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Teacher agency is considered a key driver of teacher professional growth, student improvement, and educational change. This study contributes to the sparse research on language teacher agency in blended learning (BL). Using activity theory to conceptualize teacher agency, this study explores how two English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers exerted agency while implementing BL at a Chinese university. This study also examines the factors that mediate the exercise of agency. Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews with both teachers and their students, and course documents to provide a thorough understanding of teachers’ experiences with blended teaching. The data analysis revealed that successful agentic actions to address contradictions included selecting the appropriate delivery to match learning goals, making good use of online tools for interaction, assigning students active roles, flexibly enacting rules, and building a supportive climate. However, some contradictions within the instructional activity system remain unresolved. Mediating factors such as tools (teachers’ expertise and beliefs), community (students and other professors), and rules (curriculum assessment) were found to shape teacher agency in the BL context. This study contributes to the literature on teacher agency in BL, and provides practical recommendations for teacher professional development and curriculum reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing interest in researching English language teacher educators' (ELTEs) pedagogy, knowledge base, beliefs, and identity development, there is a lack of comprehensive frameworks that encompass these aspects holistically. This study attempts to develop a professional development profile for English language teacher educators by investigating how they define their profession, what professional characteristics and personality traits they possess, what roles and responsibilities they assume, and what constitutes the domains of a knowledge base. Additionally, it explores how they perceive their identities as educators and engage in professional development. The participants were 84 English language teacher educators from across Türkiye. Data were collected via face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews and analysed thematically. At the end of this study, an integrated professional profile of English language teacher educators is provided, which includes insights into their professional identities. The profile has implications beyond Türkiye and might contribute to the broader understanding and enhancement of professional development for language teacher educators globally. As the study addresses a gap in the field, its outcomes are expected to contribute to the ongoing discussions and efforts to support teacher educators in their continuous learning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have substantiated the pivotal role of emotions and teachers in student learning, but the underlying mechanism of teachers and emotions on academic engagement remains underexplored. The present study examined the mediating role of teacher support in the relationship between foreign language learning anxiety (FLLA) and academic engagement in online classrooms. Participants were 415 Chinese university students who completed an online questionnaire. The findings of structural equation modelling indicated that teacher support had a partial mediation effect between FLLA and academic engagement. FLLA exhibited a significant negative impact on academic engagement, both directly and indirectly via perceived teacher support. Through both direct and indirect effects, FLLA could explain 44.8% of the variation in academic engagement and the mediation effect accounted for 47.3% of the total effect. The practical implication is that foreign language teachers should extend more support for learners during online learning, and provide learners with feedback adapted to their emotions. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Emotions have a significant impact on learners' engagement, and positive academic emotions facilitate students' engagement in the class.Students will be more engaged in learning when they perceive support from their teachers.Teacher support was an influential external predictor of students' mood swings.What this paper adds The structural equation modelling shows that teacher support served as a partial mediator between foreign language learning anxiety and academic engagement.Students' social engagement and perceived emotional support were found to have a greater impact on online foreign language learning.This paper further corroborates the relationship among the presences in the CoI framework.Implications for practice and/or policy Mitigating foreign language learning anxiety and improving teacher support are necessary for effective foreign language learning in future online classes.Teachers need to ensure continued intellectual support and provide more emotional support for learners.Teachers are recommended to deliver feedback that aligns with students' emotional state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of positive psychology (PP) in 1954 and its flowering in the last decade of the 20th century, the focus of psychological and educational studies has shifted from examining negative health‐related outcomes to their positive counterparts. In line with this new research agenda, several L2 researchers have studied different positive health‐related outcomes and their predictors among language teachers. Few language studies, however, have been dedicated to examining language teachers' psychological well‐being and its potential predictors. To bridge the lacuna, the current research tried to evaluate the role of emotion regulation and resilience in predicting Chinese EFL teachers' psychological well‐being. This research also strived to find out whether perceived self‐efficacy could mediate the interaction between psychological well‐being, emotion regulation and resilience. For this purpose, 430 English teachers recruited from Chinese EFL classes were asked to respond to four closed‐ended questionnaires. The analysis outcomes exhibited strong and positive associations between resilience, emotion regulation and psychological well‐being. The results also divulged that the psychological well‐being of English language teachers could be meaningfully predicted by their emotion regulation ability and resilience. Additionally, the results indicated that the association between Chinese English teachers' resilience, emotion regulation ability and psychological well‐being could be significantly mediated by their self‐efficacy beliefs. These outcomes may have some useful and instructive implications for educational principals and teacher trainers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the career trajectories of two teachers in the United States and their decision to leave teaching Spanish. Data for the study emerged from the teachers' narratives about their school‐based experiences and the consequences of those experiences on their decisions to reorient their work in the educational community. We adopted the theoretical framework of history in person to analyze the interactions between the teachers' own personal histories with the histories of the institutions in which they taught. Data collection began during the two teachers' student‐teaching semester and continued for 5 years after their initial induction into the language teaching profession and included interviews and email communications. The context was North Carolina, a state experiencing a severe teacher shortage and conflicts regarding teacher compensation. Findings highlight the challenges these teachers faced and how their interactions with historically institutionalized struggles were consequential to their professional futures. Implications for research, policy, and teacher preparation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the identity formation of two