What Do You Researchers Know about Language Teaching? Bridging the Gap Between SLA Research and Language Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper reports on a research project that was commissioned by the Ministry of Education in New Zealand, and that has significantly impacted on the professional development of language teachers. The first part of the project aimed to make a body of information related to instructed second language acquisition accessible to teachers in the form of a published report. A survey of findings from a wide range of research informing understanding of how L2 acquisition in the classroom takes place informed 10 specific principles for instructed language learning. The researchers then went into French and Japanese language secondary school classrooms to look for evidence of the principles in classroom practice. The 10 principles and the evidence from the classroom-centred research study were subsequently published and widely circulated among teachers in New Zealand. They were also presented and discussed at regional seminars throughout the country. Reasons for why practitioners received this research so positively are discussed as ways in which the gap that often exists between research and language pedagogy can be bridged.