To mark the end of the International Festival of Teacher-research in ELT, a panel of invited guests discuss further possible enhancements of the teacher-research movement.
How could teacher-research become better integrated into pre-service and in-service training, into Continuing Professional Development in general, and, more specifically, into the work of teacher associations? What contribution can teacher-research make to the wider field of ELT? And what kinds of support need to be put in place to nurture such developments?
The session proceeds via commentary from and discussion among the panel members, Harry Kuchah, Melba Libia Cárdenas, Amy Lightfoot, Richard Smith and Daniel Xerri, as well as interaction with the audience.
Read this recent interview with Richard Smith for more information about the International Festival of Teacher-research in ELT.
Date: Saturday 7 April.
About the speakers
Harry Kuchah is currently a lecturer in TESOL in the Department of Education, University of Bath. He has been involved in English language teacher education for 20 years and has held leading roles within local, regional and international teacher associations including CAMELTA-Cameroon, Africa TESOL, IATEFL and TESOL International Association. Harry’s research interests include language teacher education, teaching English to young learners and English-medium instruction.
Melba Libia Cárdenas is an associate professor of the Foreign Languages Department at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá campus. She has been involved in pre and in-service teacher education for many years. She is the editor of the PROFILE and HOW journals, edited in Colombia, which promote the publication of teacher-research.
Amy Lightfoot leads on the academic strategy and quality assurance of British Council teacher education projects and research programmes in India. She has been working in the field of English language education for eighteen years, including nine in South Asia. She has special interests in multilingual education, the use of digital platforms for professional development and the monitoring and evaluation of teacher competence and performance.
Richard Smith instigated the International Festival of Teacher-research in ELT and chairs its Steering Committee. Formerly coordinator of the IATEFL Research SIG (2011-2015), he has been academic adviser to several teacher-research mentoring schemes in Latin America and South Asia. Recent relevant publications include Champion Teachers: Stories of Exploratory Action Research and A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research (both published online by the British Council).
Daniel Xerri is a lecturer in TESOL at the University of Malta. He sits on TESOL International Association’s Research Professional Council and between 2015 and 2017 he was the joint coordinator of IATEFL's Research SIG. His most recent books are The Image in English Language Teaching (2017, ELT Council), and Teacher Involvement in High-stakes Language Testing (2018, Springer).