Abstract
Research suggests that TR enables classroom teachers to address their classroom-specific problems without having to rely too heavily on published research. However, despite the fact that TR narratives of language teachers have increased lately, there is still need for studies investigating the perceptions of university English language (EL) teachers about TR, and exploring the factors affecting their engagement with TR in culturally diverse contexts. The current study was designed to explore the perceptions of university EL practitioners about the factors that inhibit or encourage them to engage in TR in a university context in Pakistan. Data were obtained from fifteen EL teachers from four public sector universities through semi-structured interviews. Results show that teachers appeared to possess only simplistic knowledge of research as an activity aimed at finding something new. While a majority admitted to have done no research, even the engagement of others who claimed to have done some research seemed sporadic and less than systematic. The main factors responsible for teachers’ dis-engagement from TR included academic culture, management’s attitude, power relations between senior and junior faculty, workload, lack of monetary benefits, and large classes. A number of implications have also been discussed.
Highlights
Teacher research (TR) is defined as a systematic, intentional and rigorous enquiry conducted by teachers to address their classroom-specific issues (Borg & Sanchez, 2015; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993)
The data show that the majority of participants considered research to be a process of ‘finding’ something, while others described research as something which explores something new’; yet others said, it is a kind of discovery which finds something ‘that already exists’
This study was inspired by the increasing popularity of TR and by the dearth of studies into English language (EL) teachers’ TR in universities in the Sindh province of Pakistan
Summary
The idea of TR emerged in reaction to the traditional knowledge transmission models of education (Burns, 2005; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1998), and the dependency of classroom teachers on professional research for solving classroom-specific pedagogical problems (Kasi, 2010). The sheer number of edited publications involving EL teachers’ narratives and accounts of action research bears testimony to the increasing popularity and overwhelming reception of TR by classroom teachers in various contexts, for example, Japan, China, Turkey to name but a few (Borg & Sanchez, 2015; Etherington & Daubney, 2018; Levkina, 2018; Saglam & Dikilitas, 2019; Slimani-Rolls, 2018; Suzuki, 2018). Research has found multifarious factors that inspire or prevent teachers from engaging in TR, such as teachers’ conceptions of research, and their willingness to solve students’ problems, research skills, appropriate mentoring, collegial and organizational support, and access to research material (e.g. books and journals) (Borg, 2009; Magos, 2012; McDonough, 2006; Moore, 2011; Tien, 2010; Sanchez & Borg, 2015)
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