Reading English literature can help learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to develop their reading ability as well as other language skills. Reading can also have other benefits for EFL students such as learning about the target language’s culture or an English variety in written form. This present study investigates what types of literature are used in Swedish upper secondary school, the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards short stories compared to simplified novels/graded readers and their preferred assessment methods associated with literature teaching. The majority of the teachers that took part in this survey have a positive attitude towards short stories and use them in their EFL classes. The results also show that after the students have completed reading a short story, most of the teachers that participated in this survey preferred to combine examination methods such as a group discussion with a written test.The title of this paper comes from one of the informants’ comments when asked if she would rather use a short story or a graded reader in her English class. This informant had used graded readers in her English language classroom, but she and everyone that took part in this survey chose short stories over graded readers.

The aim of this essay is to gain knowledge about attitudes towards the use of different varieties of English in the classroom from the perspective of seven English teachers in Swedish upper secondary school. The study was carried out through interviews with teachers from different upper secondary schools in Sweden. Qualitative interviews were used to gain information from the teachers. The results showed that the language varieties most of the teachers used were American English and British English, which had to do with what variety they were more exposed to. When asked about their students’ choices of language variety in the classroom, the teachers said that they used American English because of the frequent presence of the variety in films and television. The teachers worked with language varieties in the classroom by incorporating different varieties into the teaching using films, clips or listening comprehensions with speakers of, for example, Indian English or Australian English. Regarding the significance of working with language varieties in the classroom, the teachers said that it could develop knowledge and understanding of other people and that it could expand knowledge about the English-speaking world. In conclusion, the results showed that, even though American English and British English are the most commonly used English varieties in Swedish upper secondary schools, there are many ways teachers try to incorporate other language varieties to help students develop their English.

University-based teacher educators’ first three years on the job are often imbued with tension, as they must renegotiate their professional identities and pedagogical philosophies in relation to ambiguous and sometimes conflicting expectations of what they should do and stand for in this role. As role models for aspiring art teachers, art teacher educators have a powerful influence on their pre-service students’ views of teaching, and on their emergent professional dispositions. However, despite the moral and intellectual significance of their work, and the diversity of their identities and work contexts, research on this population is limited and does not reflect current demographics in the field. While existing studies suggest some of the tensions that art teacher educators—both new and veteran—face on the job, research has not yet explored how new faculty members, specifically, experience their earliest years in the role nor how they learn to develop personally authentic art teacher education pedagogy. This qualitative multi-case study responds to these gaps in the literature, and to the understanding that new knowledge-for-practice is often generated within spaces of creative tension such as career transition. The study participants were eight full-time art education faculty members with less than three years in the role. Individual and cross-case analysis of data collected through semi-structured interviews, qualitative questionnaires, and reflective tasks, revealed that participants’ tensions were predominantly influenced by discrepancies between (1) their established occupational roles/identities and practices, and expectations placed upon them in the art teacher educator role that they had not fully anticipated, and (2) their own, and others’ art-education-related (ideological) values. Most of the participants identified strongly with discipline-specific values (e.g., being grounded in activism and arts-informed social justice). These values functioned as core elements of their professional identities and of their teaching, research, and scholarship. However, in some cases, there were difficulties in translating these values into effective art teacher education pedagogical content knowledge. The data analysis suggested that through reflecting on tensions, participants gained increased professional self-understanding and keener awareness of the forces that enable or constrain the enactment of their personal pedagogical values. Additionally, the data suggest that greater intentional preparation and support for this role (particularly mentorship that validates their established identities and backgrounds) prior to and during the early years, could greatly benefit art teacher educators’ adjustments into the academy and facilitate their building of pedagogical content knowledge for this role.

