Research Literacy for Language Teachers (ReaLiTea)

The Research Literacy for Language Teachers (ReaLiTea) project is an ambitious and innovative attempt to enhance the research literacy skills of English Language teachers. The project is headed by Prof. Carolyn Blume (Technical University Dortmund), and it involves a consortium of seven universities across the European Education Area.

At a glance

This page contains some facts about the project, the team and the research outputs that will be generated.

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What makes this project important

Teacher research literacy as a driver of professional development

The basic premise that informs the ReaLiTea project is that teachers as professionals benefit from having an inquisitive attitude about their practice and wider professional context. Such an attitude is manifest in an openness towards research activities. It also involves a desire and readinessto engage with their practice in a systematic and empirically-informed way.

Teachers who think of language education in these terms are likely to engage in more reflection (Kostoulas et al., 2019). They also are likely to report high self-efficacy beliefs (Eginli & Dikilitas, 2022; Wyatt & Dikilitas, 2016). In addition, they tend to participate in communities of teacher practitioners. This engagement contributes to the development of lifelong professional learning attitudes and activities.

Although few people would question the value of research-informed teaching, empirical data indicate that ELT teachers do not engage much with research (Kostoulas et al., 2019; Sato & Loewen, 2019). Many teachers have relatively narrow understandings of research and research-related activities, and this works against more inclusive and diverse “ways of knowing”. It also means that any knowledge of research-based practices that teachers acquire during their pre-service training and professional development is likely to stagnate. When thinking of research through this lens, it is difficult for teachers to adopt an inquisitive mindset about their professional practice or to view themselves as critical problem-solvers. This has a limiting effect on their ongoing professional growth.

Developing language teacher research literacy

There may be many reasons why teachers appear reluctant to engage in research-related activities. However, one element that is critical is their research literacy. We tentatively define this as their readiness to find, read, and evaluate existing literature. Another dimension of research literacy refers to the teachers’ readiness to transfer insights from the literature to their professional practice. Lastly, it also refers to their readiness to generate research puzzles about their professional context and their ability answer them in an ethical and systematic way (Beaudry & Miller, 2016; Evans et al., 2017).

Understanding how to search, interpret, structure and produce language teaching research requires knowledge of multiple disciplinary domains. These include applied linguistics, language education research, and education theory, including critical education (Kostoulas, 2019).

The above also includes using emerging digital tools for searching, evaluating and synthesizing research. Tools such as Hotlinks, ChatGPT, ResearchRabbit, Scholarcy, and Elicit are just a few AI-based innovations that are disrupting academic research and communication. The efficient and ethical use of such applications requires digital competences that build on more generic research-related literacies.

Language teacher research literacy can only deliver its potential if teachers develop their own research skills and participate productively and with reference to appropriate research findings in professionally relavant communities of practice.

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Project aims and beneficiaries

What this project aims to achieve

The overall goal of this project is to enhance the research literacy of ELT teachers by teaching subject-specific research literacy as an aspect of reflective practice for inclusive language teaching.

Some more specific objectives include:

1. We will develop measures of research literacy which can inform common understandings among instructors and ELT professionals regarding research literacy. These can help tertiary instructors to align their pedagogy with measurable criteria. Similarly, they can guide teachers, including pre-service teachers, for self-assessment and personal development planning.
2. We will design blended learning and self-instruction modules for student and in-service teachers that address their attitudes and competences regarding research-related practices. These will be open educational resources (OER) for use in other contexts, piloted in the universities and/or schools participating in the initiative.
3. We will affiliate with existing partners who cooperate with high-impact journals to make empirical research in SLA and ELT accessible to university students, teachers, and lay audiences, by offering plain language, OER summaries of published studies. These partners likewise provide a forum for authentic contributions by pre-service teachers and emerging researchers.
4. We will create an accessible research corpus for language teachers. This will include research articles, reflective reports, conference abstracts, and other text types that are relevant to ELT practice.
5. We will develop and foster an online space which will function as a hub for a digital ELT teacher community of practice. We expect this to promote international collaboration by providing future teachers with a forum where they can exchange ideas and knowledge.

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The project team

Principal Investigator

The ReaLiTea project is led by Assistant Professor Carolyn Blume (PH Heidelberg).

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The University of Thessaly

The University of Thessaly is represented by me (Achilleas Kostoulas), Prof. Eleni Motsiou and Prof. Georgios Vleioras, as well as our colleagues Dr. Sofia Tsioli and Ms. Evgenia Tassou.

International Partners

Other members of the international consortium include:

• Dr. Christina Ringel (Dortmunder Competence Center for Teacher Education & Educational Research (DoKoLL))
• Mr Raúl Enrique García López (Dortmunder Competence Center for Teacher Education & Educational Research (DoKoLL))
• Prof. Julia Hüttner (Universität Wien | University of Vienna)
• Ms Julia Pittenauer  (Universität Wien | University of Vienna)
• Associate Prof. Aysel Saricaoglu Aygan (Ankara Sosyal Bilimler Universitesi | Ankara Social Sciences University)
• Prof. Kenan Dikilitas (Universitetet i Bergen | University of Bergen)
• Prof. Emma Marsden (University of York)
• Prof. Yela Schauwecker (Universität Stuttgart | University of Stuttgart)
• Dr. Saskia Schabio (Universität Stuttgart | University of Stuttgart)

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Progress and updates