The European “ecosystem” of higher education seems to have been affected by the global pandemic in a number of ways. Some of these impacts may well be viewed as negative; some others, as giving a new impetus to the development of the entire educational system. It is evident, for instance, that the dire necessity to “go virtual” has created new avenues for the intensification of contacts between educators who previously were less motivated to do so (Magomedov et al. 2020, Melnyk et al., 2020). That clearly manifests the fact that the ongoing process of transformations taking place in national higher education systems across Europe has not slowed down at all, which has made some of the current cultural and educational challenges even more pressing. One such challenge is the necessity to effectively use ELF (English as a lingua franca). Researchers working in post-communist countries have made valuable contributions to linguistic studies, especially in the area of EFL studies, as these countries clearly belong to the so-called Expanding Circle. However, the social and cultural realities of today call for more focus not on EFL studies but on research in the field of ELF and ESP (English for Specific Purposes). It is explained by the fact that the ability to use ESP is now a highly desirable skill for the majority of professionals working in the post-communist part of Europe.

Dear Readers and Authors, It is a great honor for us to publish the International Journal of Science Annals (IJSA) for the fourth year in a row. IJSA is an academic periodical peer-reviewed indexed Journal that provides a scientific platform for presenting and discussing new trends and issues in Social and Behavioral Sciences. IJSA mission: international cooperation of scientists conducting research in the field of integration of human sciences and health. IJSA Editorial Board includes the most authoritative scientists from 17 countries, 5 continents in the fields of Education, Psychology, Medicine. For 3.5 years of its existence, the IJSA is presented in more than 35 international scientometric databases, repositories and search engines, such as Crossref System, Google Scholar, OAJI (USA); ISSN, ROAD (France); COPE, EndNote, OpenDOAR, CORE, Jisc (UK); DOAJ, Scilit (Switzerland); Publons (New Zealand); ERIH PLUS, OpenAIRE (Norway); BASE, ResearchGate, ASI (Germany); MIAR (Spain); Index Copernicus International (Poland); DRJI (India); RSCI (Russia); OUCI, National Library of Ukraine (Ukraine), etc. It is a great honor and responsibility for the IJSA to become a full member of the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://is.gd/COPE_IJSA) The IJSA is indexed in: ICI ICV 91.27; ICDS 3.5; CGIJ OAJI 0.251

For developmental psychologists, playing is a crucial parameter to monitor children and adolescents’ physical, emotional, cognitive, and executive development and wellbeing. In the psychotherapy setting, play is a promotor of positive therapeutic change because it allows the child to express beliefs, memories, wishes, feelings, and subconscious contents, from a safe and indirect point of view. Play is a fundamental human right during the whole life cycle, and it becomes even more important for those children and adolescents who are hospitalized or experiencing medical treatments at home (European Association for Children in Hospital, 1988). Entering a medical setting can elicit children’s and adolescents’ distress on many levels (e.g., anxiety, depression, hypochondria, acting out, externalizing, and internalizing problems) since their familiar routine is temporarily disrupted. The aim of the study. To foster scientific community consideration about the Play Specialist role, paying attention to the state of the art, the international field of practice, the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the Play Specialist intervention, the main challenges, and the everyday issue that these professionals have to face to gain proper integration in the national and international healthcare system.

Writing a thesis or a research proposal poses enormous challenges specially in these times of information superabundance. And the positive side is that we have a lot of information to use during our research. The other phenomenon to take into consideration is the misinformation and how it could affect our research. Again, we can overcome this difficulty by applying structured research methods. The methodology proposed here starts with understanding the research problem applying the systemic thinking; then looing for information with mapping studies; evaluating the publications obtained with information quality tools; testing multiple hypothesis at the same time; and finally, if needed preparing a Gantt chart to plan the research. All these methodologies when together highlight the positive side of the synergies while minimize the impact of the cognitive bias. The aim of the study: To describe the importance of having a structured tool to write a thesis or setting up a research project. Materials and Methods: This tool was developed after analysing several research methodologies and studying their usefulness for problem-solving. Currently, new tools are under evaluation to enrich the course. Results: The proposal presented here is a problem-solving course that includes five methodologies: systems theory, mapping studies, information quality, and competing hypothesis, plus the Gantt chart. When they are used in sequence, it is possible to obtain outstanding results and also the process is auditable in its whole extension. This course has been presented several times at universities and other places in Argentina and also in Peru, with interesting and relevant results.

