Re: [xmca] Action Research: Generalisable learning

I find discourse analysis very insightful as part of action research - audio
taping group work sessions, class discussions, etc. then transcribing and
analyzing the talk. There is so much richness under the surface which
usually goes undetected in-the-moment of teaching. Discourse analysis
within an ethnographic study allows the researcher-practitioner to dig
deeper into more layers; to see things "big" as Maxine Greene would say.
Additionally, I prefer to write in first person. I do not wish "to
completely disassociate my feelings from the research" for who I am is part
of the research. And that doesn't necessarily lead to a "softening" of the
research. To try to deny self by "detaching" myself and writing in third
person seems misleading, possibly even deceptive. But then, I tend to agree
with the teachings of Panofsky, Behar, Nash, Goodall, and others when it
comes to scholarly writing.

K. Cotter-Lemus

On 8/14/07 3:39 PM, "jose david herazo" <jherazo4@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Thank you very much Ana for your comments. In our discussion of Action
> Research at my University we are trying to arrive to an agreement about how
> our teacher-to-be students should hand in their final action research
> reports, which they do as part of their practicum. We have agreed that this
> should be done as an ongoing narrative of self-reflection, improvement and,
> hopefully, transformation. However, as we are just starting on this arena,
> we would like to read examples of the way it could be done, and thus enrich
> our discussion. I would be very grateful If you, or anyone else on this
> discussion could help us with that.
>
> Thanks again
>
> JOSÉ DAVID
>
>> From: "Ana Paula B. R. Cortez" <apbrcortez@yahoo.com.br>
>> Reply-To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Action Research: Generalisable learning
>> Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:13:55 -0300 (ART)
>>
>> Dear José-David,
>> I report findings as if the teacher of the study were a completely
>> different individual, but me. I use third person only ("the teacher", "she
>> did this or that"...) to completely disassociate my feelings from the
>> research. I believe we tend to soften or simplify things when they're about
>> ourselves and that's the richness of the action research, to give us the
>> opportunity to look at ourselves as different subjects.
>> Hope you find it useful.
>> Regards,
>> Ana
>>
>> jose david herazo <jherazo4@hotmail.com> escreveu: All the reflections
>> about Action Research you have made have given me light
>> to improve my role as researcher. I have a question to ask,maybe one of you
>> could give me still more light! In my work as an amateur action researcher
>> I very often find it difficult to report action research findings, How do
>> you usually report them?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> José-David
>>> From: "Ana Paula B. R. Cortez"
>>> Reply-To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"
>>> To: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"
>>>
>>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Action Research: Generalisable learning
>>> Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 22:02:48 -0300 (ART)
>>>
>>> Very interesting, indeed! I personally find this kind of research
>>> fascinating, not only because there's an opportunity to look at the
>> school
>>> environment being part of it, but also as "an outsider", from a different
>>> perspective. I tend to analyse collected data as if the person teaching
>>> those lessons were another one, but myself. It's a way of solving
>>> teaching-learning practice problems, reflecting upon approaches and
>>> methodologies and, above all, finding ways to transform realities. In my
>>> opinion, it's a great chance of coming up with alternatives to overcome
>>> social barriers (now quoting Kincheloe, 1993. A formação do professor
>> como
>>> compromisso político - mapeando o pós-moderno. Porto Alegre: Artes
>> Médicas
>>> - sorry, I only have the reference in Portuguese).
>>> Besides, I include students in the analysis as well: I show them video
>>> taped classes for us to debate so that they also get to know a bit about
>>> the theory and they can criticize what they see (isn't that our intention
>>> to educate students to become critical citizens? So why not actively
>>> including them in the study?). In this way, the multiplicity of voices
>>> generating conflict and discussion enriches the analysis and expand the
>>> activity itself. I mean, in my case, teaching EFL in a Brazilian
>> bilingual
>>> school, this is the ultimate opportunity to transform the language as a
>>> tool for a result into a tool and result (as defined by Newman and
>> Holzman,
>>> 1993. Vygotsky - Revolutionary Scientist).
>>> Ana
>>>
>>> Mike Cole escreveu:
>>> This is an ongoing discussion the the action research list that ought
>> to
>>> be
>>> of interest to several of us.
>>> mike
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: Jack Whitehead
>>> Date: Aug 7, 2007 3:28 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [arlist-l] Generalisable learning
>>> To: Action research list
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> [ Converted to plain text. -- B. ]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6 Aug 2007, at 23:35, David Tripp (by way of Bob Dick) wrote:
>>>
>>> However, as the purpose of action research is improved practice,
>>> when- and where-ever improved practice is achieved and others get
>>> to know about it, they tend to try it too, and so the practice is
>>> generalised as it moves from "it happened once here" to "it
>>> happens, here, there and everywhere!" and that's so much more
>>> relevant and important in terms of the method than categorical
>>> generalisation of other kinds of research.
>>>
>>> I do like the idea that practice is generalised as it moves is the way
>>> David
>>> describes above. You can follow this kind of generalisation from Chapter
>> 6
>>> Kevin Eames' narrative of his action research in one school from 1991:
>>>
>>> CHAPTER SIX - ACTION RESEARCH AS A FORM OF PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN A
>>> WHOLE-SCHOOL SETTING
>>>
>>> This chapter deals with another aspect of my practice as an action
>>> researcher, and moves beyond my own classroom to my work with colleagues
>> at
>>> Wootton Bassett School. In contrast to the two preceding chapters, the
>>> focus
>>> has shifted back to my own practice, although at the time of writing, in
>>> the
>>> autumn of 1991, I had been seconded to work with the advisory service of
>>> Wiltshire LEA. The account I give here, therefore, is not concerned with
>>> the
>>> current advisory work in which I was involved, but with events which had
>>> taken place some time before.
>>>
>>> at:
>>>
>>> http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/KEVINPHD/kechap6.pdf
>>>
>>> into Jacqueline Delong's action research between 1996-2002 into her work
>> as
>>> a Superintendent of Schools in Ontario, generating a culture of inquiry
>> in
>>> support of teacher action research in a whole school board in her
>> narrative
>>> of her"
>>>
>>> HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY PRACTICE AS A SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS AND CREATE
>> MY
>>> OWN LIVING EDUCATIONAL THEORY?
>>>
>>> at
>>>
>>>
>>> http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/delong.shtml
>>>
>>> and into Moira Laidlaw's action research between 2000-2006 in China's
>>> Experimental Centre for Educational Action Research in Foreign Language's
>>> Teachers, hosted by Ningxia Teachers University, at:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/moira.shtml
>>>
>>> When David describes ' the purpose of action research is improved
>>> practice',
>>> I'm not sure if knowledge-creation is included in what is meant by
>>> 'improved
>>> practice'. I tend to make a distinction between the questions I ask in
>>> researching to improve my educational influences with my students in
>>> questions such as, 'How do I improve my practice?' and the educational
>>> knowledge I generate as I explain my educational influences in my own
>>> learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social
>>> formations in which I live and work. I stress the importance in action
>>> research of both improving my practice and of enhancing the educational
>>> knowledge-base through my contributions to educational theory. In my
>>> understandings of generalisability in action research I use the idea that
>>> practice is generalised as it moves in the way David describes, I also
>> use
>>> an idea of generalisability when I see that ideas generated in one
>> context
>>> by an action research are being acknowledged as !
>>> of use in the narrative of another action research who is working and
>>> researching in a different context.
>>>
>>> Love Jack.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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Received on Tue Aug 14 14:18 PDT 2007