��Session: Centre for Global Programmes, University of York, 26/4/19�Title: Introducing and using OASIS in teaching: �Summer schools and short courses

david.oreilly@york.ac.uk

Department of Education, University of York

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1. What is OASIS?
2. Why has OASIS been created?
3. Why is OASIS important? 8 motivations
4. A closer look at the summaries (Activity 1)
5. Using OASIS in your teaching (Activity 2)

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Session overview

What is OASIS?

One-page, non-technical summaries of language studies published in journals

• Wide range (areas, theories, methods etc.)
• Searchable interface: https://oasis-database.org/
• Accessed by wide range of international networks, e.g., practitioners, researchers, students, professional associations

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Launched by a short term project; driven forward and sustained by academic journals

• Journals either require or invite authors of accepted articles to write OASIS summaries, or support OASIS in other ways
• Sustainable, systematic, international, peer-reviewed research

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Not creating “great expectations” (Lightbown, 1985)

• One summary = one study (usually empirical, but may be a summary of a syntheses/think-piece)
• OASIS summaries are summaries, not ‘applications & implications’
• OASIS is one step – engagement among users needed
• OASIS will not be able to make all research accessible to all audiences

The OASIS homepage

Search for one-page summaries here >>

Why has OASIS been created?

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Basically, research shows…

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• Findings about language learning and teaching do no reach stakeholders easily

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• Academic publications are increasingly more difficult to read and understand by people outside the field

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Why has OASIS been created?

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8 motivations

Why is OASIS important? �Motivation 1

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1) Epistemic responsibility:

• “Scientists must learn to communicate with the public, be willing to do so, and indeed consider it their duty to do so” (The Bodmer Report, 1985)
• ‘Impact’
• Open science movement & social equity

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There is a need to “defog the ‘ivory tower’ complex” (Watermeyer, 2012)

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2) Research is inaccessible

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• “The readability of scientific texts is decreasing over time” (Plaven-Sigray et al. 2017)

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• Average academic article read in its entirety by about 10 people (Goldacre 2014)

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“Prof, no one is reading you”.

“Academese [makes] the materials quite dry and abstract, and simply a bore to read.”

(Bitescience)

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Why is OASIS important? �Motivation 2

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3) We cannot leave this to intermediaries:

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• Very little good research gets through to the press
• Exaggeration in science news and academic press releases (Sumner et al. 2014)
• There are many initiatives, but most are:

not sustained or

of little relevance to language learning

Why is OASIS important? �Motivation 3

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4) Who decides what is disseminated?

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• Currently, what is disseminated to a wider audience is decided by intermediaries, such as journalists, etc.
• Collins & Ruivivar (2018)

Why is OASIS important? �Motivation 4

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5) Benefits of engaging with research for educators

• enriches professional identify and reflection

Bai, 2018; Borg, 2010; Furlong et al., 2014; Stenhouse, 1975; Winch, Oancea &

Orchard, 2015

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6) Benefits for engaging with practitioners for researchers

“Most definitely - engagement with others outside the academy (in my case, students of language, educators, and bilingual individuals) makes me think about research differently, helps me draw connections between different theories and data sources, and helps me keep the bigger picture in focus, even when I'm engaged in basic research (which is the bulk of my work).”

(from Tokowicz & Warren 2018)

“it helps us to think about whether our own teaching intuitions are backed up by research”

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Why is OASIS important? �Motivations 5 and 6

Access and understanding

Lack of professional development (46)

Lack of authority (43)

Terminology (33)

Unaware of resources (32)

Unaware of what is research-based practice (30)

Lack of “respect” for research

Different view of teaching / learning (24)

Not relevant (19)

Teaching experience is sufficient (18)

Lack of interest (17)

Time / funds / regulations

(2 components)

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Lack of time (85)

Regulation/guidance at a local level (44)

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No funds to attend conferences (59)

No funds to do research (57)

7) Many factors are barriers to accessing research

Principal Components Analysis

Marsden & Kasprowicz, 2017, The MLJ

Why is OASIS important? �Motivation 7

8) We are told Accessible Summaries would be useful, to address some of those barriers

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“How can research be made more accessible?”

• Marsden & Kasprowicz (2017): 62% of suggestions = accessible summaries, online, via practitioner outlets
• Andringa & Van Beuningen (in preparation) suggested the same.

Why is OASIS important? �Motivation 8

Let’s have a look

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www.oasis-database.org

The OASIS homepage

Search for one-page summaries here >>

An example summary: Metadata

What does each summary contain?

<< What this research was about and why it is important

<< What the researchers did

<< What the researchers found

<< Things to consider

Text extract from original journal article (Liao & Fukuya, 2004, p. 206)

Text extract from OASIS summary

Aim: Straightforward but faithful representation of original study

Guidance for summary writers

<< Guidance document and two annotated examples

<< List of terms available when assigning labels to summary (to help with searching)

The current OASIS summary format and guidelines for writing summaries, are based on:

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• Survey research with potential stakeholders
• Interviews and think-aloud studies with teachers
• Feedback from journal editors
• Feedback from interested colleagues
• Our experience with writing summaries

Activity 1 (in pairs/3s)�Accessing the summaries

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Step 1: Visit https://oasis-database.org/

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Step 2: Download ONE summary by searching OASIS for a term of your choosing e.g., “culture”; “creativity”; “Brexit” (!?)

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Step 3: Read the summary, prepare to tell the rest of the group about the research summarized, and how ‘accessible’ you found the summary.

Activity 2 (in pairs/3s) �Using OASIS in your teaching?�

Plan a few ideas for a lesson or activity involving OASIS

(e.g., using the OASIS summaries themselves, the resource and/or its motivations, challenges, etc., issues surrounding Open Science Practice and Reproducibility)

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Try to consider teaching/learning opportunities offered and challenges that might arise.

Feedback! (2 mins)

https://york.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_24PRx3kmgp8O0ZL

For further information & enquiries

• OASIS website (including contact form): www.oasis-database.org
• Related resource: www.iris-database.org
• My contact email: david.oreilly@york.ac.uk

Take home message…

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