How can I foster participation of the students of 6th grade A in the English class?

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(1)1. Facultad de Educación Departamento de Inglés. “How can I foster participation of the students of 6th grade A in the English class?”. Tesis para optar al Título Profesional de Profesor de Inglés de Enseñanza Básica y Educación Media. Por: Jaime Olate Vergara Profesor Tutor: Pablo Silva.

(2) 2. Abstract This action research was carried out in a sixth grade of a private school called Altamira. The identified problem was related to the practices of the teacher that affect students’ participation in the English class. The main objective of this investigation was to find a teaching strategy that foster students’ participation in the classroom. The methodology used in this research was based on the use of instruments which aimed to collect information that at the same time, were useful to find a solution to the main problem. The instruments used to collect data were: Journal, pictures and questionnaires. The results of the collected data showed that this investigation was successful because students changed their habits in the classroom, got motivated and participated in classes.. Esta investigación fue llevada a cabo en un sexto año de una escuela privada llamada Altamira. El problema identificado tiene relación con las prácticas del profesor que afectan la participación de los estudiantes en la clase de inglés. El objetivo principal de esta investigación era encontrar una estrategia que le permitiera al profesor aumentar la participación de los estudiantes en la clase de inglés. La metodología usada en esta investigación está basada en el uso de instrumentos que apuntaron a recolectar información, y al mismo tiempo fueron útiles para encontrar la solución al problema. Los instrumentos usados para recolectar información fueron: Diario de notas, fotografías y cuestionarios. Los resultados de la información recolectada mostraron que esta investigación exitosa debido a que los estudiantes cambiaron sus hábitos in la sala de clases, se motivaron y participaron en las clases. Key words: Group work, roles, preadolescence, participation..

(3) 3. Index. Introduction. 4. Context of the school. 5. 6th grade context. 6. Problem. 8. Research Question. 9. Rationale. 9. Gantt chart. 10. Literature review. 12. Methodology. 17. Questionnaire. 19. Pictures. 21. Intervention plan. 22. Action plan timeline. 27. Data analysis. 28. Reflection and analysis of intervention. 31. Conclusion and implications. 36. References. 39. Appendix. 40.

(4) 4. Introduction In the field of education, we can find millions of methodologies and resources that help teachers to plan and hold their classes. In terms of methodologies, some teachers choose to use the same method to teach, based on how successful this methodology was with other courses. In terms of resources, one of the most popular materials in this area is the textbook of the subject; it contains a variety of different activities and illustrations that benefit the students’ learning process. Moreover, it is an incredible tool for teachers, because it helps them to plan their classes and it is a support when they need extra material. So, we can consider books as an extraordinary support for the class, but can we trust and base all our classes on them? Do we have to plan our classes differently? What strategy do we have to use when we work with textbooks? Having this in mind, it is important to consider that the combination of one methodology and the resources that we use can be a double-edge sword and we can destroy students’ learning process instead of giving them opportunities to enrich it. Through this investigation, I am going to analyze what are the consequences of my teaching in students and possible improvements in terms of methodology used in my English classes to foster students’ participation. At the beginning, I will describe the context of the school that is necessary to get into this investigation, and then I will deeply describe the context of the class in which I will focus this research. After that, I will mention the problem that my practices, as a teacher, provoke in some students of that grade, giving place to the research question. Once I have mentioned all these points, I will describe the reasons why I decided to carry out this project: those will be the relevance of this research in terms of contribution to the school and also to my personal development as a professional. Then, I will write all the steps that.

