Investigating Teacher Development through Exploratory Practice in Algerian Secondary Education EFL Classes

Abstract

This study fits in the area of L2 classroom research. It attempted to address the topic of teacher-research through the framework of Exploratory Practice for teacher development in Algerian Secondary School EFL classrooms. The study had two main objectives (1) examining the significance of EP as an approach to teachers’ PD in addition to exploring the constraints encountered by the informants during their EP experiences; and (2) exploring the sustainability of doing EP over long timeframe and the factors that influenced it. Our investigation adopted a qualitative case study paradigm, thus, two qualitative research tools (semi-structured interviews and open ended questionnaires) were utilized to collect data from four teachers of English language at two different Secondary Schools in the area of Bouira. The study ran for five months consisting of the first and the second semesters of the academic year 2015/2016. All our informants participated in an EP workshop/training before they could embark on the EP project. The necessity of organizing an EP workshop/training might be justified by the fact that all our participants were unfamiliar with the concept of teacher-research when they accepted to take part in this study