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Practitioner research is a flourishing area with a significant body of theoretical and empirical research, but often researchers remain isolated, unaware of impactful work by colleagues in related fields. Exploratory Practice (EP) is one innovative form, uniting creative pedagogy and research methods. The potential contributions have hitherto been neglected. EP's emphasis on puzzling and understanding is a means of demystifying occluded practices which place learners, teachers and researchers as co-investigators at the heart of the research-practice nexus. EP's radical positioning of learners as co-researchers, alongside teachers, teacher educators and others, means crossing boundaries – (re-)negotiating identities, in language learning/teaching/researching – thus raising epistemological challenges for the field. The contribution of this state-of-the-art article is to provide a meta-analysis of these themes and challenges, critically analysing the complexities involved as the paradigms of research, practice and practitioner research shift from research-as-practice towards practice-as-research.

This paper provides an innovative exploration of second language academic writing through the lens of Vivian Cook's theories, particularly his concept of multi-competence, giving examples and recommendations of how the theory may be applied in the classroom. Initially, the paper discusses Cook's redefinition of bilingualism and its cognitive impacts, setting the theoretical foundation. It then moves onto the application of these theories in English for Academic Purposes (EAP), highlighting how Cook's ideas can transform teaching strategies and address the linguistic challenges faced by second language learners. Subsequent sections analyse the role of cultural and linguistic backgrounds in shaping academic writing styles, illustrating Cook's influence on understanding the dynamic between learners' first and second languages. The paper progresses by examining specific methodological approaches that can illuminate Cook's theories, such as the use of keystroke logging to study writing processes in real-time. Finally, it assesses the critical role of collaborative work and peer feedback in EAP, advocating for a balanced approach to instructor and peer review as a linguistically informed foundation to enhance learning outcomes in academic writing. Keywords: multi-competence, second language writing, EAP, cultural issues, collaborative writing, evaluating writing, feedback

• Premise of the study: As currently circumscribed, Lastreopsis has about 45 species and occurs in Australia, southern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, and the neotropics. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies suggested that Lastreopsis is paraphyletic. Our study focuses on resolving relationships among the lastreopsid ferns (Lastreopsis, Megalastrum, and Rumohra), the evolution of morphological characters, and an understanding of the temporal and spatial patterns that have led to the current diversity and geographical distribution of its extant species.• Methods: Phylogenetic relationships were recovered under Bayesian, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony methods, using a data set of four plastid markers. Divergence time estimates were made using BEAST, and the biogeographic hypotheses were tested under the DEC model and the RASP/S-DIVA methods.• Key results: Lastreopsis was recovered as paraphyletic, and at least one of its clades should be recognized as a distinct genus, Parapolystichum. Coveniella poecilophlebia and Oenotrichia tripinnata were nested within Lastreopsis s.s., Megalastrum and Rumohra as sister to the Lastreopsis s.s., and the Lastreopsis amplissima clades. The initial diversification of the lastreopsids took place at about 56.55 Ma, from a neotropical ancestor.• Conclusions: Taxonomic recognition of Parapolystichum is warranted to preserve the monophyly of Lastreopsis. Diversification among the main clades of the lastreopsid ferns was influenced by climatic and geological changes in the southern hemisphere. The biogeographic history of the group is intimately related to the trans-Antarctic corridor between Australia and South America, with evidence for multiple lineage interchanges between Australia and South America during the Oligocene and the Eocene epochs.

We carried out a molecular phylogenetic analysis of Neotropical lady ferns (Athyrium s.str. and Anisocampium) using five plastid markers. We found two major results. First, three Neotropical species (Anisocampium skinneri, Athyrium palmense, A. tejeroi) formed a clade, and this clade was sister to the rest of Athyrium. The three members of this clade differ from Athyrium s.l. by creeping rhizomes with internodes 1–2 mm long, and rhizome apices that protrude beyond the current season's cluster of leaves. Also, the leaves are distichously arranged, lack trophopods, have petiole bases broadly U-shaped in transverse section, and bear thin, membranous laminae. We recognize this clade as a new genus, Ephemeropteris, and provide three new combinations: E. palmensis, E. skinneri, and E. tejeroi. The name of the new genus is derived from the seasonal production of its leaves, which are produced during the wet season and die back (i.e., are ephemeral) at the beginning of the dry season. Ephemeropteris is largely restricted to the Pacific side of Central America, a region that exhibits a marked dry season from November to May. We provide a key to the seven genera (including Ephemeropteris) we now recognize in the Athyriaceae, and a taxonomic treatment of the three species of Ephemeropteris. The treatment includes descriptions, illustrations, nomenclatural data, specimens cited, and a dot-distribution map. Our second major result from the phylogenetic analysis is that the remaining three Neotropical species of Athyrium s.str. are polyphyletic. One of our seven samples was resolved in the A. filix-femina clade (sect. Athyrium), to which all species of Neotropical Athyrium were previously assumed to belong to. Our six other samples of Neotropical Athyrium were resolved in A. sect. Mackinnoniana, previously construed as entirely Asian.

