{"id":686,"date":"2026-02-20T03:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobs.qalamscholar.com\/?p=686"},"modified":"2026-02-20T03:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:05:11","slug":"guest-post-bridging-the-gap-using-the-digpa-framework-to-connect-teaching-practice-and-the-science-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobs.qalamscholar.com\/?p=686","title":{"rendered":"GUEST POST: Bridging the Gap: Using the DIGPA Framework to Connect Teaching Practice and the Science of Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[cover image by Pexels <\/a>on Pixabay<\/a>]<\/p>\n

by Joshua Kurzweil and Suzan Kobashigawa<\/em><\/p>\n

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Image provided by author<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josh Kurzweil began his teaching career in 1990. He has taught and trained in Japan, Spain, the Republic of Georgia, and the United States. He received his Master’s degree in teaching from the SIT Graduate Institute and also holds the Cambridge CELTA and DELTA. Josh has been a trainer with the Peace Corps and has designed teacher development programs for labor unions and higher ed. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em>Understanding Teaching Through Learning<\/em><\/a>, which was published by McGraw-Hill in 2006. His particular areas of interest include the Science of Learning, reflective practice, and learning design. In his free time, you can usually find Josh playing pool, studying foreign languages, or traveling.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Image provided by author<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Suzan Kobashigawa\u00a0is a teacher educator working with pre-service teachers in higher education. She teaches courses in intercultural communication, culturally responsive teaching, and learning theories, along with TESOL courses. Suzan has been in the field of English language teaching for over 30 years, and has taught in Japan, Mexico and the United States. Suzan holds a Ph.D. in Composition and TESOL, and an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.<\/em> \u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Tension Between Theory and Practice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In teacher education programs, a persistent tension exists between developing instructional techniques and understanding the theory behind them. Teacher candidates (TCs) may focus too much on either mastering classroom moves or absorbing research, without a clear path for integrating the two. This creates a gap between teaching skills and knowledge of how students learn.<\/p>\n

This article explores that gap and offers a way to bridge it through a reflective practice tradition that has evolved in English language teacher education. We begin by looking at Practice-Based Teacher Education (PBTE), which emphasizes core teaching practices, and then show how a structured reflection process\u2014DIGPA\u2014can connect these practices to findings from the Science of Learning (SL).<\/p>\n

Practice-Based Teacher Education (PBTE)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

PBTE, advanced by scholars such as Deborah Ball, Francesca Forzani, and Pam Grossman, aims to professionalize teaching by identifying \u201chigh-leverage practices\u201d essential for effective instruction. In PBTE, these practices are modeled (\u201crepresentation\u201d), analyzed (\u201cdecomposition\u201d), and rehearsed in scaffolded ways (\u201capproximation\u201d) so TCs can receive feedback and build skills (1)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Critics such as Ken Zeichner (2)<\/em> caution that too much focus on core practices risks reducing teachers to technicians who perform routines without understanding the principles behind them. PBTE leaders counter that decomposition should include not only steps of a practice but also the decision-making and learning theories that guide it (3)<\/em>. Still, many programs struggle to explicitly connect classroom routines with findings from the SL, which spans a century of research on what helps and hinders learning (4).<\/em><\/p>\n

Efforts to Connect Teachers to Research<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In recent years, books, podcasts, videos, and websites\u2014including the Learning Scientists\u2014have made SL insights more accessible. Yet a gap persists: teacher education often doesn\u2019t help candidates explicitly link classroom techniques to research, and at the same time, teachers often learn theories in the abstract but struggle to implement them in practice.<\/p>\n

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Image by Tumisu <\/a>on Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Reflective Practice Tradition and DIGPA<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To address this gap, we draw on the reflective practice tradition grounded in the work of John Dewey and extended by programs such as the SIT Graduate Institute\u2019s MA in TESL. This approach emphasizes structured reflection as a meaning-making process that deepens teachers\u2019 understanding of how classroom practices shape learning.<\/p>\n

From this lineage, the SIT community developed DIGPA, a four-part reflection cycle that instructors use to guide their reflection, and adapted here to connect teacher practice with SL principles:<\/p>\n