Mindsets about research in ELT: A scoping review of theories, and implications for teacher development

Teachers’ mindsets toward research act as a catalyst for professional development in English language teaching. While there were theories of mindset in language teaching and case studies into educational research practices, the field lacks a comprehensive synthesis of how educators conceptualize research engagement. Addressing this gap, this study aims to both examine mindsets about research, drawing on dual theoretical lenses including the mindset theory and the teacher-research nexus, and demonstrate emerging trends in this field, such as participatory action research and influential factors on research productivity and engagement. The 14 peer-reviewed papers (11 empirical studies on trends and 3 theoretical works) were sourced from academic databases like Google Scholar and Scopus (2016 – 2025), employing a snowball sampling with keywords “mindset toward research”, “research practice”, and “research engagement” in the TESOL context. After a thematic analysis, the data were categorized into three themes: 1) Fundamental theoretical changes in educational psychology; 2) Synthesizing the “Mindset toward research” via the Teacher-Research Nexus; 3) Micro-level from pedagogical Interventions and Macro-Structural Constraints. The analysis revealed the role of growth mindsets in sustaining research engagement, uncovered critical mediators of research implementation, and offered guidance for teacher educators and administrators in fostering inquiry cultures.