You are here

Home » Content

A narrative study of Iranian EFL teachers’ experiences of doing action research

Journal Name:

  • Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research

Publication Year:

  • 2017

Key Words:

Author Name
Abstract (2. Language): 
The present narrative study examined the purposes that language teachers pursue in their research studies. The study also explored the opportunities and challenges that teachers experience while doing action research. Data were collected through a survey of narrative frames among 68 teachers, reflective essays written by 9 teachers and individual interviews with 12 other teachers. Analyzing the content of the data and sorting out the main themes showed that teachers are mainly concerned with practical aspects of their profession such as developing their teaching skills and improving students’ knowledge in particular language areas. In addition, teachers believe that action research broadens their understanding of language education, provides them with a framework for reflecting on their practice, empowers them to play more important roles in educational systems and heightens their awareness of students’ needs. The findings also point to teachers’ consensus that their time limitations, their lack of specialized knowledge of research, administrative restrictions and lack of collaboration are among the main challenges they experience when undertaking action research. The study concludes with the discussion of the broader implications of the study for promoting action research in language teaching profession.
Bookmark/Search this post with
FULL TEXT (PDF): 
PDF icon arastirmax-narrative-study-iranian-efl-teachers-experiences-doing-action-research.pdf
  • 1
93
112
  • English

REFERENCES

References: 

