1. Running head: ANALYZING DATA AND COMMUNICATING FINDINGS 1
Analyzing Data and Communicating Findings
Stephanie Herrera
American College of Education

2. ANALYZING DATA AND COMMUNICATING FINDINGS 2
Part 1: Research Report: Polishing Your Draft
ResearchPurpose:
As an educator it is vital to pay attention to the students one has and observe what they excel at
and what they struggle with so that the teacher can provide the appropriate way to address the
learning or behavioral need in order to make them better students. In order to attempt to improve
instruction for the benefit of the students, action research can be performed. According to Slavin
(2006), action research is a less formal model than other types of research and it requires
teaching and building administrators to conduct research for one specific main purpose that is “to
improve teaching and learning” (as cited in Ross-Fisher, 2008, p. 160). In my Spanish level III
class, the students are great students that have received A’s or B’s in Spanish level II last year.
This year, they seem to understand the content, however, when it comes to the unit tests, the
students do not score as high as they used to. Their unit test scores tend to be in the C, D, or
even F range which is lowering their average overall; this is not normally something I see in my
Spanish level I or II even though the content tends to be challenging for those levels. Based on
the concern for Spanish III students’ grades lowering because of their unit tests grades compared
to what they are capable of doing based on their success from last year’s Spanish II class, the
following research questions were created: 1.) Will practice with relevant information on the
students’ lives, so that interest in the content increases, improve my Spanish III students’
performance on their unit tests?; and 2.) Can review on content, that was previously learned over
a period of time, eliminate many errors found in the Spanish III unit tests and motivate students
to continue to improve?
Problem Statement and Description of Setting:

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I am concerned that the students’ unit grades are so low in my Spanish III class and that it
lowers their overall grade and performance in my class by about 10 points. Therefore, it prompts
my question: Why do high school students in Spanish III score poorly on unit tests compared to
their exceptional Spanish II scores last year? The Spanish III unit tests consist of the content that
is practiced and reinforced over and over again during each class period. Based on the data, as
shown below, the 12 students in my Spanish III class are students who did extremely well in
Spanish II last year. However, the same students in the class do not perform as well in Spanish
III no matter how much the content is stressed and practiced in class.
Spanish II vs. Spanish III Table
Students Spanish II average on unit
tests (2014-2015)
Spanish III average on unit
tests (2015-2016)
Student 1 88 75
Student 2 90 88
Student 3 97 89
Student 4 86 70
Student 5 86 77
Student 6 93 85
Student 7 96 83
Student 8 97 91

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Student 9 95 88
Student 10 100 93
Student 11 86 79
Student 12 83 65
Literature Review:
The research by Lam, Cheng, and Ma (2009), is based on capturing students’ attention
through learning that can become meaningful to them. A strategy that is used to make learning
meaningful for the students is through project-based learning. In order to improve students’
skills while making the content meaningful, “teachers are encouraged to use more student-
centered approaches in teaching” (p. 566). Project-based learning is an approach that is
extremely stressed in order to reach these goals. With this method, “students in a small group
collaborate with one another to reach a collective outcome over a period of time” (p. 566). This
is a praised approach that many believe in to be a “powerful teaching strategy that can enhance
student motivation” (p. 566). However, it is said that this challenging process requires intrinsic
motivation in order to complete it well since students must play an active role by collaborating in
the whole learning process. I can use project-based learning with the content I need to review
from the past levels of Spanish, over a period of time, in order for my students to find meaning
within the material they must know so that the simple errors that were made in the past, due to
not remembering past knowledge, can decrease and therefore help them learn the language better

