Abstract accepted for ‘Voices from the TESOL classroom’ series
A few weeks ago, myself and two of my learners submitted an abstract for the series ‘Voices from the TESOL classroom’. I was really excited about this series as they were specifically asking for contributions between teachers and academics, or teachers and learners. One thing I have wanted to do for some time is to find a way for the learners who have worked with me to disseminate their findings, and for their actual voices to be heard (rather than through my writing, presentations etc.). I have had grand ideas of producing videos and other such things, but never quite managed to do it. This series therefore seemed like the ideal opportunity to try and fulfil this ambition. And it was accepted, which I am very pleased about.
There is still a long way to go as it is a conditional acceptance (on the editors liking the final product), but it’s a start. So, now to get writing …
Thanks to Mariam Attia for posting it on LANTERN and thus alerting me to the call for abstracts in the first place!
Congratulations, Susan! 🙂 I am looking forward to reading the full chapter, too.
Congratulations Susan 🙂 Really interesting! Looking forward to reading the full chapter…
Congratulations Susan! Keep us posted about the outcome!
Wonderful 🙂
Where’s the Abstract? Can we see it? Already posted as an earlier thread?
Voices from the TESOL Classroom series: Book chapter proposal
Topic: EAP learners exploring their own language learning through Exploratory Practice
Intended Audience: Language learners, classroom teachers, teacher educators
Authors: Susan Dawson (teacher), Eshrag Almehdhar and Kan Zhang (learners)
This chapter explores the process and outcomes of using the principles of Exploratory Practice (Allwright & Hanks, 2009; Allwright, 2003, 2005) within a high stakes, 10-week, English for Academic Purposes class in a private language school in the UK. The class consisted of 16 postgraduate, international students who were hoping to access a fast-track pre-masters programme. The overall aims of the course were two-fold: prepare students for the IELTS exam, and introduce them to some of the academic skills that they would need for their masters’ studies. We focus on how we (teacher and learners) integrated working for understanding through exploring our puzzles about our language learning lives with the academic demands of the course.
Exploratory Practice (EP) is a form of inclusive practitioner research based on seven principles (Allwright and Hanks, 2009: 260) which prioritise quality of classroom life above efficiency of work, and understanding rather than problem-solving with a focus on collegiality and sustainability. Perhaps uniquely, it also includes the learners as key developing practitioners (ibid.: 2), encouraging them to set the agenda and investigate the issues that puzzle them about their language learning. By using everyday pedagogic activities for their investigations, learners can pursue their own interests and develop their own understandings while getting on with the work of learning. This section of the chapter will explore the principles of Exploratory Practice in more detail, setting it within a post-method framework (Kumaravadivelu, 2001).
In the narrative section, two learners (Eshrag and Kan) talk about the puzzles they decided to explore in their groups and why, what they did to try and understand those puzzles, some of the challenges they faced and the things that they learnt through exploring them. This is combined with the teacher’s (Susan) perspective on the practices of EP in this context. The section represents two of the groups in the class, one of which explored the puzzle ‘Why do I always speak English in wrong grammar although I know how to use grammar?’ (Eshrag’s group), and the other ‘Why does team 3 (which is close the door) always speak in Chinese?’ (Kan’s group). To explore these puzzles we mostly used normal EAP pedagogic activities such as writing and doing questionnaires and interviews, making and describing graphs and tables, and writing a report of our investigations. The work culminated with the groups doing poster presentations at a ‘learner conference’ held for other students in the centre.
The chapter concludes by discussing the extent to which EP offers a way of ‘expanding the space of the possible’ (Davis & Sumara, 2006: 135) for EAP learners.
Words: 463
References
Allwright, D. (2003). Exploratory Practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching. Language Teaching Research, 7(2), 113–141.
Allwright, D. (2005). Developing Principles for Practitioner Research: The Case of Exploratory Practice. The Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 353–366.
Allwright, D., & Hanks, J. (2009). The developing language learner: An introduction to Exploratory Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Davis, B., & Sumara, D. J. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. New York: Routledge.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001). Toward a postmethod pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 35(4), 537–560.