postsecondary language teachers and course coordinators—one in German and one in French—as they created intermediate‐level, content‐based social justice curricular units for a multiyear project. Using a multiple‐case‐study methodology and cultural–historical activity theory, this qualitative investigation answers the following research question: How do experienced postsecondary language teachers (re)construct and (re)negotiate their identities while developing social justice teaching materials? Findings, based on multicycle descriptive coding, reveal that participants' past experiences, personal values, feelings of self‐doubt, and positionality as content‐based language teachers influenced their language teacher identity, as did tensions within and across three activity systems: the curriculum development project, classroom teaching, and the coordination of multisection courses. These findings have important implications for teacher professional development and community building related to social justice in language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative inquiry investigates an English as a Foreign Language teacher's storied experience of 30‐year extensive reading (ER) implementation, with the aim of exploring the formation of language teacher identity (LTI) of this individual teacher. Two narrative interviews were conducted, respectively focusing on the holistic story and detailed accounts of some critical incidents and significant others. Two researchers played different roles: one insider, conducting, transcribing, translating, and analysing interviews; one outsider, analysing the data with a relatively neutral perspective. Data analysis adopted an ecological approach and a three‐level framework (societal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels). Findings highlight the complex links between discursive features, personal experience, teacher emotions, and power differentials in shaping the dynamic and multi‐faceted nature of LTIs. Meanwhile, the considerable evolution of the teacher's ER implementation validates the importance of teacher training, especially opportunities for teachers to gain experiential knowledge which further contributes to teacher identity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore the tensions early career English teachers experience in their language teacher identities (LTIs). To this effect, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with three early career English teachers at Turkish public schools. The findings showed that the teachers experienced tensions with their roles as teachers, language competency, and structural and relational aspects in their contexts. Devising and employing coping strategies in navigating challenges, the teachers developed their own ways to deal with various identity tensions. The findings of this study conclude that (i) maintaining LTIs is emotionally complex, (ii) LTIs happen in social practice, and (iii) meso and macro contexts supersede ideals causing dilemmas, conflicts, and tensions in LTIs. Drawing on the findings, we argue that teachers' emotional needs and identity tensions should be provided for through institutional and interrelational support systems so that teachers can manage tensions and emotionality as potential in their identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators in many countries must meet the educational needs of students who are not fluent in the language of instruction. Professional learning focused on incremental or individual teacher change has failed to improve student learning trajectories (Cuban, 2013; Gorski & Zenkov, 2014). This article explores Brookfield's (2012) critical articulation of Mezirow's (2012) adult learning theory to support the complex and radical transformation needed from all educators—not just language specialists—to improve classroom learning and schooling. We present the inclusive learning communities framework, with conceptual and pedagogical growth targets, guiding a seven‐course English as a New Language Certification program for PreK‐12 preservice and in‐service teachers working with English learners (ELs) in general education and EL specialist classrooms. The conceptual and pedagogical elements leverage critical transformative learning theory to reframe educators' individual beliefs and practices while developing their collective capacity to challenge oppressive ideologies and systems in pursuit of equity. We conclude that radical improvement in EL outcomes requires all EL teacher educators to plan and evaluate university coursework programmatically in ways that demonstrate real‐world change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, the authors explore the dilemmas facing researchers, educators, and policymakers in how to refer to multilingual students who are deemed in need of language support in school. There is a growing concern with the label English learner, the term currently used in U.S. federal legislation, as focusing exclusively on students' English language acquisition and ignoring their multilingual resources. Alternative terms such as emergent bilingual and multilingual learner that underscore students' multilingual assets have become widespread alternatives. The authors argue that the critiques of the term English learner must be taken seriously. They also argue that, given that being classified as English learners in schools has material consequences for students' academic and occupational trajectories, this label cannot simply be wished away. In fact, debating over labels alone carries the danger of mislocating the primary site of struggle for equity and justice in the labels themselves, rather than in the systems that position and frame linguistically minoritized students in a deficit light in the first place. As researchers who have worked with this population for years, the authors, too, are grappling with how to refer to them. Each of them shares the dilemmas they have encountered, and they conclude by offering a multidimensional tool that might assist scholars, educators, and policymakers in reflecting on what is gained and lost by using different terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) and provides a new synthesis that, the authors argue, may empower language teachers. The particular focus is on the interplay between change and stability in complex dynamic systems, including language teaching and learning. The article identifies four key dynamical properties of complex dynamic systems, which reflect change, stability, and the interplay between these two. The dynamical properties are historicity, adaptiveness, nonlinearity, and emergence. The authors associate these dynamic properties with four recognisable types of activity: normative, contingent, creative, and purposeful teaching and learning. The central argument is that language teaching and learning are interconnected, and language teaching that promotes these four types of teaching and learning activity may also promote opportunities for language learning. The authors conclude with a discussion of how teachers may use this CDST perspective to reflect on three aspects of their professional context—teaching, language, and agency—and how such reflection, followed by action, may promote opportunities for language learning in their contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers often repeat language learning tasks and materials with students year after year. Although some tasks do not render satisfactory outcomes, students' performances can serve as valuable historical autoethnographic data that teachers can reflect on to improve their teaching materials and language learning tasks. In this article, using autoethnography as a pedagogical tool, I share my thinking and experiences regarding one task type (the simile task), which I have used with students over the years to develop creative language use (language creativity). I reflect on various similes produced and attempt to discover how to redesign the somewhat imperfect task to optimize creative language use. In particular, I try to find new