This article provides two activities, exploring genetic drift of small breeding populations, highlighting the black-footed ferret ("Mustela nigripes"). According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, all black-footed ferrets are descended from 18 individuals, making them extremely vulnerable to genetic drift. They were thought to be…

This paper reports on the results of a quantitative study that was aimed to measure the use of socio-cultural strategies in learning English writing among a group of 155 Chinese university English major students. This quantitative survey was informed by the socio-cultural theory that holds that L2 learning is a mediational process in which a…

Cultural and creative sectors and industries are a significant source of jobs and income. They are a driver of innovation and creative skills, within cultural sectors and beyond. They also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being, to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. As national and local…

Language and sociocultural practices in transnational families have attracted considerable scholarly attention over the last decade. Adding to this research, the present article explores the perspectives of two Polish teenage siblings living in Norway on the projected language and sociocultural practices in their future families. The data for this…

Classroom research into mathematics and language has studied issues of context specificity such as cultures of explanation or the impact of language policies on practice. More recently, researchers in the domain have started to study issues of content specificity aimed at performing language-responsive mathematics teaching for the learning of…

Through the lens of an anticolonial (as opposed to postcolonial) analytical framework, this conceptual paper examines decolonising efforts (and failures) in Religious Education (RE) as a school subject in post-independent sub-Saharan Africa. It critiques the missionary/European epistemological hegemony that continues to render RE a colonial rather…

The work of Vygotsky is widely used in teacher education and other education-related literature, in discussion of sociocultural perspectives, and in relation to themes such as second language acquisition, the teaching of mathematics, and approaches to teaching and learning. Much of this work gives the impression that Vygotsky's work is…

The current study addressed the impact of computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) on the TOEFL "i"BT listening comprehension test administered to Iranian EFL learners (n = 185) who took part in preparation courses on the TOEFL exam in some language centres in Iran. To mediate the test-takers with hints to process the listening questions,…

Non-nationals constitute up to a quarter of the academic staff workforce of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide. Their motivations to 'work abroad', and their experiences of doing so, are, however, under-researched, especially where migration is to or within the global South. We report a study conducted among internationally mobile…

The early childhood sector in New Zealand has a long-held tradition of free play and child-led pedagogy, influencing visual arts approaches with young children. However, alongside learning through play, New Zealand's sociocultural curriculum highlights the active role of the teacher and intentional pedagogy. This article explores the practices and…

This paper addresses a problem that greatly complicates the implementation of dialogic educational approaches in schools: the dilemma between driving children's talk towards normatively accepted conceptions and, at the same time, avoiding the introduction of these normative conceptions into the dialogue by the teacher. I argue that this dilemma is…

Nuosu script, a unique character-based script with a long history, permeates the public spaces of Xichang, the capital of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China. Using interviews, photos, observations, and documents, this qualitative study discovers the uses and meanings of Nuosu script in the linguistic landscape (LL). The…

This article explores a narrative approach adopted by three Taiwanese children's books that feature old trees as storytellers and memory-keepers to address aspects of emotional and psychological adaptation when facing drastic life changes. Although these stories are told from the perspective of old trees, the nostalgic tone serves a specific…

Students' relationships with mathematics continuously remain problematic, and researchers have begun to look at this issue through the lens of identity. In this article, the researchers discuss identity in education research, specifically in mathematics classrooms, and break down the various perspective on identity. A review of recent literature…

Informed by interpretive phenomenological analysis and sociocultural theory, this study examines the language experiences of seven Methodist youth. Analysis of 9 months of observations and 30 interviews yielded a set of experiences that represent the intimacy and complexity of youths' religious discourses. As an essential feature of this…