This mixed methods study was based on teacher case studies examining classroom practices of four EFL teachers of the same department of an underperforming secondary school in a socially-disadvantaged area in Hong Kong. Beside two international classroom observation instruments used for the quantitative classroom observations, extensive qualitative field notes were collected concurrently. Confirmatory factor analyses using the lesson as the unit of analysis generated a six-factor and a three-factor of model teaching behaviours respectively. For both instruments, results showed strong validity and reliability for strongly correlated underlying dimensions of teaching practices. Considerable differential teaching effectiveness in terms of inconsistency in observed teaching behaviours of the four teachers was noted across the various dimensions and across contexts. The qualitative field notes provided evidence that increased understanding of the variation in observed practice. Two teachers showed teaching behaviours more inconsistent across dimensions and lessons, though their effectiveness in certain dimensions in some lessons was found. Their fluctuating teaching effectiveness seemed to be under the influences of student year groups, class composition, subject content, school policy on learning, rather than class size. Themes emerged from the interviews with these teachers, the department head and the school principal suggested that cultural and school contexts might result in inconsistent teaching behaviours and revealed challenges and contradictions at individual, department, school, and system levels. This study was significant in demonstrating that both the generic and differentiated theories of teacher effectiveness may be required to account for the full spectrum of observed teaching behaviours. It also contributed to testing validity and reliability of two classroom observation instruments as it indicated that the high-inference instrument used by the inspectors might be slightly better in predicting overall judgment of lesson quality, while the lower inference instrument developed by the academics tended to generate underlying dimensions that were more distinguishable.

This thesis is an investigation of how a group of foreign and local English language teachers and students at the Language Department of the University of Guanajuato, Mexico construct ‘culture’. Through an ethnographic approach, with the use of interviews and classroom observations as the means for gathering data, the stories of eight teachers and twenty four students were explored, in order to unravel their constructions of ‘culture’. Given the abstract nature of the concept ‘culture’, critical incidents from my personal and professional experience were used to spark the participants into sharing their stories. It was through the telling of these stories that the thoughts, ideas and feelings of the participants regarding the Self and the Other were revealed. The construction of ‘culture’ was found to be a complex process in which teachers and students struggle in negotiating diverse sources of knowledge—from the personal (parents and upbringing), to professional and/or public discourses. The processes of relativization, recognition and transformation, as understood in the cosmopolitan tradition, were adopted to explore individuals’ capabilities in constructing ‘culture’. When constructing people and ‘cultures’, individuals are seen to traverse personal and professional trajectories, making the ability to relativize worldviews a challenge. Thus, the cosmopolitan imagination, which foresees Self and societal transformation, is seen to aid the individual in effecting the relativization of worldviews, so that recognition from the perspective of the Other and transformation are made possible. Constructing ‘culture’ was found to be a non-linear process, sometimes smooth and sometimes a struggle. Indeed, this thesis proposes that there are many intersecting factors in the construction of ‘culture’: the concepts which are invoked, the processes involved, and the abilities utilized when deliberating over ‘culture’. The individual is seen to draw upon all of these resources according to the specific contextual factors of the intercultural event.

In the context of rapidly expanding English-medium higher education in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), this thesis investigates how a group of native speaker English language teaching professionals perceive the social aspects of the environment in which they are working and the extent to which these perceptions affect the conceptualisation of their professional identities. Specifically, it focuses on how a complex interplay of cultural, economic, religious and political ideologies may impact upon the working lives of the respondents. This research was carried out at eleven higher educational institutes in the UAE and data was gathered through interviews with English language teachers, teacher trainers and managers. The study’s findings reveal a complex, diverse and often conflicting picture of the way the respondents perceive the context in which they are working and a wide variety of attitudes regarding the ideological issues identified as impacting upon ELT in the region. However, emerging from the data was a dominant discourse of fear related to issues of power, religion, gender and money, maintained by uncertainty regarding the extent to which a censorial approach to teaching was required. The perceived precariousness of the respondents’ employment was also identified as the source of practises which raise ethical questions about the construction of professionalism in a context dominated by a discourse of fear and, in turn, implications for both practitioners and institutions. Overall, this study reveals that in a context where ‘Gulf Arab/Muslim’ students interact with ‘Western native-speaker’ teachers, the preconceptions that often adhere to such labels in their respective societies may bear little resemblance to the attitudes, actions and beliefs of the individuals concerned. This raises implications both for the training of English teachers in the importance of contextual considerations and for the construction of the native speaker teacher in the literature.

