Developing Voice: Teacher Research in Bilingual Classrooms

Abstract

This paper explores the potential contributions that teacher research can make to enhance the practice of teachers who work with linguistically diverse students. The main premise to be discussed in this paper is that teacher research can serve as a tool for empowerment in that it can help teachers voice their knowledge and promote change in linguistically diverse settings. The discussion centers on the experiences of the Bilingual Teachers Research Forum, composed of a group of bilingual teacher-researchers in an urban setting. Six essential elements that have given cohesion to the research experience of Forum members are analyzed, namely: process, voice and dialogue, context, community of collaboration, problem solving and theorizing, and transformation. The author considers how teacher research raised teachers' awareness about the political dimension of their own practices and how these teachers have taken steps to improve their classroom practice and school settings. The author proposes that teacher research in bilingual settings is beneficial and powerful because it can encourage teachers to think and act like “transformative intellectuals” (Giroux, 1988) in their politicized work environments.