This volume examines the agency of second/foreign language teachers in diverse geographical contexts and in both K-12 and adult education. It offers new understandings and conceptualizations of second/foreign language teacher agency through a variety of types of empirical data. It also demonstrates the use of different methodologies or analytic tools to study the multidimensional, dynamic and complex nature of second/foreign language teacher agency. The chapters draw on a range of theories and approaches to language teacher agency (including ecological theory, positioning theory, complexity theory and actor-network theory) that expand our understanding of the concept, while at the same time presenting various analytic approaches such as discourse studies and narrative inquiry. The chapters also analyze the connection of agency to other relevant topics, such as teacher identity, emotions, positioning and autonomy.
Hayriye Kayi-Aydar is a Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Arizona, USA.
Xuesong (Andy) Gao is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales. His current research interests are in the areas of learner autonomy, language learning narratives, language education policy, and language teacher education. He is co-editor of System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics.
Elizabeth R. Miller (Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison) is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she is Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Programs. Her current research focuses on language teacher identity, agency and emotions and has been published in journals such as Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, System, and the Modern Language Journal, among others. She has published a monograph and three co-edited volumes with Multilingual Matters and one co-edited volume with Bloomsbury Publishers.
Manka Varghese is a Professor in the College of Education, University of Washington, USA.
Gergana Vitanova is a Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Central Florida, USA.