Feature Article A Critical Praxis: Narrowing the Gap Between Identity, Theory, and Practice LAUREL WALLER KINSEY WETHERS PETER I. DE COSTA Michigan State University Praxis is the balance of pedagogical theory and practice. This lit- erature review explores praxis from a critical lens in terms of identity for both students and teachers. The authors center their framework on Hawkins and Norton’s (2009) five principles for critical language teaching. The first principle relates to the situ- ated nature of the program and practices, which involves con- textualizing the plot and the characters of the classroom. Second, responsiveness to learners encourages teachers to iden- tify students’ multiple identities and allow them to experiment with these. Third, dialogic engagement is the discussion of iden- tity in the classroom. Fourth, reflexivity requires teachers to examine their practices and the ideologies that guide their beliefs about second language acquisition and learning. Fifth, praxis combines all of these elements to create and harmonize a critical classroom. The article ends with a call for teacher train- ing that incorporates these principles to better assist English lan- guage learners. doi: 10.1002/tesj.256 The field of second language acquisition (SLA) tends to focus on theoretical and methodological frameworks such as language socialization as well as task-based and pedagogical approaches in order to enhance language learning processes. At the center of mainstream SLA is the examination of cognitive processes such as input processing, skill acquisition, and interaction, which characterize language learning (VanPatten & Williams, 2014). Though significant, zooming in only on cognitive processes has TESOL Journal 0.0, xxxx 2016 1 © 2016 TESOL International Association