Hamish Chalmers discusses his study asking teachers what kinds of research they think should be prioritised to help inform policy and practice in teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language (EAL). People who do research are not usually the people who use research. Therefore, if research is to be meaningful, relevant and useful to research users (in this case, teachers and other educators), it is important that those people are given a voice in telling researchers what questions they should try to answer. In conversation with Laura Molway, Hamish Chalmers from the University of Oxford’s Department of Education describes a research project in which he worked with teachers and other educators to develop a Top 10 list of research priorities for supporting the education of children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL). He discusses the process and summarises the results, and explores implications for future research that fosters collaboration between teachers and researchers to ensure that new research is meaningful, relevant and useful.

The Deanery Digest (a plain language summary of this research) can be viewed here: https://www.education.ox.ac.uk/deanery-digest/setting-research-priorities-for-english-as-an-additional-language-what-do-research-users-want-from-eal-research/.

The full published journal article can be viewed here: https://doi.org/10.1075/ltyl.00043.set.

The project website can be viewed here: https://ealpsp.wordpress.com.

Learn more about the Oxford Education Deanery here: https://www.education.ox.ac.uk/about-us/oxford-education-deanery/.