Iranian English Language Teachers’ Conceptions Toward Research

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine teachers’ perceptions towards research by first investigating teachers’ conceptions about research and second, by examining the extent to which teachers read and do research. Methodology: To this end, the participants of the present study were 98 English language teachers from language institutes and schools. Utilizing Borg’s (2009) questionnaire, at first, the questionnaire responses were analyzed to determine the teachers’ view of research; in this section, the teachers were asked to point out to what extent they felt the activities described in 10 scenarios were or were not research. Findings: The results indicated that three scenarios were considered to be “probably research” and scenarios 4, 5 and 6 were regarded as “definitely research” by the participants. On the other hand, two scenarios were recognized as “definitely research”. The results of the second research question showed that among 98 English teachers only 24 teachers “often or sometimes” read published research which is a very high index. Teachers’ reasons for the answers to the second research question were lack of time, knowledge, access to resources, and institutional support. The findings of this research indicate that teachers’ conceptions of research are very near to conventional scientific theories. Only 12.2% of the teachers mentioned that they “do research”. Conclusion: the findings of the present study may be useful for teachers who want to promote their English teaching as such findings are suggested to improve their level of engagement in research activities, and consequently the quality of their research.