Promoting Engagement with Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles in Adult ESL Programs

Abstract

Engagement with current research is essential for the implementation of evidenceinformed instructional practices in adult EnglishOne of the expectations of a profession is that practitioners within it will not only possess the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attributes for their profession but, equally important, that they will keep up to date with developments in their field to both confirm and inform their teaching practices. English as a second language (ESL) instructors who engage with current research through ongoing professional development (PD) are better prepared to meet the edu-

Evaluating the Effectiveness and Functionality of Professional Learning Communities in Adult ESL Programs

“…Nine programs met this minimum criterion, one program did not respond, and the other had only two teachers interested in participating in this project. Based on our previous research (Abbo , Rossiter, & Hatami, 2015;Rossiter, Abbo , & Hatami, 2013), we provided suggestions for organizing the fi rst PLC discussion. We encouraged the incorporation of a social dimension in all meetings, requested that the participants identify their professional learning needs, and asked that a facilitator be selected to forward monthly, on going requests for research articles to address those needs.…”

“…Due to the proliferation of information of varying quality on the Internet, trustworthy, peer-reviewed academic research is of increasing value for practitioners. Research has identifi ed time and access as key factors that limit teachers' professional reading (e.g., Abbo , Lee, & Rossiter, 2017;Abbo , Rossiter, & Hatami, 2015;Borg, 2007Borg, , 2009Borg, , 2013Borg & Liu, 2013;McDonough & Mc-Donough, 1990;Nassaji, 2012;Sá, Li, & Faubert, 2011). Despite initiatives to reduce barriers to professional reading (e.g., by increasing the number of open access journals), the utilization of research in both educational policy and practice is generally limited (Cooper & Levin, 2010;Lysenko, Abrami, Bernard, Dagenais, & Janosz, 2014).…”

“…Because research is utilized by diff erent audiences in varying ways (Levin, 2011) and professional learning is shaped by the teaching context (Timperley, 2008), a comprehensive examination of the eff ectiveness of PLCs must take context into account. Adult ESL instructional contexts in Canada are extremely diverse, ranging from programs that serve refugees with no English and no formal schooling to those that a ract international visa students with advanced academic language profi ciency (Abbo , Rossiter, & Hatami, 2015). ESL instructors have varied TESL training and experience (from none to PhDs) and teach students across a range of ESL profi ciency levels (from beginner to advanced) in a variety of ESL programs (from informal se lement to academic or occupation-specifi c English language training).…”

“…Some ESL programs rely on untrained volunteer instructors, while others require instructors with a master's or doctorate in TESL or a related fi eld (Abbo & Rossiter, 2011). Adult ESL instructors with limited teaching experience or TESL education or training may recognize the need for extensive professional learning and development to meet the complex, ever-changing needs of the ESL learners in their classes (Abbo & Rossiter, 2011;Abbo , Rossiter, & Hatami, 2015). Therefore, to refl ect the multiple TESL contexts and the diversity of TESL instructor expertise, PLCs were examined in nine distinct private and public adult ESL programs (newcomer/se lement, general ESL, and English for academic purposes) in the research utilization study described in this article.…”

Exploratory Practice: A way forward to getting the students back in the modern foreign language classroom

“…However, the literature indicates that little research, if any, has been carried out by teachers in English language teaching (Borg 2013(Borg , 2010(Borg , 2009 and modern foreign languages (Marsden and Kasprowicz 2017) to cite only these scholars. The reasons behind this lack of engagement in research is well documented (Hanks 2017;Abbott, Rossiter, and Hatami 2015;Borg 2010: 409). However, suffice it to say for the purposes of this paper, that the lack of time, access to research, little expert support, and lack of research skills have played a major part in limiting teachers' engagement with research.…”