Atay, D. (2008). Teacher research for professional development. ELT Journal, 62, 139-147.
Barkhuizen, G. (2009). Topics, aims, and constraints in English teacher research: A Chinese case study. TESOL Quarterly, 43, 113-125.
Barkhuizen, G. (2011). Home tutor cognitions and the nature of tutor-learner relationships. In P. Benson, & H. Reinders (Eds.). Beyond the language classroom (pp. 161-174). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Barkhuizen, G. (2014). Revisting narrative frames: An instrument for investigating language teaching and learning. System, 47, 12-27.
Barkhuizen, G., & Borg, S. (2010). Editorial: researching language teacher education. Language Teaching Research, 14, 237-240.
Barkhuizen, G., & Wette, R. (2008). Narrative frames for investigating the experiences of language teachers. System, 36, 372-387.
Bell, J. S. (2002). Narrative inquiry: More than just telling stories. TESOL Quarterly, 36, 207-213.
Biesta, G. (2007). Why "what works" won't work: Evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit in educational research. Educational Theory, 57, 1-22.
Block, D. (2000). Revisiting the gap between SLA researchers and language teachers. Links & Letters , 7, 129-143.
Borg, S. (2007). Research engagement in English language teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education , 23, 731-747.
Borg, S. (2009). English language teachers’ conceptions of research. Applied Linguistics, 30, 358-388.
Borg, S., & Liu, Y. (2013). Chinese college English teachers’ research engagement. TESOL Quarterly, 47, 270-299.
Broekkamp, H., & van Hout-Wolters, B. (2007). The gap between educational research and practice: A literature review, symposium, and questionnaire. Educational Research and Evaluation, 13, 203-220.
108 M. Mehrani/A narrative study of …
Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action research for English language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burns, A. (2005). Action research: An evolving paradigm? Language Teaching , 38, 57-74.
Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge.
Burns, A. (2011). Embedding teacher research into a national language programme: Lessons from a pilot project. Cambridge ESOL: Research Notes, 44, 3-6.
Burns, A., Westmacott, A. & Hidalgo Ferrer, A. (2016). Initiating an action research programme for university EFL teachers: Early experiences and responses. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 55-73.
Burton, J. (2000). Learning from teaching practice: A case study approach. Prospect, 15, 3, 5-22.
Cabaroglu, N. (2014). Professional development through action research: Impact on self-efficacy. System, 44, 79-88.
Chacon, C. T. (2005). Teachers’ perceived efficacy among English as a foreign language teachers in middle schools in Venezuela. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(3), 257-272.
Chant, R. H., Heafner, T. L., & Bennett, K. R. (2004). Connecting personal theorizing and action research in pre-service teacher development. Teacher Education Quarterly, 31(3), 25-42.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1993). Inside/outside: Teacher research and knowledge. New York: Teachers College.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999). The teacher research movement: A decade later. Educational Researcher, 28(7), 15-25.
Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. London: Sage Publications.
Creswell, J. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Crookes, G. (1993). Action research for second language teachers: Going beyond teacher research. Applied Linguistics, 14, 130-144.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Constructing 21st-century teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57, 300-314.
Darling-Hammond, L., Hammerness, K., Grossman, P., Rust, F., & Shulman, L.S. (2005). The design of teacher education programs. In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford (Eds.). Preparing teachers for a changing world (pp. 390-441). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Davies, P. (1999). What is evidence-based education? British Journal of Educational Studies, 47, 108-121.
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 5(1), (Jan., 2017) 93-112 109
De Vries, G. H. (1990). De ontwikkeling van wetenschap [The development of Science]. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff.
Dehghan, F. & Sahragard, R. (2015). Iranian EFL teachers' views on action research and its application in their classrooms: A case study. Journal of Teacher Education and Educators, 4(1), 39-52.
Farrell, T.S.C. (2008). Reflective language teaching: From research to practice. London: Continuum Press.
Gore, J. M., & Gitlin, A. D. (2004). [RE]Visioning the academic-teacher divide: Power and knowledge in the educational community. Teachers and Teaching , 10 (1), 35-58.
Gurney, M. (1989). Implementer or innovator: A teacher’s challenge to the restrictive paradigm of traditional research. In P. Lomax, (Eds.), The Management of Change. BERA Dialogues Number 1. New York: Multilingual Matters.
Hargreaves, D. (1996). Teaching as a research-based profession: Possibilities and prospects. London: Teacher Training Agency Annual Lecture.
Hargreaves, D. (1997). In defense of research for evidence-based teaching: A rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley. British Educational Research Journal, 23, 405-419.
Henson, R. K. (2001). The effects of participation in teacher research on teacher efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 819-836.
Hobbs, V. (2007). Faking it or hating it: Can reflective practice be forced? Reflective Practice, 8 (3), 405-417.
Jurasaite-Harbison, E. & Rex, L.A. (2005). Taking on a researcher’s identity: Teacher learning in and through research participation. Linguistics and Education, 16, 425-454.
Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (Eds.) (1988). The action research planner (3rd ed.). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
Kincheloe, J. (2003). Teachers as researchers: Qualitative inquiry as a path to empowerment. London: Routledge.
Korthagen, F. A. (2007). The gap between research and practice revisited. Educational Research and Evaluation , 13, 303-310.
Linder, P. (1991). Collaborative action research into mixed ability communicative EFL teaching. MA dissertation, University of Reading.
McDonough, K. (2006). Action research and the professional development of graduate teaching assistants. The Modern Language Journal 90, 33-47.
Mehrani, M. B. (2015). English teachers’ research engagement: Level of engagement and motivations. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 3(1), 83-97.
110 M. Mehrani/A narrative study of …
Mehrani, M. B. (2016). Iranian EFL teachers’ conceptions of research: An explanatory mixed methods approach. Research in Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 95-117.
Mehrmohammadi, M. (1997). Research in the Ministry of Education: Necessities, hopes. Quarterly Journal of Education, 50, 45-47.
Mertler, C. (2012). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Miles, M., & Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. (2nd ed.). Sage: Thousand Oaks.
Mirhosseini, S. & Samar, R. G. (2015). Ideologies of English language teaching in Iranian academic research: Mainstream, alternative, and beyond. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 12(2) 110-136.
Moreira, M., Vieira, F. & Marques, I. (1999). Pre-service teacher development through action research. The Language Teacher, 23(12), 15-18.
Nassrollahi, M. A., Krish, P. & Mohd Noor, N. (2012). Action research in language learning, Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences 47, 1874-1879.
Norton, B., & Early, M. (2011). Researcher identity, narrative inquiry, and language teaching research. TESOL Quarterly, 45, 415-439.
Pine, G. (2009). Teacher action research: Building knowledge democracies. Los Angeles: Sage publications.
Pring, R. (2000). Philosophy of educational research. London: Continuum.
Rahimi, A. & Askari Bigdeli, R. (2016). Challenges of action research: Insights from language institutes. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 7(2), 3-15.
Roberts, J. R. (1993). Evaluating the impacts of teacher research. System, 21, 1-19.
Smith, K. & Sela, O. (2005). Action research as a bridge between pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development for students and teacher educators. European Journal of Teacher Education, 28, 293-310.
Sowa, P. A. (2009). Understanding our learners and developing reflective practice: Conducting action research with English language learners. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 1026-1032.
Thorne, C. & Qiang, W. (1996). Action research in language teacher education. ELT Journal, 50, 224-262.
Wang, Q. & Zhang, H. (2014). Promoting teacher autonomy through university-school collaborative action research. Language Teaching Research, 18, 222-241.
Worrall, N. (2004). Trying to build a research culture in a school: Trying to find the right questions to ask. Teacher Development, 8, 137-148.
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 5(1), (Jan., 2017) 93-112 111
Wyatt, M. (2011). Teachers researching their own practice. ELT Journal, 65(4), 417-425.
Xu, Y. (2014). Becoming researchers: A narrative study of Chinese university EFL teachers’ research practice and their professional identity construction. Language Teaching Research, 18, 242-259.
Zare-ee, A., Mohd Don, Z. & Shu Sim, T. (2015). Teacher research in higher education: A comparative study of Malaysian and Iranian English language lecturers’ perceptions. International Journal of Humanities, 22(1), 1-28.

Thank you for copying data from http://www.arastirmax.com