Teachers’ Perspectives on the Impacts of Research Activity on Teacher’s Teaching Practices

Abstract

This study aims to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the impacts of research activity on their teaching practices. Fifty teachers of English at tertiary level volunteered to participate in this study. A questionnaire was employed to collect quantitative data. The results show that teachers generally showed strong agreement on the roles of research in promoting their teaching practices. Specifically, the results indicate that (1) knowing research helps improve teaching practices, (2) research is highly relevant to the quality of language teaching, (3) research provides teachers with practical suggestions for improving second/foreign language instruction, and (4) research helps improve teachers’ teaching pedagogy. Additionally, the results indicate that teachers also had different expectations regarding how research could support their teaching, including (1) research can be a great source of motivation and instruction, (2) research can provide insights to help teachers develop strategies to teach English, (3) research can provide insights to help teachers deal with different students, and (4) research can support second language (L2) teaching and learning. Accordingly, possible suggestions and implications for teachers as well as other related stakeholders about research-teaching nexus are addressed.