On Action Research

Abstract

As a qualitative research method,action research is professional development,characteristically cyclical,reflective and critical.It reveals what happens in the classroom thus informs us about effective learning and teaching.It uses moral,spiritual,aesthetic,emotional,affective and practical criteria to investigate teaching and learning thus enables us to recognize and understand other dimensions of the language education besides the quantifiable ones.It emphasises contextual analysis,the actions,discourses,and perceptions of the teachers in the context and the patterns that connect them.If language teaching research truly aspires to be practical,authentic,influential and vigorous,it has to encourage action research.