EFL Applied Linguists’ Research Engagement: Voices from Established Faculty Members

This nation-wide study examines the EFL faculty members’ engagement in and with research in a major site of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context by surveying a representative sample of 140 faculty members. Further, the correlation between the respondents’ levels of engagement in and with research and their common demographic features in terms of academic position and years of experience was investigated. Our findings demonstrate the respondents’ high levels of engagement with reading research and engagement in doing research in several aspects. Furthermore, the reasons for reading and doing research endeavors were discussed. The findings of the current study point to a number of institutional, procedural, instrumental facilitators and suppressors to research engagements. Interestingly, the EFL faculty members perceived a significant gap between their expectations and management support with respect to doing research. Finally, the pedagogical implications on the nature of the engagement are discussed.