Classroom-based Research EVO 2018 by Alicia Laucirica https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos Research Plan by Alicia E. Laucirica, La Plata, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina en-us 2018-02-21 16:27:59 UTC 2019-02-07 04:08:32 UTC hello@padlet.com Exploratory questions, evidence and timeline Aliehl https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233838817 1. What are my exploratory research questions?
 a) How do students really feel about phonetics?
 b) How do they respond when I teach phonetics in class?
 c) Can learning about phonetics motivate them to learn English in general?

2. What evidence will I gather, and how?
I would like to find out whether my perceptions are right, i.e. whether my students really enjoy or feel eager and motivated to learn phonetics in their English class. If this is actually the case, I would like to know why they find phonetics so engaging and whether learning about phonetis can motivate them to learn English in general.
I will probably try to gather evidence by studying my own written reflections and / or notes, by paying attention to other people’s ideas on this topic, by reading samples of my students’ reflective writing, by asking my students to complete a questionnaire and by observing my students’ performance in class (written or recorded).

3. When will I start?
Probably in March or April 2018, once classes have started in Argentina.
]]> 2018-02-21 16:38:49 UTC https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233838817 Research Plan Aliehl https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233840762 I am planning to analyse the data that I might collect in the future (especially, through the questionnaire) in the following way:

Quantitative method:

Do you enjoy learnning phonetics at school? (Answers: Yes/No/Not sure)

Do you feel motivated to learn English in general after learning about phonetics? (Answers: Yes/No/Not sure)

Qualitative method (Open questions):

Why do you (not) like learning phonetics? (Answers: Students' own ideas)

If you feel motivated to learn English in general after learning about phonetics, why do you think this is the case? (Answers: Students' own ideas)

What activities do you enjoy practising the most? [Answers: Students write a number from 1 to 5 (1 meaning the activity they like the least and 5 meaning the activity they enjoy the most) next to the following options:  "Hide and Find", "Phonemic Bingo!", "Phonemic Crossword", "Matching Spellings", "Phonemic Hangman"]
]]> 2018-02-21 16:41:25 UTC https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233840762 A puzzle Aliehl https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233842378 I work at a secondary, technical school in La Plata, Argentina. My two classes there (a 2nd and a 3rd year) are quite large (about 29 students), but the main problem is that the acoustics can be simply terrible. As a result,  it is rather difficult to teach the oral language. Still, what I found out last year is that teaching phonetics (specifically, encouraging the learning of phonetic symbols) can prove really motivating to students.
One day, in one of my classrooms, I wrote two columns of words on the (chalk) board and made my students pay attention to the phonetic spelling of each word on the left with the  corresponding alphabetic spelling on the right. The following week I basically did the same but this time I asked them to match the two different spellings. I was stunned to see all of the class absolutely engaged in this activity. 
From that day on, whenever I had some time left before the bell rang, I would have my students practise in this way and they always seemed to enjoy it. I tried doing the same with the other group and the "results" were practically the same. Therefore, I decided to enquire into this surprising connection between the teaching of phonetics and students' motivation.]]> 2018-02-21 16:43:44 UTC https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233842378 My research Focus Aliehl https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233843918 As I have already mentioned, I am interested in studying the connection between the teaching of phonetics (especially, of phonetic symbols) and students' motivation in the English class. Because of my experience last year at the secondary school where I work, I believe that teaching this topic can be important to help students develop independence (when they need to check the pronunciation of a new word, for example, they will be able to do it on their own, with just a dictionary, without resorting to their teacher right away) and to foster their motivation (admittedly, not an easy task when it comes to teenagers). That is why I would like to discover why students can find this area so engaging and how  teachers can incorporate phonetics into their lessons more often since it is not usual for teachers to teach this discipline at Argentine schools.]]> 2018-02-21 16:46:05 UTC https://padlet.com/Aliehl/k7jain83pxos/wish/233843918