Concept Of Action Research Research Articles

PENINGKATAN KEMAMPUAN MENULIS CERPEN DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN TEKNIK PARAFRASE PUISI SISWA KELAS X1 SMA PERTIWI 1 PADANG

The purpose of the research was to explain and analyze the short story writing skills improvement grades X1 SMA Pertiwi 1 Padang in terms of characterization, plot, and setting. This type of research is a classroom action research that uses four stages in each cycle, including planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. The research was conducted in two cycles. The data was collected through two main instruments, namely test and nontes. The test is used to collect data capability to write short stories, while the form of sheets nontes observation, field notes, and questionnaires were used to collect the data in the application of learning techniques paraphrasing poetry writing short stories. Analyzing data in accordance with the descriptive-analytical application of the concept of action research. Results of this study showed that the results of the students wrote short stories on pre-cycle obtain an average value of 58.89, cycle 1 with an average value of 77.04, and in cycle 2 the average score was 91.11.. The results showed an increase of pre-cycle students write short stories until the cycle 2.

Theory and method: Why action research does not separate them

This is a combined introduction to two associated papers. Both are occasioned by the publication of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research (Coghlan & Brydon-Miller, 2014), and an invitation from its editors, David Coghlan and Mary Brydon-Miller to use the publication as an opportunity to review the present state of action research. The focus of one of the papers, by Davydd Greenwood (2015, this issue) , is on the theory and concepts of action research. The other paper, by Bob Dick (2015) , addresses how action research is done: that is, its methodology and methods. And therein lies a difficulty. The two papers, and their corresponding dimensions of action research, are necessarily intertwined. The theory and concepts determine the research approach. The approach, in turn, yields the data and the experiences that between them generate or modify the theory and concepts.

Teacher researchers in action research in a heavily centralized education system

Action research is characterized by a new paradigm of empowering teachers to monitor their own practices in a more autonomous manner with a vision of challenging and improving their own techniques of teaching through their own participatory research. Yet in spite of this apparently radical shift in the function of the teacher from the constant consumer of scientific theories to a researcher, as envisioned, the concept of action research as an in-service teacher education strategy has not received due attention in practice. For this reason, the presented case study was undertaken to examine whether the notion of action research by teachers was a viable option for in-service teacher development in a highly centralized education system. More specifically, this paper sought to answer whether teachers have any vision of what they can achieve with action research, whether there is scepticism on the part of teachers about the effectiveness and feasibility of action research as practice-based undertaking, and whether there are inherent structural problems that preclude teachers from undertaking such a role. Three English Language Teaching teachers were involved in this action research. The findings indicate that teachers, being capable of carrying out action research, were quite positive about action research and hopeful for overcoming some inadequacies in their educational environment, making it an asset for personal-professional development despite a highly centralized education system.

Bringing installation art to reconnaissance to share values and generate action

The English education system has recently seen something of a revival of enthusiasm for the use of research both to develop educational practices and to gather evidence about their effectiveness. These initiatives often present action research as a model of individual problem-solving, which, we argue, communicates a limited conception of action research. In this paper we propose an alternative to this ‘problem-solving’ conception of action research that acknowledges the complex, messy nature of action research through the use of arts installations. Specifically, we present the reconnaissance phase of a project which brought together a partnership comprising a water heritage museum, university staff, teachers and artists. A pedagogical adaptation of contemporary installation art theory and practice fostered the exploration of individual and collective understandings of water, and also established a shared approach to curriculum development and ownership of the project among all participants. We propose that this creative practice enhanced and changed the process of reconnaissance; it allowed the group to establish and share commitments to the value of water conservation and generated a wide range of options for our action research.

An Application of Action Research for Teacher Empowerment to Develop Teachers’ Test Construction Competency Development Models

Teacher's test construction competency was meaningful to enhance teacher professional development. The competency can be used to control teacher-made test quality and to extract the information related student achievement that was useful to advocate teachers instructional and student skills improving. The main purpose of this research was to develop test construction competency development models based on the application of the action research concept for teacher empowerment using four empowerment techniques: coaching, mentoring, critical friends and dialogue. According to the research results, competency development models consisted of four parts. The first part was the role of competency developer in teacher empowerment using four empowerment techniques: coaching, mentoring, critical friends, and dialogue. The second one involved the teacher's competency development according to the four processes of action research: planning, action, observation and reflection of four action research cycles. The first cycle involved the learning objective analysis skill development, while the other three concerned the test construction planning skill improvement, test construction ability improvement and item selection skill development, respectively. All four cycles were empowered by the developer in the first part. The activities of these two parts had the impacts on the third part, which involved the enhancement of four factors of teacher competency. These four factors were the attitude, knowledge, higher-order thinking and skill. Meanwhile, the fourth part of the models was the development outcome including the participation, knowledge sharing network and the sustainable presence of the competency.

