In the past decade there has been a surge of interest in the study of language teacher cognition – what language teachers know, think and believe – and of its relationship to teachers’ classroom practices. Social Interaction and Teacher Cognition is the first book to use a discursive psychological perspective to examine teacher cognitions. Informed by conversation analysis (CA), the book offers a close examination of cognition-in-interaction in three distinctive aspects: learning to teach, novice and expert teachers’ cognition, and interactive decision making. The book views cognition as a socially constructed and contextual process, and treats interaction as a framework that deals with psychological matters in a public and visible way. It will be of particular relevance to those researching teacher cognition in EFL contexts and will appeal to anyone interested in the study of classroom interaction.

This is an original study of language teacher cognition that adopts a new perspective for investigating the link between teacher thinking and practice. Li Li uses discursive psychology to produce rich analyses of language learner and teacher classroom discourse. A must read for anyone involved in second language education. -- Michael Evans, University of Cambridge

Li Li is Senior Lecturer in Language Education and Director of MEd in TESOL at the University of Exeter. Li, Li (PhD, MPhil, PCAP, BA)