constraints that can be set up to funnel the creative behaviour of the teacher and students. Before promoting students' creativity, teachers must nurture their creativity under various self‐imposed constraints. Teachers' personal experience is a valuable source when implementing creative language teaching. This article shows two task constraints that can be set up to stimulate creativity in language learning tasks: exclusionary constraints (avoiding confirmation‐based salient patterns) and focusing constraints (requiring the use of violation‐based salient patterns). It also shows how we can identify micro‐constraints to be excluded or focused on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated language teachers’ emotion regulation motives (ERMs) and their identity construction in cross‐cultural contexts. Drawing upon qualitative data about eight Chinese as a second language teachers for international students through semi‐structured interviews, classroom observation, and document collection, the study identified three overarching motives and six identities of language teachers: teacher as instructor and disciplinarian who regulated emotions for improving teaching effectiveness, teacher as caregiver and observer who regulated emotions for navigating teacher–student relationships, and teacher as mediator and defender who regulated emotions for reconciling cultural differences. These findings revealed the multifaceted, discipline‐specific, and contradictory nature of language teachers’ ERMs and reflected their balancing of sub‐identities to construct their professional identities in cross‐cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate summative assessment (SA) perceptions and the sources of summative assessment literacy for novice second/foreign language teachers in Sweden and Finland. Data were collected through a questionnaire (N = 27) and a semi‐structured interview (N = 22) from a group of novice teachers who graduated from two Swedish universities and one Finnish university. Descriptive and content analysis of the data reveal that novice teachers perceive themselves to have a good understanding of most of the basic SA areas. They consider teacher education as the main source of their conceptual understanding while they attribute their skills mostly to experience in schools. Swedish and Finnish teachers present both similar and varied perceptions of the role of teacher education in developing their summative assessment literacy. Context and implicationsRationale for this studyWhat summative assessment literacy pre‐service teachers acquire during teacher education, and how this literacy reflects on their teaching are critical questions in understanding novice teachers' learning and use of summative assessment in schools. This study investigates the perceptions and experiences of novice teachers of second/foreign languages in Sweden and Finland.Why the new findings matterThe findings provide an understanding of novice language teachers' perceptions on key components of summative assessment and the sources and processes enabling development of this literacy. Insights into theoretical and practical aspects of summative assessment that novice teachers need are expected to guide teacher education programmes in realigning their programmes respectively.Implications for teacher educators and policy makersNovice language teachers are confident about their theoretical knowledge of summative assessment but need to develop skills to put their knowledge into practice. Hands on exercises through content‐specific materials and tasks are critical in developing skills such as test construction, grading, analysis of exams and exposure to national tests. Special needs and diverse sociocultural contexts should be taken into consideration in teacher education. Steering documents should make the summative assessment requirements and expected competencies clearer to guide TE programmes in organising learning experiences for pre‐service teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to understand pre‐service teachers’ motivations and learning psychologies in language teaching. The study used a phenomenology pattern, a qualitative research method, to gather pre‐service teachers’ views about language teaching, motivations and learning psychologies during translation activities. The study group consisted of 42 language department undergraduate students from the Education Faculty of a private university in TRNC in the 2022–2023 academic year, selected using the criterion sampling method. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews. The NVIVO‐R1 qualitative data analysis program was used for categorisation and coding in the data analysis. The findings revealed that translation studies motivate and improve comprehension–explanation skills, increasing academic success, positively impacting learning psychology, and reducing anxiety. Effective teaching methods and motivation were influential factors in teaching language to pre‐service teachers. The study also found that reinforcers, intrinsic motivation, exemplification–association, measurable goals, teaching environment, teaching method and applied learning significantly affect the language teaching process and academic success. It was concluded that pre‐service teachers are attentive to their professional careers and motivations. Additionally, the study revealed that learning the historical development of the language and different types of translation positively contributed to the motivation levels, academic achievement and language learning knowledge and skills of pre‐service teachers. Regarding grammar teaching, pre‐service teachers highlighted the importance of focusing on the social and interactional dimensions of language in addition to grammar learning. They expressed that language learning anxiety stemmed from insufficient practice. Finally, the study suggested that the language‐learning problems of pre‐service teachers could be attributed to the neglect of translation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence and machine translation, on language education. It acknowledges the concerns of language teachers about job security and funding cuts, while also recognizing the potential benefits of technology in language learning. The article emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of the challenges posed by technology and highlights the value of language study as a humanistic endeavor. It argues that while generative AI tools can be helpful, they cannot replace the essential qualities that human language teachers provide, such as emotional support and critical reflection. The article suggests that language teacher education programs should adapt to prioritize these qualities and prepare teachers for the changing landscape of language education. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on language teaching and learning. It discusses the relationship between language and technology and raises concerns about the threat AI poses to language teaching. The article also emphasizes the qualities of a good language teacher, highlighting the importance of pedagogical content knowledge and interpersonal skills. It provides an overview of AI, including its definition and various technologies like chatbots and speech recognition. The article concludes by examining whether AI can replace language teachers, using examples like Duolingo, Grammarly, and Rosetta Stone. While AI-enabled language learning tools offer benefits such as unlimited practice and feedback, they have limitations in engaging learners, providing effective feedback, and employing a wide range of pedagogical techniques. They can complement human language tutors but cannot fully replace them. [Extracted from the article]

