This paper focuses on an action research project set in the context of one professional learning community's (PLC's) exploration of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and the European Language Portfolio (ELP). Teachers of second and foreign languages in a large urban high school examined the potential of principles and tools related…

Questioning the traditional reading instruction that overly emphasizes literal comprehension of texts, one of the authors conducted action research and revised her advanced-level Japanese reading course at a university by incorporating some principles from critical literacy. The "critical reading" course aimed at developing students' ability to…

Recently, awareness within academia has grown regarding the incompatibilities of mainstream research with indigenous cultures as well as the historical injustices that have accrued through colonizing practices. Accordingly, support for alternative (non-Westernized) research approaches has been increasing. Participatory action research (PAR) and…

Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), founded on the seminal work of Vygotsky and evolving in the subsequent work of Leont'ev and Engestrom, continues to emerge as a robust and increasingly widely used conceptual framework for the research and analysis of the complex social mediation of human learning and development. Yet there remains…

Purpose: The purpose of this action research is to begin to assess to what extent organizations have in practice begun to make the shift towards triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: A definition of TBL sustainability is provided, and key elements of TBL sustainability considered necessary to success are identified…

Visual culture studies have become the focus of research in recent years mainly due to the frequent use of art applications in Visual Arts courses in primary schools and the inadequate content of discipline based art education for the interpretation of today's multiple stimulants. By interrogating students' semantic stratums related to visuals,…

Working with evidence is a fundamental part of scientific enquiry. Children should be taught to consider evidence and evaluate it. They should make simple comparisons, comparing what happened with what they expected to happen, and try to explain what happened through drawing on their knowledge and understanding. In this article, the author…

It is important to recognise and capture the rich and complex knowledge, understanding and experience that comes with the day-to-day interactions of those immersed in the school and science classroom environment, so that policy-makers do not overlook those who practice in the classroom and theorists do not assign incorrect meaning to the actions…

The authors explored two assumptions about college teaching and learning: first, that faculty teach in isolation, as institutional culture values and rewards autonomy over collaboration; and second, that faculty collaboration improves instruction. They present findings from an experiment in team teaching in a university beginning Spanish course in…

Few formal post-secondary educational programs in the United States focus on youth work, thus youth workers often enter the field with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of experience working with youth. Drawing on mounting evidence that quality youth service requires skilled staff, professional-development opportunities have received…

In this article I explore insights gained from participating in an exploratory, small-scale study led by the Enabling Education Network (EENET) in 17 schools in northern Zambia and five schools in Tanzania. Facilitating South-based research, while based in a Northern university, raises complex ethical issues about voice and control which are…

In this paper I explore how I have come to theorise my work as a critical emancipatory practice as a lecturer in primary physical education (PE). I give an account of what I understand to be the epistemological foundations and practices of practitioner research and my potential educational influence in my own and other practitioner-researchers'…

This article addresses the effects of education leadership candidates' experiences taking a non-traditional research course in which they identify a specific instructional performance gap in their school sites, then engage in action research, consult published literature, and develop an action plan to address the gap. Candidates are required to…

The participation of learners in school life and learner voice is important for learner development and the implementation of school interventions. In this paper we argue that learner participation and learner voice in school-community interventions contribute to learners' development of a critical consciousness and to their understanding of…

This study, concerning the development of cosmopolitan citizenship, draws on theories of human development and capabilities (Sen 1999; Nussbaum 2000) from a social justice perspective, where individual wellbeing is articulated as having the freedom to live a life of one's choosing. In the context of an English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)…