Transformative Learning: English Language Teachers’ Experience of Engagement in Classroom Research in Singapore

Abstract

This qualitative study, situated within an interpretivist paradigm, hypothesized that teachers who engage in their own classroom research are more likely to undergo changes to their habits of mind regarding their pedagogical practices, thus experiencing transformative learning. Twelve English language teachers from Singapore primary and secondary schools, who had received research funding and completed their research projects, participated in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. The teacher-researchers’ research studies were found to be student-focused. Their research process was time-consuming and arduous, but their learning experience was emotional. The findings also revealed that teacher-researchers’ research experience from participating in a research project had had an impact on their teaching practices, on their learning, and on their students’ learning and engagement as well as on the educational community. These findings offer evidence that teacher-researchers adopt a certain stance of inquiry towards teaching and learning as a result of engaging in classroom research and that their pedagogical practices have been transformed through the adoption of the habit of having an inquiry stance, and through the adoption of the habit of sharing successful pedagogical practices with others.