Traditionally secondary studies on achievement on Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) tests point to the significant impact of socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds of families as well as the role of parental involvement, which in some cases has had a negative impact on achievement. For this article, a model of structural regression was tested, with structural modelling software. This model included the following factors: domestic and educational assets, parental support for students, parents’ perceptions about science, and science competencies among 214 high performing Mexican students on PISA tests in 2015. This resulted in a structural regression model with a goodness of fit, where science competencies were a positive significant variable, impacted by domestic and educational assets and parental involvement. An additional restricted model with four variables manifested as mediators, revealed that science competencies were predicted positively and significantly by domestic and educational assets, and by the manifest parental emotional support variable. Variables related to ownership of educational and cultural assets and resources, as well as parental support, particularly emotional parental support, have positive and significant impact on science competencies.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the relevance of turning the camera on or off during distance learning as an argument for active or passive student participation. Seventy-five (75) students participated in the study and were divided into five groups (1-5) according to teaching method (i.e., synchronous instruction online with camera (1) and without camera (2), synchronous transmission of the recording online with camera (3) and without camera (4) and received the online instruction (5)) only. In the beginning and at the end, all students were tested with the same adapted test to determine general physical and motor status. All groups had the same training program twice a week for 45 minutes for 7 weeks. The first training of the week was dedicated to strength development, the second to endurance. In the end, all participants completed a questionnaire to determine their additional physical activity and how they felt about using a camera. The camera being turned on was identified as a factor that made participants uncomfortable but contributed significantly to the effectiveness of the course. However, 94.6 % of all participants cited non-camera methods as their favourite.

This study is an endeavour to explicate the dissonance of the linguistic quality outcome of study abroad (SA) experiences by exploring the second language (L2) motivation of six academic sojourners in Manchester. A person-in-context approach revealed that developing intimate relationships with ‘native-speakers’, providing L2-mediated interaction opportunities with international students, and social approval were key determinants of the extent to which SA students were invested in social practices. Such social engagements were found to stem from second language motivation that is part of identity construction process. In addition, the thematic analysis of the narrative inquiries suggests that the global status of the English language defies the traditional conceptualisations of L2 motivation as most participants’ motivations were formed despite their negative or neutral attitudes towards the English community. The findings also endorse the role of the other as a robust motivational source by which learners can replenish their motivation stream, leading to social identity investment to construct their ideological selves. The paper concludes with a recommendation to re-interpret the conceptualisation of the Ideal L2 Self system because ‘native-speakers’ are rarely the closest parallels to L2 learners, and it should incorporate explicit intrinsic orientations. Furthermore, language institutions in SA contexts should direct their focus on establishing conversation clubs and hosting social events for SA students to provide a safe space for their identities to be developed, enacted and reconstructed.

Higher education plays an important role in providing students with knowledge and skills to enter the labor market. The quality of higher education, the satisfaction of the quality of higher education has been concerned by many individuals and organizations. The study aims to explore the factors affecting student satisfaction with the quality of higher education services in Vietnam. Research data was collected from survey results by questionnaires from 396 students of An Giang University, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. SPSS 20, AMOS 24 software is used for analysis and evaluation of scales through Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient; exploratory factor analysis EFA; CFA confirmatory factor; SEM linear regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The results of the SEM model study show that there are six factors affecting student satisfaction with the quality of higher education services in Vietnam, including teaching staff; facilities and teaching facilities; ability to serve; educational activities; student support activities; education programs. From the research results, discussions on educational administration are proposed to improve student satisfaction with the quality of higher education services in Vietnam.

Despite the ubiquity of professional learning communities (PLCs) among researchers, studies on PLCs have widely differed in terms of dimensions used to conceptualise them. Thus, the study aimed to validate the conceptual model consisting of PLCs practices. The study employed a quantitative method using a survey. Firstly, a pilot test was conducted in which 103 school-teachers were involved in completing a questionnaire. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) had determined six dimensions and 20 elements of PLCs practices. Then, the field study was conducted using the new questionnaire. The survey involved 386 school-teachers from 25 High Performing Schools (HPS). The result revealed that: I) Based on the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), multidimensional PLCs practice model is evidence in the Malaysian context. They are operationalised in six dimensions including visions, missions and values, professional leadership, collective and collaborative culture, sharing of best practices, conducive school climate, and strategic alliances among stakeholders and, ii) The level of PLCs implementation in HPS is high for all the dimensions. The practical implications from the study and future research recommendations were also discussed.

Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) has gained popularity worldwide to teach mathematics using real-world problems. This study investigates the effectiveness of elliptic topics taught to 10th graders in a Vietnamese high school and students' attitudes toward learning. The RME model was used to guide 45 students in an experimental class, while the conventional model was applied to instruct 42 students in the control class. Data collection methods included observation, pre-test, post-test, and a student opinion survey. The experimental results confirm the test results, and the experimental class's learning outcomes were significantly higher than that of the control class's students. Besides, student participation in learning activities and attitudes toward learning were significantly higher in the RME model class than in the control class. Students will construct their mathematical knowledge based on real-life situations. The organization of teaching according to RME is not only a new method of teaching but innovation in thinking about teaching mathematics.

The following article is a qualitative study that analyses the perception of parents and high school students regarding teaching in times of Coronavirus disease COVID-19, with the idea of recognizing the facilitators and barriers for the teaching-learning process in the pandemic. The above, in the understanding that due to the sudden appearance of SARS-CoV-2, educational systems around the world had to adapt to virtual teaching, as a result of the confinement to which the population has been subjected during the year 2020 and a good part of the year 2021. The research is based on the interpretative-comprehensive paradigm, with a qualitative methodology, which considered the realization of four focus groups with students and four focus groups with secondary school parents, from two public high schools located in the province of Talca, Maule region, Chile. The findings of the study are related to the adverse effects of the pandemic on student learning, as a result of connectivity difficulties, and the emotional impact on the quality of life of young people and their families. On the other hand, learning at home is related to limited pedagogical strategies and evaluative aspects that do not allow verifying the real learning of the students.

Writing is very important for learners; it is a dynamic and creative skill. Although studies on students’ problems when writing a dissertation among Native Speakers (NS) are widely done, studies on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are limited, especially those which examine problems faced while writing dissertations among Ph.D. EFL learners, in particular, Jordanian Ph.D. candidates. Studies on the supervisors' perspectives of writing a dissertation are scarce among EFL learners, particularly Arab learners. This study aims at focusing on supervisors' perspectives of writing dissertations among Jordanian Ph.D. students who are studying abroad. This study is a qualitative case study. The researchers interviewed nine Malaysian supervisors who supervised 21 Jordanian Ph.D. candidates. The results show that six main themes emerged from the supervisors' perspectives, and they are grammatical mistakes, lack of vocabulary and verbs reporting, personal effects, lack of motivation, writing apprehension, and the problem with generic thesis structure. This paper contributes with a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical perspectives on problems Ph.D. students face when writing a dissertation. The study also fills in the gap in the field of supervisors' perspectives of writing a dissertation. Based on the results found, the researchers suggest a number of recommendations and further research that might help supervisors understand the reasons behind such difficulties.

In Austria, segregated German language support classes (GLSC) were introduced in the school year 2018/19 to intensively support students who had previously little or no contact with German, the official language of instruction. These classes have been widely criticised; however, a formal evaluation of their effects has yet to be published. In absence of this evaluation, this article describes the language support model as it currently exists in Austria and reviews existing evidence about its efficacy. The literature review synthesises findings from educational research undertaken in other contexts that offer insight into features of ‘good practice’ in language support models. The article then explores the extent to which GLSC comply with these features. As such, this review allows insights into ways of ensuring students’ language and socio-emotional development – all central aspects of academic success – in language support models. It therefore allows research-informed understanding of the effects of the newly implemented model of German support classes in Austria and makes recommendations for further development.

The purpose of the study was to identify what neuropsychological effect online learning had on psychology students and how it could be moderated. The study was descriptive and combined qualitative and quantitative methods to address the research questions. The study relied on three phases such as baseline study, experiment, and reporting. The experiment utilised neuropsychology tests adopted from the NeurOn platform. It was found that the Psychology students’ perceptions of e-learning and their emotional reaction to them were found not to be appreciative. The practices in breathing exercises, meditation, or yoga were proved to be able to moderate the impact of online learning on the experimental group students’ attentional capacities, memory processes, and cognition abilities. The above findings were supported by the results obtained for the neuropsychology tests and the experimental group students’ self-reflections yielded from the use of the MovisensXS App. The students confirmed that breathing exercises, meditation, or yoga reduced study stress and burnout caused by e-learning and improved their academic performance. The focus group online discussion also showed that integration of breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga helped the experimental group students keep emotional balance, concentrate on their studies easier, remember more information, and meet deadlines in completing assignments. The education scientists are suggested to study how the e-learning curriculum could be reshaped so that it used relaxation practices on regular basis.

