This study explores how teachers construct and enact agency in professional learning from an activity theory perspective. Through a qualitative case study of three language teachers' experiences within a professional development (PD) program focusing on China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE), this research identifies agency…

Drawing on data collected from multiple sources, this qualitative case study investigates how seven English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) academics from a university in mainland China perceive and cope with their professional vulnerability within the system of performativity. Three themes were generated from the data: (1) professional vulnerability…

Drawing from (Dörnyei's, The Psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition, 2005) L2 Motivational Self System, this case study delved into the L2 learning motivations of liberal arts and science English majors at a transnational university in China, where English Medium Instruction (EMI) is prevalent.…

In research on EFL writing, much attention has been paid to teachers' practises in assessment or feedback, but little is known about teachers' behaviors in these two domains as a whole. There also seems to be a paucity of research on how teachers' reactions to student writing develop from pre- through in-service. The current study, using a…

Identity serves as a valuable lens through which to investigate, understand and facilitate teacher learning during curriculum reform. Identity learning is the core process of educational change, with teacher emotion at the heart of professional learning processes. In this study, we traced the 1-year journeys of four Chinese EFL teachers during a…

Foreign language teachers' recognition of their identity is essential to their professional development. Drawing on bicultural theories, this study investigated two American teachers who recounted their experiences of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at a university in China. This study leverages the Two-directional Extension Model as…

This qualitative study seeks to explore how two university English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers learned to teach critical thinking (CT) through lesson study in China. Informed by relevant literature on CT and teachers' learning to teach CT, and drawing on data from interviews, classroom observation, artefacts and research journals for one…

This article explores a mentoring program for English language teachers at a university in China. At the end of the program, the teachers and mentor reported feeling transformed and set out to investigate what was transformative about their experiences by writing final reflections. Then, the teachers and mentor became the researchers, and using a…

Within English supplementary tutoring centers in China, the professional development teachers are afforded is limited due to time constraints and the qualifications of teacher trainers within those centers. To facilitate a novel means of engaging teachers in their professional development related to guided reading, an innovation configurations map…

Despite a surge of research interest on languages other than English (LOTE) education over the past years, there is a lack of attention to LOTE teachers' professional practice and development in higher education. To address such a gap, this narrative inquiry examines how a Romanian language teacher navigates identity tensions and seeks his…

Critical intercultural education has become an essential aspect of language teacher preparation programmes. This study examines the implementation of an English course based on critical intercultural pedagogy in a preservice EFL teacher education programme in China. By analysing data from students' multimodal responses and course evaluations, the…

Given the status of English as a lingual franca and the ongoing trend of internationalization of higher education, English medium instruction (EMI) has become increasingly popular in many EFL university settings. However, taking up EMI teaching can be an emotionally complex and daunting task for disciplinary teachers. Informed by a…

This study aims to investigate how time is coordinated with the professional space of the universities in western China. It examines how the situatedness of English language teachers in institutional spaces influences their understandings of and the value attributed to time and how these impact on how they make changes to their practice following…

Language is a communication tool used by everyone in their daily life as a means to convey information and arguments to others. Even though the Ministry of Education (MoE) in China has been switching from exam-oriented education to cross-cultural communication education, the classroom practices, teaching methods, evaluation system, school…

In the context of global educational exchange, this study explores the experiences of Chinese teachers temporarily teaching Mandarin Chinese in United States K-12 schools. Using case-study methodology, this research examines the professional challenges and learning experiences of these transnational Chinese language teachers. Findings reveal that…