An increasing number of students at the University of Brunei Darussalam are studying the Japanese language. However, research on the relationship between learners' motivation and their achievement has not been given sufficient attention in Japanese foreign language education compared to English in Brunei. The present study, which utilized a…

Popular culture materials are generally believed to have positive effects on L2 learning. This study examined the effectiveness of popular culture materials in enhancing Hong Kong EFL students' grammar learning. In a quasi-experimental design, 20 secondary school students were taught grammar in two ways: with the use of popular culture materials,…

This paper reports on how and why proficient learners of English in Hong Kong participated in popular culture, out-of-class activities, with an emphasis on their development of learner autonomy. Autonomy in language learning is defined as an individual's ability and responsibility to take charge of his or her own learning [1]. Out-of-class…

South Africa is a highly mobile country characterized by historical displacements and contemporary mobilities, both social and demographic. Getting to grips with diversity, dislocation, relocation and anomie, as well as pursuing aspirations of mobility, is part of people's daily experience that often takes place on the margins of conventional…

In this paper, I examine the textmaking potentials of the popular cultural resources of professional wrestling, including its modes of textual expression, as performed by Kyle, a boy in the middle years of elementary school. Kyle remixed wrestling, and its performative affordances, style and textmaking potentials across time and space. Using a…

Consulting with children is widely recognised as an essential element in building understanding about children's lives. From a children's rights perspective, it is also a legal requirement on professionals working with children. However, translating the rhetoric into research and practice is still evolving. Previous studies report on working with…

This paper compares two forms of sexual socialisation to which learners are exposed: the sexuality education components of the Life Orientation (LO) manuals and the lyrical content and videos of popular songs. We performed a textual analysis of the sexual subject positions made available in, first, the LO manuals used in Grade 10 classes and,…

This paper will explore the recent trend in the popularising of history and its impact on teaching and learning. There has been a steady increase in the amount of fiction, films, television shows, documentaries and children's programs situated in or concerned with historical events, eras or historical figures. The evident popularity among the…

In this article I discuss children's everyday uses of recorded music (such as CDs, Mp3-files) in the light of sociological notions of "children" and "childhood". The discussion provides perspectives on musical engagement and musicality that supplement perspectives within developmental psychology. The study is based on…

In the field of English language teaching, there has been increasing interest in the way literacy development is influenced by institutional and community practices, and the way power is implicated in language learners' engagement with text. In this paper, I trace the trajectory of my research on identity, literacy, and English language teaching,…

Being a powerful social trend glamour culture has significant effect on a high education that results in the phenomenon of glamorous education (glam-education). Prerequisites of this type of education are democratization of high school that introduces stereotypes of glam-culture in educational environment; commercialization of education that uses…

Youth subcultures in Russia have become more like those found in other societies. The article presents typologies of youth subculture types and trends. Attitudes toward them vary by urban/rural, economic, educational, and geographic characteristics. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

This study explores primary perceptions of and motivations to study abroad for adult and higher education learners. A large Hispanic-serving Southwestern university serves as the context of this study where undergraduate students and one graduate student were enrolled in an Italian urbanism study abroad program. The age of the participants ranged…

The paper is an investigation into the possibility of using the popular social interactive media in the classroom in the developing world. There has been different school of thoughts about the usefulness of the interactive social media. The question being widely asked today is, can these popular social media be used constructively in the…

This paper reports on a small-scale action research project conducted by two university-based researchers using a visual arts method. The seven-week drawing programme was the second cycle of an action research project. The participants were nine boys of primary school age variously identified by their teachers as reluctant readers and/or as…