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Panama City, Panama
November 15-16, 2025

Beijing, China
December 6-7, 2025

Malaga, Spain
January 17-18, 2026

Manila, Philippines
January 24-25, 2026

About the Research Symposia

The MLRC Research Symposia are unique two-day workshops for international educators to engage deeply in existing research about multilingual learners, connect with global education scholars, inquire together about shared problems of practice, and discuss innovative strategies for serving multilingual learners. Educators will create an Action Research plan during their time at the symposium. These workshops are followed by continued Action Research support, culminating in a capstone report.  

Participation is an exclusive benefit of School Network Members. If your school is not currently a member, consider joining! Go to our membership page to learn more about the benefits of joining our school network.

A grid of numerous icons of people with the text 200+ teachers across 57 teams participated in MLRC Research Symposia in 2024-25
90% of participants would recommend attending a MLRC Research Symposium to their colleagues
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"I have thoroughly enjoyed attending the MLRC Research Symposium. It was fantastic to collaborate with other teachers of multilingual learners, and further increased my knowledge of Action Research. I especially appreciate how the MLRC team integrated teaching strategies into the Symposium. I felt valued and respected in the 'classroom'."

- MLRC Research Symposium Participant

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"I would recommend this symposium because it offers a practical pathway to grassroots change through action research. The process is replicable and therefore has the potential for teams of teachers to directly address the issues facing their school contexts and to investigate possible questions and strategize solutions."

- MLRC Research Symposium Participant

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"I would recommend the MLRC Research Symposium because I believe it will empower more teachers to contribute to research in our professional area. It is a perfect way to promote change in schools- you are moving forward feeling guided and supported. The more people that can make an impact in their schools the better."

- MLRC Research Symposium Participant

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"In my experience, it is rare to have a room of educators who are this focused, engaged and interested in the topics. It was refreshing and will help inspire teachers to improve their practices."

- MLRC Research Symposium Participant

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"I would recommend this to others because I believe in this work in support of students. We need more shared understanding in our school communities. I would highly recommend leaders and administrators to attend so that they have the knowledge and understanding of this work. This will enable better support from leadership, in terms of structures, staffing, etc... so that EAL programs can be designed and supported as best as possible."

- MLRC Research Symposium Participant

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"This has been a truly comprehensive, in-depth and very well-paced way of helping guide, mentor, coach us participants in the whole action research process, with ample time given to each part of the process not just to understand what each one is, but how to apply the templates, the framework and the exemplars on our own research question. The Glocal Scholar was awesome! Her work was inspiring but also very useful in helping us see more how we can do our own research."

- MLRC Research Symposium Participant

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Goal

School-based teams will identify a problem of practice, draw on relevant research to consider strengths and goals for improvement, and design an action research plan.

Objectives

  • Connect research on teaching multilingual learners to your classroom and school 
  • Learn together with other researchers and practitioners to improve outcomes for multilingual learners 
  • Build capacity for school-based inquiry through action research
Classroom with someone presenting to four tables with groups of people.
Three people having a discussion at a table that has notebooks and handouts on it.

Action Research at the Research Symposia

Listen to teams from the Research Symposium hosted in Guatemala talk about the Action Research projects they developed.

Upcoming Research Symposia Dates

Panama City, Panama
November 15-16

Beijing, China
December 6-7

Malaga, Spain
January 17-18

Manila, Philippines
January 24-25

Agenda

Day 1

8:00 – 8:30

Registration & Coffee

8:30 – 9:00 

Welcome & Introductions

9:00 – 10:15 

Hands On: Demystifying Research

10:15 – 10:45 

BREAK

10:45 – 12:00 

Sharing Research Insights:

  • Translanguaging
  • Collaboration
  • Inclusive EAL

 

