Systematizing Teacher Development:A Review of Foreign Language Teacher Learning

Foreign language teaching practice is developing rapidly,but research on foreign language teacher learning is currently relatively fragmented and unstructured.The book Foreign Language Teacher Learning,written by Professor Kang Yan from Capital Normal University,published in September 2022,makes a systematic introduction to foreign language teacher learning,which to some extent makes up for this shortcoming.Her book presents the lineage of foreign language teacher learning research at home and abroad,analyzes both theoretical and practical aspects,reviews the cuttingedge research results,and foresees the future development trend,painting a complete research picture for researchers in the field of foreign language teaching and teacher education as well as front-line teachers interested in foreign language teacher learning.This is an important inspiration for conducting foreign language teacher learning research in the future.And this paper makes a review of the book from aspects such as its content,major characteristics,contributions and limitations.

Learning by Researching:Achievements and Actions of Teacher Learning in a School-University Collaborative Project

Purpose:This study explores the achievements and process of a group of Chinese primary school teachers learning from a research-based school-university collaborative project.Design/Approach/Methods:We used qualitative methods to construct our research design,collecting data through participatory observations of weekly meetings,teacher interviews,and participants'reflective journals.Both thematic analysis and discursive analysis were employed as strategies to scrutinize the data.Findings:We categorize teachers'learning into five achievements:outcome,processual,democratic,catalytic,and dialogic achievement.A further examination highlights seven successive learning actions composing an implicit mechanism to facilitate these achievements:questioning,analyzing,modeling,examining,implementing,reflecting,and consolidating.Originality/Value:Through this longitudinal study,we more comprehensively record details about teachers'learning as they conduct their own research.Although school-university heterogeneous collaboration has potential conflicts,teachers can improve their problem-solving and knowledge creation and sharing abilities,promoting a sense of professional accomplishment.These findings also suggest the need to reconsider the authentic process of teacher research,a task equally significant for international educators.

“I Cannot Dance Upon My Toes”: A Case Study Into Teacher Learning Through Participating in an English Teaching Contest in China

The professional development of College English （CE） teachers in China has received considerable attention due to their responsibility in preparing university graduates for adequate English proficiency. Many continuous professional development （CPD） activities have been conducted （e.g., national teaching contest） to improve CE teachers＇ teaching effectiveness, an essential component of teacher learning. However, it has remained unknown concerning how teacher learning takes place in these well-intended CPD activities, and what mediating factors play an important role in teacher learning. To address this gap, this case study reports on a CE teacher＇s （]anna, pseudonym） experience in preparing for and participating in an English teaching contest. Drawing upon multiple sets of data such as teacher reflective journals, interviews, observations of group discussions, and video-recorded teaching demonstration and lesson plan presentation, the findings reveal that teacher learning takes place at a superficial level through legitimate peripheral participation, yet at a deeper level through identity crisis. Vulnerable teacher learning is also identified in the CPD activity, with differentiated learning possibilities created by the tensions between resources and power relations within the community and the teacher＇s conceptions of teaching and learning. The study concludes with implications for research of teacher learning and practice for teacher professional development.

Strategies on Promoting Transformative Learning of College English Teachers

Based on the previous case study in promoting transformative learning of college English teachers,who participated in a three-month online training courses,the article made a further research and concluded four strategies on promoting transformative learning of college English Teachers.

Teacher Expectations for Student Learning in the Classroom

This paper is a discussion of the issues about teacher expectations for students＇ learning in the classroom. The discussion mainly focuses on such topics as the types of expectation effects, the sources of teacher expectations and the communication of teacher expectations. It is concluded that teacher expectations do play an important role in classroom teaching and learning, and therefore some suggestions are made for the peer teachers.

Some Applications of the Learning of the Research on Teacher Development in College English Class

Nowadays much concern has been showed on the research of teacher development and an effective way of teacher development, the action research. From the learning of these researches we get clearer that English teaching and learning is a continuous process in which many interrelated and intrinsic factors work together. Furthermore, we know that teachers＇ beliefs on teaching and learning play an important role in class. During the process of learning and teaching, a teacher＇s own learning from relevant books on education and learning helps a lot in increase teachers＇ awareness about English teaching and learning, and improving the classroom teaching. In this paper three effective applications of the results of the research of teacher development are introduced, which shows that a teacher is a decisive factor in the classroom setting and the research and learning about teacher development is useful for a teacher to improve himself or herself as a teacher.

How to Be a Critically Reflective Teacher in Language Teaching and Learning

The article holds that a critically reflective teacher has an important role to play in language teaching and learning process. Several samples of critically reflective teachers are introduced in the article to show that critically reflective teachers should be enthusiastic, creative and informative in language teaching and learning.

Chinese Tertiary Students＇ Perceptions of a Good EFL Teacher

This article mainly deals with a group of Chinese tertiary students＇ ideas about what makes a good EFL teacher at the tertiary level. The participants＇ learning experience, reflections and expectations have cast light upon what a modern EFL teacher is supposed to perform in the Chinese EFL context.