An understanding of emotion regulation (ER) is important to children’s development, allowing for better navigation of the world. This learning happens in the company of caregivers, within the context of relationships inside and outside the home. Detrimental circumstances (e.g., poverty, lack of quality early childcare options, homelessness), however, exist for children in the United States. These factors have the potential to affect children’s academic readiness and success, resulting in them entering Kindergarten labeled at risk for school failure. To manage these factors and the at-risk characterization children receive, one solution has been to send children considered at risk to more school and school earlier (i.e., Universal Pre-Kindergarten, 3-K). Once in school, children spend more waking hours with teachers than with family. Given the importance of the dyadic relationship between teacher and child, much like the parent-child relationship, this researcher sought to understand if at-risk children are, in fact, favorably served by earlier school when teachers themselves operate under equal, but differing, types of stress. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the researcher reanalyzed Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) data, looking for associations among teacher stress, teacher warmth, and children’s ability to regulate emotion; the researcher also qualitatively investigated Head Start (HS) teachers in the Chicago metropolitan area, asking (a) Do teachers exhibiting more warmth help children develop better emotion regulation (ER) skills? and (b) What are teachers’ lived experiences, histories, stories, and perspectives regarding child ER in relation to their own stress and warmth? Reanalysis of the CSRP data demonstrated teacher stress and teacher warmth were each associated with increased child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Individual and focus group interview data of present-day HS teachers illuminated the problematic circles of influence in which HS teachers work, enriching the quantitative data. When children’s first years in school are considered a sensitive period, researchers, policymakers, and educators would do well to learn more about teachers who work around the realities and consequences of stress, as well as what their insights may offer to close the described achievement gap. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

This study investigates teachers’ attitudes toward value systems in the context of multicultural education. It highlights the importance of a functioning multi-cultural school as well as that of ongoing work with value systems. The aim of the study is to build on the existing body of research that addresses multicul-tural education in relation to schools’ value systems.Two theories have been used for this study; primarily critical multiculturalism and also the frame factor theory (ramfaktorteorin). A survey of 14 questions was conducted and the data collected was analysed quantitatively. The survey was separated into three sections: substantive questions, questions related to didactics in religious education, and questions about teachers’ attitudes toward value systems. Multicultural education was a theme throughout the survey.The study found that most in-service teachers believe that it is important to actively implement multicultural education and that the basis of a successful multicultural school is the incorporation of a working value system.The study concludes that it is crucial that teachers and students are provided with an understanding of what a functioning multicultural school and a multi-cultural society look like. Without this understanding there will continue to be a gap in society that has the potential to manifest itself as an “us and them” mentality. More work around value systems as well as more professional de-velopment for in-service teachers around multicultural education is essential, as the study revealed a lack of understanding and/or disinterest from some in-service teachers. / Denna studie undersöker lärares attityd till värdegrunden i samband med en mångkulturell undervisning. Den belyser även vikten av en fungerande mång-kulturell skola och vikten av ett aktivt värdegrundsarbete. Syftet med studien är att bygga vidare på tidigare forskning som berör mångkulturell utbildning i förhållande till skolans värdegrund.Jag har använt mig av två olika teorier genom undersökning. Den första och huvudsakliga teorin var kritisk mångkultur och den andra var ramfaktorteorin.Som metod har jag använt mig av kvalitativ enkätundersökning i form av 14 frågor. Enkäten var indelad i tre delar, sakfrågor, frågor gällande religionsdi-daktik samt en sista del som innefattade frågor om lärares attityd till värde-grunden. Mångkulturell utbildning var ett genomgående tema genom alla frå-geställningar.Resultatet visar att verksamma lärare till största del tycker det är viktigt att aktivt jobba för en mångkulturell undervisning och att grunden till en lyckad skolform av detta slag tar sitt avstamp i ett väl fungerande värdegrundsarbete.Slutsatsen av undersökningen visar på vikten av att lärare och elever blir till-godosedda kunskap kring hur en fungerande mångkulturell skola och samhälle ser ut. Utan den kunskapen kommer det skapas klyftor mellan samhällets in-vånare i form av vi och dem istället för att bara benämna alla samhällsmedbor-gare som ett inkluderande vi.Vidare implikationer till skolan som verksamhet. Lärare såväl som elever be-höver kunskap kring vad mångkultur innebär och hur ett fungerande mångkul-turellt samhälle ser ut. Detta börjar med ett gediget arbete kring värdegrunden och fortbildning för verksamma lärare inom mångkulturell undervisning. Detta är av stor vikt då det framkom på en del ställen i undersökningen att det före-kommer en del kunskapsbrist och ointresse från verksamma lärare idag.

