The (Ir)Relevance of Academic Research for the Language Teacher.

It is a fact that a very low proportion of practising teachers are in the habit of reading ELT-related research papers. The main cause of this neglect is assumed to be that teaching and researching are two distinct forms of activity with no links to connect them. After comparing the concepts of progress and change in research versus teaching, this article discusses the issue of relevance encapsulated in the question: ‘Who needs whom?’. Whereas it is a matter of utmost importance for researchers to reach out to teachers, the opposite does not apply: teachers can do well without outsiders’ intervention. It is time, therefore, to accord more prominence to the ‘teacher-inquirer’, who is a professional capable of analysing their work on their own and exchanging their knowledge and experience with fellow teachers