Revisiting the gap between SLA researchers and language teachers

Abstract

This paper is a reflection on the gap between SLA researchers and language teachers. It begins with a brief look at how SLA publications are often about issues which are not of particular interest to language teachers. It then explores why there is a gap between SLA researchers and language teachers touching on differences in status, different stances towards knowledge and membership in different discourse communities leading to different uses of language. There is the discussion of four ways in which the gap might be closed- collaborative research, action research, exploratory practice and theory-practice mediation- before the conclusion where the author expresses his fear that he is irreversibly passing from the language teacher side of the gap to the researcher side.