EAR and Mentor Training Course 2025: Celebrating Successes

From August 2025 to January 2026, NETRUZ ran an online course “NETRUZ EAR and Mentor Training Course 2025” for school teachers, university teachers, and teacher educators. This course was for those who wanted to solve their teaching issues through exploratory action research. NETRUZ also wanted to train future mentors who can organise teacher-research training courses at their institutions.

64 teachers from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were trained and mentored by fourteen NETRUZ mentors. Below you can see the wonderful NETRUZ mentors involved in this round of training and mentoring.

The training course involved a total of 15 training sessions. The mentors developed the training programme and materials for each session. The training materials were based on the Handbook of Exploratory Action Research by Richard Smith and Paula Rebolledo and Mentoring Teachers to Research Their Classrooms: A Practical Handbook by Richard Smith. These materials and the programme are made available to trained teacher-researchers to support them in organising teacher-research training courses at their institutions.

On January 31, 2026, NETRUZ organised the Teacher-Research Celebration online event to share the successes of 22 teacher-researchers. During the event, they shared their insightful research projects on a range of topics, including inclusivity in ELT, ESP/EAP issues, language skills improvement, pre-service teacher education, and the effective use of technology and AI in ELT. 

You can watch the event now to learn about their wonderful projects. Also, check out the poster presentations prepared by these wonderful champion teachers from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan:

Future Teachers in Action: Undergraduate Students Share Their Research

Have you ever wondered when innovations in education work? 🤔

The answer lies in teacher ownership - Innovations thrive only when teachers unite and embrace them willingly. In other words, successful educational change is often bottom-up, initiated by teachers themselves.

In 2024-2025, a group of teacher educators from Namangan State University and Namangan Foreign Languages Institute and I came up with the idea of introducing undergraduate students to exploratory action research (EAR). As Richard Smith and Paula Rebolledo explain, EAR enables teachers to "gain a greater understanding of issues in their classrooms", "to explore and solve classroom problems for themselves", and develop solutions based on "practical experience, not literature". 

Why Should Future Teachers Learn EAR? 👀

Exploratory Action Research equips future teachers with essential skills for professional growth. It helps them

• build their confidence in teaching abilities, 
• feel empowered to experiment and refine teaching practices,
• develop critical reflection and problem-solving skills - must-have traits of modern, resilient teachers.  

On 29-30 March 2025, 26 students from Namangan Foreign Languages Institute and 4 students from Namangan State University presented their EAR projects in Teachers Research! 2025 online conference. Below, you can find their names and presentations (along with the links to their poster presentations):

Mentored by the teacher educator Albina Tadjibaeva: 

1. Durdona Olimova - Eyes on Me! How to get high school studentsʼ attention!
2. Oltinoy Rustamova - Talk the Talk: Encourage students to speak more English in group discussions

Mentored by the teacher educators Umida Khakimova, Dildora Sheralieva, Muazzam Boboyeva, and Rushana Inoyatova: 

3. Biltiraliyeva Nozima - ‘Let's not work in groups, teacher!’
4. Lobaroy Shuhratova - Why do my students hate homework?
5. Mashhura Hamdamova - ‘When I ask them questions, they don`t want to answer!’
6. Diyora Abdurahmatova - How can my students learn and remember new words?
7. Gulruhbegim Mirzomiddinova - How to improve student engagement during lessons?
8. Shohsanam Joraboeva - Simple solutions to pronunciation problems
9. Muxtasar Ikromova - Why are my students struggling to speak English?
10. Nazira Abdujabborova - ‘ Speaking lesson again?!’

11. Xolida Umarova - How to teach grammar and vocabulary more effectively?
12. Gulbahor Qurbonaliyeva - Complex grammar topics: It is not the end of the world!