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and make them stronger students. By increasing motivation in learning the content through
project-based learning, it will also affect unit test grades.
In the article by Ford and Roby (2013), the topic of motivation in teenagers is stressed
and looked into while trying to answer the question regarding what motivates students to achieve
academically. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are defined and it is explained that teenagers are
usually motivated by both at the same time. There needs to be a personal desire to want to learn
as well as a desired outcome or result. In order for teenage students to learn, a number of factors
play significant roles on whether or not a student will want to stay motivated in the content they
are expected to learn such as self-determination, ability beliefs, self-efficacy, effort beliefs, and
value placed on the task. These factors will be positive with the teacher’s lead in exercising
these factors in the classroom through a positive attitude and instructing. It is obvious that
“motivating high school students is not an easy task, but it is definitely rewarding when teachers
successfully engage their students in the right way” (p. 106). The teacher must hold his or head
up even when the content can be challenging, simply for the sake of the students’ belief in the
curriculum being attainable. Ford and Roby (2013) conclude by stating, “research has shown
that a great deal of motivation comes from good everyday teaching practices. It also goes back
to the three R’s: Relevance, Relationship, and Rigor to motivate students” (p. 111). If I can keep
positive motivation and thoughts in mind, it will help in creating relevant lessons that can
connect to their lives while making sure it correlates with the desired outcome in the unit tests.
According to research by Royer (1996), it is mentioned that “authentic learning requires
authentic teaching, and that the assessment of authentic learning must meet three criteria:
disciplined inquiry, integration of knowledge, and value beyond evaluation” (p. 174). There is a
great deal of authenticity put into teaching a language that will best serve students when it is

6. ANALYZING DATA AND COMMUNICATING FINDINGS 6
done this way. The components of growth and process are built into the assessments mentioned
and students prove to love learning a language this way. The students, whom are learning
French, in this reading are extremely eager and willing to perform in the summative assessment
because of the relevance it has to their lives and the authenticity. Through the summative
assessments, in which students perform orally in front of their peers and through original writing,
the students were motivated to learn, improve their knowledge content, and confidently perform
their summative assessments in front of the class. The assessment process ends with the students
knowing “exactly the level of proficiency they had attained and why, they had set a goal level of
proficiency for next semester, and they had detailed a plan of action to reach that goal” (p. 176).
A desire to learn was attained through such authenticity and great leadership in doing so. If real-
life situations are brought to my unit tests and are practiced through formative assessments
throughout the year, my students will most likely improve because of the relevance it will have
to their lives.
Methodology:
The data I plan to collect is through a survey of Spanish level III students asking them to
indicate, from a given list of activities, which activities they enjoy the most to help with their
comprehension and development in the Spanish language. The survey will also ask students to
add any additional activities they wish to do in the classroom to help them improve that is not
shown in the list of activities. The data collected will be qualitative based on opinions and
preferences. Data will be collected through an in-class survey on a school-based program called,
Schoology, that students can complete on their Chrome books in class and I will immediately
receive the results from the survey so I can make note of how students prefer to learn. The
students will be notified that the information is confidential and no names will be released so that

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honest opinions can be shared on the survey. Data that is collected from this survey will help me
answer the first research question I have in finding out if practice with activities that are relevant
to the students’ lives will spark interest in learning Spanish, and therefore, improve their
performance on the unit tests overall. If the data collected indicates that students prefer certain
type of personal activities, such as writing about relevant topics in the target language or creating
projects or doing assignments in which their hobbies or sports are incorporated somehow in the
target language, then I will know to focus on more of those type of activities for their academic
benefit and finding more joy in learning Spanish.
Incorporating a focus group is another way I plan to collect data. I will engage my Spanish
III students in a dialogue in which they must demonstrate their thoughts on the Spanish III class
overall. The data collected will also be qualitative based on their thoughts and opinions. I will
collect this data by holding one-on-one conversations with the 12 students I have to ask them
questions in person about how they feel they are doing in the class what they feel can help them
improve their grades on the unit tests. Each dialogue with each student will last 3-5 minutes and
performed during one class period as they complete other work. The data will help me answer
both research questions since the dialogues are able to offer me information as to whether the
students rather see more personalized activities that are relevant to their lives and or if review is
something that students feel is needed in order to improve their grades since the curriculum in
Spanish III moves along so much faster than the previous levels of the language.
The third method I plan to use to collect data is through a baseline assessment on old content
learned in Spanish levels I and II. The data I plan to collect will be quantitative based solely on
statistics on how they score on the assessment. I will collect this data by randomly giving them
the baseline assessment on content that is review from previous two levels that they have all