Premise of research. In the recent past, nine to 12 genera of Blechnaceae have been generally recognized. Nowadays, 24 are accepted on the basis of recent molecular phylogenetic studies, and these genera are classified into three subfamilies. The purpose of this article is to optimize spore characteristics of the exine and perine on a phylogenetic tree, infer their evolution within the Blechnaceae, and determine whether the characters define any of the genera or subfamilies. Methodology. With an SEM, we imaged spores of four outgroup species and 88 species of Blechnaceae. On the basis of the images, we recognized and scored four characters: perine overall architecture (three states), perine microstructure (10 states), number of perine layers (three states), and exine surface (three states). Using maximum parsimony, we optimized these characters on a phylogenetic tree created from accessions in GenBank for the species we imaged. Pivotal results. Ancestral for the Blechnaceae is a smooth exine, three-layered perine, loose perine structure (i.e., the perine is not adnate to the exine), and the presence of broadly rounded perine folds. The exine evolved from the smooth (ancestral) state to low verrucate in Lomariocycas and from smooth to contoured (with tubercles or short ridges aligned nearly parallel to each other) in subfam. Stenochlaenoideae. Also in subfam. Stenochlaenoideae, the perine was reduced to only one layer, and spherical deposits were present on the outer surface of the perine. These spherical deposits were found in no other genus in the family. A contoured exine also evolved in Diploblechnum. Parablechnum has the unique perine character of tortuous filaments. The perine of Lomaridium is distinctive by the combination of narrow folds creating wide intramural areas and the presence of granulate deposits. Sadleria was the only genus in the family that has a fibrillose or foliaceous perine. The spores of Austroblechnum were distinctive by a nonfolded perine that was smooth or with granulate deposits. Throughout the Blechnaceae, when the middle layer of the perine is present, it contains many small lacunae imparting a spongy appearance, thus distinguishing the layer from the inner and outer layers. Conclusions. Characters of the exine and perine vary within the Blechnaceae and are useful in defining clades within the family. The most distinctive spores belong to subfam. Stenochlaenoideae, which have a tuberculate or short-ridged exine, a perine reduced to a single thin layer appressed to the exine, and the presence of spherical deposits. Many genera of Blechnaceae are characterized by a combination of perine characters.

Classroom research has long been recommended as a fruitful avenue for English language teaching (ELT) in applied linguistics. Yet recognition of the value of practitioners exploring their own praxis has only recently come to the fore. In this plenary, I focus on Exploratory Practice, a form of ‘fully inclusive practitioner research’, in which learners as well as teachers are invited to integrate research and pedagogy. Drawing on studies from around the world, I spotlight the potential of learners and teachers to contribute to debates in the fields of language teaching and learning, applied linguistics and social sciences alike. This co-production between learners and teachers illuminates the nexus of research and pedagogy (praxis), providing plentiful puzzles for exploration.

This article critically examines the implementation of Exploratory Practice in an English for academic purposes (EAP) context in a British university. The innovation involved challenges as well as opportunities for uniting learning, teaching and research. Particular emphasis is given to two teachers, who are the focus of this article: the story of one, ‘Jenny’, illustrates the processes of doing Exploratory Practice with learners of EAP, while the story of the other, ‘Bella’, provides insight into the notion of puzzlement, a central feature of the Exploratory Practice framework. For these practitioners, it was clear that the integration of pedagogy with locally relevant, small-scale research activity, held a wealth of opportunities for language learning and teaching.

Among the Campyloneurum that occur entirely or primarily in the Atlantic Rain Forest of Brazil, three species have been previously referred to by the following six names: C. acrocarpon, C. crispum, C. herbaceum, C. lapathifolium, C. minus, and C. wacketii. We show that C. crispum and C. herbaceum are the correct names for two of the species, and we designate lectotypes for these two names. The third species, which ranges from Brazil to Argentina and Paraguay, lacks a name and is here newly described as C. atlanticum. Two of the previously used names, C. acrocarpon and C. wacketii, are considered synonyms of C. crispum. The remaining names, C. lapathifolium and C. minus, appear to be of uncertain application. Based on our field studies, C. atlanticum and C. herbaceum are primary hemiepiphytes. Our finding constitutes the first report of this growth habit in the genus. The third Brazilian species treated herein, C. crispum, varies in growth habit, being either terrestrial, primary hemiepiphytic, or holoepiphytic. The spores of the three species are uniform and typical of the genus; they do not provide any distinguishing characters for the species.