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This study delves into the intricate challenges surrounding incorporating information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education, particularly in regions characterized by digital exclusion, such as rural areas. By recognizing the potential of ICTs to support and expand student learning opportunities, this research explores the necessity for effective implementation through tailored professional development aligned with teachers' contextual conditions and needs. In addressing these challenges, the study explores the concept of technological appropriation, underscoring the significance of individual and contextual elements in adapting ICTs to users' specific needs and environments. Through unstructured face-to-face interviews with 21 teachers immersed in a digitally vulnerable rural context, this research unveils insights into how educators appropriate technologies to enhance student learning. The findings of this study contribute to the development of educational practices tailored to rural contexts, focusing on providing a meaningful and effective learning experience for students. By shedding light on teachers' strategies for navigating the digital landscape in challenging environments, the research aims to inform policies and practices that bridge the technological gap, ultimately fostering equitable access and enhanced educational outcomes in rural settings.

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the leadership styles of private school administrators, teachers' informal communication levels and teacher Job performance. The population of the study consists of 951 teachers working in private schools (primary and secondary schools) in Nicosia, Kyrenia and Famagusta district of the TRNC. The sample of the study consists of 426 people who continue their teaching profession in the 2023-2024 academic year, which is determined by random sampling method. The data collection tool consists of four parts. In the first part, there are questions containing the general knowledge of the teachers. In the second part, the 24-item "Informal Communication Scale" developed by Ugurlu (2014) was used. In the third part, the School Principals Leadership Styles Scale (OMLSS) developed by Akan et al. (2014) was used. The "Teacher Job Performance Scale" used in the fourth section is a measurement tool developed by Limon and Sezgin-Nartgün in 2020. In the study, the data were analyzed with the 28.00 SPSS program. According to the results of the research, it is clearly seen that the leadership styles adopted by school administrators and the level of communication between teachers affect the Job performance of teachers. It has been determined that transformational leadership style has a positive and significant effect on Job performance. On the other hand, it was observed that liberating and sustaining leadership styles exhibited a negative and significant relationship with Job performance. In addition, it has been determined that communication style also plays an important role. The positive relationships between the contextual performance dimension and the friendship and entertainment dimensions show that teachers exhibit a communication style that positively affects Job performance. Overall, leadership styles and communication style were found to be determining factors on teachers' Job performance. According to the results of the regression analysis, which evaluates the effect of school administrators' leadership styles on teachers' informal communication levels and Job performance, there are significant relationships between the relevant factors. A positive and significant relationship was determined between the teacher Job performance scale and the informal communication scale. This situation shows that a strong and effective level of informal communication plays a role in increasing the Job performance and productivity of teachers.

The U.S. healthcare system struggles to provide adequate language assistance to medical practitioners and patients. As a result, health providers and patients rely on ad hoc interpreters, including children, to communicate. Bilingual children who regularly interpret for others, whom we refer to as child language brokers, are important linguistic and cultural conduits for their communities and bridge language differences in vital contexts, such as health and medical settings. In this paper, we explore the experiences of 17 adolescent language brokers and consider the settings, tasks, and people they engage with when language brokering for health. Findings illustrate that child language brokering is a real and important component for immigrant family health, that child language brokering for health is not a uniform experience, and that language brokering for health can sometimes have severe ramifications.

While internationalization has been a strategic driver in transforming higher education in universities across the world, little research has investigated how universities in less-developed countries have implemented the internationalization process to benefit their human and institutional capacity. This article explored the perspectives of university staff on rationales, challenges, and strategies for internationalization through the analysis of survey data collected from 82 university staff (i.e., presidents, deans, directors, academics, and staff) working at four public universities in Laos. The findings showed that resource assurance and academic rationales were the main drivers for internationalization in Lao universities toward strengthening institutional and human capacity and improving the quality of educational provisions. Meanwhile, the universities had attempted to overcome a shortage of capable human resources, financial constraints, and administrative mechanisms to expand internationalization practices. This study also found that universities focused on enhancing information and communication technology (ICT) and foreign language skills of faculty members, expanding partnerships with quality cooperation, and promoting digitalization in the teaching function of the institution as an internationalization strategy for post-COVID-19. These results could bring voices from an underrepresented country into the discourse on the internationalization of higher education and have implications for other contexts with similar conditions.

This study analyses the communicative competencies of civil servants in Kazakhstan, highlighting the crucial role of effective communication in fostering public trust and enhancing democratic engagement. Utilizing qualitative focus group discussions with 32 experts, the research identified key deficiencies, including reliance on bureaucratic language, a lack of empathy, and inadequate crisis communication skills. These issues underscore the pressing need for communication strategies tailored to the Kazakhstani context. The study points to the necessity of developing Kazakhstan-specific communication frameworks and emphasizes the importance of improving training programs and promoting emotional intelligence among civil servants. By enhancing internal communication processes and clarifying responsibilities, government employees can better serve the public, fostering a more transparent, responsive, and participatory government. This research offers a valuable foundation for future initiatives aimed at refining the communicative competencies of civil servants in Kazakhstan, suggesting pathways for implementing targeted improvements and developing more effective communication practices within the public sector. Through these efforts, the study aims to contribute to the creation of a government that not only addresses public needs more efficiently but also actively engages citizens in the democratic process, ultimately strengthening the relationship between the state and its people.

