SLAyyying Research
Let me tell you about the first time I cited a researcher to a colleague.
I was fired up. I had just read something that completely reframed how I thought about language instruction, and I could not wait to share it. I walked up to a fellow teacher, dropped the researcher's name, explained the finding, and waited for the moment of shared revelation.
They nodded politely and changed the subject.
I did not handle this well. For a while, my solution was to cite more researchers, louder. This did not work either. Eventually, I had to reckon with something uncomfortable: the research wasn't the problem. My ability to make it relevant, accessible, and actionable was.
That realization is the reason SLAyyy exists, and the reason I'm writing this post before diving into anything else on this blog. Before we talk about Structured Input, or listening activities, or how to design a Comprehension-Based unit, I want to talk about how to use research at all.
Because the goal was never to know more than your colleagues. It was to teach better than you did yesterday.
The Gaslight: Myths About Research and Teachers
Let's name a few things people believe about SLA research and classroom teachers that just aren't true. I might water some things down for the sake of brevity, so feel free to chime in in the comments if you want to expand on something!
"Research is for academics, not practitioners." Research is for people who have a question and want to see if anyone has found an answer. And wouldn’t you know it, academics AND practitioners have questions and want to know if anyone has found an answer to their questions. Are there barriers blocking practitioners from reading research? Unfortunately, yes. It can cost a lot to access journals without institutional access, the language of academics can be technical and full of jargon, and who has the time to read research? Barriers aside, if you have a question that you’re curious enough to investigate, research IS for you.
"If I can't access the full study, it doesn't count." Paywalls are real and genuinely annoying, but they are not the end of the road. More on this in a minute.
"I need to understand all of the research before I can use any of it." There are parts of research that really aren’t that important if you’re just trying to learn something new or support what you’re already doing. Don’t waste your time trying to figure out whether knowing the function of Cohen’s d is important. Keep reading for some tips on what I do when I do get my hands on research.
"The research will tell me exactly what to do." It won't, and that's not a bug it's a feature. Research gives you a basis for a decision, not a script for your classroom. Your job is to translate, not replicate (unless you want to do some action research!).
The Gatekeep: What "Using Research" Actually Looks Like
Here's a framework I've found useful. When I encounter a study on a podcast, at a conference session, from a colleague, or from an abstract on Google Scholar, I try to run it through four questions.
1. What was the question? Every study starts with a problem or a gap. Before you do anything else, make sure you understand what the researchers were actually trying to find out. You don’t want to be halfway through an article about adult learners in a university immersion program when you’re looking to make decisions about what to do in a 9th-grade Spanish 2 class. Knowing the original question helps you figure out how much translation is needed.
2. What did they do, and with whom? Participants, context, duration, design. You don't need to memorize the methods section. You just need enough to ask: Does this look anything like my classroom? A 6-week study with 12 graduate students is interesting. It may also not tell you much about what happens with 28 fourteen-year-olds over the course of a semester. That’s not to say you won’t find anything helpful, but keep your context in mind.
3. What did they find? The results. What actually happened? What was the effect size, if they report one? Was the difference statistically significant AND meaningfully large? (These are not the same thing: Statistical significance is a term used to say that the results of a study didn’t happen by chance, while meaningfully large, is, well… the difference was large.) If the abstract says something like "students in the treatment group showed significantly higher scores," your follow-up question is: how much higher, and does that difference matter in a real classroom?
4. What does this mean for my teaching? This is the step most research summaries skip, and it's the one that actually matters. Based on what this study found and what I know about my students and the context, what might I try? What would I watch for? What would tell me it's working?
That last question is the bridge between research and practice. It doesn't require a doctorate. It requires curiosity, a willingness to pay attention, and a desire to keep learning.
Okay, But Where Do You Actually Find Studies?
Fair question. A few practical places to start:
Google Scholar is free and surprisingly useful. You can usually access abstracts, and many researchers post full versions of their work on their university pages or on sites like ResearchGate. If you find a study you want but can't access, searching the title plus "PDF" will get you further than you'd expect.
The researchers themselves. This sounds wild, but it works. Many academics are genuinely delighted when teachers reach out. A polite email asking whether they have a freely accessible version of their paper has a better hit rate than you might think.
Synthesizers and knowledge brokers. You don't have to go directly to primary sources every time. Books like Common Ground (Henshaw & Hawkins) and magazines like The Language Educator (ACTFL) do a lot of translation work for you. Additionally, podcasts, like ours, exist specifically because the gap between research and practice is real and bridgeable.
Your own bookshelf. If you've read any methodology books, you already have theoretical frameworks in your hands. Common Ground (Henshaw & Hawkins), TPRS with Chinese Characteristics (Waltz), and While We’re on the Topic (VanPatten) are research-informed, and practitioner-oriented. Start there.
The Girlboss: How to Actually Do This
Here's what I'd suggest if you want to get more comfortable using research in your teaching without drowning in it.
Start with a question you already have. Don't go looking for research in the abstract. Start with something you're genuinely wondering about "Why do my students understand what I say but still produce the same errors?" or "Does the order I introduce vocabulary actually matter?" Then go looking. You'll read more carefully when it's a question you care about.
Read one study all the way through, once. Not to master it. Just to see what it feels like. Notice what you understand, what confuses you, and what surprises you. The confusion is not a sign that research isn't for you; it's a sign that you're encountering something new and pushing yourself. Keep at it!
Find one thing to try. Not an overhaul. NOT an overhaul. NOT. AN. OVERHAUL. You’ll thank yourself. Teachers already have to think of a million things at once, you do not need to put curricular overhaul on your to-do list. So. Start with one small thing. If a study suggests that putting the form you want students to notice at the beginning of a sentence makes it more likely they'll process it, try that in one activity next week. See what happens. Just tip your toe in,
Talk to someone about it. The best thing about research is that it gives you something specific to discuss. "I read something interesting about how students process input. Can I run something by you?" is a much better conversation starter than "SLAyyy says...." This is what professional learning communities are supposed to be for: curiosity and discovering together to be best for our students.
Be okay with not knowing yet. One study doesn't settle anything. Research is a conversation that's been happening for decades, and you're walking in mid-sentence. That's fine. You don't need to moderate the debate between implicit and explicit instruction before third period on Tuesday. You just need to make one decision that's a little more informed than the one you made last year.
That's the frame. In the posts that follow, I'm going to be using it a lot pointing to research, explaining what it found, and thinking through what it might mean for a real classroom. Sometimes I'll have used a strategy and will be able to tell you how it went. Sometimes I'll be working it out in real time right alongside you.
That's what it means to be a scholar-practitioner. You're not waiting until you have all the answers. You're in the room, paying attention, and getting a little better every time.
Let's get into it and SLAyyy!
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