This study sought to examine the relationship between students’ online learning anxiety (OLA) and their academic self-efficacy (ASE) during COVID-19 crisis. To assess such a relationship, students’ perspectives were investigated by using a standardized questionnaire that comprised four sections. The questionnaire was sent out to 718 students enrolled in tertiary education institutions in 28 countries. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS (Pearson Correlation, ANOVA, multivariate analysis, t-test), and were further determined by median and average mean scores. The instruments’ reliability was verified by Delphi technique and Cronbach’s Alpha test. The results revealed that while all students experienced varied degrees of OLA during COVID-19 crisis, a positive correlation was found between ASE and OLA. This unexpected positive relationship contradicts with Bandura’s social-cognitive theory that specifies anxiety as a direct result of low self-efficacy beliefs. However, the results are partially in line with findings of many studies confirming positive correlations between self-efficacy and online learning during the crisis, between online learning and anxiety, and between online-learning quality and academic self-efficacy. The authors believe that online learning has contributed significantly to students’ self-efficacy despite the crisis’ global negative effects.

The current study examined the most common types of academic writing errors and the causes of such errors made by 44 tertiary EFL Arab-Israeli students. A methodological triangulation was employed in this research. Results and analyses of errors in the written samples revealed that students made a substantial number of errors in both rating scales. In the generic writing performance scale (the qualitative method), 75% of students’ written samples rated poor, and the error frequency rating scale (the quantitative method) showed that the students made 2965 errors, which is a notably large number in proportion to the essay length. The researchers have also inferred that the principal reason for such errors is the triglossic nature of Arabic in Israel. The novelty of this research is that such triglossic nature of Arab-Israelis’ language has not yet been investigated in the field. To this end, the results drawn will be utilised in future research as a platform for exploring effective teaching approaches that may enhance EFL students’ writing performance.

"The Melting Pot," "The Land of The Free," "The Land of Opportunity." These tropes or nicknames apparently reflect the freedom and open-armed welcome that the United States of America offers. However, the chronicles of history do not complement that image. These historical happenings have not often been brought into the focus of Modernist literary criticism, though their existence in the record is clear. This book aims to discuss these chronicles, displaying in great detail the underpinnings and subtle references of racism and xenophobia embedded so deeply in both fictional and real personas, whether they are characters, writers, legislators, or the common people. In the main chapters, literary works are dissected so as to underline the intolerance hidden behind words of righteousness and blind trust, as if such is the norm. Though history is taught, it is not so thoroughly examined. To our misfortune, we naively think that bigoted ideas are not a thing we could become afflicted with. They are antiques from the past – yet they possessed many hundreds of people and they surround us still. Since we’ve experienced very little change, it seems discipline is necessary to truly attempt to be rid of these ideas.

While recent literature has focused extensively on the widely embraced approach of explicit instruction, there is a considerable paucity of research concerning plausible practical frameworks that can demonstrate how such particular approach is implementable in EFL classes. To address the specific writing deficiencies of EFL students, the current study proposes an innovative, comprehensive, practical framework that derives from Fisher & Frey’s explicit instruction approach. As such, an experimental three-stage of pretest-posttest design research took stock of the impact of a modified approach on EFL students’ academic writing performance. The research targeted 44 tertiary Arab-Israeli students enrolled in a two-semester academic writing course. The results of the study revealed that the writing performance of the students improved considerably after being exposed to the modified comprehensive explicit instruction program.

This exploratory qualitative study sought to understand the role of transformational leadership in promoting educational sustainability (ES) through examining three classroom critical incidents. For this undertaking, the study employed a quadratic method integrating four theories: Ethnomethodology (particularly indexicality and contextualization), Flanders’ Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC), Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS), and Transformational Leadership (TL). Two of the three incidents took place during face-to-face classes, while the third transpired online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses of teachers’ TL and communication strategies were administered, and each respective event was unfolded, explored, and evaluated qualitatively through a bidirectional model designed by the researchers. Data were collected and the study revealed that teachers demonstrated varied levels of TL based on their perceptions of incidents, the awareness of their professional roles as leaders, and the linguistic choices they made. In addition, analyzing the results of teachers’ discourses, TL was demonstrated to be a leverage point for promoting educational sustainability. Proven to be an effective tool, the bidirectional model can be advocated by policy makers to help teachers assume their roles as leaders, and even to qualify them as leaders.

Purpose: To explore how Arab school principals in Israel perceived and enacted their leadership roles during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to evaluate the perspectives of 46 principals overseeing Arab public elementary, middle and high schools in Israel.Findings: Three key themes were revealed: caring leadership (emotional well-being, mental health and relational trust), supportive leadership (practical, emotional and resource-based support) and social justice leadership (community aid, socioeconomic support and ensuring teacher and student safety).Practical implications: Ongoing training for principals in emotional intelligence and crisis leadership and management, alongside structured support for teachers, will enhance resilience and effectiveness in schools, particularly in low socioeconomic contexts, facing future unexpected crises.Social implications: Principals’ caring, supportive, and social justice leadership strengthens social and emotional ties within communities, promotes support systems during crises and enables schools to serve as community centers, enhancing welfare and reducing social disparities.Originality/value: This study makes a unique contribution to the limited body of research on the functioning of school principals as agents of social justice and caring and supportive leaders during crises within the minority Arab society in Israel.