Investigating the Classroom and Doing Research

In the fifth week, the teachers discussed their research proposals

, as none of them had prepared a written proposal. They acted like critical friends, discussing and reflecting on what they were planning to research and why. In the same session, basic data analysis methods, for example, frequency counts, were discussed briefly. Complex statistical analyses were not introduced as I felt they were beyond the scope of the programme.

In the sixth week, teachers who had begun with their research asked me detailed questions about the data collection process and shared the alternative plans of actions they had in mind with the others. For example, one teacher considered using retelling to increase the vocabulary use of her students.

Another teacher thought about using extra reading materials to supplement a 'boring' coursebook.After this session, the teachers continued with their research and during this time they contacted me by email with their questions, for example, how to narrow down the topic, adapt a questionnaire to the Turkish context, plan alternative actions. With all teachers, support was needed at all stages of research.

Six teachers handed in their reports to me on time. It took some more time for the others to finish them. Most of the reports included a research question, data collection about the current situation, description of the intervention and a brief discussion of results. Due to time limitations I could provide feedback only through email. Data for the study came from teachers' narratives and journals.

At the beginning of the study participants were asked to write their understandings of research. Moreover, throughout the research process teachers kept a journal in Turkish as they felt they could express themselves better in their native tongue. In every session I reminded them to include their understandings of research and the outcomes of it in their journals. I collected the journals twice to have an idea of their difficulties, as it was not possible to deal with all questions during the sessions.

Although it seemed time consuming at the beginning, writing down their own thinking in a journal was later found highly useful by teachers in helping them to become more alert to what they were doing. Thus, it was used as both a method of data collection and as a reflective tool which assisted their ongoing research. For the purposes of this paper, data coming from both sources were analysed by means of pattern coding to reduce the 'large amounts of data into a smaller number of analytic units' (Miles and Huberman 1984: 69) and to organize the data, particularly that coming from the journals.

Investigating the Classroom and Doing Research

By: endeavor

POST COMMENT

Learning Through The Past At The Museum Of Reading How To Prepare For The Sat Exam How tough is it to get into a college? Veteran Scholarship - $10,000 Is Available To Pay For Your College Tuition And Personal Expenses How to crack entrance examinations of the best colleges? Kaplan Open Learning: Distance Leaning Courses For Students Responsibilities of a College Tutor 10 Basketball Skills You Should Learn How To Learn To Speak Japanese Fast Learn To Speak Japanese Fast Smooth-sailing Windward Commons Creates Campus Enhancements For Armstrong Atlantic State University Classroom Discipline 101 Book Classroom Discipline 101 Craig Seganti