“I Look at It Differently Now, but Differently in a Good Way”: Developing Dispositions for Teaching Pronunciation Through a Research-Practice Partnership in Australian Adult Migrant Education

Australia provides English as an additional language (EAL) tuition for newly arrived migrants and refugees through its Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). Oral proficiency is essential for migrants’ self-sufficiency, yet teachers of pre-level adult EAL students receive little pedagogical support for pronunciation instruction. Recognising this gap, this study employed an Exploratory Practice (EP) practitioner research approach to examine how four AMEP teachers explored, implemented and reflected on pronunciation pedagogy over six months. The doctoral researcher and teachers collaborated in specific ways to identify and adapt classroom activities to integrate a pronunciation focus. Data included classroom observations, artefacts and teacher-researcher interviews. Using the theory of practice architectures, the study analysed how teachers’ practices, physical arrangements, external relationships, and conditions of the AMEP shaped pronunciation teaching. Findings revealed that the teachers’ and researcher’s engagement with the EP phase of “working for understanding” played a crucial role in developing pronunciation pedagogy. Their dispositions—shaped by TESOL and applied linguistics, access to training, and external vocational policies—enabled and constrained their instructional approaches. Through collaborative working for understanding, as supported by the researcher, the teachers became stirred into new pronunciation teaching practices, developing multilingual strategies, innovative resource use and praxis-oriented professional learning.