Research practice and culture in European universities’ Language Centres. Results of a survey in CercleS member institutions

Abstract This paper presents the findings of a survey on research activities and research cultures across the CercleS network. The survey was conducted under the auspices of the CercleS Focus Group on Leadership and Management and aimed to explore the scope of research in Language Centres; the links between institutional factors such as staff contracts and research; the areas of research undertaken and possible priorities; barriers preventing research; and attitudes to research. The survey was distributed online and contained closed and open questions, allowing for a combination of quantitative and qualitative data analyses. The total results of the 99 out of 401 member institutions were compared with the responses from the five most represented national associations to identify any notable differences in the results between different national associations. The full data revealed a wide range of institutional situations but showed fairly similar results among the five most represented national associations. 72 % of respondents indicated that they engage in some form of research activity. However, 27 % of respondents stated that they do not engage in research, yet a majority of those still promote or offer research-oriented activities. Most responses confirmed the valuable contribution research makes to the professionalisation of learning, teaching, and staff development and therefore Language Centres’ quality development. This is more effective when individual research activities are aligned with the remit of the Language Centre. Furthermore, a research-supportive culture can and does exist in a good number of cases, despite challenging institutional factors.