Yessimbekov D.
A SCOPING LITERATURE REVIEW: EFL INSTRUCTORS’ MOTIVATIONS AND CHALLENGES TOWARDS RESEARCH ENGAGEMENT *
Аннотация:
this scoping literature review aims to map the existing research on the motivations and challenges faced by English as a foreign language (EFL) instructor in engaging with research activities. This review synthesizes findings from 20 studies to provide a comprehensive overview of the factors that encourage or hinder EFL instructors’ involvement in research activities, ultimately contributing to a clearer comprehension of how to foster a research-supportive environment within the field.
Ключевые слова:
EFL instructors, research engagement, motivations, challenges, professional development, scoping literature review
1. Introduction.EFL instructors play an important role in language education, and their engagement in research can significantly impact their professional development and growth, teaching practices, and the wider field. As an EFL instructor myself, I’ve often considered attentively the role of research in our profession. While the demands of teaching can be overwhelming, the author recognize the potential benefits of research engagement. This review seeks to explore the existing literature on EFL instructors’ inspiration and obstacles in research activities, providing a foundation for future inquiry and practical application.English language proficiency is highly valued in many contexts where it is often a requirement for higher-level, better-paid jobs and even finding information form the database of global academic world. For example, this is a requirement, and English has a very high status in Turkey (Sakarkaya and Bumen, 2022) and respondents of Sartor’s (2021) article reported that they studied English because it was a great tool that would help them to get better jobs in academic world. This underscores the importance of effective EFL instruction and the potential for research to inform and improve teaching practices.This scoping literature review aims to address the following questions:1) What are the primary motivations for EFL instructors to engage in research?2) What are the significant challenges that EFL instructors face in research engagement?3) What are the implications of these motivations and challenges for professional development and institutional support?By addressing these questions, the author aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current research landscape and identify areas for further research and future research investigation.2. Methodology.This scoping review draws upon 20 research works provided in the reference part, and all of them were read by the author. The review process involved: careful reading, thematic analysis, synthesis and organization.2.1. Careful reading.The author used mainly academic tools such as “Google scholar”, “ResearchRabbit”, “Litmaps” to search for the relevant information about the motivations and obstacles in terms of doing research engagement. There were found more than 30 articles, but the author found 20 research works as relevant and insightful to do a scoping literature review. Each of them were printed and read by the author, highlighting and focusing on the main points and key themes. In spite of the fact that the majority of the themes were common, the findings and results of the research works gave very detailed information on the inspiration and obstacles to doing the research engagement.2.2 Thematic analysis.Out of the read 20 articles, there were 3 themes and 15 sub-themes to widely analyse the research works. To analyse and give detailed information about the literature review the author used thematic analysis. Thematic analysis belongs to the group analytic approach that helps to have broader information. Therefore, thematic analysis helps t0 create a rich, detailed, as well as complex account of the data set” (Majumdar, 2022 cited from Braun and Clarke, 2006). All the information was analysed and written it into three main themes: motivations, challenges, and implications for professional development and institutional support, and 15 supporting sub-themes, which will be provided in findings part.2.3 Synthesis and Organization.The organization of the findings into a coherent narrative, structured around the research questions which were mentioned inthe introduction part. It includes motivations, challenges and the role of it for the research engagement.3. Findings and Discussion.The analysis of the 20 references reveals several key themes related to the EFL instructors’ motivations and challenges in research engagement.3.1 Motivations for Research engagement.EFL instructors are motivated to engage in research activities by a variety of factors, including: professional development, improved teaching practices, institutional support, intrinsic and external motivation, and individual factors.3.1.1 Professional Development.Research is seen as a powerful form of professional development, combining scientific knowledge with practical experience (Sakarkaya and Bumen, 2022). Many EFL instructors are increasingly engaging in teacher research (TR) as part of their professional development (PD) activities. Instructors report feeling more motivated and confident, and research-oriented four years after their research projects. (Sakarkaya and Bumen, 2022, Saeb et al, 2021, Karakis, 2021, Nagibova, 2019, Mehranirad, 2023)3.1.2 Improved Teaching Practices.Research can lead to more learner-centered, active learning, and autonomous teaching (Wang and Zhang, 2016). Teachers become more reflective, student-centered and inquiry-oriented, which improves their ability to understand and solve classroom problems (Consoli and Dikilitas, 2021, Hiver et al, 2024, Mercer, 2019, Dikilitas and Saglam, 2023, Mehrani, 2015, Jamoom and Al-Omrani, 2021).3.1.3 Increased Professional Competence.Engaging in research enhances instructors’ professional competence. The necessity for educators to not only collect data but also to possess the skills required to analyse and present it effectively. For example, task-oriented (such as critical thinking and problem solving) and idea-oriented (innovation and creativity) research competencies were positively benefited by learning environments that focused on research. (Niemi and Nevgi, 2014, Comon and Corpuz, 2024).3.1.4 Intrinsic motivation.Intrinsic