| This intervention study investigates the trajectory of English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher learning through participation in Lesson Study (Lewis & Tsuchida, 1997; Fernandez, Cannon & Chokshi, 2003), an inquiry-based professional development activity. It focuses on how a group of EFL teachers' collaborative, teacher-directed exploration of a student learning issue promoted teacher learning. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) (Engestrom, 1987; 2001; Leont'ev, 1978; 1981) and Vygotskian sociocultural theory (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978; 1986) were the theoretical frameworks used to understand the interaction among the EFL teachers, their students and the administrators of the school, and trace the teachers' cognitive development. Developmental Work Research (DWR) methodology (Engestrom, 2007) facilitated the creation of innovative practices that encouraged social transformation. In this study, three EFL teachers in a private language school in the Czech Republic participated in the fourteen-week project. The data consisted of transcripts of teacher and administrator interviews, teacher workshops, teacher journal entries, meetings with the school's administrators, and the research lesson plan created by the teachers. The data were analyzed using a grounded content analysis (Bogdan and Bilken, 2007; Glaser and Strauss, 1967), and according to the principles of ethnographic semantics. The findings indicate that 1) school administrator involvement is necessary to effect school change; 2) outside experts might need to take a more active, longer-term role to help teachers adopt a critical perspective; 3) EFL teacher professionalization should include participation in professional development activities; 4) Lesson Study is a viable 'second stimulus' (Vygotsky & Luria, 1994) in DWR methodology that has the potential to provide teachers with an effective conceptual tool to mediate their learning and bring about expansive transformation; and 5) sociocultural theory provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how teachers learn through participation in Lesson Study. |