12:00 – 1:00  

LUNCH

1:00 – 2:15  

Team Focus: Choosing a Topic & Diving Deeper

2:15 – 2:45

BREAK

2:45 – 4:00

Making Connections: Glocal Scholar Insights

Day 2

8:00 – 8:30

Reconnect & Coffee

8:30 – 9:00

Looking Back & Looking Ahead

9:00 – 10:15 

Hands On: Demystifying Research

10:15 – 10:45 

BREAK

10:45 – 12:00 

Crowdsourcing Innocation: Understanding What Works

12:00 – 1:00  

LUNCH

1:00 – 2:15  

Team Focus: Making an Action Research Plan

2:15 – 2:45

BREAK

2:45 – 4:00

Putting It All Together & Individual School Consultations

Post-Research Symposia

Action Research Support

Following the Research Symposium, the MLRC provides ongoing support for school-based teams through the end of the school year via: 

  • Regular email check-ins with individual teams 
  • Monthly webinars for all participants 
  • Online tools: developed by MLRC team and co-developed with partner schools
  • Synchronous Zoom webinars focus on key topics to support team’s ongoing action research projects, such as addressing common barriers, data collection and data analysis. 
  • All webinars are recorded to allow for asynchronous engagement if teams are unable to attend the live sessions.

At the end of the school year, teams are invited to share their findings with the larger MLRC School Network at the Capstone. This can be a recorded video presentation, an infographic or a summary paper. The goal is for all teams to share what they learned and how they might refine or sustain this inquiry in the following school year.

Co-Writing & Co-Presenting: Additionally, teams are encouraged to consider writing articles and/or presenting at regional conferences to share findings from their action research as well as lessons learned. Teams will be offered the option to co-write articles and/or co-present at conferences with the MLRC team.

Action Research Coaches

Action research coaches are an optional additional service for teams participating in action research. Attending the Research Symposium and engaging in the synchronous and asynchronous follow-up support provides tools, scaffolding, and accountability for teams designing and doing action research. If a school wants additional, customized, and in-depth support, the MLRC has partnered with several consultants who can be contracted for action research coaching.

We currently have three MLRC Action Research Coaches on our team – Dr. Eowyn Crisfield, Dr. Paul Magnuson, and Dr. Ying Chu. Each brings a wealth of experience teaching multilingual learners and engaging in research within this field. For more details about the opportunity to partner with a MLRC Action Research coach, please contact mlrc@wcer.wisc.edu.

Ying ChuDr. Ying Chu is the Head of the Dual Language Program at the International School of Beijing. A seasoned research practitioner and innovative educational program leader, Dr. Chu specializes in asset-based language program implementation and evaluation, along with expertise in culturally and linguistically responsive practices. She holds a Master of Arts from Teachers College, Columbia University, and earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California. With over a decade of experience in instruction, research, and leadership roles at reputable international schools in the region and renowned institutions in New York City, Dr. Chu is dedicated to exploring and expanding thinking, blending theory with practice, and fostering a culture of transformational change and continuous improvement in international schools.

Eowyn CrisfieldDr. Eowyn Crisfield is a specialist in languages across the curriculum, including EAL/ELL, home languages, bilingual and immersion education, super-diverse schools and translanguaging. She has been an ELF/ESL/EAL teacher, department head, and curriculum developer, and has worked in several universities in teacher development programs. She currently runs her own consultancy focused on improving language teaching and learning in schools. Her research is focused on topics related to languages in education, and she speaks regularly at international conferences, both research and practice-oriented. Her focus is on equal access to learning and language development for all students, and on appropriate and effective professional development for teachers working with language learners. She is the author of “Bilingual Families: A practical language planning guide” (2021) and co-author of “Linguistic and Cultural Innovation in Schools: The Languages Challenge” (2018 with Jane Spiro), as well as a wide variety of chapters and articles in both practitioner and academic publications.

Paul MagnusonDr. Paul Magnuson has been supporting action research as professional development for over a decade in the research department he created at the Leysin American School. He has furthered his interest as chair of the special interest group “Research Based Schools” of ECIS and most recently by starting Sandcastle, a cohort model offering free collaborative support to teachers working on independent projects across the world. He has a Phd in Curriculum & Instruction, blogs frequently, and attributes his creative approaches to over 20 years of summer camp experience from Minnesota to Rwanda and from 7-year olds to grandmas and grandpas.

Action Research

Watch the video below to hear examples of teams’ planned action research projects. 

Capstone reports are available on the Hub for School Network members.