Action Research at the Research Symposia
Listen to teams from the Research Symposium hosted in Guatemala talk about the Action Research projects they developed.
2025-2026 Dates and Locations Coming Soon!
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 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.
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
Upcoming Research Symposia Dates
Dates and locations coming soon for 2025-2026!
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.
Dr. 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.
Dr. 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.
Dr. 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.