(5) 5. my investigation will follow in a Gantt chart, created to guide me through this research. After describing the steps that I will follow to complete this project, I will mention authors that support the ideas of this investigation, for this, I will write some important concepts that will be useful to develop a strategy and find a solution to my problem. Next, I will describe in detail the tools that I will use to collect data that will help me to have empirical proves of the problem, to consequently create the intervention plan. After finishing this last process, I will show the data that I collected by doing the intervention in the classroom, this will show information about students’ perception of the English classes. Finally I will conclude and give some more information of this project by suggesting possible future improvements.. Context of the school I am attending a school called Altamira. It is a private, co-educational school located in Peñalolen. Altamira is an inclusive school where there are students from different cultures and countries, for example there are students from: Africa, the United Kingdome and Asia. Since the school prioritizes diversity and human relationships, it is similar to a community; all the participants live and coexist under the values of respect and cooperation, creating an atmosphere of kindness, similar to a family. The school has a humanistic approach, for this reason there are more workshops than mandatory subjects, collaborating to the personal development and enhancing students’ strengths. Teachers of this school have constant meetings to discuss about problems or concerns that they may have related to students’ performances along the year. Moreover, teachers and students share a horizontal relationship. That does not mean that.

(6) 6. students are disrespectful, rather, they put in practice all the values that are the bases of the education in the school. As the school is inclusive, we can see a diversity of students inside the classroom. There are students with a variety of syndromes that coexist with “normal” students inside and outside the school. Students without any kind of syndrome help “special students” in their daily tasks as go upstairs, heat up the food and organize the school stuff in their backpacks. There are people who work with those special students in the school, giving them all the necessary treatment to their issues and also to integrate them into the community of the school. There are not inspectors in the playground or teacher observing students’ behavior during their break period. Instead, all rooms are opened during breaks and after classes, so students are allowed to use materials provided by the school. At the time of celebrating important dates as national festivities, all the participants of the school organize a huge presentation that includes dancing and artistic exhibitions; members of all the community as the people who clean the school and the head master participate in that events.. 6th grade context I am going to focus this action research on 6th grade A of this school. For this reason before presenting the problem I am going to explain the context of this class. This course is composed by 18 students, most of them are since pre K in the school, and so they know each other very well. To enhance the sense of community in students, the first 15 minutes in the morning every course has a meeting with their lead teacher, this instance is used to discuss internal problems of the class and to share students’ personal opinions about a topic of their interest..

(7) 7. The English class is divided into two areas: classwork and computing lab. Classwork is mainly based on the English book “Super Minds”. Students have to complete the book and at the end of each unit, they have to make a project related to the unit. Sometimes the teacher asks students what they want to do in their projects, for example at the end of the unit N°2 “Natural disasters”, students chose to make mockups about the unit as volcanos, effects of hurricanes, etc. In that project the teacher evaluated comprehension of the unit, vocabulary and fluency through oral presentations. In Altamira, from 2nd grade to 6th grade, students only use the English textbook in class, this means that there are few planned activities. Each unit of the book must be completed during a certain period of time determined at the beginning of the year, when tests and projects are also scheduled. It is mandatory to fill every exercise and page of the book after the end of the scholar year since the textbook is expensive and parents complain when they see empty pages; therefore the focus of the English class is to complete the book. For some students, to learn English in 6th grade is not an easy task because they are experiencing some changes in their environment and also on their own, making more difficult their learning process. This issue is considerable important since next year students will not work using the English textbook. Classes in 7th grade are based on the principles of communicative approach; this means that students will have to use all the language that they should have acquired during elementary school. The book has ten units that must be covered during the year. Also, there are tests based on the contents of each unit which include listening, reading and writing. The oral part is evaluated by making projects and topic speeches. Teacher can observe improvements of students during periods of time. If students reduce his or her English.