This study investigates issues related to race and racialization among Chinese language teachers in US primary and secondary (K–12) schools. Although race is an increasingly important topic in the field of language education, the published research continues to be dominated by the teaching and learning of English as a second language. Set mostly in 2021, when there was a widespread surge of anti‐Asian violence, this mixed‐methods project directs our attention to the experience of Chinese language teachers in a particular moment. We focus on interviews and journal data collected from 27 Chinese teachers, who were selected as a representative sample from the 221 participants who completed our national survey. The themes that emerged in our data highlight the intersectionality among language, nation, ethnicity, and race in Chinese language teachers' professional work. While some teachers reported racial hostility during the COVID‐19 crisis, others described language‐ and culture‐based exclusion as a part of their everyday struggle that predated the pandemic. Moreover, as the teachers described these challenges also as opportunities for racially inclusive language pedagogies, the findings here dovetail with the ongoing discussion on antiracist possibilities in and through language teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many language teachers leave the profession early, others thrive and teach until retirement. Understanding how these teachers maintain their passion can help identify the support needed for their personal and professional growth. However, research on the factors behind their sustained happiness in the teaching profession is limited. The main objective of this qualitative study was to explore the beliefs and career stories of three recently retired German language teachers in Norway, recognized for their long‐term motivation and effective teaching over several decades. Data were generated from in‐depth semistructured interviews and analyzed through the lens of self‐determination theory. The analysis revealed that the teachers shared several key characteristics. First, they enjoyed a high degree of autonomy related to the choice of subject content and teaching approaches. Second, they perceived themselves as highly competent in the subject and expressed a passion for it. Third, they cherished being with students and managed to establish good relationships with them. The findings suggest that teachers should be aware of their basic psychological needs and reflect on how they can be fulfilled. Furthermore, school administrators should foster trust in teachers as autonomous professionals and actively support their competency development and relationships with students and colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the participant experiences and perceived impacts of the Language Initiative for Language Learning (LILL). By exploring the voices of 11 LILL participants through a qualitative case study design, the findings highlight how world language teacher leaders participated in and experienced LILL as a space for leadership growth and perceived the program as having a transformational impact on their leadership identity, mindset, and skill development. While the findings situate LILL as an effective and impactful program, we discuss the need for deeper understandings of world language (WL) teacher leadership in discipline‐specific ways and conclude with suggestions for proactive approaches for WL teacher leadership programming. The Challenge: There exists a critical need for cultivating world language teacher leadership to address opportunities and challenges in the world language teaching profession. What is the Leadership Initiative for Language Learning (LILL) and what has been its impact on participants' leadership development? What does it mean to be a world language teacher leader? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time of acrimonious debates globally about gender identity and expression, students who identify as transgender (including those who are nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender fluid) are particularly affected. Although erased from the curriculum, they (and the ontological challenge trans people pose to the cisheteropatriarchal gender order in general) are omnipresent in political and media discourse. This can be particularly challenging for teachers who are often unclear about the issues involved and unsure how to support these students to whom they have a duty of care. Despite decades of legislative reform across much of the world with regard to transgender rights, education sectors globally have been hesitant to include gender (and sexual) diversity in the curriculum. This article explores the complex set of reasons as to why this erasure persists in English Language Teaching. In doing so, it addresses the concepts of "reproductive futurism," "hyper‐reactionary neoliberalism," "postfascism," "biological essentialism," and the commercial logic of global edu‐business as key factors. The article concludes by considering some of the options for teaching and teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the emotion of pride has received increasing attention in general psychology, it has gone largely overlooked in the field of education generally, and language education specifically. This study explores the sources of pride reported by 140 English language teachers from various contexts across the globe. Data were generated through an online survey using a series of open‐ended items addressing various dimensions of participants' professional pride. The results revealed two main orientations in terms of the sources of professional pride experienced by participants, namely, self‐ and other‐oriented. Furthermore, data showed that participants in this study reported only on authentic pride as opposed to hubristic pride. The data indicated how these teachers' sense of pride is socially determined and interconnected with key psychological constructs such as motivation, self‐esteem, sense of meaning, agency, and well‐being. The concluding section of the paper considers how pride can be conceptualized in the domain of language education, how it can potentially be leveraged to boost teacher well‐being, and what pathways this study opens up for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) and the closure of schools due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, teachers of multilingual students were positioned to adopt varied outreach methods to sustain access to education among multilingual families. Prior to ERTL, instruction in schools was socially situated as having greater institutional value relative to service‐oriented tasks, yet service‐related needs, including health and human services and/or access to technology increased during the physical closure of schools. EL teachers took on more service‐related tasks for their MLL families and did so by assuming, negotiating and resisting particular roles; a reflexive and interactional process. Using theories of teacher positioning and language teacher identity, we examined the experiences of EL teachers in the Great Lakes Region of the US. Findings demonstrate that few EL teachers resisted roles within instruction and service during ERTL, a critical dimension of teacher identity transformation and advocacy for MLLs. As we move into recovery from the COVID‐19 pandemic and into a Remote Teaching and Learning (RTL) period, implications suggest that when EL teachers' roles and identities are incongruous, resilience can be fostered informing a unique form of agency and teacher leadership; a necessary characteristic for an equity‐informed education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an ethnographic case study of the professional identity development of Mark—an English language teacher who identified as cisgender, gay, Catholic, white, and not wealthy. Using the lenses of intersectionality (e.g., Crenshaw, 1989, 1991) and perezhivanie (Vygotsky, 1999)—"the emotional and visceral impact of lived experiences" (van de Veer & Valsiner, 1994, p. 339)—we examined the multiplicity of identities (e.g., Norton, 2017) in Mark's experiences across contexts in China and the USA. Ethnographic data included interviews, fieldnotes, classroom audio‐recordings, and other supportive data. The findings demonstrate the central mediating role of perezhivanie