Prof. Heath Rose

The language teaching nexus in language teaching research: How real is the divide?

Within the community of language educators, there's an increasingly observed split between those who conduct research in language teaching and those who apply these findings in classrooms. This rift has led to a situation where many educators disengage from scholarly research, potentially causing research to become disconnected from the practical challenges of teaching. This raises a question: is this divide truly as wide as it seems? In my presentation, I delve into the notion of a nexus between teaching and research, underscoring the crucial interplay between these two areas. I advocate for research that is initiated or informed by classroom teaching, proposing this approach as a means to break the traditional, one-way flow of knowledge that typically moves from research to teaching. Additionally, I'll share insights from my recent investigations into the identities of over 400 language teaching researchers, suggesting that the divide between teaching and research communities may be somewhat overstated. I will further focus on the impact of teaching on research, drawing on some examples of partnership research between researchers and practitioners in the fields of Global Englishes and English Medium Instruction.