One way of promoting research-informed teaching is through the development of pedagogical tools (Chan, 2024) that are grounded in research and designed for practical use. One such tool that I have developed is a research-informed materials evaluation checklist, which draws on research findings on a specific topic in ESP (Chan, 2009). The checklist can be used or adapted by practitioners to strengthen the interface between research and the teaching materials they work with, including commercial textbooks and in-house materials.
Key publication 1
In this article, I reflect on the influence of Chan (2009) since its publication. An analysis of subsequent studies that cite this work shows that both researchers and practitioners, including those working outside ESP, have used my framework and/or checklist as pedagogical tools to evaluate teaching materials, inform materials development, and support professional development. This demonstrates that, when provided with pedagogical tools, practitioners and researchers are able to flexibly apply and/or adapt them for their own use (Chan, 2024).
Another way of promoting research-informed teaching is through the use of teaching ideas that are motivated by research findings or proposed by researchers, and then examined in practice.
Key publication 2
This paper illustrates how I experimented with a research-informed teaching idea - using authentic materials in the form of transcripts of authentic workplace talk. The study shows that, even when a teaching idea is strongly research-based, it is essential to investigate how it can be implemented most effectively in real classroom contexts. This highlights the role of practitioner enquiry in mediating between research insights and pedagogical realities.
Relevance to practitioners and researcher-practitioners
Together, these examples show how teachers can draw on pedagogical tools developed through research, as well as engage critically with research-informed teaching ideas. The emphasis is on informed judgement, reflective practice and principled adaptation of research insights to local teaching contexts, rather than the direct or uncritical transfer of research into practice.
