A core tenet of fully inclusive practitioner research like exploratory practice (EP) is sustainability: How can practitioners create a sustainable reflective practice that supports rather than leads to exhaustion? To address this concern, EP scholars (e.g., Allwright & Hanks, 2009) have looked to 'potentially exploitable pedagogic activities' (PEPAs), familiar classroom strategies and activities that teachers can adapt for reflective practice. Yet, identifying existing pedagogical tools in one's classroom can be difficult for instructors new to EP, as they are asked to expand the lens of their teaching repertoire to consider not only how their pedagogies support student learning, but also how these pedagogies can serve as resources for classroom inquiry. Indeed, becoming aware of the different learning affordances in our pedagogies takes time to develop (Slimani-Rolls & Kiely, 2019) and can be challenging for novice language teachers especially (Crane, 2015). Over the years, lists of useful PEPAs (Allwright & Hanks, 2009; Hanks, 2017; Hanks, 2019) and recounts of individual teachers' journeys in developing exploratory activities (e.g., Hanks, 2017; Miller & Cunha, 2017; Slimani-Rolls & Kiely, 2019) have provided practitioners with helpful models for exploring one's classroom through existing resources.
This presentation expands on this work by describing a crowd-sourcing initiative developed in 2021 to gather and share information from language teachers across the globe about their favorite PEPAs. With the goal of helping educators to expand their understanding of their own classrooms as resources for reflective practice, this project provides an open space for practitioners to share their experiences developing and using successful PEPAs, including the specific learning affordances various pedagogical tools can provide. Additionally, this initiative targets highly creative teachers (including teacher educators) and welcomes instructors who have not yet done EP but who have interesting and imaginative ideas for researching their classrooms to contribute.
References:
Allwright, D., & Hanks, J. (2009). The developing language learner: An introduction to exploratory practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Crane, C. (2015). Exploratory practice in the FL teaching methods course: A case study of three graduate student instructors' experiences. L2 Journal, 7(2), 1–23.
Hanks, J. (2017). Exploratory Practice in language teaching: Puzzling about principles and practices. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hanks, J. (2019). From research-as-practice to exploratory practice-as-research in language teaching and beyond. Language Teaching, 52(2), 143–187.
Miller, I. K., & Cunha, M. I. A. (2017). Exploratory practice in continuing professional development: Critical and ethical issues. In K. Dikilitaş (Ed.), Facilitating in-service teacher training for professional development(pp. 61–85). Pennsylvania: IGI Global.
Slimani-Rolls, A., & Kiely, R. (2019). Exploratory Practice for continuing professional development: An innovative approach for language teachers. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
