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The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the meanings of the current national curriculum reform in China changed in its transmission from the outside authoritative mandate to the local school practice through a case study of a lesson study on a reform practice called the “thematic teaching” in the Chinese language course.

By a longitudinal study of the case for more than two months in a primary school in Beijing, China, the authors of this paper followed all the steps of the lesson study cycle conducted by all the Chinese language teachers in the school. Observations, interviews and document analysis were employed to capture the teachers’ thoughts, actions and especially group interactions in trying to understand and implement this new reform practice.

The study found that due to the marked differences between the professional reform discourse and the teachers’ native discourse, the meanings of the reform tended to look alien to school teachers. In order to make meanings out of the reform, the teachers in this lesson study resorted to their own native discourse to understand the reform. Such strategies as “de-contextualization” and “re-contextualization” were found in the teachers’ joint efforts to reconstruct and reenact the reform.

This research points to the importance of school teachers’ own belief system in teaching as revealed by their native discourse. Only by finding an adequate link between the outside reform discourse and the teachers’ native discourse, can the national curriculum reform truly take hold in the school.

The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, the authors set out to advance the thesis that lesson study should be considered as the signature pedagogy of teachers. Second, the authors want to argue that combining the core attributes of Chinese lesson study and Learning study will improve the practice of lesson study. Third, the authors attempt to demonstrate how teachers discover necessary aspects of the object of learning (here called “keys to learning”) through their engagement in Learning studies.

The paper conducted a contrastive analysis of two varieties of lesson studies: the Chinese lesson study and the Learning study.

Lesson studies form a field of varieties, but the commonality among them (i.e. the focus on the lesson) makes the lesson study a strong candidate for being “the signature pedagogy” of teachers. The most important attribute of the Chinese lesson study is its close connection to the daily work of teachers through its embeddedness in teacher research group (arguably the core organisational principle of the Chinese educational system). The most important attribute of the Learning study is its theoretical grounding which helps teachers create an environment for the students to discern and appropriate necessary aspects of the object of learning.

Different varieties may be enriched by including the two core attributes found in the Chinese lesson study and the Learning study.

Two empirical studies are used to exemplify how teacher might discover previously unknown necessary aspects of the object of learning (here called “keys to leaning”).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural roots of Chinese lesson study (LS) so as to account for its persistence in the Chinese education history as well as its importance in Chinese teacher professional development and student learning.

The overarching research question is: “How can Chinese lesson study be theorized from a cultural perspective?” The sub-questions include: “What cultural features do Chinese teachers demonstrate in their LS activities? How can traditional Chinese cultural resources be utilized in explaining the existence and development of these features?” Based on a close reading of firsthand classic texts on Chinese cultural thoughts and related literature, the researchers collected data from Chinese teachers’ LS activities, stimulated recall interviews and focus groups, and related documents. An analysis is conducted with interplay among the theoretical framework, the data, and the researchers’ personal insights.

The findings of the study include three aspects. First, in terms of their actions, the Chinese teachers enact their understanding of teaching in public lessons through unity of knowing and doing (知行合一) more than conceptual explication. Second, with regard to their thinking, the Chinese teachers use practical reasoning (实践推理) in deliberate practice of repeated teaching through group inquiry and reflection. Third, a tendency of emulating those better than oneself (见贤思齐) is evident in novice teachers’ learning from “good” examples by expert teachers.

The revelation of these cultural features can not only contribute to a deeper understanding about the persistence and importance of LS in the Chinese education history, but also provide an example of analyzing LS from a cultural perspective to the world LS community.

Although CLS has been implemented in China for over a century, it is barely known to educators internationally. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the salient characteristics of Chinese lesson study (CLS), introduce the major themes of this special issue, and invite dialogues about the theories and practices of CLS.

The authors of this editorial paper conducted an extensive literature review on CLS, analyzed the contents and methods of the existing research categorically, compared CLS with other models of LS globally, and present this special issue articles and their major contributions thematically. The theoretical framework of the paper relies mainly on cultural theories and theories on research paradigms such as improvement science, which explain why and how CLS functions in Chinese education system over time.

Existing studies suggest that CLS is a deliberate practice for developing instructional expertise, a research methodology for linking research and practice, and an improvement science for instruction and school improvement system wide. In addition to the theorization of CLS, this special issue also introduces some adaptations of CLS outside of China such as the USA and Italy.

This paper, for the first time, spells out some salient features of CLS, and discusses issues in adapting CLS in other parts of the world. It will enrich the understanding of LS theories and practices in China and promotes trans-cultural development of LS internationally.

This paper investigates the effectiveness of metacognitive teaching methods on students' reading comprehension through a lesson study case conducted in Shanghai.

This study adopts an experimental design with control groups and experimental groups. Plan–do–check–act (PDCA) cycles of lesson study were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of modeling, self-questioning, think aloud and KWL strategy in Chinese language lessons. Metacognitive teaching strategies were implemented at a junior high school in Shanghai. The data was collected via lesson observation, interviews and pre- and posttests.

