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Research and the language teacher Research and the language teacher

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Research and the language teacher - PPT Presentation

Penny Ur This session Research as one component of the professional knowledge of the teacher The contribution of researchbased insights The problems Possible answers selective and critical ID: 810913

language research teacher teaching research language teaching teacher learning practical based teachers knowledge amp studies professional time reading literature

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Slide1

Research and the language teacher

Penny Ur

Slide2

This session

Research as one component of the professional knowledge of the teacher

The contribution of research-based insights

The problems Possible answers: selective and critical readingThe importance of mediators.

2

Slide3

1. Research as one component of professional knowledge

3

Slide4

Sources of teachers’ knowledge

Courses (pre- and in-service)

Conferences

Reading (research, professional literature)Recommendations of colleagues

Feedback from students

Classroom experience + reflection

4

Slide5

Schön: The Reflective Practitioner

Professionals learn mainly by reflecting in/on action

Not by applying research-based theories

(Schön, 1983)5

Slide6

Research-based theory in teaching

“The teaching profession, as with all high-standard professions, needs the best available academic knowledge in order to fulfil its commitments to society… Teachers have to be familiar with the latest knowledge and research about the subject matter.”

(Niemi, 2008).

6

Slide7

And the teachers themselves?

Most teachers do not read the research literature very often, if at all.

Reasons:

‘I don’t have the time.’‘I don’t have access.’

‘It’s not of

practical help.’

‘It’s

difficult

to understand.’

(Borg, S. 2009)

7

Slide8

The teacher as researcher

Lawrence

Stenhouse

(Hopkins & Rudduck, 1985) Research as ‘disciplined enquiry made public’ Action ResearchBut: it hasn’t happened

If it does, only within a supportive framework (course, external initiative)

8

Slide9

Interim summary

Research-based theory is not seen by most teachers as the main contributor to professional knowledge.

Teachers learn mainly from reflection on experience.

Teachers do not usually do research themselves.But the importance of the research continues to be stressed in the professional literature.

There is a trend towards ‘

academicization

’ of the

profession

9

Slide10

Bottom line: dissonance

An uncomfortable, unresolved discrepancy

R

ising awareness and increasing discussion in the literature and at conferences (Ellis, 2010, 2012; discussions in the research SIG at IATEFL, 2012)My position: research is not the main source of teacher knowledge, but it can enrich it.

10

Slide11

2. The contribution of research-based insights

11

Slide12

1. Different types of research-based

literature

1. Original empirical research

2. Overviews / meta-analyses3. Theory, drawing on research evidence

12

Slide13

How does it contribute?

Research produces

evidence,

that can be used to create practical principles for teaching.May provide new insights / information that hadn’t occurred to usMay contradict comfortable, but inaccurate, assumptionsMay confirm our own intuitions

13

Slide14

Example 1

Guessing from context (‘

inferencing

’)Convincing evidence that in over 50% of the cases, in natural contexts, unknown words cannot be guessed (Nassaji, 2003)Even if they are guessed correctly, this does not lead to better learning (

Mondria, 2003)

Guessing from context is no substitute for learning.

It’s probably better simply to explain, or gloss, new vocabulary in a text rather than asking students to guess.

14

Slide15

Example 2: lexical sets

Tinkham

(1993) Does it help learners to master a new set of lexical items if they are all members of a lexical set (same part of speech, same kind of meaning: e.g. clothes, animals)?

15

Slide16

Learners were presented with two sets of items from an artificial language, and told their ‘meanings’; one set all related to the same domain, the other did not.

shirt =

moshee

jacket = umausweater = blaikelrain = achen

car = nalofrog =

kawvas

rain =

moshee

car

=

umau

frog

=

blaikel

shirt

=

achen

jacket =

nalo

sweater =

kawvas

16

Slide17

The learners consistently learned the unrelated

items better

.

The research was later replicated, with similar results.e.g. Waring (1998), Papathanasiou (2009)When asked, learners said that they found they were confused because words had similar meanings. i.e. if you learn two words with similar meanings (or forms?) the learning of one ‘interferes’ with learning the other.

17

Slide18

But words linked to each other syntagmatically

and

thematically are learnt well.e.g. blue + sky rather than blue + redThe vocabulary presented in elementary textbooks should be based not on semantic sets or pairs, but on thematic and syntactic links.e.g. if the theme is ‘family’ then items might be things like:home, love, mother, father, kitchen, cook, marry, happy, comfortable...and not just a list of family members

mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle...

