This study employed a large-scale cross-sectional survey (n = 443) to develop and validate second language (L2) regulatory styles [Noels et al. 2000. "Why are You Learning a Second Language? Motivational Orientations and Self-Determination Theory." "Language Learning" 50 (1): 57-85] in the sample of successful English learners…

This paper aimed to develop culturally appropriate TBLT practices to enable teachers and students in China to employ TBLT to teach grammar in English classes. The study deployed design-based research with a total of 122 students at a Chinese university. The mixed-method study utilised questionnaires with 122 students, interviews with 10 students…

Languaging has been identified as a contributor to language learning. Yet, compared to oral languaging, such as collaborative dialogs in contextualized settings, little seems to be known about written languaging. In order to fill this gap, this study investigates languaging in the form of "metanotes," that is, metatalk in a written…

The objective is to examine the changes in the effectiveness of motivational strategy use by teachers during one semester in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. More specifically, we investigate differences in effectiveness changes for each motivational strategy used according to students' English proficiency levels and their…

As the construct of agency has generated considerable discussion among language educators recently and has become a buzz word, there is a need for it to be further conceptualized and operationalized in autonomy research. Drawing on Margaret Archer's theorization of "internal conversation," this paper theorizes language learners' agency…

This paper reports on a qualitative multiple case study that examined the implementation of innovations in English language education by three teachers in Hong Kong. Grounded in an analytical framework of teacher identity, in-depth interviews over an entire year provide a longitudinal understanding of the participants' experiences of…

Teachers employ various strategies aimed at enhancing student motivation, yet there is scant empirical evidence to support their effectiveness. Based on an investigation of 30 EFL classroom observations involving 10 teachers and more than 900 learners (including 90 learners at different levels of English proficiency who completed questionnaires),…

Student reactions to different methods of in-class textbook use have received little attention in the literature on English language teaching. This article explores the responses of 57 Japanese university students to the replacement of teacher-led textbook lessons with small group, role-based textbook work in regular English reading classes.…

When teachers and students use L2 in Expanding Circle, Asian EFL classes, what kind of interpersonal roles do they perform, and what does this mean for the development of L2-mediated identity? The notion of alterity, or otherness, is used here to analyse the extent to which identity work occurs in EFL classes located in a Thai university context.…

Research on the L2 Motivational Self System has drawn considerable attention in Second Language Acquisition. Previous studies have discussed the system itself, its basic concepts and their relationships to such affective variables as anxiety in various L2 learning contexts. The findings of these studies suggest that (1) having a clearer image of…

This article seeks to apply the informal learning theory of guided participation to the formal primary L2 classroom. Utilising the concept of guided participation, in which the process of learning is defined as a collaborative interaction between expert and novice leading to a transformation of participation in community activity, the author…

What is the role of the teacher in developing learner autonomy? The limited research in this area is seldom situated in theory and often based on self-reported data. This study is situated in sociocultural theory and draws on two constructs, the zone of proximal development and imitation, to explain the teacher's role in developing autonomy. The…