Motivating Teachers to Reflect in a Professional Community of Practice Through Collaborative Action Research

Abstract

Teachers’ professional development has been a widely discussed matter in the literature. Thus, a diverse range of frameworks was introduced to enhance teachers’ knowledge, experience, and skills. One such significant tool to boost teachers’ knowledge and competence can be collaborative action research (CAR). Although action research and collaborative professional development received sufficient scholarly investigation separately, CAR, which is not been explored in Iran, can have numerous implications and benefits. The current study explored Iranian in-service language teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of CAR, motivating them to reflect in a professional community of practice (CoP). Thus, ten teachers were selected through purposive sampling, and data were analyzed thematically. The result indicated that teachers gained personal, social, and professional benefits from CAR in a CoP and became motivated to reflect on their practices regularly through CAR. Moreover, teachers became systematic, reflective, collaborative, creative, curious, supportive, agentic, engaged, and conscious, which can be the foundations for motivating reflective practices. This study encourages teachers, teacher educators, and stakeholders to incorporate CAR in a CoP in order to motivate teachers’ reflective practices for professional development.