Lawrence Jun Zhang - Böcker

This volume gathers contributions from a range of global experts in teacher education to address the topic of language teacher education. It shows how teacher education involves the agency of teachers, which forms part of their identity, and which they take on when integrating into the teaching community of practice. In addition, the volume explores the teachers’ situated practice--the dynamic negotiation of classroom situations, socialization into the professional teaching culture, and "on the ground experimentation" with pedagogical skills/techniques.

This volume gathers contributions from a range of global experts in teacher education to address the topic of language teacher education. It shows how teacher education involves the agency of teachers, which forms part of their identity, and which they take on when integrating into the teaching community of practice. In addition, the volume explores the teachers’ situated practice--the dynamic negotiation of classroom situations, socialization into the professional teaching culture, and "on the ground experimentation" with pedagogical skills/techniques.

This book provides critical perspectives on issues relating to writing norms and assessment, as well as writing proficiency development, and suggests that scholars need to both carefully examine testing regimes and develop research-informed perspectives on tests and testing practices. In this way schools, institutions of adult education and universities can better prepare learners with differing cultural experiences to meet the challenges. The book brings together empirical studies from diverse geographical contexts to address the crossing of literacy borders, with a focus on academic genres and practices. Most of the studies examine writing in countries where the norms and expectations are different, but some focus on writing in a new discourse community set in a new discipline. The chapters shed light on commonalities and differences between these two situations with respect to the expectations and evaluations facing the writers. They also consider the extent to which the norms that the writers bring with them from their educational backgrounds and own cultures are compromised in order to succeed in the new educational settings.

This book provides critical perspectives on issues relating to writing norms and assessment, as well as writing proficiency development, and suggests that scholars need to both carefully examine testing regimes and develop research-informed perspectives on tests and testing practices. In this way schools, institutions of adult education and universities can better prepare learners with differing cultural experiences to meet the challenges. The book brings together empirical studies from diverse geographical contexts to address the crossing of literacy borders, with a focus on academic genres and practices. Most of the studies examine writing in countries where the norms and expectations are different, but some focus on writing in a new discourse community set in a new discipline. The chapters shed light on commonalities and differences between these two situations with respect to the expectations and evaluations facing the writers. They also consider the extent to which the norms that the writers bring with them from their educational backgrounds and own cultures are compromised in order to succeed in the new educational settings.

This book explores teachers’ cognitions about the teaching of writing in English as a foreign language (EFL) and their teaching practice, as well as factors influencing the formation and reformation process of their cognition.

This book explores teachers’ cognitions about the teaching of writing in English as a foreign language (EFL) and their teaching practice, as well as factors influencing the formation and reformation process of their cognition. Taking stock of Bakhtin’s dialogism as the theoretical framework, the authors argue that the formation and reformation of teacher cognition is a dialogic process. A systematic analysis of participating teachers’ cognition formation and re-formation process suggests the highly individual nature of teachers’ cognitions. EFL researchers and teachers, teacher educators, teacher education policymakers, university administrators and EFL textbook writers could draw on the findings of the study to provide better resources to implement the teaching of EFL writing more effectively.The study has adopted a mixed-methods approach, whose quantitative results show the patterns and differences of teacher cognition among teachers of different backgrounds and with different schooling, education and working experiences. The qualitative findings show in detail teachers' cognition formation and reformation processes and the factors contributing to such processes, revealing convergence and divergence of teachers’ stated cognitions, with a focus on the discrepancy between teacher cognition and teaching practice. These are useful lenses through which researchers and teachers will find significant implications for offering EFL writing instruction more effectively.

This book addresses the validity of think-aloud protocols (TAPs) in L2 writing research through a mixed methods study and proposes effective approaches for their valid implementation. The book uncovers the reactive effects that TAPs have on L2 writing performance and processes, and examines how individual factors moderate this reactivity. It further presents and categorizes participants' perceptions regarding reactivity and veridicality. To enhance veridicality, the book identifies incomplete TAPs using retrospective verbal reports as a reference point. Recommendations for utilizing TAPs include considering participants' individual differences, recent experiences, and emotions. This book will be valuable to educators teaching methodology in second or foreign language education, applied linguistics, or writing research, and to L2 researchers or graduate students with a broad interest in research methods, process-based research, or writing studies, or planning to incorporate TAPs into their research.

This book addresses the validity of think-aloud protocols (TAPs) in L2 writing research through a mixed methods study and proposes effective approaches for their valid implementation. The book uncovers the reactive effects that TAPs have on L2 writing performance and processes, and examines how individual factors moderate this reactivity. It further presents and categorizes participants' perceptions regarding reactivity and veridicality. To enhance veridicality, the book identifies incomplete TAPs using retrospective verbal reports as a reference point. Recommendations for utilizing TAPs include considering participants' individual differences, recent experiences, and emotions. This book will be valuable to educators teaching methodology in second or foreign language education, applied linguistics, or writing research, and to L2 researchers or graduate students with a broad interest in research methods, process-based research, or writing studies, or planning to incorporate TAPs into their research.

This research monograph investigates the immediate effects of peer feedback on text revisions and the long-term effects of peer feedback on writing performance. It also examines students’ processing of peer feedback in revision and explores their perceptions of peer feedback. Peer feedback, an activity in which learners read others’ drafts and make comments on them orally and/or in written mode, is widely employed in English as a foreign/second language (L2) writing instruction. Extensive studies investigating its effects have been conducted, and yet very few studies have examined how the effects take place and whether the effects sustain. To address the research gaps, this book reports a rigorous peer feedback intervention conducted during a semester-long College English course at a Chinese university. This research yields a deep understanding of the effects of peer feedback and provides an example of how a mixed methods approach can be employed in second language writing research. This book is a valuable research resource for researchers, practitioners and policymakers on an international scale.

This book explores the complex interplay between test-takers’ strategic competence, task complexity, and performance, focusing on Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL).  It introduces and empirically validates the Strategic Competence Model of L2 Speaking (SCMLS), the first framework in second language research to clearly conceptualise strategic competence in speaking, designed primarily for Chinese EFL learners. It also provides a feasible solution to the long-standing challenge of designing and assessing task complexity and multimodality in L2 testing by using Robinson’s (2015) Triadic Componential Framework. Methodologically, the employment of quantitative hierarchical linear modelling and qualitative, ChatGPT‑assisted coding to investigate these relationships offers rigorous and efficient approaches to data analysis for future studies. The book provides pedagogical implications for metacognitive scaffolding and task development for EFL speaking instruction. This book serves as a useful reference for language assessment researchers, applied linguists, teacher educators, test developers, and graduate students interested in second language speaking performance and strategy use in assessment contexts.