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How important is action research for ELT professionals?
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Fri, 03/20/2009 - 09:49
Dear All
My name is Albert P'Rayan. I'm based in Chennai, India. I teach English Communication Skills and ESP courses at the tertiary level. I'm one of the moderators for the Teacher Training and Education forum.
For the past three years (Aberdeen, Exter, Cardiff) I have taken part in IATEFL online forum discussions. I have found IATEFL forums very informative, interesting and useful.
Action research is defined as " research in the context of focused efforts to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. It typically is designed and conducted by practitioners who analyze the data to improve their own practice".
The benefits of action research are:
"It has the potential to generate genuine and sustained improvements in schools.It gives educators new opportunities to reflect on and assess their teaching; to explore and test new ideas, methods, and materials; to assess how effective the new approaches were; to share feedback with fellow team members; and to make decisions about which new approaches to include in the team's curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans."
How important is action research for you? Have you been involved in action research?
Albert P'Rayan
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 18:23
#2
Action research is definitely one way to better oneself as a teacher. If nothing else, it shows you are truly dedicated to your profession! I dont think the majority of teachers could or perhaps should engage in such. I do think, however, we should cultivate more emphasis on keeping current with developments in our field.
I have met far too many teachers who think their experience teaching is enough and need nothing more or whose idea of ongoing training is to find out what new stuff the textbook editors have.
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 18:59
#3
I agree with Leigh that action research is great for professional development. I find the problem I have is not being systematic about it. I go to a conference and hear someone talk about an interesting idea; then I try it out in a class and maybe write some materials. I do a bit of reading and thinking and work out how I could have done it better. But I don't really document what I've done or publish it anywhere.
So really I guess I'm just going through the plan-do-review cycle with a bit of input from external sources. Perhaps that's not really action research?
Olwyn
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 10:52
#4
Hi Olwyn
Yes, many teachers are involved in action research but they are not very systematic about it. Is it because they do not know the importance of making their research known to others in the form of research papers?
Teachers involved in action research should document what they are doing in the class and get their research findings published in order to help other teachers benefit from the research.
Albert
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 11:07
#5
Leigh, many thanks for your views on the topic under discussion.
A teacher of English cannot be called an ELT practitioner or professional if s/he is not involved in action research or any form of research. Involving oneself in research or action research implies keeping current with developments in the chosen field.
Here in India not even five percent of English language teachers are involved in action research. Is the situation different in your country? What could be the reasons for their interest or non-interest in AR?
Albert
Mon, 03/30/2009 - 23:50
#6
Hi Albert,
A teacher of English cannot be called an ELT practitioner or professional if s/he is not involved in action research or any form of research.
I can think of many colleagues who would be insulted by such a statement, people who I would consider very professional. There can be many reasons why a teacher does not undertake research. For example, at one time in my career I was teaching 40 hours a week. There simply isn't any time left except to eat and sleep once you have done preparation and marking. As has already been mentioned, most ELT practitioners have no training in research. I have rarely met one that has the time to do any. Also, there is little point in doing research that has already been done, so if you don't have access to current research in the form of journals etc, how do you find out about it? Generally speaking, unless you are attached to a university or similar, you won't have that opportunity. It may also be actively discouraged in the institution where you work.
Involving oneself in research or action research implies keeping current with developments in the chosen field.
True, but not involving oneself in research does not imply not keeping current with developments in your field.
It may be that many people here do have the time to do research and have access to the necessary information, but for the majority of my career that has not been the case for me, and for almost all the colleagues I have worked with. It may be an ideal, but in practice for many it will remain unattainable. As has been pointed out in a different thread, one of the biggest issues in this respect is making research accessible.
Regards,
Kevin
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 04:48
#7
Hi Kevin
I agree with you that you gotta have the time. Time is a factor. I am one of the lucky ones; I've got the time. And it is something I want to do. And I think it is better if the teacher is also a reseacher, for many reasons. But if you don't have the time because you're spending 40 hours a week at classroom teaching then it is very difficult to also engage in research. My preference is to be both. I also agree with you on the issue of keeping current without being involved in research. Talking with other people who know, attending conferences like this one, for example.
However, I completely disagree with you on the issue of not doing research that has already been done. I disagree because of the implied idea in that statement that once reseach has been done on a particular issue that it is the end of the story; that what was find, discovered, highlighted was the 'truth' about it so we needn't keep looking into the matter; that it is 'true' in every case, instance and situation and context in the world. NOT TRUE. It is not true because of the theoretical research vs. applied research paradigm. It is also not true because teaching is not the same in every context, and learning is not exactly the same in every context. In fact, learning, as we have discovered is individual and quite different from one learner to the next, and from one situation of context to the next; it's called variability. It is also what is highlighted in research on learning styles and strategies. So what is 'true' in Cardiff, is not necessarily 'true' in Singapore. In other words, what happens in Cardiff is not generalizable to the entire population of language learners around the world. Generalizing from one context to the next is problematic.
