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EXPLORATION OF ACTION RESEARCH IN TFL
Sakhitzhanova Zada
candidate of Philological sciences, a teacher of Khozha Akhmet Yassawi International
Kazakh- Turkish university.
Summary:
The article considers one of the ways of improvement of teaching, in particular,
English. Action Research, studying in operation, as one of the effective ways of achievement of the
necessary result. This method began to be used by scientists and professionals of the West from
the middle of the last century. The research business is not static, unlike the academic method of
a research. It has the form of a spiral and can change a research subject depending on
circumstances. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention that when carrying out a research we
have to consider the opinion of stakeholders, in our case opinion of colleagues and opinion of
students.
Keywords:
action research, teaching, foreign language, method, studying in operation
Action research is either research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective
process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part
of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. There
are two types of action research: participatory and practical.
Action research involves actively participating in a change situation, often via an existing
organization, whilst simultaneously conducting research. Action research can also be undertaken
by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim
of improving their strategies, practices and knowledge of the environments within which they
practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of
action to help their community improve its work practices.
Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term "action research" in 1944. In his
1946 paper "Action Research and Minority Problems" he described action research as "a
comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research
leading to social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of
planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action" [1, p. 43].
Action research is an interactive inquiry process that balances problem solving actions
implemented in a collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis or research to
understand underlying causes enabling future predictions about personal and organizational
change. After six decades of action research development, many methods have evolved that adjust
the balance to focus more on the actions taken or more on the research that results from the
reflective understanding of the actions. This tension exists between
1.
those who are more driven either by the researcher's agenda or by participants;
2.
those who are motivated primarily by instrumental goal attainment or by the aim of
personal, organizational or societal transformation; and
3.
1st-, to 2nd-, to 3rd-person research, that is, my research on my own action, aimed
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primarily at personal change; our research on our group (family/team), aimed primarily at
improving the group; and 'scholarly' research aimed primarily at theoretical generalization or
large-scale change.
Action research challenges traditional social science by moving beyond reflective
knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables, to an active moment-to-moment
theorizing, data collecting and inquiry occurring in the midst of emergent structure. "Knowledge
is always gained through action and for action. From this starting point, to question the validity of
social knowledge is to question, not how to develop a reflective science about action, but how to
develop genuinely well-informed action – how to conduct an action science". In this sense,
performing action research is the same as performing an experiment, thus it is an empirical process.
The term action research was coined by the social psychologist Kurt Lewin in the United
States in about 1944 in connection with research which aimed to promote social action through
democratic decision making and active participation of practitioners in the research process. The
target group for Lewin's programme of action research was field workers who were trying to
improve relations between minority groups in American society. Lewin believed that through
action research advances in theory and much needed social change might simultaneously be
achieved.Under Lewin's influence, the idea of action research was adopted by educationalists and
Lewin himself worked on action research programmes with teachers. His ideas were particularly
influential at Teachers' College, Columbia University in the areas of curriculum research and
collaborative research with teachers, schools and school districts [1].
In spite of the continuing interest in action research in other fields of social inquiry, in
education it was subject to criticism on the basis of the methodology, effectiveness, and
practicality, and interest declined in the late 1950s only to re-emerge in the 1970s in a different
guise under the influence of Stenhouse.
Many educators have been concerned with the apparent gap between research and theory on
the one hand and daily practices of education on the other: educational problems as defined by
researchers and as defined by practitioners can be very different. Action researchers try to close
this gap between research and practice by creating a situation in which practitioners define research
problems and conduct research in such a way that the outcomes are directly useful to classroom or
other educational situations.
Kemmis (1988), who himself contributed to the renewal of interest in the potential of action
research, attributes the revival of interest to several factors:
1. A strong interest among educational researchers in helping practitioners deal with
problems of practice.
2. A broad methodological interest in interpretative or illuminative methods which attempt
to define the problems of the field in ways which represent the understandings of practitioners.
3. A growth of collaborative curriculum development and evaluation work.
4. An explicit commitment to addressing social and political problems of education through
participatory research carried out by practitioners on problems of immediate and more general
public concern.
During its re-emergence in the 1970s, action research took on a different kind of rationale
than in its original form. Lewin's early work, though it emphasised field work, did not seek to
abandon the scientific rigour of traditional research in the social sciences. What he was trying to
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do was make sure that research ended in real life applications rather than just written accounts of
theory.
Later, under the influence of curriculum theorists such as Stenhouse, Schwab, Elliott and
Skilbeck emphasis shifted to the idea of practical deliberation, focusing on human interpretation,
negotiation and detailed descriptive accounts in place of measurement and statistical analysis.
With this trend came the assumption that the enquiry processes must develop naturally rather than
being constrained by preconceived ideas. Hence the expectation that there should be a continuing
number of cycles of enquiry. According to this interpretation, action research aims to develop
teachers who are not only active practitioners in the field but also reflective professionals. It leads
to a new and enhanced status for the activity of teaching in that it is now seen as an activity which
can be investigated, considered and improved. The outcome of this process is to enable teachers
to provide a clearer rationale for what they do, based upon their own professional observation and
experience.
In this process, Lewin's model of a spiral of planning, action, observation and reflection is
nevertheless maintained. Each of the models of action research can be and are used for improving
teaching in higher education-indeed it is difficult to conceptualise them as totally separate. From
our experience it is not always possible to begin a project using a critical emancipatory model of
action research [1, p. 75].
Action research is known by many other names, including participatory research,
collaborative inquiry, emancipator research, action learning, and contextual action research, but
all are variations on a common theme. In nut shell, action research is “Research in Action” – a
group of people identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts
were, and if not satisfied, try again.
Kurt Lewin, a German social psychologist, has been credited with the development of the
idea of action research. He first found that experimental methods, in many cases, were inadequate
and unsatisfactory. He then tried to seek for a method that based on people’s real world experience;
from that time on, action research has entered the world of researchers.
According to Kurt Lewin, action research is “a comparative research on the conditions and
effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action”; this type of research
uses “a spiral step,” each of which is “composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding
about the result of the action”.
A more succinct definition is, is given by Thomas Gilmore, -”Action research…aims to
contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to
further the goals of social science simultaneously. Thus, there is a dual commitment in action
research to study a system and concurrently to collaborate with members of the system in changing
it, in what is together regarded as a desirable direction. Accomplishing this twin goal requires the
active collaboration of researcher and client, and thus it stresses the importance of co-learning as
a primary aspect of the research process.” [2, p. 54].
O’Brien’s states that “action research is a natural way of acting and researching at the same
time”. To make it clearer, Dick affirms that action research is a true reflection of its names as it is
intended to achieve both action and research at the same time. It is critically suitable for
educational situations where teachers wish to bring about action in the form of change or
improvement in their teaching and at the same time develop an understanding which informs the
change and is an addition to what is known.
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Carr and Kemmis put the definition of action research in education as “action research is a
form of self-reflective inquiry that can be utilized by teachers in order to improve the rationality
and justice of (i) their own practices, (ii) their understanding of these practices and (iii) the
situations in which these practices are carried out [3, p. 43].
Obviously, the role of action research in education has been acknowledged when Hutchinson
and Lomax claim that action research is a research that “concerns with broader curriculum issues,
and often with the administration and management of school and institutional change.
The action research process
is often described as:
• Cyclical with four inter-related stages: plan, act, observe, reflect;
• Collaborative in two senses:
- that many action research activities are best carried out with colleagues;
- that action research always involves the participants, at least in knowing what is
being explored and why;
• Qualitative rather than quantitative with the emphasis on language rather than
numbers;
• Reflective, involving critical reflection on both the process and the outcomes [4, p. 35].
The action research process usually starts with a question or an observation raised
either by you or by your students, about an issue, problem or difficulty experienced by
some or all of them in their learning. Alternatively, a more 'affirmative' approach might
encourage you to look at actions that are successful with some of your students so that
you can extend this 'good practice' to all your students. The cycle continues as you decide
on some action to investigate the question, perhaps by exploring how your students perceive
the issue or how you might adapt a different approach in your teaching. This will involve
you in collecting some evidence, either in the form of feedback from your students or by
observation of their work. The process is rarely a simple cycle but more a spiral: reflection
on your action and your findings may lead to another question and further action, usually
a change in your practice
REFERENCES:
1 Lewin K. Action research and minority problems, 1946, J Soc. Issues 2(4): 34-46)
2.Mills C.W Sociological Imagination, Fortieth Anniversary Edition, Oxford University Press,
2000
3 Carr W. & Kemmis S.1986, Becoming Critical: education, knowledge and action research,
London, Falmer, pp. 162
4 Brock, K. and Pettit, J. (2007) Springs of Participation: Creating and Evolving Methods for
Participatory Development. Practical Action, Warwickshire, UK
AI IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM AS A TEACHER'S ASSISTANT
Zhussupova Roza Flyurovna
Ass. Prof., Candidate of Ped.Sc., L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University,
Kazakhstan, Astana,
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought exciting possibilities to the field of
education. In the English classroom, AI tools can function as valuable assistants to teachers,
