Education is a future-facing activity. Therefore, universities need to engage students in building alternative and preferable future scenarios and reveal features of unsustainability, as well as open spaces for students to participate in discussions and negotiate new meanings. This paper reveals the future visions bachelor’s and master’s degree students from one of the regional universities in eastern Latvia have of education and focuses on a sustainability analysis (sustainable and unsustainable) of societal aspects and education. The authors conclude that thinking about preferred futures make students more aware of the positive changes that could be made and their personal responsibility to contribute to these changes. In this connection, the need to take a broad, integrated and holistic view of the future and its social and personal significance is of utmost importance.
The present study is aimed at creating a holistic fractal model (HFM) of autonomous learning for English acquisition in a blended environment of e-studies in adult nonformal education on the basis of the theories and paradigms of philosophy, psychology and education for sustainable development to promote the development of adult learners’ experiences of English acquisition. Thus, the present research attempts to find out how autonomous learning influences transformation of the system of values and integration in the learning environment. The research is based on the holistic paradigm of science. Adults’ English learning experience, their readiness to learn the language in blended e-studies and the SWOT analysis of metacognitive strategies are investigated in the paper. The authors also put forward recommendations for facilitating the transformation of the system of values in the process of autonomous learning for English acquisition in blended e-studies. The research has resulted in the HFM that interprets the systemic view on the transformation of values in the environment in the classroom and virtual environment, shows more holistic comprehension of the deepness and structure of the complexity of language learning and makes a methodological basis for its holistic facilitation in blended e-studies for adults.
Understanding the ways in which learners differ from one another is a fundamental concern to those involved in foreign language acquisition, as researchers or books synthesizing and evaluating research on foreign language acquisition have tended to concentrate on the study of similarities. The article argues that greatest importance should be attributed to the awareness of learners as individuals as well as members of a group and differentiation of instruction to satisfy the needs of the very many learners in a learner-centered foreign language classroom. It has to be a holistic process, in which the learners both as individuals and in groups can receive maximum opportunity to learn and develop. Based on Ellis' classification of individual learner factors, this article considers matters as group dynamics, learning strategies, age, language aptitude, intelligence, motivation, personality and a few others, which have been distinguished to explain differential success among foreign language learners. The article explores the roles of teachers to accomplish a challenging task to satisfy the very many different learners in a foreign language classroom, which would secure the learners' sustainable development for them to become versatile and integrated personalities.
The report reveals the contribution of two international UNESCO/ UNITWIN Chair’s peer-reviewed journals – “Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education” (DCSE) and “Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability” (JTEFS) to sustainable development of Latgale. They are international, cross-disciplinary, scholarly and open access journals focusing on diverse aspects of environmental, cultural, economic and social sustainability thus enabling one to constructively and creatively address present and future global challenges in creating more sustainable and resilient societies. Both journals aim to respond to the priorities set by the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the Global Action Programme as implemented in LATGALE and in the partner countries. The study reflects on the thematic scope of the two journals that centres on reorienting education towards the goal of sustainable education and sustainable community in Latgale, Latvia, Europe and beyond. In order to respond to the challenges of global community that we are facing today, the research published in both journals suggests how education can contribute to overcoming the current crises in education and community, as well as offers strategies and ways of dealing with it sustainably and responsibly in Latgale. Education for sustainable development (ESD) includes more than knowledge related to the environment, economy, culture and society. It also addresses learning perspectives, strategies and values that guide and motivate people to seek sustainable livelihoods, participate in a democratic society and live in a sustainable manner. ESD also involves studying both local and global issues. The research offers the study of JTEFS contribution to meeting different views, ideas and research to promote further development of studies and practice of teacher education in all areas of formal and non-formal education in relation to sustainability. DCSE is an international, peer-reviewed journal that provides a platform for examination of policies, theories and practices related to the discourse and communication for sustainable education. Since contemporary discourse study has extended its field to the study of multifaceted contexts of discourse, it integrates a broader study of the phenomena of communication in relation to sustainable education. The diversity of the journal is apparent in the variety of its theories, methods and approaches, thus avoiding the frequent limitation to one school, approach or academic branch.
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