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The Difficulties of Teaching English Language: The Relationship between

Research and Teaching

Article in International Journal of Linguistics · February 2015

DOI: 10.5296/ijl.v7i1.6648

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 International Journal of Linguistics
ISSN 1948-5425
2015, Vol. 7, No. 1

The Difficulties of Teaching English Language: The

Relationship between Research and Teaching

Ali Derakhshan
Assistant Professor at Golestan University, Department of English Language and
Literature, Gorgan, Iran (Corresponding author)
E-mail: a.derakhshan@gu.ac.ir

Marjan Shirmohammadli
Department of English Language Teaching, Golestan Science and Research Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran
Department of English Language Teaching, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Gorgan, Iran
E-mail: Marjan.sh50@gmail.com

Received: Dec. 6, 2014 Accepted: December 21, 2014 Published: March 6, 2015
doi:10.5296/ijl.v7i1.6648 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v7i1.6648

Abstract
Researchers have conducted a large number of studies to solve problems and help teachers to
overcome their difficulties. They have also tried to find the relationship between the result of
research and their teaching. Learning English as a second or foreign language has received a
lot of attention, so teachers have to find some well-planned and organized ways to facilitate
the process of learning and teaching. This paper is a brief review on teaching English as a
foreign language and why learners are interested in learning English. It also discusses why
teachers have difficulties with teaching English language, and what they should do to
facilitate the teaching process. It shows the relationship between language pedagogy and
research as well as research and teaching. It also deals with a set of strategies and methods
that teachers can apply as instruments to improve their students’ learning English.
Keywords: Teaching English, Second language acquisition, Methods and strategies

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1. Introduction
English language is a global language. Learning English improves the individual’s status and
opportunities in education, technology, global trades, and business. Moreover, English plays
an important role like a channel of communication (Kannan, 2009). Teaching English has
been an important issue in countries where English is not their first language, so learning
second language is difficult for L2 learners because they cannot use English in real life
situations, because they should learn sentences in textbooks not in a real environment.
Therefore, teachers should always look for useful strategies to reduce the difficulties of
teaching English language (Long, 1969; Chen, 2007; Nunn, 2011), and they have to deal with
many challenges and often have questions about the best ways to teach. Some of these
common questions are as follows:
 How can teachers teach English as a foreign or second language in different situations?
 What do teachers know about second language learners with different abilities?
 What are the benefits of learning English language?
 What can teachers perform in the classroom to facilitate the procedure of second
language acquisition?
 What should teachers expect the second language learners in the classroom to be able to
do?
Teaching is a multidimensional process, and teachers should pay enough attention to all skills
of students such as: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. These skills are educated by
teachers and learnt by students. There are various strategies that researchers have introduced
based on their studies (Oxford & Green, 1996; Philp & Tognini, 2009; Williams, 1995).
These strategies may involve all skills. Researchers have different opinions about various
strategies in teaching. For example, Nassaji (2012) believes that there is a relationship
between teaching and research, so teachers and researchers learn from one another.
Researchers (Crookes, 1998; Jenkins, 2000; Zaman, 2004) have conducted several studies to
prove the interplay between research study and teaching, and they have suggested helpful
strategies to facilitate teaching and learning process.
2. Review of the Related Literature
2.1 Conducting SLA Research
Teaching English as a foreign language is a general issue and researchers have investigated
problems in all aspects of teaching process. Some researchers have disputed that one of the
vital reasons to do SLA research is to facilitate second language teaching (Larsen-Freeman,
Long, & Pica, as cited in Nassaji, 2012, p.338). Learning strategies is generally defined as
“the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help learners comprehend, learn, or
retain new information (O’Malley & Chamot, as cited in Ganbarzehi, 2014, p.385).
Lightbown (as cited in Nassaji, 2012, p.385) stated although researchers assume that many
studies in second language acquisition are fruitful for language teaching, but the implications

