Pupils with emotional and behavioural problems as action researchers in foreign language teaching

Abstract

Foreign language (FL) teachers, like most other teachers, are increasingly likely to experience conflict in their classrooms, which makes language teaching - an enormously complex process - yet more demanding. FL teachers need to know practical approaches to conflict prevention and resolution that are compatible with effective learning, but they often lack this knowledge, which necessarily affects their teaching quality and results. This often leads to teachers blaming students and to (even more) frustration on both sides. This article describes a 2 year project funded by the Austrian federal government in which FL teachers provide learning opportunities for difficult children which enable them to become action researchers in their lessons themselves, thus changing traditional patterns of teacher-pupil interaction. It stresses the importance of using ecosystemic methods that seek to include the pupils' perspectives, and discusses two examples of classroom action research modules that stem from this need.