Supporting individual and collective staff development in computer based work through collaborative action research or what's at stake in CALL and syllabus integration?

This paper looks at the nature of collaboration, and the processes and outcomes of research on integrating computer based activities in the ESL curriculum through the texts of four ESL teachers (including the author). The paper highlights the need for flexibility in interpreting and implementing action research paradigms in contexts where personal and institutional boundaries and obstacles strongly determine the directions and narratives we adopt. NUD*IST 4.0 is used to map key discourse items in the narrative of the semester long project and individual extracts from transcripts illustrate critical moments in the cycles of investigation where research process, definitions, and links with curriculum are explored and questioned by participants. I conclude by questioning the efficacy and utility of methodologies that strongly prescribe procedure and principle in the absence of a clear understanding of the personal, social, and institutional settings of teacher research.