a view informed by the problems of traditional literacy in a digital age

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Ronald Soetaert & Bart Bonamie
These constructions are very often co-constructed, they arise as
products of negotiation among participants. The distinctions between
theoreticians and practitioners, and researchers and teachers thus become
rather vague. Practitioners (teachers) also operate from theories about
education, society, and language teaching, even if they do not directly refer
to those theories. Although we could call them implicit theories with a small
T (compared with explicit theories with a capital T), they are also deeply
theoretical.
In this sense, teachers can be compared with anthropologists:
The educator as anthropologist must work to understand which cultural
materials are relevant to intellectual development. Then he or she needs
to understand which trends are taking place in our culture. Meaningful
intervention must take the form of working with these trends. (Papert,
1980, p. 32)
More and more teachers, encouraged by teacher educators, are reflecting on
their practice in a more systematic way. They are invited to become
researchers or at least ‘readers’ of research. As Good (1989, p. 35) states:
‘Professionals or teachers who are too busy to read are not professionals’.
Very often the teacher feels he or she is just a mere object of research
instead of a subject, an agent who takes part in the process of teaching. By
introducing the principle of ‘teacher-as-researcher’ and applying more
qualitative research methodologies, teachers can be involved in the research
process – ‘by conducting and reporting real educational inquiries in real
instructional settings’ (Harste, 1992, p. xii).
By introducing action research, teachers and teacher trainees become
involved in the process of data collecting, interpretation and evaluation of
their lessons (Somekh, 1999). Teachers will also be called upon to generate
hypotheses and test out suggested improvements: ‘It was no longer simply a
matter of producing materials for teachers to test in classrooms. It was also
a matter of fostering the development of teachers’ capacities for selfreflection’
(Elliott, 1991, p. 19).
The concept of ‘self-reflection’ was problematised because ‘self’ sounds
too individualistic and because reflection is embedded in a social context.
Teachers become part of a community and share information, knowledge
and resources by participating in this community. Joint practice and
reflection play a central role in becoming a teacher. If we stress the
essentially social character of learning for pupils, we should introduce the
same principle in teacher training. Socially situated theories of learning,
which recognise the way in which knowledge is created and transformed in
the intersection of dialogue between people, their collective knowledge and
research, will have an impact on teaching.
Another major characteristic of action research is the focus on
collaboration among teachers. It is an essential aim of this kind of research
to bring teachers together in networks (see also Teamwork, Collaboration).
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