By Flor de María Vila
In the process of trying to diversify my
lessons, I found myself trying different formulae to teach. Even though many
changes went quite well, I felt that something was missing. I mean, sometimes I
felt that what worked very well with a group didn´t turn out equally satisfactory
with another. Then a new journey began
and after many trials I came to the conclusion that if we pursue a real
transformation, we need to go deeper to find the real reason why something
works or why it does not. In order to do
that we need to start one of the most amazing trips: research.
Can any teacher do research in his classes?
Absolutely!
In fact, we may say that it should be considered as part of any teacher´s
development.
Is it difficult to do?
I
wouldn´t say it is the easiest exercise, because nothing worthwhile ever is.
However, I can promise it is manageable.
In
the following lines, I will share some secrets to begin. After that, you will
need to ponder what you have done and what you will eventually do.
#1. Select a minor hindrance in your lessons or anything that prevents
you from feeling absolutely satisfied with your classes.
It
is more probable that you will be motivated to get under way if what you are planning
to do is likely to help you with your lessons and not that just become another
“load.” We teachers are already pretty busy, aren´t we? But it is really important
to begin, no matter how. So, on the first day, select that issue that bugs you
or something you feel could be improved.
#2. Make a diagnose of the current situation. You cannot “cure the
illness” unless you identify the symptoms, can you?
It´s
necessary to try to pinpoint what the problem is, why a lesson went wrong or
why it didn´t work with a certain group of students.
Make
a list of the activities you organized and recollect the objective you had for
each one. Were they achieved? Why or why not? Share this situation and ask your
colleagues what they think or if they have ever been in a similar situation.
Next time you carry out a similar exercise, for instance, a listening
practice, record yourself using your mobile phone. You can either only tape your
voice or have a video made. Sometimes, we do not become aware of the problem
until we listen to or watch ourselves in action.
You
can even ask your students why they have difficulty with a certain exercise,
for example. They may give you important information.
Last
but not least, surf the web and type for instance “problems with listening
skills.” You will find thousands of articles that could give you a better idea
of what could be happening.
It
is crucial to gather information from different sources before attempting
another way of teaching. You may also like to read this article: https://languageteachingblogger.blogspot.com/2018/07/listening-skill-difficult-to-teach.html
#3. Do not panic! Now you have a lot of
information, so you are ready to prepare a plan of action.
Believe
it or not, this is manageable. You can start with the simplest plan you can
think up. I would suggest connecting one of the ideas your students gave you,
one of the teaching experiences your partners shared with you and one of the
solutions described by the authors you read.
Prepare
a simple plan which should have the following characteristics: Activity, its
objective, and a sample of evidence that will show that your venture is
working. Make sure this evidence is visible so that you can monitor and keep a
record.
#4. Evaluate and plan again.
Assessing
yourself is not that difficult if you have a clear objective. It is simple: If
the goal was achieved, then your plan worked well. If it wasn’t, you need to
reflect and plan considering another solution. Go back to #3 or #2 if you feel
you need to gather more information to propose something new.
From my experience, I could say that the
hardest thing is to commence. When I began, I felt I didn´t need more work (probably
you don´t either). Nevertheless, when I realized that my job started to flow
and that my students could improve their skills faster, I just let myself be
carried away by each issue I needed to fix or improve.
So today begin with the easiest step: #1
Do not try to do more today, or you will be feel overloaded.
Tomorrow, you can hack # 2 and then go on from there.
Feel free to share your experience or ideas.
References:
Action Research for Language teachers by Michael J
Wallace
https://es.scribd.com/doc/172811222/139627763-Action-Research-for-Language-Teacher-Michael-j-Wallace
Action Research in Language Learning by Mohammad Ali
Nasrollahia, Pamela Krish , Noorizah MohdNoorc
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
M.A. in Cognition, Learning and Development from PUCP, B.A. in Education with a major in English Teaching. Ms. Vila is currently Teacher trainer, Pedagogic Consultant and Member of the Research Team at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico. She is Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign applications advisory) and relationship manager for American universities´ MBA admissions officers with International Contacts. She is official Examiner for several University of Cambridge tests, freelance consultant with Universidad ESAN, experienced speaker on diverse English teaching issues for prestigious institutions, and senior international examinations trainer (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS).
