English Language Teachers’ Conceptions of Research

Abstract

This article was conducted on 150 EFL teachers investigating the conceptions of research. An understanding of this issue is very important to the development of conditions for encouraging teachers to be research engaged in order not to be subservient and take a much more pioneering role in curriculum development. Questionnaire responses were analyzed to determine the teachers’ view of research. The findings of this research present that the teachers’ conceptions of research are very close to conventional scientific theories and findings. Teachers also reported lack of time, knowledge, and institutional support as influential factors which restrict their abilities to be research engaged. On the whole, this research points to a number of attitudinal, conceptual, and external obstacles to teachers’ research engagement. Understanding these is a necessary part of trying to make teachers’ research engagement a more possible and doable activity in ELT.