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The perennial challenge of reading fluency, notably profound among Asian EFL learners, stems largely from linguistic disparities, conventional teaching paradigms, and ingrained cognitive practices. This study critically investigates the challenges Chinese undergraduates face with English reading fluency, notably due to linguistic disparities and historically rooted teaching methodologies. Leveraging the Read-Aloud Instructional Strategy (RAIS), this quasi-experimental study sampled 73 students from a private university in Thailand. Baseline assessments depicted similar fluency levels across groups. Post-intervention, the instructor-centered approach demonstrated profound efficacy, with the mean fluency score soaring to 4.35, compared to the student-centered mean of 2.69 and the near-static comparison group at 2.04. Additionally, confidence metrics evinced a remarkable ascent to 3.46 for the instructor-led group, a notable rise to 2.19 for the student-centered cohort, juxtaposed against the comparison group's minimal shift to 1.71. Furthermore, the instructor-centered method substantially ameliorated reading anxiety (d=1.378) and showcased stronger, albeit weak to moderate, post-intervention correlations between fluency, confidence, and anxiety. This comprehensive study underscores the transformative potential of RAIS, particularly the instructor-centered paradigm, in concurrently augmenting reading fluency, confidence, and reducing anxiety among Chinese EFL undergraduates. The implications herein suggest the exigency of reassessing prevalent pedagogical methodologies in Asian EFL environments.

This article presents an ethnographic case study of pre-service teachers' transformative learning in a Culture-Writing course at a Chinese university. In recounting three stories with fieldwork data gleaned from moments of students' pre-class discussions, reflective writings, and reports on term-paper projects, this study showcases how a group of student-teachers transformed "the self" through getting to know and/or re-understanding "other(s)." Learning to 'write culture', as their teacher led them to see, is to appreciate the lifeworlds of others and further to destabilise taken-for-granted assumptions, beliefs, and understandings, thereby leading towards transformation. I argue that transformative learning takes place in the process of knowing and rebuilding the self in relationships with other(s). It constitutes moments of critical shift that place the self and identity in a more reflexive, relational, and reversible position within specific socio-cultural contexts. This study contributes to the ongoing discussions on transformative education by illuminating how other(s) play a role in promoting pre-service teachers' transformation in a classroom-based course.

The purpose of this study was to address the impact of international collaboration on education for sustainable development in the context of early childhood education in rural China. Government stakeholders in three Chinese provinces participated in a 14-day program in Bergen, Norway, focusing on early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). The overarching questions were how the participants experienced the transformative learning in a study-abroad program, how they perceived their experiences affected their "glocal" awareness of ECEfS, and how they reflected upon their experiences to form new glocal perspectives of ECEfS. The theoretical framework of the study was inspired by Mezirow's perspectives on transformative learning. In this study, 11 participants wrote narratives and reports about their experiences in Norway and were later interviewed about their understanding of ECEfS and the steps they were taking after the training period. We identified three E's: experiencing cultural shocks and "outsider" status, engaging critical reflections upon ECEfS, and envisioning commitment to future action, with five key components of transformative learning--a disorienting scenario, emotional response, critical reflection, perspective change, and commitment to future action within the ECEfS. Implications for intercultural experiences as catalysts to trigger transformative learning, and for building a dialogic relationship and hybrid organizations as agents of positive social change, and recommendations are included in the final section of this paper.

This paper examines Chinese (n = 11) and Spanish (n = 11) student teachers' learning-to-teach experiences during the teaching practicum or placement period through the lenses of transformative learning theory and third space construct. We traced student teachers' transformative learning experiences through observation, interviews, reflective journaling, and metaphoric identity narratives. Five major themes emerged related to the participants' professional learning experiences: (1) the disorienting dilemmas, (2) reflections and explorations of assumptions, (3) gaining confidence in a new role, (4) behaviour changes, and (5) integration of new perspectives. Moreover, third space helped the participants negotiate a series of binaries undesirable in teacher education, such as episteme and phronesis, stability, and evolution of their professional identities. This paper contributes to a fine-grained account of Chinese and Spanish student teachers' professional learning experiences in different sociocultural contexts. Implications for fostering Eastern-Western dialogues on teachers' transformative learning experiences and creating third space (hybridity and boundary-crossing) in teacher education are discussed.

