The recent dynamic turn in second language acquisition research has called for an investigation in learner agency by taking its complex dynamic nature into account. Informed by complex dynamic systems theory (CDST), this study investigated the agency of learners in a complex educational context where mainstream schooling and private tutoring…

This study investigated the co-development of the ideal L2 writing self, writing enjoyment, and writing anxiety over time, as well as their predictive role in L2 writing achievement, using latent growth curve modeling (LGCM). A total of 145 EFL students in an IELTS writing course completed scales for these constructs across four one-month…

Parallel with the growth of research on the role of religious ideologies in teachers' professional lives, the present study drew on an ecological perspective and explored how religious ideology (i.e., Islamic principles) intersected with Iranian English language teachers' agency and identity. The study was methodologically situated within a…

Various determinants contribute to the disappointing outcomes of the EFL programmes in non-Anglophone countries, thereby limiting citizens in these countries access to international academic and economic platforms. One such determinant is EFL teachers' productive feedback practice. Productive feedback is embedded in a constructivist view of…

Previous research has shown that task repetition can positively affect L2 oral performance. However, few studies have explored the effects of task repetition on young EFL learners' production. Also, task repetition research has paid little attention to effects of "spacing" examined through longer time intervals between the two occasions…

This study examines the role of shadow education as a contributor to educational inequality in South Korea. Using data from the Korean Educational Longitudinal Study (KELS), this paper analyzes the effects of private tutoring at 10th and 12th grade level on College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) scores. We reduce biases in prior research by using…

Emotion labor is expecting individuals to display institutionally-accepted emotional behaviors. This study examined the role of school assessment policies in 13 Iranian English language teachers' emotion labor in a private language school. To this end, data were collected from semi-structured interviews and narrative frames. Data analyses revealed…

Private English education has been expanding rapidly across China during the past three decades. This study investigates the resignification of English through the linguistic landscape of a private English training centre in Datong, a small and less-developed city of China. The findings show that the centre draws from both neoliberal discourse and…

The global spread of private tutoring of English (PTE) has become a driving force of the global marketisation of English. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, this study explores how tutors in the PTE sector, an under-researched group of teachers, construct their professional identities in the market-oriented educational, institutional, and…

Studies have documented the significance of scaffolding as a sociocultural theory driven type of assistance for the development of English as foreign language (EFL) learners' language skills in general; however, the comparative efficacy of various cognitive and/or metacognitive scaffolding procedures for EFL learners' listening comprehension…

Sociological inquiries on parental involvement seldom consider the investments parents make in "themselves" to realise educational advantages in their children's schooling. This gap hides the processes underlying class-making and class-produced privileges. To address this gap, this article investigates middle-class mothers' participation…

Unlike communities of practice, previous studies on imagined communities of practice are scarce, yet enlightening. The present research was conducted in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context in order to provide more insight into how language learners perceive their imagined communities (ICs). It was based on Norton's (2000; 2001)…

Imagined communities of practice create spaces for language learners to participate in local and global interactions as individuals and as members of global communities. However, scant research has examined imagined communities of practice in the context of English as an international language (EIL). The present study adopted a mixed-methods…

In an attempt to measure the dynamic features of foreign language enjoyment (FLE), we adopted a longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis-curve of factors model (LCFA-CFM) approach to substantiate the validity of the original FLE scale (Dewaele and MacIntyre [(2014. "The Two Faces of Janus? Anxiety and Enjoyment in the Foreign Language…

This qualitative study aimed to examine Iranian language teachers' mindsets about language learning and teaching, and the ways in which their mindsets influenced their educational practices. The participants of this study were 20 Iranian language teachers who taught general English courses at private language institutes in a city in central Iran.…