This document outlines the key aspects of action research in education. It defines action research as a systematic process conducted by teachers to gather information and improve their educational setting, teaching practices, and student learning. The document then discusses several distinguishing features of action research, including that it is participatory, contextual, aims to enact change, and involves a cyclical process of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Finally, the document provides an overview of common action research procedures and methods, such as identifying a problem, collecting and analyzing various forms of qualitative and quantitative data, and triangulating findings.

1. Action Research in ELT

2. Continuum of Research Methods
Action
Research
Questionnaire
Survey
Research
Interviews
ELT RESEARCH
Verbal reports
METHODS
Introspective
Research
Diary Studies
Case Studies
Qualitative
Research
Ethnographies

3. ACTION RESEARCH
• Action Research can be defined as a combination of the terms ―action‖
and ―research.‖ Action research puts ideas into practice for the
purpose of self-improvement and increasing knowledge about
curriculum, teaching, and learning. The ultimate result is improvement
in what happens in the classroom and school (Kemmis & McTaggert,
1982).
• Action research is a systematic procedure done by teachers (or other
individuals in an educational setting) to gather information about, and
subsequently improve, the ways their particular educational setting
operates, their teaching, and their student learning (Mills, 2011 ).
• Action research is a systematic approach to investigation that enables
people to find effective solutions to problems they confront in their
everyday lives. It does not look for generalization but focuses on
specific situations and localized solutions

4. Reasons Why Action Research is a Research
 An AR addresses questions of
interest to other practitioners;
 An AR generates data;
 An AR contains analysis and
interpretation.

5. What Differentiated Action
Research from other Researches
– it is carried out by the practitioner (classroom
teachers);
– it can be collaborative or individual;
– it is situational (identification and solution of
problems in a specific context);
– it can be aimed at changing things (improving the
current state of affairs).
(Nunan, “Research Methods in Language Learning”
(1992:17))

6. ACTION RESEARCH FEATURES
• AR involves action in that it seeks to bring about
change, specifically in local educational
contexts.
• AR is a research because it entails the
collection and analysis of data.
• AR is participatory and collaborative as it
provides for collaborative investigation by teams
of colleagues, practitioners and researchers.
• AR is contextual, small-scale and localized—it
identifies and investigates problems within a
specific situation.

7. Action Research Process
Question

8. Action Research Process

9. Action Research Procedures
• Stage 1: Researchers identify, evaluate, and formulate a
problem that is viewed as critical to their everyday teaching.
This problem need not be restricted to a particular class but
could involve a system change such as curriculum innovations
in a school system.
• Stage 2: Researchers consult with other interested parties—
teachers, other researchers, and administrators—in order to
focus the problem more clearly and perhaps suggest the cause
of the problem. This stage is crucial because it involves the
clarification of the objectives and assumptions of the study.
• Stage 3: Researchers review research literature to find out
what can be learned from comparable studies.
• Stage 4: Based on their reading, researchers may modify or
redefine the initial statement of the problem, which may take
the form of a set of objectives or a testable hypothesis. They
also explicitly state the assumptions underlying the project.

10. Action Research Procedures (cont.)
• Stage 5: Researchers specify the research design
including the participants, choice of
materials, and procedures.
• Stage 6: Researchers clarify how the project will
be evaluated with an understanding that this
evaluation will be continuous.
• Stage 7: Researchers implement the project
undertaking the data collection process.
• Stage 8: Researchers analyze the data, draw
inferences, and evaluate the project.

11. Data Collecting Methods
Systematic
Observation (With Observation Guide)
Non-systematic
Interview
Question-
naire
DATA Learner-diary
COLLECTION Documents
Teacher-diary
Written
Test Oral
Practice/Role-playing

12. Data Triangulation in AR
RESEARCHERS TRIANGGULATION
• Assigning some researchers to collect similar data so that the
obtained data is “saturated” or constants
TIME TRIANGGULATION
• Similar data are collected in different times along the research
period.
SPACE TRIANGGULATION
• Collecting similar data from some different places.
THEORETICAL TRIANGGULATION
Comparing the obtained data to some different but interrelated
theories (holistic approach)

13. As a process research which is naturalistic and
transformative (aims to make changes) the situation
of an AR continuously changes. To keep its
reliability, the researcher needs to:
1) Attach original data (e.g. interview transcript
and field notes
2) menggunakan lebih dari satu sumber data untuk
mendapatkan data yang sama
3) berkolaborasi dengan sejawat atau orang lain
yang terkait.

14. AR Proposal Outline
I. Introduction
A.Background
B. Problem Statement
C. Research Objectives
D. Research Significances
II. Review of Related Theories
A. Literature Review
B. Conceptual Framework
C. Hypothesis (optional)

15. AR Proposal Outline (cont.)
III. Research Methodology
A. Research Method: Action Research
B. Research Setting and Subjects Features
C. Research Variables
D. Action Plan (e.g. Lesson Plan)
E. Data Types and Sources
F. Data Collection technique
G. Data Analysis technique
H. Data Triangulation
I. Research Procedure
J. Bibliography

16. References
McKay, S. L. (2006). Researching second language classrooms. New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
Burns. A. (2010). Doing action research in english language teaching: A
guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge:
Creswell, J. W. 2008. Educational research: Planning, conducting, and
evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. New Jersey:
Pearson
Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide for small-scale social
research projects. New York: McGraw-Hill
Ross, Kenneth N. (ed.). (2005). Educational research: Some basic
concepts and terminology. Paris: International Institute for
Educational Planning/ UNESCO.