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Mitigating Anxiety in Oral Assessment
Full text linkEnglish for Academic Purposes (EAP) is often characterised as a high-stakes environment, not least because of the role of assessment. While good EAP provision embraces assessment, it would be naïve to claim assessment is always welcomed by students. Particularly if positioned as a gatekeeper and enforcer of standards, assessment can bring anxiety. Since oral assessment often plays a dominant role in EAP, this practice-focused paper examines anxiety within speaking tasks. Its purpose is to highlight anxiety as a reliability risk in oral assessments and present strategies for student anxiety management (SAM). The recommendation is that EAP practitioners incorporate SAM strategies into their provision. To illustrate, three SAM strategies are presented within the context of oral assessment: test-wiseness (negotiating the assessment process via strategies independent of the actual assessment construct), self-regulation (student management of their learning), and emotional regulation (control over the emotions feeding anxiety). The conclusion is that while no panacea, SAM is likely to remain relevant so long as assessment is prominent in the EAP curriculum. Furthermore, the provision of SAM serves as a reminder to practitioners of their ethical obligation to mitigate anxiety in all forms of assessment
RESEARCHING HUMANS OR RESEARCHING GOD? : A ROUNDTABLE ON FIELDWORK IN RELIGIOUS SETTINGS
Full text linkThis article is the second of two roundtable discussions on fieldwork. It centres on fieldworkers conducting research in religious sites. The discussants share both their encounters and their reflections on engaging with spiritual agents, where the blurring of boundaries between anthropological and theological perspectives increasingly challenges secular anthropological presuppositions. As fieldwork becomes infused with embodied religiosities, anthropology itself begins to resemble a spiritual practice. In many cases, encounters with religion in the field have not only enriched academic understanding but also profoundly affected the researcher’s sense of self, a challenge that anthropologists working in this thematic area (and beyond it) must continually reckon with
Religion in Scotland’s Census 2001–2022
Full text linkThis piece presents the results from Scotland’s Census 2022, comparing them with results from the Censuses of 2001 and 2011. Noting a considerable rise in those of “no religion” and a fall in those belonging to the Church of Scotland, geographical patterns and an age breakdown are discussed. These figures indicate the scale of the challenge facing Scotland’s denominations
Linguistic diversity within the Church: A theological defence
Full text linkThis article argues that linguistic diversity is vital for the health of the Church. Although multilingualism has been crucial to human history, linguistic imperialism has become characteristic of the modern age. The article contends that Christians should defend the right of linguistic minorities to worship in their accustomed (usually native) languages, since linguistic diversity is tied to the health and identity of faith communities. The article uses a case study, the decline of Gaelic in Scottish Presbyterian churches, to show how linguistic imperialism can harm faith communities
“The Barlinnie Special Unit: Art, Punishment and Innovation” edited by Kirstin Anderson
No full textReview of Kirstin Anderson, ed., The Barlinnie Special Unit: Art, Punishment and Innovation (Sherfield-on-Loddon: Waterside Press, 2024), pp. xxii + 294, ISBN 978-1914603464. £25.0
Selfish Comparative Optimism: A Rejoinder to Nagasawa’s Problem of Evil for Atheists
Full text linkYujin Nagasawa’s problem of systemic evil (pose) argues that systemic evils like natural se lection pose a greater challenge to atheism/non-theism than to theism, as they conflict with “modest optimism”: the view that the world is fundamentally “not bad.” Nagasawa suggests theism resolves this by appealing to a heavenly bliss, offsetting natural evils, a strategy unavailable to atheists/non-theists. However, I argue that atheists/non-theists are better equipped to address pose because they are not constrained by the theistic commitment to a categorically good world. In Section 1, I critique two theistic approaches to pose. Extreme optimism defends the actual world as the best possible one, requiring problematic justifications such as free-will and “only way” theodicies to explain systemic evils as necessary. Neutral optimism, while allowing for multiple good worlds, still struggles to reconcile systemic evils with a benevolent God, merely shifting the problem to other possible worlds. In Section 2, I explore how atheists/non-theists can bypass pose. They can adopt personal, rather than cosmic, optimism, valuing their own existence without affirming the world’s overall goodness. Alternatively, they can embrace comparative optimism, viewing existence as better than non-existence without attributing intrinsic value to natural processes like evolution. These flexible approaches free non-theists from the philosophical burdens tied to systemic evils. In Section 3, I argue that even if pose persists, atheists/non-theists can “borrow” theists’ theodicies without committing to their metaphysical assumptions. By adopting naturalistic or subjective frameworks, non-theists can justify their modest optimism without the theological constraints imposed by theism. This demonstrates that pose ultimately challenges theistic frameworks more than atheistic ones
Berlin as It Was: Archival Footage and Lost Urban Spaces in Early Postwar German Cinema
Full text linkArboreal: Multispecies Industries of Forest Ecology and Documentary Filmmaking as Art of Attunement
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Netflix as Global Thought: What can paying attention to the intentionally obscured shadow industry of television piracy reveal about Netflix and its delivery of global thought?
Full text linkThis essay challenges streaming services as providers of global content through the case study of Netflix. Through the lens of television piracy, it investigates the spatial and temporal challenges inherent in the streaming era. Ultimately this essay contends that streaming regresses as frequently as it promised progress, while piracy emerges as both a revealing and transformative force. By circumventing the limitations of streaming it is piracy that offers access to global thought in an increasingly fragmented digital landscape