The Impact of Action Research on Teacher Professional Development: Perspectives from Iranian EFL Teachers

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Action research is an efficient tool for the teachers to tackle the problems in their classes and enhance teaching and learning process. This study explored EFL teachers' perceptions about the effect of conducting action research on their professional development. It also probed into the challenges and problems that teachers experienced during the conduction of their action research as well as the support structures which are needed in this regard. Ten EFL teachers were involved in doing classroom-based action research for one semester. Qualitative data were gathered through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and diaries. Findings revealed that action research contributed to teachers' professional growth through increasing their awareness of their role as teachers and of their students’ needs, providing opportunities for self-reflection on practice, increasing professional confidence, developing a sense of leadership and autonomy, and creating a positive classroom atmosphere. Nevertheless, the participants struggled with three major challenges during the conduction of their action research: lack of time, lack of academic research knowledge and lack of institutional support. It is concluded that contrary to the existing professional development programs, action research can act as a cost-effective, contextualized and efficient professional development instrument tailored to individual teachers’ specific teaching circumstances and classroom peculiarities. Finally, suggestions are made for promoting action research engagement in language education contexts.

Keywords

References

 
Alhassan, A. & Holi Ali, H.I. (2020). EFL teacher research engagement: Towards a research pedagogy nexus. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 7(1), 1-15.
Alibakhshi, G. (2019). In-service training professional development needs of Iranian teachers of English as Foreign Language: A Qualitative Research Study. Teaching English Language, 13(2), 95-119.
Amini Farsani, M., & Babaii, E. (2019). EFL faculty members’ research engagement: Voices from Iran. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 24(1), 37–59.
Andrew, M.B. (2017). Using innovation and action research to build TESOL teacher capacity in Vietnam. International Journal of Language Education, 2(1), 17-28.
Atay, D. (2008). Teacher research for professional development. ELT Journal, 62 (2), 139-147.
Banegas, D., Pavese, A., Velázquez, A., & Vélez, S. M. (2013). Teacher professional development through collaborative action research: Impact on foreign English language teaching and learning. Educational Action Research, 21(2), 185-201.
Bazargan, A. (1992). Action research and its application in education. Faslname- Talim- va- Tarbiyat, 35, 103-119.
Benitt, N. (2014). Becoming a (Better) Teacher: A Case Study on Classroom Action Research as an Instrument for Professional Development in Foreign Language Teacher Education [Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation]. Macquarie University.
Best, J. W., & Kahn, J. V. (2006). Research in education (10th ed.). Pearson.
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. (2010). Language teacher research engagement. Language Teaching, 43 (4), 391-429.
Edwards Borg, S., & Alshmaimeri, Y. (2012). University teacher educators’ research engagement: Perspectives from Saudi Arabia. Teaching and Teacher Education Journal, 28(3), 347–356.
Bradley-Levine, J., Smith, J., & Carr, K. (2009). The role of action research in empowering teachers to change their practice. Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research, 23(4), 152-161.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Brown, M., & Macatangay, A. N. A. (2002). The impact of action research for professional development. Case studies in two Manchester schools. Westminster Studies in Education, 25(1), 35-45.
Burns, A. & Edwards, E. (2014). Introducing innovation through action research in an Australian national programme. In D. Hayes. (Ed), Innovations in the continuing professional development of English language teachers (pp. 89-118). Spring Gardens.
Burns, A. & Rochsantiningsih, D. (2006). Conducting action research in Indonesia: Illustrations and implications. Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching 2(1), 21-34.
Burns, A. (2000). Action Research and Applied Research: What are the relationships? Retrieved from: http://language.hyper.chubu.actionresearch.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/jul/burns.html.
Burns, A. (2005). Action research: An evolving paradigm? Language Teaching, 38, 57-74.
Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research for English language teachers. A guide for practitioners. Routledge.
Burns, A. (2011). Embedding teacher research into a national language program: Lessons from a pilot project. Cambridge ESOL: Research Notes, 44, 3-6.
Burns, A., Westmacott, A., & Hidalgo, A. (2016). Initiating an action research program 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.
Campbell, A., & Jacques, K. (2004). Best practiced researched: Teachers’ expectations of the impact of doing research in their classrooms and schools. Teacher Development, 17(1), 75-90.
Cardona, R.S. (2020). The Enablers and Outcomes of Research Productivity among Junior High School Mathematics Teachers: A Structural Model. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 16(11), 1-13.
Chacon, C.T. (2005). Teachers' perceived efficacy among English as a foreign language teacher in middle schools in Venezuela. Teaching and teacher education, 21(3), 257-272.
Chou, C. (2010). Investigating the effects of incorporating collaborative action research into an in-service teacher training program. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 2728-2734.
Cook, C. (1991). Professional development interview/survey questions. Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Available at: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/profdevl/
