Commencing study for a PhD or other higher degree by research (HDR) constitutes a significant educational transition. To date, little research has been undertaken on the orientation or induction experiences of commencing HDR candidates and there is little guidance for HE providers of induction. This paper reflects upon understandings of student…

This article provides a theoretical and empirical argument in support of explicit language instruction. It proposes on theoretical grounds that certain features of a language are sufficiently complex and subtle that learners are unlikely to be able to decipher their full conceptual meaning on the basis of exposure alone. It further proposes that…

As perspectives from the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky have made a substantial impact in the field of educational sciences, they have generated interest even in the field of religious education. To address some possible implications of Vygotskyan perspectives for religious education, this study focuses on Vygotsky's notion of symbolic…

In this paper, we draw on our recent research to inspect again some of the theoretical perspectives we have been using to analyze data and to characterize teaching-learning in university settings. We focus particularly, within a sociocultural perspective on Activity Theory and the construct the "Teaching Triad," seeking to embed the…

Professional Vision (PV) has been used in teacher education to interpret novice teachers' learning in various educational contexts. To date, research has conceptualized this framework largely from a cognitive perspective of learning, overlooking the affordances of taking a sociocultural perspective. This theoretical paper aims to articulate the…

Based on historical sources and publication records in the early 20th century, we suggest that Vygotsky's recognition of the 'paradox' in human learning and his conceptualisation of advanced thinking were largely influenced by Stanislavski's work in theatre. In this paper, we offer some evidence for this argument on Vygotsky's nascent system of…

"Effective Use of Collective Peer Teaching in Teacher Education" investigates the learning benefits of letting students assume leadership roles in the classroom, emphasizing both theoretical analysis and firsthand empirical research conducted with pre-service teachers. Building on Vygotsky's (1987) sociocultural theory of human learning…

In the context of international systemic reforms promoting professional standards for teachers and inclusivity of diverse students in schools, this paper presents and demonstrates conceptual means by which educators can critically respond to the uncomfortable couplet of standardisation and difference. This is primarily achieved by theorising…

This article argues that provisional language is important for creating a dialogic space between speakers, where ideas are open for discussion; where participants respect each other's viewpoints; and where the goal is to encourage and explore multiple perspectives. Whilst much of the research on children's talk in the classroom focuses on the…

A long history of theory exists to underpin our understanding of how to engage individuals and communities in more effective environmental conservation and sustainability practices. Yet rarely do we delve deeply into sociocultural theories of learning, which help demonstrate how learning and action are fundamentally intertwined in our…

This highly novel book provides an exploration of the role of silence in the school setting and interrogates the value of silence and quiet in contemporary educational practices, looking at pedagogies and classroom practice to guide this increasingly popular subdiscipline of the history of education. Arguably the first contribution written in…

Most second language writing studies have approached the L2 Writing phenomenon through the cognitive theoretical lens that situates writing as a mental activity that resembles psychological and mathematical problem-solving (Cumming, 2016, p. 69). "While research on second language writing has expanded exponentially in recent years, it has for…

This book provides an overview and analysis of the role that classroom interaction plays in instructed second language acquisition. The authors synthesise current state-of-the-art research on how classroom interaction benefits L2 learning through the lens of three theoretical perspectives: cognitive-interactionist (with a focus on how…

Learning is an integral part of being human. How people learn has long been discussed, revealed in many learning theories, investigated in numerous studies, and demonstrated in extensive practices. The goal of this article is to rethink how people learn from four fundamental perspectives, that is, learning by interaction with content (C), learning…

This paper seeks to further develop and refine a theory of the ways in which artefacts created by humans direct and deflect the attention of groups and individuals as they act in specific institutional settings. It draws on the writings of Basil Bernstein and Lev Vygotsky. These are two bodies of theory that have strengths which, to some extent,…