase of 5.7% in publications and an average document age of 8.9 years, indicating a blend of current and historical research. Spanish universities stood out as leading institutions in PLE research, suggesting Spain's pivotal role in advancing the field, possibly due to funding, policy, or a robust scientific community. Spain ranked first in the frequency of contributions to PLE research, followed by Italy, Portugal, Finland, Switzerland, and France. Two influential publications in e-learning were highlighted: interactive learning environments from the UK and digital education review from Spain. New and fundamental keywords and emerging research areas were identified and categorized into leading clusters and types. This process enhances the understanding of the subject matter and facilitates the exploration of novel avenues for future inquiry. The research findings will be helpful for educational researchers and policymakers.

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This narrative inquiry explores inquiry-based learning (IBL) in mathematics education through the Canada-China Sister School Network. It focuses on two Chinese mathematics specialist teachers at Chongqing RH Primary School, drawing on classroom observations, written reflections, and interviews collected from 2015 to 2022, in collaboration with Canadian generalist teachers at Windsor TL Public School. Guided by the framework of Reciprocal Learning as Collaborative Partnership and the three-dimensional narrative inquiry, the study examines how cross-cultural dialogue reshaped teachers’ understandings of IBL. Findings highlight differences between Canada’s generalist teaching model, which emphasizes student autonomy and interdisciplinary learning, and China’s specialist model, which focuses on content expertise and structured instruction. The study argues that reciprocal learning extends beyond comparative analysis to foster culturally responsive adaptations of IBL. By foregrounding teachers’ practical knowledge and lived experiences, this research demonstrates how sustained collaboration among teachers and researchers can reimagine mathematics education across cultural contexts, enriching both pedagogical theory and classroom practice.

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Teacher education programs play a crucial role in developing preservice teachers’ professional identities. However, little is known about how this development unfolds during coursework. This study examines the development of preservice teachers’ professional identities within two courses delivered in the second and fourth years of a teacher education program in Thailand. Course A was theory-oriented, focusing on instructional methods and lesson planning aligned with the national curriculum. More practically, Course B emphasized the design and rehearsal of instruction. Participants included 36 preservice teachers majoring in physics (N = 6) and biology (N = 30), with most (27) enrolled in both courses under the study. A Likert-type questionnaire measured three components of professional identity—motivation, self-image, and self-efficacy— and was administered at the beginning and end of each course. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared pre- and post-course scores, and Friedman tests compared scores across four time points for participants who took both courses. Results reveal that only Course B contributed to the development of professional identity. However, because a decline occurred during and after Course A, no overall increase was observed by the end of the study. The findings highlight the value of practice-based experiences within coursework to strengthen preservice teachers’ professional identities.

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This study examines the impact of repeated video-based self-reflection on the development of reflective practice among pre-service English language teachers in the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT). Data were collected from 18 in-service PGDT students. The pre-service teachers engaged in repeated cycles of lesson planning, teaching, and reflecting on their instruction using video recordings of their lessons under my guidance as the teacher educator. Data were collected from lesson plans, reflective reports, and focus group discussions with the pre-service teachers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the pre-service teachers demonstrated progress from procedural elements to deeper analytical thinking. Furthermore, they showed progress in their temporal reflection, evolving from exclusively engaging in reflection-on-action to incorporating reflection-for-action and reflection-in-action. As a result of their reflections, the participants refined their lesson planning and adapted their instructional practices. Based on the study's results, it is concluded that structured video-based self-reflection, implemented under the planned guidance of teacher educators, enables pre-service teachers to critically examine their teaching practices and improve them based on evidence.

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The literature recognizes the benefits of teaching with artifacts, but questions about how artifacts might be situated within curricula and with what implications arise. To explore these questions within a settler-colonial context, this study conducted a content analysis of programmatic history curricula in Canada, focusing on teaching the World Wars with artifacts. Informed by an orientation of artifactual literacy and a collaborative research protocol guided by an Indigenous cultural educator, the study found that programmatic curricula call for the use of artifacts but provide a dearth of guidance on how artifacts might be conceptualized or the literacy or pedagogical requirements for making meaning with them. The study recommends that programmatic curricula include teaching and learning with artifacts and do so within a framework that acknowledges artifactual literacies and provides support for the ethical use of artifacts with special attention to responsibilities in a settler-colonial context.

