ACTION RESEARCH: A WAY OF TRANSFORMING OUR CLASSROOMS

Adriana Norato

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 3

Mayo de 2003

Action Research( AR) is a new type of research based on what is going on in the classroom and in the educational environment in order to have an effective teaching-learning process. Action Research defines a 'problematic' situation observed within the classroom and, depending on the classroom needs, creates different strategies to explain it or improve it.

The strategies are developed to explore the situation(s) -the teachers, the students or both-; and then, its idea is to explain or solve the identified problems with the aim of improving our daily practice as teachers. According to Gregory (1988), mentioned by Richards (1994), 'Action research is used to refer to teacher-initiated classroom investigation which seeks to increase the teacher understanding of classroom teaching and learning and to bring about a change in classroom practices’.

As most of the research approaches, Action Research is based on observation, it is done in the daily work of teachers by themselves or other colleagues. The teacher-researcher has the collaboration of other colleagues, the students, the parents, or other participants involved in the academic community, but always the participants involved are conscious of the needs they have and the research process they are participating in. Action Research involves small-scale research projects. In addition, it is a reflective process constituted by different phases: planning, action, observation and reflection. In conclusion, to develop Action Research.

The teacher-researchers should be prepared to manage and collaboratively participate with at least their students to create by action and reflection the strategies needed to improve the classroom atmosphere or the teaching-learning process.

Richards, J and Lockhart, C. (1994) Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. CUP