Results identified a significant difference between the incremental scores of students' reading comprehension in the experimental group and control group. The findings from the lesson observation showed that metacognitive teaching strategies in Chinese language developed students' reading comprehension. Moreover, PDCA cycles of lesson study helped the teachers improve metacognitive teaching strategies.

Few studies have been conducted to validate metacognitive teaching through lesson study in the context of China schools, and this study contributes to a new research dimension of lesson study on developing pedagogical practices to improve student learning outcomes.

This study aimed to examine the influence of four factors (intellectual, instrumental, self-actualizing and CPD cultural factors) on teachers' engagement in continuing professional development (CPD), specifically in the context of three lesson study activities: teaching research team activity, teaching research group activity and research lesson study activity in Chinese school settings.

A mixed-methods design was employed to examine the perceived effects of these factors on the engagement levels of 33 primary school teachers who participated in lesson study activities. The research used a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews as data collection instruments.

The results indicated that participants demonstrated higher levels of engagement in research lesson study and teaching research group, whereas their engagement in teaching research team was comparatively lower. Intellectual and CPD cultural factors emerged as the strongest predictors of engagement in all the activities. Self-actualizing factors highly influenced teachers' engagement in research lesson study. Instrumental factors mainly affected novice teachers and some mentors in the teaching research group, but not others.

This study addresses a gap in the existing literature by investigating factors influencing teachers' engagement in lesson study professional development. The observed variation in teachers' engagement behaviors and attitudes provides policy makers and school leaders with a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms and effects of these engagement factors on teachers' professional development.

This study aimed to explore how a group of Chinese primary mathematics teachers learned through conducting an online cross-cultural lesson study between China and Australia.

An expansive learning theory was adopted to examine teachers' learning through collective activities across different activity systems. Multiple data sets including videos of research lessons, debriefings and audios of interviews were collected. From the expansive learning perspective, based on a fine-grained qualitative data analysis, various contradictions (as driving forces of learning) were identified and the ways of resolving the contradictions (as enactment of learning) were located to feature teacher learning throughout the online lesson study process.

Teachers' expansive learning includes enhancing teachers' MKT and Mathematics TPACK, developing instructional design skills and capabilities in addressing challenges occurring in the virtual environment were identified.

Theoretically, the study illustrated how expansive learning theory could be utilized to examine teacher collaborative learning in the online cross-cultural lesson study. Practically, this study showed that reiterative cycles and experts' facilitation are crucial to expansive learning for linking research to classroom practice. However, this study did not focus on student learning in the virtual environment. Australian teachers' reciprocal learning through the online lesson study also requires further exploration.

Both online lesson study and cross-cultural collaboration are innovative. The expansive learning lens are creatively used to examine the complexity of teacher learning in such a novel environment.

This study aims to explore how a Chinese lesson study (LS) supports a teacher's learning of transforming curriculum reform ideas into classroom practices.

Data analyzed in this study included lesson plans, three videotaped research lessons, three audio-taped group meetings, interviews, the teacher's reflection journals and other related materials. Clarke and Hollingsworth's interconnected model of professional growth (IMPG) was adopted as the theoretical and analytical framework for examining the teacher's learning process.

This study found that teachers can deepen their understanding of innovative curriculum ideas and implement them through an iterative cycle of planning, enactment and reflection in LS. Involving knowledgeable others in the process and reflecting on evidence-based evaluation of students' learning outcomes is crucial for changing the teacher's knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and teaching practices. Theoretical tools, such as learning trajectory, are useful for transforming curriculum reform ideas that teachers find abstract and overly broad into concrete and actionable lesson designs.

Theoretically, this study can broaden our knowledge about how the under-studied mechanism of Chinese LS can contribute to helping teachers to transform reform ideas into classroom practices. Practically, this study provides suggestions for researchers and educators to reflect on and improve the effectiveness of teachers' professional development programs in a reform context.

The purpose of this paper is to describe two kinds of crucial incidents analysis that Chinese teachers employ during traditional Chinese Teaching Research Group (TRG) activities to analyze their lessons.

Chinese educators have engaged for several decades in Teaching Research Group (TRG) activities. The paper describes the methods they use.

The methods employed by teachers were: first, quaternary analysis of a lesson's key point, difficult point, and critical point; and second, part‐to‐whole analysis (experienced teachers' ways of discussing a lesson).

The authors hope that recognition of these two kinds of teaching analysis can help teachers to better understand the essence of traditional TRG activities, and to employ them more consciously during their lesson study activities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine practicing mathematics teachers’ learning through parallel lesson study in China. Lesson study in China has been practiced for decades. Parallel lesson is an enriched mode of lesson study to address the implementation of new curriculum.

The expansive learning perspective has been used to explore the ways practicing teachers learned to improve teaching through the transformation of learning objects and boundary crossing.

Two cases are illustrated and compared to highlight features of teachers’ learning through parallel lesson study. The practicing teachers developed their competence in transforming instructional objectives and task selection and implementation. In addition, they also developed professional vision in alignment with the reform-oriented curriculum.

This study makes significant contribution to understanding teachers’ learning through lesson study in China. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates how the theory of expansive learning could be used as a conceptual framework to examine teachers’ learning through lesson study.