Democratising knowledge through action research: theoretical reflections and challenges in the field

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article reflects on ways in which the use of participatory action research (PAR) in a study to improve the teaching of English as a second or additional language, promoted knowledge democracy. In the article, we pay special attention to how nine Senior Phase/Junior Secondary (Grade 7–9) school-teachers of English as a second or additional language, together with two researchers/the authors, reflected and identified factors that needed to be engaged with to improve teaching and make learning English meaningful to the Bafokeng children’s language, community values and ways of living. In developing the partnerships that were crucial for PAR, first, we acknowledged and affirmed how the teachers described and accounted for their teaching and, second, how together with the researchers, individually and collectively co-produced knowledge democratically about the teaching that was studied and how it could be improved. The argument is that without the partnerships that were developed and continuously constructed during field-work, the collaborative ways of identifying how to improve the teaching of English while recognizing language, values and ways of living they brought into lessons would have been impossible. Finally, the article reflects on the conditions that made the partnerships and roles played by all eleven participants in the study crucial in laying the foundations for meaningful professional development for the teachers.