Research on instructional quality has been of great interest for several decades, leading to an immense and diverse body of literature. However, due to different definitions and operationalisations, the picture of what characteristics are important for instructional quality is not entirely clear. Therefore, in this paper, a scoping review was performed to provide an overview of existing evidence of both generic and subject-didactic characteristics with regard to student performance. More precisely, this paper aims to (a) identify both generic and subject-didactic characteristics affecting student performance in mathematics in secondary school, (b) cluster these characteristics into categories to show areas for quality teaching, and (c) analyse and assess the effects of these characteristics on student performance to rate the scientific evidence in the context of the articles considered. The results reveal that teaching characteristics, and not just the instruments for recording the quality of teaching as described in previous research, can be placed on a continuum ranging from generic to subject-didactic. Moreover, on account of the inconsistent definition of subject-didactic characteristics, the category of ‘subject-didactic specifics’ needs further development to establish it as a separate category in empirical research. Finally, this study represents a further step toward understanding the effects of teaching characteristics on student performance by providing an overview of teaching characteristics and their effects and evidence.

The effects of international phonetic alphabet (IPA) instruction on English as a foreign language (EFL) adult learners’ pronunciation have been well-recognized. However, not many studies on the topic were conducted in the Vietnamese context. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate (1) the impact of IPA learning on Vietnamese EFL adult learners’ pronunciation and (2) adult learners’ perceptions of the effects of learning the IPA system on their pronunciation. The study was designed as an experimental study, following a mixed-methods approach, using the pre-and-post-tests, questionnaires, and interviews to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Thirty-eight adult learners took part in this investigation; they were divided into two groups, nineteen in the control and nineteen in the experimental group. The experimental study lasted ten weeks before the questionnaires and interviews were administered with the participants in the experimental group. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in adult learners’ pronunciation in the experimental group. The participants in the experimental group also highly perceived the positive effects of learning the IPA system on their pronunciation. Pedagogical implications and suggestions were presented at the end of the paper.

The study aims to find out the influence of Mistake-Handling Activities to determine mathematical definitions knowledge, which can be regarded as a component of mathematics content knowledge, of teachers on the development of teachers in providing mathematical definitions. Within this framework, Mistake-Handling Activities were carried out with five volunteer mathematics teachers. Written opinions and semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used as data collection tools. During the application, focus group interviews were carried out, and the application was enhanced with discussions. The data were analyzed using the document review method, and codes, categories, and themes were also determined. The results revealed that Mistake-Handling Activities yielded certain emotional advantages such as increasing teachers’ interest and curiosity, critical thinking, self-confidence, awareness, and offering different viewpoints as well as yielding cognitive advantages such as recognizing their shortcomings, acknowledging the importance of knowing the definition of a concept, and using the definition.

This study aims to explore non-English speaking major student’s perceptions of Motivation and Grit and the relationship between these two factors and students’ English language performance at a public university in China. The research was conducted by quantitative research design to collect 624 non-English speaking Major students’ answers to multiple questionnaires at a public university in China. Data analysis is used by SPSS and AMOS. The study shows that Motivation and Grit all have a positive correlation with English language performance. One major conclusion of this study is Grit has the most significant effect on the English language performance of non-English speaking major students in multiple regression analysis and is also the best predictor of the relationship between these two factors and English language performance in the path analysis in Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The finding also revealed that male students’ perception of motivation and grit is slightly stronger than that of female students. These findings highlight the need for English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher to understand students’ affective factors in learning English, and hence help them utilize different teaching methods to enhance students’ English learning and promote sustainable development of English learning in a public Chinese university.

This study aims to explore the pattern of external representation of suspending objects in a static fluid. The study used a qualitative descriptive method involving 57 elementary, junior, senior school, and university students. Data collection implemented a 30-item test covering the dominant context of suspending and partially floating and sinking.  Some of phenomenographic steps were adapted in data analysis. Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded that there is a dominant external representation pattern, where there is a simplification of the depiction of suspending objects. Suspending position tends to be locked in a limited area, namely in the middle of the depth of the liquid. In the context of suspending objects' cuts, the cuts were generally represented by an upward shifting pattern. Factors that influence the pattern of representation are the involvement of intuition in conceptualizing the phenomena presented, and the conceptual aspect of density has not been integrated into the reasoning process for compiling external representations, both diagrams, and texts. Research limitation is presented in this article.