motivation, driven by interest and satisfaction, is a primary factor in attracting individuals to participate in research activities (Li et al, 2024 cited from Reeve, 1995). While some scholars have found that intrinsic motivation is more influential than extrinsic motivation in encouraging to doing research (Li and Xu, 2024 cited from Bai and Millwater, 2011), in contrast, it was mentioned that some instructors’ motivation towards reading and doing research is more extrinsic motivation (promotion) rather than intrinsic (teaching improvement) (Rahimi and Weisi, 2018).3.1.5 External factors.Universities promote research motivation through various means, such as bonuses and rewards (Dai, 2008). Respect from colleagues and students, and research compensation like salary raise and promotion also play a crucial role in doing research. (Li et al, 2024, Rahimi and Weisi, 2018, Li and Xu, 2024).3.1.6 Institutional Support.The level of motivation to engage in research varies with institutional factors. (Li et al, 2024). Universities provide support to motivate instructors to do research, such as workshops and research teams (Kyaw, 2021). Mentorship and a supportive working environment also significantly improve EFL instructors’ research skills and confidence, thereby promoting their research engagement (Li et al, 2024). Mentorship assistance can be shown as a psychological support that it helps to enhance engagement in collaborative research benefits. (Consoli and Dikilitas, 2021).3.1.7 Individual Factors.Academic qualifications, motivations, gender, and research self-efficacy are important individual factors related to research (Mantikayan and Abdulgani, 2018, Uwizeye et al, 2021). “Engagement in research, on the other hand, is an alternative form of the professional development could be considered as an on-going opportunity for developing instructor’s professional skills based upon their own individual needs” (Mehranirad, 2023).3.2 Challenges.EFL instructors face numerous challenges in engaging in research, mainly it is about lack of something important, including: lack of time, institutional support, awareness of doing research activity, mentorship support, and research communities.3.2.1 Lack of time.This is the most frequently mentioned barrier to teacher research (Nicholson and Lander, 2022). The existence of this issue mainly happens from having heavy workloads, administrative responsibilities, and teaching loads that hinder research engagement. (Li et al, 2024, Kyaw, 2021, Saeb et al, 2021). “Despite all the motivations that are provided to do research engagement, instructors will not be engaged in it if they do not have enough time for it” (B0rg, 2006).3.2.2 Lack of institutional support.Institutional support is the one of the most important factors to engage in research activities. However, limitations in institutional support, including funding, resources, and recognition are significant impediments to (Sakarkaya and Bumen, 2022). Some universities provide more time but less funding support for research and accomplishing process of the task of publishing papers. (Li et al., 2024). There is a possibility that without ample financial support, ordinary or regular universities might have fewer opportunities to either host or attend academic conferences, which leads to have limited opportunities to stay updated with the latest development of their field, and decrease the research motivation and productivity (Li et al., 2024).Policy makers is among the key five stakeholders (school leaders, instructors, university communities, instructor education providers, and policy makers) (Kowalczuk-Waledziak and Ion, 2024). However, some of the universities lack clear policies and few clear rules for allocating mentors to teachers and helping them transition smoothly to becoming researchers and it is especially important for novice teacher-researchers. (Li et al, 2024, Alhassan and Ali, 2020).Another lack of support by institutions is not providing specific offices to engage in research. It was mentioned that the universities provided no offices for instructors, and it wastes their time as they had to go back home after teaching every time facing the long trip home, leading to the lack of energy to do that (Li et al, 2024).3.2.3 Lack of Awareness and Skills.Some instructors lack awareness of teacher research. (Sakarkaya and Bumen, 2022). And some authors convinced that this weakness in research methods and low literature searching literacy might influence teachers negatively hindering them to do research engagement. (Jamoom and Al-Omrani, 2021). Nunan (2006) also acknowledged that lack of being revealed as incompetent instructors and fear of publishing their research are also main obstacles. Similarly, Borg (2009) explored the obstacles of doing research engagement and found that lack of knowledge is one of the main factors that limit teachers’ engagement in research.In terms of Kazakhstani articles, there were mentioned about the importance of knowledge to engage in research activities. However, this is an issue some instructors do not engage actively in research works because they lack the necessary knowledge and skills to conduct research. Additionally, it was mentioned about the ICT (information and communication technology) skills (Nagibova, 2019).3.2.4 Lack of mentorship and research communities.The research work process for both novice and experienced language educators has always been at the heart of the educational debate (Alhasssan and Ali, 2020). However, the teachers particularly struggled with the phase of research process. For example, in the article done by Saeb et al. (2021) it was mentioned that instructors has an issue in formulating research questions, literature review, designing, data collection and analysis (also Tindowen et al., 2019). Some of the participants experienced a feeling of getting “lost” during various stages of their research: …sometimes I really felt stuck and the most troublesome stage was planning the next cycle”. The lack of mentors is a significant obstacle for teachers. Despite mentor allocation being achieved in a few universiitiesm there was a lack of regulatory systems for the mentoring process between experienced mentors and novice instructors (Li et al., 2024 cited from Nundulall and Dorasamy, 2010). By the result of this problem, there