Exploring an EAP writing teacher's adaptive expertise and adaptive teaching practices from a CDST perspective

Abstract

Teachers' adaptive expertise (TAE) has received increasing attention in the current English as foreign language (EFL) teaching field, however, it has seldom been examined with adaptive practices by teachers in on-going classes among existing literature. Adopting a mixed-method design with data triangulation, this study was conducted to explore the complexity of teachers' adaptive expertise (TAE) and adaptive teaching practices that an EAP writing teacher demonstrated in academic writing courses, from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) perspective. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and questionnaires were arranged to collect qualitative and quantitative data from an EAP writing teacher and 43 EFL learners in a Chinese university. Thematic analysis and SPSS were mainly used in the current work for data analysis. Our findings confirmed (1) the complexity of TAE and ATP with specific features of non-linearity, interconnectedness, and self-organization, which are classic CDST characteristics; (2) the TAE evolved with meta-cognitive, cognitive, affective and social components that are intertwined and contributed to the teacher's adaptive teaching practices (ATP) in her academic writing course; (3) being facilitated by TAE, the teacher's adaptive teaching practices significantly enhanced EFL learners, learning motivation of academic writing and their learning efficiency. Findings of the current work pave the way for future studies in researching TAE and ATP with a thorough consideration of language teachers, students and contexts from the CDST perspective. Moreover, pedagogical contributions are highlighted through the detailed examinations of the EAP writing teacher's ATP, including the class design, teaching plans, and methods, which would be fruitful for the development of tertiary EAP writing research.

Pre-service early childhood teachers’ perceptions of their playfulness and inquisitiveness

“…That is to say, routine and adaptive expertise has similar, but not the same, basic components, and they differ in their knowledge representation with the organization and abstraction of knowledge (Bohle Carbonell et al, 2014). Adaptive experts can flexibly use different types of knowledge, as well as cognitive, metacognitive, social and emotional strategies in their daily practices (Xiang et al, 2022).…”

“…As the social interactions that occur in daily life at ECE centres are complex, uncertain and ambiguous, teachers' adaptive expertise is characterized by non-linearity, interconnectedness and selforganization (Xiang et al, 2022). Adaptiveness can also be seen as an individual's ability to adjust one's reactions in response to environmental changes (Bohle Carbonell et al, 2014) and to use adequate strategies, including playfulness, to solve problems and relieve tensions (Siklander and Impiö, 2019).…”

Pre-service early childhood teachers’ perceptions of their playfulness

“…Based on their literature review results, Bohle Carbonell and colleagues (2014) suggested that both adaptive and routine expertise share the same extent of domain knowledge and skills but differ in their knowledge organization and abstraction. Adaptive experts can flexibly use different types of knowledge, as well as cognitive, metacognitive, social and emotional strategies in their daily practices (Xiang et al, 2022).…”

“…As the social interactions that occur in daily life at ECE centres are complex, uncertain and ambiguous, teachers' adaptive expertise is characterized by non-linearity, interconnectedness and self-organization (Xiang et al, 2022). Adaptiveness can also be seen as an individual's ability to adjust one's reactions in response to environmental changes (Bohle Carbonell et al, 2014) and to use adequate strategies, including playfulness, to solve problems and relieve tensions (Siklander and Impiö, 2019).…”