Action Research for the American College of Education's Doctor of Curriculum and Instruction Program

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Welcome all to my first blog post!

Introduction

Embarking on the long journey of publishing a dissertation concerning Big Five personality traits, thus attaining the title of doctor of education, the first step in the process is understanding how to conduct research on a smaller scale, lending insight regarding the management of a larger/more rigorous study.

The following post will outline the action research undertaken to help acquaint our cohort with the research process, detailing my findings in particular. In order to outline the action research, the post will be broken up into multiple sections, including the Problem, Purpose, Questions, Methodology, Data Analysis, Conclusion, and Recommendations for Action.

Research Problem

The problem for the action research was that Lorain Bilingual Academy (LBA) teacher perceptions relating to strategies for teaching diverse student learners was unknown. It was through the identification of the research problem, that the research purpose and questions were able to be developed, helping to build the foundation for the research.

Research Purpose

The purpose of the research was "To identify LBA teacher perceptions surrounding evidence-based teaching strategies concerning diverse learners." (Phillips, 2022b, 0:05). Understanding LBA teacher perceptions would thus allow recommendations to be made concerning professional development opportunities at the school based on teacher misconceptions conflicting with the academic literature.

Research Questions

The development of the research questions for the action research project were broken up into two categories, including quantitative and qualitative research questions. The questions, once developed, would help lend more specific insight into what should be investigated, thus lending further insight into the research problem.

Quantitative

The quantitative research questions would be assessed via a Likert scale survey, and include "What are LBA teacher perceptions concerning educational games?", "What are LBA teacher perceptions concerning educational games?", "What are LBA teacher perceptions concerning educational simulations?", "What are LBA teacher perceptions concerning educational documentaries?", and "What are LBA teacher perceptions concerning educational songs?" (Phillips, 2022b).

Qualitative

The qualitative research questions would be assessed via open-ended interview questions, and include "How important is engaging multiple senses?", "What are LBA teacher views on educational games?", "Which of the five multimodal strategies assessed via the Likert scale is likely to be most effective in teaching diverse learners?", "What resources and techniques are used to enhance appreciation of diversity and similarities among cultures?", "What resources and techniques are used to cultivate empathy and cooperative behavior?", "What resources and techniques are used to promote respect for other cultures and values?", "What resources and techniques are used to resolve conflict through dialogue?", "What resources and techniques are being used to foster student knowledge?", "What resources and techniques are being used to evaluate student ability to work toward common objectives?" (Phillips, 2022b, 1:00-2:13).

Methodology

As with the development of research questions, methodology was also broken into two portions, including those steps undertaken to evaluate the quantitative research questions, and those undertaken to evaluate the qualitative research questions.

Quantitative

To evaluate the quantitative research questions, a Likert scale survey was administered following a literature review. The teachers who took the survey were selected for via a convenience sample of those highest in grade level in the K-8 school, excluding myself, the researcher, in grade six. Before their participation, informed consent was gathered, to which an email containing the questions was sent over, leaving them two days to complete them. The Likert scale boasted a range of 1-5, with 1 being strongly disagree, 2 being disagree, 3 being neutral, 4 being agree, and 5 being strongly agree. The Likert inventory assessed a total of six questions for each teacher, with any personally identifiable information being kept confidential.

Qualitative

To evaluate the qualitative research questions, three open-ended response questions were administered along with the Likert scale survey. Additionally, one of the three teachers was interviewed to collect more data concerning perception. In order to cultivate the least bias possible, teachers were not interrupted in their responses, with the three open-ended questions accompanying the Likert scale survey being done entirely over email, as opposed to in-person.

Data Analysis

Data was assessed differently based on which type of data was collected, either quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative

The quantitative data from the Likert scale survey was analyzed by averaging each score for each question, and then rounding to the nearest score distinction. For example, the second inventory statement "Games are helpful for teaching diverse learners and should be used often.", boasted a score of 3.667, which rounded to the nearest distinction of agree (Phillips, 2022a, p. 10). The distinction means that teachers at LBA, on average, agree that games are helpful for teaching diverse learners and should be used often. Below is a chart highlighting all of the data:

(Phillips, 2022a, p. 10-11).

