Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Literature Review
CHAPTER 2
2 Literature Review
INTRODUCTION
and intranets. It introduces the framework for the case study that comprises
The main purpose of the literature review work was to survey previous studies
on knowledge sharing and intranets. This was in order to scope out the key
p.217).
The approach adopted was in line with the current practice in grounded
themselves with existing research prior to collecting their own data (Easterby-
Smith, Thorpe, & Lowe,2002,pp.46-47), even though this contradicts the advice
appreciation of previous work in this area served three further purposes. First,
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through providing direction in the construction of data collection tools, it
guarded against the risk of overload at the primary data collection stages of
the project. Second, working the findings from extant literature into a formal
critical analysis of the actual “meaning” of the data collected when the data
identifying relevant work for review. The most significant of these were the
strategic management.
Most of these publications take the form of research papers. In 2002 a research
and ICT’s in general, as well as studies that permitted the analysis of the value
overview of the research topic. Material drawn from the review led to the
creating the data collection tools for the primary research. The inadequacies of
Despite the substantial amount of work which has been conducted into
awarded scant attention in the field of English language teaching. This paper
Discussion
The focal concern of this study was research engagement- the extent to which
readers read and do research- and factors related in it. Almost 70% said that
they read research at least sometimes and almost a third rarely; must over 61%
said they did research at least sometimes while over 38% said they did so rarely
these figures relate to research engagement in our field more generally. This
survey also does not shed light on what kinds of research activity teachers
engage in; this is one of several issues highlighted here which will be explored
I will discuss the levels of research engagement found here by considering two
teachers research engagement but did not emerge here as a significant factor.
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This is perhaps surprising, particular in relation to qualifications, and suggest
perhaps that it is not so much the qualification which matters here as much as
experienced (e.g. the kind of courses on research they have done). It may be
next administered.
Conceptions of research
with what has been called a ‘standard’ view of scientific research (Robson,2002
p. 19). The scenario rated most highly as being research was a large-scale
academic journal.
earlier in this paper (e.g. Brown,1992; Shkedi, 1998). The standard view of
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research, on the basis of the available evidence, thus seems to remain the
predominant model in the minds of the teachers both generally and specifically
in ELT.
attempts to engage them with and in research. If, for example, large samples
then this may become a less viable activity for many teachers who either do
not have access to large samples or do not have the knowledge of statistics
qualitative in nature but which may actually be more amenable to this kind of
beneficial and of value in enabling them to explore issues related to their own
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teaching. This reflects the main reason cited by teachers for doing research in
Amongst the reasons teachers gave for not being research engage, two reflect
views of the role and value of research in teachers lives; one (my job is to teach
and not do research) suggests that teaching and research are perceived as
distinct activities and only the former is part of a teachers work; the second
(am not interested in doing research) , which was mentioned in the context of
both not reading and not doing research, may imply a lack of awareness of the
to such views were only reported by a small proportion of the teachers, but
they are indicative of the kinds of the underlying assumptions about research
Further insight into teachers’ conceptions of research comes from two further
questions in the survey; 9 teachers said they did not read research because it
does not give them practical advice for the classroom; 34 teachers also said
they can use. These, again, are conceptions which recur in studies of teachers’
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research engagement (e.g. Mcdonough & McDonough, 1990; McNamara, 2002;
Shkedi,1998). Teachers are commonly found to report that they are unable to
see what published research means for their classroom practice; more recent
evidence indicates that unless such relevance is perceived by teachers they will
important to their work, it must be founded upon the intention to improve the
Where this link is not recognised, then the findings of research may be ignored
consistently report that one reason they do not is because they are unable to
see its relevance to their work, then this is clearly an issue that merits
attention. It has, though, not been the focus of any empirical work in our field,
(in Science Education,. Ratcliffe et al., 2004 suggests that this impact may be
more direct or indirect). These issues could be very easily provide the basis of a
focused empirical study of their own, but in any case these are clearly matters
could benefit from giving teachers on-going opportunities to discuss and clarify
their understandings of what research is and how it’s worth can be judged, of
the range of forms it may legitimately take, and of the ways that research and
The literature discussed earlier highlighted the role which the institutional
engagement.
Also, the more positively the institution was rated by teachers in this respect,
the more frequently teachers reported both reading and doing research, nd in
In terms of specific items related to the institutional culture, although only just
over half of the teachers agreed that the management encouraged teachers to
do research and only 34% agreed that teachers feel that doing research is an
important part of their work, the key finding was that almost 80% disagreed
that time for research is built into their workload. This view was also reflected
in the comments of teachers who did not read and do research; in both cases, a
lack of time was the most commonly cited reason. Although it is very easy to
engagement in an activity they feel they should do, there is growing evidence
not feasible unless the time it requires is acknowledged and built into
the study by Crookes and Arakaki (1999) which found that work pressures were
a key reason why the teachers in their institution did not read research. And in
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a personal communication to me on this subject, a teacher in North America
wrote that:
projects and publish. I just don’t have the time. I teach 32.5 hours/week and
need to prepare for those classes in addition to work with the teachers union
and our technology committee. It’s a shame. Until policy changes to permit
much connection between researcher and practice except within the individual
they don’t have time. There is a huge gap between research and practice in the
US”.
generally do not feel this time is available within their current allocations; the
activity they must do in their own time. The results here suggests that even
engagement, time may be a factor which carries more weight than others in
influencing the extent to which such engagement actually takes place. This
these is thus other specific issue which emerges here as meriting further
specific study. The work of Ebbut (2001) is relevant to this issue. He analysed
considers and the presence of such investment was one of the ways in which
schools where a research culture was more established differed from those
where it was less so. This would seem to be an issue which the institution
where the teachers in this study worked would benefit from considering if it
Conclusion
In concluding this paper there are two points to highlight and which need to be
considered in interpreting its findings. Firstly, the ELT context studied here is
me to assess the feasibility of the issues chosen for study and the instrument
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used to study them as well as to generate issues which could be explored in
In these respects this work has I feel been worthwhile. At the same time, the
substantive findings of this study are indicative of the potential that work of
this kind has for exploring the nature of research engagement in ELT. Second,
the issues under study, and that, for a range of reasons, there may be a gap
can minimise to some extent such problems (see, for example the advice in
interviews, as I plan to do, will allow the findings emerging here to be explored
implying that interview are free of dangers associated with the respondent bias
The findings of this study highlight a number of areas for continuing inquiry
into the topic of teachers’ research engagement in ELT. The notion of teacher
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research is certainly not a new one in this field; what is new, however, is the
systematic study of the extent to which teachers in ELT read and do research
which investigate these issues, and this had led to the development of a
field.
which runs through and strengthens all other educational purposes- the
I believe there are none. The great unsolved puzzle of the mechanism of
functioning of the human brain is the most fascinating and challenging frontier
before us, yet to be explored and understood. This understanding can only
valuable than a single, elegant experiment, such as is often done in the natural
one friend carries more influence on a buying decision for most people than an
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analysis by Consumer Report based on the results of weeks of testing and
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) show that although US and Japanese
students are at similar achievement levels in fourth grade, the US students are
bout one grade level behind by seventh grade (Schmidt, Mcknight, Raizen,
1997; Schmidt, Raizen, Briton, Bianchi, & Wolfe, 1997). Wwhen Japanese
and various Sputnik-inspired reforms” (Linn, Lewis, Tsuchida, & Songer, 2000).
benefits that we intuitively know result from Peer-Led Team Learning. Our
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understanding of PLTL can only be enhanced by such investigative efforts.
Those who choose to study the results and modify their implementations
accordingly will benefit, and the ultimate outcome will be a better project.