Disseminating your action research : a practical guide to sharing the results of practitioner research [Book review]

Abstract

In ELT, as in other aspects of education, teacher research is recognised as an important form of inquiry because it enables practitioners to search for answers to the questions they might have about the phenomena that occur in their own classrooms. When teachers choose to engage in research, they learn about their practices, their learners, and their professional identity. Given the organic nature of its processes and the bottom-up direction of the inquiry, teacher research is a powerful form of professional learning. Without having to rely on the direction provided by those outside the classroom, teachers can use research to generate knowledge that is meaningful for them and useful for those within the immediate learning environment, i.e., themselves and their learners. In addition, while this research-derived knowledge is primarily valuable because it is directly relevant to teachers’ and learners’ needs, it might also resonate with other practitioners.