The eternal dilemma of quality or quantity affects many areas of human life. One of these areas is the publishing industry. This issue is particularly acute for scientific periodicals. The aim of the study. To analyze the dilemma of the quality or quantity of papers in the publication of a scientific periodical Journal, and to share the four-year experience of publishing the International Journal of Science Annals (IJSA) with publishers, editors, reviewers, and authors. Scientific periodicals should solve the dilemma of quality and quantity of papers definitely in favor of quality. Journals should be committed to a high standard of editorial ethics. Journals should have a clear and precise procedure for reviewing and selecting papers for publication. Journals should necessarily consider the possible conflict of interest in research between authors, editors, reviewers, funders, etc. Journals should motivate young talented scientists to publish their manuscripts by providing them with editorial support in the preparation of the manuscript and funding for its publication. The implementation of these key principles will contribute both to the development of science in general and the Journal in particular.

As we know, the educational curriculum refers to academic content taught in schools or a collection of lessons, assessments, or a particular program or course taken on by students (Alanazi, 2016). Granting it is essential to note what a curriculum will achieve, what students will do and use to learn, and what teachers will use to teach the class; however, as to Crowley (2021), the curriculum is in no way neutral – it, at all times, mirrors ideological views. From a learner-centered ideology, it is presumed that education manifests itself in drawing out people’s inherent goodness and capabilities for growth (Schiro, 2013, pp. 5–6). As a teacher wanting to operate in this ideology, I believe the learners have their own abilities for growth. This ideology is all about bringing out the competency within them. On the other hand, classrooms are busy public places; events are unpredictable (Ming-tak & Wai-shing, 2013, pp. 10–11). This requires the teachers to develop their range of classroom management strategies. Setting up a classroom is an essential part of teaching and learning. It involves designing the classroom atmosphere, rules, and expectations (Williamson, 2008, p. 3). Granting there is no sole way of managing a wide array of classrooms, fruitful classroom management is tied to student engagement and empowerment (Honigsfeld & Cohan, 2014).

Background and Aim of Study: Since March 2020, the health pandemic caused by COVID-19 has led to the implementation of new teaching scenarios in which ICT tools have become the real protagonists of the learning process. With this situation, the use of Flipgrid has become an effective platform to improve EFL undergraduate students’ speaking skills. The aim of the study: to demonstrate how a group of EFL undergraduate students’ oral linguistic competence improves thanks to the use of this tool. Material and Methods: An empirical intervention was carried out with a group of thirty-three students, randomly assigned into a control and an experimental group during the first term of the academic year 2021-2022 in a public University in Madrid (Spain). As instruments for data collection, the grades obtained in the final speaking test of the subject English B2.2. were analyzed. The methodological framework is defined as an exploratory comparative experimentation that provides quantitative data analyzed with the SPSS statistical software. Results: The results confirm the hypothesis that the use of Flipgrid is beneficial for improving English Studies undergraduate students’ EFL orality since there is a significant difference of p=0.02. Conclusions: In the light of the results obtained in this research and the scarce studies focused on Flipgrid in the EFL classroom, it is advisable for teachers to use this collaborative tool to improve students’ orality since the asynchronous interaction among the students which came along with the development of interpersonal skills, and the easy management of Flipgrid, make it an excellent collaborative and motivating tool for EFL undergraduate students.

