Katherine Moran's article by Romina Valdebenito https://padlet.com/romina301984/b32mnqjkj3c4auv0 Aspects mentioned by Burns (2010) and Smith & Rebolledo that we can appreciate in this article. en-us 2021-10-13 13:04:47 UTC 2021-10-13 14:45:34 UTC hello@padlet.com Moran´s aims of the Reaserch - Introduction cecizab https://padlet.com/romina301984/b32mnqjkj3c4auv0/wish/1814066718 Katherine Moran´s aim was to improve her French engineering students´ oral presentations in English, and she focused more on the pedagogic approach rather than the academic approach to the second language. For Moran the “climate of trust” and the “triangular feedback” -teacher, peer, and learner evaluation - allowed her to “gain real understanding of the learners´ perceptions' '. There was a moment she felt criticized, accused by “ethical issues” and she doubted the way she was conducting her research, and that made her reflect and plan that “in the future” she “would ensure that every research step is integrated into” the curriculum. Another important thing that Burns and Smith & Rebolledo suggest is to have someone, a tutor, mentor, colleague, to talk to while you are working with your EAR. Moran doesn't mention that, so maybe this ethical problem could have been avoided if she had someone to consult with. 
Moran mentions that she saw improvement in the quality of the presentations, and she believes due to the students´ motivation, also she “integrated normal pedagogic practice with language skills”. She wrote that “the improvement in marks and findings from data analysis bear witness to a strong sense of achievement and satisfaction felt by all regarding the improved quality of talks in terms of content, analysis, structure, delivery, and language ability”.


]]> 2021-10-13 14:10:46 UTC https://padlet.com/romina301984/b32mnqjkj3c4auv0/wish/1814066718 Aspects by Burns and Smith and Rebolledo seen in the article. cecizab https://padlet.com/romina301984/b32mnqjkj3c4auv0/wish/1814083010 The article reflects what we have learnt  about Exploratory Action Research which showed us an effective and fun way of exploiting the positive dynamics generated by the two cycles of Exploratory Action Research. The article “Student-to-student legacies in Exploratory Action Research” by Moran (2017) depicts a written mode of sharing research, specifically what Burns (2010) calls an Action Research Account. Katherine Moran gives a complete and detailed description of how this Exploratory Action Research process was carried out. This article was part of an ELT journal and was published by Oxford University Press, both being characteristics of this kind of written mode of sharing research. Burns (2010) states that “as part of your own professional development you might want to contribute your research to a professional association journal or newsletter” and this is the case of Moran’s article. The author decided to carry out her own AR and to share it with other language teachers.
Moran carried out her AR for four cycles with four different groups of students but adding up to what she had done before by showing the second cycle students what the first cycle ones had developed. For cycles three and four, Moran designed two legacy tools, a short video and an interactive activity, which she implemented and tested with these groups.
Not only does the author apply effective academic English, but she also provides a theoretical and historical background for her article and cites other AR authors like Burns, Smith, Rebolledo and Lewin, who first introduced the term of Action Research.


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Katherine Moran’s research could be guided by Anne Burns guide (planning the action, putting the plan into action, observing the results of the plan, reflecting and planning for further action). She did her research on ways to improve French students' oral skills in English. We can observe similarities between her Active Research and Smith and Rebolledo’s handbook from different teachers' Active Research (What shall I explore and What are my questions? How can I explore? What do I find? What shall I change? What happens? Where do I go from here?). She made herself think about her teaching practice since students were not interested or engaged in her classes and activities. Her students helped her find the answers and purpose to go on. She designed legacy tools to help her out developing lessons and her students' communication process. These tools turned out to be an effective and fun way to motivate and encourage them to learn.


Bibliography

  • Burns, Anne (2010). Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for Practitioners. New York, NY. Routledge.
  • Moran, Katherine (2017). Student-to-student legacies in exploratory action research. ELT Journal Volume 71/3 July 2017. Oxford University Press.
  • Smith, Richard and Rebolledo Paula (2018). A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research. British Council




]]> 2021-10-13 14:17:06 UTC https://padlet.com/romina301984/b32mnqjkj3c4auv0/wish/1814090108 Importance of reflection and cycles cecizab https://padlet.com/romina301984/b32mnqjkj3c4auv0/wish/1814101722 Reflecting is an important part of the cycle of Research, is the last phase that takes the researcher further and changes him-her, him-his teaching action and research as a whole. 
 As it was pointed in Burns´ book, Moran used her “personal knowledge” after attending an Exploratory Action Research workshop, that opened her mind to self-question her methods to engage her students to feel more connected with the subject, such is the case of Moran who wanted her French students to get better on their English presentations, vocabulary and grammar use.
  When Moran reached the reflection part of the process, she saw herself onto reflecting on beliefs and values, “personal knowledge”, as if she knew that the action was going to work take us to another of the four dimensions of reflection, reflecting on feelings and experiences, where she says “ action research requires teachers to engage in self-reflective, critical and methodical explorations of their classroom contexts” like Smith & Rebolledo wrote “ when teachers reflect on ear they notice more fundamental changes”. We can also see it reflecting on the data she collected and shared in this article, where she quoted her students´ thoughts and feelings of the experience, something that Smith & Rebolledo marked. 
 


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