Music history and punk rock have long had an uneasy relationship because historians often fail to take two major factors into account when approaching the subject matter. One: punk's raison d'etre is to subvert much that music historians rely on in order to deem a particular performer or group significant. And two: punk is a living, thriving…

The integration of popular culture into English language learning has recently been formalised in the Hong Kong New Senior Secondary curriculum, with the development of critical reading indicated as one of the key objectives. Whether and how students respond to popular culture texts is, however, under-researched. The present paper reports findings…

English teaching and learning has taken an interesting shift in Hong Kong schools with the implementation of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum under the "334" education reform. Situating the paper within the broader considerations of the intersection of Cultural Studies and English teaching, this paper examines the challenges and…

School shootings publicized worldwide inevitably awaken the debate about contemporary communication media and violence. It is often conjectured that regular exposure of young people to countless acts of aggression in contemporary popular media leads them to become more aggressive and, in some cases, to commit violent crimes. But is this claim…

Symbolic competence (Kramsch, 2009, 2011) has been proposed as a crucial addition to world language learning, as it enables a language learner to negotiate the complex symbolism of words, expressions, and discursive events from the target culture in order to reference them effectively and in the appropriate contexts. However, fostering symbolic…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder display impairments in social interactions and communication that appear at early ages and result in short- and long-term negative outcomes. As such, there is a need for effective social skills training programs for young children with autism spectrum disorder--particularly interventions capable of being…

Over the years that I have taken secondary school students to the theatre, the the digital revolution has moved through schools, classrooms, and even theatres, calling into question my goal of contributing positively to students' identity formation through exposure to live plays. Responding to calls to examine the ways in which young people's…

Project-based learning and artistic creation provide future secondary teachers with an opportunity to experience and to reflect on the importance of including a gender perspective in education. This article describes a case study where students of the Postgraduate course in Secondary Teacher Training explore the image of the female body in comics,…

This article examines the sociocultural learning of popular and jazz music in communities of practice as part of secondary vocational music education in a Finnish conservatory. The research is based on performance workshops which were implemented as a joint effort between professional musicians and music students. These workshops are suggested as…

In light of the current assaults on Black girls and misaligned instructional practices in and outside of schools across the nation, English educators need to understand a more complete vision of the identities girls create for themselves, and the literacies and practices needed to best teach them. This article provides a review of literature of…

This article examines how undergraduate instructors of pre-service educators can address complex issues of sexuality and sexual orientation within the classroom. First, we explain our own backgrounds and positionalities to provide a context for our ensuing ideas and discussions. Second, by reviewing the literature on homophobic bullying, we…

It can be difficult to interest students in academic topics if they have no prior exposure to or experience of the subject. The authors introduce and discuss a pedagogic innovation designed to trigger interest in entrepreneurship and "enterprise culture". They use fiction in the form of Gothic context and the vampire motif to move the…

By examining the ways in which high school students in two different English classes take up virtual self-representation tactics in school-based social networking sites, this article explores how young people carefully juggle the digital identities they adopt for the eyes of both peers and teachers. The data reveals that the students'…

Education in a contemporary context increasingly requires students to engage with learning technologies. This can present a challenge to both students and teachers who at times struggle to engage with the technical processes involved in navigating these technologies. Outside of formal education settings, on-demand information facilitated through…

Sense of belonging is recognized as a factor contributing to persistence to graduation. Furthermore, interactional diversity is associated with learning and civic outcomes--touted higher education goals. Hip-hop culture, one of the most influential cultural creations of the mid-20th century, has succeeded in attracting devotees from diverse…