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Collaboration, action-research, and technology in the TEFL classroom

  • 英語文化コミュニケーション学科

Marnie Mayse 専任講師

TESOL, English language education, and technology in education

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In my latest research project, an action-research project, my partner and I decided to focus on classroom management, and we chose two actions.
The first was Class Jobs where students were assigned jobs at the beginning of each semester. These jobs were meant to help the classes run smoothly and to foster communication between students and with the teachers. The second was Talk Time in which the first ten minutes of class, while the teacher is setting up the classroom, students talked about a topic in small groups. Topics were chosen by a student as one of the class jobs.

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My current research began with a focus on teacher collaboration, and was conducted with my former colleague. In order to understand the process of planning and teaching two shared courses, we attempted to build a workable framework for teacher collaboration. Throughout the planning and implementation phases of the courses, we tracked our thought-processes, decisions, and concerns. We maintained separate research journals and a collaborative journal with focused questions. The collaborative journal consisted of questions about our lesson plans, successes/failures, concerns, and questions. We updated our journal entries on a weekly basis in order to cultivate communication about our lessons, and at the end of each semester, we analyzed and reflected on our journal entries. Towards the end of the school year, we looked back over our data and reflected about what we had gained from our collaborative journal-keeping. We opted to discuss several ways that we had been affected by the mere acts of journal-keeping and actively collaborating on our shared classes. Taking the time to verbally reflect on the journal itself and our perspectives was a worthwhile experience because it helped us begin to plan the second stage of our project, which was the data analysis. By studying the process of teacher collaboration, we hoped to shed light on some areas of collaboration that teachers find challenging as well as successful.

During the data analysis phase of our research, two central themes appeared: namely, class management and student accountability. My colleague and I then decided to establish an action research plan that would help to foster more teacher-to-student communication, communication between students, time management in the classroom, student accountability and student initiative.

The action-research cycle

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What is happening in my classroom that I am concerned about?
I was mainly concerned with classroom management, collaboration and efficiency. I want to make sure I can receive students’ assignments on time and then give them feedback in a timely manner and in a way that will benefit them on subsequent projects. I worry about whether they can take my feedback, understand it, and incorporate into future projects. I want them to do more reflection so they can think about their study skills, study habits, writing process and output. Not just with writing but with anything – discussions, critical thinking, speeches and presentations, etc.

高校生や学生へのメッセージ
School is a place to learn, laugh and grow. Even though these might be difficult times, we can also turn it into an opportunity to learn new ways of doing things and of supporting each other. Do not be afraid to make mistakes because this is how we all learn, and make sure to communicate with others when you need to. As a teacher, I want my students to let me know when they need something. All of us need help at some point, and this is a perfect time to lend a helping hand.
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