Action research and the english as a foreign language practitioner: time to take stock

Abstract

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) experienced an energetic and enthusiastic campaign in favour of the practice of action research among teachers in the profession. Although there are now some positive signs that action research is practised by teachers working in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts, it is, as yet, not so clear that such practice is widespread. Yet, few educators deny the importance of action research for ‘bridging the gap’ between theory and practice, or the need for that gap to be bridged in all spheres of the profession. This article reports the result of a small-scale international survey into the knowledge, practices and opinions of EFL classroom teachers with respect to action research, and discusses reasons for and possible solutions to some of the difficulties and limitations of action research at this level