Researching teacher-consultancy via Exploratory Practice

This paper provides much of the theoretical background to Exploratory Practice (EP) that it was not possible to cover in the introductory paper to this collection. It also illustrates how the framework of EP can be invoked in the context of doctoral research. I report and comment on my reflexive doctoral study, which focuses on my own professional development as an EP teacher-consultant (Miller, 2001). I added an academic investigative dimension to my already reflexive practitioner research with a view to creating opportunities for working towards enriched understandings of the unfolding of two longitudinal teacher-consultancy encounters in which I worked, within EP (Allwright, 1992–2002), individually, as an EFL consultant to/with two practising EFL teachers. I claim that my paradoxically reflexive positioning in both my practitioner and academic research practices combined to enhance my understandings of the ‘unrepresentable ’ management of reflection in the sessions. I captured the interactional delicacy of the evolving teacher–consultant relationship through longitudinal topic-footing frame micro-analyses.