While a number of studies focused on identity construction, teacher attrition, and lived experiences among early-career teachers, studies on early-career English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' professional practices for teacher learning remain underexplored. Using the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework dimensions of…

Although research in critical literacy has long been conducted in English as a second language contexts, a modicum of critical literacy research in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts in which English is seldom used outside the classroom environment has also been undertaken. This article aims to discuss the introduction of critical…

Reflective practice (RP) has been widely promoted in many second language teacher education programs to foster pre-service teachers' pedagogical competence. However, the effectiveness of RP has often been questioned and challenged due to its lack of authenticity in practice. This Viewpoint paper focuses on the issue of authenticity of RP and how…

Despite a growing focus on positive psychology in recent years, negative emotions have not ceased to play a crucial role in learning additional languages in the classroom. This paper reports a study that investigated one such negative emotion -- boredom -- as experienced by 115 advanced learners of English. They were asked to write a descriptive…

This 13-week study investigated changes in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' motivational states due to face-to-face inter-cultural and intra-cultural contact treatments in a Japanese EFL classroom. Drawing on the L2 motivational Self System and International Posture, this quasi-experimental study took the form of a between-groups…

This study examines how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' motivational practice affects learners based on a motivational design for learning and performance, the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS) model of motivation. There was also an examination of how learners' perceptions of teachers' motivational practices were…

This article provides a review and analysis of current research examining the connection between teacher language proficiency and their self-reported beliefs about their pedagogical abilities. Generally speaking, (English) language teachers require an advanced level of proficiency in order to be successful language teachers, but pedagogical skills…

Developing English for communicative purposes is a key objective of language classes in many parts of the world. As a logical prerequisite to communication practice, learners need to have Willingness to Communicate (WTC) before they will engage in L2 interaction (Macintyre et al., 1998). Teachers can play an important role in helping learners to…

This article explores teachers' classroom monitoring in English language learning and asks if it has a role to play beyond what we know and recognize as mainstream classroom management. As part of a larger study of pedagogical practices in classrooms in Singapore, researchers collected and analyzed videographic data on the types and…

This paper presents a case study that investigated and compared the stated beliefs and observed classroom practices relating to language teaching of one experienced and one novice English language teacher. Areas where observed practices converged with or diverged from stated beliefs are explored and discussed with reference to factors which might…

Although pair and small group activities are commonly used in second language (L2) classrooms, there are very few studies which can inform teachers about whether it is best to have students work in pairs or in small groups. In this study, conducted in a junior high school in Indonesia with learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), we…

This paper outlines some findings of a three-month investigation into the effects of students' interpersonal relationships on communication in two EFL classrooms in a Japanese university. Data was collected to identify and describe the various social subgroups that existed within the classes, and samples of classroom discourse were then analysed…