English language teachers becoming action researchers: A sociocultural analysis and questions of sustainability

This qualitative case study explores the impact of an Action Research (AR) program on the participating English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) teachers in Australia. Rooted in social constructivist epistemologies, the study draws on sociocultural theory, in particular theories of cognition, identity, perezhivanie (subjective perception), mediated agency and ecology following Vygotsky (1994), van Lier (2004, 2008, 2011), Johnson (2009a, 2015) and Golombek (2015). The study investigated how the teachers experienced the AR program, how they negotiated action-researcher identities as a result, and the impact the program has had on ELICOS colleges and the ELICOS sector, from teachers and managers' perspectives. A key aspect of exploration was the sustainability of an AR approach for teacher professional development within the ELICOS environment.A detailed and context-specific illustration of the micro, meso and macro forms of impact of the AR program was co-constructed with teacher and manager participants through a qualitative survey, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings suggest that teachers have benefited in a variety of ways from AR, developing greater awareness about their teaching, about the role of research, and about their position within their colleges and the ELICOS sector. The teachers also experienced identity shifts as they navigated new research and leadership roles, and received varying levels of support from their colleges and managers. Teacher-researcher identity negotiation is viewed as dynamic, situated and complex, and intricately connected to the teachers' emotional experiences and enactment of agency. While the AR program has the potential to affect wider, sector-level teacher professional development and change common perceptions of research in ELICOS, such shifts are currently constrained by certain features of the sector, such as its transience and status.The study makes a contribution to theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of second language teacher education, teacher cognition and teacher identity research, and makes suggestions for further lines of research inquiry. In terms of practical implications, a model for sustaining the benefits of AR is proposed. The model suggests strategies for celebrating existing teacher AR while also encouraging on-going teacher research engagement to support practice