are no real research communities and the majority of the researchers do this process individually (Ni, 2024).Despite the fact that universities try to have research communities, there is a possibility of validity of mentorship. In the article provided by Li et al (2024), it was stated that instructors did not know how to conduct the mentor’s experiences to their own research. The shared experiences of those mentors might not be suitable for the practices of the instructors under instruction, which would lead to a gradual decline in instructors’ research motivation due to failures in their own research experiences.3.2.5 Lack of willpower.Each of the researchers and instructors has their personal interests regarding the research process. The reasons for doing research activities can be individually varied, “publish or perish” tension (Nicholson and Lander, 2022), promotion (Rahimi and Weisi, 2018) etc., but there are individual obstacles that hinders to engage in research activities. It is stated that the young lecturers are more engaged in the publications rather than the senior associate professors (Ni, 2024). However, they lack of research experience. In contrast, experienced instrcutors has research experience, but lack of time or having administrative jobs. Ignoring all these motivations and challenges, it is still a problem when the researcher do not have a willpower and agency. (Ni, 2024).3.3 Implications for Professional Development and Institutional Support.The findings of this review have several implications for enhancing EFL instructors’ research engagement.3.3.1 Fostering research-supportive environments.Through the list of mentioned challenges, it is crucial for improving instructor research engagement by inter-stakeholder cooperation, involving school leaders, instructors, university communities, instructor education providers, and policymakers (Kowalczuk-Waledziak and Ion,2024). Cooperation of these stakeholders in institutions should provide adequate resources, funding, and recognition for research engagement (Saeb et al, 2021).3.3.2 Providing mentorship and collaboration opportunities.Offering adequate research mentorship and fostering a supportive working environment from institution can improve EFL instructors’ research skills and confidence (Li, 2024). Moreover, universities should develop clear rules for allocating mentors and providing customized guidance (Owan et al, 2023). By that there can be strong team of researchers and leaders in research field. To organize a research team, the team leader should be selected first and the other members should be recruited based on their research interests. Organizing research teams can strengthen collaboration among instructors (Li et al., 2024).3.3.3 Integrating research into professional development.The term “professional engagement” refers to the efforts that prospective instructors have decided to put forward when they start to work and their insistence on continuing the profession (Watt and Richardson, 2008 cited by Karakis, 2021). Joyce, Calhoun, and Hopkins concluded that “if teachers research their own practice, collect, analyze and use the evidence, then this promotes improved and sustainable professional development” (Nagibova, 2019). Moreover, research engagement can inform instructors’ pedagogical decisions with sound research evidence, and this will have a positive impacts on their professional development (Mehranirad, 2023). Walker et al. (2019) in their article also stated that research plays an important role in informing their practice, and they adopted new teaching techniques based on the findings from the research process. Besides international articles, Kazakhstani authors also highlighted the importance of research engagement in professional development. Exploration of action research implementation challenges is essential to increase the effectiveness of teacher research practice as a part of professional development in Kazakhstan (Nagibova, 2019).4. Limitations.This scoping literature review is limited by its number of references that can clearly indicate the motivational factors and challenges that hinder the research engagement. There were only 20 references, among them, there was only one Kazakhstani article provided by Nagibova (2019). Since this a scoping literature review, the review represents broad information. Consequently, the findings presented, may not fully encompass all relevant motivations, challenges, or contextual factors. Furthermore, the review was conducted by a novice researcher, implying a lack of advanced methodological rigor in terms of critical appraisal or in-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis of the source materials.5. Conclusion and future directions.This scoping literature review highlights the diverse motivations and challenges associated with EFL instructors’ research engagement. While professional development, improved teaching practices, and institutional support drive instructors to engage in research, they face significant challenges such as lack of time, limited resources and institutional support, and inadequate research skills.Future research should focus on exploring effective strategies for integrating research into professional development programs, investigating the impact of mentorship and collaborative research models on EFL instructors’ reseach engagement, examining the role of institutional policies and supporting systems in fostering a research supportive environment. Moreover, developing interventions to address the challenges faced by EFL instructors, such as time constraints and lack of research skills and exploring the influence of individual factors such as self-efficacy on research engagement would also be considered as important steps. By addressing these areas, future research can contribute to a deeper comprehension of how to support and empower EFL instructors in their research endeavors, ultimately benefiting the field of language education.
Номер журнала Вестник науки №6 (87) том 3
Ссылка для цитирования:
Yessimbekov D. A SCOPING LITERATURE REVIEW: EFL INSTRUCTORS’ MOTIVATIONS AND CHALLENGES TOWARDS RESEARCH ENGAGEMENT // Вестник науки №6 (87) том 3. С. 867 - 878. 2025 г. ISSN 2712-8849 // Электронный ресурс: https://www.вестник-науки.рф/article/24317 (дата обращения: 12.01.2026 г.)
Вестник науки © 2025. 16+