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Encouraging Teacher Research through In-House Activities: The Approach of a Finnish University Language Centre

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International Perspectives on Teacher Research

Abstract

This chapter discusses approaches a university language centre or any similar educational institution can opt for in order to promote and enable the combination of teaching with research and development. While focusing on ways that encourage teachers’ engagement both with research (by reading and using it) and in research (by doing it) (Borg 2010), our particular interest is on the necessary social or institutional requirements, on the type of opportunities that may arise in a positive environment as well as on the role of personal incentives. We deal with these questions in the context of the Language Centre at the University of Helsinki, Finland, which has, during recent years, gained a reputation as an active, development-oriented and research-friendly language centre in both national and international language centre networks.

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© 2015 Tuula Lehtonen, Kari Pitkänen, and Johanna Vaattovaara

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Lehtonen, T., Pitkänen, K., Vaattovaara, J. (2015). Encouraging Teacher Research through In-House Activities: The Approach of a Finnish University Language Centre. In: Borg, S., Sanchez, H.S. (eds) International Perspectives on Teacher Research. International Perspectives on English Language Teaching. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137376220_13

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