Practitioner research is an apparently simple idea, which in fact raises complex issues of inclusivity, diversity and interculturality for applied linguistics. The field has hitherto tended to divide itself into 'researchers' and 'practitioners' (ie teachers and teacher educators), each with its own cultures, beliefs and behaviours. Yet as teachers (and teacher educators and learners) are increasingly encouraged to engage in researching their own contexts, identities shift and grow, roles are exchanged, and cultural boundaries are blurred. I ask: Who should be included as a researcher? How does the field encourage diversity of experience in researching language education? What are the (hidden) cultures of research and pedagogy that require attention? In this talk, I discuss the ways in which practitioner research as a profoundly contextual movement (Zeichner & Noffke, 2001) contributes to social cohesion in a globalized world. I examine the ways in which practitioners (teachers, teacher educators, and, crucially, learners) can be included as insightful researchers of their own practice (Allwright & Hanks, 2009; Hanks 2017) in different educational institutions, in different parts of the world. Learners, teachers, teacher educators are gaining confidence in exploring praxis, but this brings ethical, methodological and epistemological questions to bear (for example, questions about naming/pseudonymising; ways of doing-being pedagogical research; beliefs about who does what in research and pedagogy). The COVID-19 pandemic brought such issues to the fore, as pedagogy and research were increasingly 'owned' by practitioners themselves. Communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), many of which already existed, found ways to connect globally as well as locally (Rio de Janeiro Exploratory Practice Group, 2021). The pivot to online working in 2020 brought many challenges as well as benefits in terms of international connections, bringing different interpretations of inclusivity, diversity and interculturality. I conclude by arguing that our educational contexts may shape classroom inquiry, but this 'shaping' is dynamic and ever-changing: diverse participants bring different cultural expectations, and including a range of viewpoints, interacting inter-culturally, aids social cohesion in our globalized world.
References
Allwright, D. & Hanks, J. (2009). The Developing Language Learner: An introduction to Exploratory Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hanks, J. (2017). Exploratory Practice in Language Teaching: Puzzling about principles and practices. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kato, Y. & Hanks, J. (2021). Learner-initiated exploratory practice: Revisiting curiosity. ELT Journal, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab039
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitmate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
Rio de Janeiro Exploratory Practice Group. (2021). Why seek to understand life in the classroom? Experiences of the Exploratory Practice group. Available at http://www.puc-rio.br/ensinopesq/ccg/licenciaturas/download/ebook_why_seek%20to_understand_life_in_the_classroom_2021.pdf
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press.
Zeichner, K. M., & Noffke, S. E. (2001). Practitioner research. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 298–330). American Educational Research Association.
