8 Teachers and researchers collaborating to develop effective language education: The project Observing Interlanguage
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Gabriele Pallotti
Abstract
This chapter presents an action research project conducted in primary and middle schools in northern Italy. School teachers and university researchers collaborate at all stages and levels. Initially, teachers conduct a needs analysis on their classes using the Interlanguage approach to language teaching, which consists in observing the pupils’ competences, processes and strategies in a positive way rather than just focusing on their errors and shortcomings. Didactic activities are then jointly designed to address these needs and to promote an inclusive language education in which all the students are involved regardless of their initial competences and linguistic background, performing numerous collaborative and meta-cognitive activities. Data are also collected at the beginning and end of the school year in order to assess the effectiveness of the intervention in the classes involved. The latter systematically outperform control classes in a number of dimensions, especially those having to do with effective communication and text organization. Both teachers and researchers discuss the results and then publish their findings and reflections in scientific articles and monographs, didactic materials and textbooks for teacher training in order to extend the reach of this approach to other contexts and communities.
Abstract
This chapter presents an action research project conducted in primary and middle schools in northern Italy. School teachers and university researchers collaborate at all stages and levels. Initially, teachers conduct a needs analysis on their classes using the Interlanguage approach to language teaching, which consists in observing the pupils’ competences, processes and strategies in a positive way rather than just focusing on their errors and shortcomings. Didactic activities are then jointly designed to address these needs and to promote an inclusive language education in which all the students are involved regardless of their initial competences and linguistic background, performing numerous collaborative and meta-cognitive activities. Data are also collected at the beginning and end of the school year in order to assess the effectiveness of the intervention in the classes involved. The latter systematically outperform control classes in a number of dimensions, especially those having to do with effective communication and text organization. Both teachers and researchers discuss the results and then publish their findings and reflections in scientific articles and monographs, didactic materials and textbooks for teacher training in order to extend the reach of this approach to other contexts and communities.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Addressing challenges in the classroom
- 1 Combining theory and practice: Findings from a collaborative project on oral task design 11
- 2 Improving second language education through Intensive German Weeks: An action research collaboration between teachers and researchers 29
- 3 An affordance-focused approach for working with authentic materials: A practice–research initiative 41
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Part 2: Learners as collaborative agents
- 4 Reciprocity and challenge in researcher–student collaborative labour in a multilingual secondary school 59
- 5 The organic processes of learning in an exploratory collaborative action research (CAR) project 71
- 6 Managing linguistic diversity in an Irish primary school: Reciprocal collaboration in practice and research 85
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Part 3: Collaborative research in professional development
- 7 Collaboration, reciprocity, and challenges: Professional development-in-practice 101
- 8 Teachers and researchers collaborating to develop effective language education: The project Observing Interlanguage 119
- 9 Learning to become an English teacher: Collaboration, context and the self 133
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Part 4: Collaborative research and national policy
- 10 From research to a national curriculum: The case of a lexical syllabus 151
- 11 Tensions in collaborative research with teachers in the context of language education policy change in Finland 165
- 12 National graduate schools in language education: Dimensions of collaboration and reciprocity 179
-
Afterword
- 13 An ethical perspective on collaborative research 197
- Contributors 207
- Index 211
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Addressing challenges in the classroom
- 1 Combining theory and practice: Findings from a collaborative project on oral task design 11
- 2 Improving second language education through Intensive German Weeks: An action research collaboration between teachers and researchers 29
- 3 An affordance-focused approach for working with authentic materials: A practice–research initiative 41
-
Part 2: Learners as collaborative agents
- 4 Reciprocity and challenge in researcher–student collaborative labour in a multilingual secondary school 59
- 5 The organic processes of learning in an exploratory collaborative action research (CAR) project 71
- 6 Managing linguistic diversity in an Irish primary school: Reciprocal collaboration in practice and research 85
-
Part 3: Collaborative research in professional development
- 7 Collaboration, reciprocity, and challenges: Professional development-in-practice 101
- 8 Teachers and researchers collaborating to develop effective language education: The project Observing Interlanguage 119
- 9 Learning to become an English teacher: Collaboration, context and the self 133
-
Part 4: Collaborative research and national policy
- 10 From research to a national curriculum: The case of a lexical syllabus 151
- 11 Tensions in collaborative research with teachers in the context of language education policy change in Finland 165
- 12 National graduate schools in language education: Dimensions of collaboration and reciprocity 179
-
Afterword
- 13 An ethical perspective on collaborative research 197
- Contributors 207
- Index 211