This study utilizes the personal critical narrative of myself, a woman from the Chaoshan region in China, as the primary data source to explore the impact of traditional gender roles and patriarchal values on women's personal growth transformation through a feminist lens. Integrating feminist and transformative learning theory, it encompasses my journey, including growing up with traditional patriarchal norms and thinking; being shaped by traditional gender bias without critical thinking; struggles from valuing males over females; and becoming a feminist-informed and transformative adult education scholar. This study emphasizes the significance of integrating feminist and transformative learning theories into personal narratives and gender issues in adult education. Through dialogic connections, it may inspire self-transformation in readers, potentially evolving into informed adult learners and feminist practitioners. This understanding can improve culturally sensitive adult education, fostering inclusivity, empowerment, and enhancing Western researchers' comprehension of societal norms' influence on personal transformation in diverse contexts.

This study employs ethnographic inquiry to present the lived experiences of Chinese international students while attending the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. The findings display the transformative experiences of this group, including language acquisition, academic and social challenges, and the strategies by which the cultural group attempts to overcome the challenges with gender comparison. This study highlights specific challenges affecting Chinese female students as they labor to overcome sexism and patriarchy on two continents. Cultural stereotyping and negative labeling are also evaluated in detail. Arguably, the findings might impact educational and social policies and university protocols for accommodating vulnerable groups. Recommendations are made to alleviate difficulties for Chinese international students by facilitating a more supportive learning process within the university environment.

This paper reports on how varied study abroad experiences transformed understanding of difference of student-teachers from two universities. Data were collected through a qualitative questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with 14 Chinese and Scottish student-teachers who presented what they had experienced and how they had made sense of difference. Drawing on transformative learning, this study reveals that opportunities to experience difference and resultant emotional struggles can develop student-teachers' emotional maturity and readiness for change. It also highlights that critical reflection on challenges in their preconceptions about the self and others is essential to transform their preconceived views and develop their openness to difference. To maximise the transformative potential of study abroad programmes, we argue that student-teachers must be provided with a discourse that disrupts their taken-for-granted views and learning opportunities that have a critical orientation.

Cross-border academic visits by university faculty members are becoming prevalent globally. Unlike previous research, which has focused on the cross-cultural adaptation arising from the cross-border movement of people, we view scholars' visiting experiences as a learning opportunity in light of Mezirow's transformative learning theory (TLT). We employ Addleman et al.'s three-stage proposal to better understand the transformative learning process of Chinese visiting scholars. Drawing on Hoggan's typology, we identify changes in scholars' worldviews, selves, and behavior as outcomes of transformative learning. We conclude that international experience is beneficial for scholars and call for more study abroad opportunities for Chinese university faculty.

Purpose: This study aims to assess the socio-cognitive transformation and subject knowledge development of international students studying in China's universities with diverse learning environment. Design/methodology/approach: The data was collected through on-line survey and quantitative approach was adopted on a Likert scale to assess students' cognitive and social development as a responsible mind-set, ethical awareness, understanding cultural diversity and subject knowledge development. The assessment scale consisted of 25 statements to cover the foundational indicators that represent socio-cognitive transformation. The questionnaire was pilot tested for internal consistency by calculating Cronbach's alpha. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis was applied to ensure the traits of the construct intended to measure. A total of 316 participants responded to the survey. With descriptive statistics, X[superscript 2] of association and Friedman's two-way analysis of variance by rank was applied to test the hypothesis. Findings: This study argues that diverse learning environment has positive impact on learners' socio-cognitive transformation. It enhances students' capability to understand cultural values to accept diversity and awareness about global community issues and also subject knowledge skill development. Originality/value: In the current century, study abroad programs have increased the mobility of international students, and the role of higher education institutions has become immense, multifaceted and dynamic. Universities are taking a position to play a considerable role in creating learning opportunities for awareness of societal issues and transform social behavior. Studying abroad programs is a growing concept in response to learners' cogitative and socialized transformation. There is an absence of research conducted to explore the impact of a diverse cultural environment on the socio-cognitive transformation of international students. Therefore, the current study focused on exploring the cognitive and societal development of international students studying in China.

Metaphors are powerful windows to gain insight into EFL teachers' professional identity constructions. This study examined 33 Chinese EFL student teachers' (STs) self-generated metaphors about teaching before and after their student teaching. Before their teaching practicum experience, they were: (a) optimistic, but had naïve perceptions about their roles, (b) worried about their inadequacy to teach professionally, and (c) anxious about their relationship with cooperating teachers. Post-practicum, we noted (a) increased transformative perceptions about their role, (b) professional knowledge growth, (c) the participants explicated a broad array of challenges of building good student relationships, and (d) the placement-school contexts exert a significant influence on their identity formation. Implications for facilitating EFL student teachers' professional identity (trans)formations during the field experiences are discussed.

