[also available through the Virginia
Adult Education Research Network
An overview of practitioner based inquiry can be found in Cassie
Drennon's
1994 NCLE Digest, Adult
Literacy Practitoners as Researchers In addition to
providing
helpful background information about inquiry, the Digest also provides
a useful list of resources for further reading.
Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australiain Research Constortium
- ALNARC represents a national collaboration between university-based
centres
in each state for research into adult literacy and numeracy. This
gives ALNARC a unique profile internationally. ALNARC builds on the
work
of the former Adult
Literacy
Research Network (Language Australia) which had research nodes in
the
states and territories.
ALNARC final
reports for the National Research Program (2001-2002); funded for
three
years by the Commonwealth of Australia, project reports attached to
this
link represent part of the activity for the final year of the
program.
Further details of previous adult literacy and numeracy research can be
found at http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/alnarc
Adult Literacy
Research:
Extending our practice and building networks - Memorial
University
of Newfoundland, June 17 - 21, 2003. This four day
Institute
will bring together up to 60 people who are involved in adult literacy
research in practice. The event builds on previous Canadian
consultations
about literacy research and will draw from current endeavors to
support
research in practice in Canada and elsewhere. The gathering will be of
interest to new and experienced researchers in the adult literacy
field, including literacy teachers, facilitators or program
coordinators
an university-based and independent researchers.
Extending
Practices... Building Networks: An Institute on Research in
Practice
in Adult Literacy - report of the international gathering of
literacy
practitioners engaged in research in practice, St. John's Newfoundland,
June, 2003.
Adult
Literacy Staff Development, a 1995 ERIC Trends and Issues Alert
by Susan Imel, also provides a list of resources pertinent to inquiry
as
well as to other forms of staff development processes.
American Educational Research
Association,
and its online
publications
page; includes resources, events, fellowships and legislative
information.
Areol,
action research and evaluation on line, as a web-based program
- a 14-week public course offered each semester as a public service by
Southern Cross University and the Southern Cross Institute of Action
Research.
Applications of
Participatory
Action Research with Students who have disabilities - ERIC
Digest,
July, 2003: Participatory action research, an approach in which
researchers
and stakeholders (those individuals who might benefit from the research
findings) collaboratively engage in the various stages of the research
process, provides for greater influence of stakeholders in the research
process and a higher level of support for the implementation of
research
findings in practice. This digest offers several examples of how
researchers
and practitioners are using participatory action research data to
select
effective practices and support change and innovation.
Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education
(CASAE)/L'Association
Canadienne pour l'Etude de l'Education des Adultes
(ACÉÉA)
: English
(language) resources to research in adult education
The Changes Project- full research report From 1997 - 1999,
adult learners from five Adult Basic Education programs in
western
Massachusetts conducted a participatory action research project
focused
on the impact of welfare reform, immigration reform and the
changing
nature of work on 620 of their fellow adult learners. The work of
the project paints a picture of the impact of these three issues
on the lives of adult learners at these five programs.
Researchers
make recommendations for ABE programs, fellow learners,
legislators
and policy makers. The Changes Project was a project of the
Western
Regional Resource Center of the Massachusetts SABES System at
Holyoke
Community College and was funded by the Field Initiated Grant
Studies
Program of the Office for Educational Research and Improvement at US
DOE.
(The URL for this project has changed several times.
The
Changes Project - Research and Learning in Western
Massachusetts,
an article by Alex Risley Schroeder giving an account of students
participating
in action research into issues affecting their own lives, appearning in
Field
Notes, (summer 2000)
In addition to the report, the project developed two booklets:
Voices
Making Change (1997) based on early data gathered, and Out on a Limb
(2000) focusing specifically on the impact of welfare reform. The
project also produced a video on the process used in conducting group
analysis with adult learner researchers which is available for a cost
of $5.00. The video and limited hard copies of the report are
available
from SABES at Holyoke Community College. For more information
about
ordering, you can send an email to Alex
Risley Schroeder.
