The relationship between theory and practice in teacher training has been discussed extensively in the world of education. Both theoretical and practical knowledge are fundamental to teachers' engagement in educational activities. However, the question of where this knowledge comes from and how it develops over time has yet to be answered. As…

Practicum is seen as an avenue in teacher education where pre-service teachers have the opportunity to turn theory into practice. Teachers begin to form their identities during practicum. This article examines how pre-service teachers' identities are formed through the lens of sociocultural theory. Data for the study were gathered through a survey…

A balanced interrelation between theory and practice is still often missing out in many (language) teacher education programs (Esteve, 2018; Lantolf & Esteve, 2019). Hence the need to critically analyze teacher educators' professional practice and rethink it. This paper presents a deep reflection upon the difficulties and the possibilities of…

This article crafts a distinct conceptualization of time in social sciences through two temporal concepts: Chronos and Kairos. Chronos refers to sequential, linear time, which frames quantitative causality and qualitative documentation in research methodology. Kairos, however, captures time as transformative, conceptual, and emotional moments,…

Despite increased governmental support and attention, improved collaboration with community-based professionals, and enhanced teacher knowledge and training in Hong Kong, studies continue to reveal the unreadiness or even resistance of kindergarten teachers to include children with special educational needs (SENs) in their classrooms. This study…

This study investigates email pragmatic instruction in four sets of international English textbooks. The prevalence of email communication in today's technology-mediated world necessitates its inclusion in second language classroom instruction. However, our analysis of the books reveals inadequate attention to the sociocultural aspects of email…

Language teachers are expected to engage in classroom assessment practices and report on learners' progress aligned with proficiency standards, as well as prepare learners for external examinations. The term "language assessment literacy" (LAL) describes what the constituency of language instructors needs to know about assessment…

This article addresses the problem of "education for all," and offers a research proposal that replaces procedural learning by a learning practice whereby all are engaged. Although educational research since 1990 of dialogical learning (DL) and collaborative learning (CL) have shown that it is possible to promote the learning practices…

James P. Lantolf is George and Jane Greer Professor Emeritus of Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics and former director of the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Applied Linguistics in the same academic unit at Xi'an Jiaotong…

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer promising approaches to improve educational outcomes. Navigating boundaries between contexts is essential for RPP effectiveness, yet much work remains to establish a conceptual framework of boundary spanning in partnerships. Our longitudinal comparative case study draws from our experiences as graduate…

A prevailing challenge in teacher education is the "problem of enactment," a discrepancy in what teacher candidates (TCs) know or say about practice and what they can actually do or enact (Kennedy, 1999). Current practice-based teacher education research focuses on articulating pedagogies of practice and core practices to integrate…

Recent literature on the use of exemplars in the context of higher education has shown that exemplar-based instruction is implemented in various disciplines; nevertheless, how exemplar-based instruction can be implemented in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classrooms in higher education institutions remains under-explored. In this…

This article describes Children's Museum of Pittsburgh's multi-phase approach to developing professional development (PD) for its maker educators. Researchers engaged maker educator staff in research-practice partnerships at each stage of the process, with the intention of supporting maker educators in developing their practice. Grounded in…

The current study examined Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers' understanding, attitudes and demographic influences regarding inclusion in ECE. Embedded within inclusive pedagogical philosophy, the present descriptive study draws on a sample of 21 ECE teachers purposively selected from ECE settings in Mashonaland West educational province of…

This article examines how one educator embraced Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) while using drama to scaffold learning about Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax" for first-grade students. This learning event is interpreted with reference to the ZPD and the New London Group's pedagogy of multiliteracies. The author asserts…