Introduction
Scholarship is formal enquiry which is inherently bound to pedagogy, engaged in for the benefit of students. It is realised through a range of forms, from course materials to research. Scholarship is theoretically-grounded inquiry which contributes a new way of thinking about language education. What distinguishes it from research is that it both starts and finishes in the classroom. It’s an ongoing process: a journey of reflection, action, revision and review of practice within a community of inquiry. What distinguishes it from routine pedagogic activity is threefold, it:
- Explores a question arising from the act of teaching
- Is conducted in a systematic way
- Takes the form of an output that can be shared with fellow practitioners in order to allow for critical engagement and further development
The nature of language education means a level of collaboration that extends beyond the practitioner’s classroom. Team-taught courses are the norm, with carefully developed processes of standardisation to ensure consistency and parity across groups in a course. This notion of standardisation carries across courses as well, with shared notions of language development, be that in terms of proficiency or competency.
ARTICLES
Scholarship articles follow the expectations for research in language education in terms of methodology, but differ in that the motivation (and therefore, the research question) is explicitly and directly about teaching and/or learning. This leads to rich discussion of implications for practice.
REFLECTIONS
Reflection and sharing are inherent to teaching practice. We can benefit from evaluation of a new teaching strategy or initiative, both in terms of what worked and what didn’t work. We can also be inspired by thought-provoking consideration of issues and or ideas about teaching practice, or about scholarship of teaching and learning.
REVIEWS
In addition to the traditional book review, practitioners have much to gain from well written reviews of new research and/or new theoretical claims. In addition, time and travel constraints mean that useful reviews of conferences allow for wider sharing among practitioners. Similarly, reviews of teaching resources will help us keep on top of the many new teaching tools and resources that enhance our teaching.
PLUG AND PLAY
This is the place is for innovative or impactful digital classroom materials that are ‘plug and play’ in the sense that language teachers can use them as-is in the context of their classes. Given the volume of text/print-based materials already available, only multimodal and/or interactive learning objects are included.