Classroom
Action Research, from the Madison, (Wisconsin) Metropolitan
School
District's staff and organizational development site: "The mission of
the Staff
& Organization Development Team is to ensure student and staff
success through the application of continuous improvement standards and
practices to the work of MMSD employees and to the systems and
processes
within which they do their work by providing on-going
training/development,
facilitation, and consultation which enable MMSD employees to achieve
increasingly
better results in terms of the mission and objectives of the district
and
its schools, support systems, programs and services."
(May 15/02 - the links off the mail page seem to be down; a search
of the site, however, yields these
resources for Classroom Action Research.
Contextualizing
Research in Manitoba: Where are we going? What are we doing? -
overview of community-based literacy programs work with researchers
into
identification of research needs, development of obkective, outcomes
and
frameworks for considering research in Manitoba. Also includes
useful
background information about qualitative literacy research
methodologies.
Curriculum Inquiry
- An Education Journal from The Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education
Dancing
in the Dark - report on practitioner research in
British Columbia, Canada.
Designing
a
feminist action research project- A guide from the Centre for Research
on Violence Against Women and Children for community groups,
organizations,
advocates and others wanting to find out more about action research and
how it can be used to meet the needs of community problems and issues.
Developing adult teaching and learning:
Practitioner guides - Responding to people's lives (Barton
and Appleby)
Directory of
Canadian
Adult Literacy Research in English - comprehensive database
containing
Canadian research in adult literacy from 1994, as well as research in
progress.
Developed by the Foundation for Educational Renewal
Education-line
- freely accessible database of the full text of conference papers,
working
papers and electronic literature which supports educational research,
policy
and practice.
Educational
Research: Resources and Examples - compendium of reports about
and/or sites detailing a range of participatory research projects.
Educational
Researcher on
line - journal of the American
Educational
Research Association available by subscription.
Engaged
scholarship/action research - The Swearer Center for Public
Service
(at Brown University) believes that Action Research is an effective and
innovative way to connect academic study with the vital concerns
confronting
our nation and the world. This page provides a practical history of
action
research and some resources for developing action research programs.
ESOL research at the University of Leeds
including information about the ESOL Research Group at Leeds,
instructions for joining the ESOL-Research email list and links to
other organisations with an ESOL connection.
Ethnography
for classrooms: constructing a reflective curriculum for literacy,
Mary Hamilton, Curriculum Stuides, Volume 7, Number 3, 1999.
FieldWorking,
Second Edition, by Bonnie Stone Sunstein and Elizabeth
Chiseri-Strater.-
site includes an overview of features of this textbook and addresses
research
skills and strategies essential to successful fieldworking.
A
Framework to Encourage and Support Practitioner Involvement in Adult
Literacy
Research in Practice in Canada - Jenny Horsman and Mary Norton
Focus
on Basics - Volume 1, Issue A, February, 1997 - What is
research?
Articles and reflections about research, inquiry and teacher and
learner
knowledge.
Focused on Practice
- A Framework for Adult Literacy Research in Canada, 2007
A
Gathering about literacy research in practice - Bearing
blossons...Sowing
seeds, a gathering about literacy research in practice. July
24-27,
2001, University of Alberta, Edmonton. This three day gathering brought
together people involved in adult literacy research in practice; it
built
on previous Canadian consultations about literacy research and drew
from
current endeavours to support research in practice in Canada and
elsewhere.
Harvard Education Letter
Research
Online - bimonthly newsletter, covers timely topics in
dept
and explores issues from the perspectives of both research and
practice.
Harvard Graduate
School
of Education News and Views - including research news updates
Imprints - the Newsletter of Literacy, BC - special
issue on research in practice (Volume 9, Number 2, November,
2003)
Inquiry
and
Action: A PLAN FOR ADULT EDUCATION STAFF AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
IN
VIRGINIA - (from the introduction) "This report lays forth a
conceptual
and structural framework for adult education staff development in
Virginia.
It recommends to Virginia adult educators and policymakers a set of
structures
to support staff development activities and then offers a philosophy to
consistently guide activities within those structures. An
Implementation
Guide accompanies this report to assist administrators and staff
development
facilitators in carrying out the proposed plan for staff development.
