Language teacher action-

research: Sustainability
Research conducted by: Emily Edwards and Anne Burns
Analysis of research done by: Ege Ülkü
Date: 20 October, 2022
Overview

• The topic is about achieving sustainability for Action Research

programs after they are used in the aid of teachers’ Professional
development.
• Researchers state in the paper that it’s usually left to the
teachers’ own incentive to better themselves professionally, and
to conduct principled classroom researches (Action Research).
Abstract

• Researchers share the context for Action Research (AR), and

explains what it is they’re trying to achieve, and how.
• The first two sentences outline the current situation of AR, the
third sentence states the aim for the paper. The 4th, 5th and 6th
sentences give results, arguments, and suggestions respectively.
• Action Research, according to this, aids teachers’ job drastically
and improves their motivation. However, unless teachers are
assisted in their attempts to conduct these researches, after 4-5
years, the effect gradually dissipates.
Introduction

• After the Research Findings part, this section is the 2nd longest
one. It describes key terms related to the topic, relates the history
of studies conducted in this area and presents both benefits and
drawbacks of AR.
• AR is related to Continous Professional Development (CPD), and
this is tangentially related to inductive language teaching. Studies
from Chile, China and most importantly of all Australia suggest
that AR has benefits for organizational, personal and sectoral
levels.
Case study: The AR programme in Australia

• Case: The AR programme conducted by the national peak body for

the Australian ELICOS
• Time period: (After inception in 2010) 9 months, every calendar
year (January – September)
• Details: Each calendar year, 6 projects by teachers are accepted.
There are 3 workshops (1 each) set for the teachers in March, July
and September. Researchers share the results of their experiments
in these workshops, and their findings at the national English
conference in September.
The research participants

• Participants: All teachers from the first 4 years of the programme,

2010-2013
• Outline: The majority were experienced teachers.
Data collection and analysis

• Approach: Social constructionist  An overall meaning is

constructed from the comments made by the teacher group.
• Method: Likert analysis  A 1-5 scale used for measuring the level
of opinion by the research subjects. + 10 semi-structured
interviews
• Data analysis process: 2 stages were completed:
• 1) Development of research categories
• 2) A cross-analysis of survey data with interview transcripts
Research findings

• Researches found 4 kinds of impact from AR on testing subjects:

• 1) Teachers felt more confident about their teaching
• - Doing research leads to more pointed and personalized lessons.
• 2) Teachers felt more connected to their students
• - Personalized researches lead to better understandings of target audience.
• 3) Teachers were more engaged with research
• - Showing teachers the possible benefits of research may lead to them developing
themselves in a Professional way.
• 4) Teachers felt more recognized:
• - Conducting unıque researches and presenting them in pedagogical conferences could
lead to academic or personal fame.
How the impact was sustained

• Researches collect the thoughts of teachers regarding the point of how they
sustained the benefits of AR long after the study programmes were completed.
• Findings:
• 1) Individual motivation is necessary:
• - Schools are usually under strict time-tables, and independent research is usually
not advised.
• 2) Support from management is important:
• - Too many personal forays into investigating may lead to complaints from parents,
and result in suspension or dismissal of the teacher(s) involved.
• On the other hand, factors like time, economic conditions of schools and the
opinions of managers affect adequate harnessing of AR.
Conclusions

• Researches sum up their research and present their arguments at

the end concisely and summatively.