Students with autism are enrolling in college more frequently, yet graduation rates for these students remain low. One reason posited is a lack of self-determination (SD) skills, which help students communicate with faculty and staff and act on goals. This study investigated how faculty at a community college support students in developing these skills, the nature of their communication with disability resource professionals and site directors, and the experiences of faculty and disability resource professionals with accommodations. The study employed basic qualitative methods, specifically semi-structured interviews with 31 faculty, disability resource professionals, and site directors. Findings show that faculty use specific strategies to communicate with students yet struggle with helping them to regulate behaviors and giving them autonomy. Faculty, disability resource professionals, and site directors indicate that rapport and trust are important in communications between all three groups about how to help students with autism. Yet when these qualities are not present, faculty find safe spaces to access the help they need through informal supports. All groups of participants indicated that while accommodation letters are a good place to start when supporting students with autism, they provide little help in reinforcing SD skills. Thus, accommodations are supplemented by faculty being willing to work with students beyond the accommodation letter.

The rapid advancement of information technology has significantly facilitated modern human life. However, despite the swift progress in digital technology, there has been limited headway in leveraging technology to support mathematics education, particularly in the domain of problem-solving. Mobile learning (M-learning) platforms offer promising avenues to address this gap, providing accessible and interactive tools that can enhance problem-solving skills in mathematics through engaging activities, real-time feedback, and personalized learning experiences. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the implementation of a combination of M-learning and problem-based learning (M-PBL) teaching activities among mathematics teachers. The MPBL teaching activities were developed based on the M-learning model, Problem-Based Learning model, and Social Constructivism theory, resulting in 17 pertinent activities eligible for execution by mathematics teachers. The evaluation phase was conducted through interviews with three mathematics teachers. Data collection involved interview transcripts and document analysis, with subsequent content analysis based on the TUP Usability Evaluation Model's three facets: technology, usability, and pedagogy. Overall, the participating teachers expressed positive perspectives on the technological, usability, and pedagogical aspects of the M-PBL teaching activities. These activities provide teachers with a valuable resource to creatively teach problem-solving in mathematics using mobile technology, fostering the development of creative and innovative students aligned with the aspirations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The purpose of this corpus-based study is a bottom-up investigation of strategic devices used by heritage language speakers (HLSs) during narration and conversation. It offers a critical review of compensation/communication strategy definitions and classifications, and presents the results of an investigation into strategies employed by an under-researched target group, that of HLSs. The study is not based on any a priori classification scheme; rather it is data-driven. Conversation analysis used to analyze the data revealed, among other, that the 70 Greek HLSs, a heterogeneous group with diverse linguistic, cultural, and affective characteristics from the U.S. (Chicago) and Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg), employed 14 strategic resources. All three communities used the same strategies, except for loanblends, which were used only by HLSs from Chicago. The latter also exhibited a more frequent use of strategies overall. We conclude that, in spite of their linguistic challenges, the HLSs were capable of achieving their interactional goals. HLSs generally have opportunities to use HL in the community/family, which enriches their strategic repertoires and facilitates language production. However, not all HL environments are language conductive and, as a result, HL learners' curricula should provide explicit strategy instruction in order to increase their speaking skill.

This study, which is quasi-experimental in nature, looks into how language learners' willingness to communicate and engagement in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms are affected by Duolingo. The control and experimental groups comprised two complete classes with forty EFL students. To compare learner engagement and communication willingness scores before and after treatment, the study used independent samples t-tests. The results demonstrated the groups' initial homogeneity by showing no discernible differences prior to the intervention. The results confirmed the effects on learner engagement, which showed significant gains in affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains, indicating Duolingo's beneficial impact on engagement in general. Furthermore, the significant effect sizes observed confirmed Duolingo's contribution to improved language attitudes, engagement, and communicative confidence. Compared to the control group, the experimental group's willingness to speak, read, write, comprehend, and communicate generally improved in a manner that was statistically significant. The significant effect sizes demonstrate how well Duolingo works to improve different aspects of willingness to share. The study emphasizes the pedagogical tool's adaptability and encourages teachers to integrate Duolingo for a comprehensive and technologically enhanced language learning experience. Practical implications arise for EFL teachers who use online learning resources.

Background: Knowledge brokering by intermediary organizations includes knowledge distillation processes (e.g., synthesis, translation). Aims and objectives: This article explores how an educational intermediary performs research distillation when creating virtual knowledge reservoirs for educators. Methods: The authors use qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, coded to consensus, and thematically analyzed. Findings: During synthesis, intermediaries apply a "research lens" to evaluate the credibility of the evidence. During translation, they rely on their experience as educators to share evidence in a non-academic voice and generate "turnkey" strategies. Discussion and conclusion: The article considers the knowledge brokering pipeline fallacy and examines the potential of ongoing processes for improving the effectiveness of intermediaries with the aim of diminishing research-practice and research-policy gaps in education.

The number of dementia diagnoses is ever-increasing in the aging population, meaning that healthcare staff need to be equipped with the appropriate knowledge, attitudes, and skills to care for people with dementia. However, recent research suggests that globally, both healthcare workers and students require greater dementia education opportunities to meet the needs of people with dementia. There seems to be limited research exploring dementia education opportunities within occupational therapy (OT) and physiotherapy (PT) programs. A scoping review methodology was chosen to explore the literature about dementia education in global OT and PT programs. There was limited literature in this area and only four articles were found after an intensive search through databases. Three overarching themes were developed: 'Attitudes, knowledge, and confidence', 'Benefits of experiential learning', and 'Experience and working with people with dementia'. Further, the benefits of virtual learning interventions, peer support, and communication strategies were explored. All experiential learning interventions had a positive impact on student's knowledge, confidence, and attitudes toward dementia. However, students need to be prepared with adequate knowledge prior to engaging in experiential learning interventions. Results from this study recommend the use of didactic teaching in conjunction with experiential learning within the healthcare curriculum. Peer support, communication strategies, and virtual dementia learning may be beneficial methods for educators to use and need to be explored in further detail concerning OT and PT curricula.

