The investigation of collective inquiry and transformative inquiry to the sustainability of professional learning communities in reading and writing instruction

Research showed that professional learning communities (PLC) have ubiquitously been implemented in American schools; hence, teachers shifted from working in isolation into group-working with a purpose of sharing their teaching practices. However, there is a lack of examination of the factors influencing the cultural shift in acquiring collective inquiry in the PLCs, needing support for making changes in instructional practices, and how to facilitate and sustain PLCs. This qualitative single case study was designed to investigate the influence of collective inquiry and transformative inquiry to the sustainability of PLCs in reading and writing instruction at a middle school in Western Texas. The purposefully selected sample was comprised of one principal, one assistant principal, one instructional coach, two seventh grade teachers and two eighth grade teachers who all taught English Languages Arts (ELAR)/ reading and writing literacy. The primary data collection method was interviews, observations of the PLCs and classroom, document review, and the researcher’s journal field notes. The data were coded, analyzed, and organized according to the purpose of the study. Analysis and discussion of the findings were organized by the categories within the study’s conceptual framework: (a) the purposes of the study, (b) the definitions and characteristics of PLCs, (c) collective inquiry and transformative inquiry, (d) the principles of sustainable PLCs, (e) the theoretical frameworks, namely Sociocultural Learning Theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow, 1978). This research revealed that teachers were collectively committed to work in the PLCs by conforming to the department norms. The findings showed that trust, relationship, and growth mindset played an important role in teachers’ PLC participation, change-making in classroom practices, and, subsequently, students’ learning outcomes. The findings showed that the teachers could effectively work in the PLCs thanks to having collective inquiry and made instructional changes due to having transformative inquiry. The administrators’ trust was the main support that teachers needed. Also, the findings revealed that both the administrators and teachers promoted the implementation of teacher-led PLCs. Overall, all of these findings indicated that the school PLCs in this study had a higher likelihood of sustainability in the future.

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