English Language Teaching in its Social Context

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 47necessarily rely primarily on the practical knowledge they have acquired through teachingor, perhaps, through their experiences of having been taught. However, it may be possiblefor other practitioners of language pedagogy (e.g. syllabus designers, test constructors, andmaterials writers) to attempt some integration of technical and practical knowledge, as theiractivities are more amcnable to careful planning and deliberate decision-making.The crucial issue is the nature of the relationship between technical and practicalknowledge.To what extent and in what ways can the technical knowledge derived from deepreflection and research influence actual practice? How can technical knowledge be utilizedin the creation of the kind of practical knowledge with which teachers must necessarilywork? Weiss (1 977) provides a way of addressing these questions. He describes three modelsof research use.Decision-driven model According to this model, research is aimed at informing a particulardecision.Thus, the starting point for research is not a theory of L2 acquisition or a previouspiece of research hut rather some practical issue of direct concern to teachers. There is aconsiderable body of SLA research that appears to fit into this model. However, for thisresearch to be truly decision-driven it needs to be formulated in a manner that teachers willreadily understand. This is often not the casc, however. Rcscarchers prepare their articlesfor publication in journals and books that will be read by other researchers even if theyaddress issues of direct concern to teachers. In fact, then, much of the SLA research thatapparently belongs to the decision-driven model is more truly representative ofweiss’ yecondmodel - the knowledge-driven model.Knowledgedriven model Knowledge-driven research is intended to contribute to a specificdiscipline. Its primary goal is to advance the knowledge base of the discipline by constructing -and testing explicit theories or by developing research methodology. As we have seen, oneway of characterizing the development of SLA as a field of study is in terms of a gradualmovement towards knowledge-driven research. Much of the earlier research was descriptivein nature (e.g. the studies of learner errors and the case studies of individual learners),motivated quite explicitly by a desire to inform pedagogy and published in a form that wasrelatively accessible to teachers. Later research, although certainly not all, has been designedto test specific SLA theories, has been increasingly experimental in nature and has beenwritten about with other researchers as the intended audience. Researchers may feel theirresearch is of relevance to language pedagogy but often see little need to consider itsapplications directly.Interactive model Here technical knowledge and practical knowledge are inter-related in theperformance of some professional activity. The way in which this is achieved is highlycomplex. Weiss (1 977: 87-8) comments:the process is not of linear order from research to decision but a disorderly setof interconnections and back-and-forthness that defies neat diagrams. All kinds ofpeople involved in an issue area pool their talents, beliefs, and understandings in aneffort to make sense of a problem.Not surprisingly, then, the interactive model is problematic. As Eraut (1 994) points outthere are various factors that constrain the professional’s ability to make use of the knowledgecreated through research, particularly in a field such as teaching. Few resources are availablefor effecting an interaction. Funding for research, for example, is typically awarded to