This study investigates the role of speaking the Jing language in the contemporary context of China's active engagement with Vietnam. Based on the fieldwork conducted in Dongxing Guangxi in January 2024, the study shows that the Jing language plays an important role in both maintaining the cultural heritage as pride and empowering the educational and employment trajectories as profit. More importantly, the capacity of speaking the Jing language can contribute to the social and medical communication between China and Vietnam. This can be manifested in terms of cultural communication with Vietnam and medical treatment for Vietnamese migrants. However, speaking the Jing language as pride is not always consistent with speaking the Jing language as profit. The internal differentiation within Vietnamese varieties may cause communication barriers for Jing speakers. The limited development of the Jing language also creates another layer of communication challenges for Jing people engaging in professional practices. How to mobilize the Jing language to facilitate the bilateral communication between China and Vietnam deserves our attention for future studies. The study has enriched the scope of the studies on language planning and policy in the borderlands. The study can shed lights on implementing language policy in China's border provinces and provide practical implications to facilitate the political and economic communication between China and other neighbouring countries for border prosperity and border stability.

While males have predominantly held leadership positions in national-level parliaments, the rising visibility of females as heads of government, despite their underrepresentation, is a significant trend. This study investigated the political resignation speeches of four female leaders in national parliaments: Australia, England, New Zealand, and Scotland. Examining their speeches revealed a strategic utilization of self-praise to construct their identity as effective leaders. A comparative analysis of these speeches highlighted distinct self-praise strategies employed. These speakers interacted with varied levels of familiarity with their audience influencing their self-praise strategies. Addressing familiar individuals prompted the use of diverse strategies, notably emphasizing direct self-praise with modifications. In contrast, when addressing less familiar recipients, leaders tended to lean more towards straightforward strategies. Across these speeches, a multimodal discourse analysis uncovered the diverse communication modes utilized by leaders including variations in bodily movements, hand gestures, and eye contact. These modes of communication reflected the perceived social distance between the speakers and their audience.

In the evaluative phase concerning the practicality of language acquisition, the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methodology has emerged as the preeminent standard in educational paradigms. Nevertheless, the import of integrating CLT becomes particularly salient within the framework of language adoption as a medium of communication. The application of a communicative approach to the learning and evaluation of English, specifically for young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, confronts distinct challenges. These challenges, if not effectively navigated, present a potential hazard to the realization of desired educational outcomes and have the capacity to hinder academic performance. Consequently, this undermines the efficacy of the approach vis-à-vis its envisioned impact. In light of this, the present study endeavors to scrutinize prospective challenges that may exert an adverse influence on communicative language assessment in the context of young EFL learners. Moreover, the study seeks to proffer viable solutions to mitigate these challenges based on empirical findings. The primary objective of this research is to engender awareness regarding the inherent difficulties associated with the implementation of the communicative approach. The research further furnishes actionable and efficacious measures conducive to both EFL education and the overall learning experience of young students. A pivotal aspect for the proficient application of the communicative approach as an assessment technique for young learners lies in the meticulous execution of assessment tasks.

Artificial intelligence can support increasingly complex conversational interactions and also has the potential to interpret meanings from free text input and make recommendations based on patterns in data. There are important opportunities to apply this to real-world problems faced in access to education. In this paper, we summarise existing research and trends linking disability support and technology, then report on a survey conducted with students with disclosed disabilities (n = 138) to explore what systems might need to do to effectively understand disabled students in their own words, and provide suggestions of technologies, strategies and resources that could be relevant to overcoming barriers to learning. Through thematic analysis, five approaches that students used to talk about their disabilities are identified(medical, functional, support, experiential and administrative), and three major types of suggestions they make around what supported them and may be useful to others are also identified (external tools, university support and practices, concerns and solutions). The survey approach and the findings of the analysis provide a potential foundation for the effective design of systems that could crowdsource a knowledgebase around disabilities, hold conversations to understand disabilities and barriers and make relevant recommendations to individuals as to how they could overcome these barriers.

Several studies have explored the uses and benefits of social media hashtag communities in higher education… Yet, more research is needed to examine communication structures and strategies for personal branding in educational social media hashtag communities. In other words, to understand the dynamics, characteristics, and strategies for faculty, university staff, and graduate students need to brand themselves professionally in social media hashtag communities. This research aims to explore social network structures, dynamics, influencer characteristics, and personal branding strategies of the #AcademicTwitter online community. X (formerly known as Twitter) data on #AcademicTwitter from 2021 were retrieved and analysed using social network and quantitative content analysis. Our study found that most of the recurrent users in the community were scholars (faculty and researchers) predominantly from the STEM field. However, the most influential users were media/fan pages (a profile account created for different purposes such as sharing tips in academia, publishers, etc.) and other professionals (freelancers or university staff). Our research sheds light on the current practice of disclosing specific teaching and research interests or expertise in social media bio profiles for personal branding, especially among scholars. Unique communication contexts such as social media hashtag communities still bring challenges to the dissemination of information, relationship building, and personal branding strategies. Our results also provide recommendations for scholars (faculty and researchers), graduate students, university staff, and practitioners to improve communication practices and personal branding strategies on social media hashtag communities.

