Action Research for Pedagogical Advance

Abstract

                     Action research (AR) has gained a gradual popularity in the field of education and language teaching in general and the English as foreign language (EFL) context in particular. Its inherent potential of finding practical solutions to actual social issues has established it as rigorous research paradigm suitable for educational, professional,managerial and organisational development.                   One of the challenging issues in EFL settings is to involve learners in meaningful speaking activities so that they can utilise the language more actively to improve their speaking skills and enhance their oral performance. The present paper reports the results of a small scale pedagogical action research which aimed to foster EFL students’ motivation to speak, increase their oral  participation in class and make them engage ‘voluntarily’ in class discussions and  activities during the speaking courses.

           At first, a classroom observation was carried  out during two teaching sessions to discern students’ speaking behaviours. Then, a  focus group discussion and an interview with ‘reluctant’ students were initiated to discern the most frequent sources of the problem. In the light of the obtained results, an action plan was designed and implemented to minimise the impact of those causes This plan involves (a) the statement of more specific course objectives, (b) the selection of a content based syllabus and (c) the  adoption of a more participatory,learner-centred method that encompasses a redefinition of the teacher’s and students’  roles. At  the end of this action plan, it was observed that both the frequency and quality of students’ oral participation improved  significantly.

              In addition, students’ anxiety decreased drastically as follow up interviews with students revealed.