This hands-on, practical guide for ESL/EFL teachers and teacher educators outlines, for those who are new to doing action research, what it is and how it works. Straightforward and reader friendly, it introduces the concepts and offers a step-by-step guide to going through an action research process, including illustrations drawn widely from international contexts. Each chapter includes a variety of pedagogical activities. Bringing the how-to and the what together, this is the perfect text for BATESOL and MATESOL courses in which action research is the focus or a required component.

The current thrust in the field of education is to improve teachers’ understanding of how research on best practices can improve student learning. The field of world language education introduces a double, perhaps a triple, bind: teachers must be able to design and deliver instruction that aligns with national expectations for developing students’ language and intercultural abilities for success in the global workplace, yet in schools across America, all K-12 students do not have the opportunity to study languages, even though research supports their astonishing facility for acquisition. Schools and teachers without resources, including time to investigate and implement evidence-based best practices, are ultimately held accountable for student performance. If world language teachers are to advocate for languages, they must use their expertise and share evidence of their students’ progress. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) recently began development of a national research priorities agenda for grades preK-16. Action research, which is classroom-centered and inquiry-based, can contribute to our profession’s efforts, as it helps us to increase awareness of the critical need for language study in grades preK-16. World language teachers can become teacher-researchers in their own classrooms, gathering deeply meaningful insights into their students’ progress that they can share with others. Teacher-researchers investigate innovative approaches in response to their questions about teaching and learning, which are rooted in daily experience. They engage their students in fresh learning activities, and student feedback helps them to make better decisions about instructional and assessment strategies. Results can be shared with stakeholders, including parents, administrators, school board members, and guidance counselors, as evidence of what all kinds of students can do in languages. At a time in our history when we are striving to prepare teachers for 21st-century schools that prioritize global competence, Action Research in the World Language Classroom is a timely resource for the profession. It describes a natural, engaging, motivating way to contribute, particularly for preservice teachers who are shaping their views and understanding about world language instruction and the connections between research and best practices. The book includes four studies conducted by preservice teachers during their student teaching internships in North Carolina public schools. The editor hopes that their work and observations will inspire and assist world language educators at all stages of their careers.

This book presents first-person accounts providing the basis for exploring the challenges and constraints of action research.

Responding to the linguistic and cultural diversity of the U.S. K–12 student population and an increasing emphasis on STEM, this book offers a model for professional development that engages teachers in transformative action research projects and explicitly links literacy to mathematics and science curriculum through sociocultural principles. Providing detailed and meaningful demonstrations of participatory action research in the classroom, Razfar and Troiano present an effective, systemic approach that helps preservice teachers support students’ funds of knowledge. By featuring teacher and researcher narratives, this book centers teacher expertise and offers a more holistic and humanistic understanding of authentic and empathetic teaching. Focusing on integrating instructional knowledge from ESL, bilingual, and STEM education, the range of cases and examples will allow readers to implement action research projects in their own classrooms. Chapters include discussion questions and additional resources for students, researchers, and educators.

Describes the process of doing teacher action research and provides examples from teachers themselves. Textbook for pre-service and in-service teacher education courses. Includes suggested activities sections.

Practical and down-to-earth, the second edition of Action Research in Teaching and Learning is an ideal introduction to the subject, offering a distinctive blend of the theoretical and the practical, grounded firmly in the global higher education landscape. Written in an accessible style to build confidence, it provides easily adaptable, practical frameworks, guidelines and advice on research practice within a higher education context. The reader is guided through each stage of the action research process, from engaging with the critical theory, to the practical applications with the ultimate goal of providing a research study which is publishable. Supplemented by useful pedagogical research tools and exemplars of both qualitative and quantitative action research studies, this new edition features chapters engaging with teaching excellence and analysing qualitative and quantitative research, additions to the resources section and a new preface focusing more explicitly on the ever-growing number of part-time academics. Action Research in Teaching and Learning combines a theoretical understanding of the scholarly literature with practical applications and is an essential, critical read for any individual teaching or undertaking action research.

Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization is the essential resource for anyone embarking on a research project in their own organization or as part of a work placement programme whether in business, healthcare, government, education, social work or third sector organizations. The authors provide an easy-to-follow, hands-on guide to every aspect of conducting an action research project and have added in the Third Edition: - more on politics and ethics to help researchers negotiate gaining access and permission, and building and maintaining support from peers and relevant subsystems within an organization - more on writing an action research dissertation, and treatment of sensitive issues such as: giving feedback to one’s superiors and peers, disseminating the research to the wider community, and handling interpretations or outcomes which may be perceived negatively by the organization involved. - more case examples and reflective exercises taken from a wide variety of organizational settings to aid students and researchers whatever their background discipline.

Helping teachers engage K–12 students as participatory researchers to accomplish highly effective learning outcomes Integrating Teaching, Learning, and Action Research: Enhancing Instruction in the K–12 Classroom demonstrates how teachers can use action research as an integral component of teaching and learning. The text uses examples and lesson plans to demonstrate how student research processes can be incorporated into classroom lessons that are linked to standards. Key Features Guides teachers through systematic steps of planning, instruction, assessment, and evaluation, taking into account the diverse abilities and characteristics of their students, the complex body of knowledge and skills they must acquire, and the wide array of learning activities that can be engaged in the process Demonstrates how teacher action research and student action learning—working in tandem—create a dynamic, engaging learning community that enables students to achieve desired learning outcomes Provides clear directions and examples of how to apply action research to core classroom activities: lesson planning, instructional processes, student learning activities, assessment, and evaluation

"This is a wonderful book with deep insight into the relationship between teachers′ action and result of student learning. It discusses from different angles impact of action research on student learning in the classroom. Writing samples provided at the back are wonderful examples." —Kejing Liu, Shawnee State University Teacher Action Research: Building Knowledge Democracies focuses on helping schools build knowledge democracies through a process of action research in which teachers, students, and parents collaborate in conducting participatory and caring inquiry in the classroom, school, and community. Author Gerald J. Pine examines historical origins, the rationale for practice-based research, related theoretical and philosophical perspectives, and action research as a paradigm rather than a method. Key Features Discusses how to build a school research culture through collaborative teacher research Delineates the role of the professional development school as a venue for constructing a knowledge democracy Focuses on how teacher action research can empower the active and ongoing inclusion of nontraditional voices (those of students and parents) in the research process Includes chapters addressing the concrete practices of observation, reflection, dialogue, writing, and the conduct of action research, as well as examples of teacher action research studies

Questions about what to teach and how best to teach it are what drive professional practice in the English language classroom. Innovation and change in English language education addresses these key questions so that teachers are able to understand and manage change to organise teaching and learning more effectively. The book provides an accessible introduction to current theory and research in innovation and change in ELT and shows how these understandings have been applied to the practical concerns of the curriculum and the classroom. In specially commissioned chapters written by experts in the field, the volume sets out the key issues in innovation and change and shows how these relate to actual practice offers a guide to innovation and change in key areas grounded in research relates theory to practice through the use of illustrative case studies and examples brings together the very best scholarship in TESOL and language education from around the world This book will be of interest to upper undergraduate and graduate students in applied linguistics, language education and TESOL as well as pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, researchers and administrators keen to create and manage teaching and learning more effectively.