An investigation into teacher research: Turkish primary EFL teachers' perceptions and engagement

The idea of including teachers in the educational research process emerged as the developments in psychology gradually directed its scope to the learning process. While educational research was one of the branches of psychological research, it started to be considered a separate field. It gained popularity with behaviourism and its class-oriented approach (Landsheere, 1993). Increasing interest in language learning, which attempts to define the role of teachers as researchers and to decide on the characteristics of teacher research, has led to these areas being explored in detail (Borg, 2010; Santa and Santa, 1995). Drawing on this, the aim of this study is to reveal the research perceptions of primary school English teachers and their level of engagement in scientific research by investigating the frequency of their reading published research and conducting scientific research. The research design was planned as a sequential explanatory mixed-method strategy (Creswell, 2012). Borg's (2009) six-part questionnaire was adapted to obtain quantitative data, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to acquire qualitative data. The research participants consisted of 78 English teachers working in primary schools in Iskenderun, Payas and Dörtyol in Hatay province. The findings showed that although teachers are aware of the characteristics of scientific research, they have a misconception between conducting educational research and searching for materials and lesson plans or doing observations in the classroom. The attitude of the institution they work in was evidenced to play an essential role in the participant teachers' level of engagement. In addition, teacher-related factors such as motivation, scientific research knowledge, and the need for a consultant are striking factors that determine the extent of teacher participation in research. Research findings implicated that the adjustments in teacher training programs to qualify the students with the teacher-researcher role, providing teachers in-service training on research, and allocating time for research in teachers' schedules are the factors that can increase teachers' level of research awareness and engagement. Keywords: EFL teacher research, primary school EFL teachers, language teacher research, teachers' research engagement, teachers' research perception