Islamic junior high school students’ English proficiency test scores and their L2 motivational self-system: a correlational study

The L2 motivational self-system (L2MSS) has been extensively investigated in multiple contexts. However, few studies have explored its correlation with Islamic junior high English students’ proficiency test results. To fill the void, this study examines the relationship between the L2MSS and English proficiency test scores among Indonesian Islamic junior high school students. Data were garnered quantitatively from 30 students of an Institute for Foreign Language Development at an Indonesian private university through a questionnaire and an English proficiency test and then were analyzed using the SPSS software system. The findings revealed that the correlation between motivation and achievement was statistically insignificant. We obtained the score of three components; ideal L2 self (r = .01, p .05), L2 learning experience (r = -.204, p .05), and ought to L2 self (r = -.343, p .05). The findings suggest that the ideal L2 self showed a very low relationship and the other two demonstrated a negative direction correlation. This study contributes insights into the understanding of the correlation between foreign language learning motivation and its influence on achievement in the Islamic boarding school context. Further research could recruit participants from wider areas with different contexts

The Portrait of Teacher Talk and Language Choices in EFL Classroom: Insights for Children’s Language Learning

The present study focused on teachers’ perceptions of how teacher talk works in the classroom and some challenges they might encounter during initiating interaction to encourage students.  A classroom observation was done to portray the data of the learning process and teachers’ interview was also conducted to discover insights about teacher talk and the challenges encountered in the classroom interaction. Findings demonstrated that the teachers enacted dominant English communication as the input rather than using students’ first language. They felt increasing the use of the target language would be more challenging as it is influenced by some aspects from both teachers and students’ motivation, attitude, and proficiency. In addition, teacher talk is varied in some extents based on the teacher and student factors. The findings also showed that teacher talk mostly occurred in the form of asking questions, giving directions, explaining the lesson, and praising the students. In addition, as the students were considered young learners, it was found that classroom interaction and language choice must be adjustable in order to make communication become more effective.   Keywords: teacher talk, perception, challenge, language choice, primary level

The 13th Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics

Ngā mihi aroha ki ngā tangata katoa and warm greetings to you all. Welcome to Herenga Delta 2021, the Thirteenth Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics. It has been ten years since the Volcanic Delta Conference in Rotorua, and we are excited to have the Delta community return to Aotearoa New Zealand, if not in person, then by virtual means. Although the limits imposed by the pandemic mean that most of this year’s 2021 participants are unable to set foot in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, this has certainly not stopped interest in this event. Participants have been invited to draw on the concept of herenga, in Te Reo Māori usually a mooring place where people from afar come to share their knowledge and experiences. Although many of the participants are still some distance away, the submissions that have been sent in will continue to stimulate discussion on mathematics and statistics undergraduate education in the Delta tradition. The conference invited papers, abstracts and posters, working within the initial themes of Values and Variables. The range of submissions is diverse, and will provide participants with many opportunities to engage, discuss, and network with colleagues across the Delta community. The publications for this thirteenth Delta Conference include publications in the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, iJMEST, (available at https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tmes20/collections/Herenga-Delta-2021), the Conference Proceedings, and the Programme (which has created some interesting challenges around time-zones), by the Local Organizing Committee. Papers in the iJMEST issue and the Proceedings were peer reviewed by at least two reviewers per paper. Of the ten submissions to the Proceedings, three were accepted. We are pleased to now be at the business end of the conference and hope that this event will carry on the special atmosphere of the many Deltas which have preceded this one. We hope that you will enjoy this conference, the virtual and social experiences that accompany it, and take the opportunity to contribute to further enhancing mathematics and statistics undergraduate education. Ngā manaakitanga, Phil Kane (The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau) on behalf of the Local Organising Committ

Decentralised centralism: insights from a Malaysian cluster school of excellence

Currently, in many developing countries, there have been intensified efforts by policymakers to push for decentralisation of education as part of a neo-liberal reform agenda to improve school management efficiency and cater to localised needs. In the Malaysian context, the government has attempted further decentralisation of autonomy in selected public schools, marking a shift from the post-independence centralised education structure. This has led to the development of Cluster Schools of Excellence, practising some form of school-based management and accorded autonomy in the selection of niche areas, programme planning and programme implementation. Drawing primarily on the interview narratives from school administrators as key policy actors, this study examines how autonomy is manifested at the micro-level and how the school administrators exercise their agency when they are accorded autonomy. Using a decentralised centralism framework, the tensions and complexities in education policy implementation are highlighted in this study. Findings reveal that agency and autonomy are held by both macro and micro-level policy actors in varying degrees, and that school administrators have fundamental agency in school-level policy implementation. The study also explores the dynamics of the decentralisation process and raises the issue of re-centralisation of authority through decentralisation of education

The teaching of EFL reading at a university level: Teachers' and students' perceptions

This study investigated the teaching of EFL reading at a university level from teacher’s and students’ perspectives. It delved into how the participating lecturer conducted the teaching of reading. Moreover, it shared the difficulties of teaching reading and the difficulties of students in reading. In this research, the researchers used a case study. The researchers used observation and interviews to collect the data. The participants of this study are one lecturer and three students situated in a private Islamic university in Malang, Indonesia. The recruited lecturer has been teaching reading for more than 10 years. Meanwhile, the recruited students were selected because they were close to the researchers and easy to access. The findings suggest that the teaching of reading was done by making a group discussion and cooperative learning such as Think-Pair-Share and Jigsaw. Besides, the minimal access to high-quality books for students’ reading tasks is one of the difficulties in the teaching of reading. Students also found it difficult to read difficult words. Mostly, they skipped the words and struggled to look for the text's main ideas and topic sentences. Finally, based on the result of the study, it is suggested that English lecturers should use appropriate reading books and techniques, select other supplementary materials, and vary the teaching activities. Future researchers are urged to conduct more intensive research in the teaching of reading in different contexts

A new species of Hemiphyllodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Hong Kong

Sung, Yik-Hei, Lee, Wing-Ho, Ng, Ho-Nam, Zhang, Yanjie, Yang, Jian-Huan (2018): A new species of Hemiphyllodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Hong Kong. Zootaxa 4392 (2): 361-373, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4392.2.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of adult height in East Asians identifies 17 novel loci

Human height is associated with risk of multiple diseases and is profoundly determined by an individual's genetic makeup and shows a high degree of ethnic heterogeneity. Large-scale genome-wide association (GWA) analyses of adult height in Europeans have identified nearly 180 genetic loci. A recent study showed high replicability of results from Europeans-based GWA studies in Asians; however, population-specific loci may exist due to distinct linkage disequilibrium patterns. We carried out a GWA meta-analysis in 93 926 individuals from East Asia. We identified 98 loci, including 17 novel and 81 previously reported loci, associated with height at P < 5 × 10(-8), together explaining 8.89% of phenotypic variance. Among the newly identified variants, 10 are commonly distributed (minor allele frequency, MAF > 5%) in Europeans, with comparable frequencies with in Asians, and 7 single-nucleotide polymorphisms are with low frequency (MAF < 5%) in Europeans. In addition, our data suggest that novel biological pathway such as the protein tyrosine phosphatase family is involved in regulation of height. The findings from this study considerably expand our knowledge of the genetic architecture of human height in Asians