Positive psychology (PP) has received increasing attention in the field of education. Therefore, it would be of utmost importance to analyze the relationship between the constructs falling under the category of positive psychology and other constructs to pave the way for both educational authorities and teachers themselves. Reviewing the previous studies, it turned out that there have been no studies to discuss the interplay between teachers’ psychological capital and their job commitment and academic optimism particularly in the context of China. To fill this gap, the current study set out to inspect the function of Chinese English as a Foreign language (EFL) teachers’ psychological capital in promoting their job commitment and academic optimism. To accomplish this, 316 Chinese teachers (i.e., 97 males, 219 females) were asked to complete “Psychological Capital Scale,” “Job Commitment Scale,” and “Academic Optimism Scale.” The results of regression analyses revealed that Chinese EFL teachers’ psychological capital can strongly predict their job commitment and academic optimism. The conclusion and implications of the results are finally discussed and it is mentioned that both educational authorities and teachers can benefit from this study and make the experience of teaching much more productive.

This review article examines the application of autoethnography as a research method and pedagogical tool within cross-cultural education studies. It argues that autoethnography’s unique epistemological grounding in personal experience, systematic reflexivity, and relational ethics provides a powerful means to investigate the complex and often unspoken affective dimensions of teaching and learning in cross-cultural education. The review synthesizes a diverse body of literature to demonstrate how autoethnography effectively bridges theoretical frameworks with lived educational practice. It traces the method’s intellectual genealogy and evolution, outlining its major typologies, including analytic, evocative, critical, and collaborative autoethnography, and their relevance for educational research. The analysis highlights autoethnography’s distinctive capacity to foster critical cultural awareness, challenge embedded power imbalances, and cultivate genuine empathy among educators and students, with specific illustrations from teacher education, foreign-language learning, and the communication of Chinese educational wisdom. However, the article also critically engages with significant challenges, including ongoing debates about methodological rigor, ethical complexities in representing self and others, and practical implementation barriers in diverse educational settings. The conclusion affirms that when practiced with analytical discipline and ethical responsibility, autoethnography offers a unique pathway for generating situated and transformative knowledge in cross-cultural education. By creating meaningful connections between personal narrative and broader cultural-structural analysis, it ultimately contributes to more nuanced understandings of cross-cultural educational encounters and their implications for educational theory and practice.

This article provides a critical examination of the evolution, application, and methodological implications of thematic analysis (TA) within language services research. Drawing on the principles of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) as both an organizing and interpretive framework, the study reviews and synthesizes existing literature across six key domains: national language planning, urban governance, emergency language services, language economics, talent development and technological integration, and meta-level methodological mapping. Through this synthesis, the study identifies several recurring methodological challenges, including ambiguous epistemological positioning, limited interpretive depth, insufficient reflexivity, and low analytical transparency. Across these domains, TA demonstrates significant potential to illuminate both micro-level professional practices and macro-level structural dynamics. It enables researchers to uncover gaps in policy implementation, inequalities in resource allocation, and emerging tensions related to technological integration in language services. At the same time, the analysis reveals the need for greater methodological clarity and reflexive engagement in order to strengthen analytical validity. In response to these challenges, the article offers reflective insights and practical recommendations aimed at enhancing methodological rigor and conceptual innovation. The study concludes by outlining future directions for the field, including the integration of TA with emerging artificial intelligence tools, the refinement of analytic frameworks, and the advancement of theoretical, methodological, and ethical robustness in language services research.

This study investigates the marital choices of rural women with disabilities within a town located in Northwest China, a population positioned at the intersection of gender, disability, and rural disadvantage. Grounded in Bourdieu’s theoretical insights on capital, the study theorizes marriage as a strategic social field in which vulnerable women assess risks, mobilize resources, and convert different forms of capital under conditions of structural inequality. The study draws on qualitative interviews with rural women with disabilities and employs thematic analysis to examine their marital trajectories, survival risks, and negotiation practices within this specific context. The analysis focuses on experiences involving alcoholic or violent spouses, limited social support due to geographic proximity, housing location, employment stability, and household authority structures. Findings show that in this study, participants actively avoid high-risk partners and prioritize spouses with stable incomes and urban housing to enhance safety and social support. When options are limited, they make constrained choices to accept older spouses or those with caregiving responsibilities or disabilities in exchange for economic security or personal autonomy. These are not fully autonomous decisions but survival-oriented trade-offs under structural constraints. These practices reflect survival-oriented rationality rather than passivity, revealing the capital flow mechanisms of marginalized women in unequal marriage markets and underscoring the need for multi-level policy interventions to support their social integration and sustainable capital accumulation, while highlighting that their direct applicability to broader populations requires further research.