The co-creation of regional futures: Facilitating action research in regional foresight

This article presents the interconnected phases of a regional-foresight process in an AR perspective within the context of a complex regional dynamic of actors with distinct local and regional political presences. The analysis is based on a Norwegian case of AR on regional foresight. The article reflects upon and develops the concept of action research (AR) as it relates to regional-foresight practices in connection with regional planning strategies (policies), according to Norway's new Planning and Building Act (PBA, 2008). Both AR and regional foresight are broad terms within a number of domains, and several contributions have sought to show how these are interlinked Ramos (2006). The focus is on how AR and action researchers both contribute to the co-creation of regional and sub-regional formulation of planning by regional-foresight processes, which are driven by decision-making regional bodies. This article contributes to the understanding of how an AR strategy of ‘strategic facilitation’ may improve the overall foresight capacity of all regional actors, both in concert and as single stakeholders. Also it furthers the understanding of how an AR approach may assist in transforming the foresight practices and the strategic decision-making into a more transparent process.

Cultural Color Inspiration: Learning Color Context in Cultural Reflections

The purpose of this study is to explore creative color teaching activities and their value in education. To understand the teaching method used in color science in university foundation design courses and to lead students to comprehend their own culture in application of design, the study explores solutions and strategies from the perspective of the curriculum. The study is based on the concept of action research used in a course the researcher conducted for half a semester. This study proposes to develop the color sensitivity of students, and to inspire their cultural consciousness for creative color ombination. The conclusion has three principal aspects. First, for curriculum design, the course should integrate issues to explore culture. Students could search for the mark of culture in daily life and flexibly apply their five senses to enhance their observation in color exploration and materials application. Second, for teacher tutorial, teachers should encourage hinking in every step and provide comments or direction. Teachers could implement teamwork activities to motivate the students to be inspired in their creativity. Third, for student learning, in observing culture, self-examination and group participation are essential tools in discussion. Feedback can motivate students to learn, encourage diversity in their abilities, and reach a wider field. The research suggests that chromatics foundation curriculum design should emphasize the importance of course structure and the combination of activities. Connecting the local color survey properly could raise the capability in analyzing a larger project. Moreover, self-examination transforms into the sensibility of cultural aesthetics, and develops the sense of good taste. It arouses the strength of color application, broadens range of knowledge and depth in professional development. Eventually, the learner can develop practical design talents in color acuity and observation.

How the Leader Leads Now? The Impact of Educational Leadership Course on Leadership Practices of School Heads

Despite the fact that school leadership has tremendous role in school improvement, little attention has been paid on building the capacity of head teachers in developing context especially in rural Pakistan. This study reports the impact of an educational leadership course conducted for head teachers coming from various sectors in context of rural Pakistan. Drawing on the data collected from head teachers, teachers and parents through interviews and observations, the study finds that the leadership course had a positive impact upon the practices of the studied head teachers. They arrange more frequent meetings and discussions inside schools, value teachers’ voice, try to address teachers’ academic issues and have better and greater relations with the community. Similarly, they have implemented the concept of action research to improve their practices. However, they have not been able to sustain the practice of action research and to fully engage teachers in their ongoing development. The study suggests that future in-service courses conducted for head teachers should focus more on providing them with more ideas and skills to sustain the innovations.

A Self-Study of the Teaching of Action Research in a University Context

Despite the potential benefits of action research, teaching action research in a university setting can present challenges. Analyzing my own experiences of teaching a university-based course on action research, this self-study investigates what my students (all classroom teachers) did and did not understand about action research and what hindered them from understanding action research. Data were collected over four semesters by analyzing my course materials, my teaching notes, students' work, and students' email messages. Analysis of the data produced three themes: (1) the uniqueness of teacher culture; (2) teachers' assumptions about teaching and learning; and (3) the epistemological ambiguity of action research. The article offers suggestions for how teacher educators can help teachers better understand the concept of action research and help them to design and carry out meaningful action research projects.

