Advancing Students’ Global Competency through English Language Learning in Romania: An Exploratory Qualitative Case Study of Four English Language Teachers

Abstract

An exploratory case study of four 5th-to 12th-grade English language teachers in a Romanian public, competitive, bilingual high school focused on how these English language teachers taught about American culture to enhance student growth in the areas of global competency. Specifically, the study explored: 1) How are English language teachers advancing and enhancing student growth in the area of global learning with little resources? ( 2) In what ways are teachers going beyond the usual topics (as required by the curriculum) to more complex conversations to advance their students' global knowledge and enhance their global competency? The Global Teaching Model (GTM) was used as a conceptual framework. Qualitative data were collected through individual recorded interviews, classroom observations, teacher artifacts, and informal conversations for two weeks. Results showed that teachers attained the language goals for their students but needed further guidance on how to approach global issues at a transformative level. Teachers wanted more resources, sustained local and international partnerships and collaborations, and focused trainings toward a deep critical exploration of global education. Recommendations for future research involve an emphasis on action research-design studies that encourage reflexivity and self-examination toward sociocultural consciousness and global partnerships.

Teaching Bilingually: Unlocking the Academic and Cognitive Potential—Teachers’ Insights

“…Indeed, Baker and Wright (2017) [5] highlight the societal importance of biliteracy in accessing culture and traditions, education and enjoyment, and as reinforcement of transmitting oral information. In Romania in 2021, Slapec [28], interviewed bilingual schoolteachers aiming to understand how global competency and knowledge were taught and advanced, considering limited resources. Slapec discovered teachers required greater resources, more partnerships, and more enhanced training and guidance on how to approach global issues.…”

A Leadership Model for Supporting the Mastery of Core Competencies for College English Learners in Application-Oriented Universities in Shanghai, China

“…The second was from related research on leadership in ELT. The educational elements may include: significant changes to the ELT (Wyse & Moon, 2014), long-term instructional vision, and extra considerations to the contexts (Chan, 2021) in the support systems of standards and assessments; clear goal setting and leaders' role models (McGee et al, 2015), empowerment in ELT (McGee et al, 2015;Whitehead & Greenier, 2019), language teacher leadership (Shah, 2017), and the alignment of the instructional content, methods, and the assessments (Ni, 2017) in curriculum and instruction; ELT professional development (Slapac, 2021), instructional leaders' development, a broader professional thinking, and research team's engagement (Lesley et al, 2021) in professional development; resource supports, long-lasting external partnerships and collaborations (Slapac, 2021), dealing with crisis, and having authorities to make decisions on curriculum (Lesley et al, 2021) in environments.…”

Pemanfaatan Budaya Lokal untuk Meningkatkan Kompetensi Global Siswa

“…Pendidikan memainkan peran kunci dalam kehidupan sehari-hari untuk memfasilitasi siswa agar dapat hidup berdampingan secara damai (Furtado-Guimarães & Finardi, 2020). Guru harus menciptakan peluang untuk membekali siswa dengan kompetensi global dan pemahaman tentang isu-isu politik, sosial dan lingkungan di seluruh dunia (Slapac, 2021). Selain itu, sekolah sebagai ujung tombak pendidikan juga perlu mempersiapkan siswanya untuk berkolaborasi dalam isu-isu internasional untuk menjadi warga komunitas yang lebih global (Giacomo, 2013).…”

“…Selain itu, sekolah sebagai ujung tombak pendidikan juga perlu mempersiapkan siswanya untuk berkolaborasi dalam isu-isu internasional untuk menjadi warga komunitas yang lebih global (Giacomo, 2013). Tichnor-Wagner et al(2019) dalam (Slapac, 2021) mencatat bahwa kompetensi global bukan hanya tentang dunia "di luar sana", namun berakar pada pemahaman diri dan lingkungan dimana kita berada sebagai dasar untuk memahami orang-orang di sekitar kita. Untuk memperkuat kompetensi, siswa perlu diberikan kesempatan untuk menghubungkan konsep atau teori yang dipelajarinya dengan lingkungan atau kehidupan sekitar mereka (Glaesser, 2019).…”

“…Pembelajaran kolaboratif meningkatkan partisipasi siswa, mereduksi perbedaan antar individu serta memberikan dampak signifikan terhadap perkembangan sikap sosial siswa (Sukadi, 2021). Selain itu, Guru harus mampu menciptakan peluang untuk membekali siswa dengan kompetensi global dan pemahaman tentang isu-isu sosial dan lingkungan di seluruh dunia (Slapac, 2021). Kegiatan-kegiatan dalam bentuk piket kelas, tugas kelompok dan kegiatan jum'at bersih sebenarnya telah sering dilakukan siswa di sekolah, namun siswa belum memahami tujuan dari kegiatan tersebut secara luas, pemahaman siswa masih terbatas pada kegiatan-kegiatan yang bersifat praktis dan belum mengarah pada aspek-aspek dalam kompetensi global sehingga guru perlu memberikan penguatan.…”