European Journal of Contemporary Education

271-289

Authors: Emnijeta Ahmetović, Senad Bećirović, Vildana Dubravac

The aim of this study was to examine foreign language classroom anxiety and motivation to speak in English as a foreign language with respect to gender and grade level as well as their effects on students' EFL performance. The research sample comprised 160 (middle and high school) students. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Speaking Motivation Scale were used to collect the data. The results showed that foreign language classroom anxiety and intrinsic motivation were negatively associated with each other, while extrinsic motivation and amotivation were significantly positively associated with foreign language classroom anxiety. Even though there was an insignificant difference between the males’ and females’ motivation to speak English as a foreign language, foreign language classroom anxiety was significantly affected by gender. The outcomes of a one-way MANOVA revealed that grade level had no effect on the combined dependent variables of foreign language classroom anxiety, while it had a significant effect on speaking motivation. Furthermore, the findings indicated that overall intrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation were significant predictors of the students’ EFL achievement, whereas communication apprehension as a foreign language classroom anxiety factor was in a negative association with the students’ EFL achievement. The study provides instructors with guidelines on how to make their classrooms an environment conducive to the development of higher levels of speaking motivation and lower levels of anxiety with the aim of improving their students’ performance.

301-312

Authors: Mikhail N. Dudin, Yulia A. Romanova, Alesya N. Anishchenko

The paper focuses on revealing bilingual education features serving the purposes of harmonizing the multi-faith business schools and universities environment, using Russian and international experience. The empirical study was carried out using questionnaire method, polling, and method of involved observation. Russian business schools in 2017, 2018 and 2019, with a total number of 404 students, including 202 students in academic programs implementing bilingual education model in Russian and English, as well as the same number of students in classical monolingual programs in Russian (control banding), formed the empirical base of the study. It was revealed that bilingual education is a complex socio-pedagogical phenomenon and a promising educational model, which focuses not only on shaping and building a wide range of students’ capabilities but also on the unique socio-cultural educational environment functioning aimed at the solution of such problems as: harmonization of students’ interests to overcome intercultural differences; expanded socialization and facilitation of productive activities in terms of intercultural, interfaith education. It was also determined and confirmed empirically that the overall orientation of the bilingual educational model, which forms a productive cross-cultural communication environment, influences the potentially successful overcoming of interfaith differences and harmonization of interests of representatives of different confessions, as well as religious and atheistic practices. Thus, the use of a single neutral language code, free from religious-oriented vocabulary, reduces the tension in communication perception of educational activity subjects, reducing the risk of contradictions and conflicts of inter-confessional character, thus, harmonizing the interests of participants multi-religious educational environment. The results obtained confirm the hypothesis that the use of bilingual education in Russian and English in modern Russian conditions can be considered as a potentially highly effective platform for harmonizing the interests of a multi- faith environment in business schools and universities.

337-349

Authors: Lina Kaminskienė, Vilma Žydžiūnaitė, Vaida Jurgilė, Tetiana Ponomarenko

This paper presents the results of the concept analysis of co-creation of learning and discusses how this concept is applied in the educational context. The concept co-creation of learning is a border concept, which is increasingly used in diverse areas, however, there is a lack of a current theory regarding the subject in the existing educational literature. The objective of the concept analysis was to make a dissection of the concept of co-creation of learning into simpler elements to promote clarity while providing mutual understanding within education by giving the particular concept a specific meaning. The concept analysis reflects the situation in contemporary education when learning becomes a co-creative practice and is based on partnership and collaboration, changing roles of teachers and students; it takes place at different stages of curriculum implementation. The article discussed the defined key attributes of the concept co-creation of learning, which are linked to collaborative process, collaborative output, transformative interaction and teacher position, learner’s agency, new space for learning, self-authorship, learning community and partnership in learning, metacognitive practices and value co-creation. The research revealed that co-creation of learning can be successfully enhanced and supported by relevant and creative pedagogical strategies. They include generative dialogue, negotiation, collaborative work, participatory design model and others. Non-hierarchical relationships, flexible curriculum and scaffolding practices, formative assessment were identified as the antecedents for co-creation of learning to emerge while such factors as added value, increased learning ownership, better engagement in the learning process and learners’ empowerment were identified as the consequences of co-creation of learning.

365-377

Authors: Roman S. Nagovitsyn, Aleksander Yu. Osipov, Mikhail D. Kudryavtsev, Konstantin K. Markov

This article reviews the various features of the cognitive dissonance state of the foreign students arising at the beginning of their studies at the Russian University. The aim of the study is to identify the features and level characteristics of the cognitive dissonance of the foreign students and reduce this state on the basis of the author's individual trajectory for the implementation of the extracurricular activities at the Pedagogical University. Study participants: the second-year international students studying in the bachelor’s degree program (n=149) at the Russian University. The results of the study were processed using (X2) by the Statistical Program SPSS Statistics 20. The experimental intervention included the activation of foreign students in the process of extracurricular activities of the university based on the author’s individual trajectory. These students actively participated in social and educational activities that were implemented at the institute. Extracurricular activities at the Pedagogical University were represented by a complex of main areas: the center of student initiatives, the student scientific society, the department of student self-government, the center of leisure and creativity of students, the student sports and fitness club, the department of student teaching teams. Three main indicators of the cognitive dissonance were identified in the study: the level of the socio-psychological maladaptation of the students, neuro-psychiatric instability of the students and the level of their psycho-emotional discomfort. As a result, foreign students who were actively involved in the implementation of extracurricular activities along the author's individual trajectory had a significantly reduced (p<0.01 and p<0.05) state of cognitive dissonance for each indicator from a high to a low level.

