During the IATEFL Conference 2026 in Brighton, the IATEFL Research Special Interest Group (ReSIG) hosted two key events: a Pre-Conference Event (PCE) on Monday, 20 April 2026, and a Showcase Day on Thursday, 23 April 2026.
ReSIG PCE Event: Celebrating Teacher Research Across Contexts
Conference Organiser and Chair: Dr Ernesto Vargas Gil (Queen Mary University of London)
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This year’s ReSIG Pre-Conference Event in Brighton marked an important milestone: the 35th anniversary of the SIG, including 15 years of sustained commitment to promoting teacher research and practitioner-generated knowledge within the English Language Teaching profession. Bringing together teachers, teacher-researchers, and mentors from across the world, the event offered a valuable space to celebrate classrooms as sites of inquiry, professional agency, and meaningful educational change.
The day opened with welcome remarks from Dr Ernesto Vargas Gil (Queen Mary University of London), who situated the event within ReSIG’s long-standing commitment to recognising teachers not only as users of knowledge, but also as knowledge producers in their own right. His introduction emphasised the role of teacher research in sustaining professional voice, critical reflection, and context-sensitive inquiry, while also inviting participants to engage critically with its future, including its tensions, limits, and contested place within the field, as a way of strengthening its epistemological foundations and its standing as a legitimate form of professional and disciplinary knowledge. The first plenary, delivered Online by Prof Rama Mathew (Delhi University), explored teacher research as a form of professional agency across diverse global contexts. Drawing on published work from around the world, the session examined how teacher research can support teacher agency while also contributing to broader understandings of pedagogy, assessment, curriculum, and educational change. This was followed by a participatory workshop led by Dr Jason Anderson (Warwick University), which invited participants to define and shape their own research practices. Through interactive tasks and discussion, attendees engaged with context-responsive and practice-based approaches to teacher research, reflecting on how inquiry can be grounded in their own classroom realities. In the afternoon, Prof Richard Smith (University of Warwick) offered a historical perspective on the development of teacher research within ELT, reflecting on the role of ReSIG and related initiatives in advancing teacher-led inquiry over time. His talk highlighted the evolution of teacher research as a field and its continuing relevance for professional learning and international collaboration. A panel discussion featuring teacher-research mentors Ana Garcia Stone, Seden Tuyan, Elyanora Menglieva, and Erik Ekembe created space for dialogue on how teacher research can be supported and sustained across diverse contexts. Their contributions highlighted the importance of mentoring and community-building, while also drawing attention to the practical, institutional, and contextual challenges that shape the development of practitioner inquiry. The event concluded with a reflective open dialogue session, inviting participants to connect the day’s themes to their own professional contexts and to consider possible future directions for teacher research in their institutions and communities. Overall, the PCE offered a rich and dialogic space for both experienced and emerging teacher-researchers to connect, exchange ideas, and reimagine the possibilities of teacher-led inquiry. It reaffirmed the central role of teacher research in fostering equitable, context-sensitive, and professionally empowering educational practices across the globe. Programme Event recording: Coming soon. |
ReSIG Showcase Day
Coordinator: Dr Ernesto Vargas Gil (Queen Mary University of London)
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The ReSIG Showcase Day featured a series of research-informed presentations exploring current work in teacher research across diverse contexts. Topics included AI and critical thinking in graduate literature review, socio-emotional strategies in multicultural classrooms, sustainable approaches to teacher-led research, exploratory action research in pre-service teacher education, and mentoring practices across international contexts.
The day also included an Open Forum, where SIG members shared updates and discussed ongoing priorities and future directions. Programme highlights:
Many thanks to all presenters and participants for contributing to a stimulating and reflective day focused on teacher research. |
Other Teacher Research highlights at IATEFL 2026
Among the other teacher research highlights at IATEFL 2026 was the ELT Journal Debate 2026, where Richard Smith (ReSIG Advisory Board member) and Lina Mukhopadhyay debated the motion: This house believes that the claims of academic research are less useful to teachers than their insights from personal experience. Chaired by Alessia Cogo, Editor of the ELT Journal, the session prompted reflection on the place of research, experience, and practitioner knowledge in the profession.
Please direct questions to the ReSIG Coordinator Dr Ernesto Vargas Gil at [email protected]