This study is an exploration of alternative teacher professional development. While using symbolic interactionism for a research lens, it characterizes the discursive practices commonly found in formal, informal, and blended-space speech communities based on the talk within a leadership-development program comprised of five female, church-based…

The authors investigate how conversational routines, or the practices by which groups structure work-related talk, function in teacher professional communities to forge, sustain, and support learning and improvement. Audiotaped and videotaped records of teachers' work group interactions, supplemented by interviews and material artifacts, were…

In this paper we examine aspects of the construction of authentic membership, competence, and sense of shared purpose within a professional community of educators accomplished by a class of pre-service teachers during a spontaneous electronic conversation. Implications for teacher education are considered.

This study looks at language teachers' and language researchers' expectations and evaluations of two kinds of journal articles, either researcher-oriented or teacher-oriented. The results show that teachers and academics use different ways of validating information in journal articles and use the information contained in them in distinctly…

The literacy programs and policies implemented in Australia over the past decade were reviewed to identify initiatives that have and have not had a positive impact on vocational education and training (VET) and lifelong learning opportunities. Policies and practices in seven other countries were also reviewed. The following themes received…