Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-301) and index.

1. General Introduction: Learners, and What We Think of Them Introduction -- What we mean by 'key developing practitioners' -- Learners speaking for themselves -- Five Propositions about learners -- But if there's nothing new, why read on? -- And if I do read on, what will I find?

Part I The Developing View of the Learner

2 Introduction to Part I The importance of our educational experiences -- The structure of Part I

3. Assessment and the Learner Introduction -- Standards, standardisation and their implications for assessment and for views of the learner -- Language testing research and development: the elusive 'washback' phenomenon -- Approaches to language assessment in the classroom -- The assessment of teachers -- Conclusion

4. Method and the Learner Introduction: why should we care about language teaching methods? -- The behaviourist approach to language teaching method -- The return to cognitivism for the next new psychology-based method -- A first, almost socio-psychological approach: community language learning -- Something else really different: autonomous language learning -- Through radicalism to a new mainstream method: communicative language teaching -- The arrival of a less radical, but more influential form of communicative language teaching -- Technology-based methods: computer-assisted language learning and the lexical approach -- Another alternative approach promising a shift in control: task-based language learning -- The story so far -- Rethinking the whole notion of "method': critical language pedagogy and the "postmethod condition' -- The postmethod condition and "liberatory autonomy' -- So what, though? What view of the learner actually prevails in the world's classrooms?

5. Teacher Training and the Learner Introduction: personal professionalism and institutional standardisation -- Two barriers -- The processes of teacher training: (1) training in teaching methods -- The processes of teacher training: (2) teaching practice -- Teacher training and the learner: some final comments

6. Learner Variables and the Learner Introduction -- Aptitude -- The good language learner -- Learning styles and strategies -- Learner training -- Attitude and motivation -- Individual differences in general: where are we now?

7. Second Language Acquisition Studies and the Learner Introduction: the importance of understanding second language acquisition -- The starting point: describing and explaining 'natural' second language acquisition -- SLA and pedagogy: the 'route' and 'rate' issue -- Another problematic issue in the relationship between SLA and pedagogy: how important is social context? -- A return to positive thinking about SLA's implications for pedagogy -- Back to social context and controversy over the proper scope of SLA -- SLA and the learner: concluding comments

Part II Research Models: What We Have and What We Need

8. Introduction to Part II: What the Past Has Provided Our purposes and their implications for Part II -- Third-party research: what it is and the promises it implies -- Research on language teaching method -- Research on the other topics from Part I -- So where are we now and where are we going next?

9. Going Beyond Experiments: Descriptive and Qualitative Classroom Research The origins of descriptive classroom research: three important developments -- The shift from teacher training to a greater interest in learners -- Focusing on learners -- Understanding the essentially social nature of classroom language learning and teaching -- Trying to understand learners does not necessarily help learners understand themselves, but it could show the way forward -- The case against third-party classroom research: the ethical and epistemological issues

10. The Research We Now Need: Principled and Inclusive Practitioner Research A first way forward: Action Research -- Rethinking practitioner research: the issue of agency, and a major shift in priorities -- The problem of communicability -- The research model we propose: seven principles for inclusive practitioner research -- Principles and propositions -- From principles to practices: why we specify principles rather than research procedures

Part III Inclusive Practitioner Research in Practice

11. Introduction to Part III Sustainability -- The structure of Part III -- The basic processes of practitioner research: action for understanding and action for change - the importance of intentions

12. Getting Started on Working for Understanding Introduction -- Identifying what is puzzling -- What about reading something? -- Doubts and reassurances -- The case studies -- Two key issues: integration and collegiality

13. Conducting Investigations Introduction -- Finding appropriate activities to generate data -- Thinking about activities for their suitability -- Adapting activities to use them for data-generation -- Some further words on research quality -- The case studies -- A reflection on our propositions about learners

14. The 'Web of Life' of the Rio de Janeiro Exploratory Practice Group Introduction -- Bringing people together -- Experiencing built-in flexibility -- Harnessing curiosity and courage -- Prioritising quality of life -- Building trust and collegiality -- 'Doing better' EP practitioners -- Sustaining our development

15. Developing Understandings In and Beyond the Classroom Introduction: what this book has been about so far -- Disseminating EP -- The wider concept of sharing -- Going beyond the research setting: what teachers can do -- Going beyond the research setting: what learners can do -- Evaluating EP as a research model for the developing learner -- Evaluating EP as a form of pedagogy -- But, the final question: is EP sustainable?

Part IV Sources and Resources for Inclusive Practitioner Research Sources and Resources

Postscript

"If we want to treat learners as practitioners of learning, alongside teachers as practitioners of teaching, and therefore capable of reaping the developmental benefits of practitioner research, how can we best proceed? For Allwright and Hanks the answer lies in Exploratory Practice - an inclusive form of practitioner research developed largely in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in Lancaster, England, that enables both learners and teachers to develop their own understandings of their learning and teaching lives. After arguing that developments in the field of applied linguistics have fallen short of establishing such a perspective on learners, and reviewing current research models, the authors propose seven principles for a truly inclusive extension of practitioner research - Exploratory Practice. Five full chapters document, through learner and teacher narratives from around the world, how Exploratory Practice can engage learners as developing practitioners of learning, and enhance the learning process by enriching human relationships in the classroom." (Book Cover)