(8) 8. proficiency in one semester, parents are notified and the student will have to improve his or her level of English after the next test, in most of the cases, parents hire personal teachers to enhance students’ performance.. Problem I have been teaching in this school for two years and I have seen different ways to teach during that time. I normally use the same methodology that my guide teacher uses; to make students complete the book in silence, then after a period of time ask them for the answers to finally copy the correct answers in the whiteboard. I have been using this methodology during the entire year and I have noticed that there are some students that do not contribute to the class. Moreover, I am imposed to complete the book in a period of time scheduled at the beginning of the year since they have to cover the whole book. Besides, there are tests and project scheduled; therefore there is no time to do something different in the English class. As the book must be fulfilled, I have to give all the answers at the end of each activity in order to ensure that all students have filled the blank spaces. Students have got accustomed to the teacher’s method, therefore some of them rest on that and they wait for the teacher to complete the activities, to copy the answers. Moreover I, as a teacher, always monitor students and walk around the class, but I am not able to wait for everyone in the class to finish all the exercises, so students take advantage of this, and they copy what the teacher writes in the board. All things considered, I am going to attempt to look for an answer which can hopefully give me the best way to provide the whole class an active role during the lesson. In addition, I have already recognized the fact that a number of students do not work while.

(9) 9. the class is being delivered. Consequently, my concern is about expanding the class to all those students who do not work on it, so they do not neglect the possibility to learn English as well as their classmates do. Therefore, my research questions will be: “How can I foster participation of the students of 6th grade A in the English class?”. Rationale Regarding to my research, I will hopefully help my students to find concrete and meaningful reasons why to learn English. As a result, making every student participate in the English lesson, I will be directly providing students with the necessary conditions to embrace the knowledge and empower the skills to produce English. What I expect by doing this research is to look for new practices or develop a method which allows teacher and students to work with the book and also integrate all the students and make them participate in the class. The core notions are that all students will be an active part of the class and develop their ideas by using the book. Moreover as there is no time to do extra activities, I will try to find new useful methodologies that encourage participation of all students. This means, to focus on the learning process of each student inside the classroom and do not put all the attention on completing the book. Additionally it is expected that members of the English department realize and take in consideration that in some cases teachers do not have enough time to accomplish what it is imposed to do, rather, it is necessary to strengthen the annual plans based on real context, considering aspects as timing, students’ interests and teachers’ work hours to avoid situations as the ones already explained and possible burnouts in teachers. Personally by doing this investigation, I expect to grow as a teacher and also to contribute in the school. Since most of the English teacher of primary school use the same.

(10) 10. methodology to teach, I would really like to show them that there are more than one method to teach, using the book or not. I also expect that I, as a teacher, can understand students’ needs, points of views and accept their suggestion in order to create a new inclusive method. Moreover, I really want to know more about the different methodologies of teaching and how I can implement them according to the different contexts that I will face in the future.. Gantt chart Activities. Augus Septe. Octobe Novem Decemb. t. r. 1. mber. Diagnos Doing Observations. Taking notes/Journal. Defining Context.. er. 34 12 34 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4. 2. e. ber. X XX.

(11) 11. Defining a Proble m. problem. Establishing a question. Writing 1st Outline.. X XX X. Defining scope. Consulting literature. Deciding methodology. Selecting data collection Plan. instruments. Defining why these instruments. Collecting data Analyzing first data collection.. X XXX.

(12) 12. Interve Applying activities. ntion. designed. Collecting data trough Questionnaires. X XXX. Intervention Evaluati. Analyzing new. on. results. Reflecting. XX. about results. Future improvements.. Literary Review The main problem involved in this investigation is centered on my practices as a teacher, since there are some students that I cannot engage in the class, and as a result of that, they do not work on their book. Consequently, it creates a problem in their learning process that in some cases culminates in bad marks in tests and misunderstandings of essential concepts.

