Despite the fact that the beliefs about action research (AR) are considered essential for teachers’ pro- fessional development, teachers’ beliefs about AR have not been studied in any systematic way in second language education. This study is thus an attempt to fill the gap through examining Iranian teachers’ beliefs about AR. The present study used a mixed methods design, i.e. questionnaire and in- terview, to gain a richer understanding of the participants’ beliefs about AR. The participants were 65 English teachers from 5 private English language teaching institutions. The findings revealed that most of the teachers equated AR with observation, had the ability to distinguish between AR and standard research, preferred collaborative AR, and, in contrast to the mainstream research, did not be- lieve AR to be a way to professional development. The results also showed that while AR is not un- known among these teachers, its use is not widespread, which highlights the need for organizational, practical and intellectual support from responsible agencies.

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