Classroom-Based%20Action%20Research

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Classroom-BasedAction Research

• Dorothy Chun
• UC Santa Barbara

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Action Research

• Why do it?
• To be able to say with greater certainty, beyond
  anecdotal evidence, that your efforts are having
  an effect (hopefully positive!).
• To conduct formative and summative evaluation.

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Lessons Learned 1

• Todays presentation is framed in terms of my
  experience with 2 research projects
• ICE (UCSB-Uni Kassel, Germany) based on Cultura
• Chin 332 project w/ Stephen David
• Both began w/o research questions.

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Lessons Learned 2

• 1st round ICE added to curriculum so only online
  questionnaires and forums
• In writing a chapter for Teaching with Technology
  we discovered that students were missing a lot of
  subtle differences
• E-mail exchanges vs. forums

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Lessons Learned 3

• 2nd round different partner group with unequal
  numbers
• Small forum groups with 6/group
• Students reported back to the class mismatch
  between what they said in forums and in class
• Analysis of classroom discourse using Byrams ICC
  disappointing

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Lessons Learned 4

• 3rd round different format (ABC) due to
  partners request
• Teacher-chosen topics did not work as well as
  student-chosen topics

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Basic Questions

• 1. What would you like your students to learn
  from the cafés?
• 2. What kinds of evidence would show that they
  have learned it?
• 3. How can you find or obtain this kind of
  evidence?

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Start with Your Goals

• What are the 3-4 most important things you want
  your students to learn from this exchange?
• Take a moment to write them down.
• How will you define success?

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Goals/Needs of Your Students

• Build a community
• Intercultural exchange (including business
  culture)
• Linguistic community
• Affective Sense of solidarity
• Linguistic Cohesion in the discourse

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Linguistic Improvement

• Expanded vocabulary
• Grammar practice
• Additional chances to use the L2
• Language variation
• Authentic language in the real world, beyond the
  textbooks

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Intercultural Understanding 1

• How others think
• How others act/behave in social contexts
• How things work in daily life in the others
  culture
• Openness, awareness, curiosity about other
  culture

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Intercultural Understanding 2

• Examine cultural assumptions about the other
  culture
• Local adaptation of the other culture
• Reflect on your own culture
• Grapple with identity issues

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Different Types of Research

• Qualitative vs. Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Often, but not always longitudinal, descriptive,
  e.g., pedagogical best practices
• Quantitative
• Often, but not always cross-sectional,
  treatment studies

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Specific Examples Qualitative

• Teacher journals record successes as well as
  frustrations (e.g., use the facilitator forums as
  data)
• Questionnaires ask students what they thought
  they learned, how they liked the project

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Specific Examples Quantitative

• Data analysis examine actual data produced by
  the students, e.g., in the forums
• Learning outcomes linguistic progress,
  intercultural competence

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Research Methodology 1

• Be specific about the outcomes you are most
  interested in (and do not try to solve the
  worlds problems!).
• Different methods are needed for different
  goals/questions.
• Collect data systematically.

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Research Methodology 2

• Collect as much demographic data as possible
• Age
• Gender
• First language (L1)
• L2 exposure
• Extent of language use (L1 and L2)
• Contexts of language use (family, school, work)

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Research Methodology 3

• Think about all of the other variables that could
  affect learning outcomes (level, prior knowledge,
  motivation, time on task, etc.).
• Try to find a way to ensure that these other
  variables are kept the same or are noted.

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Research Methodology 4

• Its better to have more data than you think you
  need than less (save everything!).
• Combine qualitative quantitative Study
  learning outcomes in addition to students
  perceptions about what they thought they learned
  or their attitudes towards the cafés.

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Formative Evaluation

• During the project, by keeping good records,
  including recording communication between both
  sides, you can identify what works and what
  doesnt.
• You can then change/improve your strategies

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Successful Tasks/Activities

• Experiment with sequencing
• Experiment with prompts and instructions
• Compare online vs. offline tasks
• Compare use of different media
• Compare use of different online tools

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Usefulness of Media

• For what specific purpose are each of the
  following used for?
• Is the use of the medium effective for your goal?
• Text
• Graphics
• Video
• Audio

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Usefulness of Tech Tools

• For what specific purpose are each of the
  following used for?
• Is the use of the tool effective for your goal?
• BRIX activities
• Wikis
• Skype, videoconferencing

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Different Teacher Role

• Which types of teacher behavior are successful?
• Where (in which activities), when (at what point
  in the activity), how often (whenever there is a
  lull?) should teacher participate?

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What to look for/observe 1

• Look at forums to see whether
• Students address each other
• Students address the teacher
• Students respond to others postings (cohesion)
• Students use different types of speech acts
  (state opinions, inquire, apologize, request
  clarification, discuss)

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What to look for/observe 2

• Look at forums to see if/whether
• Students only state their opinions
• Students only talk about L2 and C2
• Students reflect on their L1 and C1
• Students express awareness of similarities and
  differences between C1 and C2
• Students express understanding of C2

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What to look for/observe 3

• Look at data to see how
• Students demonstrate understanding of the other
  culture
• Students attitudes, perceptions, interactions
  have changed over the course of the exchange
  (note that its not always easy to know whether
  anything has changed)

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What to look for/observe 4

• Look at data to see
• How knowledge is co-constructed and what it looks
  like
• What causes interaction
• Whether students speculate and hypothesize
  (rather than just make statements or ask
  questions)

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Summary Conclusions 1

• Action research can be done in the classroom and
  with the online cafés.
• You do not have to do a rigorous experiment with
  treatment groups (and statistical analyses).

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Summary Conclusions 2

• You do need to have specific research questions
  (targeted outcomes).
• You do want to try and control for as many other
  contributing variables as possible.

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Summary Conclusions 3

• Doing action research can help both in formative
  evaluation (seeing what works and what doesnt
  during the project) and in summative evaluation
  (seeing whether the original learning goals have
  been met at the end of the project).

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The End all pau

• Have fun with your impressive and exciting
  projects!
• Mahalo nui loa