Vol 9, No 1 (2023)

Introduction. With Industry 4.0 and Work 4.0 entering the world, modern education is undergoing transformations in terms of educational practices, skillsets and competencies, teaching and learning methodologies (including flipped classroom, blended learning, self-regulated learning, project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, student-centred pedagogy), digital tools used at all educational levels, as well as barriers and challenges. This string of changes is covered by the new buzzword “Education 4.0”. It is not so far finally defined. There are various explanations of the concept. Most align with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Industry 4.0. The JLE editorial aims to overview the emerging research field of Education 4.0 aligned with Industry 4.0, outlining the potential lines of research for JLE authors.

Industry 4.0. The transformation of production at large is beginning on the basis of a set of innovative technologies and completely brand-new processes. Their combination constitutes the underpinning of Industry 4.0.

Skillsets in Education 4.0. There are numerous views of the skills needed for graduates ready for Industry 4.0. One of the most replicated lists embraces the 10 skills offered by the World Economic Forum in 2016 with later updates. Most researchers outline numerous technical, communication, digital, and cognitive skills as a skillset of Industry 4.0.

Teaching and Learning in Education 4.0. The traditional pedagogy or face-to-face learning, still dominant worldwide, is going to combine with innovative approaches, including, e-learning, and blended learning as a mixture of e-learning ang face-to-face learning. In addition, all student-centered technologies add to the future pedagogical landscape: self-regulated learning, project-based learning, flipped classroom, etc.

Research on Education 4.0. The authors searched the Scopus for the documents related to “Education 4.0” to find that the total of 483 results unevenly distributed from 2010 to 2023, with a high of 137 in 2022. The analysis of the publications on Education 4.0 proves that the research field is developing fast, though publications authored by researchers from the developing countries prevail in the search results. At the same time, most of the selected publications came out in the Scopus-indexed low-quartile or discontinued journals. A disproportionately low number of articles published by the authors from the OECD countries depletes the quality of the research field.

Conclusion. The editorial overview of the concept of Education 4.0 may serve as a topical guidance for researchers at large and potential JLE authors focused on educational research. Further studies in the field may cover skillsets and competencies for Industry 4.0; teaching and learning approaches in Education 4.0; new educational frameworks and environments.

Background. Advances in automated analyses of written discourse have made available a wide range of indices that can be used to better understand linguistic features present in language users’ discourse and the relationships these metrics hold with human raters’ assessments of writing.

Purpose. The present study extends previous research in this area by using the TAALES 2.2 software application to automatically extract 484 single and multi-word metrics of lexical sophistication to examine their relationship with differences in assessed L2 English writing proficiency.

Methods. Using a graded corpus of timed, integrated essays from a major academic English language test, correlations and multiple regressions were used to identify specific metrics that best predict L2 English writing proficiency scores.

Results. The most parsimonious regression model yielded four-predictor variables, with total word count, orthographic neighborhood frequency, lexical decision time, and word naming response time accounting for 36% of total explained variance.

Implications. Results emphasize the importance of writing fluency (by way of total word count) in assessments of this kind. Thus, learners looking to improve writing proficiency may find benefit from writing activities aimed at increasing speed of production. Furthermore, despite a substantial amount of variance explained by the final regression model, findings suggest the need for a wider range of metrics that tap into additional aspects of writing proficiency.

Background. A leading concern in teaching and learning is how to increase the degree of student engagement in learning. Within the virtual educational environment, student engagement is a real issue facing instructors and teachers. Students in online classrooms are not able to engage in the same manner as in face-to-face settings.

Purpose. This study aims to explore the impact and reception of online education on student engagement in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom.

Method. This study adopts a mixed-method approach, in order to understand student engagement online. Longitudinal self-report surveys (SRS) filled out by 127 undergraduate students after each class session throughout a four-week period were used to assess their engagement in online language classrooms. Focus-group interview transcriptions were used to triangulate the data and provide further information about student engagement in terms of gender difference, engagement growth over time, and engagement fostering or hindrance factors in virtual learning classrooms.

Results. Analysis showed that students were generally engaged during the weeks with some variances. Cognitive-social learning engagement showed dynamics among students in virtual language classrooms. Factors such as place of engagement and students’ choice of device used to access the virtual session were found to influence student engagement in online classroom learning. Male and female students generally showed similar learning engagement in the virtual classes with disparities occurring over the study period.

Conclusion. The study results will be beneficial for researchers, instructors, and policymakers who are interested in understanding student engagement and who seek to improve the teaching experience.

Background. The article questions the possibility to increase the level of foreign language command through developing cross-cultural communicative competence (CCC) in students of non-linguistic universities. Despite extensive literature on intercultural communication, there are obviously gaps in investigating the way it can and should be built and the potential impact it may have towards students’ academic performance in general.  

Purpose. The paper aims to find out the possible correlation between the level of CCC formation and a command of a foreign language in general. To pursue the goal, an in-depth research into the CCC structure was carried out and the idea to simultaneously develop all its components was proposed.

