Emerging Research Efficacy Through Scaffolded Research Practice: An EFL Preservice Teacher Autobiographical Narrative

EFL preservice teachers ’ research efficacy, as perceived competence to perform tasks in research, is crucial to their research engagement. This autobiographical narrative inquiry investigates the contribution of scaffolded research practice to a female EFL preservice teacher ’s research efficacy.The data were collected through conversations, notes, journals, and portfolios. The findings suggest that teacher research efficacy was pliable through scaffolded research practice. It emerged gradually over time, in different places with social and personal interaction. The factors contributing to the emerging research efficacy were: teacher educators ’ support, peers ’ support,and research participation. The study sheds light on teacher educators and EFL preservice teachers,with the intention of establishing an inquiry-based pedagogy for M.Ed. programs.

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.

Researching Classroom-Based Assessment for Formative Purposes

This article aims to help teacher-researchers engage in empirical research on classroom-based assessment for formative purposes. We will first introduce the key features of classroom-based formative assessment(CBFA), and analyze the research questions asked in round-one projects funded by the Fund for Assessment Research(FAR) in Foreign Language Education in China. Next, we will illustrate how some research questions can be answered by analyzing a video-taped lesson from a round-one FAR project. We conclude by calling for more teacher-led research and argue that research on CBFA by teachers will not only produce valid interpretations and applicable findings, but also constitute a viable model for teacher professional development.

Three Approaches to the Inquiry into Teacher Identity: A Narrative Review Enlightened by Habermas's Human Interests

Purpose:This paper attempts to review and conceptualize how different scholars approach research on teacher identity through the lens of three human interests defined by Jurgen Habermas.Design/Approach/Methods:This literature review,guided by Habermas's three human interests,illustrates the characteristics of three different approaches to the inquiry into teacher identity.Findings:This paper summarizes three approaches to researching teacher identity and their characteristics,namely the technical approach,the practical approach,and the critical approach.The implications for future research and teacher development are also discussed.Originality/Value:By incorporating Habermas's three human interests into teacher identity inquiries,this article offers a theoretical narrative review of the approaches to investigating teacher identity.Strengths and weaknesses of each approach as well as the possibility of a combined application of different approaches provide an original discussion of teacher identity research.

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.

ACTION RESEARCH IN TEACHER EDUCATION

IntroductionHistorically there has been a division between the classroom teacher who‘does practice’and theeducational researcher who‘establishes theories’.Similarly in teacher education programmes,thefocus has largely been on the transmission of research-based theories and skills from trainer totrainee.Teaching practice is usually listed as a separate component to be accomplished,often at theend of a period of training,and the limited time available for it can rarely provide realisticopportunities for trainees to put theory into practice.When our trainees return to their institutions theexcitement of the exposure to various theories and techniques are soon gone,to be replaced by thereality of classroom life.Many former trainees rapidly find themselves overburdened with teachingresponsibilities,and the constraints of their particular teaching situations can make it very difficult toapply theories they have learned during training directly into practice.

Appraisal of the Production-Oriented Approach： An Introduction

The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the aspiration to enhance the quality of foreign language education in other similar pedagogical contexts outside China. A volume of research has been done by Wen Qiufang and her research team, to formulate the theory of POA and to test its effectiveness in classroom pedagogy （e.g. Wen, 2016, 2015; Yang, 2015; Zhang, 2015）. At the moment, the POA is still at an early stage of theory building and almost all empirical research is done in the Chinese context. In order to improve the quality of this theory and to make it intelligible to the international academic community, a one-day symposium was held in Beijing Foreign Studies University on May 15, 2017. The symposium was entitled ＇The first international forum on innovative foreign language education in China： Appraisal of the POA＇. In the forum, leading experts in applied linguistics were invited to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the POA and the directions for its future development. The symposium was the first attempt for the POA research team to discuss its latest work with international scholars. This Viewpoint section collects the responses of four experts who participated in the symposium, listed in alphabetical order. The collection of articles covers three topics related to the POA： its pedagogical application, its use for teacher training, and its research. Alister Cumming is Professor Emeritus and the former Head of the Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies, University of Toronto, Canada. His article focuses primarily on POA research as an exemplary case of design-based research. Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University, Australia. He discusses POA in terms of pedagogy, teacher training and research, with both critiques and constructive suggestions. Paul Kei Matsuda is Professor of English and Director of Second Language Writing at Arizona State University, the writed states. He responds to POA from the perspective of an expert researcher and teacher of L2 writing. Charlene Polio is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Linguistics ＆ Germanic, Slavic, Asian ＆ African Languages atMichigan State University, the writed states. She conceptualises POA as a useful method to address some issues in pre-service teacher development. Overall, the articles in this section are insightful and reader-friendly. They are not only useful for the development of POA in particular, but may also be valuable to a broad range of researchers as they touch upon pertaining issues, as well as emerging topics, in the field of applied linguistics. We therefore find it necessary to make them accessible to a wide readership.

AI-Enabled High-Quality Development of Teaching Research:Theoretical Framework,Practice Blueprint,and Development Vein of Intelligent PrecisionTeaching Research

Intelligent technology will change the measures,concepts,and methods of teaching research which should be not merely precision but intelligent.Intelligent precision teaching research will become the new method and form of the development of teaching research in the era of intelligence.The paper brings forth the theoretical framework of intelligent precision teaching research,including its definition,characteristics,technological environment,and approaches,and designs the practice blueprint of“one center,two paths,three principles,four objectives,and five tasks.”It introduces the initial effects of the practice of intelligent precision teaching research and looks forward to the future prospects of this practice.