ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book argues in favor of reconceptualizing the relation between theory/research and L2 educational practice, maintaining that practitioners must not be mere consumers of research and nor should they be left to derive their own practices solely on the basis of intuition and experience. The theorypractice dialectic demanded by a Vygotskian perspective understands practice as the ultimate test of theory, and in this sense the L2 classroom becomes the site not simply for the application of theory but for its requisite elaboration and development. A praxis orientation, in contrast, is contingent upon teachers theoretical classroom activitythat is, their use of theoretical principles to orient classroom practicesand this, of course, is only possible if teachers have a well-developed theoretical understanding of their content and of learner development.
