This study aimed to examine obstacles to foreign language teacher educators' research development. Phenomenology was adopted to probe the issue from seven experienced EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher educators' perspectives, who did not appear to be highly research-productive. Multiple sources of data were employed, including…

The need for collaboration between researchers and practitioners to address the research-practice gap is a long-debated topic in applied linguistics. Little is known, however, about how researchers and practitioners can collaboratively develop teaching materials, as a potential venue to narrow the gap. This study explored how two groups of…

Professional development of teacher educators has received growing attention in recent years owing to their important role in preparing teachers for schools and universities, however, female-dominated mid-career EFL teacher educators in regional teacher education universities remain underexplored. This study examined 18 female experienced teacher…

This article explores how a group of teaching-oriented academics--College English (CE) teachers in China--negotiate their collective identity at the workplace amid research discourse. Drawing on an integrated theoretical framework focusing on the interrelationship between discourse, practice, and social networks, the study reveals the field of…

This paper reports on a comparative study that investigates English language teacher educators' ideal identities from the dual perspectives of language teachers and teacher educators in China. Drawing on data from focus and individual interviews, the findings of the study reveal a range of identities such as 'practical expert,' 'model' and…

Despite increasing evidence showing the benefits language teachers can reap from university-school collaborative action research (CAR), scant attention has been given to how university researchers collaborate with language teachers, what challenges they might encounter, and how they navigate such challenges in CAR. To fill the gap, this study…

The increase of international exchange in education triggers strong demand for learning English language skills in various academic disciplines among Chinese students, which brings up a wide implementation of EAP (English for academic purposes) learning in universities in China. However, the teaching and learning result do not seem to be as…

This study explores how two language teachers constructed and reconstructed their professional identities through their action research (AR) facilitated by university researchers in China. Informed by the theory of 'community of practice', the findings of the study show that AR exerted a transformative impact on the teachers' identity development.…

Drawing on narrative inquiry, the present study aims to investigate the trajectory of identity formation of EFL university teachers. Two types of data are collected. One type comes from life histories of Hyland (2014), Nunan (2011) and Widdowson (2009), and the other type comes from semi-structured interviews with three excellent university…

This mixed methods study adds to a growing international literature on the nature of language teachers' engagement with and in research by examining such engagement in the context of college English teaching in China. Questionnaire responses from 725 college English teachers and interviews with 20 of these teachers indicate that, although they…

This article reports on a narrative study of university EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers' research practices and their identity construction as researchers in China. Drawing upon data from narrative frames among 104 teachers and in-depth interviews with four teachers, the study reveals that teachers' increased research engagement, as…

Workplace influences on Chinese Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) academics' development as researchers were examined in two Chinese higher education institutions in this qualitative collective case study. Data sources included research documentation and interviews with 12 Chinese TEFL academics. Both institutions were keen on research…

Research engagement is an important means for teachers to develop their professional competence. This paper reports on an enquiry into the research engagement of a group of primary school English language teachers in Guangdong province on the Chinese mainland. Drawing on questionnaire data and teachers' interview narratives, the paper examines how…

Foreign language teacher education is an extensively researched subject. Nevertheless, the research focus is on classroom teachers, despite the fact that distance language learning is burgeoning today. In the light of this, a survey was carried out among distance English language teaching (ELT) tutors at the Chinese radio and television…

Research engagement has been widely considered crucial in transforming teachers into "expert knowers about their students and classrooms" (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 16). This article reports on a mixed-method study of the research engagement of a group of primary school teachers in China's Guangdong province, focusing…