Abstract:

Making Research Accessible to Teachers

By Andrew Reimann, The JALT Language Teacher

Rod Ellis’ “SLA Research and Language Teaching”, questions the validity and relevance of research conducted in the fields of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching. Citing examples and exploring the different perspectives of researchers, linguists, teachers and others in the field, Ellis proposes that recent research is undertaken primarily for the sake of satisfying academic peers and fulfilling publication agendas, rather than for solving educational problems and is consequently inaccessible to teachers and of little or no practical value.

There is a large gap between researchers and teachers and Ellis suggests ways in which this might be bridged. What significant findings has SLA research yielded? How can these results be used, translated and applied by teachers? Ellis provides answers to these questions suggesting that it is the Applied Linguists responsibility to act as intermediary between researcher and teacher and to juggle the plethora of technical and practical knowledge generated and required by each side.

Presently researchers are under no obligation to make their research accessible their first loyalty is to the publisher. Suggesting ways in which research findings can be applied is often undesirable in that it opens them up to scrutiny and criticism. Furthermore, Ellis points out that researchers are under budget and time constraints and are often unable to make such considerations for teachers. Also practical research tends to receive a lot less recognition than pure research so there is little motivation for researchers to accommodate teachers.

Using previously published articles to support his points; Ellis creatively rallies for reform in research methods. His propositions are divided into six sections; Background, Making research accessible, The application of theory, Second language acquisition research in the classroom, The teacher as researcher and Conclusion. Each section presents, summarizes and critiques popular methods or theories, offering ways in which they may be revised, changed or best applied.

The first three units introduce typical research methods, outlining any short comings and illustrating how they can be improved or be made more accessible to teachers. Part 2, Making research accessible, focuses on two main approaches to research outside-inside (from research to pedagogy) and inside-outside (from pedagogy to research). Ellis concludes that the later of these is most significant and relevant to practitioners as it stems from pedagogical constructs as opposed to theories alone. Part 3, The application of theory, expands on these approaches, offering specific examples of form-focused instruction intended to raise learner’s consciousness levels. Here Ellis demonstrates how research in teaching implicit/explicit knowledge through consciousness raising (CR) tasks and interpretation tasks yielded significant results. In Part 4, Second language acquisition research in the classroom, Ellis introduces a third method in which SLA can inform pedagogy through classroom centered, context specific research. Describing 5 types of classroom research Ellis illustrates how choosing the right type is crucial to success. Part 5 and 6, The teacher as researcher and Conclusion, provide two case studies of teachers conducting context specific, empirical research. Ellis suggests ways in which teachers can conduct their own small scale research and tailor it to their own specific needs and goals by following the basic steps and developing the necessary skills required for preliminary research and planning, analyzing, writing and evaluating. In conclusion, Ellis summarizes significant findings, describes the limits of each type of research and suggests areas for improvement and further research, reasoning that the formula for successful research begins with appraisal, interpretation and evaluation by researchers and ends with application in pedagogy.

There must be more communication between researchers and teachers and greater cooperation between the academic and practical domains of SLA. To solve these problems Ellis proposes that teachers and researchers work together investigating practical problems and conducting formal research. The teacher as researcher and the researcher as consultant are role changes that Ellis explains need to take place for quality research to be conducted. Research needs to mirror the classroom in diversity and researchers need to be more conscious of teacher’s needs.

Overall Ellis’ investigation of the relationship between research and teaching is informative and refreshingly practical. For researchers who wish to publish relevant material or teachers who wish to sift through the mire of useless and impractical research, Rod Ellis’ “SLA Research and Language Teaching” is an essential guide and handbook.