This paper proposes using video-supported reflection to facilitate EFL students' reflective practice of oral presentations. Based on reflective learning theory, four teaching stages are designed and used in an intensive oral presentation training project: creating reflection scenarios, providing reflection scaffolds, guiding collaborative reflection, and summarizing learning gains. Data are collected through students' reflective journals and focus group interviews. Findings indicate that the project has a positive impact on students' reflective abilities and their perceived learning gains. Problems encountered by the students are identified and discussed in light of research and practice on how to support and enhance reflective learning.

Despite widespread discourse subordinating the female PhD as a third gender in the Chinese media, little is known about how this cohort conceptualises themselves, especially in an international context. Based on a qualitative investigation into 10 Chinese female doctoral students in Australia, this study examines their enactment of agency in international academic mobility. Drawing on the notions of "agency in mobility" and in-betweenness, this article shows that Chinese female PhD students demonstrate three forms of agency. Their agency influences how they judge, utilise, produce and imagine relations, symbols and activities in the in-between space, which in turn gives shape to their enactment of agency. This study challenges the validity of the idea that the Chinese female PhD is a sexless third gender and illuminates the dynamic reciprocity between agency and the in-betweenness in shaping their transformative doctoral student identity.

Some authors argue that access to elite universities can bring about a 'habitus transformation' for working-class students, however in this paper, based on a three-year life history study, it is suggested that the transformative effects of the elite university experience come about in relation to and constrained by the working-class habitus. Working-class students tend to choose the strategy of 'compartmentalising' to manage their experience of university -- engaging primarily academically and sideling the social aspects of university life. This paper offers a very complex account of such compartmentalising, in which the lack of appropriate capitals, emotional injuries, habitual dispositions and the application of instrumental rationality are fused together to make up the university experience for working-class students. The analysis demonstrates the 'conspiracy' of reflexivity. Reflexivity does not necessarily bring changes in and challenges to an existing "habitus"; rather reflexivity conspires with and tends to reinforce it. This demonstrates the continuing role of habitus in maintaining class domination in elite settings and raises questions about the effects and effectiveness of the widening participation agenda in HE.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between global experience and global competency from a transformative learning theory perspective. China society is becoming more and more linguistically and culturally diverse in a global context. Moreover, Chinese students should be knowledgeable about the international issues to successfully communicate with others in a global world. Hence, in this study, causal inference analysis was used to identify the relations between global experience and global competency methodologically. Cross-cultural experience is essential to enhance students' global competency. Therefore, investigating the relationship between global experience and global competency is significant to develop pedagogical assessments. This study found that the global experience is associated with global competence. Therefore, providing sufficient intercultural opportunities and sustainable funding supports are fundamental for HEIs to improve global competency in contemporary Chinese higher education system.

Performing arts teachers, in diverse regions of the world, recognise that globalisation has indelibly influenced how the arts are valued, practiced and taught (Rowe, Martin, Buck, et al., 2018). As illustrated by three key United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) policies on arts and culture in the 21st century (UNESCO, 2003, 2006, 2011), global mandates can present contrasting imperatives, prompting shifts within regional, national and institutional strategies. So how do tertiary arts educators respond to shifts in global policies? After a brief historical analysis of three UNESCO strategic documents associated with arts education, this article considers how the contrasts within these strategies have presented challenging learning moments for arts educationalists. 'Threshold concept' theory is presented as a means of framing such learning challenges, to highlight the professional development needs of designers of tertiary curricula. Critically reflecting on the author's experiences of codesigning tertiary degree programmes in New Zealand, China and Fiji, this article identifies key conceptual thresholds that can challenge tertiary educators when seeking to align institutional teaching practices with contemporary global policies on arts education.

This paper examines how Chinese (n = 11) and Spanish (n = 11) preservice teachers reflect on their learning-to-teach experiences during the teaching practicum period through the lenses of transformative learning theory and third space conceptualisation. Specifically, the authors adopted the five-stage transformative learning model and collected reflective journals from the participants. Framed by this model, the authors traced the Chinese and Spanish preservice teachers' transformative professional learning experiences evidenced by (1) disorienting dilemma, (2) reflection and exploration of assumptions, (3) gaining confidence in a new role, (4) behaviour changes, and (5) integration of new perspectives. Implications for fostering a third space, namely hybridity and boundary-crossing between university and schools, during teaching practicum are discussed in this paper.