In addition, whatever is 'found' must be verified. It is called falsifiability. If the 'findings' can be found by someone else, then it has a better chance of being 'true' - for that particular case or instance, but not for every case or instance. If the 'findings' cannot be verified or the research 'replicated' by someone else in another but similar study - with a different case in a different context - then the chances of the original 'findings' being 'true' or generalizable are lessened. Replicating studies, what others have found, is an extremely important part of research. History is replete with stories of researchers who've drawn conclusions about a situation merely 'theoretically', and later, an applied researcher has found that it wasn't the case. Sometimes it is the case, because the same results were observed or found. There is a lote more to research than just one off studies.
robert
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 09:30
#8
Hi Robert,
You may be surprised to hear that I agree absolutely with your point on repeating research. I left that point as I did for two reasons. First of all, my post was long enough already :-). Second, I wanted to get responses.
However, I would still maintain that repeating research you know has been done before, and repeating research of which you have no knowledge, are two very different things. I may want to repeat it exactly, in an attempt to falsify it, in which case I need to know the methodology used. Alternatively, I may want to see if the results can be repeated with a different methodology. I may want to see if the results found for, say, young learners, also apply to adult learners, etc. This is the way that research and knowledge expand, not so much with random experiments done in a vacuum. Plus the fact that if I don't have access to journals etc, there is a good chance my findings won't be published.
Regards,
Kevin
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 07:08
#9
Hello Albert,
I am a bit baffled here. If I understand correctly you are saying that 95% of your colleagues who teach English in India are neither ELT practitioners nor professional then - based on the fact that for whatever reason they don't do action research?
There are lots of ways to keep up with current developments - research is only one possibility.
How do ethics factor into AR in India?
Regards,
Heather
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 15:12
#10
Hi Leigh I agree with you, but most of us have not been trained to carry out action research, could you suggest some books, links, or ideas to start .
thanks
Carmen Gloria
Fri, 04/17/2009 - 15:39
#11
Hi Carmen Gloria:
Regarding references concerning doing research:
- Mills, G. E. (2006). Action research: A guide for the teacher research (3rd Ed.).
- Hatch, E., & Lazaraton, A. (1991). The research manual: Deisgn and statistics for applied linguistics.
- Brown, J. D. (2005). Testing in language programs.
Dan Jenkins (Foreign Expert, English Department, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China)
Mon, 03/30/2009 - 00:46
#12
HI Albert and others
I'm going to try to answer your questions: How important is action research for you? Have you been involved in action resarch?
I think action research is very important. I agree with your definition, especially in that narrower sense: that it also improves teacher performance, including student performance. However, with respect to the benefit "It has the potential to generate genuine and sustained improvements in the school [or institution one works for]." This really depends on the situation and the context in which ELT takes place. For instance, here in China where I work, any research I conduct merely has the potential for personal professional development (as well as student performance), since ELT is centrally administered and designed by the China Ministry of Education. Individual teachers have no say in curriculum design. However, teachers can create course syllabuses to try to achieve the Ministry's expectations. But few teachers are willing or have the time to indulge in action research beyond syllabus design. In other words, they're more concerned with maintaining the status quo regardless of the effect on learners their syllabus design may have. If students do not achieve the Ministry's expectations through the teacher's syllabus the student is blamed; the teacher won't blame themselves for not achieveing the Ministry's unachievable expectations. The Ministry in fact distances itself from the student and the classroom with the politico-ideological stance that it is the duty of both teacher and student to achieve the Ministry's expectations, regardles of whether teacher or student believe the Ministry's expectations to be unachievable. The teacher and student have no recourse to a 'higher' authority to gain support to argue for flexibility or even overhaul of the Ministry's curriculum. If the school or institute does not achieve the Ministry's expectations 'heads will roll'. This extreme and severe environment in which ELT is conducted can be very frustrating and debilitating. It can be like this because the institute in which one works will expect you to 'toe the line' and achieve the Ministry's expectations regardles of whether you think they can be achieved or not. If you do not achieve those expectations your contract is under threat. If one wants to keep one's contract it is quite possible for one to engage in ethically questionable activities to 'improve' one's results. It's called saving face. Saving the face of the institute, that is.
