Abstract
Critics have devalued action research as a serious investigative approach, pinpointing an insufficiency of research rigour and lack of robustness of results (Burns, 2013). Smith and Keiner (2015) have responded to criticisms that are sometimes leveled against educational research, which is accused of disconnecting theory and practice and of meeting low scientific standards. Smith and Keiner (2015) doubt whether educational science can produce the dramatic results that are sometimes obtained in other sciences, partly because intervening variables often make firm conclusions difficult to draw. The aim of this article is to emphasise the value of action research projects carried out by novice teachers to enhance their professionalisation and enable transformative professional development. Novice teachers might experience difficulties in conducting action research and fail to achieve the desired quantitative results. Nonetheless, they might increase their understanding, improve their practice, and develop professionally. The article provides a narrative account and a critical evaluation of an action research project that was carried out by a teacher-researcher during an 18-hour summer course for 10-11 year-olds at a beginner level of English. The action research focused on the use of game-like activities to promote oral language production in the classroom. Despite the widely implemented communicative approach and the normally high motivation of pupils to learn English, it seems that many beginners are not particularly keen or able to produce utterances in the target language at school. Games have the potential to increase communication among pupils, provide fluency practice, and reduce teacher domination (Brewster, Ellis, & Girard, 2002). Given the importance of encouraging pupils to speak and the centrality of games in young learners’ learning process, the teacher-researcher intended to assess to what extent a series of language games could assist oral language production among pupils. Some of the selected games were expected to be more suitable than others for the production of language. The research cycles underwent some change in scope and resulted in a number of wide-ranging reflections with no quantification of results. However, the project exhibited adequate degrees of validity and reliability, given the context and situation. Using a journey metaphor, such as Smith and Keiner (2015) did in their discussion of empirical research, the project might be described as a developmental journey of the teacher-researcher into the world of research in English language teaching to young learners.