This paper has two purposes. First, to explore ways in which a western-centric in-service teacher education programme has transformed the teaching of 14 teacher participants who hitherto used a more Chinese-centric approach to teaching. Second, to investigate if any changes that have occurred have diffused beyond the teacher participants' classrooms and if so, to whom and to where. The teacher participants belonged to one of four cohorts of teachers who, between 2014-2019, enrolled onto a UK accredited, level seven, Post Graduate Certificate (International) Education (PGCIE), blended learning programme. All used English as the medium of instruction to teach English, Accounts or Business subjects to Chinese students, aged 18-23. Underpinned by principles of pedagogical gains through reflective practice, the programme's aim was to develop teacher participants' practice, with an emphasis on student-led approaches to teaching and learning. Tenets of two theoretical frameworks (transformational learning and diffusion of innovations) furnished a lens to view the data. Data were gathered from interviews with teacher participants and managers. Available and relevant statistical data were also used. The paper presents evidence of how transformational learning leads to improved teacher effectiveness and how changes in practice can become diffused beyond the classroom and to others.

This article illustrates the author's transnational learning experiences in a China-Australia 2 + 2 articulation programme. Transnational articulation programme is being actively adopted by many Chinese universities to enhance the diversity of educational structures as a response to the growing trend of internationalisation of higher education. Although many existing studies have investigated the topic of transnational education, few have revealed students' learning experiences via a reflexive narrative approach. To add insights to this under-researched field, the author examined his learning journey in a 2 + 2 programme based on the intercultural adjustment model of 'stress-adaptation-development' and the concept of 'in-between' space. The narrative indicated that his senses of identity, agency, and belonging underwent constant change in the 2 + 2 learning process, which shaped his sense of in-betweenness. The exploration of such learning experiences could contribute to the literature on intercultural adjustment and transnational higher education from a student perspective.

This article seeks to clarify the purpose of high-stakes exam and its relationship with teaching and learning by elucidating the educational thought of the eminent neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi. The paper contends that Zhu Xi views standardised testing as an essential means to evaluate the learning outcomes, honour exemplary scholars and select suitable persons for official positions. But he rejects exam-centred teaching and learning that promote rote-memorisation and neglect self-cultivation and self-transformation. The paper further delineates Zhu Xi's broad-based and integrated educational programme that is aimed at learning for the sake of one's self through experiential learning, personal inquiry and mindful reading. The essay concludes by highlighting the contemporary implications of Zhu Xi's ideas: they inform the ongoing debates on the usefulness and impacts of high-stakes exam by situating standardised testing within a larger educational agenda that is geared towards self-improvement and personal transformation.

In the current global push to examine the diverse and complex approach in which classroom culture contributes to the shaping of students' learning cultural identity. Classroom culture plays a fundamental role in constructing students' learning competencies, perceptions and behaviors. Thus, this study conceptualizes and contextualizes a collective individualism learning model to explicate a specific learning model in classroom culture at Chinese particular context historically and traditionally. The collective individualism model is identified as the individualized learning style of students in Chinese classroom culture characterized by nine symbolic objects, including a textbook, an exercise book, a pen, a blackboard, a screen, a computer, a table, a chair and platform in a Chinese collective class. In addition, two core components of formal collectivism and substantive individualism derived from constructive learning theory, social learning theory, Mezirow's transformative learning theory and Kolb's experiential learning theory. The implications for examining the collective individualism model of Chinese classroom culture are likewise linked to innovative talent cultivation and fulfillment of 'Four Good Teachers' goal. Both the discussion and conclusion led to the construction of promising classroom culture at Chinese context practically.

Teacher professional development (TPD) is regarded as crucial to fostering teacher improvement. Recent calls for the internationalization of teacher education and professional development, including teachers undertaking courses taught abroad, have enhanced the scope of TPD opportunities. Yet, little is currently known about how such international experiences of TPD shape the perspectives of these teachers. It is also unclear how the learning these teachers experience in foreign settings is reflected in their engagement in the practices and activities of schools and classrooms upon returning to their home country. Therefore, this paper reports the results of a study that explores the perspectives and experiences of one group of in-service mainland Chinese teachers who undertook professional development in Hong Kong. Grounded in a theory of teacher identity construction and using in-depth interviews, results suggest that the teacher's identities were shaped by the learning they experienced during professional development. However, following their return to teaching positions in mainland China, relations of power within their schools blocked the construction of their preferred teacher identities in practice. Suggestions are made for supporting the identity construction aims of teachers who undertake international professional development and implications for future research are considered.