Conducting a Business Ethnography in Global Software Development projects of small German enterprises

Context Studying work practices in the context of Global Software Development (GSD) projects entails multiple opportunities and challenges for the researchers. Understanding and tackling these challenges requires a careful and rigor application of research methods. Objective We want to contribute to the understanding of the challenges of studying GSD by reflecting on several obstacles we had to deal with when conducting ethnographically-informed research on offshoring in German small to medium-sized enterprises. Method The material for this paper is based on reflections and field notes from two research projects: an exploratory ethnographic field study, and a study that was framed as a Business Ethnography. For the analysis, we took a Grounded Theory-oriented coding and analysis approach in order to identify issues and challenges documented in our research notes. Results We introduce the concept of Business Ethnography and discuss our experiences of adapting and implementing this action research concept for our study. We identify and discuss three primary issues: understanding complex global work practices from a local perspective, adapting to changing interests of the participants, and dealing with micro-political frictions between the cooperating sites. Conclusions We identify common interests between the researchers and the companies as a challenge and chance for studies on offshoring. Building on our experiences from the field, we argue for an active conceptualization of struggles and conflicts in the field as well as for extending the role of the ethnographer to that of a learning mediator.

Reflective development and developmental research: is there a future for action research as a research strategy in German‐speaking countries?

For about two decades only marginal relevance was attributed to action research as a research strategy by large sections of the German social science community. The growing international debate on key concepts such as community participation, community‐based participatory research and participatory action research were largely ignored. In this paper we want to clarify our concept of action research and to provide arguments for the need to re‐evaluate the research potential of this approach. We illustrate the arguments by an analysis of one of the most successful in‐service education of teachers’ courses in Austria, which is based on action research (‘Education and subject matter didactics for teachers’). The second part of the paper argues that the growing number of practical action research examples in German‐speaking countries indicates a social demand for this type of research. The paper ends with a theoretical discussion of frequent objections against action research in the German research tradition.

Managing Meat One: perceptions and anxieties of trainee teachers as they enter the Learning and Skills Sector for the first time

The notion that trainee teachers are anxious at the prospect of standing before their first class is as commonplace as it is understandable. This small-scale study, carried out with a group of aspiring Further Education (FE) lecturers on a Stage One Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme in 2007, is the first of a series of three articles which promises to inform pedagogical practice in the context of ITE in the Learning and Skills Sector (LSS). Using a multimethod approach, the study examines trainees’ confidence and anxiety levels at the start of the course, evaluates their confidence levels following a ‘crash course’ in managing challenging behaviour and analyses the biographical features which may be perceived as influential in their confidence levels. Working within the concept of action research, the study seeks to identify ways in which the programme and trainee preparedness can be improved for current and future entrants to the teaching profession to the benefit of their learners. The findings of the study, in contrast to much of the available literature, advance an initial argument for better preparation of trainees prior to teaching placement, particularly so when young female trainees are preparing to teach at Entry level.

Using action research to implement an integrated pediatric asthma case management and eHealth intervention for low-income families.

Asthma case management and education programs improve pediatric asthma outcomes, but designing rigorous randomized controlled studies that accurately measure effects while encouraging parent participation is challenging. This is especially so for low-income African American families, who face significantly more severe asthma and social stress than their middle-class counterparts. Action research can help health education researchers negotiate between the elegant and complex designs favored by scientists with the real-life challenges of recruitment, implementation, and retention. This article discusses how a multidisciplinary team uses action research concepts to continuously adjust originally proposed protocols through the planning and implementation phases to encourage participation in a year-long randomized controlled trial of a program that combines telephone asthma case management and comprehensive online asthma education. As a result of these efforts, a higher proportion of low-income African American families are recruited into the study than originally proposed.

Action research localization in China: three cases

Since the introduction of the action research into China in the 1980s, especially since the start of the twenty‐first century, Chinese education researchers have been trying to localize it in relation to the backdrop of the national curriculum reform in basic education. This article presents three cases in which educators aimed for a conscious adaptation of education action research and which have been very influential in China. They provide a snapshot of the Chinese localization of action research. In the first case, the ‘Qingpu education experiment,’ there was an emphasis on supporting practitioners' own in‐depth rational thinking. In the second example, there was a focus on cooperative educational action research involving university faculty and school teachers, with a focus on improving teachers' classroom performance. The final case, ‘New basic education,’ emphasized a conception of action research in which ‘theory comes first.’ It is argued that these and other cases where Chinese educators have adapted global models of action research to suit local circumstances are significant for China, which is currently in a period of significant school transformation and social transition.

