Unit 1: Forum Contribution: Why do you want to learn more about the chosen reseach problem?

By Adriana Bernaldez

I selected this initial forum activity because it represents the first stage of my development as a researcher: transforming a general area of interest into a focused and researchable problem. At the beginning of the process, my partner and I identified teacher identity as a relevant topic in education. Through discussion and reflection, we recognized the need to establish a narrower focus that could be meaningfully explored within a qualitative research framework.

The process of refining the topic helped me understand that research begins with more than identifying an interesting idea; it involves delimitation, critical questioning, and the construction of a specific research focus. By moving from a broad perspective on teacher identity to the influence of pronunciation standards and World Englishes on non-native English-speaking teachers’ professional identities, we developed a clearer context and a more relevant research direction,

This activity was valuable because it marked a shift in my role from teacher to teacher-researcher. I began to examine educational changes in my professional context through a research perspective. The reformulation of the topic allowed us to identify a meaningful tension between traditional institutional expectations and contemporary views of English as a global language. Furthermore, this activity highlighted the importance of defining a research territory, identifying gaps, and developing an appropriate academic voice, principles later connected to Sweales’ Create a Research Space (CARS) model.

Figure 1 and Figure 2 Screenshots of our initial forum post ESP-W2

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