Internationalization of higher education to include international, intercultural, or global components into the delivery of postsecondary education has drawn increasing attention in the last two decades. A globally relevant course focusing on the "Social Contexts of Addiction" engaged students' online interaction at a Canadian university with learners from across various institutions in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong. Although "internationalization at home" (IaH) is one of the most prevalent themes in the internationalization literature, empirical evaluation of its merits along with the challenges of its implementation is still limited. In this article, the authors used student and faculty feedback to identify the design factors of this online IaH course that facilitated its success and transformative benefits. Discussion highlighted several follow-up strategic initiatives to broaden the adoption and conversations on internationalization in teaching, and the necessity of multilevel support and alignments among government, university, and faculty leadership to sustain internationalization efforts across the curriculum.

This study aimed to examine the effects of different service experiences on the social justice beliefs of 60 Chinese college students with mixed methods. The quantitative results indicated that the participants in two service groups (i.e. for at-risk adolescents and adolescents with cerebral palsy) demonstrated a more significant promotion of social justice beliefs than their peers in non-service group. A qualitative analysis provided evidence of the mechanism underlying service-learning, as well as different service experiences affecting on students' social justice beliefs. Finally, the implications for implementing service-learning and realizing social justice goals in China were discussed.

Teacher professional learning is shaped by multiple contexts in a complex way. Previous studies mainly focused on teacher learning in school-based contexts, and rarely explored how teachers learn across schools and in other situations. Adopting the framework of boundary crossing learning, this study examined the processes of teachers' professional learning when they participated in Master Teacher Studios in mainland China. Through the qualitative case study approach, this study summarised four learning mechanisms: seeking common ground and reserving differences, growing through formal and informal coordination, exposing the gap and reflecting one's limits, and transforming practices that incorporate one's teaching 'soul'. Further, intrapersonal, interpersonal and institutional factors that contribute to teacher learning as boundary crossing are discussed.

Despite a surge of research interest in pre-service teachers' identities over the past years, scant attention has been paid to the "process" of their identity construction during their teaching practicum. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, this study seeks to fill this gap by examining the identity construction experiences of four pre-service school counselling teachers who have just completed their teaching practicum in a university in China. Informed by possible selves theory and identity conflicts theory, the study shows that the participants' identity construction emerged from the interactions between their core identities and new forms of identities arising from their daily practice and social interactions in different school settings. While some participants' identities updated and expanded in a supportive work environment, some experienced identity conflicts and deficits with a reduced sense of commitment towards teaching in a constraining school context. However, facilitated by their self-agency and contextual affordance, some navigated their identity conflicts by developing a negotiated identity and/or enriching their ideal identities for their continuing practice and development. The study argues for an explicit focus on teacher identities in current teacher education programs to raise student teachers' identity awareness and facilitate their reflective learning and identity building.

The cultivation target of physical education major in normal universities is mainly physical teachers' qualification in basic education. Training of teaching-plan-telling on students of sports teaching major in normal universities has significant meaning to enhance the quality of students in a comprehensive way, realize the target of professional education and facilitate students of sports in normal universities to adapt to basic education as soon as possible after graduation. Through analysis in the essence of teaching-plan-telling and disadvantages that exist at present in physical internship among students who major in physical education teaching in normal universities, this article explained the role of introducing teaching-plan-telling in teaching of students of sports education in normal universities according to the requirement of research on classroom teaching under the background of new course. The research results indicated that teaching-plan-telling is a bridge for students of sports in normal universities to go towards practice, and can encourage them to learn carefully the educational theories, improve the quality of educational internship and shorten the time from a student of sports in a normal university to a qualified sports teacher. Teaching-plan-telling is an effective form to enhance the teaching capacity and teaching and research capacity of students of physical education in normal universities, so it ought to be regarded as an important content in professional teaching in physical education of normal universities.

Because most American teachers work with a diverse student population, they need to be interculturally competent to interact successfully with their students. One of the best hopes for developing cultural competence is through an international experience. As important as it is for teachers to have an international experience, it is even more important for them to reflect on their time abroad. Thus, for teachers, reflecting deeply on the concept of culture is a critical first step for taking action in the diverse classroom. Reflection is a process of turning experience into learning; a way to explore experience in order to learn new things from it. Narratives may be better vehicles for reflection than diaries or journals. Individuals can explain, understand, and account for experience through stories, which are constructed through the process of reflection on experience. By emphasizing certain aspects of the story, authors reveal what they perceive to be the elements of greatest importance. Digital storytelling integrates the art of the narrative with modern technology. The digital stories at all levels of reflection are more indicative of the impact of an international immersion experience on teachers' level of intercultural competence than the journals. In this article, the authors demonstrate how digital stories serve as reflection artifacts of teachers' international experience. (Contains 1 table.)

