This document provides information on action research conducted by Dr. C. Thanavathi. It begins with an introduction to action research, including its purpose and benefits. It then discusses how to conduct action research, outlining the typical cycles and steps involved, from identifying a problem or question, developing a research plan, collecting and analyzing data, and sharing results. Different types of action research are also described, including individual teacher research, collaborative research, and school-wide research. Methods for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data are presented. The document concludes by emphasizing that action research is an ongoing, reflective process aimed at improving teaching and learning.

1. Dr.C.Thanavathi
M.A., M.Phil., M.Ed., M.Phil., DGT, DCA, CTE, PGDHE, SET, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of History,
V.O.C.College of Education,
Thoothukudi-628 008.
Tamil Nadu. India.
9629256771
thanavathic@thanavathi-edu.in
http://thanavathi-edu.in/index.html

2. What is Action
Research?
Why Conduct
Action
Research?
How do we Conduct
Action Research?

4. “The idea of action research is
that educational problems and
issues are best identified and
investigated where the action
is; at the classroom and
school level.

6. Why Action Research?
 Our educational realities sometimes don’t agree
with our educational intentions.
 We are not able to put our policies into practice
 Improvement is possible if can study the nature of
our failures.
 The central problem of evidence-informed practice
is the gap between our ideas and out aspiration
and our attempts to operationalize them
(Stenhouse, 1975).
 Our educational realities sometimes don’t agree
with our educational intentions.
 We are not able to put our policies into practice
 Improvement is possible if can study the nature of
our failures.
 The central problem of evidence-informed practice
is the gap between our ideas and out aspiration
and our attempts to operationalize them
(Stenhouse, 1975).

7. It helps to:
 Deepens your understanding about teaching and
learning.
 Develops your teaching skills
 Try out different approaches and ideas
 Develop reflective practice
 Improve student learning

8.  Betterment of school through improvement of teaching and
learning.
 Discipline of practice (teaching and learning) is informed by
research ideas
 encourages idea sharing / inclusive
 Actions developed are specific to the individual school
environments/setting
 Actions are refined and improved by the cyclic nature of action
research

9.  It is a cycle of reflection, research, action and
analysis.
 It is an ongoing cycle of refinement and further
action.

10. Action
Research
Identifying a
Classroom
Problem
Developing &
Implementing
an Action
Research Plan
Collecting &
Analyzing
Data
Using &
Sharing
Results
PLANNING
DELIVERY
FOLLOW-UP
EVALUATION

11.  Teachers are active participants in the research.
 Planning is the first stage – define the research
problem, do literature review, determine data
collection methods, get permissions, set timelines.
 Action is the second stage – Carry out
experimentations in your classroom and collect data.
 Analysis is the third stage – Data is analyzed
 Conclusion is final stage – Reflect on the project,
share findings & move towards planning and begin the
cycle.

12.  It begins with a question or questions about
classroom experience, issues, or challenges.
 It is a reflective process which helps teachers to
explore and examine aspects of teaching and
learning to take action to change and improve.

13.  Individual Teacher Research
 Collaborative Action Research
 School-wide Action Research
Emily Calhoun, 1993

14.  A teacher focuses on an area of
concern in his or her classroom.
 May receive support and guidance
from colleagues, coaches, and/or
outside support personnel from
district, state, or university.

15.  A problem or issue within a single
classroom to study--
 What impact can daily phonemic awareness
activities have on my kindergarten students’ oral
language development? (Kindergarten teacher)
 How can using concrete objectives
(manipulatives) improve my students’ ability to
identify and extend patterns in mathematics?
(Middle grade teacher)

16.  Co-teachers
◦ in one classroom instructing a specific group of
students
 Team of teachers
◦ focusing on a grade level issue
 Teacher and district, educational agency, or
university personnel
◦ learning and studying a particular instructional practice
 Group of teachers
◦ in the same school studying the same instructional
concern

17.  Focuses on studying a problem or
issue within one or more classrooms.
◦ How can students with disabilities experiencing deficits in
phonemic awareness show improvement in those skills by
participating in additional and intensive instruction in
phonemic awareness activities at least four times per
week? How will it affect their overall reading ability?
(ESE Teacher & FDLRS HRD Specialist)
◦ How can implementing “Organizing Together” a
Strategic Instruction Model curriculum, improve 6th
graders ability to come to class organized and prepared?
(6th grade teachers in a middle school team)

18.  School-wide action research
is a school reform initiative.
Every faculty member of the
school is involved in studying
a specific issue identified
from school data.