in allowing him to safely re‐envision identities in a given context based on prior experiences and knowledge. Mark's dynamic movement of in and out of his multiplicity of identities across contexts produced distinct perezhivanie experiences that informed the development of his identities and pedagogies within and beyond those contexts. Methodologically, our approach was enhanced by the use of photo‐elicited interviewing. This methodology allowed Mark to tap into his multiple identities, including those that were assigned to him by the local context or by a broader policy context and those that he felt comfortable to take up. We conclude with implications for research and practice that examines language teacher identities and intersectionality through perezhivanie experiences in the past and explores the relationship among them and places them in conversation with present identities and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines stress biomarkers over the process of teaching and their associations with demographics, emotions, and mental health of 56 English as Foreign Language teachers. Participating teachers were invited to complete a questionnaire packet and provide saliva samples over three‐time points (i.e., before, during, and end of teaching). Afterward, the saliva samples were assayed for cortisol and α‐amylase as stress biomarkers. The results showed a significant change in the concentrations of cortisol and α‐amylase over the teaching process. In addition, being female, younger, more educated, and having more teaching experience were significantly associated with a higher level of α‐amylase, particularly before and during class time, thereby reflecting a greater level of stress. However, emotions and general mental health were not significantly associated with cortisol and α‐amylase over time. The findings highlighted the changes of biomarkers over the process of teaching and their relationships with other variables. Practitioner points: Female and younger teachers may experience high level of α‐amylase before and during class time.High level of α‐amylase may exist among teachers with long teaching experience.Emotions and general mental health are not significant predictors of teachers' stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language teachers deal with different groups of learners as a natural aspect of their professional careers. However, little is known about how teachers construct their identities in response to various learner groups. This study relies on the concept of identities‐in‐practice and explores how six English‐L2 teachers construct their identities across beginner and advanced levels of teaching. Data were collected from semi‐structured interviews, stimulated recalls, and classroom observations to examine teacher identities across the two practice levels. Data analyses revealed similarities and differences in teacher identities across the two levels, which involved three components: agentic variations, discursive realisations, and extended identities. These findings provide novel implications for understanding language teacher identity construction across different learner groups. The study also provides implications for teachers and teacher educators to pay focal attention to the role identity plays in teachers' work across different practice levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines pre‐service language teachers' perceptions of learning and teaching and how differentiation manifests itself in them. The 67 participants visualised 'an ideal language learning situation' and complemented a number of teaching‐related metaphors, for instance, 'A teacher is like...' and 'A learner is like...' in the first session of their pedagogical studies. Seven participants returned to reflect on these outputs in group discussions held at the end of their studies. The data were analysed qualitatively following thematic analysis. We identified some themes of differentiation already in the initial outputs, that is, visualisations and metaphors, such as teaching methods and learning environment. In particular, the metaphors contained references to the individuality and uniqueness of the pupils. In the group discussions, the participants further highlighted the importance of differentiation for instance through the themes of differentiation for high‐achieving pupils and the contradiction between ideal and practice. Based on the group discussions, the participants' understanding of differentiation expanded at least to some extent during their studies. Overall, the results suggest that the ideal of differentiation is present at some level when students enter their studies and that they are able to embrace it even more during their studies. Despite this, some participants still reflected rather limited views of differentiation, for instance, the focus on ability levels and textbook‐based learning. This implies that differentiation should be addressed more profoundly in pre‐service teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the issue of Chinese language teacher attrition in Myanmar, this study aimed to examine the professional commitment of these teachers, with a focus on how their commitment is constructed and shaped within the local context. The study adopted a theoretical lens of positive psychology and utilized a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Data was collected through semi‐structured interviews in which 10 participants shared their life stories. Thematic analysis was then conducted to identify key themes. The study proposed a positive‐psychology‐informed model with motivation, meaning, and perseverance as the three key components that interact with each other to jointly shape teachers' professional commitment. In particular, motivation to teach is a precondition, the meaning‐making process functions as reinforcement, and perseverance in coping with adverse situations is the ultimate embodiment of teachers' professional commitment. A common feature underlying this model has been traces of the teachers' positive emotions, attitudes, and values. Furthermore, the study approached Chinese language teachers' professional commitment in the situated context at cultural, societal, and institutional levels. The study yields theoretical implications for understanding teacher commitment and offers practical insights for addressing the issue of attrition among Chinese language teachers in Myanmar and similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report discusses a partnership between Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) and Ladue Middle School and Ladue Horton Watkins High School, located near the WUSTL campus. The partnership aims to address challenges faced by German language programs, such as declining enrollments and a lack of job opportunities for graduates. The report highlights the Schnuppertag program, where graduate students from WUSTL visit the middle and high schools to shadow German teachers for a day. The program aims to raise interest in teaching careers and promote German language education. The report concludes that partnerships between K-12 and higher education can be sustainable and beneficial for German programs at all levels. [Extracted from the article]

