A recurring theme in many of the papers in this collection is the role of context in teacher learning. Current views of teacher learning emphasize learning as situated social practice, which includes mediation, discourse, social interaction, and participation structures within specific teaching-learning contexts. The papers in this section survey different contexts for teacher learning – the course room, the school, distance learning, and technology-mediated learning.

In the first discussion (Chapter 20), Singh and Richards focus on the language teacher education course room as a learning context. Drawing broadly on sociocultural perspectives of Lave and Wenger and Vygotskian models of sociocognitive apprenticeship, it considers how to design the course room as a learning environment. It presents the case for the course room as a community of practice where teachers learn through engaging in activities and discourses, mediated through cultural artifacts. A community of practice is also shaped by larger systems of power, which are reproduced in the microcontext of the course room. Teacher learning is a site of struggle over activities, discourses, tools, and identity because of its situated nature within institutional, historical, and cultural contexts. A revised role for teacher educators in shaping an emerging course room culture is presented, acknowledging the realities of power and ideology that influence the daily practices in the course room.

Legutke and Schocker-v. Ditfurth, in Chapter 21, examine school-based experience as a learning context and argue that, since for many teachers the school is the setting for their professional lives, school experience should be a strong focus in designing SLTE programs. They propose three principles for designing a teacher-education program that gives the school experience a central role. One is to develop a research approach to learning, incorporating a multiperspective view of the second language classroom. The second is to employ experiential learning, developing action-oriented models for second language classrooms. The third involves experimental learning, developing context-related competencies through cooperation in cross-institutional projects. They give examples throughout to illustrate how these principles can be applied in SLTE programs.

Chaper 22, by Hall and Knox, examines distance learning as a context for teacher learning. Distance learning is defined as learning where there is no or little requirement for students to physically attend the institution providing the course.