De-mystifying the nimbus of research: re-igniting practitioners' interest in exploring EAP

Abstract

Engagement in research is recognised as a transformative force for professional development in EAP. Consequently, for many EAP practitioners research and/or scholarship have been added as contractual requirements. However, many EAP professionals desist from engaging in this, as they wonder how to fit it into their workload. In this paper I consider a form of practitioner research, Exploratory Practice, which integrates research and pedagogy in sustainable investigations into practice. I discuss ways in which different EAP practitioners, in a range of international contexts, explore puzzles relevant to their professional development, and disseminate their understandings. Drawing on published studies and vignettes from EAP practitioners enacting Exploratory Practice, I examine the ways in which these activities dispel the nimbus surrounding traditional views of research. This includes conducting robust investigations, and providing multimodal presentations in the supportive atmosphere of BALEAP PIMs and Conferences. In doing so, practitioners enhance their understandings of pedagogy and contribute to the field as equally-valued theorisers, and meaning-makers in EAP.