‘I have discovered a new continent’: exploring university researchers’ research-practice agency within a collaborative materials development project

Textbook development bridges pedagogical research and classroom practice, involving collaboration between researchers, educators, publishers, and institutions. This case study traces the evolution of research-practice agency in two university researchers participating in a government-sponsored EFL materials development project. Using a multi-method approach, we identified distinct agency evolution pathways, reflected in changing beliefs, practice, and disposition, shaped by three interdependent dimensions: iterative (past experiences), practical-evaluative (contextual assessments), and projective (future goals). Agency emerged through negotiation between individual volition and contextual affordances. The study proposes a framework to optimise collaboration via strategic research-practice interface design, ecological manipulation of enabling conditions, and sustainable agency cultivation. These findings reconceptualise textbook development as a transformative space for developing researcher agency and enhancing praxis.