This research presents content analysis to the cultural repertoire of Marvel Cinematic Universe�s superhero motion pictures. It investigates the content, theme, and core ideas of Avengers sequels: The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). It explores how the Avengers sequels portrays recontextualization of superhero characters and whether as well as to what extent it provides US cultural monomyth. The finding shows that each character of the Avengers has flaws and vulnerabilities as common human beings that leave them from traditional superhero monomyth. Nevertheless, it still illustrates US cultural imperialism, pharmakon portrayal, hegemonic masculinity, and sovereignty. These motion pictures still serve US heroism and patriotism interest as well as binary interplay: order-chaos, law-violence and villain-superhero that occurs among superheroes, extra-terrestrial race, robots and Titans despite its recontextualized characters. Moreover, it depicts the traditional masculine ideal valorisation where men are more likely powerful, intelligent, and equipped by sophisticated technology whereas women are seen as supportive superheroes with implied beauty standards. The recommendation for future research is discussed.

Critical thinking skill is crucial for higher education students. However, the development of critical thinking for engineering students has been overlooked. The previous research on students critical thinking in higher education mainly focuses on Humanities and Social Sciences department. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate engineering students critical thinking ability in English public speaking. A case study was carried out on 28 students (18 Males, 8 Females) of Telecommunication Engineering faculty at Institut Teknologi Telkom Purwokerto. The study found that students had the potential to be critical despite their lack of English vocabulary and poor pronunciation ability. They developed critical thinking by understanding the context given, gathering relevant sources as analysis resources, evaluating the gathered information through discussion, and generating the solutions. Evaluative teaching strategies that encourage scaffolding and learning autonomy are needed to enhance their critical thinking.DOI: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230106

IntroductionThesis supervision is a critical part of students’ academic literacy development. Previous research has shown different dimensions of this development with limited attention to cross-cultural aspects. In particular, there has been little research on how students and supervisors negotiate supervision practices in non-anglophone contexts. This study aimed to explore students’ and supervisors’ reported priorities and experiences regarding the provision and reception of feedback in English as an Additional Language thesis supervision.MethodWe conducted a qualitative case study to illuminate supervisor’s and students’ experiences of supervision in Sweden and Indonesia. It involved 39 participants (14 supervisors and 25 students) from one Swedish and three Indonesian universities. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed thematically using Biesta’s functions of education, Habermas’ communicative action theory, and perspectives on academic literacy.FindingsFirstly, we found that Swedish and Indonesian supervisors had different feedback provision priorities. Swedish supervisors described prioritizing content-focused feedback to facilitate students’ socialization into academic writing. Conversely, most Indonesian supervisors expressed balancing content- and form-focused feedback with a greater emphasis on qualifying as English teachers. Despite these differences, supervisors in both contexts tended to isolate academic language use from discipline-specific values and practices. Secondly, students in both contexts largely expressed an instrumental orientation to achieving their goals and were frustrated by supervisors phrasing feedback as questions. Many students expressed unfamiliarity with necessary methodologies and theoretical frameworks, which made supervisors’ feedback difficult to decode.DiscussionSince only a few of the students viewed the feedback as a support for their process of learning, this study calls for a clear communication about the academic socialization intention through supervision. However, academic socialization cannot solely be the responsibility of supervisors but must be embedded in the curriculum courses.

Literature on thesis supervision emphasises collaborative approaches with strong and supportive relationships. Despite an increasing research interest in supervisory relationships, little cross-cultural research has been conducted on supervisory roles and relationships in expanding-circle countries. This research explores how thesis supervisors negotiate different roles in supervision and relationships with colleagues and students in EAL (English as an Additional Language) contexts. A multi-case study was employed in three contexts: a Swedish university, two Indonesian private universities and an Indonesian public university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 thesis supervisors. Thematic analysis and systemic-functional appraisal theory were used to analyse the discourse. Our findings revealed that supervisors expressed dealing with (a)symmetrical relationships with students and colleagues, dealing with different roles as supervisors, and managing priorities relating to intellectual development and instrumental goals. However, these dimensions of supervision were described differently in the three contexts. Swedish supervisors expressed concerns about weak authority, while the Indonesian private supervisors described frustrated attempts to form a closer relationship with the students. However, the Indonesian public supervisors reacted to students trying to become too familiar. Furthermore, supervisors in the three contexts had to take different unwanted roles in supervision. Implications for the understanding of situated supervision are discussed.

English as an international language (EIL) deals with the use of English in wider communication both global and local contexts. In an EIL context, people with different mother tongue (L1) use English to share ideas and culture. That is why intelligible English which should be no longer norm-bound is needed. Teaching pronunciation for EIL, especially should provide variety of English accents. English teachers should be flexible to the modification needed and fully informed of what, why, and how to teach and assess comprehensible English. Unfortunately, teaching English pronunciation has always been challenging for non-native English speaker teachers. In this retrospective essay, I discussed the challenges of teaching English pronunciation: the differences between English and students’ L1 phonological system, teachers’ strong and long-standing belief about unnecessary pronunciation, teachers’ excessive workload and insufficient teaching materials, and teachers’ lack of confidence due to native speaker preference model. Ideas to think about and a simple lesson plan to teach English pronunciation that is suitable for EIL context are provided.