The impact of research practice on professional teaching practice: Exploring EFL teachers’ perception

Abstract

Although there has been surge of interest in teacher research practice in English language teaching (ELT) context, few research studies seem to have shown the attitudes and perceptions of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers towards the impact of research practice on professional teaching practice. Adopting a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, the present study explored the current status of EFL teachers’ research practice and the impact of research practice on the professional teaching practice of EFL teachers who were actively engaged with (i.e. through reading) and in (i.e. through doing) research. To this end, 150 EFL teachers filled out English Language Teacher Research Practice questionnaire in order to check their current status in research practice in the ELT setting. The participants’ responses to the questionnaire indicated that they were engaged both with and in research to some extent. Based on the responses to the questionnaire, 31 EFL teachers who were actively engaged with and in research were selected to explore their attitudes and perceptions towards the impact of their research practice on their professional teaching practice through a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis, used to analyse the qualitative data, uncovered nine themes that addressed the positive attitudes and perceptions of EFL teachers towards the impact of research practice on professional teaching practice. In line with the findings, implications for developing EFL teachers’ research practice in their own professional ELT context are suggested.

Keywords

• research practice
• professional teaching practice
• elt
• efl teachers
• mixed-methods approach