Speakers
Description
In this forum, we will first share insights and questions from a collaborative inquiry with six teachers passionate about learner development, by focusing on their visual and written reflections about the practice-research relationship. By relating these personal theorisations to their own practices and life-worlds, participants will create their own visual representations before discussing their experiences and perspectives with fellow attendees. This process will highlight connections, differences, and contradictions in how we understand practitioner research.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
This forum will allow participants to discuss their understanding of the practice-research (P-R) relationship and what it means to be a “practitioner-researcher” both personally and professionally. Although practitioner research is a long-established educational practice (Zeichner & Noffke, 2001), defining for ourselves what this entails and exploring our histories and identities as practitioner researchers remain contested projects. These issues are best addressed through collaborative inquiry and discussion among teachers who identify as practitioner researchers.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
While practitioner research has been an established form of inquiry into second language education for more than 30 years (Hanks, 2017), practitioner-researchers often face considerable resistance from some quarters that leaves them struggling to gain legitimacy for their work. The tension can manifest itself as a crisis of identity: Am I a teacher or a researcher? Am I both? Am I neither? It may also involve a crisis of confidence: How do I talk about my research, and with whom? How do I write about my research, and for whom? Undoubtedly, this struggle challenges practitioner-researchers both professionally and personally.
Abstract section 5: References
Hanks, J. (2017). Exploratory practice in language teaching. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45344-0
Zeichner, K. M., & Noffke, S. E. (2001). Practitioner research. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 298–332). American Educational Research Association.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
Through discussing our diverse views about the P-R relationship and how we perceive ourselves as practitioners, researchers, or both, we hope that participants will gain greater clarity about their practitioner-researcher identities. We also anticipate that, through recognising challenges we face as practitioner researchers, forum attendees will experience an enhanced sense of solidarity with one another and come away with increased confidence and critical awareness in tackling the issues that confront them in doing practitioner research.
Abstract section 3: Content/method
In this forum, we will first share insights and questions from a collaborative inquiry with six teachers passionate about learner development, by focusing on their visual and written reflections about the P-R relationship. By relating these personal theorisations to their own practices and life-worlds, participants will create their own visual representations before discussing their experiences and perspectives with fellow attendees. This process will highlight connections, differences, and contradictions in how we understand practitioner research.
| Title | Practitioner Research: Personal Theorisations and Questions |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | College and university education |