Research is sometimes understood as a task that is not easy to achieve, especially if it is conducted following traditional academic research methods. However, many teachers may be performing research in their areas even without being aware of it. Just by having a problem and wishing to look for a solution, we have the perfect scenario to start doing research.
What is Research?
Among the many definitions on research all of the authors agree on one thing: research involves having a problem we would like to solve.
Why doing Research?
When doing research in foreign language teaching and learning, teachers may pursue two aims: evaluating existing knowledge or analyzing the effectiveness of a proposal.
Research in foreign language?
When doing research, it is important to reflect on three aspects: The learning context, the pedagogical context and the policy context in terms of local and global issues. For instance, if a teacher wanted to find out what makes their students learn lexical phrases more easily, they would be working within the first context. They would analyse the literature related to lexical learning and then evaluate to what extent the existing information would suit their students’ needs. If, on the other hand, teachers were more interested in evaluating their pace of delivery in a kindergarten foreign language class, they would be working at the teaching level. They would probably need more hands-on work, like recording themselves and asking others for feedback. The third context seems to be the hardest one to work on but if we, for instance, think of the fact that in public Peruvian schools the extent of English language instruction has increased, we would be right to ask: what does the government expect by adding more hours for English lessons? What will students achieve when finishing the secondary level?
What to do to promote research in class?
Probably the easiest thing to do is to keep a kind of self-assessment system. By writing down some reflections based on the lessons taught, on the results students achieved, the problems which arose in class, and looking for answers in some way, we are carrying out Action Research.
Another very interesting method is peer observation. We may have an idea of why our lessons are effective or not but, when we receive the point of view from an outsider, we can have a richer assessment that can help us make more informed decisions and vary our approach to certain problem areas.
Now it is your turn:
Have you ever developed research in your class?
What did you find out? What was the impact?
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 9 seconds
