English as a Barrier to Conducting Academic Studies: Teachers’ Lived Experiences of Research Stigma

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study examined how English functions as a barrier to teachers’ participation in academic research and how that experience contributes to research stigma. Guided by Linguistic Hegemony Theory and Sociocultural Theory, the inquiry focused on the linguistic, structural, syntactic, psychological, and institutional dimensions of research writing and presentation in English. Fifteen teachers from the San Juan West and East sub-offices in San Juan, Batangas were purposively selected based on prior participation in research initiatives and experience with school- or classroom-based research. Data were generated through semistructured, in-depth interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step descriptive phenomenological method. Four interrelated themes emerged: English as a psychological and linguistic barrier; linguistic, structural, and syntactic challenges in academic writing; adaptive coping strategies in academic writing; and promoting an inclusive research culture. Participants described anxiety, fear of grammatical errors, difficulty selecting academic vocabulary, sentencelevel and discourse-level problems, uncertainty in organizing ideas, and hesitation toward research presentation and publication. They responded through outlining, reading scholarly articles, peer feedback, writing practice, and appropriate digital language tools. Participants further emphasized the need for academic-writing workshops, mentoring, language assistance, and a school culture that evaluates research primarily for the quality and relevance of ideas rather than English accuracy alone. The study generated the Teacher Research Empowerment Program (TREP), a three-day academic-writing and research-confidence intervention with year-round mentoring intended to reduce research stigma and strengthen teacher participation in research.