Crookes, G. (1993). Action Research for second language teachers: Going beyond teacher education. Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 238-256.
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.
Edwards, E. & Burns, A. (2016). Language teacher action research: achieving sustainability. ELT Journal 70(1), 6-15. 
Ferrance, E. (2000). Themes in Education: Action Research. Retrieved from at: www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/themes_ed/act_research.pdf.
Flick, U. (2014). Mapping the Field. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 3-18). Sage Publications.
Gebhard, J. G. (2005). Awareness of Teaching through Action Research: Examples, Benefits, Limitations. JALT Journal 27 (1), 53-69.
Guskey, T. R. (2000). Evaluating professional development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Guya, Z. (1992). The history of action research and its application in education. Faslname- Talim- va- Tarbiyat, 36, 67-82.
Jamshidi, A. H., & Sadeghi, B. (2014). A comparative study of teacher education in Iran and the UK. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(5), 1153-1159.
Kalali Sani, A. F., Motallebzadeh, Kh., Khodabakhshzadeh, H., & Zeraatpisheh, M. (2021). Iranian EFL teachers' professional identity and their goal orientation. Teaching English Language, 15(1),137-160. https://doi.org/10.22132/TEL.2021.132248
Kheirabadi, R. & Alavimoghaddam, S.B. (2019). Opportunities and challenges of teaching English language in the Iranian curriculum. Journal of foreign language research, 9(1), 53-70.
Kennedy, M. (1998). Form and substance in in-service teacher. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/6qujdf
Kincheloe, J. (2003). Teachers as researchers: Qualitative inquiry as a path to empowerment. Routledge.
Mayring, P. (1983). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken. Weinheim, Basel.
Mehr Mohammadi, M. (1997). Action research: an effective approach in the movement of the social-humanistic research systems toward balance. Modarres 4(1), 141-148.
Mehrani, M. (2017). A narrative study of Iranian EFL teachers’ experiences of doing action research. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 5(1), 93-112.
Mehrani, M. B. (2015). English teachers’ research engagement: Level of engagement and motivations. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 3(1), 83-97.
Mesfin, C. (2003). An exploration into the involvement of ELT teachers in action research: the case of three teachers’ training colleges [Unpublished MA thesis]. Addis Ababa University.
Mills, G. (2007). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Mohammadi, M. & Moradi, K. (2017). Exploring Change in EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Professional Development. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 19(1), 22-42.
Moreira, M., Vieira, F. & Marques, I. (1999). Pre-service teacher development through action research. The Language Teacher, 23(12), 15-18.
Nassaji, H. (2012). The relationship between SLA research and language pedagogy. NASSP Bulletin, 84 (6), 6-12.
Özer, B. (2004). In-service training of teachers in Turkey at the beginning of the 2000s. Journal of In-service Education, 30, 89-100.
Ozkan, O. (2011). The long-term effects of action research as a professional development strategy [Unpublished MA thesis]. Bilkent University.
 Rajaeenia, M, Kiany, G. & Akbari, R. (2021). Performance Assessment of EFL Student Teachers’ professional Competencies: A Case of Iranian Farhanghian University. Journal of foreign language research, 11(1), 11-26.
Rahimi, A. & Askari Bigdeli, R. (2016). Challenges of Action Research: Insights from Language Institutes. RALs 7(2), 3-15.
Rainey, I. (2000). Action research and the English as a foreign language practitioner: Time to take stock. Educational Action Research, 8, 65–91.
Richards, J. C., & Farrell, T. S. C. (2005). Professional development for language teachers: strategies for teacher learning. Cambridge University Press.
Sato, M. & Loewen. S. (2019). Do teachers care about research? The research–pedagogy dialogue. ELT Journal, 73(1), 1-10.
Smith, R., Connelly, T. & Rebolledo, P. (2014). Teacher-research as continuing professional development:  a project with Chilean secondary school teachers. In D. Hayes (Ed), Innovations in the continuing professional development of English language teachers (pp. 52-67). Spring Gardens.
Thamrin, M. (2011). Enhancing professional development through classroom action research projects: A case study of secondary English teachers in Palu City, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia [Unpublished MA thesis]. Victoria University of Wellington.
Thorne, C. & Qiang, W. (1996). Action research in language teacher education. ELT Journal, 50, 224-262.
Uysal, H. H. (2012). Evaluation of an in-service training program for primary-school language teachers in Turkey. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(7), 14-29.
Wallace, M. J. (1991). Training foreign language teachers: a reflective approach. Cambridge University Press.
Wang, Q. & Zhang, H. (2014). Promoting teacher autonomy through university-school collaborative action research. Language Teaching Research, 18, 222-241.
Wyatt, M. (2011). Teachers researching their own practice. ELT Journal, 65(4), 417-425.
Yavuz, A. (2018). The Meaning of Research: Perceptions and Experiences of English Language Teaching (ELT) Students Regarding the ‘Research Skills’ Course. Journal of Social Sciences of Mus Alparslan University, 6(2), 247–255.
Yoon, K., Park, Y., & Hong, S. Y. (1999). Elementary teachers’ perceptions of action research in Korea [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Toronto, Canada.
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.
Teaching English Language
Volume 15, Issue 2
September 2021
Pages 265-297

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 01 September 2021
  • Revise Date: 07 November 2021
  • Accept Date: 23 December 2021

Share

How to cite

Statistics