Knowledge of mathematics is significant for each society because mathematics "acts as a 'gatekeeper' to social progress" (Gates & Vistro-Yu, 2003, p. 32) and also a gateway for a good profession. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 was completed by approximately 540,000 15-year-old students and published in 2016 PISA report. The 2016 PISA report showed that among 72 countries and economies, Turkey lagged behind most of the countries, i.e., 49th in mathematics, 52nd in science and 50th in reading. Given the state of Turkey, the problems in education should be scrutinised across subjects, including maths. To address this apparent proven problem, we conducted research on vocational high school students (i.e., mostly disadvantaged students). To the best of our knowledge, Turkish students' perceptions of success in mathematics who are studying in a vocational high school are under-researched. In light of this gap, the present longitudinal study sets out to investigate Turkish Vocational and Technical High School students' perceptions as learners of mathematics to contribute to the literature (n=165). Open-ended questions were asked whether students believe that they are successful or unsuccessful and the underlying reasons why. The data were collected through a faceto-face structured interview and classroom observation. Among 165 vocational high school students, 61 of them believed that they were successful, 93 believed that they were unsuccessful and 11 students were hesitant. Reasons why students believed they are successful or unsuccessful were collected under five salient themes as follows: (i) reasons arising from students themselves; (ii) reasons arising from students' perceptions of maths course//their maths abilities, (iii) reasons arising from maths teacher, (iv) reasons arising from students' educational background, (v) reasons arising from the milieu.

University students are expected to develop the skills required for their disciplines, especially those who have learnt English as a foreign language and study at English-medium instruction (EMI) universities. This study investigates the disciplinary literacy needs of students of veterinary medicine. The data were collected using a large-scale survey (n = 122) of students and interviews with five practitioners of veterinary medicine. The findings show that the student vets were trained to carry out highly demanding duties during their clinical placements, such as reading medical case histories, making diagnoses, elaborating on treatment plans for their clients, and composing referrals and medical reports. However, they were exposed to a challenging EMI environment where the requirement to speak and write in English significantly hindered the effectiveness of their learning. A discrepancy in disciplinary tasks between school and the workplace was also revealed. Therefore, it is crucial that researchers and educators at veterinary schools address students’ learning challenges to ensure they have the effective English language skills (including reading, writing, and speaking) they need to meet the language demands of their future clinical work and an understanding of the academic genres of veterinary medicine. This study also showcases the types of multi-literacies (i.e., academic genres and communication skills) needed to fulfil certain clinical duties, and the pedagogical implications are discussed.

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This study aimed to investigate undergraduate nursing students’ opinions on the instructional mode of attendance at Medical English classes during novel coronavirus (COVID-19) measures in the 2021-2022 academic term. Convenience sampling was utilized to obtain data. The data were collected using an online interview with three open-ended questions and highly structured observation accompanied by field notes (n=49). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings showed that during COVID-19, the main reasons undergraduate nursing students preferred face-to-face education included being more effective and productive. During online learning, most of the nursing students’ conditions did not allow joining online classes, such as limited internet access, problems with the internet connection, and also their departmental programme that included face-to-face classes after online Medical English classes. The interview findings were consistent with the data obtained using observation in this study. The findings suggest that students’ opinions should be considered while making formal decisions. Hybrid education, synchronous (live) and asynchronous (recorded) sessions together, seems to be the best option. Each stakeholder, like teachers and managers, should be hand in hand with students when making decisions, especially in unexpected processes like COVID-19.