Despite some research attention given to expatriate native‐English‐speaking teachers' (NESTs) identities and the national educational ideologies that have led to their international recruitment, surprisingly little research has addressed their career trajectories as TESOL professionals. To address this gap, this case study explores the career of a long‐serving expatriate TESOL professional through the lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), which was designed to understand how people develop interest in, make decisions about, and commit to a particular career. The methods are qualitative, involving a deductive analysis of interview data and a career timeline according to constructs from SCCT. Despite an initial reluctance to enter the profession, the participant's interest in language teaching began after teaching part‐time as a young adult. After this experience, he changed his career interests and continued his educational pursuits in Korea. His background contextual affordances, predispositions, learning experiences, and Korean language proficiency provided new opportunities and outcome expectations as he advanced his career. Although we focus on a single case, the SCCT model is further explored for its potential to better understand the factors involved in the development and commitment to a career in TESOL and for illustrating the career trajectories of TESOL professionals at scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, research on language teachers' engagement in action research (AR) and more recently on their emotion labor has exponentially grown. However, little research is available on how AR and emotion labor intersect to shape language teacher professional development. This study addressed this gap by reporting on how four Iranian English language teachers used emotion labor as professional development work during participation in an AR project. Data were collected from reflective journals and classroom observations as well as the associated postclass discussions during the enactment of AR, and from interviews at two junctures in time, once during the course and once longitudinally after six and 12 months. Data analyses revealed that the teachers used AR as a mechanism for minimizing the gap between their internal feelings and external expectations, and gradually developed the identity of a teacher–researcher by using the affordances emotion labor provided. Moreover, the teachers retrospectively developed emotional learning, which facilitated their response to institutional expectations in the short term and to the professional discourses of teaching in the long term. We conclude the paper with implications for teacher education to better understand how emotions feature in AR and how emotion labor could be employed for AR‐induced professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although language teacher well‐being has been the focus of growing attention in recent years, there is little known of its dynamic and contextually dependent nature. Integrating the complex dynamic view of well‐being with an ecological orientation, this classroom‐based study examined the micro‐scale changes in pre‐service language teacher well‐being and the reasons for such changes using data from three pre‐service English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language (EFL) teachers in Türkiye. The individual trajectories of well‐being were tracked in a particular class over 4 weeks through self‐ratings of well‐being at 10‐minute intervals during the lectures, journal entries, interviews, and stimulated recall sessions on individual microteachings. The findings suggest that the experience of pre‐service language teacher well‐being in the classroom ecology remains subject to inter and intraindividual variability over time, displaying nonlinear trajectories not only within sequences of single lessons but also from one lesson to another in response to a host of personal and contextual factors. These findings imply that pre‐service language teacher well‐being is not static, but instead is enhanced and reduced at particular moments in the classroom as a result of the interplay of a myriad of variables. We end with a call for more research into micro‐scale changes in teacher well‐being within applied linguistics and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored second language (L2) in‐service teachers' (ISTs') attitudes toward writing, probed any discrepancy between their attitudes and practice, and investigated the extent to which writing skill is included in L2 classrooms compared to the other three macro skills, namely listening, speaking, and reading. To conduct this mixed‐methods study, 100 Iranian L2 ISTs who teach English in language institutes filled out a validated questionnaire on teachers' attitudes toward writing. Before filling out the questionnaire, a sample of 10 L2 ISTs was randomly selected to participate in nonparticipant observation sessions throughout a semester. They were finally invited for semi‐structured interviews. The result indicated that teachers had positive attitudes toward teaching writing. However, there was a mismatch between their stated attitudes and their actual practice—less than 3% of their class time was allotted to actual writing compared to the other three macro skills (speaking = 45%; listening = 17%; reading = 13%; writing and grammar = 14%; other activities = 11%). Furthermore, teachers reported on some factors such as insufficient payment for additional writing tasks including feedback, and lack of allotted time for writing. Implications of these findings for teachers and stakeholders are discussed further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In 2013, as a strategy to enhance academic performance, the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) published several English Across the Curriculum (EAC) manuals to guide in‐service teachers who did not have prior knowledge of how to integrate the teaching of content subjects with language learning. The DBE introduced the EAC strategy as a mandatory tool for strengthening the use of English as a Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) to address language as a barrier factor to academic success both in primary and high schools. However, in 2017, the DBE published a report showing that most content teachers were not using the EAC strategy. In view of the alarmingly poor academic performance in mostly public schools, the question in many people's minds has always been whether content teachers are using the EAC strategy. To understand this phenomenon, I conducted a qualitative study focused on four purposively selected Grade 8 Social Science educators teaching History (Grade 8 is an entry level to South African secondary schools). I collected data using non‐participant classroom observations and semi‐structured interviews, while inductive thematic analysis was used as an approach to analyse the data. The findings indicate that to teach writing in History, the participants used strategy‐focused instruction which includes vocabulary development and clustering activities as well as writing frames that encompass sentences and paragraphs. Importantly, the research adds to our knowledge of teaching of English to speakers of other languages in multilingual contexts when mandated by governments to change without appropriate support. The study highlights how this situation leads to deeper reflection where educators must encounter professional conflict and dilemmas to bring coherence to their teaching knowledge and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilingual education and acculturation research share a parallel history of problematic research paradigms that center the majority viewpoint and view minorities through a lens of deficit. This continual pathology of cultural difference has led to the pathologization of minority individuals, and has hampered our efforts to effectively understand and educate in a nuanced and culturally sensitive manner. In our focus on quantifying stress and deficiency, we have failed to understand emic experiences of joy and agency that can better inform our teaching and research. This article asserts a model of research and teaching that prioritizes narrative reclamation, while developing the concept of acculturative joy as a lens of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study adopted a praxis orientation to second language (L2) research and pedagogy to explore the professional development needs of three English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers after their first attempt at implementing dynamic assessment (DA) of essay writing. To date, few studies have examined how teachers learn to implement DA, especially in a context like Iran where the educational system has historically centered upon high‐stakes assessments of learning (Rezagah, 2022). This study sought to understand how existing models of DA professional development could be modified to prepare teachers to implement DA of essay writing through written mediation. Findings revealed three challenges that arose for teachers during their initial attempts at DA implementation: 1) choosing an appropriate target for mediation, 2) delivering graduated mediation, and 3) dedicating sufficient time to the process of DA. We outline each of these three challenges in the findings of this article and their correspondent suggestions for revised future professional development of DA of writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on reviewing the affordances of the educational platform Sutori for online language education, discussing its potential to complement synchronous online classrooms and its implications for language teachers' instructional practices. Topics discussed include the features and usability of Sutori, its role in scaffolding students' learning processes, and its potential for facilitating online interaction and collaboration among language learners.

