Teacher research through dialogic inquiry

As teachers engage in research to improve their teaching practice and inform their pedagogical programs, they need appropriate tools for collecting and analyzing data. This paper shows how dialogic inquiry through problem posing is a tool for teacher research in the interpretive tradition which helps teachers develop a richer knowledge base regarding students' backgrounds, motivations, cultures, and the strategies they use to learn English. In addition, dialogic inquiry can inform curriculum and materials development by providing teachers with information about students' responses to potential curriculum topics. The process of engaging students in structured, open-ended inquiry provides data which teachers can analyze from both content and linguistic perspectives. Outlined are the steps in dialogic inquiry and examples of how teachers have used it to inform their classroom practice and improve their curricula.