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of such strategies should be done judiciously. She argued that “second language research
does not tell teachers what to do teach, and what it says about how to teach they had already
figured out” (p.385).
Wardhaugh(1969) pointed out that there are some theoretical problems when teaching
English to other students from other languages. He attempted to gap the bridge between the
practical orientation of teachers and the theoretical concerns that should be the basis of
practice. He believed every good classroom practice is based on a well-informed theory.
According to Wardhaugh (1969), most classes are teacher-dominated, the teachers are sage
on the stage and everything flows from the teacher. In other words, he stated that this
direction should be changed because students should learn their tasks and teachers can help
them.
Klein (1998) stated that “During the last 25 years, second language acquisition research has
made considerable progress, but it is still far from proving a solid basis for foreign language
teaching, or from a general theory of SLA”. Ellis (as cited in Nassaji, 2012, p.338) argued
that there is progress in SLA, but the results of many studies are not directly related to
teaching process. For example, the results of studies about Universal Grammar are not
relevant to everyday teaching. There are problems in the relationship between SLA research
and language teaching. One problem lies in the difference between the teachers’ and
researchers’ perceptions and objectives. Ellis (1997) makes a demarcation between two
kinds of knowledge, practical knowledge and technical knowledge. While teachers’ are
concerned with improving practical knowledge, researchers deal with developing technical
knowledge.
Technical research is explicit and researchers can find a good method by experiment, but
practical knowledge is implicit, and it is not based on the experiment, and teachers can find a
useful way to teach by experience. Another problem is in the form of research methods and
the way of reporting plans to be used in SLA research. Crookes (1997) explained that most of
the studies in SLA have viewed learning as a cognitive and internal process instead of a
social process. Despite being concerned about the relationship between SLA research and
language teaching, there is a growing body of research in the field relevant to language
teaching, with useful resources to enrich teachers to embark upon in the classroom such as,
the role of learners’ consciousness in SLA process, input and interaction, and learners’ needs
and motivation (Pica, 1994, 2005). Larsen-Freeman (1998) asserts that the goal of SLA
research is not simply to find effective teaching materials to help teachers to implement a
certain lesson efficiently. If SLA is construed that way, and research is not able to cater
solutions to practical problems, it is then concluded that teachers should stop taking into
account research and simply depend on their own practice. SLA is a broad field which
includes many items that cover both basic and applied research.
2.2 The Relevance between Language Pedagogy and SLA Research
The main goal of the research is to find and develop alternative methods in pedagogical
problems (Wallace, 1998). Ellis (1997) pointed out if there is an interrelationship between
language pedagogy and SLA research, it should be found out how, to what extent, and in

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what areas. Evaluating the relevance is very important, so researchers should know how they
evaluate the relevance. Ellis posited that there are two primary approaches; one approach is
that an applied linguist should utilize SLA theory and research then tries to scrutinize its
usefulness in the classroom. Ellis goes on to state that this approach is sometimes problematic
because the researchers and teachers have different views about the relevance. Another
approach starts with pedagogy and embarks on SLA to address issues proposed by learners
and educators. In this approach, instead of evaluating SLA for relevance, pedagogical issues
become the topics of SLA research.
This approach can be useful and teachers use the outcomes because it is practical instead of
being theoretical although it has some pitfalls. First, all researchers of SLA do not embrace
pedagogical issues because they have their own theoretical concerns (Crookes, 1997; Ellis,
1997). Second, this approach should be used by teachers because it addressed pedagogical
issues, but always it may not be the case because classroom practice is contingent upon
teachers’ perspectives, beliefs, and views. In evaluating pedagogical findings, assessors
should be familiar with the practice of classroom teaching (Nassaji, 2012). Interaction
between researchers and teachers is very important because it helps teachers to know what
researchers are saying and also “researchers can hear what teachers are saying” (Lightbown,
2000).
2.3 The Interplay between Research and Teaching
Pica (2005) mentions that “as teachers and researchers, we cannot work in isolation each
other if we are to help our students meet their needs and accomplish their goals” (p.49).
Researchers should pay attention to teachers’ idea because it fosters the relationship between
teachers and researchers and leads to the production of a useful research that can be more
germane to classroom practices and hence more likely to be used by teachers. There are a few
studies with regard to the relevance between SLA research and what teachers gain from their
studies. For example, McDonough and McDonough (1990) conducted an investigation to
find out the perceptions of a group of teachers attending a conference in the UK about the use
of research in their teaching. They use a written questionnaire and collected data from 34
English language teachers to investigate their opinions about the relevance between L2
research and their teaching.
It was revealed that most of teachers in this study had used the research findings in their
teaching and they had chances to conduct research in their institutions. Both of studies were
in a limited condition and in second study, most of present teachers in the conference were
already involved in conducting research. To explore the relationship between SLA research
and L2 teaching, another study was conducted by Borg (2009). The research was conducted
among two groups of teachers teaching in two different instructional settings: an ESL context
in Canada and an EFL (English as a foreign language) context in Turkey. Collecting data by a
written questionnaire revealed that most of teachers (in both contexts) were familiar with
SLA research through taking SLA related courses. Most teachers had an agreement with
using SLA research in teaching but some of them believed that their teaching experience is
more useful than using research in classroom.

