Action Research in Foreign Language Teacher Education Rita

Action Research in Foreign Language Teacher Education Rita Collins & Světlana Hanušová English Department Faculty of Education Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic

Looking for a balance in teacher education between practice and theory….

…. a possible solution is Action Research

What is Action Research? “…inquiry done by a teacher with the intent that the research will inform and change his or her practice in the future. The research is carried out within the context of the teacher’s environment - that is, with the students and at the school at which the teacher works - on questions that deal with educational matters at hand. ” Ferrance (2000)

The Cycle of Action Research

Two action research projects at a Czech university • Meeting the needs of a large class of students studying English • Developing communicative competence in learners with Specific Learning Disabilities

Facing a large class Dilemma: 24 Czech university students who met weekly for 90 minutes for practical English Research: background readings on large classes class evaluations by students class discussions teacher’s previous experience in a different setting

Plan: Explained concept of learning centers Students signed up to facilitate We tried it for three weeks. Re-evaluated Reflect and Evaluate: Students were enthusiastic More material was covered More learner-independence An example of action research for future teachers

Developing communicative competence in learners with SLD • Participatory action research • Empowering research WITH teachers not ON teachers • Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Moodle • 5 participating teachers + researcher as coordinator and facilitator • 8 learners with SLD integrated in mainstream primary classes

Dual aims • Teachers: Improving their practice • Teacher educator: Monitoring the cycle of pedagogical reasoning and action (Shulman, 2007): - teacher's understanding of the given content - transformation of the content in order to mediate it to particular learners - teaching and evaluation - reflection and new understanding

Research Stages • Mapping stage • Studying resources • Selecting innovations and introducing them to the teaching practice • Ongoing reports about the progress online (main source of data) • Reflection and evaluation

VLE Moodle

Research Results • Pupils with SLD moderately improved their performance in most domains of the communicative competence • No negative influence of the innovations on intact pupils in the study groups reported • The teachers appreciated: - “the theory” - online discussions with other teachers - the facilitator's comments on their particular problems • The teachers did not appreciate: – time demands

Action research benefits has the potential of directly influencing practice shows the relevance of theory to practice allows learners and teachers an opportunity to create a better educational environment possible to use in classrooms and in a virtual environment

References • FERRANCE, E. Action Research. Rhode Island: The Educational Alliance, 2000. • HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY, Subject Center for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. Retrieved 1 February 2009. www. llas. ac. uk/. . . /projects/action_research. gif • KUMARAVADIVELU, B. Understanding Language Teaching. From Method to Postmethod. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. , 2005. ISBN 0805851763. • SHULMAN, L. S. (1987) Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform. Harvard Educational Review. Volume 57. Number 1, pp. 1 – 21.

Thanks for your participation! svetlana. hanusova@gmail. com collinsrita@yahoo. com