Hugo Santiago Sanchez

Key Issues in Doing and Supporting Language Teacher Research

This chapter identifies and discusses key issues in the contemporary literature on teacher research in language teaching and our purpose here is to outline the broader theoretical framework within which the individual chapters which follow are situated. Teacher research in education generally has a long history (see, for example, Noffke 2002; Olson 1990) and is characterized by a substantial body of literature; we will not attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of this here but rather our focus will be on selected salient themes. After dealing with definitional matters we focus on methodological and practical issues in the conduct of teacher research. We then consider teacher research from the perspective of those who facilitate it, and outline some observations on both the benefits of teacher research and criticisms of it. We conclude with a brief overview of the structure of the book.

International Perspectives on Teacher Research

1. Key Issues in Doing and Supporting Language Teacher Research Simon Borg and Hugo Santiago Sanchez 2. Toward New Understandings: Reflections on an Action Research Project with Japanese University Students Gerald Talandis Jr. and Michael Stout 3. Action Research as a Means of Stepping Out of the Teaching Comfort Zone Megan Yucel and Vicki Bos 4. Learning to Do Teacher Research Independently: Challenges and Solutions J?anme? X?e 5. Teacher Research in Video-Based Online Classrooms Paula Charbonneau-Gowdy 6. Border Crossings: Researching across Contexts for Teacher Professional Development Patsy Vinogradov 7. Participative Investigation: Narratives in Critical Research in the EFL Classroom Gerrard Mugford 8. Facilitating Teacher Research: Course Design, Implementation and Evaluation Simon Borg 9. Supporting Teacher Research through a Practical In-Service Course Anisa Saleh Al-Maskari 10. Action Research as a Professional Development Strategy Servet Celik and Kenan Dikilita? 11. Practices and Principles of Pre-Service Action Research Maureen Rajuan 12. Teacher Research in the English Language Teacher Development Project Rachel Bowden 13. Encouraging Teacher Research through In-House Activities: The Approach of a Finnish University Language Centre Tuula Lehtonen, Kari K. Pitkanen and Johanna Vaattovaara 14. Teacher Research: Looking Back and Moving Forward Hugo Santiago Sanchez and Simon Borg

The impact of self-perceived subject matter knowledge on pedagogical decisions in EFL grammar teaching practices

Recent developments in language teacher cognition research highlight the need to explore subject matter knowledge in relation to classroom practice. This study examines the impact of two foreign language teachers’ knowledge about grammar upon their pedagogical decisions. The primary database consisted of classroom observations and post-lesson stimulated recall interviews in which the teachers explained the rationale for their use of particular grammar teaching actions. The findings show that teachers’ decisions are influenced by a multiplicity of factors which are internal and external to them, one of which is their self-perception of their knowledge about grammar. This self-perception has been found to be grounded in a range of aspects and to influence diverse facets of grammar teaching. The results expand on our current understanding of knowledge about grammar and its impact on grammar teaching, and have strong implications for language teacher education and development.

Perceptions of quality in staff-student written feedback in higher education: a case study

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the results of an embedded, multiple case study that investigated the views of both lecturers and students on written staff-student feedback in three postgraduate programmes at one UK university. The study sought to uncover how ‘quality written feedback’ is perceived in the higher education environment under investigation. It found that tutors and students were broadly aligned in the features that they identified as constituting quality, which could be categorised within three dimensions: the affective or interpersonal, the orientational and the transformational. The findings suggest that feedback needs to incorporate each of these dimensions if it is to be perceived as being of good quality.

Issues and agency: postgraduate student and tutor experiences with written feedback

This paper examines the issues which postgraduate students and tutors experienced as they engaged in receiving, providing and requesting feedback, as well as the strategies which they adopted as they sought resolution of these issues. The study employed a case study approach, using data obtained from semi-structured and stimulated recall interviews with students and staff from three discipline areas at one university in the UK. The findings reinforce the conclusions that have been drawn in a number of previous studies in terms of the sources of dissatisfaction emerging from individual interactions and institutional practices. Additionally, however, the results expand on our current understanding of feedback and agency in higher education by illustrating how participants sought out imaginative solutions to the challenges they experienced, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the feedback process. The diversity of the strategies used provides evidence of student and tutor agency, and has implications for current feedback practices and future research in this area.

Teacher Research: Looking Back and Moving Forward

In this concluding chapter we review the work presented in the volume in order to draw some conclusions about the current state of activity and inquiry in teacher research in language teaching. We also identify areas for continued exploration in relation to both doing and facilitating teacher research in our field.

Research at the Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, UK

Established in 1983, the Centre for Applied Linguistics (CAL) at the University of Warwick is committed to a wide range of teaching, research and consultancy activities which focus on language use, language analysis, language learning and language teaching. It is also engaged in the development of multimedia, teaching and research materials and in a number of joint projects with national and international institutions. Its activities are supported by a variety of resources: staff and student expertise, facilities, equipment and materials including collections such as the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) and the British Academic Written English (BAWE) and the Warwick ELT Archive.