ELT Research Partnership Awards 2015

Wednesday, 30 March 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The British Council launched its inaugural English Language Teacher Research Partnership (ELTReP) Awards in May 2015, and recently marked the culmination, of what has been a very exciting project, with the release of a new book.

This book is comprised of sixteen chapters, each from a different Sri Lankan researcher. These researchers are from all geographies of Sri Lanka and cover a wide variety of educational contexts. This publication therefore represents one of the broadest and most inclusive collections of research in the country to date.

Researchers come from a variety of institutions including government schools, English Language Training Units (ELTUs) at universities, Regional English Support Centres (RESCs), Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) and National Colleges of Education (NCOE). All researchers chose their personal areas of enquiry.

In July 2015 funding was awarded by the British Council for small-scale research projects. These grants were given to applicants whose proposals were successfully selected by a panel against specific criteria. These researchers then went on to explore a wide range of educational issues in their professional contexts, and were provided on-going support by British Council academic staff.

This culminating research covers topics from ‘encouraging speaking in year nine classes’ to ‘code-switching in academic settings’, and from ‘developing learners’ creative writing skills in class’ to ‘evaluating teacher training mechanisms at a national level’.

Many of the authors had some academic training but many didn’t and one of the main aims of this project was to make research and professional enquiry something that is accessible and achievable for all.

Much research in recent years has shown that reflective practice is one of the most powerful tools for professional development and the publication of this book only supports this idea. All researchers found the process to be incredibly valuable, both professionally and personally.

A closing ceremony was held in Colombo recently, at which the book was also launched. The book will be available for free on the British Council Sri Lanka website and applications for the next round of research will be invited from May this year. Please visit www.britishcouncil.lk for more details.