Understanding and affirming the assets of emerging bilingual learners (EBLs) and resources are often not part of preservice teacher (PST) preparation, particularly for preservice secondary teachers (Newman et al., 2010). The authors of this article designed two Grand Seminars to support PSTs to begin to develop a translanguaging mindset and to help them to apply what they have acquired to content language teaching through reading and reflection on The Book of Unknown Americans. The purpose of the seminars was to prepare PSTs with equity‐ and asset‐ based mindsets and practices to support EBLs, such as translanguaging. This study focuses on how the PSTs began to take up translanguaging as a mindset, or stance, yet required more time and development to engage in translanguaging as a pedagogy. One research question guided the design, presentation, and analysis of the data: In what ways do PSTs manifest a translanguaging stance? Implications for TESOL and all educators are provided to support PST understanding of EBL demography at their practicum placements and its connection to pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the importance of advocacy in TESOL has received greater attention in recent scholarship, less research has explored how English language teachers make meaning for their work as educators and advocates by acting within and beyond their official roles and responsibilities. This article explores how teachers in an after‐school program supported refugee and immigrant students and their families. The researchers ask the following question: How do teachers craft their roles as educators and advocates for refugee and immigrant youth in an English as a second language (ESL) after‐school program? They analyzed data through a job crafting lens (Haneda & Sherman, 2018; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) to make visible how teachers at the after‐school program defined themselves as educators and advocates, and how the program hindered or empowered their efforts to act on these definitions. Findings share how four different teachers crafted opportunities, connections, leadership, and resources as they imagined and enacted their work with and for refugee and immigrant students and their families. Based on study findings, we suggest implications for TESOL educators in classrooms and community spaces, and recommend future directions for job crafting research on teaching and teacher advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While constructivism is generally valued in second language teacher education (SLTE) as it is thought to lead to deeper learning opportunities than an approach based on transmission, there are relatively few analyses of award‐bearing in‐service SLTE courses examining where they lie on the transmissive–constructivist continuum. Such an analysis is conducted here, of a BA TESOL Programme for in‐service English language teachers in Oman. Under consideration is the extent to which criteria for constructivism, such as learner‐centred instruction, context‐appropriate materials, authentic assessment opportunities, opportunities for reflection, action research, and collaborative learning were features of the course. Findings highlight that the programme was more constructivist than transmissive, and became increasingly constructivist over time. Guiding principles that may be of interest to SLTE programme designers elsewhere seeking to embed constructivism in their courses are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dynamics which led to the formation of Italian by reconstructing the language ideology of the teacher and polygraph Orazio Toscanella, i.e. one of those cultural mediators who, in the sixteenth‐century Venetian printing market, were actively involved in the promotion of the vernacular. Looking for traces of Toscanella's language ideology through a range of paratextual materials (title‐pages, prefatory letters), we reconstruct his ideas on the vernacular. These reveal an eclecticism which is not entirely coherent, but which can be understood in light of this polygraph's pedagogical objectives, and of his pressing need to respond to the market's requirements. By focusing on Toscanella's translation of Vives' Exercitatio, published in 1568 under the title Flores Italici, we then compare the ideas conveyed in the paratexts with the author's linguistic usage in the text: we thus show that Toscanella's eclectic ideas on language and his need to accommodate the market's requirements also shaped the type of vernacular he proposed to his readers. This focus on Toscanella's paratextual production allows us to investigate the way in which the 'high' vernacular model was re‐elaborated and disseminated to a broad audience, and the extent to which such re‐elaboration was influenced by commercial concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we present a comparative study in which we analyzed teacher questions in two different languages of instruction, namely, English‐medium instruction (EMI) and Basque‐medium instruction (BMI) classes at university. For this purpose, we videotaped and analyzed two teachers who delivered 29 lessons forming a corpus of 39 h of recording. The tool used for classroom observations and for the analysis was the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching observation scheme, which was then followed by statistical analyses. Results revealed that the language of instruction did not exert an influence on questioning practices, since there were no significant differences between EMI and BMI lessons. However, results revealed teachers and their teaching style as an influential variable when it came to questioning. In both languages the most utilized types of questions were Display Questions, followed by Convergent Referential Questions, which indicated that lower‐order questions predominated over higher‐order questions. As for pedagogical implications, we highlight the need for teacher training so that lecturers become aware of the importance of promoting interaction in the classroom through questions, as well as the positive impact of asking higher‐order questions that entail a cognitive challenge for the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the types of language expression and message valence used by teachers to convey classroom‐compliance instructions affect elementary‐school children's psychological reactance and their intention to follow instructions. Altogether, 178 elementary‐school children (54% girls) participated in a mixed‐design experiment. Participants read four self‐developed cartoons, where a hypothetical teacher conveyed classroom‐compliance instructions through four expressions, and responded to questions measuring psychological reactance and the intention to follow instructions based on the cartoons. The results showed that psychological reactance was relatively significant in the high‐controlling language condition. In the low‐controlling language condition, the approach evoked less psychological