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taken to prove their competence in more basic vocabulary and grammar in Spanish. One part of
the assessment will be objective and the other will be an essay portion, which will require them
to write about their personal lives, to demonstrate their skills overall. This data will help me
statistically see how well the students actually remember and understand the review material
they should know at this point. It will answer my research question whether or not review is
actually needed for these students to improve their grades. Depending on how the students do on
the essay portion of the assessment, it will also be indicative as to how much effort is put into
writing about something that is relevant to their lives since the essay is more personalized. This
data will help me answer both research questions in one way or another.
Data Analysis:
Using the survey, I collected qualitative data based on my students’ opinions and
preferences in learning the Spanish language. The students completed an in-class survey,
through Schoology, on their Chrome Books by choosing the top three activities they enjoy the
most in order to improve their comprehension and development in the Spanish language. Out of
the 12 students in Spanish III, 10 students indicated that they prefer activities that are more
personal to them and their lives such as: writing about their families and friends, completing
activity drills that relate to sports current media, and developing projects that incorporate their
lives along with the Spanish content. From the data collected, it is evident that the majority of
my students from Spanish III prefer to see more activities that they can relate to and interests
them so that they can improve their performance on their unit tests. If the activities they practice
with are relatable, they will definitely be more interested in learning and it will result in
demonstrating an improvement in Spanish overall.

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Through the focus group, I was also able to collect qualitative data based on their
thoughts and opinions on learning Spanish in Spanish III. As students were completing
independent activities that drills them on the current grammar point, I called all 12 students one
at a time to hold a 3-5 minute dialogue in which they shared their thoughts on the class overall. I
asked each student how they felt they were doing in the class and what they think can help them
improve their comprehension in this class so that their unit test grades can improve. Just like the
survey, 10 students strongly felt that the class would be more beneficial towards them and their
grades if the content can be related to their lives in some way. One student stated, “I can learn
better when the material we learn is relatable to something I care about whether it is my friends,
my family. If the drills or speaking points require us to talk about things I rather have it be about
pop culture and stuff that interests me because it will make me learn it better since I am
interested in it.” This statement alone relates to what nine other students expressed in the
dialogues I had with them. It truly helps to answer the first research question in the responses
they give me realizing that the students prefer personalized activities that they can relate to and
when students do mention that some review is helpful to keep developing their language, it helps
to answer the second research question in review helping reduce errors found on tests. All 12
students agreed, in their dialogues with me, that having some type of review always incorporated
into the lessons in some way will be helpful to remember the minor points that can so easily be
forgotten when learning new content. A student stated, “Since learning a language is collective
and relies on knowing prior knowledge, it is helpful to have constant reminders of the grammar
and vocabulary so that we won’t forget it as we move forward in learning Spanish.”
The baseline assessment on old content learned in Spanish levels I and II demonstrated
quantitative data since it was based on the statistics on how the students score on the assessment.

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This data was collected by unexpectedly giving my students the baseline assessment on review
content that was learned in Spanish I and II, which they have all completed. The assessment was
given to prove their level of competence in basic vocabulary and grammar in the target language.
One part of the assessment was objective and the other was an essay portion, which required
them to write about their personal lives, to demonstrate their skills overall. This was given
without an announcement so the students would not have an opportunity to review the content
before the assessment so that it can be a true status on their comprehension level. Three students
scored in the C range, five students in the B range, and 4 students in the A range. Many of the
errors found were minor errors that affect their grade and some were even based on content I
thought they knew better than they actually do. Even though there were some errors, the
strongest portion of the test lied in the writing component, in which they had to write about their
lives. Considering that the baseline assessment was all based on review, the scores should have
been higher and it is a true indication that these students need more review to be touched upon as
they continue to develop their Spanish comprehension and usage. This certainly helps to answer
the second research question in having to incorporate review to eliminate errors that were found
in their current tests that relate to prior content learned in the past. However, the writing portion
also helped indicate that students can perform better on tests when the content is relatable to their
lives, which helps to answer the first research question of making content personal. Once
students are more confident with the basic content they should already know, it will allow them
to be stronger students in learning the Spanish curriculum they are expected to learn in level 3.
Conclusions:
According to Slavin (2006), action research is a less formal model than other types of
research and it requires teaching and building administrators to conduct research for one specific

