Never in the recent history of foreign language education have we seen so much earnest concern for the philosophies which underlie research methods. The primary force behind this concern has been the rise of a socio-cultural paradigm in foreign language education from which new ways of integrating teaching theory and practice are emerging.

All but one of the papers collected in this volume were presented and discussed at the international seminar Understanding the Language Classroom and New Directions for Language Teaching Research held in Kobe, Japan, from 14 to 17 March 2007.

The volume has reframed research accounts of classroom and learner issues by clarifying the powerful connections between philosophically different families of both recently developed and conventional research practices: Exploratory Practice, Action Research, Narrative Inquiry, Learner Autonomy, and Strategy-based Language Learning.

Contents:

Dick Allwright: Inclusive Practitioner Research: Why We Need It and What Exploratory Practice Offers

Judith Hanks: Inclusivity and Collegiality in Exploratory Practice

Assia Slimani-Rolls: Complexity and Idiosyncrasy of Classroom Life

Inés K. Miller: 'Puzzle-driven' Language Teacher Development: The Contribution of Exploratory Practice

Craig Smith: Developing a New English for Academic Purposes Course: Administrator-Teacher-Student Collaboration

Akira Tajino: Understanding Life in the Language Classroom: A Systemic Approach

Viljo Kohonen: Reflection, Interaction and Authenticity: Towards Transformative Professionalism in Foreign Language Teacher Education

Kathleen Graves: Collaborating for Autonomy in Teaching and Learning

Yongsuk Kim, Jaehyuk Kim, Maria Oh, Seonho Park, Kyusoo Sun: Development of an Elementary English Teacher Education Program

Naoko Aoki: A Small-Scale Narrative Inquiry for Teacher Development

Shinichiro Yokomizo: EAR Approach: An Attempt to Increase Opportunities for Reflection

Yoshiyuki Nakata: The Teacher as a Motivation Researcher

Ken Tamai: Confucianism as Cultural Constraint and its Effect on Japanese Self-expressiveness

Leo Van Lier: Perception in Language Learning

Ernesto Macaro: Teacher Code-Switching in L2 Classrooms: Exploring 'Optimal Use'

Osamu Takeuchi: Learning from Good Language Learners in a Specific Context

Akiko Takagi: Promoting Learner Autonomy in a Reading Class

Rieko Tokunaga: Reflection in Foreign Language Learning: A Study of EFL High School Students

Yuan Yuan: Identity (re)Formation in a Study-Abroad Context: The Case of a Chinese Learner of Japanese.