18

Slide19

Example 3:

Corrective feedback

‘Recasts’ are the least effective of oral corrective feedback strategies.

(Lyster, 1998) When correcting we need to involve the student (elicitation, negotiation).

19

Slide20

Problems

20

Slide21

Why don’t teachers read the research?

Time!

Lack of clarity

Contradictions Researcher bias

Practical application may be limited or inappropriate:

Trivial or impractical topics

Small population, time-frame

The ‘Hawthorne effect’

Local pedagogical or practical constraints

Inadequate professional experience of researcher

21

Slide22

Time

Teachers are busy: lessons, preparation, checking assignments, paperwork.

Reading and study are not built in to the teachers’ work description.

Sometimes actively discouraged by employers.

22

Slide23

Lack of clarity

Sometimes inevitable

: specific terminology

, statisticsOften unnecessary (and unforgivable!): difficult language for its own sake (Aaronson, 1977)

23

Slide24

Contradictions

Example:

The role of practice in instructed language learning

Salaberry(1997)vs.Ellis (2001)

24

Slide25

Researcher bias

Articles which use the research to support a particular position

Examples:

Truscott (1999): Against the giving of corrective feedbackSwan (2005): Against task-based instruction

25

Slide26

Limited practical application(i) Trivial, irrelevant or impractical

Studies on problems with a particular grammatical point.

Studies on topics that aren’t relevant to our context (e.g. CLIL)

Studies that draw conclusions that can’t be implemented in practice (e.g. teachability hypothesis)

26

Slide27

Limited practical application(ii) Small population or time-frame

Small populations: usually university students

Relatively short time

Example: Studies quoted in Norris & Ortega (2001)

27

Slide28

Limited practical application(iii) The Hawthorne effect

Impressive results in an empirical study may be simply the result of change, and subjects’ awareness that this is an experimental innovation.

e.g. Research on the use of CALL

(Macaro, Handley, & Walter, 2012)

28

Slide29

4. Limited practical application (iv) Pedagogical / practical constraints

The published research on ELT is nearly all second language acquisition (SLA).

But practical pedagogical issues are often more important to practitioners:

large and/or heterogeneous classes

discipline problems

pressure from stakeholders

upcoming exams

the local culture of learning

limited time to prepare

… etc.

29

Slide30

Example 1: Culture of learning

Task-based or communicative teaching

The task-based approach seen by many as the best basis for successful instructed language-learning

But not appropriate for some cultures of learning(Carless, 2007; Hu, 2002)

30

Slide31

Example 2: stakeholder pressure

The optimal age for starting to study English in school

In the context of instructed language learning, late starters learn better.

(Muñoz & Singleton, 2011)But the pressure of parents, politicians and commercial interests leads to early-start programs.

31

Slide32

(iv) Inadequate professional knowledge of researcher

The rearcher’s ‘practical pedagogical implications’ are often in fact impractical.

Many excellent studies are followed by ‘off the wall’ suggestions for classroom teaching.

Practical application of research to teaching has to be determined by the teacher (Widdowson, 1990; Ellis, 2012).

32

Slide33

Selective and critical reading

33

Slide34

Main problems: time, access, practical use, comprehensibility.

Time and access

: the contribution of the Internet

Access: national and international conferencesPractical use, comprehensibility: the need for selective, critical reading.

34

Slide35

Selective reading

Check the topic: look it up on the Internet

Check the source: a respected publisher or journal

Check the authorWebsites, e.g. http://www.tesolacademic.org/Webinars, conference proceedings, Youtube…

35

Slide36

Critical reading

Check for clarity

Check for replications / contradictions

Check for applicability to your teachingDraw your own conclusions

36

Slide37

4. Mediators

37

Slide38

Who are the mediators?

‘Mediators’: Teachers who are also trainers, readers of research and perhaps writers: can mediate the research literature for other teachers.

38

Slide39

Types of mediators

Speakers at conferences presenting their own interpretations of research

Writers of teacher handbooks

Teacher trainers or counselors.39

Slide40

The research component in teacher courses

It is important to include insights from the research in teacher courses

(whether preparation or

השתלמויות)But why, if it’s not a major source of teacher expertise.40

Slide41

The reasons

It’s not a major source, but it is a significant one, not available from daily practice.

Teachers rarely, if ever, have opportunities to encounter it elsewhere.

