The notion of practitioners co-researching their own learning and teaching activity has recently come to the fore. Yet in presenting the ideas of 'fully inclusive practitioner research' , epistemological challenges facing deep-rooted cultures of research and pedagogy emerge. In this talk, I consider work inspired by Exploratory Practice (EP) in different educational settings around the world. I ask: 'Who do we include as co-researchers?' and 'What are the theoretical, ethical, methodological and epistemological implications of co-production in research?' I posit that the field is undergoing an paradigm shift, moving from research, through research-as-practice, to exploratory practice-as-research . Drawing on work ongoing in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the UK, I examine the EP principles of prioritising understanding, quality of life, and puzzling collaboratively. I tease out connections between Exploratory Practice, Sticky Objects and Positive Psychology, with particular emphasis on issues of well-being, emotion and 'sticky objects' as pathways to Quality of Life through multimodal approaches to creative research and pedagogy. I conclude that Fully Inclusive Practitioner Research affords opportunities for rich, nuanced, co-created understandings of the processes of language learning, teaching and researching in Applied Linguistics, and I propose that we consider ways to draw in colleagues in other areas of AILA as we (language learners and teachers) engage in/with research.
References
Ahmed, S. (2014) The Cultural Politics of Emotion. (2nd Edn.) Croydon: Edinburgh University Press
Allwright, D. & Hanks, J. (2009) The Developing Language Learner: An introduction to Exploratory Practice. Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan
Hanks, J. (2017) Exploratory Practice in Language Teaching: puzzling about principles and practices. London: PalgraveMacmillan
Hanks, J. (2019). From research-as-practice to exploratory practice-as-research in language teaching and beyond. Language Teaching, 52(2), pp.143-187. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444819000016
Hanks, J. (2020) Co-production and multimodality: learners as co-researchers exploring practice. Educational Action Research https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2020.1812417
Kato, Y. & Hanks, J. (2021). Learner-initiated exploratory practice: Revisiting curiosity. ELT Journal, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab039
Mazgutova, D., & Hanks, J. (2021). L2 Learners' Perceptions of Their Writing Strategies on an Intensive EAP Course. Journal of Academic Writing, 11(1), 45-61. https://doi.org/10.18552/joaw.v11i1.566
MacIntyre, P.D., Gregersen, T. & Mercer, S. (Eds.) (2016) Positive Psychology in SLA. Bristol: Multilingual Matters
Wyatt, M. (2018) Language teachers' self-efficacy beliefs: An introduction. IN S. Mercer & A. Kostoulas (Eds.) Language Teacher Psychology. (122-140) Bristol: Multilingual Matters
