ABSTRACT
This chapter presents instructor individual characteristics, an important component within instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) research and pedagogy. It discusses the term that is used in reference to language instructors, as well as researchers and expert native or near-native speakers of the target language. The chapter aims to cohesively present the research domain of instructor individual characteristics and will continue to argue for the necessity of approaching the study of instructor individual characteristics systematically, much like early work on learner individual differences. Most studies conducted to date have focused on a single instructor individual characteristic in one-shot designs, often in English-language contexts, and have focused on that characteristic in relationship to instructor in-class cognitive processes and/or learning opportunities provided in the L2 classroom. The most researched instructor characteristics to date include native language, educational background and training, and years of teaching experience.