More
than establishing policy, the report offers a vision for adult
educators
which, if brought to fruition, may enormously enhance Virginia's
effectiveness
in serving adult learners."
Inquiry tools for teachers - from the Coalition
for Essential Schools' IITIC (Improving Instruction Through Inquiry
and Collaboration) Project through which the Southern Maine Partnership
and the CES Northwest Center each work with three local schools to
assess
and improve classroom instruction. The site required
registration;
includes numerous inquiry related resources.
Jack Whitehead's
action
research homepage - exploration of values and approaches
informing
action research activities, including links
to numerous additional resources.
Jean McNiff - a
place
for learning, sharing and creating new knowledge, developed by an earll
practitioner of and advocate for action research.
Lancaster
Poster Projects - wonderful graduate student projects
investigating
literacy practices in England; part of Lancaster University's larger
literacy
research site, The
Literacy and Research Group home page; see also The
Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University.
Becoming
expert: using ethnographies of everyday learning to inform the
education
of adults - Mary Hamilton, Literacy Research Group, Department of
Educational
Research, Lancaster University, UK.
Local
teachers tackle reflection - a report from the Providence
Journal about a summer learning opportunity for K-12 teachers
Learning
about participatory practices in adult literacy education -
reports
no teacher-driven research projects conducted in Alberta, Canada,
including
reference to approaches practitioners used, the processes in which they
engaged and the learning they derved from completing their
inquiries.
Learning
from
Practice
- Pennsylvania-based initative, "a systematic inquiry conducted by
teacher
researchers (or program directors, counselors,
coordinators or other stakeholders in the teaching/learning
environment)
to gather information about the ways programs operate, how they teach,
and how well their students learn. This information is gathered with
the
goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, and effecting
positive changes in the learning environment (and on educational
practices
in general) that improve student outcomes and the lives of those
involved."
Learning
to Learn: Impacts of the Adult Basic Education Experience
on the Lives of the Participants by Patty Bossort, Bruce Cottingham,
and
Leslie Garner - extended research into participants' views of the
strengths
and failures of adult education on their lives in Western Canada.
A
Life of Teaching: Reflections from Teachers in an Inquiry Group
- Sonia Nieto, Sonie Felix, and Karen Gelzinis, Penn GSE Perspectives
on
Urban Education, Volume 1, Issue 2, (Fall 2002)
Life
Long
Learning - a global colloquium - researchers' papers responding
to the notion of life long learning; excellent compendium of research
into
literacies and their uses.
Literacy
Inquiry Network - "The goal of the Literacy Inquiry
NetworK
or LINK is to promote literacy learning through dialogue and
collaborative
research among school and university teacher researchers." with thanks
to Cassie Drennon for bringing it to light. [7 July/03 - this first
link
is currently off-line] but do see - action
research spiral; part of the LINK work
LIVES OF CHANGE: An Ethnographic
Evaluation of Two Learner Centred Literacy Programs
The
Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning - "Lifelong learning is
critical for adults to be engaged citizens, active members of the labor
force, healthy, and informed consumers. Adults with limited
formal education, who left high school for what ever reason, are most
in need of opportunity and encouragement for continued learning.
However, the field of adult education has been limited by a lack of
research about literacy development during adulthood that would serve
to facilitate lifelong learning for this population. The Longitudinal
Study of Adult Learning project is breaking new ground by addressing
key questions about the literacy development, learning and life
experiences of low-education adults over time."
Making
Connections: a learners' action research project - In
action
research you investigate a question. The question we investigated was:
How do we build and maintain connections among learners? [From
Sandy
Middleton, Information and Communications Coordinator
Literacy BC, " [This is ] a product that came out of a research project
I coordinated with a group of learners ... We called it a newsletter
because
it was distributed as an insert in the regular Literacy BC newsletter.
It was a 10 page document, written in clear language, using cartoons
and
other graphics expressly drawn to represent themes of the research. It
was written for an audience of learners and represented the learners'
experience
in the project, especially the research process itself. We've had
comments from both
learners and practitioners who liked it.]