Teachers play a key role in communicating with parents to support student learning. One of the more challenging aspects of this role for teachers is having a difficult conversation with a parent about their child. Difficult conversations, when needed, are best accomplished face-to-face incorporating effective communication skills to promote a positive and productive interaction. This article reviews a number of key practical communication skills that teachers can use when communicating with parents including use of clear vocabulary, active listening, I-messages, questioning strategies, paraphrasing and summarizing, leveled information, as well as attention to nonverbal messages. Strategies to support both planned and unplanned difficult conversations are discussed. Barriers to having difficult conversations between teachers and parents are outlined as well as new directions for research. Effective communication skills are integral for teachers to hold difficult, yet productive, conversations with parents to promote partnerships and to support student success.

In this study, the authors sought to explore superintendents' understandings of the various influences on how their districts implemented a 100% virtual learning experience for students for the 2020-2021 academic year. Understanding these influences allowed the authors to develop a framework for leading redesigns of learning systems in long-term crisis situations. In this qualitative study we conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen superintendents in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Findings showed that districts sought to plan equitable virtual learning experiences for all students based on unintentional influences and the district's intentional responses. We found that during an educational crisis, learning plans emerged as a result of the feedback between unintentional influences (politics, availability of resources, and needs of stakeholders) and district leaders' intentional responses (leveraging relationships, communicating purposefully, and reinforcing the educational mission).

This study explores the dynamics of ChatGPT on perceptions and challenges encountered by students and lecturers in a South African open distance e-learning [ODeL] university. It investigates whether ChatGPT disrupts traditional perceptions of online distance education held by students and lecturers and identifies specific functions and features of ChatGPT that address challenges in ODeL. This article addresses a literature gap by examining the impact of AI chatbots on perceptions and challenges in online distance education. Drawing upon the community of inquiry theory, the research examines the transformative effects of ChatGPT on teaching, learning, and communication dynamics in a large enrolment module of 16,000 students. This qualitative phenomenological research design study involves evaluations, focus group discussions with first-year students, and one-on-one interviews with lecturers. Data was collected in the first semester of 2023. Participants were purposively sampled. Findings revealed that students found ChatGPT more engaging and interactive, feeling more connected to peers and lecturers. However, lecturers expressed negative attitudes towards ChatGPT. Specific functions and features of ChatGPT identified include personalised feedback and support, natural language processing for communication and comprehension, and instant access to information and resources. The study contributes to understanding the role of AI chatbots in enhancing online learning experiences and addressing challenges in ODeL.

Although research has extensively documented international students' adjustment and acculturation challenges, the role of academic advising in assisting with such challenges has received scarce empirical attention. This phenomenological study explored how international students' communications with their academic advisors influenced their educational adjustment and growth in a university setting. Semi structured interviews with 15 international students revealed three overarching themes: advisor-advisee interactions, quality of information, and advising limits vis-à-vis international student issues. Using validation theory, this study's discussion and recommendations centered on advising practices that fostered or hindered international students' perceptions of academic advising.

The topic of this academic review is settler slogans that mandate colonial school policy in North America. Also discussed is Indigenous futurity as a strategy for transforming education and countering the educational harm that comes from weaponized language. Beginning in 1887, the US federal government authorized colonial schooling, using the dangerous educational cliché "Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." The purpose of this article was to illuminate this weaponizing rhetoric in education, which served as a guiding principle for imposing Indigenous assimilation that manifested as federal policy in the Americas. Research questions were, How did the kill-and-save slogan shape US and Canadian education and policy? How can the concept of Indigenous futurity improve Indigenous education? Colonial settler efforts to control tribal nations with weaponizing rhetoric leveled at education policy, public perception, and compulsory boarding/residential schools are exposed. Peer-reviewed studies were read, with analysis of 51 sources, many authored by Indigenous academics. Resultant cultural genocide, systemic discrimination, and educational disparity are described. Indigenous resistance to settler ideologies, policies, and settlements, as well as assertions of tribal rights, freedom, and sovereignty, reflect patterns in the material analyzed. Modern-day empowerment of society's most vulnerable ethnic group requires a deep rethinking of schooling processes. Debunking settler futurity, the lesser-known Indigenous view of futurity looks to sustaining Indigenous communities and calls on society for amends.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the essential experiences and skills required for successful and effective leadership at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in the United States. Utilizing Weick's seven properties of sensemaking as a framework, this study examines how participants developed their sensemaking abilities regarding their presidencies at TCUs. To conduct this research, a phenomenological qualitative research method was utilized, analysing 11 interviews with TCU presidents. The themes identified in this study included developing a vision plan that the Tribal community supports; learning to communicate with diverse stakeholders; understanding Tribal and non-Tribal politics for fundraising and accreditations; and eliciting mentors from Tribal leaders and other TCU presidents. These findings have vital implications for individuals interested in pursuing leadership positions at TCUs, as they highlight emic perspectives on the skills and experiences necessary for success in these roles.

