Education and Learning

Godwin Paintsil

Music educators value creativity, yet learners may encounter inherited musical knowledge whose acceptable uses have already been decided. This conceptual article examines how different justifications for teaching tradition can restrict learners’ participation in its interpretation and continuation. Through a theory synthesis of open philosophy in music education, culturally sustaining pedagogy, cultural production, authenticity scholarship, and an interpretive use of Nietzsche’s historical modes, I develop two related concepts. Double closure distinguishes canonization through normative standards from preservation through authorized authenticity. These routes can converge in positioning learners as reproducers of settled knowledge, despite their different histories, political purposes, and ethical stakes. Critical openness is a pedagogical framework for addressing that convergence through substantive inheritance, inquiry into authenticity, continuity through responsible transformation, and accountable learner participation. Its contribution lies in connecting the justification for a restriction to the authority that sustains it and the opportunities learners have to negotiate it. Ghanaian scholarship provides a historically situated illustration. A worked example links an identified indicator in Ghana’s 2023 Performing Arts curriculum to a proposed Kpanlogo learning sequence, distinguishing the policy text from hypothetical enactments. The analysis shows how creative activity can coexist with restricted cultural authority and specifies questions for examining that relationship. The framework remains a conceptual proposal whose educational consequences require empirical investigation.

Education and Learning

Hope John Sheyo

This study compared History achievement between six secondary schools in Mbeya City, Tanzania: three using structured group discussion and three using the conventional question-and-answer method. Teaching method was assigned at the school level, and no school contributed students to both conditions, so teaching method is completely confounded with school identity; the study is therefore reported as descriptive, exploratory comparative evidence, not a statistical test of causal effectiveness. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design was used with 120 students, balanced across Forms One to Three in each condition, over a six-to-seven-week intervention, with data from a 20-point History achievement test given before and after. Students in the group-discussion schools recorded a higher mean post-test score (M = 12.92, SD = 2.05) than students in the question-and-answer schools (M = 10.40, SD = 1.85), and a larger mean gain (7.73 versus 4.93 points). Student-level t-tests, ANCOVA, and Cohen's d are also reported (adjusted mean difference 2.48 points, F(1, 117) = 47.86; post-test d = 1.29), but, because treatment was assigned to only six school/class units and is fully confounded with school, these are descriptive summaries rather than confirmatory evidence of a treatment effect. Qualitative evidence from teacher interviews, focus groups, and observations was consistent with this pattern. The findings describe an observed difference between six participating schools under monitored conditions; they do not, alone, establish that group discussion caused it, since school-level factors could not be separated from teaching method in this design.

Education and Learning

Weijian Kong, Yundong Wu

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly being integrated into language education, yet evidence concerning its use in Korean language learning remains fragmented. This scoping review examines the emerging research on GenAI and related artificial intelligence applications in Korean language learning, with particular attention to pedagogical affordances, language skills, learner agency, and Korean-specific linguistic and pragmatic characteristics. Following a scoping review framework, relevant literature was identified and screened across major international and Korean academic databases. The final corpus comprised 56 sources, including direct studies of GenAI in Korean language learning, earlier Korean AI and chatbot research, broader research on GenAI in second and foreign language education, and conceptual, ethical, and policy-oriented studies. The findings indicate that existing Korean-language research is concentrated primarily on writing, prompt use, learner perceptions, and university-level instruction, while evidence concerning speaking, listening, reading, and sustained classroom implementation remains comparatively limited. The review further identifies Korean-specific challenges involving honorifics, speech-level selection, contextual appropriateness, and discourse management, which may not be adequately addressed by general-purpose GenAI systems. Across the literature, effective use of GenAI appears to depend on instructional design, learner agency, human mediation, and responsible assessment rather than technology alone. The review concludes by identifying research priorities for empirically validating GenAI-supported Korean language pedagogy and developing context-sensitive, ethically responsible approaches to its integration.

Education and Learning

Ismail Mubarak, Kaharuddin Kaharuddin, Djuwairiah Ahmad

Limited opportunities for structured speaking practice and delayed corrective feedback remain persistent challenges in junior secondary EFL classrooms, often resulting in suboptimal development of transactional speaking skills. Addressing this gap, the present study investigated the effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-mediated communication through SpeechAce in improving students’ transactional speaking performance. This study employed a pre-experimental one-group pre-test–post-test design involving eight junior secondary students. Students participated in six instructional sessions integrating AI-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) feedback. Speaking performance was assessed using analytic scoring criteria, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired-samples t-test. The results indicated a substantial improvement in students’ performance. The mean pre-test score was 47.36 (SD = 4.11), which increased to 52.24 (SD = 4.31) in the post-test. The mean difference of −4.36250 was statistically significant, t(7) = −6.328, p <0.001, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from −5.99278 to −2.73222. These findings demonstrate that AI-mediated speaking practice contributed to consistent performance gains across participants. In conclusion, AI-assisted communication platforms such as SpeechAce can function as an effective pedagogical augmentation tool to enhance transactional speaking competence in EFL contexts, particularly by providing immediate feedback and structured repetition opportunities.

Education and Learning

Sugeng Susilo Adi, Putu Dian Danayanti Degeng, Hasbullah Isnaeni, Dian Novita Dewi

Classroom management is a central concern in teacher education across Southeast Asia, where large class sizes, linguistic diversity, and varying resource availability create complex teaching environments. While theoretical frameworks ranging from behaviorist to constructivist and inclusive models are widely taught in pre-service programs, bridging these theories to practice remains a persistent challenge. This article presents the BRONE (Brawijaya Online Learning) initiative from Indonesia as a model of digital innovation that addresses this theory practice divide. Through a library research approach, the study analyzes instructional materials including syllabi, modules, and learning videos developed for a Classroom Management course under the BRONE 2025 program. Anchored in Seels and Richey’s educational technology framework and the TPACK model, the findings reveal that BRONE systematically integrates design, development, utilization, and evaluation to operationalize theoretical knowledge in authentic, practice-oriented learning tasks. Key features include classroom observation projects, reflective practice prompts, culturally embedded concepts such as love-based classroom management, and video-based simulations. These elements not only contextualize global theories within Indonesian classrooms but also provide transferable insights for other Southeast Asian contexts facing similar challenges. The article argues that BRONE exemplifies how digital platforms can create authentic learning environments that foster professional readiness, inclusivity, and reflective competence in pre-service teachers. By situating Indonesian innovation within the Asia-Pacific discourse, this study contributes to regional and global debates on how teacher education can reimagine the integration of theory and practice in the digital era.

Education and Learning