This presentation describes action research (AR) involving English teachers in Sweden working with a university researcher to problematize notetaking instruction and describes two simultaneous AR cycles: one involving the teachers and their students in their classrooms, and another involving the researcher and the teachers that occurred in teacher development workshops.
This presentation describes a collaborative action research (AR) that involved second language (L2) English teachers at upper secondary schools in Sweden working together with a university researcher to problematize notetaking instruction. After a survey revealed that students felt notetaking to be an underdeveloped but important aspect of their L2 English education, a project was planned to provide teachers with specific pedagogic techniques for notetaking instruction. The project featured the main AR stages (plan, act, observe, reflect, re-plan) (e.g., Burns, 2010) being engaged through five teacher education workshops over one semester. Based on these workshops, teachers used collectively developed pedagogic techniques in their classes, observed any effects through systematic data collection, and reflected on the findings collaboratively. Data were collected from pre- and post-intervention tests of lecture content and notetaking samples, which were evaluated in terms of “information units” (Anderson, 2014) they contained. Pre- and post-intervention surveys also captured student perceptions of the new teaching techniques. Thus, the students, their teachers, and the researcher were jointly involved in all project stages. This presentation describes the overall project from pre-intervention conception to post-intervention reflections and describes two simultaneous AR cycles: one involving the teachers and their students in their classrooms, and a second involving the researcher and the teachers that played out in the workshops. Regarding the latter cycle, the research facilitator’s role in the AR framework is problematized and described through reflective practice and analysis of workshop transcripts, illustrating steps a group leader might take to contribute to the potential success of such a project. Throughout the presentation, consideration of relevant topics (e.g., power dynamics, motivation, collaboration) (e.g., Locke, 2010) is intertwined with the reporting of the simultaneous AR cycles that occurred.