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2.4 Analyzing Teaching

Besides these bodies of research and their relationship with real teaching environment,
teachers should be able to analyze teaching in terms of student’s learning, it is a key element
because the objective of teaching is to improve student learning. Teachers should know what
students learn, how and why instruction influences such learning, and how lessons could be
based on this information to be more influential when teaching them next time (Berk, Hiebert,
Jansen, & Morris, 2007).
Teachers can analyze teaching methods by observing the effect of methods on students. As
Oxford (2001) stated, teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) is a
tapestry. The teaching tapestry is woven from many strands, such as the characteristics of the
teacher, the learner, the setting, and the relevant languages (i.e., English and the native
language of the learners and the teacher). All parts are related to each other and teachers
cannot ignore the one part or pay more attention to another part. Teachers should not separate
the teaching skills, for example teaching grammar in isolation and without context. Students
should learn all skills to improve their language learning.
Oxford (2001) suggested two forms of integrated-skill instruction: content-based language
instruction and task-based instruction. Content-based language instruction puts a great
premium upon mastering content through language; in other words, language is the medium
to teach content, so content is primary and language is subsidiary. Task-based instruction, on
the other hand, puts emphasis on doing tasks that require communication language use. In
content-based instruction, students can practice all language skills through learning different
contents, while in task-based instruction, students are involved in communicative tasks in
English.
Nunan ( as cited in Oxford 2001, p.1) defines tasks as activities that can stand alone as
fundamental units and that require comprehending, producing, manipulating, or interacting in
authentic language while attention is principally paid to meaning rather than form. Teachers
are required to learn different ways to integrate language skills in the classroom and evaluate
the extent to which the skills are integrated. They are accountable to go for the instructional
materials, textbooks, and technologies that promote the integration of four language skills and
the components of language, namely syntax, vocabulary, and so on (Oxford, 2001).
2.5 Different Strategies in Teaching English
The main goal of language teaching and learning is to develop the speakers’ four skills with a
good command of grammar, but this is not the ultimate goal. The final objective is to
empower speakers to be able to use language communicatively (Shakibaei & Keivan, 2014).
For improving these skills, teachers choose the best strategies in the classroom. Stern (as
cited in Ghanbarzehi, 2014, p. 386) tried to distinguish good language learners from those of
unsuccessful learners, she supposed that the good language learners may have different
strategies and abilities. She classified strategies of good language learners as: a) planning
strategy, b) active strategy, c) empathic strategy, d) formal strategy, e) experiential strategy, f)
semantic strategy, g) practice strategy, h) communication strategy, i) monitoring strategy, and

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j) internalization strategy.
Stern (as cited in Ganbarzehi,2014, p. 386) mentioned five categories: 1) management and
planning strategies, 2) managing strategies that they relate to the learners intention their own
learning, 3) cognitive strategies including the steps or operations used in learning or problem
solving which need direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learn materials,
4)communicative-experience strategies refer to gesturing paraphrasing or asking for
repetition, and explanation in order to help learners to express themselves better,
5)interpersonal strategies including the techniques that learners use to monitor their own
development and evaluate their own performance; affective strategies used to create
positive affect towards the target language and its speakers.
Oxford (as cited in Ghanbarzehi, 2014, p.341) merged learning strategies with
communicative strategies and introduced her six-segmented classification of learning
strategies. She suggested language strategies as: 1) cognitive strategies, e.g. helping the
learner to manipulate the language material in direct ways, 2)metacognitive strategies , e.g.
helping learners to manage the learning process overall, 3)memory-related strategies, e.g.
helping learners link one L2 item or concept with another but do not necessarily involve
deep understanding, 4)compensatory strategies, e.g. helping make up for missing knowledge,
5)affective strategies e.g. helping learners manage their emotions and motivation level, and
6)social strategies such as helping the learner to learn via interacting with others and
understanding the target culture.
Teachers may use these strategies in their teaching program, but as Oxford (as cited in
Ghanbarzehi, 1990, p.344) declared, “There is no complete agreement on exactly what
strategies and how many strategies exist, how they should be defined, demarcated, and
categorized, and whether it is possible to create a real, scientifically validated hierarchy of
strategies… classification conflicts are inevitable”. The goal of teaching English is to
facilitate learning language. Teachers can choose and use good strategies that researchers
suggested for using in the classroom. These strategies are useful for planning before teaching
and using them during teaching program.
3. Conclusion
Researchers concluded that teachers can use the result of studies in the classroom to facilitate
teaching English language, but teachers sometimes have doubt about the relationship between
the result of studies and teaching because they believe these studies are general and cannot be
used in different situations. Researchers stated that teachers need the results of research
because they can adapt the results in their classroom practice. Some teachers prefer to use
their teaching experience instead of using the result of researches in the classroom. Other
researchers suggested useful strategies to help teachers. Teachers use different strategies to
plan the lessons because these strategies are adaptable with the classroom situation even
students have good strategies to learn English language. As a result, researchers and teachers
should have a close cooperation with each other to get the best results in teaching and
learning English language as well as decreasing the problems in teaching and learning
English language as a second or foreign language.

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4. Pedagogical Implications
The researchers’ responsibilities include setting up studies in order to get good results for
performing in classrooms. Researchers should notice that the result should be practical
instead of being theoretical because they are used in practice. Teachers should evaluate the
research results whether they are applicable in teaching process or not. Teachers can integrate
some strategies with language skills (reading, writing,..) in order to enhance the learners
abilities. Students have different abilities in learning English language, so teachers should not
expect a good performance in short time for all students.
Teachers can read the result of researchers’ study then they can select some good strategies
and helpful notes to use in the classroom, because all researches are not useful for teachers,
some of them are only theories and are not related to teach in real environment. Griffiths
(2007) stated, teachers can be able to promote language learning strategy used by their
students. Bell (2007) suggested that teachers need to be enlightened with all methods, and
they should construct their own principled methods or decide what principles they draw on in
their teaching. Teachers cannot overlook the created methods and used by teachers. Teachers
need a fundamental method to build their own teaching. According to Wardhaugh (1969),
students should be stimulated to use the English language and attempting to use the innate
process of language acquisition that they have.
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