THE KEY TO THAI STUDENTS’ SUCCESS IS BECOMING AN ACTION TEACHER RESEARCHER: BENEFITS, CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Action research is one of the powerful tools which result in positive learning outcomes of students. It is also a tool for the empowerment of teachers who are overwhelmed in the educational system. Hence, it is essential that teachers become action teacher researchers to bring about both major and minor changes in the educational system. Action research plays a tremendous role not only in bringing changes to a classroom but also, on a wider scale, across the curriculum of the learning community, especially in EFL contexts at the tertiary level.
However, as it seems, action research is often placed in the shadows merely acting as an activity on an academic checklist for official duties, annual performance, or classroom problem fixing. The purpose of this article is to discuss the benefits of conducting action research in EFL at the tertiary level, the issues derived from the conflicts amongst national higher educational policies, institutional policies, and cultural norms. It then explains what need to be done to help teachers to conduct an action research and become action teacher researchers, especially classroom action research. After reading this article, it is hoped that EFL teachers will be empowered and ready to start their own action research study.