Method. The paper reports on the results of the mixed-method research aimed at gathering the data and evaluating them both qualitatively and quantitatively. Senior students of the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, were selected and divided into the control and experimental groups with the subsequent training on the pre-designed curricula, with a primary focus on developing all the components of the CCC in the latter. To assess their performance, the method of experimental verification, self- and peer evaluation, educational observation, questioning method were employed. In-depth data analysis and verification provided post-active phase of the experiment conducted.

Results. The results of the carried-out experiments, first, proved the hypothetical assumptions on the efficiency of developing all the four CCC simultaneously and, second, showed that the targeted CCC development contributes to improving foreign language acquisition in general, which is supported by the increase in 5 out of 6 didactic units of the final testing where the experimental group participants surpassed the students in the control group.  

Conclusion. The study provides evidence for the impact CCC development has on the linguistic communicative competence. The devised methodology can be borrowed and customized for teaching foreign languages to university students and, in particular for developing intrinsic motivation through CCC. Further, future research should address particular components of the CCC.

Background. Language classes organized for adult refugees and migrants are heterogeneous. Students in these educational settings differ across a number of various aspects, including language competences, educational background and levels of literacy. Seen through the Critical Pedagogy lens language is considered not simply as a means to express or communicate, but as a product constructed by the ways language learners recognise themselves, their social surroundings, their histories, and their potentialities for the future.

Purpose. The purpose of our study is to unfold and identify the language needs of a specific group of migrants learners learning English as an additional language in Greece, where English is not the dominant language. We will try to focus and analyse language needs through the critical pedagogy lens and thus make the whole procedure an empowerment tools for the adult refugees and migrants.

Method. As a case study, this study follows a qualitative research design. Τhis small-scale study focuses on a specific target group of language learners and their needs and attitudes towards learning. Class observations, field notes, interviews with the participants and questionnaires with open-ended questions were used as main methodological tools.

Results. The present article examines the needs of a group of immigrant adult learners attending English language classes at a non-formal educational setting located in Greece. The participants come from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds and the majority of them speak Greek fluently since they have resided in Greece for a long time. A focal point throughout the process was students’ greater involvement in the learning procedure and decision-making processes regarding the content and the presentation of the educational material.

Conclusion. Although the systematic needs analysis revealed that the reasons for participation and competence levels among participants varied a lot, a common goal for everyone was achieving oral fluency in the target language. Moreover, the results of this attempt were expressed n terms of learners’ contributions, willingness to share their stories, even to talk about difficulties they met and caring about their classmates’ stories. Thus, we suggest that the incorporation of personal experience in the learning process, not only functions as a link between students and language but also a process for team bonding and motivation.

Background. Many studies suggested that academic procrastination is particularly prevalent among learners at university level. However, empirical data on the interactions between academic procrastination and, respectively, learners’ attitudes towards cheating (AtC), absenteeism, and learning achievement, are either generally inconclusive or non-existent, especially in English as Foreign Language (EFL) literature. Thus, it is worthwhile to conduct a study to examine these issues in the Indonesian EFL context, home to one of the largest communities of EFL learners in the world.

Purpose. The aim of this study was to investigate academic procrastination of Indonesian EFL learners at university level and the interactions of these learners’ procrastination with AtC, absenteeism, and second/foreign language (L2) achievement.

Method. The study used an online survey method and 164 learners from non-English departments participated in this study.

Results. On the basis of descriptive statistics, it was found that the participants reported a moderate level of procrastination in English class. Furthermore, this study found that learners' procrastination significantly and positively correlated with their AtC and absenteeism. This indicated that the more learners procrastinated, the higher their approval of cheating behaviour, and the more likely they were to be absent in English classes. The predictive power of learner procrastination was 16.4% on AtC, and at 8.3% on absenteeism. Moreover, the study also found a significant, negative, and moderate relationship between learner procrastination and their L2 achievement with learners' procrastination being able to predict 16.5% of the total variance in L2 achievement.

Conclusion. Teachers are suggested to promote project-based tasks in groups where the step-by-step progress of learners is continually monitored, feedback given, and rewarded. This could discourage procrastination, absenteeism, as well as cheating behaviours, and potentially promote more optimal L2 achievement.

Background. Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is an instructional method in which students work together in a cooperative framework, jointly construct a model of text and come to its potential meaning through discussions.

Purpose. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group research design was used to examine the effects of cooperative grouping within the framework of CSR, with the aim of determining whether cooperative grouping is effective in developing EFL students’ reading skills.

Method. The response variables included the students’ scores on questions testing Vocabulary, Factual Information, Prose Summary, Sentence Simplification, Reference Question and Insert text, whereas the explanatory variable was group membership (+/- cooperative), measured across three testing times (the beginning, middle and the end of the experimental intervention).

Results. The results indicate that the students exposed to CSR within cooperative groups significantly developed those reading skills which focus on the comprehension of global information – prose summary, insert text and reference question. A possible explanation is that, in order to answer these questions, readers must approach the text in a holistic manner and focus on its main ideas, which seems to be facilitated by discussions in heterogeneous teams and negotiations of meaning resulting from those discussions.

Conclusion. The main pedagogical implication of the results concerns the need for introducing cooperative grouping as an alternative to a typical university-level foreign language classroom, allowing teachers to organize an effective, interactive context for reading academic texts in English.