Journal of Culture and Values in Education

Linguistic Uniscapes in Thailand: Tension between Thai and English

Zhaoyi Pan — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 04:14:38 +0300

The aim of this research was to examine the affective stances of Thai and international students toward the linguistic landscapes on university campuses and to explore their lived experiences of signage at both public universities (PUUs) and private universities (PRUs) in Thailand from a multimodal perspective. Three PUUs and three PRUs were investigated, yielding a total of 1,613 signs across six campuses. In addition, 30 participants (15 Thai and 15 international students) engaged in place talk on the campuses. A nexus analysis was applied for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The findings revealed that both groups expressed positive affective stances toward signs featuring English, images, and colors. Well-designed signs conveyed social meanings to students and enhanced their enjoyment of campus life. By contrast, tensions surrounding the use of Thai and English on signage were highlighted through place talk with participants from PUUs. The finding of this research suggested that bilingual signage that includes both Thai and English in LUs should be prioritized to serve both local and international students. The use of English on campus signage should match the quality of Thai. University authorities need to reconsider the design of top-down signs. Collaboration between university administrations and those involved in signage design is essential for effective management. Finally, awareness of the increasing presence of international students in higher education in Thailand—and in other countries with similar trends toward internationalization—should be raised among university administrations and local students.

Effect of Mobile Application Mediated Learning in Literal Reading for Students Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy Literacy

Kartika Nuswantara, Azharine Purwa Jingga, Teguh Budiharso — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 04:45:34 +0300

This experimental study evaluates the effectiveness of the mobile application, ‘‘bacakanbuku,’’ in promoting literacy development among children with cerebral palsy who also experience intellectual challenges. The application provides leveled narratives designed to support word recognition and literal comprehension. Using a one-group pretest–posttest design with 11 participants, the study administered assessments before and after the intervention to determine the application’s impact. A paired-sample ANOVA was employed to analyze the data and assess improvements in word recognition and literal comprehension. Findings reveal that repeated interventions can enhance both skills, suggesting that the application is a reliable tool for children with special needs. However, the study acknowledges limitations related to unmeasured factors that may have affected participants’ developmental progress. Overall, the results highlight the importance of word recognition, word count, and oral comprehension for students with cerebral palsy, highlighting the value of frequent read-aloud activities with clear intonation and contextual emphasis. The audiobook feature within bacakanbuku aligns well with the needs of elementary-age learners with cerebral palsy, and the study’s novelty lies in implementing an Android-based audiobook platform tailored for this population.

Digital Inequality and Socio-Cultural Barriers in Distance Learning in Kazakhstan: Urban-Rural Perspectives

Albina Sariyeva, Azhar Zholdubayeva, Ainura Kurmanaliyeva, Elmira Gerfanova — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:01:42 +0300

This study aims to examine how digital inequality shaped students’ distance learning experiences during COVID-19 in Kazakhstan by identifying infrastructural and socio-cultural barriers to equitable online education. Using a mixed-methods design, data were collected from 540 secondary and university students through a structured 29-item questionnaire assessing digital access, satisfaction, engagement, and socio-cultural factors, with participants retrospectively reflecting on their distance learning experiences between November 2024 and February 2025. The sample included 247 secondary school students and 293 university students with balanced urban–rural representation. Urban–rural differences were analysed using Welch’s t-tests, χ² tests, and regression analyses, while qualitative responses were examined through thematic analysis. Results show that rural students reported significantly lower digital access, reduced satisfaction with distance learning, and less willingness to continue online education compared to urban peers. However, rural students with stable internet connectivity, personal devices, and adequate home study spaces reported satisfaction levels comparable to urban students, highlighting key infrastructure thresholds for equity. Qualitative findings further revealed that socio-cultural barriers, concerns about academic integrity, isolation, and loss of peer support gradually shifted toward acceptance when institutional support improved. Overall, the findings underscore the need for targeted broadband expansion, device provision, multilingual e-learning platforms, and community engagement strategies to promote equitable and resilient digital education in Kazakhstan.

Predictive Factors of Academic Integrity in Business Students: A Quantitative Analysis

Salvador Rivas-Aceves, Claudia Fabiola Ortega-Barba — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:12:13 +0300

Academic integrity among university students is a high priority. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to address the inclination toward dishonest behaviour related to academic integrity in undergraduate students. The study focused on two specific objectives. First, it measured the intent to commit academically dishonest acts and, second, it raised awareness among the student community regarding acts that violate academic integrity as defined by the institution’s regulations. To achieve the above, a pre-experimental approach was chosen with a pretest-posttest design involving a single group based on a non-probability convenience sample with a student body of 1304 undergraduate business students, where an instrument was applied before the intervention to establish a baseline. Participants’ response to the interaction was measured with the same instrument at a later time. The findings report that, following the intervention, participants displayed a lower inclination to commit academically dishonest acts, suggesting an improvement in the perception of academic integrity.

