Teachers and researchers collaborating to develop effective language education: The project Observing Interlanguage

This chapter presents an action research project conducted in primary and middle schools in northern Italy. School teachers and university researchers collaborate at all stages and levels. Initially, teachers conduct a needs analysis on their classes using the Interlanguage approach to language teaching, which consists in observing the pupils’ competences, processes and strategies in a positive way rather than just focusing on their errors and shortcomings. Didactic activities are then jointly designed to address these needs and to promote an inclusive language education in which all the students are involved regardless of their initial competences and linguistic background, performing numerous collaborative and meta-cognitive activities. Data are also collected at the beginning and end of the school year in order to assess the effectiveness of the intervention in the classes involved. The latter systematically outperform control classes in a number of dimensions, especially those having to do with effective communication and text organization. Both teachers and researchers discuss the results and then publish their findings and reflections in scientific articles and monographs, didactic materials and textbooks for teacher training in order to extend the reach of this approach to other contexts and communities.