Page 23 - ELG1706 Jun Issue 448

FEATURES & COMMENT
OUT

OF THE
BOX

Making education

research more

‘digestible’

A ‘blogstorm’ could help
close the research–practice
divide, says Anthony

Schmidt, founder of the ELT
Research Bites blog

There is often a wide gap on their own blogs throughout
between research and practice June.
in education. Lack of time and It will hopefully be a non-stop
access, as well as believing that ‘blogstorm’ of research-based
research is neither practical nor posts coming from all over the
generalisable, are among the blogosphere. ELT Research
reasons so many teachers fail to Bites will curate and promote
engage with it. these blog posts and help spread
However, there is so much research to as many people as
great research out there, we can.
very practical stuff with clear
implications for learning and We are
teaching. Far from being dusty hoping our
and obscure, a piece of academic
research could solve a day-to- latest project
day problem you have been will re
trying to crack for years. teachers up
This is why ELT Research
Bites exists, to try to get this even more
research out there. We find
interesting and useful research The idea is that reading
related to ELT and make it bite- and summarising will become
sized, easily digestible and freely addictive, and participants will
available. want to share what they have
And we are hoping our latest read with others, both on and
project will fire teachers up even offline.
more. This will enhance professional
Our Summer of Research development for more and more
(Bites) Blog Carnival is a way people and thus help to close
to give more people a chance to the research–practice divide. It’s
get involved with summarising an ambitious goal, but you have
research themselves. This will to start somewhere.
help to build up more bite-sized  Anyone interested should
research online and to increase visit www.eltresearchbites.com
engagement with it. to join. If you are interested but
The Blog Carnival works do not have a blog, contributors
on the premise of numerous are welcome to write on the ELT
bloggers summarising research Research Bites blog.

editorial@elgazette.com 23

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