Promoting EFL Teacher Research Engagement through a Research Support Programme

Abstract

Existing initiatives purporting to promote teacher research are often found to be inadequate to encourage EFL teachers to engage in research due to the fact that they impose a top down, expert model approach to research engagement. This study reports on a pioneering programme at Sultan Qaboos University Language Centre in the Sultanate of Oman which has adopted a bottom up, practitioner-based approach to research. Drawing on questionnaire and interview data, the article examines the teachers’ perceptions of their experiences in initiating and carrying out teacher research using this programme. The findings indicate that whilst contextual constraints similar to those cited in the literature remain unyielding, the research support programme has been effective in supporting teachers to initiate and lead their own research studies. This success is discussed in relation to the programme’s basis in a practitioner practice to theory model versus expert theory to practice models of teacher research engagement. As EFL teacher research is increasingly gaining popularity and acceptance worldwide, the study has implications for EFL institutions looking for effective ways to promote teacher research engagement in a collegial way.

Language curriculum transformation and motivation through action research

“…They accepted the proposal and the course ran from March until August in 2018. The course followed these premises: (1) teachers who are supported in research engagement are better equipped to develop professionally and enhance learner motivation and performance (Al-Maamari & Al-Aamari, 2017;Carvajal Tapia, 2017;Dikilitaş & Mumford, 2018;Hanks, 2017;Rebolledo, Smith, & Bullock, 2016;Yuan, Sun, & Teng, 2017), and (2) learners need to be heard (Coyle, 2013;Elisha-Primo et al, 2010) to transform the intended curriculum into contextresponsive curriculum enactment (Graves, 2016), and (3) collaboration among teachers, learners, and curriculum developers will make ELT meaningful and relevant. Upon agreement with teachers and school heads, the course was designed to increase learner motivation, improve their learning of English, and provide teachers with opportunities for teacher development through reflection and research.…”

Leader–Member Exchange, Work Engagement, and Psychological Withdrawal Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment

“…Psychological empowerment comprises four elements, namely, meaning, competence, self-determinations, and impact (Sparrowe, 1994;Kirkman and Rosen, 1999;Siegall and Gardner, 2000). Previous literature has manifested that psychological empowerment has a positive impact on work engagement of the employees (Paré and Tremblay, 2007;Bakker and Leiter, 2010;Stander and Rothmann, 2010;Seibert et al, 2011;Wang and Liu, 2015;Al-Maamari et al, 2017). Alzyoud et al (2015) state that higher work engagement enhances the commitment and job satisfaction among the employees and reduces employee absenteeism at the workplace.…”

“…Leader's ease of availability and his/her supportive behavior helps in improving the psychological empowerment of the employees (Hu et al, 2018). Furthermore, this psychological empowerment leads to various organizational consequences such as high work engagement (Wang and Liu, 2015;Al-Maamari et al, 2017) and low psychological withdrawal behavior (Colquitt et al, 2014;Lorinkova and Perry, 2017). The role of the social exchange relationship between leader and subordinate was found imperative to enhance the work engagement (Carasco-Saul et al, 2015;Galperin et al, 2017).…”

Initial English language teacher education: the effects of a module on teacher research

“…Admittedly, given their lack of research experience at this early stage of their professional trajectories, the input from an external advisor, who offers their expertise without judgement or impact on their performance, seems particularly helpful. As a result, student-teachers may identify benefits in this kind of exchange with external experts (Al-Maamari et al, 2017), and therefore teacher educators are encouraged to promote exchanges of ideas between student-teachers and other colleagues.…”

“…For example, Edwards (2017) investigated the sustainability of the impact of AR as a CPD tool with a group of English language teachers in Australia. A further example is found in Oman by Al-Maamari, Al-Aamri, Khammash, and Al-Wahaibi (2017), who examined the perceptions and experiences of 24 EFL teachers after completing a research support programme. Drawing on data gathered through an online questionnaire and a follow-up interview, the authors concluded that the participants identified benefits such as reflection driven by data collection and feedback from experts.…”