From Classroom Inquiry to Transformative Praxis: Reconceptualising Action Research in Language Teacher Education

Abstract

In recent decades, Action Research (AR) has played an important role in language teacher education (LTE). However, most of the time, this role is limited to solving pedagogical problems and improving classroom practices, which may cause the neglection of the social, political, epistemological, and identity-related components of teacher research. Therefore, this conceptual paper suggests a reinterpretation of AR as a transformative praxis in the form of an integrated framework that redefines its role in language teacher education. The paper regards AR as a socially situated, critically reflective, identity-informed, and ethically engaged form of professional training. In doing so, it is grounded in sociocultural theory, critical pedagogy, and professional agency theory. These perspectives are brought together in the form of a Transformative Praxis Cycle that consists of five recursive phases: problem posing, dialogic inquiry, situated action, reflexive analysis, and professional repositioning. This model illustrates that teacher research is not only limited to the identification of pedagogical problems and improvement of classroom practices. It can rather actively contribute to identity development, professional agency, critical consciousness and knowledge production. Implications for LTE, such as curriculum design, mentorship and supervision, practitioner knowledge, the research-practice relationship, contextual responsiveness, equity, and professional authority are also investigated in this paper. The argument advanced, herein, is that teachers can become reflective practitioners, knowledge producers and active participants in educational transformation if AR is embedded as a permanent part of the teaching profession, rather than as an isolated course requirement. The proposed framework attempts to bridge gaps in ELT by linking professional training with questions of power, identity, and context. It also seeks to provide a theoretical basis for future empirical research by suggesting a more participatory; context-sensitive, and socially responsive conception of language teacher education.