Background: The literature suggests that educators can use parent-educator communication to support parents with engaging their children in home learning activities (Epstein, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). Objective: This study examines the relations between parent-educator communication and preschoolers' numeracy, literacy, executive function, and vocabulary, and explores if the home numeracy environment (HNE) and the home literacy environment (HLE) was a better predictor of children's outcomes than parent-educator communication. Method: Data for this study came from a larger quasi-experimental study evaluating a state-funded preschool program (n = 558). Regression models were run controlling for child's age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, group, parental education, and baseline skill scores. Results: Analyses revealed a significant relation only between parent-educator communication and numeracy skills ([beta] = -0.14, p = < 0.001). Unexpectedly, more frequent parent-educator communication in preschool were related to lower numeracy skills. Additionally, there was a statistically significant association between all three predictors -- parent-educator communication ([beta] = - 0.15, p = < 0.001), the HNE ([beta] = 0.14, p = 0.016), and the HLE ([beta] = - 0.18, p = 0.004) -- and children's numeracy skills. Specifically, more frequent parent-educator communication and higher HLE scores in preschool predicted lower numeracy skills. Additionally, the higher quality of the HNE predicted greater numeracy skills in the spring of preschool. Conclusion: There may be increased communication when the children are performing lower on their numeracy skills than their peers and teachers and parents are working to remediate those challenges.

One of the most challenging aspects of being an EFL teacher is coping with reticent students who are largely unwilling to communicate. This mixed-methods single case study, conducted with volunteer preparatory class students experiencing speaking anxiety at a Department of English Language and Literature in Turkey, aims to determine whether explicit training in communication strategies alleviates English-major students' speaking anxiety. The study employs a pre-posttest experimental research design and combines qualitative and quantitative research methods. Both verbal and numerical data indicate that the students' use of communication strategies, language production, and classroom participation are relatively higher compared to their levels before the strategy training. The results suggest that strategy training can effectively reduce EFL speaking anxiety among students. Accordingly, the study provides valuable insights for educators, practitioners, and program designers aiming to enhance students' oral communication skills in EFL settings.

The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) has caused significant disruption to the traditional educational teaching ecosystem. GAI possesses remarkable capabilities in generating human-like text and boasts an extensive knowledge repository, thereby paving the way for potential collaboration with humans. However, current research on collaborating with GAI within the educational context remains insufficient and the methods are relatively limited. This study aims to utilize methods such as Lag Sequential Analysis (LSA) and Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) to unveil the "black box" of the human-machine collaborative process. In this research, 22 students engaged in collaborative tasks with GAI to refine instructional design schemes within an authentic classroom setting. The results show that the participants significantly improved the quality of instructional design. Leveraging the improvement demonstrated in students' instructional design performance, we categorized them into high- and low-performance groups. Through the analysis of learning behavior, it was observed that the high-performance group adhered to a structured GAI content application framework: "generate [right arrow] monitor [right arrow] apply [right arrow] evaluate." Moreover, they adeptly employed communication strategies emphasizing exercising cognitive agency and actively cultivating a collaborative environment. The conclusions drawn from this research may serve as a reference for a series of practical applications in human-machine collaboration and provide directions for subsequent studies.

College students are at a heightened risk of experiencing depression and anxiety symptomatology and engaging in maladaptive alcohol use. Understanding how alcohol interventions impact emotional functioning is essential. One such intervention uses Deviance Regulation Theory (DRT), which posits that behavior can be modified using targeted messaging as a function of perceived norms. DRT has been shown to be effective at increasing responsible drinking behaviors and decreasing alcohol-related consequences. However, it is unclear if this intervention influences emotional functioning. The current examines the impact of a DRT intervention on emotional functioning. Participants (n = 147) were recruited from a large Southeastern university. The study included a screening phase, intervention, and six-week follow-up. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a positive message condition about people who drink responsibly, a negative message condition about people who do not drink responsibly, and an active control condition. During the study, all participants reported on depression/anxiety symptoms, alcohol use, responsible drinking, and alcohol-related consequences. Mixed-effects regression was used to analyze the data. Results suggest an overall reduction of depressive and anxiety symptomatology in the intervention conditions but not in the control condition. In the positive condition, there was a decrease in depressive and anxiety symptomatology. The messaging was not moderated by normative beliefs. The negative condition also led to decreases in depression and anxiety symptomatology over time. In addition, perceived norms moderated the negative message in the first week after the intervention, an effect consistent with DRT. Prior research indicates this intervention is efficacious for the reduction of adverse alcohol outcomes; these data show that the intervention may also have positive effects on downstream mental health outcomes.

Global literacy partnerships between the Global North and Global South inevitably reside in the expansive waters of neoliberal reforms and coloniality. Global North and Global South literacy educators within global literacy partnerships must decolonize life through a liberatory praxis whereby they are convinced of the right and the duty to fight, to denounce and to announce. Nonviolent Communication, with its focus on speaking honestly and listening empathetically, provides a framework for cultivating the criticality, awareness, and connection needed to disrupt neoliberal reforms and coloniality within partnerships. Through NVC, the everyday dialogic experiences of Global North and Global South educators can generate a "power with" relationship instead of a "power over" relationship of oppression and coloniality.

Bang on the System pairs critical race theory (CRT) with the litany of radical democratic analysis guiding the social practices of various revolutionary movements, proposing a new pedagogical framework that deploys a mutually informed critical race praxis as the basis to engage historically dispossessed youth in their own learning. This lens is utilized to examine an interpretive case study from a corpus of existing qualitative data collected through teacher action inquiries in one of California's most underserved schools and targeted communities. Specifically, the authors analyze the role of a People's praxis as an effective pedagogy to mediate student resistance.

