抄録
A recurrent theme in education, including English language education, is the extent to which teachers draw on the findings of academic research, despite the fact that ‘evidence-based’ practice is usually promoted as the gold standard. Research on teachers as consumers and users of research (Noonoo, 2019) suggests that although teachers may access research in various ways, such as in teacher training programs, workshops, or conference presentations, in their actual daily classroom practices very little attention may be paid to research. There are various reasons for this situation, including inaccessibility of academic research concepts and methods, the perceived lack of relevance to teachers’ contexts, or the gap between the worlds of researchers and teachers. In this paper, based on a JACET 2023 plenary presentation, I argue for a rethinking of the types of collaboration that could work to overcome these disparities. I use the notion of the need for ‘transcultural’ work where researchers and teachers could cross the divides that separate them. I discuss why, given the growing complexity and challenges in education, it is important that we do not overlook or fail to deploy the range of empirical and pedagogical resources available to us as educators. I will outline why collaboration is central to the building of stronger transcultures of research that can aim to have an impact on practice. I will go on to suggest what kinds of initiatives and strategies could be harnessed to strengthen research collaborations and how these could be implemented. To illustrate my arguments, I will draw on my own experiences of research collaboration with teachers as well as other examples from international contexts. In so doing I will attempt to draw out what kinds of roles, knowledge, relationships, and procedures might work towards effective collaboration.
