A handbook for Exploratory Action Research

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Task 7.3 @
A number of stories that you have read in this book 
describe how students were the source of suggestions
for classroom activities. Teresa (Chapter Four) was one 
teacher who got some interesting ideas from students – 
what did they tell her? 
Implementing your own ideas
One of the advantages of action research is that it provides 
an opportunity for you to develop your own creativity 
through the process of trying out new ideas, or adapting 
established ones in your own classroom. By doing this 
within an action research framework, you can observe the 
impact of your creativity and collect useful data on how 
effective the ideas are. We met a good example of this in 
Chapter One, when we read about Paula’s secondary 
school students who had difficulty remembering countries 
and nationalities. Drawing on her experience, creativity and 
knowledge of her learners, she came up with an idea for 
creating a domino game that turned out to be an effective 
solution to the challenge she faced. Learners both enjoyed 
the game and learnt the vocabulary. Thus, in this instance, 
Paula’s creativity as a teacher turned out to be the primary 
source of her intervention.
Daniela (see 6.1) is an example of a teacher who found out 
what students wanted but implemented actions which she 
devised herself. After analysing her quantitative and 
qualitative data, she
A.  built a better atmosphere to help relax her learners, 
including allowing them to change seats, having 
interviews with students and parents, getting help from 
the school psychologist and having class discussions.
B. implemented some different classroom activities to 
encourage speaking, including pair and group work, 
using nomination sticks,
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more formative assessment, 
and asking questions to check understanding.
Task 7.4 @
Go back to Tasks 6.1 and 6.2 in Chapter Six and re-read Daniela’s findings. Which findings mainly helped her decide
to do actions (a) and (b)? Check your answers in the answer key.