This classroom study evaluates the effectiveness of pre-teaching communication strategies before learners undertake an information-gap speaking task. A convenience sample of 67 first-year students taking mandatory English classes at a private Japanese university was subject to one of two instructional approaches. The experimental group (n=37) undertook a pre-task communication strategy awareness activity coupled with a video modeling the ensuing information-gap task and communication strategies, while the control group (n=30) received no pre-task training. An analysis of speaking times, task worksheets and audio recordings of conversations indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in task accuracy and communicative efficiency. In addition, a review of experimental group conversations indicated that most participants implemented the six targeted communicative strategies multiple times throughout the speaking task. Major implications for foreign language teachers include the value of pre-task modeling and communication strategies awareness-raising to help learners overcome disconnects in communicative tasks. Further, this study demonstrates the utility of information-gap speaking tasks for: (a) practicing communicative strategies; and (b) developing learners' communicative competencies for real-world English as a lingua franca contexts.

The number of school-aged students with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds is increasing across the United States. This survey identifies strategies school nurses use for communicating to families with limited English proficiency and describes recommendations to improve language needs. The online survey was completed by K-12 school nurses and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Among the 52 participants, only 23% (n = 12) indicated that resources they were currently using to interpret health information always met their language needs, with the most common resource described as school personnel who can speak the language needed for interpretation. To improve communication, most (73%; n = 38) participants described preferences for in-person resources and estimated that if on-demand interpreter resources were readily available, they would use on-demand resources for approximately 3.6 hours per week. By improving linguistic and cultural competencies among students and families with limited English proficiency, school nurses can improve student health outcomes.

Recently, multiple health organizations and advocacy groups have pushed for giving an R-rating for movies depicting tobacco imagery. This study examined several predictors of U.S. adults' opinion toward an R-rating policy for movies depicting cigarette smoking. We used data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (2020 cycle), for a nationally representative sample of 3,865 US adults (aged = 18). The outcome variable was opinion toward an R-rating policy (support, neutral, and oppose) for movies depicting cigarette smoking. A weighted adjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis with comparisons of support versus oppose, support versus neutral, and neutral versus oppose was performed. About 48.2% of respondents were supportive of, 31.1% were neutral toward, and 20.7% were opposed to an R-rating policy. Adults aged 50 to 64 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.28, p = 0.008) and =65 years (aOR = 4.54, p <0.001) (vs. 18-34 years) were more likely to support the R-rating policy than oppose it. Non-Hispanic Black respondents (vs. non-Hispanic Whites) were 1.74 times more likely to support than oppose the policy (aOR = 1.74, p = 0.04), whereas adults with a household annual income of US$75,000 or more (vs. <$20,000) and those with moderate (vs. liberal) political viewpoints were more likely to be neutral than oppose the policy. Former and current e-cigarette users (vs. never users) were less likely to support than oppose the policy. Tailored messaging addressing the rationale behind R-rating policy should be directed towards communities based on age, race/ethnicity, household income, e-cigarette usage, and political ideologies.

The presentation of survey requests represents an easily modifiable feature of survey communications that can in some contexts affect response propensities. Here, we examine how two features: the framing of the participation request (informed by prospect theory) and the inclusion of targeted appeals based on demographic background (age or electoral district), affect participation rates in the 2021 Icelandic National Election Study, a mixed-mode cross-sectional survey. We find that these features generally fail to affect response propensities and sample composition. However, framed requests produced marginally higher response rates for a subset of the sample that was invited to complete the survey online. This suggests that modifying the presentation of the survey request may be less effective in cross-sectional surveys than in longitudinal ones, where more information is available to inform the content of targeted messages.

This study explored the communication strategies of college students majoring in one of five modern foreign languages (i.e., English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish) and their relation to communication confidence. It also explored the association between their strategy use and the difficulty regarding the speaking components, and students' feedback on pedagogical tasks to improve their speaking ability. A questionnaire survey of communication strategy was distributed to 538 college students in Taiwan, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 students. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the majored language and the use of communication strategies. Specifically, a one-way between-groups MANOVA revealed that the participants adopted the message reduction/alteration and fluency-oriented strategies frequently and equally, regardless of the language they studied. English and Spanish learners employed social affective, phonological awareness, and negotiation for meaning while speaking strategies more frequently than German learners. Students who reported difficulties in fluency, lexical resources, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation while speaking the major language employed social affective strategies less frequently. Finally, students' preferences for particular tasks reflected the speaking components they wished to foster. It is concluded that lexical and grammatical knowledge should be emphasized first to build communication confidence and strengthen fluency.

This qualitative study explores the perceptions of 24 female first-grade teachers from northern Israel regarding parental emotions during their children's transition to first grade. Using semi-structured interviews, it examines the teachers' communication strategies and their self-assessed skills and training to effectively engage with parents at this critical stage. The findings highlight teachers' awareness of parents' concerns about social integration, academic performance, and behavioral adaptation. Despite the importance of effective communication, teachers face challenges due to parental disengagement and over-involvement and report a lack of formal training, relying instead on self-developed strategies.

Context: Clinical immersion experiences allow students to gain firsthand, authentic experiences to help them successfully matriculate into the profession. Preceptors supervise athletic training students during these experiences and are critical in the student's clinical competence development. It is important to understand their needs to help facilitate a successful experience for the student. Objective: To explore the needs of preceptors as they facilitate clinical immersion experiences for their athletic training students. Design: Qualitative case study. Setting: Athletic training practice settings facilitating clinical immersion. Patients or Other Participants: Eight preceptors (6 female, 2 male) who met our inclusion criteria participated in our study. Data Collection and Analysis: An exploratory, multiple-case study design was completed with preceptors. Results: Four major themes emerged regarding preceptor needs for facilitating a clinical immersion experience: onboarding, communication on individual student needs, professional development as an educator, and relying on social support network. Conclusions: Preceptors in our study communicated several needs that would better assist them in facilitating an immersive clinical experience for their students. Understanding these needs as a program administrator can better enhance the relationship between the didactic and clinical components of the educational program. Preceptors must also ask for additional information, resources, and support to help serve their needs in facilitating an immersive clinical experience for a student.

