This study examines how teacher preparation policies across ASEAN incorporate multicultural competence (MC), with two main objectives: (1) to analyze how the Southeast Asia Teacher Competency Framework (SEA-TCF) conceptualizes MC, and (2) to assess the extent to which this framework aligns with national teacher standards in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Guided by Gorski’s (2009) model for multicultural teacher education (MTE) and Van Dijk’s (2015) socio-cognitive discourse framework, this qualitative document analysis finds that both the SEA-TCF and national standards mainly emphasize cultural sensitivity and inclusive pedagogies—particularly through the SEA-TCF Competency 3: Community Engagement. While the SEA-TCF provides an intergovernmental standard that promotes multicultural competence, national standards reveal uneven institutionalization shaped by distinct sociopolitical and cultural contexts. Policy discourses across the region favour tolerance, harmony, and interpersonal respect, yet seldom advance toward the more critical and transformative dimensions—teaching in sociopolitical contexts (TSC) and teaching as resistance and counter-hegemonic practice (TR). The findings suggest that ASEAN’s teacher education policies remain within a liberal paradigm marked by administrative coherence but limited critical reflexivity. The study calls for regional and national policy reforms that embed equity and social justice into teacher education and develop teachers’ capacity to act as change agents in increasingly diverse educational systems.

Blended MOOCs (b-MOOCs), which combine MOOC-based online learning with offline classes, offer a flexible learning environment and are increasingly popular in global higher education, particularly for English language learning. The study aims to explore the extent to which English students perceived the use of b-MOOCs and their intention to continue to use b-MOOCs for English language learning. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 200 English major students at a Vietnamese private university. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire with 31 items was employed for quantitative data collection, based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Semi-structured interviews were used for qualitative data collection. The results reveal that students’ perception of using b-MOOCs was quite positive. In addition, students claimed that b-MOOCs were useful for their English language learning. Students would continue to use MOOCs in their blended classes since b-MOOCs benefited their English learning process. The study informs educators, educational institutions, and MOOC providers to enhance the effective implementation of b-MOOCs, contributing to the ongoing discussion on technology-driven language education and optimizing language learning experiences in a digitally transformed educational landscape.

The decreasing age at which Taiwanese children begin learning English suggests that Taiwanese society endorses the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) and believes that children should learn English as early as possible to ensure their academic or professional success. Consequently, many parents enroll their children in private English language schools to give them a head start. The purpose of this study is to investigate how television commercials for Taiwanese private English language schools promote the ideology that the-younger-the- better in English learning. This study also explores the underlying ideologies and social injustices associated with early English education. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study analyzes 216 television commercials from private English language schools between 1980 and 2023. The results indicate that a prevailing perception in Taiwan is that English language learning must begin at a young age. The underlying ideologies of the-younger-the-better approach include English as a gateway to the world, English as a means for future success, English for self-improvement, American English as the standard, the ideal English teacher, the ideal English teaching method, and joyful English language learning. Moreover, this ideology has contributed to social injustices affecting Taiwanese children, native languages, and English teachers in contemporary Taiwanese society.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend of using informal styles in academic writing, including research articles. To examine the degree of formality in students’ writing, this corpus-based study aimed to analyze the formal linguistic features in the academic writing assignments of English-major students at a Thai university. The learner corpus consisted of 552 assignments, totaling 190,506 words, and was organized into five different writing patterns. TagAnt was used to identify the part of speech for each word, while the Google Colab program was utilized for frequency counting. To assess the level of formality of the corpus, the F-score method proposed by Heylighen and Dewaele (1999) was applied. The results revealed that nouns were the most frequently used formal linguistic feature in student’s essays. Despite this, the formality score of the learner corpus ranged from 51 to 53 across five years, indicating a relatively low level of formality. This score suggests that the students’ writing was only slightly more formal, signaling the need for further development in grammatical complexity to achieve higher formality in their work. The results highlight the ongoing need for EFL teachers to instruct learners on formal linguistic features in academic writing.

As English plays a key role as an international language, the foundations of teaching and learning English may need to change in response to the new, global sociolinguistic landscape of the twenty-first century. Our study aims to investigate Thai L2 teachers’ perceptions of the ownership and varieties of English today, their current teaching practices in General English courses in Thai university settings, and the possibility of implementing the Global Englishes for Language Teaching (GELT) framework into their teaching practices. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from thirty-five English instructors working in eleven public universities situated in the Bangkok metropolitan and suburban areas. A questionnaire was developed and distributed among the study participants and a number of semi-structured interviews were held based on the GELT framework and previous studies. The main findings show there was general agreement about all users claiming ownership of English and acceptance of its varieties. Implementing the GELT framework in current teaching practices was also considered plausible, even though it would be new and unfamiliar to some L2 teachers, and they believed that their current teaching practices were not problematic. This study sheds light on the growing acceptance of the Global Englishes paradigm in the Thai English Language Teaching (ELT) community, despite the ever-persistent ideology of native-speakerism.