Mentored by the teacher educators  Dilafruz Sarimsakova, Dildora Umarova, Guzal Turaeva and Dildora Abdullaeva

13. Mavluda Jurayeva - Struggling to teach mixed-ability learners?!
14. Fazilatbonu Ubayxonova - Less Stress, More Success: Effective Time Management Strategies
15. Zuhra Boqiboyeva - Groupwork Trouble: Why My 5th Graders Struggle in Groups
16. Nafisa Shamryukova - Breaking the Silence: Boosting Primary School Students’ Participation in Class and Homework Checks
17. Madina Samijonova - Homework: Learning Tool or Just Extra Stress?
18. Mumtozbegim Muxiddinova - From Struggle to Success: Effective Techniques to Have Productive Lessons 

Mentored by the teacher educators  Majid Ayturaev and Elyanora Menglieva

19. Og’iloy Abdulboqiyeva - The impact of EAR on building my teacher confidence in the classroom
20. Munisa Xusanova - How to teach primary school students with effective interactive games?
21. Sevinch Tojiboyeva - Overcoming Teaching Challenges: How to Engage Schoolchildren More Effectively
22. Durdona Azimjanova - Why don’t students want to listen to their teacher while they are giving instructions?
23. Sevara Qamchibekova - Unlocking the Potential of Modern Gadgets in English Lessons
24. Ruhshona Odilbekova - Silent Mode: Why Students Avoid Speaking English?
25. Muattar Axmadjanova - How to teach pronunciation to primary students?
26. Muxlisa Abdulxamidova - How can we involve all students in doing their homework?
27. Shohsanam Solixonova - Engaging all students in the classroom activities
28. Rayhona Shavkatova - English class or Nap time? Why Students Tune Out Certain Activities
29. Mohlaroy Xusanxanova - From Passive to Active: The Secret to Getting Students to Listen

30. Zulfizar Ahmadaliyeva - Why won't they focus? Practical solutions for students' attention

Celebrating the Achievements: MenTRnet Festival Event and NETRUZ success stories newsletter

On June 8, 2024, NETRUZ presented at the MenTRnet Festival event. We are proud to say that the NETRUZ managed to build a collaborative teacher community which promotes teacher-led research, namely exploratory action research. The main aim of introducing exploratory action research is to enable English language teachers to share contextually appropriate methodologies that have developed through exploratory action research. 

NETRUZ organized various online and offline workshops, the first NETRUZ conference in Namangan, and teacher-research mentoring and exploratory action research training courses. All the events organized by NETRUZ were free as we want to support teachers' professional development and the incorporation of research-informed innovations in the classroom. We can definitely say that the NETRUZ has significantly impacted the quality of English language teaching in Uzbekistan, fostering an environment where teachers actively explore their classroom practices and adapt to evolving educational needs and students' expectations.

Watch the YouTube video of the NETRUZ presentation. 

You can also read the NETRUZ success stories.

NETRUZ Research mentor training course has finished

 
As you know, the NETRUZ Project organised the first Teacher research mentor training course at the end of April 2021. The purpose of this course was to train English language teachers in research and encourage them to improve their teaching practices by integrating action research, exploratory action research in classrooms, increase their research literacy and implement context-appropriate methodologies.

Within this training, 7 English language who are working in educational institutions (schools and universities) of Uzbekistan were selected to become TEACHER RESEARCH MENTORS of our project.  They are Dilafruz Sarimsakova from Namangan State University; Ella Maksakova from Webster University in Uzbekistan, British Management University in Tashkent; Feruza Erkulova from Namangan State University; Klara R. Nazmutdinova from UzSWLU, Webster University in Tashkent; Malika Mirvokhidova (Kudratova) from TEAM University; and Nilufar Tillayeva from UzSWLU and Webster University, Dildora Khallyeva from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy.

For our training, we have also invited teachers and researchers from various countries to share their research findings, research tips, exploratory action research tips with our mentors. These wonderful guest speakers are Addy Ahmad from Malaysia, Suzie Ryu from South Korea, Vinayadhar Raju from India, Darío Luis Banegas from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and Sagun Shrestha, a PhD candidate at Dublin City University.