Beginning in 1906, the teachers who developed the profession of school social work conducted home visits to bridge communication between the school and home. In the more than 100 years that the profession has continued, home visiting has remained a cornerstone. Despite its continued importance, there remains a lack of comprehensive instruction on how to conduct effective home visits within higher education or professional development programs. This article aims to address this gap by acknowledging the limited research focused specifically on home visiting in school social work and consults the broader home visiting research, applying it to the unique setting of school social work. This article will delve into the purpose and benefits of home visiting, strategies for effective data collection during visits, cultural competencies necessary for fostering productive outcomes, and safety considerations for school social workers. Through this exploration, this article's authors aim to provide valuable insights and guidance for school social workers striving to enhance their practice and strengthen connections between schools and families.

Ecolinguistic studies deal with the socio-ecological contexts, actors and factors involved in producing, perceiving, and practicing a language. Being supported by immense scholarship about the power of language in shaping the receivers' mind, culture, and lifestyles, including shopping, a shift toward sustainability can start by employing ecological linguistics in marketing communications to attain both profitabilities which is the end goal of marketing, and sustainability which is the ultimate condition of survival and living. Therefore, the present study addresses the question of what ecolinguistic discourse strategies can be proposed for developing marketing and product development contents in Product Relationship Management (PRM). To answer the question, a mixed method including an experiment, and a questionnaire survey was employed, to investigate the effectiveness of using a chosen rhetorical device in ads about preserving natural resources and re-commerce for selling selected products in retail businesses. Re-commerce is short for "reverse commerce," referring to the practice of selling previously owned or used products through online or physical marketplaces. In the experiment employed in the present study, an ecological ad containing the rhetorical question was given to the experimental group, and a purely commercial ad about the same customer good for the control group. The results gathered from 80 potential customers (participants) showed that using the rhetorical questions had a significant and distinctive effect on the purchase intention of the participants.

Debriefing is a critical part of successfully implementing educational computer-based simulation games to maximize learning outcomes. Simulation game effectiveness, regarding exploring gaming characteristics and cognitive and affective impacts, has been thoroughly researched. However, debriefing is overlooked by some as time-consuming and unnecessary. Debriefing can be implemented as a process-based approach to increase experiential learning while facilitating educational simulation games. Minimal research has been conducted to identify approaches and components of successful debriefing communications and to gauge which aspects of the process are most impactful for learners. This article approaches planning debriefing interactions through a theoretical project management lens by applying a proactive, process-oriented, adaptive framework to develop a debriefing communications plan. Simulation games exhibit project characteristics, this framework is an appropriate and valuable approach to efficiently and effectively implement simulation games. Applying this theoretical framework with intentionality, integrating debriefing into educational simulation game facilitation, can contribute to favorable learning outcomes.

Drawing on interviews with 70 college peer socialization agents (PSAs) across 42 U.S.-based institutions of higher education, this study explores how PSAs create "underlives" (Goffman, 1961) in response to their roles and expectations for communicating institutional messages about diversity. Findings from this study illuminate the ways in which institutional scripts produce tension for the PSAs who enact them and the symbolic, behavioral, and discursive ways in which PSAs use distancing strategies to resist. Most of these public-facing students employed "contained" strategies to preserve an underlife away from the surveillance and pressures of the institution. However, some students - especially Students of Color and those from other marginalized groups - also sometimes utilized more "disruptive" forms of underlife, using resistance to attempt systemic change. We illustrate these strategies by presenting two narrative vignettes of participants' experiences that explore and develop the roles of identity, relationships, environment, and expectations in influencing PSAs strategic decisions.

Nanolearning represents an educational methodology rooted in personalisation and the individualisation of the educational process, leveraging contemporary information technologies. Nanolearning, closely intertwined with self-regulated learning, entails an individual's capacity to plan, monitor and regulate their learning process, objectives and strategies. In nanolearning, information is presented in small, discrete fragments, necessitating students to autonomously manage their time and educational progress, thereby determining when and what to study. Nanolearning and TikTok can synergistically intersect, yielding innovative pedagogical approaches. TikTok, a popular social platform for sharing concise video clips, introduces a novel mode of information dissemination and interpersonal communication. Background: The introduction of a flexible education system that meets the individual requirements of a student is a burning need of our time. The study hypothesis is as follows: Will nanolearning be able to change the self-regulatory competence of the experiment participants and how exactly? Objectives: The current study aimed to determine nanolearning effectiveness in the context of students' self-regulation development. Methods: This was done using a self-regulation questionnaire addressed to a sample of 120 students of the Kokshetau University named after A. Myrzakhmetov. As a nanolearning platform, this study benefited from the TikTok app. Results: The results showed that the experimental group achieved significantly higher scores than the control group on goal setting, environmental structuring, task strategies, time management, help-seeking and self-evaluation. Conclusions: The results obtained can help develop a set of activities for the optimisation of the educational process to improve student professional competence.

