Action Research: Not So Scary!!

We just completed our action research projects for our fieldwork ESL class. I have a little confession to make...I have actually fallen in love with the concept of action research. When I first started this class, I was a little intimidating at the notion of observing my own class and scrutinizing my own teaching for anything more formal than my own random thoughts. However, now I think the format and concept of action research as we used it were very easy to follow and so helpful. In the past, my experience with self-evaluation was often contained to our formal evaluations by administrators. In the teacher evaluation process the self-evaluations are often very broad. Action research is a great way for us to get more focused and look at questions that are relevant to our individual learning environments and students.

For my project I looked at the idea that ESL preschoolers are developing BICS and CALP, interpersonal and academic language, simultaneously. Because my classroom is not a contained ESL environment, I had to look at how I could present the material to both ESL and non-ESL students. One way I found was to supplement my typical teaching practice with more ESL specific strategies. For example, when doing our morning meeting, several of my ESL students have a hard time focusing. For those not in the early elementary world, a morning meeting (sometimes called circle time) is just the time when the whole class comes together for instruction. Because of the age and attention span of little ones, this meeting time is usually minimal and the rest of the learning occurs in smaller group settings. The action research has prompted me to start presenting some of the morning meeting material a second time in a smaller, more intimate setting with my ESL students. I really think this provides less distraction and allows students to shine who usually let the more gregarious and confident students lead the class discussions.

As a result of this research, I'm also playing around with my instructional groups. Most of the time I group based on academic level, but I'm making a conscious effort to group based on communication skills and language levels. I think this is especially important in the first semester of the Pre-K year because so much of the academic growth actually occurs in the second semester of the year. We, of course, are teaching it all along, but the students really bloom after the Winter holiday. If I can strengthen language skills and the confidence of my students now, they will be more ready to learn and absorb the material in the second semester. 

My advice to other ESL professionals is to not be afraid to scrutinize your own teaching and learning environment. What works with one group won't always work with the next bunch, so constantly monitoring the environment is key for student success. If something is not working, don't be afraid to stop midstream. It's better to move forward and try new things than to continue doing something you know for sure is not working! :-)