Developing Standards for Teacher-Research in TESOL

* A critical moment in the teacher-research movement came with the publication in 1975 of Stenhouse's introduction to curriculum research and development. Stenhouse argued that only when curriculum research and development belonged to teachers through a healthy teacherresearcher agenda would educational improvement emerge from it. Twenty years later, the TESOL community is beginning to respond to the call, although interest in the notion of teacher-research in TESOL has, in fact, grown substantially over the past 7 or 8 years. This growth has been marked by the publication of practical manuals (Nunan, 1989), the staging of a biennial Teachers Develop Teachers Research conference, and an increase in the number of teacher-research presentations at international conferences such as those of TESOL and the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language. Within the TESOL organization, interest has also quickened in recent years. In 1995, an ad hoc committee of the Board of Directors was established to articulate a position on the place of research within a teachers' organization; to provide a clear, reasoned, and coherent direction for TESOL's research agenda; and to develop a set of strategies for promoting teacher-research within the TESOL community. This move was followed by a half-day symposium before the 1996 convention to take the issues further. Out of these initiatives emerged a number of practical suggestions, including the idea of establishing a distinguished teacher-researcher award.