0000000000976733
AUTHOR
Sotiria Pappa
International Master’s Degree Students’ Well-being at a Finnish University During COVID-19
The rapid developments and consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for university students' well-being are presently being studied across the world. This study contributes to the growing discourse on university students' well-being by exploring changes in international Master's degree students' well-being in relation to the move to online teaching and learning at a Finnish university during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study draws on 37 answers to an open-ended question about remote teaching and learning at the end of a survey on university students' stress. The text data were analysed conducting a preliminary quantitative content analysis and a more detailed thematic analysis, from which two the…
Emotion Regulation and Identity Negotiation: A Short Story Analysis of Finnish Language Teachers’ Emotional Experiences Teaching Pupils of Immigrant Background
This study explores the connection between emotion regulation and teacher identity by drawing on short stories present in interviews with four Finnish language teachers working with immigrant pupil...
Qui suis-je
The scarcity of research on French immersion teachers’ professional identity contrasts with the increasing popularity of French immersion programs in Canada and the concomitant need for French immersion teachers. This study explores the professional identity negotiation of four French immersion teachers in Alberta, Canada, with a focus on discontinuity. Semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face with the participants were analysed using dialogic narrative analysis. The findings highlight how discontinuity is occasioned by a change in knowledge about the French immersion teaching as a profession, encountering classroom realities, shifting one’s values concerning second language learni…
Sources of stress and scholarly identity: the case of international doctoral students of education in Finland
AbstractAlthough stressors and coping strategies have been examined in managing stress associated with doctoral education, stress continues to have a permeating and pernicious effect on doctoral students’ experience of their training and, by extension, their future participation in the academic community. International doctoral students have to not only effectively cope with tensions during their training and their socialization in their discipline but also address the values and expectations of higher education institutions in a foreign country. Considering the increase of international doctoral students in Finland, this study focuses on perceived sources of stress in their doctoral traini…
Book Review : Sylvén, L. K. (2019). Investigating Content and Language Integrated Learning. Insights from Swedish High Schools. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters
This volume presents a three-year research project on Content and Language Integration in Swedish Schools (CLISS). CLISS particularly focused on sciences and economics programs in senior high schools (Grades 10-12; 245 participants), which intended to prepare students for higher education. Divided into five sections, the book explores the language, rather than content, side of CLIL. The volume starts with background information concerning CLISS and CLIL in Sweden. The following four sections of the book concern assessment and motivation (Chapters 4-5); English vocabulary, reading comprehension and exposure to English (Chapters 6-9); students’ L1 proficiency and development through CLIL (Cha…
Teachers' perceptions of student engagement and teacher self-efficacy beliefs
This study examines the teachers’ perceptions of student engagement, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, and their interrelation. Affective engagement can be understood as belonging or relatedness as well as identification with school. Cognitive engagement can be conceived as engagement in classroom, self-regulation, learning goals and a student’s overall investment in learning. Measuring students’ engagement is crucial in that it helps educators predict and, by amending current teaching practices and policies, avoid poor performance or even drop-out. The teacher’s belief in herself and her potential is critical for the students’ overall performance in class. This study attempts to investigate…
Sylvén, L. K. (2019). Investigating Content and Language Integrated Learning. Insights from Swedish High Schools. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters
This volume presents a three-year research project on Content and Language Integration in Swedish Schools (CLISS). CLISS particularly focused on sciences and economics programs in senior high schools (Grades 10-12; 245 participants), which intended to prepare students for higher education. Divided into five sections, the book explores the language, rather than content, side of CLIL. The volume starts with background information concerning CLISS and CLIL in Sweden. The following four sections of the book concern assessment and motivation (Chapters 4-5); English vocabulary, reading comprehension and exposure to English (Chapters 6-9); students’ L1 proficiency and development through CLIL (Cha…
Teacher Educators’ Professional Identity in English-Medium Instruction at a Finnish University
Publisher Copyright: © 2021, University of Ljubljana. All rights reserved. Although different forms of English-medium instruction (EMI) are being recognised, the different ways in which EMI can impact the pedagogical activities and expertise of higher education educators have received less attention. Using face-to-face and written interviews with nine teacher educators at a Finnish university, this study examines the most important aspects teacher educators perceive in their work through EMI and how these aspects connect to the understanding of their professional identity. The study is theoretically premised on the interconnected concepts of pedagogical doing, pedagogical being, pedagogical…
Emotional intelligence in Greek teacher education : Findings from a short intervention