Overcoming marginalized children learning through professional development of teachers

This paper will discuss on the attempt in improving marginalized children through professional development of teachers. Despite all efforts to overcome the difficulties of learning face by marginalized children, their performance both in the external as well as in the school-based achievement assessments showed that they lag behind in the learning of Science and Mathematics. This situation starts at the primary level and hence resulted in dropouts before they could pursue their secondary education. Based on a series of observations and consecutive school visits, the researchers were able to identify some of the difficulties faced by the teachers in the teaching of Science and Mathematics as well as in the learning of the language. Teachers tend to use similar approaches as teaching children in the urban schools, which are more directed in nature. Many of the Science and Mathematics teachers do not possess sound pedagogical skills to apply alternative approaches, which are suitable within the context and realm of the marginalized children. In overcoming the situations, teaching modules were developed to provide alternative ways of teaching science. Additionally, teachers were also introduced to the concept of action research. Preliminary results showed that not only teachers perceived that the modules were very useful and beneficial to them, their pupils were also motivated and demonstrated active involvement in the learning activities.

Didactique des langues et recherche-action

This talk examines the concept of action research, and the debates centred around it in the domain of foreign language teaching methodology. We will describe how action research is implemented, with illustrations taken from many years of experience training language teachers and accompanying teams and innovative projects in the school context. We will limit ourselves to a consideration of the French institutional setting.

Literature‐informed, one‐turn action research: three cases and a commentary

Although action research is a common feature of courses of initial teacher training, the evidence as to its efficacy, in encouraging reflection among trainees, is mixed. This article discusses cases of action research assignments carried out by three trainees into their own practice in relation to (a) behaviour management, (b) monitoring and assessing, and (c) pupil‐centred education. The assignments are analysed using Bloom et al's. (1964) typology of thinking skills, Handal & Lauvas's (1987) model of reflective practice, and typologies of action research by Noffke (1997) and Rearick and Feldman (1999). They are positioned as cases of ‘literature‐informed, one‐turn’ action research; a concept which is discussed in relation to other concepts of action research.

Toward a Science of Transdisciplinary Action Research

This paper offers a conceptual framework for establishing a science of transdisciplinary action research. Lewin's (1951) concept of action research highlights the scientific and societal value of translating psychological research into community problem-solving strategies. Implicit in Lewin's formulation is the importance of achieving effective collaboration among behavioral researchers, community members and policy makers. The present analysis builds on Lewin's analysis by outlining programmatic directions for the scientific study of transdisciplinary research and community action. Three types of collaboration, and the contextual circumstances that facilitate or hinder them, are examined: (1) collaboration among scholars representing different disciplines; (2) collaboration among researchers from multiple fields and community practitioners representing diverse professional and lay perspectives; and (3) collaboration among community organizations across local, state, national, and international levels. In the present analysis, transdisciplinary action research is viewed as a topic of scientific study in its own right to achieve a more complete understanding of prior collaborations and to identify strategies for refining and sustaining future collaborations (and their intended outcomes) among researchers, community members and organizations.

A Critically constructed concept of action research as a tool for the professional development of teachers

A Critically constructed concept of action research as a tool for the professional development of teachers

A Critically constructed concept of action research as a tool for the professional development of teachers

The question what contribution action research can make to the professional development of teachers is not easy to answer. It depends firstly on the context in which action research takes shape and secondly on the conceptual principles on which educators and teachers base their view of what good action research is. In order to be able to use action research in different situations, it can be said that teacher educators and teachers need a critically constructed concept that is based on coherent principles. This article attempts to construct such a concept based on the many and varied debates there have been on action research. The concept is described with the aid of five themes derived from Carr & Kemmis's much cited definition. The themes are: (1) reflection and research, (2) understanding and improvement, (3) technical, practical and emancipatory indicators for improvement, (4) classroom practice and practice at school level, and (5) individual and joint action. The article concludes with the observation that it is not so much a matter of whether teacher educators and teachers can use action research in different circumstances but how they do it. The concept in this article could therefore serve as a frame of reference and not a hard-and-fast recipe.