Researchers have found that low-income students have greatly suffered academically, yet there have been no advancements causing the academic achievement gap to close for any length of time. Using Bandura's social cognitive, self-efficacy, and academic self-efficacy theories as the foundation, this study explored the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy in the relationship between perceived teacher attitudes and perceived academic achievement in low-income high school students. Data were collected from 145 low-income high school students via an online survey geared towards their parents to ensure full parental consent. The survey included demographic questions, a perceived academic achievement question, the Classroom Teacher-Student Relationship subscale, and the Academic Self-Efficacy subscale. Multiple regression analysis revealed significant findings in that academic self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived teacher's attitudes and perceived academic achievement. However, due to cross-over suppression, gender differences were found to be a confounding variable. Further, it was found that girls were predicted to have higher perceived academic achievements than boys. This research is significant as the implications for social change include using the results as the foundation for future programs to improve teachers' attitudes towards low-income students to increase academic self-efficacy in low-income high school students. If these improvements are made, low-income high school students' academic achievement levels may also increase. This, in turn, could cause the academic achievement gap to close between low and high-income high school students.

All international students have specific motivations and expectations when learning English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States, and recognizing the diversity of those motivations and expectations is the first step toward providing successful second language instruction. This study was designed to elicit the attitudes, expectations and motivations of two unique groups of students studying in the same classes in an ESL summer session at Portland State University (PSU), the preconception of the instructors, and the impressions and evaluations of the program upon its completion by the students, instructors, coordinators and administrators. A successful curriculum can only be adapted to fit the needs and expectations of those students who share the same needs and hold the same expectations. When the learners fall into disparate groups, with distinct, and perhaps contrary needs, a given curriculum can be only a compromise at best, and a failure for some at the worst. During the summer session at PSU, the Department of Applied Linguistics offers a full range of intensive ESL courses for visiting international students. In the year of this study there were two distinct groups of students enrolled in the Reading/Writing ESL classes. One group was the traditional eclectic mix of international students who for the most part were on an academic track toward eventual enrollment in regular programs at PSU. The other was a group of Japanese students studying at PSU from Otemae College. These two groups of students entered the program with different motivations for studying English and different expectations from the summer program at PSU. Because the general academic focus of the program was established in advance of the enrollment of most of these students, it was designed to fit the more traditional students' expectations and motivations. The specific expectations and motivations of the Otemae students were not explicitly considered, leaving the real potential for a negative experience. This is a serious consideration for those designing the curriculum for the summer sessions, for the instructors who are given the task of teaching these distinct groups of students, and for the coordinators of the short term programs who must convince their clients of their effectiveness so they will choose PSU again in the future. Using a semantic-differential survey to assess the students' attitudes, motivations, and expectations, and comparing the results with general demographic data, it was found that the students did indeed separate into two distinct groups with clear differences in motivations and expectations. The Otemae students also formed a large demographic block within the classes which could not be discounted in the lesson plans. Even though the Otemae students had been integrated into the reading and writing classes, these skills were less important to them in the needs analysis portion of the attitude survey than were conversational and pronunciation skills. Reading and writing skills were also rated lower overall by the Otemae students than they were by the traditional students. These and other factors lend support to the contention that the two groups of students had needs and expectations that were not wholly compatible, which put a strain on the teacher/student relationships as well as on the individual instructors' intended goals. This strain was further verified in instructor interviews, student interviews and in a departmental evaluation at the end of the summer term. If expectations are not met, or attitudes are not compatible between students and instructors, or motivations are at odds between groups of students, learning can be obstructed, and the experience can be less positive for all concerned. Although the summer session, with Otemae students integrated into the regular classes, went well in the estimation of some, there is convincing evidence that there is need for improvement. Recommendations for improvement include integrating the Otemae students into speaking and listening classes instead of reading and writing classes, having a curriculum designed with both groups in mind that instructors would have available before the summer term begins, conducting a term by term needs analysis, providing introductory sessions on American classroom style, and attempting to reduce the percentage of Otemae students in any given class by actively recruiting more international ESL students to PSU.

