Long-term effects of exploratory practice on language learners

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Practitioner research plays a crucial role in education because of its applied nature and its ability to address pertinent issues within learning and teaching contexts. Exploratory practice (EP) is a form of practitioner research that emphasizes puzzles while striving to understand and improve students’ and teachers’ quality of life in the language classroom. Our puzzlement as EP practitioners began to take shape as we received a variety of feedback – both positive and negative – on our EP-infused lessons from our past students. Therefore, we started to ponder the enduring repercussions of an EP experience on participants’ subsequent learning and quality of life, extending beyond the immediate effects observed during EP. In the spring semester of 2022, 43 students enrolled in two courses on English for academic purposes (EAP) at two different Japanese universities participated in a 15-week EP endeavor. Six months after the course finished, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 students in order to systematically explore and discover how the EP endeavor affected them in the long-term. Findings revealed that the EP experience had lasting effects on the students’ affordance in three areas: linguistically, intrapersonally, and interpersonally. The article concludes by addressing the practical implications for EP practitioners, specifically focusing on inclusivity and sustainability.