Practitioner Inquiry in Literacy: Who Are the Scholars? What Are They Investigating?

• In Event: Practitioner Inquiry as a (Re)Imagined Space: Action Researchers’ Voices From the Field — Envisioning Possibilities

Abstract

Practitioner inquiry has been a focus in education for nearly three decades, yet despite the attention, there is scant systematic knowledge about its practice. This year’s AERA theme calls us to “build knowledge to support the quest for equitable educational opportunity,” and to learn from the “first-person experiences” of scholars in schools. The current study seeks to do just that - we conduct a content analysis to examine the scholarly inquiry of practitioners as they endeavor to improve literacy practices for their students. The findings from this study help us understand aspects of how practitioner action research have been supported and promulgated by the educational research community particularly in regards to professional organizations that publish practitioner-oriented journals.

Authors

• Maida A. Finch, Salisbury University

• Judith Franzak, Salisbury University

• Chelsea Tyndall, Salisbury University