Development and Implementation of Smart Measurement and Evaluation (Smart ME): A Trial-by-Trial Monitoring System for Autism Therapy

Arneliza Arneliza, Rudy Sutadi, Asmadi Alsa, Kuncono Teguh Yunanto — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:21:29 +0300

In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) intervention practice, measurement quality plays a crucial role and is a key foundation, as instructional decision-making relies heavily on accurate, consistent, and transparent behavioral data. However, ABA practice still faces challenges such as inconsistent passing criteria, trial-by-trial response recording, documentation procedures, and limited data transparency in autism therapy services. This study aims to develop and implement Smart Measurement and Evaluation (Smart ME) as a standardized measurement and evaluation system that supports detailed response recording, data-driven instructional decision-making, and transparency in Smart ABA therapy services. The study employed a research and development design. Smart ME was developed through discussions with experts and practitioners, then validated using Aiken's V. Limited implementation was conducted with two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Smart ABA therapy session using a two-on-one format to assess the system's operational feasibility and ease of use. The validation results showed an Aiken's V value of 0.92, indicating high content validity. Limited implementation demonstrates that Smart ME supports consistent trial-by-trial recording, clear session scoring, and easy-to-understand data visualization. Smart ME is a content-valid measurement and evaluation system that is operationally feasible for use in autism therapy practice. Smart ME enhances measurement transparency, supports data-driven instructional decisions, and enhances accountability for autism therapy services.

When Local Education Becomes Fragile: Relation, Governance, and Schooling in Hanoi

Hoang Dang Tri, Nguyen Thanh Huyen, Dam Thi Hoa, Doan Thuy Quynh, Tran Quoc Viet — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:39:07 +0300

Educational reform in Vietnam aspires to cultivate learners who attend to place, yet classroom practice continues to narrow the relations through which knowledge is allowed to form. This study examines how Local Education unfolds within a centralised school system, focusing on two lower secondary schools along the restored Tô Lịch River in Hanoi. Using an embedded mixed-methods design involving surveys with forty-eight educators, semi-structured interviews with eighteen participants, and field-based observations with forty-two students, the study traces how locality is interpreted and enacted in everyday schooling. Across these encounters, three patterns recur. Locality is frequently translated into representational content rather than lived engagement; relational moments emerge through teachers’ small improvisations rather than formal design; and institutional monitoring often curtails students’ place-based inquiry. These dynamics reveal that Local Education does not fail due to lack of pedagogical intent, but because relational learning remains weakly authorised within centralised governance structures. The Entangled Local Education Framework (ELEF) is developed as an analytic lens to show how locality functions as an infrastructure of attention whose educational force depends on institutional tolerance for relation, uncertainty, and pedagogical discretion. Rather than treating Local Education as a discrete subject, the study positions it as a diagnostic site through which the moral conditions of contemporary schooling become visible.

Navigating the Insider-Outsider Divide: A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Ethical Encounters of an Action Researcher Bridging Immigrant Families and Schools

Laid Bouakaz, Abdulla Sodiq, Ghanem Albustami — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:53:12 +0300

This study employs a reflexive phenomenological approach to explore the researcher's lived experience of ethical complexity within a participatory action research (PAR) project in a multicultural school in southern Sweden. The PAR project was facilitated by the first author in collaboration with a Home-School Liaisons team composed of four multilingual teachers and the researcher. Data for this phenomenological inquiry were drawn from the author’s first-person accounts, systematically captured through reflective journals, field notes, and retrospective narratives. The school, located in a marginalized area, serves students from over 24 nationalities. The research is guided by three questions: (1) What is the lived experience of navigating the insider/outsider role? (2) How is trust phenomenologically experienced and managed? (3) How is confidentiality negotiated within a visible community? The project aimed to bridge cultural and linguistic divides between immigrant families and teachers through a bottom-up, trust-building approach. Analysis of reflective data revealed four core themes structuring the ethical encounter: liminal dislocation, the weight of unshareable knowledge, trust as precarious negotiation, and the erosion of anonymity. The study concludes that ethical practice in such contexts constitutes an “intercultural embodied ethical praxis” characterized by continuous reflexivity, emotional engagement, and the negotiation of visibility and power. It offers an original contribution to PAR literature by theorizing the concept of “intercultural embodied ethical praxis.” This framework grounds ethical discourse in the phenomenology of the researcher's liminal, lived experience, moving beyond procedural norms to highlight the need for culturally attuned, reflexive, and relational approaches to foster sustainable school–family partnerships.

