Research Synthesis on Teacher Agency in ESL/EFL/Bilingual Contexts: Research and Pedagogical Implications

• In Event: 21.062 - MTCC Roundtable Session Six
  In Roundtable Session: 21.062-1 - Teacher Leadership Practices for Equity and Engagement in Schools and Communities

Abstract

Teacher agency has been theorized regarding the activities teachers do in schools (Priestley, Biesta, & Robinson, 2015). Despite the growing attention in the education literature, teacher agency remains understudied in the field of language education, more specifically, in classroom-based ESL/EFL/Bilingual contexts. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the theoretical frameworks, the contexts, the methodologies used for data collection and analysis, and the major findings and implications from the selected studies. Based on the findings, this research synthesis aims to present ESL/EFL/bilingual teachers as legitimate and agentive actors in their contexts of work, to offer pedagogical implications, to better inform researchers of current literature and future directions in the field, and to suggest further collaborations among educational stakeholders.

Authors

• Zhenjie Weng, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Jingyi Zhu, The Ohio State University

• Grace Jue Yeon Kim