Maintaining mental health during study time is crucial for students, particularly those enrolled in the Ph.D. program. Boredom as one type of mental health problems is occasionally regarded as inconsequential, but in fact has a significant impact on Ph.D. students and the effectiveness of their study. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the contextdependent view of how and why Ph.D. students experience boredom during their studies from three frameworks of context: institutional, emotional, and situational. A survey study was conducted involving 23 Ph.D. students registered at three state Indonesian universities offering English Language Education Doctoral Program in the country. The data were collected through a questionnaire containing both open-ended and closed-ended questions referring to the three contexts of boredom. The collected data were then coded based on these three contexts. The results show that 60.9% of the participants experienced intermediate, 21.7% experienced low, and only 17.4% experienced high levels of boredom with the emotional aspect being the highest reason. Additionally, a small number of participants indicated in the open-ended responses that they did not experience boredom at all. In light of the findings, this study underscores the importance of continuing to support and maintain the favourable conditions experienced by Ph.D. students in the country.

In this study, we conducted an investigation into student satisfaction with a Norwegian university´s capacity to navigate its management of digital resources to provide remote learning facilities during the two-year period of COVID-19. This was carried out from the perspective of students’ course evaluations. We analysed data from over 19,000 course evaluations at the University of Stavanger (UiS), collected between 2020 and 2021. The results indicate that students’ reported satisfaction with their courses remained unchanged throughout the pandemic. Results of this study can be used to ensure that the quality of UiS academic operations meets the expectations of its students.

The present study aimed to determine the effects of a computerized dynamic reading assessment (CDRA) program on English reading comprehension of university students with a lower level of English proficiency. Fulcher’s (2003) framework was adapted in program development divided into three phases: program development, program implementation, and program evaluation. An intact group of 30 Thai EFL undergraduate students with a lower level of English proficiency participated in this mixed-methods study which employed a test-train-test approach. Quantitative data collected from non-dynamic assessment (DA) pre- and post-tests as well as five DA tests were analyzed by means of inferential statistics, while qualitative data elicited from the questionnaire and interview protocol were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The findings revealed that the CDRA program had a positive effect on the students’ reading comprehension, as demonstrated by the post-test results and a large effect size. Qualitative analysis revealed that the students had a positive perspective on the advantages offered by the CDRA program, expressed a preference for the software, and offered opinions and suggestions for further improvement. The findings of this study yield implications and recommendations for EFL instructors of English reading courses regarding the design of the CDRA programs interface and its utilization.

This paper presents the outcomes of an action research study that implemented a linguistic landscape (LL) unit as an English language learning activity at the secondary school level in Rayong, Thailand. The theoretical framework employed in this study draws upon Lefebvre’s (1991) conceptualization of space, adapted for pedagogical purposes as explained by Malinowski (2015). The study places particular emphasis on cultivating students' awareness of the LL in their neighborhood throughout a six-week instructional session. The instructional activities were designed to investigate the potential of LL in enhancing English language acquisition and promoting cultural sensitivity. Data collection involved the utilization of questionnaires and on-site observations. Two main conclusions may be drawn from the action research project's findings. First of all, the students showed signs of a greater sense of familiarity with their neighborhood, which suggests that they are more aware of the LL around them and that they understand LL to be a useful instrument for language learning. Secondly, the students identified a discrepancy between the LL of Rayong and the city’s vibrant economic activity as well as its diverse ethnic and linguistic composition, suggesting that the existing LL does not adequately reflect these dynamic facets of the city.

Research on teacher strategies to improve learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) is limited. However, encouraging outside-the-class conversations could increase L2 exposure and improve communicative skills. This study investigated the effects of self-assessment of self-recorded conversations on Thai university EFL learners’ WTC and self-perceived communicative confidence. It also explored their attitudes towards the self-assessment. A mixed-method research design involving questionnaires, reflective reports, and interviews was employed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the effects and perspectives among 46 first-year university students with low English proficiency. Six students were interviewed to provide deeper insights into self-assessment effects. The results suggested that the self-assessment could develop WTC and self-perceived confidence. Also, it could raise awareness of their speaking problems as well as promote learning autonomy and the feeling of being supported by the teacher. Teachers can use the findings to increase learners’ WTC and foster learning autonomy, especially in the EFL context.