Perceptions of Teachers on Virtual Student Mobility: A Qualitative Case Study in Kazakhstan

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:07:09 +0300

This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions of virtual student mobility (VSM) as a pedagogical strategy to enhance foreign language learning and intercultural competence among third-year university students in the Faculty of English Language in Kazakhstan. Using qualitative data from in-depth interviews, the study analyzes educators’ views on incorporating VSM into the curriculum and its impact on student engagement, motivation, and cross-cultural understanding. The findings reveal that VSM enables authentic communication with international peers, fostering a global mindset and improving language proficiency without requiring physical mobility. Teachers acknowledged both the advantages and challenges of implementing VSM, highlighting the importance of institutional support and adequate digital infrastructure. This study contributes to research on internationalization at home and provides practical insights for educators and policymakers seeking to strengthen language education through virtual exchange initiatives in Kazakhstan.

Policies, Intellectual Capital, and Competitiveness in Higher Education Institutions of Kazakhstan

Bulent Tarman, Baurzhan Bokayev, Zulfiya Torebekova — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:22:31 +0300

The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of policy implementation and intellectual capital dynamics in the processes of achieving sustainable competitive advantage in higher education institutions in Kazakhstan. The study combines bibliometric analysis and systematic review covering publications from the Web of Science and Scopus databases between 2011 and 2025. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined using the PRISMA flow; data from 145 studies were analyzed using keyword and co-citation maps using VOSviewer, and thematized using qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that publication and citation trends are increasing, production is largely concentrated in articles, and visibility is clustered at specific research universities. Features such as "internationalization," "quality assurance," "digital transformation," and "global rankings" are centralized within thematic networks. Bologna alignment, accreditation, academic autonomy, and performance-based funding practices are observed to strengthen institutional capacity, while ranking-focused incentives can increase short-termism. Within the intellectual capital dimension, human capital (faculty competencies, early career support, graduate employment), structural capital (digitalization, AI, governance, and innovation systems), and relational capital (university-industry collaboration, regional partnerships) stand out as the primary determinants of competitive advantage. Triangulation of local databases with internal, qualitative data, ethical and metric balance, and strengthening of regional collaborations are recommended for future studies.

The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Cognitive Flexibility in Adults: The Mediating Role of Life Satisfaction and Cognitive Distortions

Okan Tiring, Mustafa Çakır — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:32:54 +0300

This study investigated whether life satisfaction and cognitive distortions mediate the relationship between perceived stress and cognitive flexibility in adults, with particular attention to implications for psychological well-being and clinical practice. This research article reports a quantitative empirical study employing a cross-sectional survey design and regression-based bootstrapped parallel mediation analysis. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 330 adults aged 18 to 63 years recruited from community and healthcare settings. Mediation analyses were performed using regression-based bootstrapping procedures. Perceived stress showed a significant and negative association with cognitive flexibility, representing a medium effect size. Higher levels of perceived stress predicted lower life satisfaction and higher levels of cognitive distortions, both of which were in turn linked to reduced cognitive flexibility. The combined indirect effects accounted for approximately forty percent of the overall association between stress and cognitive flexibility, indicating substantial mediating influence. Specifically, mediation through life satisfaction and cognitive distortions demonstrated meaningful contributions to the model. These findings highlight the importance of addressing subjective well-being and maladaptive cognitive patterns in stress-related interventions. Supporting individuals in enhancing cognitive flexibility may serve as a protective mechanism against the adverse psychological and health consequences of stress, and may also contribute to improved treatment adherence and chronic disease management within clinical contexts. By jointly testing a protective mediator (life satisfaction) and a risk mediator (cognitive distortions) within one model, the study extends prior single-mediator approaches and offers an integrated explanation of the perceived stress–cognitive flexibility relationship.