Qualitative

The qualitative data gathered from the open-ended responses attached with the Likert survey, as well as those collected in the in-person interview, were assessed by summarizing relevant parts concerning perception. For example, the common belief among LBA teachers concerning multimodal instruction is that it should be used whenever possible (Phillips, 2022b).

Extrapolations from the qualitative data, include that "Engaging multiple senses is important.", "Educational games teach facts, not concepts.", "Educational simulations are highly valued by teachers.", "Students need a chance to explore their own interests.", "Assessments need to gauge understanding.", "Assessments depend on where one teaches.", "Project-based learning is vital.", "Students cannot be forced to learn.", teachers must "Establish rule/expectations and continually enforce them.", there must be a "Zero-tolerance policy for hate.", "Differences of cultures should be announced and explained.", and that concerning classroom management one must "Reserve aggression, and remain calm to preserve student-teacher relationships." (Phillips, 2022b, 3:20-4:10).

Conclusion

Following the data analysis, it can be concluded that LBA teachers are likely to benefit from evidence-based professional development opportunities concerning the implementation of three individual teaching strategies, including educational documentaries, audiobooks, and songs. Since some of the teacher perceptions, directly conflict with the academic literature, professional development may be of benefit to some LBA teachers. It is important to note, however, that the sample size was small and may not truly reflect the average teacher perception at LBA, and that perceptions may have occurred as a result of what works specifically at LBA, as opposed to elsewhere.

Recommendations for Action

The recommendations for action are based on teacher perceptions that conflict with best practices as identified by the academic literature. The first recommendation is that documentaries should be encouraged for teachers to show their classes, since they help summarize content, take content out of the abstract, help English Language Learners (ELLs) with language acquisition and cultural knowledge, and provide a novel educational experience outside of traditional instructional strategies (Wijewantha, 2021). The second recommendation is that audiobooks should be encouraged for teachers to use in class, since they help pair text to speech for ELL students, resulting in increased language acquisition (Marchetti & Valente, 2018; see also Singh & Alexander, 2022). The final recommendation for action is that educational songs should be encouraged, since they benefit diverse learners by targeting multiple modalities and making information easier to recall through rhyming and patterns, thus helping students become more engaged, perform better on examinations, improve vocabulary, and enhance cultural understanding (Crowther, 2012; see also, Garcia & Juan, 2015). Overall, most LBA teacher perceptions are aligned with best practices, so as long as professional development is conducted to provide LBA teachers with ways to more effectively implement certain instructional strategies, then their lesson planning should improvement, and as a result, student performance.

References

Crowther, G. (2012). Using science songs to enhance learning: An interdisciplinary approach. CBE--Life Sciences Education, 11(1), 26-30.

Garcia Conesa, I. M., & Juan Rubio, A. D. (2015). The use of rhymes and songs in the teaching of English in primary education. Docencia e Investigacion.

Marchetti, E., & Valente, A. (2018). Interactivity and multimodality in language learning: The untapped potential of audiobooks. Universal Access in the Information Society, 17(2), 257-274.

Phillips, I. (2022). Action research: Analyzing data, presenting results, and planning design. American College of Education.

Phillips, I. (2022). Action research project presentation: CI6103 assignment/discussion 9.

American College of Education. https://animoto.com/play/8g0Ydq8Rgxwn3GdOnq5YZw

Singh, A., & Alexander, P. A. (2022). Audiobooks, print, and comprehension: What we know and what we need to know. Educational Psychology Review, 1-39.

Wijewantha, N. W. S. C. (2021). Documentaries as multimodal texts to promote reading in the virtual language classroom: An experimental study. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 6(3), 633-642.