Previous research has identified student engagement as an important antecedent to student learning in higher education. Although student engagement is viewed as important for learning, a significant number of college students still report frequently feeling bored in their courses. The use of music as a pedagogical tool is believed to be beneficial for promoting student engagement and student learning in higher education sociology courses, yet it has been suggested that sociology faculty members do not commonly incorporate the technique into their courses. The purpose of this comparative interview study is to explore higher education sociology faculty members' understandings of the use of music as a pedagogical tool, and the perceived importance of student engagement to student learning among higher education sociology faculty members. In this study, it is found that higher education sociology faculty members believe student engagement can lead to increased student learning. It is also found that higher education sociology faculty members generally identify music as an effective pedagogical tool for promoting student engagement and learning in higher education sociology courses. Interestingly, participants believed the use of music as a pedagogical tool to be an uncommon practice in higher education sociology courses in the United States. As part of their efforts to explain their choices to use or not use music as a pedagogical tool, faculty participants described potential barriers that may impact faculty member choices to use music in their higher education sociology courses. Sociology faculty participants in this study agreed that a lack of discussion of pedagogical tools among colleagues and in teaching courses might serve as a potential barrier for the use of music as a pedagogical tool. Higher education sociology faculty participants also identified a lack of knowledge of how to use music as a pedagogical tool as a potential barrier for the use of music in sociology courses. This research suggests that the lack of faculty knowledge of music as a pedagogical tool may be due to the lack of discussion of pedagogical tools both among colleagues and in the teaching courses completed by higher education sociology faculty members. Past research has suggested that sociology faculty members need to create an environment that encourages students to be active and engaged participants in their own learning through building a community of learners. This study suggests that higher education sociology faculty members may successfully build a community of learners through using music as a pedagogical tool in their courses. This study recommends that changes at the departmental level need to occur in order to make it easier for sociology faculty members to gain the knowledge required to use music effectively in their courses. Suggestions for practice and future research are provided.

The problem for this investigation was the extent to which instruction in the traditionally black colleges and universities was directed toward higher cognitive skills as perceived by teachers of United States history in these institutions. The purposes of the study were to determine whether teachers (1) in state supported as opposed to private black colleges, (2) in urban-based as opposed to non-urban-based black colleges, (3) at non-denominational as opposed to denominational black colleges, (4) of age forty or older as opposed to teachers under age forty at black colleges,(5) categorized according to gender at black colleges, (6) categorized as United States citizens as opposed to non-citizens at black colleges, and (7) taught at black colleges and those who taught at white colleges differed significantly in their reported efforts to promote higher cognitive development. The following conclusions were drawn: Teachers at black colleges, as well as black teachers and white teachers at black colleges appeared to recognize the need to develop the higher mental powers of theirs students. Emphasis upon higher cognitive development is not likely to vary significantly according to academic degrees attained by the teacher, the geographic area in which the teacher was reared, or the gender of the teacher. Graduates of black colleges who taught at black colleges were apparently more attuned to the need for teaching higher cognitive development than were other teachers at black colleges.

This research examines the nature and level of educational computer-based game techniques adoption by Milken Educator Award winning teachers in achieving success in their classrooms. The focus of the research is on their level of acceptance of educational computer-based games and the nature of game usage to increase student performance in the classroom. With Davis' (1985) Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1985) as the conceptual framework, the research also examines how teachers' perceptions of educational computer-based games influence their willingness to incorporate these teaching methods in their classroom. The approach utilizes a descriptive survey to develop and evaluate responses from exemplar teachers about the level and nature of their use (or lack thereof) of educational computer-based games and implementation in the classroom. Further, this research seeks to identify successful and unsuccessful techniques in the use of educational computer-based games in the classroom. In addition, data collection and analysis will seek to identify the strength of relationships between content-specific educational computer-based games and subject; educational computer-based games and gender; educational computer-based games and age; etc. A teacher who is exemplary as defined by Milken Educator Awards possesses, "exceptional educational talent as evidenced by effective instructional practices and student learning results in the classroom and school". Survey findings are placed within the Technology Acceptance Model framework developed by Davis.