Teachers researching their own practice

Unfortunately, despite encouragement from the literature, it seems that many teachers only rarely engage in action research. For this to change, further support may be required from in-service language teacher education courses that include an action research component. In this paper, I report on one such course: an in-service Bachelor of Arts TESOL run by a British university for the local Ministry of Education in a Middle Eastern country. Using qualitative case study methodology, I identify the achievements of four teachers who engaged in action research as part of their studies on this course and draw on their own words as they reflect on the benefits of researching their own practice. Conclusions focus on elements of the programme that may have helped them.