reactance and enhanced the intention to follow instructions, whereas avoidance did so in the high‐controlling language condition. Our findings offer suggestions on how teachers can improve classroom management by altering their messages in accordance with the motivation characteristics of their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Engineering's introduction into K–12 classrooms has been purported to support meaningful and inclusive learning environments. However, teachers must contend with dominant discourses embedded in US schooling that justify inequitable distributions of resources. Purpose: Drawing on Gee's notion of discourses, we examine how teachers incorporate language legitimizing socially and culturally constructed values and beliefs. In particular, we focus on the discourse of ability hierarchy—reflecting dominant values of sorting and ranking students based on perceived academic abilities—and the discourse of individual blame—reflecting dominant framings of educational problems as solely the responsibility of individual students or families. We aim to understand how these discourses surface in teachers' reasoning about teaching engineering. Method: We interviewed 15 teachers enrolled in an online graduate program in engineering education. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, we analyzed how teachers drew on discourses of blame and ability hierarchy when reasoning about problems of practice in engineering. Results: Teachers drew on engineering education concepts to reinforce dominant discourses (echoing specific language and preserving given roles) as well as to disrupt (utilizing different language or roles that [implicitly] challenge) dominant discourses. Importantly, teachers could also retool discourses of ability hierarchy (arguing for a more equitable distribution of resources but problematically preserving the values of ranking and sorting students). Conclusions: K–12 schooling's sociohistorical context can shape how teachers make sense of engineering in ways that implicate race, gender, disability, and language, suggesting a need to grapple with how discourses from schooling—and engineering culture—maintain marginalizing environments for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies informed by poststructuralist theories of language have examined the relationship between language teachers' emotion labor, identity, and agency. However, research has not yet explored the relationship between emotion labor and volunteer teaching, which is an important practice in language education. Our research seeks to address this gap, drawing on a 2‐year qualitative case study at the community‐based Vancouver Bangla School (VBS). With emotion labor and investment as the conceptual underpinnings, our study investigated how the VBS heritage language (HL) program structured the emotion labor of seven volunteer teachers, what the feeling rules associated with the VBS program were, and the extent to which volunteer teachers' investment in HL education helped them manage their emotion labor. Data sources included participant classroom observations, field notes, focus group and interview transcripts, questionnaires, and educational resources, which were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings indicate that the emotion labor of volunteer teachers was structured by the following characteristics of the VBS program: lack of funding, poor organizational structure and teacher recognition, challenges of online teaching, insufficient number of teachers, limited parental support, and lack of training. This emotion labor was associated with four feeling rules implicit in the VBS program: (a) be generous and caring, (b) be committed and dedicated, (c) be a good and efficient teacher, and (d) have limited expectations of the community. Findings suggest that teachers' investment in Bangla as a mother tongue in multicultural Canada, and their investment in promoting the children's transcultural identities, was particularly powerful, and enabled the volunteer teachers to navigate and manage their emotion labor. The study suggests that an enhanced understanding of a language teacher's investment in a program, institution, or community might provide insight into the important relationship among desire, agency, and emotion labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the types of language expression and message valence used by teachers to convey classroom‐compliance instructions affect elementary‐school children's psychological reactance and their intention to follow instructions. Altogether, 178 elementary‐school children (54% girls) participated in a mixed‐design experiment. Participants read four self‐developed cartoons, where a hypothetical teacher conveyed classroom‐compliance instructions through four expressions, and responded to questions measuring psychological reactance and the intention to follow instructions based on the cartoons. The results showed that psychological reactance was relatively significant in the high‐controlling language condition. In the low‐controlling language condition, the approach evoked less psychological reactance and enhanced the intention to follow instructions, whereas avoidance did so in the high‐controlling language condition. Our findings offer suggestions on how teachers can improve classroom management by altering their messages in accordance with the motivation characteristics of their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report presents results from a survey of 64 elementary mathematics and reading language arts teacher educators providing feedback on a new type of short performance task. The performance tasks each present a brief teaching scenario and then require a short performance as if teaching actual students. Teacher educators participating in the study first reviewed six performance tasks, followed by a more in‐depth review of two of the tasks. After reviewing the tasks, teacher educators completed an online survey providing input on the value of the tasks and on potential uses to support teacher preparation. The survey responses were positive with the majority of teacher educators supporting a variety of different uses of the performance tasks to support teacher preparation. The report concludes by proposing a larger theory for how the performance tasks can be used as both formative assessment tools to support teacher learning and summative assessments to guide decisions about candidates' readiness for the classroom. Report Number: RR‐23‐08 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the ongoing shortage of world language teachers in the United States, growing attention has developed toward recruiting new teachers at the secondary and postsecondary levels. This mixed methods study examined why some university noneducation students involved in language study at a large public institution indicated they would consider becoming a teacher (N = 116) while others would not (N = 129). Analyses indicated that those who would consider the profession were significantly more motivated for language study and had perceived experiencing significantly more instances of communicative and authentic pedagogy, as well as feelings of autonomy, community, and capability in their current language course than their counterparts who would not consider the profession. While passion for languages, teaching, and social contribution were factors that drew students to the profession, those who would not consider world language teaching were primarily dissuaded by a lack of passion for languages and teaching and perceptions of their own inadequate language proficiency. The Challenge: Recent research and initiatives have promoted WL teacher recruitment efforts at the postsecondary level. What draws some university language students to consider becoming a WL teacher? For those who would not consider teaching, what would need to change? How may students' prior language learning experiences align with or influence their interest in teaching? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]