This thesis is an examination of vernacular literacy in late-medieval East Anglia, using the evidence supplied by English medical texts datable to between 1350-1500- It addresses not only the texts, but also the manuscripts in which they survive and the people who wrote, owned and read them. By this means I have been able to examine the literacy of a group of readers in a specific region. This thesis is divided into three main parts. The first describes the spproach taken, and critically assesses the field of historical literacy before examining the value to the study of modern theories of literacy. It includes an overview of late-medieval medical practice in order to place the manuscripts in their immediate context. The second section consists of a detailed examination of the primary material and presents a corpus of some thirty-seven manuscripts dating from the nid-fourteenth to the late-fifteenth centuries. Each manuscript is described in terms of its physical appearance and the types of texts it contains. Provenance information is supplied for owners and readers in the Middle Ages. The third section draws together these findings in the light of the literacy theories adopted, analysing the information in terms of the types of text included (both medical and non-medical), the types of book (whether basic or luxurious productions), and the types of owner (graduate physicians, rural practitioners or interested laypeople). My conclusion shows that the vernacular medical literature from late-medieval East Anglia provides a picture of literacy that is more complex than previously suggested. Several shifts in literacy practices for groups and individuals can be discerned from the evidence of this survey. The increase in production and use of vernacular texts cannot be simply described as a broadening of literacy and increased accessibility of texts. Rather than a growth of literacy per se, the vernacularisation of medicine in late-medieval East Anglia seems to have been both the cause and effect of shifts in literacy practices. The increased use of written texts in medicine during this period can be shown to be a process that involves participation in literacy events, broadening of background knowledge and the acquisition and development of practical skills in reading and writing.

This longitudinal mixed methods study concerns the professional development of eight non-native English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Slovakia. Raising awareness of the teacher's role in creating conducive learning environments has not traditionally been part of the aims of EFL teacher education programmes. This study therefore set out to explore the impact of a 20-hour experiential in-service teacher development course that had been informed by theoretical principles drawn from within as well as outside the domain of applied linguistics, including second language motivation research, group dynamics and educational psychology. A combination of quantitative measures (pre- and post-test questionnaires measuring students' perceptions of their classroom environment) and qualitative measures (interviews, observations, and written course feedback) were employed to assess the course impact on the teachers' conceptual change. The results show that although some traces of impact were found in the participants' teaching practice, conceptual change did not occur despite their positive appraisals of the programme. Further interrogation of qualitative data about the reasons for this outcome has led to the generation of an integrated model of Language Teacher Conceptual Change (LTCC), which accommodates and thus interprets the variable and individual ways in which the eight teachers responded to the course input. The fact that the complex and idiosyncratic growth patterns fitted comfortably into the proposed conceptual framework provides validation for the theoretical construct, and the LTCC model is therefore believed to offer an integrated, theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded framework for future research on language teacher development and for designing effective teacher education interventions.

This ethnographic study investigates identity and participation in a workplace English language training classroom in Thailand. As a practitioner’s enquiry, the research methods of participation observation, interviews and questionnaires were employed in exploring a 40-hour training classroom which acts as a workplace community of practice for both the teacher and the student participants. Through the lens of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991), the research shows the significance, despite common assumptions of shared interests and choice to participate in communities of practice, of gatekeeping and legitimacy defined by the Human Resources department. As a formal corporate training classroom with an outside language instructor, there is evidence of multiple identities and forms of participation. The identities of expert newcomers, semi-expert newcomers as well as non-expert old-timers pose questions about forms of participation, especially legitimate peripheral participation and full participation, in the communities of practice model. Reversal of identities in the classroom between teacher and students emphasise pedagogical roles in the community. Identities are negotiated and constructed amongst the interrelationships of legitimacy, power relations, and social structures of the community of practice. Within the different layers of social practice (classroom, organisation and Thai cultural and social norms), legitimation conflicts arise. English language proficiency, and skills and knowledge regarding the organisation and engineering, coupled with the role of ‘seniority’ in peer relationships expressed in the pseudo-sibling relationship in Thai culture, are common causes of tension. Individual participants must exercise their agency to negotiate their identities and power among these conflicts and tensions. Using both verbal and non-verbal language, language-related identities contribute to identity negotiation and construction. ‘Joker’ and ‘silent member’ identities suggest the use of humour and silence as a discursive practice. Code-switching from English to Thai enables language to be used as a shared repertoire in the community. Specific use of pronouns in Thai represents the identities of classroom participants. The research shows that language use and culture should be central to the analysis of identity and participation in communities of practice. The thesis concludes by discussing implications for researchers on communities of practice, and practitioners in English language corporate training and English for Specific Purposes.

The present study compares the writings of a group of Arab students at the University of Bahrain in both Arabic and English. The main purpose is to investigate possible sources and solutions to the problem of textual incoherence and deviation. To this end, four hundred and sixty composition papers have been reviewed and thirty texts were analyzed in both languages to discover possible interference at the linguistic, cultural and rhetorical levels. The study investigates a variety of opinions on coherence from different perspectives such as cohesion, recoverability, continuity, development of topics, role of lexis, text structure and organization. For the analysis of texts, the researcher proposes and applies a new measurement for text coherence and topic development. The cultural, rhetorical and linguistic background of Arabic is presented as variables affecting students' performance in writing in both Arabic and English. The analysis of texts reveals that repetition, parallelism, sentence length, lack of variation and misuse of certain cohesive devices are major sources of incoherence and textual deviation in students' writing. The study is supplemented by the views of the Arabic Department staff on the quality of students' performance in Arabic. Interpretation of and solutions to various problems are suggested. The major conclusion is that there should be more concentration on the preservation of topic unity in teaching writing. A proposed plan for teaching writing based on the findings of this study is also suggested.