In this research, the influence of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on 9th grade students’ mathematics achievement is analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. A posttest only with control group design was used to compare the mathematics marks of 9th grade students from the previous school year (before the pandemic, control group) and the current school year (during the pandemic, experimental group). Seventy-three students from a public high school in Spain attending class on alternate days participated in the study. Three focus group sessions were held with students, and five semi-structured interviews were conducted—two with teachers and three with students’ families. Results show statistically significant differences in students’ mathematics achievement, with students enrolled in 9th grade the previous (pre-pandemic) year outscoring their peers currently enrolled in 9th grade (during the pandemic) by 22.17%. An overall negative effect size of Hedge’s g = -1.11 was reported. Although significant statistical differences between groups were reported for both male and female students, the effect was 42.31% larger for male students (Hedge’s g = -1.11) than for females (Hedge’s g = -0.78). The qualitative information supported the quantitative results. Changes in educational settings, students’ lack of motivation, monotony, and students’ level of responsibility were qualitatively reported as factors that may explain this phenomenon. The main conclusion of this study is that the COVID-19 pandemic may be significantly and negatively affecting 9th grade students’ mathematics achievement.

The online flipped classroom has become increasingly applied to provide students with active learning. This search aimed to investigate the effectiveness of video lectures in an online flipped learning on students’ learning outcomes, students' video evaluation, and their experience in an online flipped classroom. This study employed mixed-method research implementing a quasi-experimental design using quantitative and qualitative data collection: pre-test and post-test, a questionnaire and interview. The participants were 78 Indonesian undergraduate students taking English as a foreign language (EFL) content course at one of the universities in Indonesia. The findings revealed that the students’ learning outcomes in the flipped classroom outperformed those in the control group. The students’ evaluation of the video lectures was high, and their evaluation was consistent with how they positively perceived the video lectures in the flipped classroom. This investigation showed the roles of video lectures on the students' participation and active learning in the flipped classroom during Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic time.

Teacher leadership theory has underlined the essence of teacher collaboration (TC) in helping students learn better. Also, many studies and theories have argued that TC can be an effective way to provide learning feedback. Thus, this mixed-method study aimed to experimentally examine the effect of teacher collaborative metacognitive feedback (TCMF) on educational management (EM) students’ metacognition, to see the different effects on EM students’ metacognition as affected by TCMF and by individual teaching metacognitive feedback (ITMF), and to qualitatively probe into students’ perceptions of teacher collaboration. The quantitative study conducted a quasi-experimental method by involving 44 EM students. A valid and reliable scale of metacognition adopted from a previous study was utilized as the instrument of data collection. The qualitative study conducted interviews with 8 students selected purposively, and the data were analyzed interactively to reach credible information. This study revealed that TCMF positively and significantly affected EM students’ metacognition. TCMF contributed to EM students’ metacognition better than ITMF did. The students perceived that TC developed their collaborative skills, continuously supporting their critical thinking skills, intercultural communicative competence, and problem-solving skills. Limitations, implications, and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Entrepreneurs play an important role in improving a country’s economy, shown by the increase in young people involved in startup businesses, including students. The young generation needs motivation through a good education to support their intention. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the role of entrepreneurship education in increasing entrepreneurial intention among business students. The data were obtained from 240 business students in Indonesia using a questionnaire. The study was conducted using descriptive methods and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Hypothesis testing showed that perceived desirability is the strongest variable on the entrepreneurial intention of business students. Furthermore, the R-Square test results showed that entrepreneurial intentions are positively and significantly influenced by perceived desirability and feasibility, the propensity to act, and entrepreneurship education by 61.12%. The remaining 38.88% is influenced by other variables outside this study. The key impact of this research is revealed perceived desirability and feasibility, the propensity to act and entrepreneurship education give positive entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students. Higher education has responsibility to nurture young generation to learn more about entrepreneurship. The increasing number of entrepreneurs can support government to improve the nation’s economy and society.

Recently, researchers have paid more attention to the aspects of classroom learning environments because of their effects on students’ cognitive and effective outcomes. However, current literature reveals the lack of research that explores the factors of classroom environments in Vietnamese context. The present study, therefore, aims to validate the psychometric properties of the 25-items version of the My Class Inventory (MCI), translated into Vietnamese for 487 secondary school students. Factorial analysis showed an acceptable fit for the four-factors structure of the MCI – cohesiveness, competitiveness, satisfaction, and friction – to be appropriate for secondary school students. Internal consistency reliabilities of the general scales and four subscales were satisfactory. Results support the suitability of the MCI to assess students’ classroom environment within Vietnam’s educational context. The study recommended, among other things, that future studies should be conducted to explore the validity of the MCI on other samples of Vietnamese secondary students.