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Action Research - Handout

The document describes action research, which is a teacher studying their own teaching or student learning. It provides an example of a teacher who was concerned about talking too much in class hindering learning. The teacher researched the Silent Way teaching method and conducted an experiment where they stayed silent for 10 minutes of a lesson and assessed how much they talked by listening back to a recording. The experiment revealed the teacher talked even more than expected, prompting the design of a next experiment.

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Isabel Cazuriaga
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23 views

Action Research - Handout

The document describes action research, which is a teacher studying their own teaching or student learning. It provides an example of a teacher who was concerned about talking too much in class hindering learning. The teacher researched the Silent Way teaching method and conducted an experiment where they stayed silent for 10 minutes of a lesson and assessed how much they talked by listening back to a recording. The experiment revealed the teacher talked even more than expected, prompting the design of a next experiment.

Uploaded by

Isabel Cazuriaga
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Didactics 2 Mazzoleni|Da Mota

4th course
Student:
Maria Isabel Cazuriaga Flores
Action Research

Action research is a teacher’s personal study of his/her own teaching or the students’ learning. It
contrasts with a more common image of research as something done by academics in distant
universities. Action research has the advantage that it can be very small- scale. Anything you do in
your work that is actively seeking to help you learn and progress is a kind of action research. A
more systematic route (e.g. when you want to experiment with a new classroom technique) might
follow the route shown in Figure 16.1
Action research

Fiona is talking about her own small-scale action research. Match parts of her description to the
diagram in Figure 16.1.

I began to worry that I was talking too much in class and that it was getting in the way of students’
learning. I found a book on the school bookshelf with a very short mention of the Silent Way
method that sounded interesting. I researched Silent Way on the Internet and found some sample
lesson plans. I thought there was no way I could do full Silent Way lesson, but I decided I could try
something from one of the plans. I planned a normal lesson but with a ten-minute and listen back
to it afterwards. When listening, I would make a rough assessment of how much I talked every
three minutes.

So I did the lesson, and the activity sort of worked, but the most interesting revelation was how
much I talked in the other parts of the lesson – even more than I’d thought. This led me to design
my next experiment in which I…

Before

Choose a general area for the experiment:

The general area chosen by the person is their teaching style and communication in the classroom.
They are concerned about talking too much during class, which might hinder students' learning.

Do background reading and research:

The person found a book on the school bookshelf with a brief mention of the Silent Way teaching
method, which caught their interest. Subsequently, they researched the Silent Way method on the
Internet and found some sample lesson plans.

Decide the specifics of the experiment:

After researching the Silent Way method, the person decided to incorporate a modified version of
it into their next lesson. They planned a normal lesson but included a ten-minute period where
they would stay silent and only listen. The aim was to assess how much they talked during this
period.

Decide how you can assess the results:

To assess the results, the person decided to listen back to the recording of the lesson and make a
rough assessment of how much they talked during the ten-minute silent period. This would help
them measure the extent of their own talking during that time.

Experiments

Do it:
The person implemented the planned lesson, including the ten-minute silent period. They
observed the class and recorded the lesson as planned.

After:

Analyze and reflect on the outcomes:

During the listening back of the recording, the person discovered that they talked even more in
other parts of the lesson than they had initially thought. This finding prompted them to design
their next experiment, but the description does not provide details on what the next experiment
will entail. The individual will likely analyze the results of their current experiment, reflect on the
insights gained, and use this understanding to design their next experiment in the continuous
effort to improve their teaching approach and reduce excessive talking in class.

Source

A Scrivener, J. Learning Teaching: A Guidebook for English Language Teachers. 2011. Macmillan

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