Dialectical Responses

Dialectical Responses to

“Discovering Action Research: The Evolution of My Research Question,”

by Barbara Bell Angus

Directions:  Review the excerpts that Dr. Carolyn culled out of the Bell Angus article about the way that one teacher researcher approached the study process. In the right hand column, select eight (8) of these excerpts, and respond to them, using the following prompt to guide you.

How might Bell Angus’ process toward understanding her students and her research

inform your own upcoming research study?

‘Graph #	Excerpt	1-2 sentences how this statement might inform your own future research (with a total of 8 excerpts selected)
1	“… hope this article will provide encouragement to other first time action researchers as they wrestle with their initial projects.”	This quote indirectly suggests that research, especially teacher research, is difficult and is full of trial and error. The word, “wrestle” sends this message home.
2	Powers (2000): “ ‘the richness in practitioner research evolves from the dissonance or discrepancy when what occurs is different than what was expected.’”	Discrepancy between what should occur and what actually occurs is where the research question lies. Looking for those tensions will provide “richness” and guide the research.
3	“It is the development of my research question and the resolution of the frustration and cognitive dissonance that this process caused that I would like to describe.”
4	“In order to accomplish these goals, I realized that I would need to put a greater emphasis on discourse in the classroom.”
5	“My observations in the classroom were not detailed and accurate enough to provide me with sufficient data to pose a question at the appropriate level.”	This quote informs the reader that taking general observations is enough for teacher research. Instead observations need to explore possible tensions and provide detailed insight so the researcher can begin to form a research question.
7	“To determine if the students were focused on the same learning objective as I was, I used our ‘stop action’ techniques whereby the students are stopped in their work and asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their interpretation of the task and their learning.”	Formative assessments are a great tool for reflecting on one’s teaching and the class understanding.
12	“..they did not include the oral language skills on which I thought they were working when I stopped the action.”	This passage shows discrepancy between what the teacher thought was going to happen and what actually happened. In this moment the teacher can begin to see that a misunderstanding occurred and can begin to problem solve.
15	“Again no one mentioned any of the conversation skills on which I had been focusing for the previous six weeks. Not only had they not made my goals their own, they had not even recognized my goals.”
16	“..Although I was frustrated at first, it was, as Cazden had predicted, the beginning of more interesting and productive work. So I abandoned the idea…”
17	“I involved the students in designing and evaluating their own assignment. Discourse was no longer the means; it was now the end. Now my question became more basic. If I involve my students in designing the task and evaluating themselves, can I get them to focus on their discourse and to improve it?”	Simplifying a research question is necessary, trying to answer to many questions at once can become overwhelming.
19	“Why did the students in this situation, without any instruction, discern my goals? I think it was because they were also their goals.”	Combining student goals and researcher goals can create stronger student by-in and participation; and therefore increases research producitivity.
21	“In viewing the videotapes, I had the opportunity for closer analysis and it seemed to me, not only on that occasion but on others as well, that the students were responding to the social hierarchy, focusing on the status and power relationships established in the hall and on the street, rather than on the meaning of the discourse.”
22	“Again I was confronted with an outcome that I had not expected. On the one hand, I found the dissonance frustrating and confusing because I was attempting to create a neat package that I could write up, as my colleagues seemed to be doing, where they stated their question and then proceeded seemingly in a straight line to investigate it.”
24	“…the discrepancy between what I expected and what occurred forced me to look more closely for answers. Therefore, I scrutinized the videotapes in more detail and discovered critical aspects of student interaction. I believe my observation concerning the influence and power of students' social relationships outside of class will fundamentally change my understanding of and approach to classroom interaction.”
26	“…But it was only through careful scrutiny of videotaped recordings and subsequent reflection that I was able to make these observations and, consequently, to change my approach to teaching my high needs students.”	Determining the final research question and root of the tension occuring in the classroom takes constant reflection, observation,and evaluation. The process is no-stop and ever evolving.
27	“With respect to defining my research question, I have learned that my question must arise more closely from actual classroom incidents.”