On the Roles of English Teachers in Learner Autonomy

Learner autonomy has recently been introduced as one of the efficacious, potential-developing teaching patterns. Based on its nature and its great effect on the promotion of language teaching, this paper chiefly focuses on the important roles English teachers play in it and its significance to the development of language teaching in China.

Learning to Do Action Research Through Reflection:A Longitudinal Study of Rural EFL Teachers

This longitudinal study presents a full view of three rural high school EFL teachers＇ stories about learning to do action research through reflection. It takes a closer look at the contributions of reflection to action research, the challenges the teachers faced, and the changes they achieved. Over a 22-week semester, the three teachers engaged in a series of interrelated learning activities including journal writing, individual dialogues, group meetings and action research. The findings show that learning to do action research was a time-consuming and arduous task, and such difficukies arose when they identified research topics, formed research questions, collected data and wrote their reports. However, reflection through writing, talking and discussing pushed the process forward. The teachers＇ professional development was mainly reflected in the changes in teaching practices and beliefs. A revisit held seven years later confirms that teachers＇ ability to identify problems and to take action improved, but none of them tried to do further action research. For the teachers living in an unsupportive research context, integrating action research into teaching practices may not be a priority.

FROM TEACHER GROUP TO LEARNING COMMUNITY:TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR STUDYING COLLEGE ENGLISH TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Among the research of language teachers' professional development in the course of reform,most studies take a psychological or cognitive approach and largely neglect the social element in a teacher's professional growth.This paper,therefore,is intended to build up a theoretical and analytical framework for a large-scale on-going study that looks at college English teachers' professional development from a sociological and anthropological perspective.The notion of learning community constitutes the core of the theoretical framework that orients the author's understanding of the tensions and conflictions in teachers' socialization into the teacher community within the context of radical change.In particular,the literature on three dimensions of the learning process is critically reviewed,i.e.personal dimension,interpersonal dimension and organizational dimension.

Reciprocal Learning:One Teacher’s Narrative

This paper is a personal narrative from the perspective of one teacher in Toronto who participated in the Canada-China Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education Partnership Grant Project.I took part in a Sister School partnership between 2013 and 2017.Over the four years,I came to understand relationships in an international professional learning community.Participating in the project gave me the benefit of seeing my practice through an international lens.For my students,it offered a global citizenship experience.Although there are numerous professional development opportunities in Toronto,this partnership extends beyond a lunch and learn,or a full day professional learning.The commitment to my partners has fueled my desire to incorporate new teaching ideas and has required ongoing reflection on my own teaching practice.In this article,I will explain some of the challenges,stages of development,reciprocal learning,and implications for future international professional learning communities.

Policies,Strategies,and the Evolutionary Logic of Large-Scale Teacher Training in China

Purpose:Based on a systematic review of policy documents in China related to teacher training over the past four decades,this paper identifies and analyzes the main policy shifts and strategies in terms of teacher training in China.Design/Approach/Methods:Using quantitative trend analysis,high-frequency word analysis,and content analysis,this study presents the policy changes in and reform of China's national teacher training system and elucidates the reasons for such changes.Findings:Chinese teacher training and practice reforms resonate with the paradigm shifts of international teacher training and development,particularly those based on real-world scenarios.However,innovations have also been made in response to the problems of Chinese in-service teacher training and development,such as the lack of time for teachers and the separation between learning and practice.Such innovations reflect the government's efforts to narrow the gaps between theory,policy,and practice by improving China's macro policy design.Originality/Value:This study contributes to the longitudinal study of policy shifts in teacher training in China.

A Thrice-Told Tale of Japanese Staffrooms and a Transformative Journey in Searching for East Asia as Method

Purpose:This study aims to search for fitting lenses to view and interpret teacher learning in a Japanese secondary school teacher staffroom and capture the reconstituting of researcher subjectivities in this process.Design/Approach/Methods:A narrative approach chronically documents the findings and use of the lenses in analyzing the staffroom daily interactions and traces the journey of transformation inour researcher subjectivities.Findings:The telling of a Japanese staffroom(shokuinshitsu)as a thrice-told tale under the three lenses—cultural-historic activity theory,contextualism,and intimacy orientationeach uncovers a unique interpretation of the learning going on in the daily life of the Japanese staffroom.While complementary,Western-lenses are found to be unable to explain the nature of the everyday practices in the staffroom formed under the worldviews and ethics of East Asia.Our critical examination of the major academic encounters involved in the past two decades illuminates the complex dynamism behind our research perspectives,awakens us to the dominance of Western-centralism in our researcher subjectivities,transforms our worldviews,and returns us to our cultural roots to build alternative frames of reference as East Asia as Method.OriginalityValue:This study not only uniquely demonstrates what decentered,alternative,and diversified frames of reference would look like in studying East Asian practices but also what it would take for scholars to move toward East Asia as Method.Additionally,going beyond the three lenses,it contributes to our understanding of how space(staffroom as an entity)mediates forming of the character of those who are dwellers of the shokuinshitsu.