An In-Depth Look to Rethink and Change our Teaching Practice

 

 Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for Practitioners by Anne Burns (2010) is a practical resource compiling an analysis of the different steps for conducting Action Research (AR). Teachers who are unfamiliar with research projects may find tips and pieces of advice in this study to be implemented into their research work when meeting challenging classroom situations in their teaching contexts. This book is targeted at practitioners covering many issues related to AR, however, some expert readers might find a few weak points concerning language and organization of the contents. This critique aims to analyse the instances in which the author has provided readers with both valuable and redundant information.

As regards organization, this easy-to-read book is divided into five chapters, each one explores the broad phases in an AR project cycle, engaging teachers to think and reflect upon their practices. The first chapter clearly defines the action research concept by giving multiple real-life examples to show how teachers may use research to improve challenging classroom circumstances. In addition, it occasionally draws contrasts between varied teaching settings. Chapter two describes how to identify and narrow a problem and highlights areas to examine, such as planning, observing, and reflecting. The author provides suggestions for inexperienced practitioners about asking questions to narrow down the research problem and exemplifies each step through some colleagues’ experiences. She also emphasizes the importance that AR should be conducted under ethical standards since teachers simultaneously play dual roles of educators and researchers.

Chapter three introduces how to gather data using observation and non-observation methods as well as how to design resources as sources of information that may be adapted to the researcher’s needs. The tables included in this chapter are friendly enough to make relevant ideas easily acknowledged, which also make readers familiar with the suggested terminology of the topic. Especially noteworthy is the “Classroom voices section” (Burns, 2010) because it narrates valuable experiences that help practitioners visualize how to apply strategies to collect information in real life classrooms. Practitioners might benefit from such a section. Analyzing, systematizing data and making sense of gathered data is not an easy process if  the project does not have a purpose, information about these issues is thoroughly developed in chapter four. Finally, chapter five offers some tips to demonstrate the analysis trustworthiness to ensure its validity.

Although this AR study is quite recommendable, it may present some weaknesses. First, the overuse of informal language may be inappropriate for an academic study. Second, the organization of the sections in every chapter is not labelled with letters or numbers, which does not prove to be a complete guide to continuing reading long chapters. This issue could have been easily solved by including a table of contents with the main sections to give a detail of the topics developed. Third, all topics should have been developed directly without redundant examples of experiences since at times it may turn rather monotonous. An additional weak point might be the data analysis in chapter four, especially the explanation of measurements in descriptive statistics which might be rather complex to grasp.

 To conclude, in this useful book Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for Practitioners, the author guides and fosters newcomers to the educational research field to design and apply AR as a path to creativity in their teaching context. Despite the book reflecting some of the weak points previously developed, it could be highly recommendable for practitioners with interest in developing researchers’ skills to rethink and promote changes in their teaching practice; however, it would be suggested that teachers interested in the subject matter might read it critically.

  

Reference

Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. Taylor & Francis.