Research engagement and quality in English language teaching
October 2006 - March 2008(Contact: Dr Simon Borg)
Funded By: The British Council
Significant amounts of educational research funding have been invested in the UK in recent years into encouraging teachers to engage in research and into studying how such engagement impacts on teaching and learning. This investment has been based on the belief that teacher engagement in research is a powerful form of professional development which can enhance the quality of educational provision. While in the field of English language teaching (ELT) there has been much discussion of the value to teaching and learning of teacher engagement in research, there has been little systematic study of this issue. The study proposed here addresses this gap by examining ELT practitioners’ conceptions of research, investigating the nature of teachers’ engagement in research, and beginning to explore relationships between such engagement and teaching quality.
Research Questions
The study aims to collect data relevant to the questions below. ‘Respondents’ here refers to (a) teachers and (b) managers in British Council (BC) ELT Centres worldwide.
1.What are the conceptions of research held by respondents?
2.To what extent do respondents say they read published research?
a.What impact do they believe this reading has on the quality of their work?
b.Where they do not read research, what reasons do they cite?
3.To what extent do respondents say they do research?
a.What are their reasons for engaging in research?
b.What impact do they believe this research has on the quality of their work?
c.Where they do not do research, what reasons do they cite?
4.Do respondents’ experience and qualifications relate to the degree of research engagement they report?
5.What are teachers’ perceptions of their institutional culture in relation to research?
6.How do these perceptions relate to teachers’ research engagement?
7.To what extent do managers see research engagement as a desirable goal for their centres?
8.According to managers, what factors, institutional and personal to teachers, support or hinder teacher research engagement?
9.To what extent do the views about research and its value to teaching held by managers and teachers concur?
10.Is there any relationship between managers’ attitudes to teacher research engagement and the degree of such engagement which teachers report?
11.Overall, what measures does this study suggest are necessary to support the development of a research culture in BC ELT centres?
This project last updated by Simon Borg on 8th February 2007.