Navigating Additional Language Pedagogical Innovation: An Ecological Perspective on a Novice Teacher’s TBLT Implementation in China

Abstract

Language teachers’ ability to be “change agents” (Van den Branden, 2016) and engage in pedagogical innovation is constrained by internal and external forces, including existing beliefs, institutionalized practices, and socio-political forces (Carless, 2013). This article offers an expanded framework to more comprehensively understand the many factors affecting teachers’ willingness and ability to innovate. I used a focal participant case study approach to explore a novice language teacher’s experience implementing Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), in China. Data were generated via a semi-structured interview and recursively coded inductively and deductively. Using a multi-level, nested ecological framework (Chong et al., 2022; Douglas Fir Group, 2016), I assert that teachers’ engagement in and with innovation is facilitated and constrained on micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. Teachers’ innovation potential is dependent on access to a network of “meaningful others” (Van den Branden, 2022), which, in the present study, included institutional stakeholders, expert mentors, and empirical research. I conclude that teachers’ decisions to pursue or abandon a particular educational innovation (e.g., TBLT) is based on a complex network of internal and external facilitators and constraints, and understanding these factors and their inter-relationships is critical for a comprehensive evaluation of the (successful or failed) implementation of educational innovation.