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This article describes the complex nature of collaborative relationships, the difficulties of conducting research with others, and the complications of partnerships in educational research. To create and sustain a communicative space in which participants can collaborate to innovate education and curriculum, time and opportunity to develop trust in the group are needed. We report on a collaborative action research project in the Netherlands in which 14 teachers, three facilitators and an academic researcher formed a partnership, and together designed Language 1 education. We find contextual and the communicative conditions are important in the collaborative action research partnership. We use metaphors of facilitative actions--map, magnifying glass, mirror and compass--formulated by Wadsworth to analyze and describe the collaboration. We show that the participants had to come to terms with their roles and responsibilities and, through dialogue and reflection, evolved and learned to contribute to the collaborative action research partnership by sustaining dialogue and utilizing their unique expertise. (Contains 2 tables.)

This study sought to determine how experienced language teachers use analogies to help students comprehend a text on the course of their regular teaching routines. It is assumed that analogies constitute one important component of the content of teachers' practical knowledge in the context of reading-comprehension instruction. The framework of the study drew from Shulman's notion of "pedagogical content knowledge"; the perspective was the analogy-provider (e.g. teacher or textbook author). Eight lessons taught by eight different teachers were observed and analysed for the presence of analogies. The frequent use of analogies, continuously under discussion in the literature about science education, seems at least open to question. The research suggests that teacher education programmes for language teaching should include information about developing and evaluating instructional analogies. (Contains 2 tables and 7 notes.)

In 2003, Theo Janssen wrote a contribution for Nederlandse Taalkunde [Dutch Linguistics] about the incorporation of linguistic knowledge into the school subject of Dutch Language and Literature, hoping thus to enrich the content of the school subject and making it more inspiring. In our contribution we discuss the great relevance of Janssen's contribution, and we show that his plea is still extremely topical. In addition, we discuss some recent developments, and we particularly draw attention to the complex relationship between academic linguistics and the related school subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]