1st Edition

The Routledge Handbook of Language Teacher Action Research

Edited By Anne Burns, Kenan Dikilitaş Copyright 2025
436 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

436 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

436 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The Routledge Handbook of Language Teacher Action Research is an authoritative and innovative treatment of language teacher action research (LTAR) as a growing research field. Edited by two global thought leaders in LTAR, it features 34 original thematic contributions from a global range of experts at the cutting edge of the field, providing a comprehensive survey not found in any other... Read more

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Contributors

1. Language Teacher Action Research: An Introduction

Anne Burns and Kenan Dikilitaş

Part I: Professional Impact

2. Research Knowledge and Skills

Joseph Siegel

3. Striving for Positive Change in Second Language Education: A Consideration of Critical Action Research

Gregory Hadley

4. Creativity in Language Teacher Action Research

Darío Luis Banegas and Luis S. Villacañas de Castro

5. The Impact of Practitioner Research: What Teachers and Students Gain from Doing Research

Judith Hanks

6. Publishing Action Research by Teachers of English

Melba Libia Cárdenas

7. Developing Professional Ethics for Action Research

Roger Barnard

Part II: Pedagogical Impact

8. Action Research for Teaching Grammar

Melissa Reed and Phil Chappell

9. Student Engagement through Action Research

Kenan Dikilitaş

10. Digital Data-led Reflections on Language Classroom Interaction: A Collaborative Action Research Study

Olcay Sert and Carolina Jonsson

11. Researching Mobile Technologies in Language Teaching

Nicky Hockly

12. Online Learning/Hybrid Learning and Action Research

John I. Liontas

13. Using Corpus Approaches in Language Teacher Action Research

Fiona Farr

14. Action Research and Language Assessment

Frank Giraldo and Daniel Murcia Quintero

Part III: Personal Impact

15. Action Research and Language Teacher Agency

Vahid Bahrami and Xuesong (Andy) Gao

16. Action Research as an Avenue for Exploring Teacher Wellbeing

Tammy Gregersen

17. Teacher and Learner Autonomy through Action Research

Rhian Webb and Simon Mumford

18. Action Research into Learner and Teacher Motivation

Richard J Sampson and Richard S Pinner

19. The Centrality of Reflection in Action Research: A Neglected Issue

Le Van Canh

20. Language Teacher Identity and Action Research: Insights and Implications

Gary Barkhuizen

21. Teacher Emotional Development and Action Research

Stephanie King and Christina Gkonou

22. Building Language Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs for and through Action Research

Mark Wyatt

23. Action Research and Language Teacher Cognition: Reflexive, Intentional, Praxical

Anne Feryok

Part IV: Educational Impact

24. Looking From the Outside In – Action Research in Initial Language Teacher Education

Malba Barahona and Stephen Darwin

25. In-Service Teacher Education and Action Research

Anne Burns

26. Institutional Development through Action Research

Emily Edwards and Neville John Ellis

27. Unpacking the Roles of Action Research Facilitators

Rui Yuan, Kailun Wang, and Hong Zhang

28. Exploring the Interface between Difficult Circumstances and Action Research in English Language Teaching

Amol Padwad

29. Action Research for Social Justice in Language Education

Melina Porto

Part V: Teacher Voices

30. The Transformative Power of Action Research on A Teacher’s Practices, Identity, and Career

Peter Brereton

31. My Story Matters: Engaging in Action Research Inquiries in Poland and The United States

Luis Javier Pentón Herrera

32. Fantastic Shining Consequences of Practicing Action Research in a Public-School EFL Classroom

Roxana Carolina Perca Chagua

33. From Action Research To Higher Degree Research: An Ecological Perspective

Bianka Malecka

34. Looking to the Future in Language Teacher Action Research

Anne Burns and Kenan Dikilitaş

Index

Biography

Anne Burns is Honorary/Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales, Curtin University, the University of Sydney, and The Education University, Hong Kong. She is also Professor Emerita at Aston University, Birmingham. She is acknowledged internationally for her work in advocating and promoting action research in TESOL/applied linguistics through extensive publication and research. Beginning in the early 1990s, she has facilitated and mentored language teacher action research in many different countries across the world.

Kenan Dikilitaş is Professor of University Pedagogy at the University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, in the Department of Education within the Faculty of Psychology. He has co-authored two monographs on action research and exploratory practice and has co-edited several volumes featuring contributions from reachers and teacher educators, highlighting insights from teachers and teacher educators based on their classroom experiences. His published articles in international journals focus on action research and how language teachers develop their teaching practices and professional identity through research engagement.

“This outstanding anthology presents a multidimensional overview of approaches to action research. Drawing on research and practice in many different contexts the collection redefines the nature, scope and impact of action research and highlights the contribution it can make to teacher and institutional development and to student learning.”

Jack C Richards, University of Sydney, Australia

“This landmark handbook provides a thorough treatment of language teacher action research, showcasing its profound impact on teachers’ professional practice and development. Unparalleled in comprehensiveness, this volume is a seminal publication that advances our understanding of action research in language education. It provides an indispensable resource for practitioners, researchers, and teacher educators.”

Icy Lee, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

“This Handbook marks an important milestone in our understanding of action research in the field of second-foreign language teaching. The 32 chapters detail a trajectory from early perceptions that often marginalized the work as ‘teachers fixing their teaching', to our present understanding of the methodology as part of a heuristic paradigm (Freeman & Cameratti 2019) which repositions teachers to generate unique knowledge about their work. The editors have done an excellent job of laying out the different spheres of impact of language teacher action research—professional, pedagogical, personal, and educational— in a volume that establishes its variety and breadth of productive benefits to the research, policy, and practitioner communities.”

Donald Freeman, Marsal School of Education, University of Michigan, USA