11. ANALYZING DATA AND COMMUNICATING FINDINGS 11
main purpose that is “to improve teaching and learning” (as cited in Ross-Fisher, 2008, p. 160).
I am confident that the action research found on my Spanish III students will help increase the
unit test grades for them in many ways if my teaching is improved. I need to be the leader to
implement these strategies effectively so that students can feel a positive difference in learning
Spanish and receive the grades they were used to getting last year in Spanish II and back in
Spanish I. They are extremely capable of attaining excellence in the Spanish III unit tests,
however, they need a change of instruction and motivation for this challenging level of a foreign
language. Based on the data analysis and findings, it is evident that students wish to see the
curriculum relatable to their lives in some way and believe that the interest can help improve
their grades through gaining more interest in wanting to learn the Spanish language. It was also
clear that review of the content is strongly needed throughout the class in order for the students
to have a chance at improving their grades. My students clearly need a refresher with the content
they have learned in the previous two levels of Spanish, which is why incorporating review will
be the most appropriate way to improve their knowledge in the language. I will definitely make
content relatable to their lives and practice more review content throughout each class period so
that each basic grammar point can be touched upon in some way and revisited so that the
students can have less of a chance of forgetting the content that is so important to remember for
the new knowledge they have to learn in Spanish III.
Part 2: Communicating Your Findings
In sharing research report with my colleagues in my school, I addressed a small group of
four teachers who share a common interest in trying to find out why students in higher levels of
different subject areas struggle to maintain good grades in their classes. The presentation was
displayed through a PowerPoint presentation and took place in an after-school informal, non-

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threatening, and face-to-face setting in which everyone listened to my data analysis and findings
and were able to offer suggestions when they had an idea. A reading teacher, K.L. Pappas
(personal communication, May 4, 2016), suggested that each warm-up activity, that I do at the
beginning of each class, include different review content each day so that new content can still
be the main focus but the review content is still re-visited at the beginning of each class so
students can keep it in mind as they are learning new material. The English teacher, S.R. Bosso
(personal communication, May 4, 2016), insisted on asking other English teachers for ideas on
making the content relatable to high school students’ lives since they have a lot of experience in
doing this with the English content that is built into their curriculum. Both teachers had
excellent ideas that touched upon both of my action research questions and I would not have
thought of those suggestions that easily without their input. This informal presentation to my
colleagues was very worthwhile.
Part 3: Future Actions
After retrieving the data I did and listening to my colleagues’ suggestions, I plan to listen
to the suggestions and implement them in my classroom by incorporating review material in my
daily warm-ups and by asking the English teachers for ideas on how to make content relatable by
meeting with the English department next week. If I could do something differently I would
have had the interest survey, the dialogue with students on their feelings on the class, and the
baseline assessment at the beginning of the school year. In doing this, I could have aligned my
teaching strategies right from the start of the school year so my students would benefit from the
change of instruction for as much time as possible. A change in student achievement that I
expect my research to promote is for my students in Spanish III to improve their unit test grades
and achieve to the same caliber they did in the previous levels of Spanish by making the content

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relatable to their lives and by incorporating review material in the daily lesson plans so that
interest could be sparked in learning the language and the previously learned content could be
remembered in order to move forward successfully. I expect the students to have more of a drive
to want to achieve in Spanish III and find more of a joy in learning the Spanish language, which
will ultimately improve their grades in this class.

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References
Ford, V.B., & Roby, D.E. (2013). Why do high school students lack motivation in the
classroom? Global Education Journal, 2013(2), 101-113.
Lam, S., Cheng, R.W., & Ma, W.Y.K. (2009). Teacher and student intrinsic motivation in
project-based learning. Instructional Science, 37(6), 565-578.
Ross-Fisher, R. (2008). Action research to improve teaching and learning. Kappa Delta Pi
Record, 44(4), 160-164.
Royer, K. (1996). Summative authentic assessment in the french classroom. The Clearing
House, 69(3), 174-176.