I'm regularly involved in action research in the classroom context, for my own development as well as that of the students in my care. While I have done action research to benefit the students in my care it does not mean that students have personally benefited from it. They do not personally benefit because they often resist change requested by a foreigner. However, I have not engaged in action research with or for the benefit of fellow teachers or for the institute I work for. I haven't intentionally done that because of the reasons outlined above. Even if I do make the results available to fellow teachers and the English department, it is either dispatched as either too progressive or met with extreme politeness; it would not necessarily be utilized by other teachers or incorporated by the English department, because of the issues outlined above. Teachers, like students, are often resistant to change suggested by a foreigner. Having said that, it does not mean that individual Chinese teachers aren't aware of their situation, or that they aren't interested in or desire to develop their 'profession' and use more 'scientific' innovative ideas. It simply is that they are constrained by the politico-ideological environment in which they live and work. Achieve the Ministry's expectations or do not work. To do that, Chinese teachers are sometimes forced to engage in what some would call ethically questionable activities. They themselves do not want to change some of the ways they do things because it contrasts sharply with the directives of school or institute administrators or the Ministry. I am often left wondering how does doing action research benefit anyone or any school or institution in such an environment?
robert
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 10:48
#13
Hi Leigh, Olwyn and Robert
I'm very much involved in action research. I try out some new methods in the ESL class at the tertiary level. It has helped me a lot professionally.
Currently, I teach 'Technical English' to 60 students of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. The students are from different educational background. It is a mixed ability group. All are not proficient in English. About 10 students are good at English and they do not much help in improving their communication skills. There are about 20 students who are not comfortable speaking in front of the class. Their English is very bad.
As a teacher it is my responsibility to develop their communication skills. Though I followed various strategies to make everyone speak, I didn't succeed.
For the past month I have been trying how peer support can help the linguistically disadvantaged students come out their shell and develop their communication skills. The whole group has been divided into 10 groups and in each group there are two students who are linguistically disadvantaged. The group leader's responsibility is to coordinate the group activities and brief me on a weekly basis. The linguistically advantaged ones in each group offer support to the disadvantaged peers. It has been a successful experiment.
I shared this experiment with my collegues and they too follow similar methods in the ESL class.
Now I am writing a research paper on the topic.
I invite members of this forum to share your experience too.
Best wishes
Albert
Mon, 03/23/2009 - 19:24
#14
cgarrido.... as far as formal research is concerned... you hit the nail on the head. Most of us dont know how to do it. Count me in in that group as well, Im groping around in the dark a bit with the little preparation I had in grad school (sad but true, my program never even required a thesis!)
I think that if we narrow "action research" to ONLY that which is formal, those who experiment with new ideas would never publish them. Perhaps, we can also consider an informal type of research in form of blogging about ideas we try out and work with. There are a number of good ELT blogs, some of which you can find on http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherBlogs
My own blog is at http://metamexico.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2pg5fd6pt4zr2 (Its embeded in the Mexico English Teachers' Alliance ning)
Mon, 03/23/2009 - 20:57
#15
Thank you Leigh, both for the support and links.
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 15:35
#16
Dear Leigh
Can a research be informal? Any research is formal and systematic and it has some purpose. I'll be happy if you can throw light on informal research. It is a good idea to post our action research reports on ELT blogs.
Albert
Wed, 03/25/2009 - 02:52
#17
Hi Albert
I think that is what Helga has tried to highlight in another discussion topic. That to be 'scientific' these days is to be less 'empiricial'. That entails being more 'qualitative'.
I like approaching research from a qualitative perspective: ethnographic. I approach research from a social science perspective: sociology.
I also like your idea of blogging one's research. My blog is pretty bad, unfortunately. I don't blog all my research there. In fact, I only blog my criticism of private ELT schools and businesses involved in ELT.
robert
Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:12
#18
Hi Robert
Isn't your criticism of private schools and businesses involved in ELT based on some research?
Is it possible to explain one of your recent action research activities briefly? I'm sure such a posting can lead to some useful discussions.
Albert
Wed, 03/25/2009 - 15:21
#19
Ray, by informal I mean that it can be as simple as trying out an idea you read about, then reporting your results in a blog. For what we normally think about when we think about doing and publishing research does seem to require much in the way of knowing (and having the ability) to do a literature review, knowing research methodology and the "best" part, learning how to write your article such that a journal will accept it. (The most frustrating part for me)
With a blog, you bypass a lot of preconditions to sharing your work and experience but you can still get feedback in the form of comments.
Robert... criticizing private ELT schools can fill many a blog!
Please feel free to post your blog to my wiki at http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherBlogs (youll need to be a member of the wiki. If you prefer, you can send me a link and short description of your blog to put on the wiki My email is leigh@itesm.mx or osamadre@hotmail.com (means "mother bear" in Spanish :D )
Sun, 03/29/2009 - 19:19
#20
Hi Leigh
I would like to know more about your wiki.