Emotional Intelligence and Problem-Solving Correlations and Impact on Employability: A Case Study from the UAE

Ganka Ivanova, Rakan Alhrhasheh — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 08:28:34 +0300

In this study, we aim to address questions about how UAE Leadership Development Plans and Employability connect with current students in UAE classrooms by evaluating the correlation between the employability of UAE university students and their emotional intelligence (EI) and problem-solving skills. Moreover, we cover what must be considered in the curricula of UAE Universities to prepare future leaders to lead the workforce . To that end, we employed an employability test developed by AQR International UK and collected data from 310 undergraduate students aged 17 to 55. Both EI and problem-solving skills were strongly positively correlated with employability (p < .001). Even though male participants scored higher than female participants for EI and problem-solving skills, analysis of variance revealed nonsignificant gender differences (p > .05 for these variables. Our study underscored the critical role of EI and problem-solving skills in facilitating leadership potential among university students. These insights are particularly instrumental in informing the higher education curriculum and in assessing employability and leadership potential.

The Bridge of Tradition and Learning Science: Mapping Ethnochemical Mental Models Based on the Sasisen and Napnap Mor Traditions of the Biak Ethnic, Papua, Indonesia

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 09:09:06 +0300

In culturally rich regions such as Papua, Indonesia, formal science education is often disconnected from students' lived experiences, creating a gap between the abstract chemistry curriculum and the local ethnochemical knowledge embedded in ancestral traditions of the Biak ethnic group, particularly Sasisen and Napnap Mor. This study emphasizes the importance of integrating local wisdom to bridge this gap. This study aims to reconstruct the implicit ethnochemical knowledge within these traditions by mapping the community's mental models using Johnstone’s Triangle multi-level framework, thereby connecting local knowledge with the formal chemistry curriculum. A qualitative approach was employed, using triangulation of data from in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. The data were analyzed based on Johnstone's three levels of chemical representation. The findings reveal culturally developed mental models (emics) among the Biak people that align empirically with modern chemical concepts (etics), especially in the use of natural materials related to the functions of secondary metabolites. This mapping confirms that the Sasisen and Napnap Mor traditions provide rich contextual foundations for chemistry learning. Integrating Biak traditions into the chemistry curriculum enhances the relevance of science education and students’ scientific literacy while also contributing to cultural preservation and the decolonization of science education. This study offers a local wisdom-based pedagogical model that supports sustainable development.

Implementing Differentiated Instruction in EFL Teaching: A Methodological Approach for Non-Linguistic University Students in Kazakhstan

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 23:18:16 +0300

In the context of modern higher education, teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to students in non-linguistic disciplines presents distinct challenges due to wide variations in learners’ proficiency levels, motivation, and academic goals. This study explores the implementation and effectiveness of Differentiated Instruction (DI) in EFL teaching among undergraduate students enrolled in the Information Systems program at Sh. Ualikhanov University in Kazakhstan. Grounded in constructivist and sociocultural learning theories, the research employed an experimental mixed-methods design. The experimental group received DI-based instruction, including tiered tasks, flexible grouping, and choice-based learning, while the control group followed traditional instructional methods. Quantitative results demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the experimental group’s language proficiency across all four skills, with particularly strong gains in speaking and writing, compared to the control group. Qualitative data from student reflections and teacher observations indicated increased motivation, confidence, and classroom engagement. The findings further suggest that DI promotes inclusive learning by accommodating diverse proficiency levels, aligning instructional content with students’ professional interests, and reducing language anxiety. The study concludes that DI is both feasible and effective in resource-constrained higher education contexts, contributing to academic equity and the development of professional language competence. Implications for teacher training and curriculum design are discussed.

AI as a Pedagogical Partner: A Value-Based Framework for Digital Ethics in Civic Education

Mohammad Muchtarom, Raharjo Raharjo, Anis Suryaningsih — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 23:56:09 +0300

The digital revolution has introduced important ethical challenges for younger generations, including the spread of hoaxes, plagiarism, and cyberbullying. This research examines the integration of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a pedagogical partner in civic education to strengthen digital ethics grounded in Pancasila as Indonesia’s local wisdom. Employing a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through questionnaires administered to 332 senior and vocational high school students, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 10 civic education teachers in Central Java Province, and in-depth interviews with experts in Civic and Character Education. The study findings reveal that, despite students' active use of AI, their critical thinking skills and digital ethics require further development. Teachers expressed an urgent need for adaptive, context-specific learning resources. Pancasila values provide a relevant and robust philosophical foundation for developing a digital ethics framework. Based on these findings, the study proposes an innovative framework that positions AI chatbots not merely as tools but as simulative and reflective learning partners. The framework seeks to transform learning from simple knowledge transmission to value-oriented education, enabling teachers to act as facilitators who guide students in actualising Pancasila values within the digital space.