19. 1. Reflect – Talk to your colleagues,. What
questions do you have about teaching? What
topics are you interested in (Brainstorming
generates many questions but finally collectively
decide on one).
2. Explore – Reflect on your topic – Where can you
find information to help you plan your action
research.
3. Plan – How long it will take, how will you record
the research.

20. 4. Research – Carry out the Action Research Using
your chosen Method such as:
 Peer observation
 Teacher diary
 Learner feedback
 Lesson Evaluation
 Recording lessons
 Reflecting on learners’ work
 Surveys
5. Researching together – Involve your colleagues, gives
more data to reflect on, compare and discuss.
6. Analyze – Make sense of the data you have collected.
What have you found out, what insights have you gained
from the research, what does your research show you?

21. 7. Act – If you have carried out the classroom
action research on your own, share your results
with colleagues, reflect on the results. How do
the results help you and your colleagues? what
change will you all make?
8. Review the impact of the changes made – How
successful were they, is any follow-up action
need? Are there any differences among your
colleagues?

22.  Qualitative research helps us access the details
and distinctions of phenomena, practice or
experience.
 It can help us uncover trends in though and
opinion, explore problems or challenges deeply.
 When we want to know what is going on or why is
something happening qualitative methods are
needed.

23.  Interviews
 Focus Groups
 Discussions
 Observations
 Photo Accounts
 Exploration of artifacts within settings
 Arts-based method
NOTE
 The emphases is on understanding the richness of a
context, distinction between experiences and perspectives
and ways that institution, practices and context can make
something happen and constrain other possibilities.

24.  Quantitative methods produces numerical data
and aims to generalize the results to try to reach
an objective truth.
 Qualitative methods produces descriptive data
and aims to reach an observation on the way
things are
 The two methods add value to each other

25.  There two type of data, qualitative and quantitative
 Researchers should describe the approach to data collection and
analysis they have taken
 Quantitative analysis responds to questions “WHAT” is happening in a
population while Qualitative analysis is used to study in details ‘why’
and ‘how’ certain phenomena are occurring
 Quantitative analyses are largely concerned with numerical data, while
qualitative analyses are commonly applied in linguistic data
 Mixed methods (Quantitative and qualitative) (What and Why) are
normally applied.

26. Analysis of
children’s work
Observation of
interactions
Interview with
children
?

27.  interviews
 portfolios
 diaries
 field notes
 audio tapes
 photos
 memos
 questionnaires
 focus groups
 anecdotal records
 checklists
A product of Project CENTRAL, 2004

28.  journals
 individual files
 logs of meetings
 videotapes
 case studies
 surveys
 records – tests, report cards,
 attendance
 self-assessment
 samples of student work,
 projects, performances
A product of Project CENTRAL, 2004

29.  Response from respondents/Data provides ‘proof’
of issue
 Use of graphs and pie charts to interpret the
results of the research.
 Computing statistics percentages, averages,
correlations, coefficients.
 Relate patterns observed with original questions.

30.  Problem Solving
 Broaden Perspectives
 Foster Community Spirit
 Help Meet Needs

31.  Can be adapted to suit any issue or environment
 Promotes Idea Sharing
 Cyclic nature
 Change is owned and monitored by the
participants

32.  Ownership builds trust and support
 Projects can start small and grow large
 Outside help can be invited
 Empowers teachers

33.  Seek permission from participants and school
administrative bodies
 Be open and honest
 Respect participants right to privacy

34. 
“IDEAS SHOULD ENCOUNTER THE
DISCIPLINE OF PRACTICE AND PRACTICE
SHOULD BE ENCOUNTERED BY IDEAS”
 (Stenhouse, 1975)

35.  Report:
1. Introduction
2. Rationale of the Study
3. Statement of the Problem with definition of key terms
4. Objectives
5. Action Hypothesis
6. Methodology
Entry behaviour
Tools
Treatment given
7.Analysis and interpretation
8. Findings
9. Recommentations for Educational Implication
10.Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Copies of the Pre-test and Post-test
Test Papers

37. Name: Thanavathi C
Title: The Use of WhatsApp in Language Learning
Activity for V.O.C College of Education Students

38.  Introduction
 Aim (Research Objectives, Research Questions)
 Literature Review
 Methodology - procedure
 Findings & Discussion
 Conclusion

39.  ICT gives a great impact on human lives where the use of
mobile technology in education carries positive response to
the learning development in most tertiary institutions. There is
where WhatsApp application has becoming popular as a
mobile learning concept and regards as one of the
communication platforms since many students nowadays
have their own smartphone.
 WhatsApp is a Smartphone application for instant messaging.