I have a blog www.raydeal-engchat.blogspot.com The main objective of the blog is to help learners of English develop their writing skills in English. It has many discussion topics. I haven't updated it for a while. I need your suggestions.
Albert
Thu, 04/02/2009 - 02:02
#21
Hi ray! I got your blog on my wiki already as I liked what I read. What would you like to know about the wiki? If you like you can contact me via email (leigh@itesm.mx)
Fri, 04/03/2009 - 08:19
#22
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 08:34
#23
Hello everyone, what interesting issues have been raised here! Here's my five cents' worth of ideas. I think when we talk about research, we traditionally mean a formally organised and described research, that is formulating a hypothesis, a thesis statement, testing the hypothesis, coming co some conclusions and writing down the results. But the problem is that lots of teqchera keep testing ideas on a daily basis, there is always this "what if" question: "What if I use this approach to teach less successful students? What if I use this method in my classroom? What if..." Whereas this would not be called research formally, still the actions are much the same. the problem with this "less formal research" that I see is that a teacher is often based only on what she or he has heard from a colleague, and not on more substantial reading in the field. Therefore some teachers are either researching what has already been researched only they don't know it, and others could have achieved better results if they had had a chance to do more reading in the field before starting their experiments. However, I think that this does not undermine the value of such research. In Russia all teachers working at state schools are members of local "Methodology unions" and every year they get together in late August to decide what they are going to focus on in their work this academic year. For example, one local union can decide o study approaches to teaching writing essays, or some other genre, another - studying and testing various techniques in teaching listening etc. They meet quarterly or sometimes monthly and apart from discussing their schools problems, someone reports on his or her findings or progress. At the end of the academic year they all present the results of their research. Most often it is not that much, but as least they know what types of exercises work better for similar classrooms, and what does not work. we probably would not call it a formal research, but it looks like it helps to keep them updated on some new developments in methodology. The head of such a union is also the consultant for all its members, so even if she is not doing her own research on a specific topic, she still needs to know where teachers can get the information they need. I think this could be a good illustration of what teachers can do in research area even when they do not do it very formally.
Fri, 04/10/2009 - 16:09
#24
Hi Alexey
Many thanks for giving us a report of what teachers of English in Russia do to develop themselves professionally. Really, it is a very good effort by the teachers. The regular meetings help the teachers carry out research in ELT and share their findings with other teachers.
I'm sure your sharing of experience will definitely motivate teachers who are reluctant to carry out research.
Albert
Fri, 04/10/2009 - 22:21
#25
Simon Borg is a name that comes to mind when talking about action research in language teaching - I remember finding the classroom research he reports on being very accessible, if not applicable to my own context. Incidentally, Borg is a TESOL specialist who was (is?where are you now Simon?) involved in this IATEFL SIG! The articles of his I came across in 2008 were clear and well-written and his hypotheses were backed up by quantitative data along with some qualitative - comments of reflection from teachers and such like. Maybe this would be of use to you Albert? And for Leigh too, and Carmen - espero que les sea util.
Situated learning hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet so I'd like to add that as a distance DELTA local tutor I see that the teacher I am tutoring for this advanced teaching qualification is trying out quite a few modifications to his daily teaching with the aim of improving performance - both his own and that of his students. Admittedly, the DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults, run by International House) is not undertaken by thousands of teachers every year, but those that do chose to take this path generally find it extremely rewarding. It provides the opportunity to question your own teaching practices in a structured fashion and, under the guidance of a team of tutors, to test a range of hypotheses in your own classrooms - whence the situated aspect. Lots of space is given over to reflection and this is one key area I think we can all work on if we want to progress. Alexey - I liked the idea that you meet at regular intervals with colleagues to share reflection on individual practice - that's what happens, right?
As for my own research - to improve the quality of performance of myself and colleagues - well, I've carried out market research more recently. To avoid going off topic, I'll simply say that I carried out focus groups and interviews with teachers and students, plus surveyed their parents in order to create an improved and better exploited tool that we provide in Porto - a student notebook that teachers can use to support their work better and learners use to better organise their learning. If you'd like to know more, look up my session - it's under the title "Super Specific Segmentation" and I delivered it last Wednesday in Cardiff.
Best wishes, Maria K. Norton
Tue, 04/14/2009 - 06:42
#26
Hi Maria
Many thanks for your contribution. I'm very interested in going through the paper you presented at Cardiff. Is the paper available on the web? If possible send the link to your paper to my email id at rayanal@yahoo.co.uk
Albert
I have conducted an action research on using translation in teaching an English textbook. I agree with you that action research is an effective way for language teachers to try new ideas in applying language teaching. Most importantly, it is the kind of research that lays stress and focus on real classrooms. It is like the mirror that reflects language teachers' practice and initiative in certain teaching contexts.