TEACHER BELIEF AND PRACTICE IN A SCHOOL-BASED ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM IN EASTERN INDONESIA

This study examines an English language teacher’s beliefs and practices within the context of implementation of school-based curriculum in Eastern Indonesia. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between teacher belief and practice in the school-based curriculum through two research questions: “What are the teacher’s beliefs about teaching English in a school-based curriculum setting?” and “How does the school-based curriculum influence the teacher’s beliefs and practices?”. This case study adopts purposeful sampling involving a volunteered public junior high school English language teacher. It derives its qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, observation field notes and lesson plans. It identifies two themes of this teacher’s belief: “pragmatic views of teaching” and “conformity to practice”. When the beliefs were examined in relation to the practices, another two themes emerged, and they were “negotiation between expectations and practices” and “tension between conformity and practice”. The findings of this study indicate that negotiation was a constant practice while teaching within the context of the school-based curriculum. Although the teacher demonstrated autonomy in classroom management and teaching strategies, the freedom was not extended to the selection of teaching materials and activities. The identified tensions between conformity and practice highlight issues in teacher readiness and teacher support on the implementation of school-based curriculum. Keywords: Classroom practice, English language teacher, Indonesia, school-based curriculum, teacher belief. Cite as: Too, W. K. & Saimima, E. J. (2019). Teacher belief and practice in a school-based English language classroom in eastern Indonesia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(1), 211-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss1pp211-23

Pre-service teachers' reflection in reading of literary texts in weblogs

This qualitative study examines twenty-five preservice English language teachers' reflective level in their reading of literary texts. 189 weblog entries were analysed. The five levels of reflection identified were Identification, Association, Integration, Analysis, and Transformation, with Identification and Association levels considered a 'surface learning' while the remaining three as 'deep learning'. The results indicated while the percentage of reflection at all levels was almost equally distributed, the combined percentage of the 'deep learning' constituted almost seventy percentage of the total number of weblog entries. This outcome indicated that weblogs were useful for reflection of reading literary texts

Ensuring Acceptability and Feasibility: The Challenges of Educational Policy Reform in Malaysia

This article reports research on the implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013–2025, drawing on 49 extended interviews with senior policy makers at federal, state and district levels, and school principals, informed by a systematic review of international and Malaysian literature. The findings show that the reforms are poorly understood by officials and school leaders, leading to partial and unenthusiastic enactment. The paper concludes that such ambitious reforms need to be acceptable, to ensure “ownership” of the reform agenda, and feasible, to avoid disenchantment by officials, school leaders and teachers

Connecting Linkin Park and Good Charlotte to ESL learners

This paper documents students’ response to popular songs in the language classroom and asserts that songs can be a form of useful resource in the language classroom for purposes of language development and to connect learners to issues that are of interest to young adults. This paper reports the findings of a study which used two popular songs in a language classroom to develop reading, writing and speaking skills. The researchers use songs to connect their learners to both the issues in the texts and language elements. The study indicates that students were able to express their viewpoints in relation to the issues in the songs and that the songs, which were familiar to the learners, encouraged them to participate in the classroom activitie

Integrative Profiling of T790M-Negative EGFR-Mutated NSCLC Reveals Pervasive Lineage Transition and Therapeutic Opportunities

Purpose: Despite the established role of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in EGFR-mutated NSCLC, drug resistance inevitably ensues, with a paucity of treatment options especially in EGFRT790M-negative resistance. Experimental Design: We performed whole-exome and transcriptome analysis of 59 patients with first- and second-generation EGFR TKI-resistant metastatic EGFR-mutated NSCLC to characterize and compare molecular alterations mediating resistance in T790M-positive (T790M(+)) and -negative (T790M(-)) disease. Results: Transcriptomic analysis revealed ubiquitous loss of adenocarcinoma lineage gene expression in T790M(-) tumors, orthogonally validated using multiplex IHC. There was enrichment of genomic features such as TP53 alterations, 3q chromosomal amplifications, whole-genome doubling and nonaging mutational signatures in T790M(-) tumors. Almost half of resistant tumors were further classified as immune(hot), with clinical outcomes conditional on immune cell-infiltration state and T790M status. Finally, using a Bayesian statistical approach, we explored how T790M(-) and T790M(+) disease might be predicted using comprehensive genomic and transcriptomic profiles of treatment-naive patients. Conclusions: Our results illustrate the interplay between genetic alterations, cell lineage plasticity, and immune microenvironment in shaping divergent TKI resistance and outcome trajectories in EGFR-mutated NSCLC. Genomic and transcriptomic profiling may facilitate the design of bespoke therapeutic approaches tailored to a tumor's adaptive potential

Genomic landscape of lung adenocarcinoma in East Asians

Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death and shows strong ancestry disparities. By sequencing and assembling a large genomic and transcriptomic dataset of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) in individuals of East Asian ancestry (EAS; n = 305), we found that East Asian LUADs had more stable genomes characterized by fewer mutations and fewer copy number alterations than LUADs from individuals of European ancestry. This difference is much stronger in smokers as compared to nonsmokers. Transcriptomic clustering identified a new EAS-specific LUAD subgroup with a less complex genomic profile and upregulated immune-related genes, allowing the possibility of immunotherapy-based approaches. Integrative analysis across clinical and molecular features showed the importance of molecular phenotypes in patient prognostic stratification. EAS LUADs had better prediction accuracy than those of European ancestry, potentially due to their less complex genomic architecture. This study elucidated a comprehensive genomic landscape of EAS LUADs and highlighted important ancestry differences between the two cohorts. Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) in Asia indicates that Asian LUADs have fewer mutations, lower driver prevalence and fewer copy number alterations than European LUADs