394-416

Authors: Francisco J. Pozuelos Estrada, Francisco Javier García-Prieto, Sara Conde-Vélez

The aim of this study is to identify different learning styles in university students in the frame of university teaching carried out through innovative proposals for work and research projects, with inverted classroom dynamics (active and cooperative) and adopting a formative assessment that focuses on both the process and the students’ outcomes. This proposal is complemented by the objective of determining the influence of different learning styles on the preference for the type of performance in university teaching. A hypothetico-deductive methodological design for exploratory and correlational purposes was followed. The sample consisted of total of 640 participants in university degree courses. The data were gathered using a questionnaire that grouped 46 items into five double-response dimensions, determined by the preference or position held by the students regarding the learning strategies, methods and techniques applied; material or resources used to carry out the teaching, as well as the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT); type of supports that were received in the process; instruments to carry out the assessment; and lastly, individual or team academic performance. The outcomes show an x-ray of four models according to the student's learning styles: individual, cooperative, dependent and autonomous. These are identified with four clusters in the sample of students selected for the study, which are associated with practical, conventional, critical and efficient student models. The conclusions explain that there are no pure models, as there are nuances that connect them in real classroom practice, but the level of student preference helps to measure the impact and confirms the improvement in teaching through university work projects.

434-442

Authors: Eduard Sokalskiy, Tamara Chernikova

The present study takes an unconventional look at the challenges of bilingualism. High school students' level of the native Kalmyk language is viewed in connection to creative musical abilities (instrumental, vocal, choreographic) in the field of Kalmyk folk musical art. The vector of research is determined by the revitalization of the native language mostly lost due to J. Stalin's repressions. The research was carried out in three stages. First, the ethnopsychological questionnaire (the features of the «Self-concept» of a high school student's personality) developed by the authors were used together with other psychodiagnostic tools. Then, the subjects' performance was divided into four groups: from comprehensive versatility to latency and absence of creative abilities. At the third stage, an attempt was made to determine the connection between the level of the native Kalmyk language and the level of creative abilities in folk musical art. The statistical calculations were made using the Matt-Whitney non-parametric test. The obtained applied results give reason to view the Kalmyk language as an effective resource for educational, intellectual and ethnocultural development of the younger generation of the Republic of Kalmykia. As a result, the authors have identified a large potential for the development of creative musical abilities in adolescents (one in three showed a low level of the native Kalmyk language). This makes it possible to ultimately utilize the innovative resources of school-based language training using the national musical culture to unlock the creative potential of high school students. The study has identified a stable trend: there is a connection between the level of the native Kalmyk language and the level of a person's creative musical abilities in the field of folk musical art in the context of their ethnocultural identification. Other possible lines of research within the aforementioned area have been named considering the significant dominance of the right hemisphere of the brain, the polylinguistic focus of education, etc. The research strategy and the obtained results can also be used in other regions of the Russian Federation considering the multicultural composition of the population.

450-458

Authors: Sergey I. Degtyarev, Lyubov G. Polyakova

This paper offers an insight into some of the key practices associated with the operation of the institution of honorary supervisors in the system of public education of the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century. Only a member of the noble estate could be an honorary supervisor. These functionaries were an important part of the empire’s public education system. They oversaw the work of uyezd (district) schools and provided them with financial assistance. Honorary supervisors were not salaried but could be awarded a high title and receive a major state award for their efforts, which could significantly raise their social status. Honorary supervisors had a wide purview over the operation of the schools they oversaw. They took part in resolving facilities issues and attended examinations and monthly teacher meetings. These functionaries could also petition senior management for the remuneration or punishment of particular school functionaries. Conversely, honorary supervisors with a negligent attitude toward their duties could legitimately face dismissal by the university administration.

473-480

Authors: Olga V. Natolochnaya, Lyudmila G. Zimovets, Ruslan M. Allalyev, Vladimir A. Svechnikov

This work examines the system of public education in Stavropol Governorate in the period 1804–1917. The present part of the work covers the development of the region’s public education system in the period 1804–1871. In putting this work together, the authors drew upon both various regulatory documents issued in the Russian Empire in the area of public education, including some of those listed in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, and a set of statistical digests. In terms of methodology, the authors made extensive use of the statistical method. The use of this method helped identify some of the key distinctive characteristics of the making and development of the system of public education in Stavropol Governorate in the period 1804–1871. To achieve their research objectives, the authors also employed a set of general methods of research, including analysis and synthesis, concretization, and summarization. In addition, use was made of the historical-situational method to explore particular historical facts in the context of the era under study in conjunction with various “neighboring” events and facts. The authors’ conclusion is that the period 1804–1871 was a time of the making of the system of public education in Stavropol Governorate. It was a complicated process, as there was a war waged in the Caucasus up to 1864 (the Caucasian War of 1817–1864). Nevertheless, by 1871 the governorate became home to an extensive network of educational institutions, which included secondary (two gymnasia), lower (five uyezd schools and one St. Aleksandra female school), and primary educational institutions (52 primary schools). In addition, a key role in the development of the governorate’s system of primary education was played by the Department of Religious Affairs, which ran 56 primary educational institutions in the region.