AbstractEmotional intelligence (EI) is widely known to be crucial for professional development in education, and it is a curricular component of Greek teacher education. Still, there is little information available on student teachers’ EI. The aim of this study was to explore whether student teachers’ trait EI can be developed through a two-week, EI-focused intervention. The study followed a quasi-experimental design with a mixed method approach, using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (Greek version) (N = 42) and reflective emotion diaries (N = 19). The participants were third-year undergraduate students studying primary education and teaching at the University of C…
Qui suis-je : Discontinuity as part of teacher identity in Canadian French immersion
The scarcity of research on French immersion teachers’ professional identity contrasts with the increasing popularity of French immersion programs in Canada and the concomitant need for French immersion teachers. This study explores the professional identity negotiation of four French immersion teachers in Alberta, Canada, with a focus on discontinuity. Semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face with the participants were analysed using dialogic narrative analysis. The findings highlight how discontinuity is occasioned by a change in knowledge about the French immersion teaching as a profession, encountering classroom realities, shifting one’s values concerning second language learni…
EFL Teacher Education in Finland : Manifestations of Professional Agency in Teacher Educators’ Work
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher educators play a key role in the development of university-based teacher education and the preparation of preservice EFL teachers. However, the professional agency of EFL teacher educators in developing their work remains understudied. Employing a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical perspective, this research considers the individual and collective professional agency of eight EFL teacher educators at two Finnish universities. Findings demonstrate that individual professional agency is enacted in the expression of professional identity and the development of professional relationships, and in offering and receiving professional assistance. Findin…
Teacher agency within the Finnish CLIL context : tensions and resources
Recent discussion indicates that the initial enthusiasm of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers can be undermined by the demands of foreign-language mediated education. However, there is a lack of research on the resources and tensions that respectively support or limit the professional agency of CLIL teachers. By means of semi-structured interviews with fourteen participants, this study seeks to better understand how teacher agency is experienced by CLIL teachers working in Finnish primary schools. To examine tensions and resources in CLIL teachers’ work lives, a holistic and dynamic theoretical conceptualization of teacher agency is suggested, paying particular attenti…
Book review: Kalaja, P., F. Barcelos, A. M., Aro, M., & Ruohotie-Lyhty, M. (2016). Beliefs, Agency and Identity in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching.
This publication is comprised of seven empirical studies on beliefs, agency and identity as a response to the need for contextual, longitudinal and interconnected studies in foreign language learning and teaching. The underpinning argument of the book is that our beliefs about foreign language learning inform our actions, while both beliefs and actions affect our sense of self, our identity. This holds true for students and their learning as much as for teachers and their teaching. Building on former studies within contextual approaches, beliefs, agency and identity are presented as interconnected phenomena. As such, they are addressed by various theoretical starting points and data of long…
CLIL teachers in Finland : The role of emotions in professional identity negotiation
Research on emotions has yielded many theoretical perspectives and many concepts. Yet, most scholars have focused on how emotions influence the transformation and maintenance of teacher identities in the field of teacher education and novice teachers, with little research being conducted on either experienced or foreign language teachers. This study explores emotions in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers’ work and their role in identity negotiation. The data is based on interviews with thirteen CLIL teachers working at six different primary schools around Finland, while the analysis draws on Meijers’ (2002) model of identity as a learning process. According to this mod…
Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL context
Abstract This study explores the professional identity of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers in Finnish primary education. It aims at explaining how CLIL teachers negotiate their pedagogical and relational identity, and how identity agency is exercised in negotiating a more encompassing professional identity. Thematic analysis of thirteen interviews outlines the bi-directional process of identity negotiation between personal and professional resources, and social contexts at work. The results highlight a connection between professional identity and agency, and suggest that identity negotiation is a process of working and sharing with others, but also individually.
"You've got the color, but you dont't have the shades" : primary education CLIL teachers' identity negotiation within the Finnish context
This dissertation explores how professional identity is experienced by teachers in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) instruction. In particular, it addresses professional identity in relation to two immediate contexts of teacher activity, i.e. that of the classroom and that of the collegial community. In addition to exploring how these two sides of the professional self give rise to a broader understanding of professional identity, this dissertation also explores aspects of professional agency and the negotiation of emotions in their work. The dissertation is founded on fourteen interviews with Finnish kindergarten and primary education teachers doing CLIL. The data were thema…