Communities of practice as a source of professional development in advising for language learning

This chapter is concerned with the way that professional develop-ment is perceived and pursued by a group of learning advisors employed at a tertiary educational institution in Japan. It elaborates the

ways in which the emergence of a community of practice played an import-

ant role in workplace learning, both complementing and supplement ing

the learning advisors’ formal training and professional development

opportunities. It concludes by examining some ways in which these learn-

ing advisors’ experiences might be drawn on in order to promote better

work practices and ultimately improve the quality of education offered to

language learners.