English Language Teaching in its Social Context

58 ROD ELLISwhat effect involving workers in the decision-making process (the research) had on factoryproduction (the action). His approach is exemplified in his experiment in the Harwoodfactory inVirginia. Lewin was able to show that when change was imposed on workers bymanagement, production dropped substantially, that when representatives of the workerswere involved in researching the change, production initially dropped but later recoveredand that when all the workers participated in the decision-making, production rose markedlyafter only two days. The study demonstrated the practical benefits of involving actors indecision-making. ” More importantly for Lcwin, it demonstrated the need for and theadvantages of democracy in the workplace. Lewin’s work is of interest because it reflects thetwin goals of action research, as it has been applied subsequently to education: action researchis intended both to improve classroom practice and also to serve as a means for emancipatingteachers. It has both an instrumental function and a social or ideological function. In thecase of the latter, it may be politically charged and, for that reason, potentially risky.It is customary to identify three kinds of action research. First, there is technical actionresearch, where outside researchers co-opt practitioners into working on questions derivedfrom theory or previous research. Crookes (1 993) characterizes this kind of action researchas a relatively conservative line, noting that it is likely to result in work published by scholarsfor academic audiences. Such research, he suggests, is approved because it fosters connectionsbetween universities and schools while maintaining the values and standards of traditionalresearch.Second, there is research undertaken by teachers in their own classrooms with a viewto improving local practices. Carr and Kemmis refer to this kind of research as practicalaction research but Hopkins (1 985) prefers the term tcachcr research. As Long (1 983a: 268)points out, the aim of teacher research is not to turn teachers into classroom researchers,but to provide a means by which they can monitor their own practice. It involves a cyclc ofactivities as shown in Figure 3.1, taken from Carr and Kemmis ( 1 986).The starting point isplanning (i.e. the identification of some problem that needs solving). This results in action(i.e. the teaching of a lesson in which the problematic behaviour will arise). Observation ofthe action provides material for reflection, which may then lead to further planning. Eachstep or moment in the cycle looks back to thc previous step and forward to the next step.The cycle serves to link the past with the future through the processes of reconstruction andconstruction. Furthermore, it links discourse (i.e. talking about the action) with actualpractice (i.e. the action in context).Thc starting point of the cycle, planning, is generally seenas the most problematic. Ideally, teachers should form plans for action based on an analysisof their own experience, but in reality they are likely to pick out issues from thc educationalor applied linguistics literature (see, for example, McDonough and McDonough’s (1 990)study of language teachers’ views about research). Carr and Kemmis acknowledge a role foran outside facilitator in helping teachers formulate appropriate plans of action.-Reconstructive ConstructiveDiscourse 4 Reflect 1 Planamong participantsPracticein the social contextFigure 3. I ‘Momcnts’ of action rcsearchSource: Carr and Kemmis 1986: 1861 J3 Observe t--- 2 Act