Abstract
Previous studies have shown that teacher cognitions and practices can be inconsistent, particularly with claims about communicative teaching practices. This article describes the practical theory of a state school EFL teacher in Armenia who claimed to be using a communicative approach to language teaching by considering her stated cognitions and observed practices and the contextual factors that influenced them. Data included six months of e-mail interviews, two on-site classroom observations, and one on-site interview; this study will focus on the observation of a grade 9 lesson which the teacher described as communicative. Analysis of the interview data shows that the teacher articulated a cohesive, coherent practical theory. The observation showed that she implemented many of her stated cognitions; however, some cognitions appeared to diverge in practice. Both her cognitions and practices were influenced by her understanding of the context in which she worked; meeting different expectations in particular may have contributed to the divergence between cognitions and practices.