Maximising
the impact of practitioner research: A handbook of practical advice
(Hamilton, Davies and James) [developed from the NRDC's Practitioner-led
research initiative
2004 Midwest
Research-To-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing and Community
Education Hosted by Indiana University Purdue University at
Indianapolis (IUPUI)
in collaboration with Ball State University
2005 conference, and previous
Midwest Research-To-Practice Conferences: 1997, 2003.
Mini-Survey
of Research in Adult Education & Literacy - posting to the
National Literacy Advocacy List about responses to the question: What
5-10
research studies ever produced on any aspect of adult literacy do
you find most useful for purposes of guiding policy, management
and/or
practice? Direct link to the survey responses in PDF here.
National
Labsite
for Adult ESOL - a project of NCSALL
and Portland State University;
teachers
teach, learners learn, this activity is videotaped, coded, reflected
upon
and in time, made available to others for their input and response.
National Research and
Development
Centre for adult literacy and numeracy - UK's national centre
dedicated
to research and development on adult literacy, language and numeracy,
was
established as part of Skills for Life, the national strategy for
improving
adult literacy and numeracy skills. The Centre aims to improve practice
and inform policy through the generation of knowledge, by creating a
strong
research culture and by developing professional practice. check
the publications
page for information about Strategy 2003-2007, a process that
resembles
work that RI practitioners are attempting to do in our own
contexts.
The work also bears a resemblance to that of NCSALL's five year plans.
Networks
- An
On-Line Journal for Teacher Research This new journal offers
teachers
working in classrooms from pre-school to university a place to share
their
findings and learn from each other, and includes feature length
articles,
short reports of work in progress, book reviews, discussions on current
issues in teacher research, responses to published articles and
upcoming
events in teacher research. Articles will cover a wide range of issues
related to classroom teaching and learning, such as curriculum,
research
methodology, ethics and collaboration. Classroom teachers at all levels
will be involved in reviewing the manuscripts. The emphasis will be on
a reader-friendly writing style that gives a clear account of issues,
questions
and classroom inquiry.
An
Overview
of Action Research - from the Development and Dissemination
School
Initiative, an online resource for Educators of ELL Students. The
project is part of a partnership between New York City Board of
Education's
Office of Bilingual Education and the Education Alliance at Brown
University.
Its goal is to help New York's English-language learners (ELLs) acquire
both English-language and other skills and knowledge they will
need
to meet the New Standards that the Chancellor has established for all
students
in New York City.
[symposium ] Participatory
Action Research (PAR): Collaborating to
produce
worthwhile knowledge - paper focussing on how teachers, researchers and
educational advisors balance their different roles in participatory
action
research teams. (One of many papers archived on the Australian
Association for Research in Education site).
PARnet -
"Based
at Cornell University in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of central
New
York State, PARnet serves an international group of students, faculty,
and other practitioners who share a commitment to promoting high
standards
of intellectual and social integrity in doing social research for
social
change."
Portraits
of
literacy: Critical Issues in Family, Community and School Literacies
- July 7 - 10, 2002, University of British Columbia. Strong
research
and practice components; many papers online and many due to be posted
in
proceedings, as well.
‘Possible
Selves’: Girls and Their Mothers Research Own Lives -
intergenerational
research project; part of What
Kids Can Do.
Practitioner
Dissemination
and Research Network of the National Center for the Study of
Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL): PDF document, evaluation of the
now defunct PDRN.
Practitioner-Led Research Initiative (PLRI)
projects - publication from the NRDC summarizing
practitioner-led research implemented from 2004-6.
Practitioner
Research - topical listing from a larger
subject index for Focus on Basics, a NCSALL quarterly journal.
Primer
on Social Science Inquiry, part of WNET's
Learning Adventures inCitizenship ADVENTURES IN CITIZENSHIP, a site
containing
Web-based learning activities designed to allows teachers, parents, and
kids to learn more about and participate in their own communities. The
site also includes links to resources found at the Exploratorium
Institute for Inquiry, "which provides workshops, programs,
on-line
support, and an intellectual community of practice affording science
reform
educators a deep and rich experience of how inquiry learning looks and
feels."
