Breakfast of Innovators: Action Research, Scholarship, and Bilingual Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Action Research in Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

In this paper, we investigated action research as mediating early career bilingual education teachers’ learning. We present a longitudinal case study of first-year bilingual education teachers as action researchers. Three theories underpinned our study: complex adaptive systems, activity theory, and diffusion of innovations theory. We posed two questions: (1) How did action research mediate teachers’ learning? (2) How did teacher action researchers share knowledge (innovations) gleaned from their inquiry in their school communities? Findings included the following: (a) Action research mediated teacher learning by allowing teachers to understand learning from students’ perspective and strategies such as modeling and providing opportunities are crucial for self-regulation, and (b) Participants shared information informally via conversations with teacher peers, instructional coaches, and principals.

Authors

• Sandra T. Acosta, Texas A&M University

• Xuewei Chen, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Heather Goltz, University of Houston-Downtown