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This article investigates teachers’ conceptions of democracy, citizenship, and participation in Norwegian upper secondary vocational education and training (VET). While there is ample research on students’ understanding of democracy, less research has focused on how teachers understand the concept. Democracy and citizenship are among three interdisciplinary topics in Norway’s LK20 curriculum, and participation has a central place in both the curriculum and the Education Act, making this study both timely and important in the Norwegian context. This paper examines how the participating teachers understood the concepts of democracy, citizenship, and participation, their teaching of those concepts, and their classroom instruction. This qualitative study draws upon six semi-structured interviews with teachers working in an upper secondary school, whose principal recruited three female and three male teachers of common-core subjects in vocational study programs. The data were analyzed through meaning compression. The findings suggest that teachers view democracy and citizenship as broad, diffuse concepts, yet the concept of participation contributes to making democracy education more concrete and manageable. The study can enhance teachers’ understanding of the concepts of democracy, citizenship, and participation, as well as the type of democracy education students receive in their daily experiences.

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Induction is a priority action during initial teacher training. This period should include formative training and assessment that allows the student teacher to reflect on their progress and the acquisition of teaching skills. This article presents the design (following a descriptive-inferential method of quantitative approach) and validation of the self-assessment instrument for teaching competencies INDUCTEACHING, developed ad hoc, within the framework of an induction proposal, with the participation of 19 education professionals - nine teachers from five universities who teach teacher training courses for preschool, primary and secondary school teachers and 10 teachers from six public schools - and a pilot test of the tool (in pre and post phases) with the participation of nine teachers in training in the last year of the Primary Education Degree during their training practices. The results demonstrate the tool's content validity and internal consistency and indicate an improvement in perceived mastery of competency between the pre- and post-phases, particularly in the analysis and reflection dimensions. It is observed that induction processes improve professional teaching skills and that the INDUCTEACHING self-assessment tool is useful for teachers in training to reflect on their skill acquisition.

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Leadership is vital in healthcare, improving patient care through quality, safety, and accountability. This study aimed to identify common CliftonStrengths themes among Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students, to explore correlations with GPA, and to assess students' perceptions of their strengths. A retrospective, mixed-methods study was conducted with 121 DPT students. CliftonStrengths assessments were administered, and quantitative data were analyzed for common strengths and GPA correlations. Qualitative data explored student perceptions. The most common strengths were Restorative, Achiever, Relator, Learner, and Harmony. Command, Context, Maximizer, and Self-assurance were the least common. Relationship-building was the most frequent domain, influencing the least. No significant correlation was found between strengths domains and GPA, though students in the Executing domain had the highest average GPA (3.41) and those in Influencing the lowest (3.04). Findings align with those of other healthcare studies, in which Learner, Relator, and Achiever are common strengths. Qualitative analysis revealed increased self-awareness and empowerment when reflecting on their identified strengths. Incorporating strengths-based assessments such as CliftonStrengths fosters leadership development among DPT students, aligns with the APTA’s vision, and prepares future therapists for effective patient care.

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The study explores the opinions of school principals, who are pivotal in curriculum implementation, towards the inclusion of the Chinese language in the Nigerian primary school curriculum. A qualitative methodology was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with 10 public school principals from southeastern Nigeria. This study employs Sociocultural Theory, and the SWOT model was used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Findings revealed mixed reactions of both convergence in support for the initiative, and divergence in concerns about implementation and educational priorities. The majority of participants in this study expressed support, citing global relevance, cognitive benefits, and future opportunities for students. However, challenges such as finding qualified teachers, the complexity of the Chinese language, developing an integrated curriculum, and ensuring adequate resources were noted. The study emphasizes that addressing these challenges will require careful planning, substantial investment, and a balanced approach that considers both global and local linguistic priorities.

EN:

Persistent educational inequities continue to hinder physics achievement among rural learners, particularly within modular distance education implemented in Philippine public schools. This study is among the first empirical investigations to quantitatively examine equity-related factors influencing Grade 10 students’ achievement in physics in a modular learning context, addressing a gap in subjectspecific equity research. Anchored in Sen’s Capability Approach and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s framework on educational equity, the study analyzed the influence of access to physics learning materials, parental and teacher support, and learners’ perceptions of fairness and inclusion on academic performance in physics. A correlational research design was employed involving 312 Grade 10 students from selected rural public secondary schools. Data were collected using a validated equity-focused questionnaire and standardized physics grades. Results revealed significant positive relationships between physics achievement and access to learning materials, home-based learning support, and teacher feedback. Multiple regression analysis indicated that access to learning materials and parental support significantly predicted physics achievement. Group comparisons revealed significant differences by household income and geographic accessibility, while gender differences were not significant. These findings support equity-responsive policies that prioritize resource provision and instructional strategies that strengthen teacher feedback and home–school collaboration in modular Physics education.