Qualitative
Research
Websites - links from The
University of East Anglia, one of of many of ERIC'S resources on
action
research.
Recognizing
the Knowledge of Young People: An Interview with Michelle
Fine and Maria Elena Torre on Youth Action Research, from What
Kids Can Do.
Reflective
Teaching Practice in Adult ESL Settings - Digest by
MaryAnn
Cunningham Florez
Research
agendas
from the National Institute for Literacy, including the most
recent
National Plan for Research and Development in Adult Education and
Literacy
(2001) .
Research
and Practice in Adult Literacy - (RaPAL), a site that has come
and gone online, but an entity which has consistently provided
information,
publications and hands on experience to learners and practitioners in
the
UK: "RaPAL campaigns for the rights of all adults to have access to the
full range of literacies in their lives...RaPAL encourages a broad
range
of collaborative and reflective research involving all participants in
literacy work as partners. We support democratic practices in adult
literacy
work and believe that a learning democracy can only be achieved if
teaching,
learning and research are kept together. A dynamic relationship between
research and practice keeps the meaning of literacy open and responsive
to the variety of changing social contexts and practices that exist in
our society. We recognise the role of professional development in this
process and of activities which enable learners to make their views
known,
in all media. As we see it, students are central to a learning
democracy
and their participation in the decision-making processes of practice
and
research is essential."
Research, researchers and teachers - a series of three articles
from TESOL
Matters, by Simon Borg:
Research
in the Lives of TESOL Professionals Vol. 13 No.
1
(December 2002/January/February 2003)
Teachers'
Involvement in TESOL Research Vol. 13 No.
2
(March/April/May 2003)
Teachers,
Researchers, and Research in TESOL: Seeking Productive Relationships
Vol. 13 No. 3 (June/July/August 2003)
Research
as Staff Development: A Facilitator's Guide - a new component
of
the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center's website is for adult
literacy
programs and organizations interested in using inquiry groups and
research
methods in their program improvement efforts. The guide provides all
the
basic materials and information to implement practitioner research as
staff
development. The process is organized into four meetings: Coming Up
With
A Research Question, Collecting Research Data, Analyzing Research Data,
and Making Our Research Knowledge Public. It includes the steps
to
facilitate each meeting, handouts for all the activities, and links to
teachers' research projects and other resources.
Ronna Spacone, former VAERN coordinator, developed this extensive
website.
VAERN was funded in 1998-2000 by a grant to the Arlington Education and
Employment Program (REEP) from the Virginia Department of
Education.
-- Susan Joyner, Director Adult
Learning
Resource Center
RESEARCH
/ Centre for Language and Literacy - University of
Technology,
Syndney/ a research centre that focuses on the areas of language,
literacy
and numeracy education and research. Centre members are also involved
in
policy advice, consultancies and training for different educational and
professional bodies, workplaces and State and National agencies and
institutions.
Research
Community
Needs Voices of Classroom Teachers - Dr. Arif Altun Touts Potential
Role of Action Research; somewhat problematic in its implication/tone,
but also linked to a paper by David Nunan. Another doctor in the
academy considers practice in research.
Research
in Action: Teachers, Projects, and Technology by Heide Wrigley,
Literacy Links Volume 8, No. 3, June 2004. What counts as
research, why does it matter and what does it mean?
Research in Practice in
Adult
Literacy - Canadian-based site, designed to provide
resources
and access to communication with other researchers in practice; the
site
is in development - give your input through the site's online survey.
Reports for the Research-in-Practice Project are
posted on the RiPAL-BC website and
can be downloaded free of charge (http://ripal.literacy.bc.ca/completed.html).
Reports include: Make it Real: Participatory Action Research with Adult
Learners by Dee McRae, See Me: Use of Personal Narrative in the
Classroom by Paula Davies, Catching Our Breath: Collaborative
Reflection-on-Action in Remote-Rural BC by Anne Docherty, From Concrete
to Abstract: The benefits of Using a Guided Reflective Writing
Technique by Leonne Beebe, Walking Alongside: Youth-Adult Partnerships
in Making Change by Melanie Sondergaard
Research in Practice Seminar Edmonton, October 24th to 26th
Exploring
Tensions and Possibilities for Research in Practice: Notes towards a
presentation!