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to unparallel hazards to mental health globally. Many countries around the world have introduced quarantine measures. Quarantine has changed not only the plans of most people, but also their way of life. The greatest impact of quarantine is experienced by COVID positive patients who are isolated in a hospital. The aim of the study: to explore psychological well-being of COVID positive patients during quarantine in a private hospital. Materials and Methods: In this study, 100 patients who were COVID positive were requested to fill the Quality of Life Questionnaire. A pre-validated questionnaire was used to assess the depression score amongst COVID positive patients. The analysis of the answers and respondent opinions was conducted using the Pearson method, which produced statistically relevant results. Results: The studied aspects of mental health patients: sleep, appetite, crying spells; happiness and hope for the future; ability to concentrate and focus and getting disturbed easily by trivia; support received from family and friends; overall outlook of life and ability to stay happy in solitude. As a result, qualitative indicators of the patients’ mental health during quarantine in a private hospital were obtained. Conclusions: The data obtained showed that patients managed to stay happy and eat well but they talked less, had disturbed sleep and did not look forward towards a hopeful future. Some were able to shake away the blues with family, friends on Online Media but some got depressed and got crying spells and thought that their life was a failure. The study concluded that patients on quarantine were often depressed. Many patients might benefit if psychological counselling and support are employed during quarantine measures.

Background: This article continues a series of studies devoted to ludic competence/playfulness and one of its components is flirting. The aim of the study: in the context of parametric concept of meaning, to identify on the basis of applied psycholinguistic research the semantic components of the stimulus “flirting person”, which are actualized in the speech acts of Russian-speaking inhabitants of Ukraine. Material and Methods: The main method of the research is a psycholinguistic experiment whose major stage is the controlled association experiment with the stimulus “flirting person”. The sample comprised 215 young people (aged 21-35), of which 112 females and 103 males. Results: At the final stage of formulation of the instructions 23 semantic features were selected for the stimulus “flirting person”. The results of the controlled association experiment with the stimulus “flirting person” allowed to build 23 associative fields and obtain the material for describing the behaviour pattern of ludic position Diplomat (flirting person) reflecting the reality of linguistic consciousness of young Russian-speaking inhabitants of Ukraine. Conclusions: Cluster analysis of the associative field of the semantic feature “What is the person’s marital status?” allowed to define: three core clusters – “Free” (71.16%), “In a relationship” (14.42%), “Any” (3.72%); three peripheral clusters – “Qualities” (3.26%), “Emotional State” (3.26)%, “Role in family relations” (1.40%); extreme peripheral clusters – “Changeable” (0.93%); an isolated female reaction “Guy” suggests an ambiguous interpretation and allows to highlight different meanings – “Gender” and “Age”.

Background and Aim of Study: As the pandemic escalated into a global health crisis with abundant reports, updates and personal stories invading the World Wide Web and the social media, the context of COVID-19 offered for researchers an opportunity exploring the cyberchondria concept. Surprisingly, despite its prominence, the consequences of this shift in health behavior are still not fully appreciated. For many cyberchondriacs, the online shopping experience is considered as a coping strategy. The aim of the study: to investigate how excessive health-related anxiety leads to online shopping enjoyment, and to examine the mediating roles of COVID-19 fear and hedonic shopping motivation. Material and Methods: A survey methodology is used to collect responses from a sample of 355 consumers in Tunisia and analyzed via AMOS 23. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the causal relationship between measured variables. Results: Our results indicate that during the current pandemic, the cyberchondria was associated with an increased online shopping enjoyment guided both by a developed fear from this virus and some of the hedonic motivations. Conclusions: This study is one of the first studies that investigate the impact of cyberchondria on shopping experiences. Our findings may indicate starting points for some public health marketers and managers to make interventions to reduce cyberchondria during the pandemic. Particularly, online shopping may be considered as a safe space, where anxious people may escape. However, public health organizations should carefully consider these outcomes of cyberchondria and should elucidate clear pathways of action so that consumers feel empowered to tackle the pandemic effectively.