This study features the concept of "context" and how various macro, meso and micro features of the social system play themselves out in any setting. Using South Africa as an example, it explores the features that may constrain or enable professional development, quality teaching and the work of teaching and learning centres at eight…

The article presents experience of structuring and description of teachers' position in the process of forming socio-cultural identity of the person, detailed in regard to the process of formation of one of the subtypes of socio-cultural identity--Russian civil identity. We identified and described real subjective, nominally subjective and…

This article characterizes "engagement in science learning" from a sociocultural perspective and offers a mixed method approach to measuring engagement that combines critical discourse analysis (CDA) and social network analysis (SNA). Conceptualizing engagement from a sociocultural perspective, the article discusses the advantages of a…

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO, 2019), many of today's skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow. Lifelong learning and learning to learn are thus crucial. The main objective of this exploratory research is to investigate how the social dimension of the Russian course sustains autonomisation and whether it supports the…

The following article reports the results of an action research project conducted in a public university in Chile. The project consisted of exposing ten undergraduate students from an English pedagogy program to a genre-based approach to writing expository essays. During eight weeks the three stages of the genre-based approach, namely:…

This article analyzes how emergent bilinguals discursively support one another during literacy activities in a cross-aged peer-tutoring program in their elementary school. Drawing from Vygotskian sociocultural theory, we frame peer supports as developing a zone of relevance that fosters and sustains peer engagement in literacy discussions.…

This article examines how four second language (L2) teachers' discursive practices changed as they attempted to implement dynamic assessment (DA) in their classrooms. Classroom artifacts, lesson recordings, and reflections from two pre-service teachers and two in-service teachers, both before and after a professional development series on DA, were…

Districts nationwide have launched efforts to fundamentally change their central offices to support improved teaching and learning for all students and are turning to research for help. The research provides promising guides but is challenging to use. What happens when central offices try? We explored that question in six districts using…

Ostensibly, the orientation towards learning outcomes in adult English language and literacy delivery ensures that the focus is on standardised skill development and knowledge acquisition of students. Such measureable development is seen as foundational to broader employability skills and job readiness. It is an agenda however which ignores the…

Drawing upon Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (SCT), this study aimed at investigating the effect of two writing modes, namely, peer-mediated/collaborative vs. individual writing on measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity of female EFL learners' writing. Based on an in-house placement test and the First Certificate in English writing paper, a…

Three Korean children, whose English reading test scores were comparably lower than their peers' and who showed a tendency to withdraw from class activities or resist texts, participated in a reading tutoring programme in South Korea. By reflecting on the three students' interactions with an English text, the current paper argues that resistant…

This article reports on a study of how L1 was used by Persian speaking Pre-university learners of English in their private speech while interacting as they were engaged in L2 reading. The study was conducted in a real classroom setting in an Iranian school with the objective of better understand the mediating and regulatory role of L1 private…

Machines are eating humans' jobs talents. And it is not just about jobs that are repetitive and low skill. Automation, robotics, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) in recent times have shown they can do equal or sometimes even better work than humans who are dermatologists, insurance claims adjusters, lawyers, seismic testers in oil…

Adults from deprived backgrounds face daunting barriers when it comes to the discovery of intrinsically motivating aspirations and the discovery and development of talents consistent with those aspirations. In contrast, privileged young people enjoy ideal conditions for establishing productive, purposeful life trajectories spiraling up toward…

The paper is a brief review of three great philosophers' tenets and their implications on foreign language education. Based on the recurring themes, namely, Noddings "teaching with care", Dewey's "learning by doing" and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the paper highlights the importance of care and love, interaction, practical…