The trainer is in a position to mediate the research. 41

Slide42

What is ‘mediation’ in this case?

Selection

. The trainer selects for inclusion research studies that present reliable evidence, and that have clear implications for teaching/learning.

Clarification. The trainer presents / explains the studies, rather than leaving teachers to read on their own. Criticism. The trainer leads discussion of the implications of the research for teaching, including reservations and criticism.

42

Slide43

Summary

The research literature is an important source of professional knowledge.

There is too much of it, and a lot of it is impractical or difficult to read.

It should be read selectively and critically.Hence the need for mediators: chiefly the teacher trainers. (Ur, 2014)

43

Slide44

References

Aaronson, S. (1977-8). Style in scientific writing.

Essays of an Information Scientist

, 3, 4-13. Available from: http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v3p004y1977-78.pdfBorg, S. (2009). English language teachers’ conceptions of research. Applied Linguistics, 30(3), 358–388.Carless, D. (2007). The suitability of task-based approaches for secondary schools: Perspectives from Hong Kong.

System, 35(4), 595-608.

Ellis, R. (2001). Grammar teaching - Practice or consciousness-raising? In Richards, J. C. &

Renandya

, W. A. (Eds.),

Methodology in language teaching

(pp.167-174). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis, R. (2010). Second language acquisition, teacher education and language pedagogy.

Language Teaching, 43

(2), 182-201.

Ellis, R. (2012).

Language teaching research and language pedagogy

.

Chichester

,

Uk

: Wiley-Blackwell.

Hopkins D., &

Rudduck

J. (Eds.) (1985).

Research as a basis for teaching: Readings from the work of Lawrence

Stenhouse

. London: Heinemann.

Hu, G . (2002). Potential cultural resistance to pedagogical imports: the case of communicative language teaching in China.

Language, Culture and Curriculum, 15

(2), 93-105.

44

Slide45

Lyster, R. (1998). Negotiation of form, recasts and explicit correction in relation to error types and learner repair in immersion classrooms.

Language Learning, 48(2)

, 183-218.

Macaro, E, Handley, C., & Walter, C. (2012). A systematic review of CALL in English as a second language: Focus on primary and secondary education. Language Teaching, 45, 1-43.Mondria, J- A. (2003). The effects of inferring, verifying and memorizing on the retention of L2 word meanings. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25(4), 473-499

.Muñoz, C., & Singleton, D. (2011). A critical review of age-related research on L2 ultimate attainment.

Language Teaching, 44

(1), 1-35.

Nassaji

, H. (2003). L2 vocabulary learning from context: Strategies, knowledge sources and their relationship with success in L2 lexical

inferencing

.

TESOL Quarterly, 37

(4), 645-670

.

Niemi

, H. (2008). Advancing research into and during teacher education. In Hudson, B. &

Zgaga

P. (

eds

)

Teacher education policy in Europe

(p.184)

.

Faculty of Teacher Education, University of

Umeå

, in co-operation with the Centre for Educational Policy Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana

Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review.

Language Learning, 51

, Supplement 1, 157-213.

Papathanasiou

, E. (2009). An investigation of two ways of presenting vocabulary.

ELT Journal, 63

(4), 313-322.

Salaberry

, M. R. (1997). The Role of Input and Output Practice in Second Language Acquisition.

Canadian Modern Language Review, 53

(2), 422-451.

45

Slide46

Schön, D. A. (1983).

The Reflective Practitioner

. New York: Basic Books.

Swan, M. (2005). Legislation by hypothesis: the case of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 376-401.Tinkham, T. 1993. The effect of semantic clustering on the learning of L2 vocabulary. System 21(3): 371-80.Truscott, J. (1999). What's wrong with oral grammar correction? The Canadian Modern Language Review, 55

(4), 437-56.Ur, P. (2014). Practice and research-based theory in English

teacher development

.

European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 3

(2), 143-156

.

Waring, R. 1998. The negative effect of learning words in semantic sets: a replication.

System 25

(2), 261-74.

Widdowson

, H. G. (1990).

Aspects of language teaching

. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

46

Slide47

Useful Resources

Journals

The

Reading TeacherEducational LeadershipEnglish Teaching Professional ELT JournalEnglish Teaching ForumThe Modern Language JournalModern English Teacher

Blogshttp://leoxicon.blogspot.co.il

/

http://elt-resourceful.com

/

https://

janecohenefl.edublogs.org

/

47