La investigación-acción: una alternativa para estudiar el salón de clases de L2/LE

Abstract

One of the recent trends in second language acquisition research has been the study of the interaction in the second/foreign language (SL/FL) classroom. This article proposes that action-research is a valid alternative methodology to study; not only the interaction but also many other aspects of the teaching-learning processes that occur in the SL/FL classroom. Action-research allows the teacher to research the aspects of his/her practice that are problematic; to reflect upon them and to make their own decisions in order to find solutions that are immediately applied to the problems. In this way; there is a close relationship between the theory and practice -dichotomy that should be the basis for educational research; according to several scholars. At the end of this article; some criteria for the training and integration of teachers in this kind of research are given. The author also shares her own experience as a teacher-researcher in an action-research project that analyzes the interaction in a Portuguese Foreign Language classroom. This project is sponsored by the Department of Applied Linguistics of the CELE (Centro de Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras) [Center for the Teaching of Foreign Languages] of the UN AM-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [National Autonomous University of Mexico].