Background: Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study's goal was to assess the effectiveness of 2 messaging strategies on participation in SARS-CoV-2 weekly testing. Methods: Cluster randomized trials were conducted at 2 school systems, the special school district (SSD) and Kennedy Krieger Institute (Kennedy) to assess messaging strategies, general versus enhanced, to increase weekly screening for SARS-CoV-2. Testing was offered to staff and students from November 23, 2020 to May 26, 2022. The primary outcomes were percentage of students and staff consented weekly and percentage of study participants who had a test performed weekly. Generalized estimating equation models were utilized to evaluate the primary outcomes. Results: Increases in enrollment and testing occurred during study start up, the beginning of school years, and following surges in both systems. No statistical difference was observed in the primary outcomes between schools receiving standard versus enhanced messaging. Implications for School Health Policy, Practice, and Equity: Frequent and consistent communication is vital for families and staff. Weekly screening testing within schools is possible and highlighted the importance of utilizing equitable protocols to provide important testing to students with IDD. Conclusion: Enhanced messaging strategies did not increase the number of participants enrolled or the percentage of enrolled participants being tested on a weekly basis. [The COMPASS-T Study Group contributed to the writing of this article.]

Schools in the rural context of Limpopo Province, South Africa have a plethora of challenges, which have a negative impact on learner achievement. This paper argues that for schools to triumph over the obstacles, effective school leaders are necessary. Such leaders must define and communicate a clear vision and mission and work with stakeholders to achieve them. With these assumptions, this paper explores how members of the school management team (SMT) of a rural school in the Limpopo Province define and communicate their school's vision and mission. Through the qualitative research method underpinned by the interpretive paradigm, a case research design was adopted and a single high school sampled to participate. Data were generated from semi-structured interviews with seven SMT members, a focus-group discussion with six teachers, and an observation of the research site. The findings revealed that most participants could not articulate the school's vision and mission. In addition, stakeholders were not involved in the processes of defining the vision and mission and communication methods in this regard were also ineffective. Lastly, the SMT viewed the vision and mission as fixed and did not review them. Based on these findings, I conclude that SMT members must understand that the vision and mission could serve more than a visual purpose when designed as guiding principles to direct smaller objectives within the organisation.

This article applies cultural translation (Kramsch and Hua 2020) and geohistorical frameworks (Braudel 1949; Scott 2018) to analyze the interplay between linguistic, cultural, physical, and ideological proximities and distances in immigrant advocacy and outreach efforts. Data are taken from 'small stories' (Georgakopoulou 2010, 2015) shared by directors of immigrant-serving organizations in a small metropolitan area in the USA during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. These stories demonstrate directors' situated perspectives on new and changing demands for communicating information in the face of persistent challenges associated with the digital divide, reaching clients with limited literacy and who speak indigenous languages of Central America and Africa, and cultivating trust among staff and between staff and clients around COVID-19 mitigation and relief. Findings trace how local, state, and national policies were taken up by individual participants and the communities they serve and bring to light the value of applied linguistics research in amplifying the complexities of language access in times of crisis as well as community resilience that are often hiding in plain sight.

In this article, we describe the exploration of the content and quality of annual goals included in the Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) of students with disabilities in one rural U.S. school district. We utilized content analysis to understand the district's service delivery model comprehensively. Findings revealed disparities between inclusive placements and special education service delivery, suggesting that, despite high rates of inclusive placements noted on IEPs, most services occurred outside general education classrooms, especially for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). We evaluated the quality and rigor of 546 annual goals using a rubric adapted from Kurth et al. Only 37.7% of goals were rated as rigorous, highlighting a need for clearer, more specific, and applicable goals. Notably, communication goals for students with IDD were largely absent, raising concerns about support for meaningful participation in general education settings. In addition, special factors related to communication and assistive technology were not consistently addressed in IEPs. We discuss implications for improving educational experiences for students who qualify for special education services under IDD in rural schools and highlight the value of further research and actions in this area.

In recent years, an increasing number of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) undergraduates have chosen to study in STEM fields and pursue careers in research. Yet, very little research has been undertaken on the barriers and inclusive experiences often faced by D/HH undergraduates who prefer to use spoken English in research settings, instead of American Sign Language (ASL). To identify barriers and inclusive strategies, we studied six English speaking D/HH undergraduate students working in research laboratories with their eight hearing mentors, and their three hearing peers sharing their experiences. Three researchers observed the interactions between all three groups and conducted interviews and focus groups, along with utilizing the Communication Assessment Self-Rating Scale (CASS). The main themes identified in the findings were communication and environmental barriers in research laboratories, creating accessible and inclusive laboratory environments, communication strategies, and self-advocating for effective communication. Recommendations for mentors include understanding the key elements of creating an inclusive laboratory environment for English speaking D/HH students and effectively demonstrating cultural competence to engage in inclusive practices.

Purpose: According to the interpersonal synergy model of spoken dialogue, interlocutors modify their communicative behaviors to meet the contextual demands of a given conversation. Although a growing body of research supports this postulation for linguistic behaviors (e.g., semantics, syntax), little is understood about how this model applies to speech behaviors (e.g., speech rate, pitch). The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that interlocutors adjust their speech behaviors across different conversational tasks with different conversational goals. Method: In this study, 28 participants each engaged in two different types of conversations (i.e., relational and informational) with two partners (i.e., Partner 1 and Partner 2), yielding a total of 112 conversations. We compared six acoustic measures of participant speech behavior across conversational task and partner. Results: Linear mixed-effects models demonstrated significant differences between speech feature measures in informational and relational conversations. Furthermore, these findings were generally robust across conversations with different partners. Conclusions: Results suggest that contextual demands influence speech behaviors. These findings provide empirical support for the interpersonal synergy model and highlight important considerations for assessing speech behaviors in individuals with communication disorders.