Engagement in Exploratory Action Research to Improve Teaching Practice in EFL Writing

Despite the widely-accepted role of teachers’ research engagement in their professional development, classroom-based action research conducted by in-service teachers in their own contexts is still a rare practice. Contributing to the literature on exploratory action research (EAR), this study documents how an English language teacher engages in EAR in her own context to address a puzzling situation related to teaching paragraph writing to ninth grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in a Turkish state school. After receiving training on conducting EAR as part of a professional development module she was enrolled in, the teacher researcher adopted a two-stage EAR cycle, involving exploration and action. Accordingly, the teacher researcher explored how instructional changes affect the students, while gathering multiple sources of qualitative data in the recurring stages. Lesson observations, student interviews, and the teacher’s reflective report indicated that not all instructional changes were effective; for example, rather than collaborative group writing, differentiated instruction on writing worked well in terms of enhancing students’ writing engagement. The positive changes were associated with students’ attitudes towards writing, reduced writing anxiety, and perceived vocabulary gains from the teacher researcher’s perspective. Besides, the reflective report of the teacher researcher pointed out doing EAR supported professional development by stimulating reflective practice and enhancing instructional awareness and classroom rapport.