This research is aimed at establishing academic writing needs of first year undergraduate agriculture students in an English as a Second Language context. The research was motivated by the need to design subject-specific teaching materials for the Communication Skills (CS) course in one of the Kenyan universities. The study was informed by concepts of discourse communities, audience expectations and language use from social construction theory, and insights from the principles of needs analysis and genre research in ESP. These concepts were used to develop a conceptual framework for pinpointing the writing requirements within the terms of the institutional culture. Research methods used included questionnaire surveys and investigation of institutional documents. An analysis was also done of samples of students' actual writing to determine their linguistic and communicative competence. The results of the study indicate that in the first year, students do not study one discipline called 'agriculture'. Instead, they study a wide range of courses half of which consist of basic courses in the sciences from which specific disciplinary requirements can be distinguished. It was also established that students are expected to produce an extensive variety of types of written work all of which are assessed and account for their final grades. The research also shows that students' proficiency in writing in content areas is limited and that they lack awareness of the conventions of scientific writing. There is also evidence that students do not always appreciate the nature of the tasks they are asked to undertake or the audience addressed.

This study investigates the teaching and learning of listening in a Thai university fundamental English course. The investigation considers how listening is taught both in the classroom and in the Self-access Learning Centre (SALC). It takes into account what happens in the classroom and the SALC. It also examines the attitudes towards the teaching and learning of listening of the teachers, students, board of directors and textbook writers. The study was conducted at the Language Institute, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand. It was carried out through a qualitative analysis of data obtained from: (1) semi-structured interviews with the different parties; (2) semi-structured observations of five classes; (3) informal SALC observation forms completed by the students using the centre; (4) self-access learning reports/portfolios completed by students from the five classes observed; and (5) two documents about the course: the Language Institute Booklet and the course outline. The main findings are as follows. First, the lesson format used by the teachers is similar to the lesson format used in the early days of the 1950s in that the focus was on the pre-listening stage. Second, three aspects regarding the textbook listening activities were evaluated by the different parties: (1) the (in)appropriate level of difficulty; (2) the lack of authentic materials; and (3) the disappointment with word recognition listening exercises. Third, the majority of students were against listening assessment as they believed that they lack the ability to do the test. On the other hand, one of the directors and four teachers were clearly in favour of assessment. Fourth, the SALC was seen as a very low priority as it was found that some informants never or only rarely visit the centre. Fifth, none of the 170 students, including the interviewees, chose to practise their listening skills using the commercial listening materials provided in SALC 4. The study ends with the insights and recommendations for second language listening pedagogy.

Research on second language learners’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies has been growing in recent decades. However, few studies have been undertaken on Chinese tertiary learners of English for academic purposes (EAP) within a broader English as a foreign language (EFL) context. The current call for a socio-cultural theory in second language acquisition (SLA) has also highlighted the necessity of a socio-cultural approach to research on learners’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies. This study thus aims to fill these gaps by following a socio-cultural approach to examining changes in beliefs, motivation, and strategies of a cohort of Chinese tertiary EAP learners in Mainland China. The study is longitudinal and situated in a Sino-foreign university where English is used as the Medium of Instruction (EMI). Data of the study were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews at two stages. The design of the questionnaires and interviews was informed by current discussion on learners’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies in the literature of second language teaching and research. At the first stage, the questionnaire was administered to 1026 students upon their arrival at the EMI University and 16 students were selected for semi-structured interviews. At the second stage, after having studied EAP for one academic year at the EMI University, the questionnaire was distributed again to the same cohort of the students and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the same group of participants in order to identify potential changes in their beliefs, motivation, and strategies and to obtain an in-depth understanding of the nature of changes. The questionnaire surveys identified significant changes in the participants’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies after they had studied EAP for an academic year at the EMI University. The participants showed stronger beliefs about the difficulty and nature of language learning and autonomous language learning, a significant increase in motivation, and a higher level of use of learning strategies. Changes in the three learner variables were also found in the interviews. These changes indicate possible influence of learning context upon learners’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies. The analysis of the in-depth interviews further revealed that these changes were attributable to the mediation of various socio-cultural factors in the EMI setting, including the learning environment at the EMI University, studying content subjects in English, learning tasks, extracurricular activities, formative assessments, and other important factors such as teachers and peers. The interviews also illustrated that the dynamic changes in the participants’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies might be accounted for by the participants’ internalisation of the mediation of the socio-cultural factors through exercising their agency. Based on the findings, this research argues that the development of language learners’ beliefs, motivation, and strategies is the result of the interplay between agency and context. The present study deepens our understanding of the nature of learner development in that it contributes to the socio-cultural exploration of contextual influence on second language learning in SLA research. The study also has pedagogical significance for its practical recommendations for English language teaching in EMI settings in Mainland China and other similar EFL contexts.