overlapping with the creation of knowledge tools, it suggests modifying the knowledge to suit the context. An evaluation of the barriers to accessing research is the third step. The fourth step requires development and implementation of interventions. As it pertains to getting knowledge to teachers in particular, the research suggests this often happens through intermediaries( Levin & Cooper, 2010). One such intermediary could be a professional organisation. Three of the noted advantages of using a professional organisation are its potential to create links between groups( Israel, Schulz, Parker, & Becker, 1998), its established credibility with and awareness of the target audience. In addition, Levin( 2010) posits that such partnerships encourage researchers’ commitment to making research more accessible to practitioners.
In addition to using an intermediary, as it pertains to the fifth step- monitoring of research use- the internet offers the potential not only to attract teachers to research, but also to provide a format for research sharing and interaction, and a way to monitor its use. That teachers already use the Internet to find research and depend on it to search for solutions to problems( Rickinson, 2005), speaks to their familiarity and comfort with this communication platform and thus potential willingness to engage in research via an online format. In addition, a variety of online formats can offer accessibility to research and interactive space to facilitate researcher / educator communication( Ho, Cockalingam, Best, & Walsh, 2003; Morahan-Martin, 2004). However, the dearth of educational research on how teachers use research online( Edelstein, 2011) highlights the importance of further investigation so as to better respond to their needs. Where providing the resources and the space does not indicate interaction( Reychav & Te’ eni, 2009), research( Clifton, 2008; Ledford & Tyler, 2007) suggests using analytics to monitor online use. Such analytics can provide information as to how the provided resources and space are used. Such monitoring responds to the sixth step in the action cycle – evaluating its use. The last step highlights the importance in examining the previous steps with the view to sustaining the use of research in the future.
METHODOLOGY
This study followed the above-described steps of knowledge creation and action to provide second language teachers and researchers shared online space in which to interact and access resources with the view to monitoring its use and potentially promoting closer links between these groups, thus reducing the linkage gap.
Instruments: knowledge creation phase
For the purposes of this project, the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers( CASLT), the Canadian Modern Language Review( CMLR) and I formed a partnership with the goal of making second language research more accessible to teachers. As a well established, national teacher organisation CASLT offered credibility and links between me as a researcher and a pool of second language teachers. As its commitment to the project, the CMLR provided free access to six second language articles to the project’ s participants, for which I created the knowledge tools and monitored their use. It is worth noting that with a view to sustaining the practice of engaging with research, the resources created for this project remain available through CASLT and CMLR.
In the filtering stage of the knowledge inquiry phase, I explored the recent article choices available in the Canadian Modern Language Review. Given that the audience was practicing teachers and teacher candidates, selection of the articles was made in consultation with three second language coordinators from three different school boards and three professors from three faculties of education. In particular, we selected six articles to be made available to the project’ s participants- four with French as a second language focus and two with an emphasis on English as a second language, including articles from American, Australian, Chinese and Canadian researchers. The limitations of one journal did not allow for a synthesis of research findings within any one area of focus.
In collaboration with the articles’ authors, I created support guides to accompany each article. Each support guide followed the research recommendations to encourage teacher engagement by( a) introducing the researchers, thus providing for a personal connection,( b) offering prereading questions to acknowledge and engage the teachers’ experiences on the topic,( c) following an interview format to present a brief summary of the research findings in comprehensible language, and( d) providing actionable messages, post-reading questions and references to additional research articles on related topics. CASLT then provided for the translation of the support guides so each of the six support guides – one per article – were available in English and French.
The authors were also invited to make a YouTube video to introduce themselves to the participants. In addition to my own, two other researchers provided introductory videos for the purpose of this project.
ACTION CYCLE
Making the tools available
The six research articles, corresponding support guides, and videos were made available on a password protected website created for the purpose of this project. The website also housed a questionnaire and a discussion forum that provided a virtual space for the participants and researchers to interact. The questionnaire was created for the purpose of this project. It was created in English with CASLT providing the corresponding French translation. The questionnaire consisted of: a) 9 biographical questions among those questions pertaining to gender, employment, teaching experience, qualifications, education, and research experience, b) a question identifying factors that impede use of research articles, and c) a 24 item Likert scale pertaining to the frequency with which the participants consider research in their teaching practice. Grounded in literature on barriers to accessing research( e. g., Bransford et al., 2009; Estabrooks et al., 2003), the second section of the questionnaire explored whether the following factors impeded teachers accessing research: the availability of research articles, quality of research, complexity of language of articles, consistency of results across articles, the lack of practical implications indicated in articles, the pertinence of topics, the datedness of the publications and their transferability to the practical context. Similarly, the Likert-scale section was also based on research( Cooper & Levin, 2010) that suggests an examination of frequency of practice bears greater consistency that an exploration of beliefs. The 24 items therefore explored the frequency with which teachers engaged in activities grounded in research.
The discussion forum featured one article and its author( s) per week for a period of six weeks. Each week, I would post an introductory question related to the featured article to which the participants could choose to respond in the manner of their choice.
To attract teachers to this project, CASLT provided information at its booth at second language teacher conferences, published a description of the project in its newsletter and I sent information to second language coordinators in Ontarian boards via email and to various Faculties of Education as per my personal and CASLT’ s connections. In order to participate, teachers were to send their name and contact information to CASLT at which point I provided them with the information to access the website.
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