40.  Research Objective:
>The purpose of this research is to assess the use of WhatsApp
application in teaching and learning of speaking activity where it
can be done at students-paced-learning. It is also acted as
classroom communication between teacher-student and student-
student.
 Research Questions:
>“What is WhatsApp and its use in language learning?”
>“How true the WhatsApp application could help my students in
learning English language?”

41.  Online communication in education system between students and
teachers and between groups of students has become famous
during last few years through various channels such as SMS,
Email, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace, and recently
WhatsApp. Those are known as online communication and each
one of these tools has different characteristics that influence its
suitability for learning purposes (Calvo, Arbiol & Iglesias, 2014).
>Calvo, R., Arbiol, A., & Iglesias, A. (2014). Are all chats suitable for
learning purposes? A study of the required characteristics. Procedia
Computer Science, 27,251-260. Retrieved October 20, 2015 from
http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol113/JITEEv13ResearchP.pdf

42.  Data were gathered from 20 respondents via a set of
questionnaires distributed for them to answer within 15 to 20
minutes. A qualitative data were collected from speak-your-idea
activity after the implementation of WhatsApp application as one
of the most effective teaching and learning tool outside of the
classroom.
 Apart from that, four half-structured interviews were
administered to the students to obtain feedback regarding the
use of WhatsApp and it is used to analyze and support the
findings gathered from the questionnaires given earlier. It was
just a casual structured conversation on the usefulness of
WhatsApp application in teaching and learning activity.

43. It shows different kind of responses given by the participants in an activity
posted by the teacher. The responses received were variety and in an active way
for instance, text messaging, link shared, attaching infographics, voice and video
recordings and many more. From those responses, it was clearly showed that
students enjoyed the activity and would love to participate throughout the
discussion. It proved the level of excitement in participation from the students in
comparison to their involvement in a classroom discussion.

44.  I found that WhatsApp application was really useful and helpful to the
teacher as well as to the students.
 They managed to share their ideas and thoughts during the lesson in the
classroom after I have conducted the discussion earlier in the WhatsApp
group.
 It showed they gained their confidence to speak English after they felt
comfortable with the language whenever they discussed in the
WhatsApp group.
 The feedback or responses received by the students were also
unexpected.
 Some passive students were also gave their feedbacks and opinions.
 Overall, it showed that they started to feel comfortable and confidence in
expressing and speaking their ideas in text messaging form via
WhatsApp application and later on made them shameless to voice out
their ideas in the classroom.

46. From the table above, it was clearly showed that 85.4% of the students agreed with the use of
WhatsApp in their language learning process. This indicated their willingness to contribute
and participate in sharing their ideas and thoughts towards the topic given by the teacher
throughout the discussion held in the WhatsApp group. Moreover, they began to speak
actively in the classroom whenever it involved the same or other topics to be discussed for the
next lesson. It was a good improvement and upgrading their ability in speaking the language
more confidently. Nevertheless, 10.8% indicated for neutral attitudes discovered among the
students and only 3.8% of them were disagree with this learning tool. However, majority of
the students could take this new learning experience positively and satisfied with its benefits
too.

47.  The results of this action research clearly demonstrate the usefulness of WhatsApp
social networking in helping them learning the language better.
 The mobile learning community helps students to create a learning community, to
easily construct knowledge and to share it with other members of a WhatsApp group
through instant messaging
 Furthermore, we should not discount the interactions of students with their
classmates through this online medium since the presence of the online mobile
learning for instance, WhatsApp could help them a lot and also consider as an
added value in the learning process. The lecturer in this situation can be acted as an
instructor thus facilitates their WhatsApp conversations.
 As for now, it is possible to say that WhatsApp enables students to co-operate and
work as a team, an essential skill in the 21st century, which is not fully developed in
the traditional class. The dialogue between students, whether spontaneous or
directed by the teachers, creates an atmosphere of cooperation, solidarity and
coming together to solve problems and deal with challenges.