Here, I am in the process of collecting interesting links to exploratory practice articles but over the next few weeks I will be referring to parts of these in my blog posts. Exploratory Practice is an approach to teaching and doing research which is much more collaborative than more traditional applied linguistics research and puts quality of life in the classroom and understanding classrooms at the top of the agenda.
The Exploratory Practice Centre:
http://www.letras.puc-rio.br/epcentre/epcentre.htm
Introductory Readings
http://www.letras.puc-rio.br/oldepcentre/readings/ep_reading_contents.htm
This is an article which I came across which came out of Jane Rose’s MA thesis which she wrote in Birmingham. Understanding relevance in the language classroom.
Teachers and Learners: Investigating the Language Classroom : Cristina Pinto da Silva
http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/artigo8321.pdf
On being a teacher:management skills versus leadership qualities: Herbert Puchta
Herbert Puchta, the current president of IATEFL gave this talk in Budapest at our conference in October 2009. He talked about creating a classroom that students want to belong to and showed two extracts from the film “The Freedom Writers” to illustrate what he meant. It was a powerful, engaged and motivating talk and raised issues about the quality of classroom life.
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2009/sites/iatefl/files/session/documents/Puchta%20upload_0.pdf
Mark,
thank you for these links!
Regards,
Marija
glad you found them useful Marija. Dick Allwright supervised my MA thesis in Lancaster in 1992 and I’ve really enjoyed following all the exploratory practice work ever since!
Being a teacher here in the states, I always find it very interesting to read about what other educators do in other parts of the world. These links are excellent. You know, I think it really is the same everywhere: people want to learn. It is our job to keep it simple and guide them through. I love it
I’m a tennis coach. I’m a believer that to be successful in our field of teaching, we should also continue to learn. Thanks for sharing these links. They were very helpful.
Great blog you have here. This is definitely a great way to educate children and teenagers. Please post more of these interesting links and blogs.
Hi Mark
Just came across your post on Exploratory Practice – in case it’s of interest I’d like to draw attention to a video I recorded of Dick talking to research students at my university (Warwick) in June 2009. It’s at:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/intranet/elt_sm/conference09/dick_allwright/research_student_seminar
Best wishes
Richard
Hi Richard,
thanks ever so much for that. Dick was my dissertation supervisor at Lancaster and I love his work and would like to do a PhD in Exploratory Practice when I get round to it one day. Next time I’m back in Wolverhampton I’ll get in touch, I’d really like to meet up and have a look at the archive. Am really enjoying watching the video you made. Thanks again.
all the best
Mark
Hi Mark,
I am really enjoying reading your blog. I am quite new to EP, but finding it so helpful in researching my own classroom and I think my learners are really enjoying it too.
Thanks for all the links too. I am currently writing my MA dissertation about the contribution that EP can make to professional development so its helpful to have so many links.
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