English Language Teachers’ Research Reticence: A Collective-Case Study

Abstract

Teacher Research is generally acclaimed as a beneficial form of professional development. However, it is still an under-practiced activity in the field of language teaching. In this respect, this qualitative collective-case study research addresses this issue through the in-depth analysis of three teachers who have shied away from carrying out research in the preparatory school of a private foundation university where a Teacher Research project, as part of the Professional Development Unit, has been systematically conducted by an experienced in-house mentor since 2010. Reflecting on the in-depth analysis of semi-structured interviews and the researchers’ affliction with the cases as an insider, the study revealed that context and belief-related factors played key roles in preventing teachers from conducting research for professional development, potentially resulting in research reticence

Keywords

• TR
• Professional Development

İngilizce Öğretmenlerinin Öğretmen Araştırması Konusunda İsteksizlikleri: Çoklu Durum Çalışması

Öz

İngilizce Araştırması Konusunda İsteksizlikleri: Çoklu Durum ÇalışmasıÖğretmen araştırması genel olarak yararlı bir profesyonel gelişim aracı olarak görülür. Fakat, halihazırda dil öğretimi alanında yeteri kadar icra edilmemektedir. Bu nedenle, bu çoklu-vaka araştırması 2010 yılından bari tecrübeli bir mentor tarafından sistematik olarak profesyonel gelişim bölümün yürütüldüğü bir özel üniversitedeki hazırlık okulunda öğretmen araştırmaları konusunda isteksizlik gösteren üç öğretmenin kapsamlı olarak incelenmesiyle öğretmen araştırmaları konusuna değinmektedir. Yarıyapılı röportajların derinlemesine incelenmesi ve araştırmacının vakalarla bireysel olarak ilintili olmasından faydalanan araştırma şart ve inanış ilintili faktörlerin öğretmenlerin araştırma yapmaktan kaçınmasında ve dolayısıyla araştırma isteksizliği doğurmasında etkin rol oynadığını göstermiştir

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Öğretmen Araştırması
• ingilizce
• çoklu durum çalışması

Kaynakça

1. Allison, D., & Carey, J. (2007). What do university language teachers say about language teaching research? TESL Canada Journal, 24(2), 61-81.
2. Ary, D., Jacobs, L., & Sorensen, C. (2010). Introduction to research in education (8th ed.). New York: Cengage Learning.
3. Borg, S. (2006). Conditions for TR. English Teaching Forum, 44(4), 22-27.
4. Borg, S. (2010). Language TR engagement. Language Teaching, 43, 391-429.
5. Borg, S. (2013). TR in language teaching: A critical analysis. London, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
6. Burkhardt, H., &Schoenfeld, A. (2003). Improving Educational Research: Toward a More Useful, More Influential, and Better-Funded Enterprise. Educational Researcher, 3-14.
7. Chaudron, C. (1988). Second language classrooms: Research on teaching and learning. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press.
8. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (Eds.). (1993). Inside/outside: TR and knowledge. Teachers College Press.

9. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999). The TR movement: A decade later. Educational researcher, 28(7), 15-25.
10. Çelik, S., &Dïkïlitaş, K. (2015). Action research as a professional development strategy. In International perspectives on teacher research (pp. 125-138). Palgrave Macmillan UK
11. Denzin, N. (2009). The research act; a theoretical introduction to sociological methods. Aldine Transaction.
12. Dikilitaş, K. (Ed.). (2011). Teacher-research studies at foreign language school: Inquiries from teacher perspectives. Ankara: Nobel.
13. Dikilitaş, K. (Ed.) (2013) Teacher-research studies: Inquiries from teacher perspectives. Ankara: Nobel.
14. Dikilitaş, K. (Ed.). (2014). Professional development through teacher-research. Izmir: Gediz University Press.
15. Dikilitaş, K., Smith, R., & Trotman, W. (2015). Teacher Researchers in Action. IATEFL ReSIG.
16. Drill, K., Miller, S., &Behrstock-Sherratt , E. (2012). Teachers’ Perspectives on Educational Research. American Institutes for Research, 1-16. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/ fulltext/ED530742.pdf
17. Hammersley, M. (1993) On the Teacher as Researcher. Educational Action Research, 1:3, 425-445, DOI: 10.1080/0965079930010308
18. Israel, M., & Hay, I. (2006). Research ethics for social scientists. America: Sage.
19. Kutlay, N. (2013). A Survey of English Language Teachers’ Views of Research. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 188-206.
20. Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2004). A handbook for TR from design to implementation. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.
21. Lee, J. C. K., & Day, C. (Eds.). (2016). Quality and change in teacher education: Western and Chinese perspectives (Vol. 13). Springer.
22. Lichtman, M. (2006). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
23. McDonough, J., & McDonough, S. (1990). What’s the use of research? ELT Journal, 44(2), 102-109.
24. Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons.
25. Mohr, M. (2004). TR for better schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
26. Nunan, D. (1997). Language Teaching and Research. In D. T. Girffee& D. Nunan (Eds.), Classroom teachers and classroom research (pp. 13-21). Tokyo: Japan Association for Language Teaching.
27. Reticent. (n.d.). In Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved from: http://dictionary.reference.com/ browse/reticent
28. Roberts, D., Bove, C., & Van Zee, E. (2007). TR stories of learning and growing. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
29. Smith, R. (2014). Supporting Teacher Research: The Work of Kenan Dikilitaş and Teachers at Gediz University, Izmir. ELT Research 29: 16–18.
30. Winch, C., Oancea, A., & Orchard, J. (2015). The contribution of educational research to teachers’ professional learning: Philosophical understandings. Oxford Review of Education, 41(2), 202- 216.
31. Wyatt , M., & Dikilitaş, K. (2015). English language teachers becoming more efficacious through research engagement at their Turkish university. Educational Action Research, 1-21.
32. Zeuli, J., &Tiezzi, L. (1993). Creating Contexts to Change Teachers’ Beliefs about the Influence of Research. Washington, D.C.: ERIC Clearinghouse. Retrieved from https://pdfs. semanticscholar.org/48b1/bdfc64f08efbd6cccf38aea78daf09f1b4c4.pdf