In this personal narrative, I offer reflections about the process of conducting a cross-cultural, cross-linguistic research project with teachers of English in China. Lessons learned from this study address some of the hegemonic perspectives and assumptions that can be dysconsciously held by native English-speakers, the value of crossing borders both literally and metaphorically to learn about others, and the reciprocal transformations that can occur when cultures and languages converge in research.

Doctoral education programs, being the cradle of the next-generation scientists and scholars, undertake the mission of transforming a talented student into a promising scholar. This transformation is featured by two simultaneous processes: academic professionalization and scholarly socialization. Institutional environment, academic advisors, and more importantly the interaction between these factors and individual students play the key roles in the transformation. Using data from a longitudinal survey of Cohort 2014 doctoral students in Tsinghua University, this study explores students' experience during the first year in a doctoral program--a crucial stage of the transformation, with a focus on their preparation for and initial adaption to the role of a scholar. Implications for doctoral students, academic advisors, and institutions are discussed based on the findings.

Many universities in different parts of the world are seeking to enhance the cultural diversity of their staff and student body and yet repeated studies have shown that good integration can be difficult to achieve. Although several studies have examined the reasons why such integration is difficult, there has been very little research into the actual process of social integration. This paper addresses this gap through a qualitative study of intercultural learning. Students were asked to focus on a behaviour that was personally or professionally important to them but that they were having difficulty adapting to. The paper reports the varying, unfolding experiences of six of these students as they faced the affective, behavioural and cognitive challenges of adjusting to different greeting patterns and the strategies they used for gradually overcoming them. Drawing on the literature and the findings, an intercultural growth model is proposed. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the findings for enhancing social integration at university.

University experts typically serve as knowledge sources for teacher learning. Experts in China are no exception. Nevertheless, minimal attention has been focused on knowledge flow between experts and teachers, and its contribution to teacher knowledge development. Drawing on the perspective of knowledge process across boundaries, this qualitative study investigates knowledge growth of primary school teachers involved in a small-scale school-university partnership in Northern China. In-depth interview was adapted as the main approach to collecting data. Nine participating teachers, two school administrators, and one university expert were interviewed. Findings show that expert-led knowledge transfer (knowledge-for-practice is directly delivered) and teacher-involved knowledge translation (knowledge-in-practice is reframed and situated) are the main focus of the partnership studied. However, collaboration-oriented knowledge transformation (altering existing knowledge and creating knowledge-of-practice) is insufficiently emphasised. Furthermore, this study discusses significant implications for advancing the transformation of knowledge and expert-teacher collaborative knowledge creation as well as for further study.

This paper takes up Bakhtin's dialogic perspective to explore the becoming of one Chinese international doctoral student's voices. We investigate how a single participant (from a wider study) assimilates the most transformative but "alien" voice of critical thinking in her supervision space by participating in dialogues with key speaking persons. When she assimilates this alien voice, the student also renovates her culturally enrooted and contradictory voice of respectful dependence. In this way, the student's voices develop and transform through a process of conflicts, struggles and reconciliations. This rich case study illustrates how a doctoral journey may be transformative cognitively and socio-culturally for the student as a speaking person--for her subjectivity. It also shows how this transformation is enabled not only by the supervisors' personal qualities but also through role modelling from peers: both kinds of relationships facilitate the student's assimilation of the most transformative voice in intercultural supervision.

This study explores how two language teachers constructed and reconstructed their professional identities through their action research (AR) facilitated by university researchers in China. Informed by the theory of 'community of practice', the findings of the study show that AR exerted a transformative impact on the teachers' identity development. Four distinctive routes of identity change were noted, namely their transformation from "fisherman" to "fishing coach", from "craftsman" to "teacher researcher", from "lonely fighter" to "collaborator", and from "housekeeper" to "change agent". Such change can be attributed to their engagement and practice in different communities of practice. However, the participants' identity development also encountered some contextual obstacles, including the rigid school curriculum, lack of research knowledge, as well as the power dynamics between them and the researchers. Several implications can be drawn for teachers, teacher educators, and school leaders to help teachers construct a solid and robust professional identity in seeking their continuing professional development through AR.