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According to several national indices and post‑pandemic surveys, post‑secondary international students remain at high risk for chronic stress and declining mental health. We therefore proposed a multidisciplinary study to examine the impact of a remote, modular intervention program across three wellness domains: 1) Social, 2) Emotional, and 3) Professional Learning (SEPL). These domains were selected to identify areas in which students might benefit most from targeted support. The SEPL modules were designed to help students: Social (S): learn how to network differently through virtual coffee chats to strengthen socio‑emotional connectedness; Emotional (E): openly share fears and anxieties related to educational uncertainty, work‑related stress, and experiences of discrimination; and Professional Learning (P): invest in personal and professional development, continue job searching, and engage in academic or extracurricular activities to build resilience and support ongoing learning. Survey responses indicated improvements in students’ post‑pandemic distress across these wellness domains, as well as enhanced academic achievement in the associated course following the SEPL intervention. Integrating SEPL‑based pedagogical practices into our curriculum would allow us to provide structured support for stress management, emotion regulation, resilience, and work‑life balance. This approach would help students regain a sense of control amid pandemic‑related challenges, while also offering instructors a framework to strengthen their teaching practices.

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For many students in graduate programs of study, an introductory statistics course is often required but can bring anxiety and disconnection, as well as a perception that the discipline is abstract and challenging for students to integrate with their own academic knowledge. To address these concerns, this paper considers an approach to teaching and learning statistics, namely, collaborative concept maps. Drawing upon scholarly literature in statistical education, concept mapping, and complexity theory, this paper argues for a view of statistics classrooms as complex systems that self-organize and emerge through interaction, a diversity of ideas, and shared meaning-making, resulting in “patterns that connect.” To facilitate productive and meaningful connections, small randomized groups of students are invited to collaborate on concept maps as productive pedagogical structures to foster connections among conceptual concepts, the course text, other learning materials, and the learners themselves. To this end, this paper offers a theoretically- and conceptually-informed account of a pedagogical design that illustrates how collaborative concept mapping can function as a generative learning condition, supporting conceptual coherence, reducing conceptual disconnection, and promoting shared understanding. To end, implications for instructors interested in designing productive learning environments that emphasize connection, emergence, and shared meaning-making are offered.

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This critical dialogue employed critical multiculturalism and critical internationalization as overarching theoretical frameworks and uncovered continuous and ongoing struggles for invisible international students and racialized nonnative English-speaking educators in English for Academic Purposes programs in the Canadian Higher Education context. Utilizing duo-ethnographic method, the two EAP educators’ dialogues uncover ongoing struggles in English language education in English-speaking countries, specifically in Canada including native and nonnative English speaker dichotomy in English language teaching and learning, deficit mindset, racial microaggressions, and the lack of institutional and systemic supports for the invisible international English language learners (ELLs). We are calling for policy and institutional action to support all international students in creating truly inclusive teaching and learning environments.

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We are a research collective of nine higher education educators and researchers discussing our perspectives on the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools on the provision of academic writing support to students in higher education. Using a collaborative multiethnographic approach, we employ a narrative writing style that reflects a dialogic approach to our critical reflections on our personal experiences with GenAI within our unique contexts. Our perspectives are examined through the conceptual lenses of positive psychology (MacIntyre et al., 2016) and emotion labour and feeling rules (Benesch, 2018). The ensuing conversation invites our readers to consider with us three questions related to the impact of GenAI in higher education and on student academic writing: how our provision of writing support has changed, what concerns us about GenAI-mediated writing, and what promising practices are being used to incorporate GenAI tools as support for student writing into our pedagogy.

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In fall 2025, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission released a report, The ABCs of a Rights-Based Approach to Teaching Reading: Phase One Report–Findings and Recommendations, stemming from its Special Project on the Human Rights Issues affecting Students with Reading Disabilities in Manitoba’s Education system. While we, a coalition of Manitoba literacies researchers and teacher educators, welcomed the report’s championing of every child’s right to learn to read (and write) and its calls for accessible support for all literacy learners, we took issue with the methodology of the report, biases and flaws within its findings, and questioned the appropriateness and soundness of many of the report’s recommendations. In this commentary, we share the contents of our letter to the Commission to point out that the research cited in the report and its “rights-based” approach are deeply flawed and, if enacted, will create greater inequities in access to education for children.