Teachers into Researchers – a framework for action Seminar

Event details

When language teachers think about and talk about teacher research, they focus on the ‘research’ part. This becomes the focus of learning, the development of personal insights, and the driver of efforts for professional development. This focus is misplaced. Language teachers engaging in research have much to gain from a focus on the territory they have expertise in – teaching lessons and students – in addition to a focus on the territory they are moving into – social science research. In this talk I outline a framework for teacher research which starts with teaching. I draw on notions of post-method pedagogy, reflective practice, and exploratory practice to establish a framework for teacher research and professional development. I tell two stories which illustrate how teaching already has the core elements of observation and explanation which characterise all research. These features of teaching are complex, unbounded in terms of conventional theories, and difficult to represent in data and share more widely. I present a framework for teacher research which centres on teacher learning, but can grow to enhance personal career development, stimulate innovation in and improvement of pedagogy and programmes, and expand theorisations of language teaching in Applied Linguistics research. Reference Kiely, R (forthcoming 2021) Teachers into Researchers: A Practical Guide to Teacher Research. Beijing, China: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing