| You have been experimenting with a process approach for teaching writing (i.e., one in which you encourage students to go through a number of stages when completing a writing task, from planning to drafting to reviewing and revising). You want to find out if students actually find this approach useful and whether they use it on writing assignments outside of class.  A.         Which of the procedures discussed in that activity would be most appropriate for gathering information about the situation selected: teaching journal, lesson reports, surveys and questionnaires, audio and video recording, or observation?   

Thinking about the main purpose of the activity which is no more than knowing if the experimented process is working out on a right way to end up on an optimal outcome; I think that there are two good option of approaches: the first one could be Surveys and questionnaires and the second one would be action research.

Surveys and questionnaires:  with the process of creating a questionnaire about different aspects of the classes and the new process, the teacher can collect the needed information so he or she can include questions about the new acquired knowledge, the procedures, the used material, the student confidence or any other issue that teacher thinks is important to study the information; there exist different activities to be used in class about questionaries and one of them is to make the students created their own questionaries about the class to be answered among them by exchanging  and at the end the teacher can examine the collected information and correct mistakes or change the whole process if needed.

By the other side the teacher also can create a survey that which is different to a questionnaire since the information is conducted to a research and it is important to describe the reality of the situation as well as the students attitude and behavior in this case about the new learning process.

Action research: to really know if the new process is adequate for teaching writing and if students are using the new knowledge in and outside classes; with this approach the teacher can identify by means of a test out strategy to gather the needed data and at the end determine if the process is working correctly. Since the outcomes are dynamic, innovative, and punctually directed to the classes and processes. Action research acts as a bridge between the participants and the researcher where the teacher is one of the most active participants because for this activity as teacher, I must follow the steps to conduct the correct research.

Planning step: to begging it is necessary to count on an inquiry to define the research; in this case we need to know if our new teaching process is fulfilling for the students learning, then we design and determine the data methods taking in mind some aspects before getting into the next step which is the action.

Action step: in this step the researcher engage by cycles the collected data information which can be qualitative, quantitative or both, once you have organized the information obtained it is necessary to step into another level.

Analysis step: by using tools like charts or graphs the teacher will be able to check the trends and share it with peers or use another tool to finally obtain the results and go to the next step.

Conclusion step: so as to know if my new teaching process have been working on a correct way and if students are using the new knowledge in and outside the class it was necessary to use this approach and after all steps I will have the conclusion so with the answers I can reflect on my teaching practice to ending up on a new questionary to follow that cycle until to refine the information and find out better ways of teaching or just to know the effectiveness of the practice.

Some of the advantages of the action research would be:

-          The researcher can be the same actor who is leading the process to be studied.

-          The learning is going to be lasting the whole life. 

-          The learning of using different tools to get result about any issue.

-          The improvement of the practice.

-          To find the root of any problem

-          To conclude on solutions for any situation.

-          To create a social change.

-          To include another actor that will help to get the outcomes.

Some of the disadvantages can be: 

-          The measurement is superficial

I think there is no more disadvantages since the objective of the research is complete; even though there exist a lack of deeper information, for this case I guess it is enough to find out what we need and create strategies to improve the teaching and learning. 

 

 

The teacher is a committed person who must be in contact with the quality of the education and for sure must be also updated about the world changing and the new information and communication technologies so the goal of this research wouldn´t be for personal benefit but social. 

Of course, the lack of importance when talking about learning another language is a problem, so the teacher can solve a real and interesting issue. 

I think that the teacher could have as a main purpose to re-make the curriculum from some schools and direct them to a better goal when talking about a second language. To implement a new strategy or change the methodology of the schools the teacher must know first what the things are working like, and this is an important topic to talk about in a conference or at the time of imparting any seminar to the deafferents teachers of the educational institutions.