The Library
EFL/ESP teacher development and classroom innovation through teacher-initiated action research
Tools
Daoud, Sada Ahmad (1999) EFL/ESP teacher development and classroom innovation through teacher-initiated action research. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
PDF
WRAP_THESIS_Daoud_1999.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (23Mb) |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1366658~S1
Abstract
This study is an investigation of the potential of teacher-initiated action research for
EFL/ESP teacher development and classroom innovation. The Collaborative Academic
Writing Research Project (CAWRP), on which it is based, was carried out at the ESP
Centre, Damascus University, in 1996-1997. It was in two phases, Baseline and
Main. The researcher, a teacher in the context, assumed a participatory and facilitating
role. The pedagogic problem was the teaching of research paper writing to
postgraduate students. The CAWRP was proposed to ease this problem and introduce
classroom innovation through teacher-initiated action research, the long-term aim of
which was continuous professional development. The baseline research aimed at
articulating a picture of teacher and context needs and assessing project viability. The
proposal was refined in the light of the findings, and a programme of teacher
development activities was agreed with the participants. This was implemented in the
Main Phase, which had three stages: Orientation, Research and Reporting, and
Summative Evaluation and Follow-up. The role of the researcher was to facilitate the
teachers to self-direct their professional learning and introduce needed pedagogic
innovations.
The thesis is in eight chapters and 32 appendices. Chapter One sets the scene
and introduces the study. Chapter Two focuses on the baseline investigation: its
methodology, findings, and their implications for the Main Phase study. Chapter Three
is a review of the relevant literature in the fields of teacher development and classroom
innovation. Chapter Four focuses on project design and methodology and gives more
details on the principles, values, strategies, and procedures that guided project
implementation and how they worked out in action. Chapter Five reports the findings,
focusing on the contribution of the Orientation Stage activities to the development of
the teacher group as a whole (a total of 20 out of 23 Centre teachers). Its main sources
of data are recordings, feedback questionnaires, and participant observation. Chapter
Six focuses on the teachers who carried out action research and reported on it (8 out
of the 20 Orientation Stage participants). It presents two case studies of frill
participants, starting with their entry points and showing how they developed in the
Research and Reporting Stage. One case exemplifies the experienced teachers and
those who did research individually, and the other the novices and those who worked in
collaboration. Chapter Seven reports on the participants' sununative evaluation of the
project and the effect of this evaluation on project continuity. Chapter Eight
summarises the main findings and evaluates them with reference to the literature, on
the one hand, and design principles and methodology, on the other. In this chapter, I
have looked critically at the lessons learnt from the study, discussed its significance and
limitations, and put forward some recommendations. The appendices include some of
the materials and documentary evidence used in the research.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | L Education > LB Theory and practice of education P Language and Literature > PE English |
||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | English teachers -- Training of, English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers, Report writing -- Study and teaching, Action research in education | ||||
Official Date: | September 1999 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Centre for English Language Teacher Education | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Hedge, Tricia | ||||
Sponsors: | British Council | ||||
Extent: | 2 v. (xviii, 359, iii, 102 leaves) | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year