Jenny Horsman - notes from an Edmonton seminar.
Researcher
index; subject and author index of research projects organised
and posted by the National
Literacy
Trust. Rich resource gateway.
Research, reports and policy on
adult literacies from Scotland and beyond from Adult
Literacies Online
Research
to Practice: Guidelines for Planning Action Research Projects
by Nancy Padak and Gary Padak
Resources for
Feminist
Research - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Student Research for Action,
Supporting students as action researchers - from What Kids Can Do
TAMING
THE RESEARCH BEAST - Research Methods in TESL and
Language
Acquisition
Teacher
Action Research as a Tool for Equity and Multicultural Education,
from the Multicultural
Pavilion
Teacher as Researcher Special Interest Group (SIG) -
Sponsored
by the American Education Research Association, the SIG is dedicated to
showcasing research on practice by teachers K-12 and the work of
teachers
involved in adult literacy settings, community colleges, or colleges
and
universities. A full list of interest sections of the AERA is also
available online.
Teacher Knowledge
Project
at the School for International Training - The Teacher Knowledge
Project
(TKP) trains co-facilitators for reflective inquiry groups, offering
teachers:
time, a community of colleaguesand a structure for examining
their
teaching in relation to their students' learning, and for making
thoughtful
changes in their teaching
Teacher
Research
Resources - from the College of Education, University of
Arizona
Teacher
research reports from the British Columbia Teachers Federation.
Triangle Journal: Educational
Action Research - Index to on-line journal reporting a range of
action
research projects; downloadable as PDF texts. (Ordering information for
hard copy format also available).
Voices
from the field - Third Quarter, 1999. Julia Nora, a former
adult
educator, currently teaching middle school ESOL, reports on her own
action
research. Her goals were "to assess the current level of performance in
my classroom, experiment with new ways of doing things, measure the
results,
and begin again as necessary."
What do literacy students think being
literate is? Andrea Pheasey 2002
What goes on here?
Practitioners Study the Practitioner-Student Relationship, Sandy
Zimmerman 2004
Find these three papers - and others - on the publications page
of the National
Center on Adult Literacy website, or print copies can be ordered
from
the NATIONAL CENTER ON ADULT LITERACY, University of Pennsylvania, 3910
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3111 USA; Telephone
215-898-2100;
Fax 215-898-9804; E-mail: ncal@literacy.upenn.edu
Invitations to Inquiry: Rethinking Staff Development in Adult
Literacy
Education, Susan L. Lytle, Alisa Belzer, & Rebecca Reumann
(October
1992) introduces a model for inquiry-centered staff development in
which
participants work collaboratively to conduct systematic inquiries at
their
program settings, critically analyze current theory and research from
field-based
perspectives, and make problematic the social, political, and cultural
arrangements that structure literacy learning and teaching in
particular
contexts. (TR92-02, 40 pages) $8.00 text, WORD, PDF
Developing the Professional Workforce for Adult Literacy
Education,
Susan L. Lytle, Alisa Belzer, & Rebecca Reumann (December 1993)
identifies
policy issues in adult education staff development and introduces
inquiry-based
staff development as a promising approach for enriching the
professional
workforce and rethinking both practice and research on practice in
adult
literacy. (PB92-02, 11 pages) $4.00 text, WORD, PDF
Initiating Practitioner Inquiry: Adult Literacy Teachers,
Tutors,
and Administrators Research Their Practice, Susan L. Lytle, Alisa
Belzer,
& Rebecca Reumann (November 1993) focuses on the systematic inquiry
into daily practice by adult literacy workers whose questions and
methods
emerge from quite particularized, workplace contexts even while
addressing
the wider concerns in the field such as staff development. (TR93-11, 53
pages) $9.00 text, WORD, PDF
For more information concerning Rhode Island Inquiry Projects please
contact LR/RI
LR/RI
home
updated
February 8, 2008