This paper analyzes two recent Korean immigrants' ESL learning motivation using Dörnyei's (2009, The L2 motivational self-system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), "Motivation, language identity and the L2 self," pp. 9-42) Second Language (L2) Motivational Self-System, which is synthesized with Engeström's (1999, "Activity…

Indigenous learning pedagogies focus on cultural responsiveness as being an essential aspect of academic success. However, the trends of standardized learning in public education make it difficult for educational institutions to focus on increasing cultural responsiveness. Many teachers are looking for alternative ways to increase their cultural…

In many countries where English is taught as a second language, the majority of the language teachers are NNS (non-native speakers) of English. Little research based on the experience of NNS teachers in a Pacific Islands context seems to be available. This article explores the knowledge, beliefs, and insights of three Cook Islands teachers and the…

The theory of transformative learning has been explored by different theorists and scholars. However, few scholars have made an attempt to make a comparison between transformative learning and Confucianism or between transformative learning and andragogy. The authors of this article address these comparisons to develop new and different insights…

Music and rhythm have been defined as powerful aids to language learning, memory, and recall. But is this due to structural and motivational properties of instrumental music and songs, or is there a relation between learners' language aptitude and musical intelligence? It seems that everyone who feels motivated to do it is able to learn other…

This study explores professional learning of teachers in a web-based Open-Ended Learning Environment (OELE). Adult learning theorists suggest that adults are self-directed, experience-based, personally- and socially-related, problem-oriented, and application-focused learners. Constructivists suggest that the OELE affords learners opportunities to…

In this paper, we look at how the massive open online course (MOOC) format developed by connectivist researchers and enthusiasts can help analyze the complexity, emergence, and chaos at work in the field of education today. We do this through the prism of a MobiMOOC, a six-week course focusing on mLearning that ran from April to May 2011. MobiMOOC…

In this paper I make the case that transformative learning theory, a specific adult learning theory, and an arts-informed research method have important value for teacher professional practice and teacher education. I refer to two phases of a study involving women who have immigrated to Maritime Canada and were teachers in their countries of…

An analysis of the ubiquitous but taken-for-granted term "rigorous academic curriculum" reveals that by definition it is not an academically rigorous term. The term contains multiple meanings, negative connotations, and a constricted conception of the school curriculum. It is associated with a discredited learning theory and in practice…

Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE), such as Second Life (SL), can serve as important pedagogical tools that provide students and faculty members with unique opportunities for online group collaboration. Specifically, MUVEs provide an experience that, due to the visual component offered by the technology, helps students feel more connection and…

The notion of the road map, advocated by Black, Wilson, and Yao (2011), and the associated minutiae of the construct map have several powerful features. At one level these notions assist the teacher to select and embody a suitable sequence of constructs within a specified curriculum. Whatever disparate sequenced pathways individual learners may…

The article reports on the first phase of a large-scale qualitative research project that explored the perceptions of training practitioners on how they understood the process by which we carry our knowledge and skill across different contexts. Clearly, this is a process of transition, where it is the individual who moves across the contexts and…

Teachers' efficacy beliefs are critical to improving student learning, but we have yet to fully understand how these beliefs develop. The prevailing model of teachers' efficacy development emerges from cognitive theories, but sociocultural theories may add insights to modeling the impact of teachers' school contexts. This case study takes a…

This article reports the efforts of an elementary school teacher of Spanish as a second language to implement principles of dynamic assessment (DA) in her daily interactions with learners. DA is neither an assessment instrument nor a method of assessing but a framework for conceptualizing teaching and assessment as an integrated activity of…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore student learning within a local service-learning initiative that forms part of an Education Studies undergraduate programme at an HEI in the UK with a history of international service-learning programmes. Design/methodology/approach: This paper outlines the context for this form of community engagement in the UK…