An activity theory analysis of three instructors' knowledge about teaching writing in a pre-university English-for-Academic-Purposes course: Teacher mind as mediated action

I examined three experienced teachers' instructional practices, knowledge and beliefs about English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing instruction in the same pre-university academic preparation course. The research shows how each teacher's explicit knowledge about writing instruction was mediated or shaped by her participation in various personal and professional activities that were the sources of her teacher's knowledge (Cole, 1999; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Wertsch, 1991, 1998).;Sample instructional routines taught by each instructor were also analyzed according to activity theory. These analyses show how each instructor uniquely acted as an agent of her teacher's knowledge about EAP writing instruction while fulfilling the goals of the same EAP curriculum (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Wertsch, 1991). I compared and contrasted each teacher's self-explained principles of practice which guided her instruction to locate her teacher knowledge in her personal and professional activities, as well as in the teachers' joint collaboration in developing the EAP course.;These activity theory analyses of teachers' practice and knowledge link theory and practice by focusing on teachers' knowledge in the context of teaching (Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Johnson, 2006). What teachers know is linked to what teachers do through the examination of each teacher's knowledge in action in her classroom in relation to her self-explained principles of practice. Teacher knowledge is thus shown to be action mediated by the conceptual resources of teachers' knowledge and beliefs—that is, "teacher mind as mediated action" (Wertsch, 1991).;I retrospectively traced the development of each teacher's knowledge about EAP writing instruction, drawing on multiple sources of data. Using the analytical framework of activity theory, I identified each teacher's self-explained principles of practice as the conceptual resources which mediated between her actual teaching practices and her teacher knowledge. These principles of practice were traced to her personal and professional activities. I found that six activities or contexts were the sources of each teacher's knowledge (TASKs). These TASKs illustrate how each teacher's knowledge was socially constructed via her participation in her specific, personal and professional activities and the cultural resources therein.