Describes the action research approach taken by seven teachers from four rural schools who teamed up to create their own professional development program. Describes the phases of action research which include formulating a question, reflective interviews, data collection, data analysis, and taking action. Briefly discusses the beneficial outcomes…

The paper examines aspects of the relationship between teaching and research in higher education in social science research methods, with particular reference to the subject area of Education. There are three main themes: reflections on how social science research methods should be (or are) taught; a review of current debates about the…

Action research is one of the relevant methodologies for addressing research questions and issues in middle grades education. Accounting for nearly 20% of published middle grades research studies (Hough, 2003), action research has emerged as an important and appropriate research method. In addition to reviewing the historical context, this article…

This paper makes a contribution to the theory and practice of educational action research by introducing two theoretical and methodological resources as part of a personal review of sustained professional experience: "appreciative inquiry" and the "enneagram". It is more than a theoretical exercise, however, because it also…

Recent work integrating Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) with Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) forms a basis for systematizing action research in higher education. This basis strengthens what are often otherwise its methodological weaknesses, namely, the disconnection between analysis and subsequent plans for action and the…

Two practitioner inquiry networks demonstrate how learning in groups contributes to teacher development. Development occurs across the dimensions of intention, order, community, and voice. (Author/SK)

Dominant values of conventional research are rigor, precision, elegance, objectivity, and verifiability. Constructivist research is valued for being responsive, rich, emergent, subjective, and creative. Practitioner research is useful, reflective in action, interactive, and intentional. (SK)

"On Teacher Inquiry" could be read as an answer to the question, "Teacher Research: What's in it for the students?" This new volume in the "NCRLL Collection" addresses the relationships among teacher research, teacher practice, and student learning. The authors observe, analyze, raise questions, design methodologies, and build relationships with…

This paper draws on the personal experiences of three researchers: an "outsider" (or western-oriented) science teacher, a science teacher educator who has lived in Melanesian countries for almost a decade, and a national researcher who was born and educated in Melanesia. During a recent interpretative research study of the problematic…

Makes the case for teacher research in the academy. Hopes that English department faculty will become willing and active coconstructors of connections between the work of sociolinguists and their own worlds. Suggests that teaching at any level is fundamentally about worlds and stories in contact--worlds which are made and remade through language.…

Practitioner inquiry groups formed by Pennsylvania adult literacy practitioners provide an alternative to traditional professional development. The network provides opportunities for sharing contextualized knowledge and acquiring new ways of practice. (SK)

The following narrative is a personal account of one teacher's journey from classroom practitioner to teacher-researcher. It discusses the current status of teacher-initiated research in England and some of the dilemmas confronting teacher-researchers, particularly in relation to the validity of research findings and methods of dissemination.

The teacher research movement has encouraged the development of "practitioner research" action-oriented and reflective studies among teachers and teacher educators alike. This study compares the profile of research conducted in the Israeli academic teacher colleges with that performed by university faculty. A content analysis of the 204…

This report presents findings from a study conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) on how well prepared today's community colleges are in moving toward the greater use of data and research to improve student success. Data for the study were drawn from two major sources: first, an e-mail survey of college administrators…

The overall segregationist milieu of the educational enterprise serves to forestall movement in the search of a comprehensive theory of literacy and literacy instruction. Building such a theory mandates a democratically disposed, pluralistic research community. Sociologically, the theory-to-practice norm sustains an artificial hierarchy within the…