(13) 13. Having in mind the gist of the problem, throughout this investigation I am going to use literature related to methodologies that allow the teacher to include and foster participation of all students in the classroom.. As I already mentioned, my action research will be focused on students of 6th grade, they are between 11 and 12 years old, age in where they experiment changes in their lives. Considering the words of Jean Piaget, these students are in the stage of “formal operations”, which means that “Adolescents’ cognitive operations are recognized in a way that permits them to operate on operations (think about thinking). Thought is now systematic and abstract” (Shaffer, 1999) considering that, students are prepared to face new problems in life by thinking and creating solution by themselves. Moreover, I will also consider Erikson’s life crisis or social stages that are present in 6th grade students. At this age students are living a change in their lives, they are becoming into adolescents so at the age of 11 and 12 students are facing the stage of industry versus inferiority:. Children must master important social and academic skills. This is a period when the child compares him- or herself with peers. If sufficiently industrious, children acquire the social and academic skills to feel self-assured. Failure to acquire these important attributes leads to feelings of inferiority. Significant social agents are teachers and peers. (Shaffer, 1999) Therefore, taking in consideration these two perspectives, I will look for a methodology that allow students to solve their own problems and work with partners to acquire social skills with the objective of making them participate and feel success in the English class..

(14) 14. In the field of education, there are a bunch of researches based on foster participation in students because this problem has been carried out for many years in different educational institutions. Keith J. Topping and Stewart W. Ehly introduce the term “Peer-assisted learning” that can be defined as “the acquisition of knowledge and skill through active helping and supporting among status equals or matched companions”(2005). This strategy or approach suggests that students with different knowledge proficiency have to work in pairs or groups in order to support each other.. Inside this term, it appears a new one called “Cooperative learning”. Suggested by David and Roger Johnson, it is defined as “the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning.”(1991) The role of the teacher is fundamental because he or she has the task of teaching the students how to cooperate in their groups, create cooperative activities and, if it is necessary, give them a different role to make sure his or her participation. “This is likely to involve the specification of goals, tasks, resources, roles, and rewards by the teacher, who facilitates or more firmly guides the interactive process.”(Topping, 2005) The groups are previously chosen by the teacher based on the proficiency level of each student, the idea is to have small groups of heterogeneous learners because it must be ensured the participation of all members in the group. This is not a strategy that improves just participation on students, but “cooperative learning produces higher achievement, more positive relationships among students, and healthier psychological adjustment than do competitive or individual experiences.”(Johnson, 1991) This term is linked to the problem since it demands.

(15) 15. participation of all the member of the group, and as some students do not work in the class, they will have to change their attitude. This kind of methodologies cannot be implemented without looking through the objectives planned at the beginning of the term. Since in the English class it is used the communicative approach, where students have to develop the 4 skills at the same time, I cannot implement a methodology that let this approach behind and start something new. Therefore, If students are expected to be able to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world problems, or demonstrate decision-making or problem-solving skills similar to those made by professionals in the field, then it may be appropriate to include group work in the design of the course. (Gross, 1999) What it is expected from teacher is that students use this knowledge in real situations inside and outside the classroom.. Another important aspect of the problem is the fact that they are young learners, therefore I need to know if this method of collaborative learning helps students in their process of learning in the English classes. Bradley T. Erford claims that “when children progress through developmental tasks and issues in conjunction with peers, children often develop a greater sense of self-efficacy and resources, leading to fewer problems in the future” (Erford, 2010) Here we are aiming to avoid possible problems in students related to low marks and negative outcomes in the English class, moreover peer in the group can motivate students to improve their learning habits and enhance their participation in the class: “Children are provided with healthy modeling from both group peers and the leader.”.

(16) 16. (Erford, 2010) The leader of the group should have a variety of characteristics as being responsible for the safety in the group, establishing norms and rules, help when other members need and maintain the overall climate of the group.. Since I have shown an effective technique to make student to participate in the English classes, now I want to focus the attention to the kind of activities that are going to be delivered in the classroom. As I previously explained, in the English class of 6th grade, students use the book “Super Minds 5” that contains a huge variety of exercises to develop individually and in groups. Written by a highly respected author team, Super Minds has been carefully crafted to help your students achieve their full potential. Whilst exploring social values, the course methodically enhances your students' thinking skills, sharpening their memory and improving their concentration. (Cambridge, 2015). Through the units of the book, we can find projects that students can develop in group and individually, giving them the opportunity to show what they have already learned.. It is also important to portrait the idea of the use of the text book in the classroom as an alternative for teachers that have not enough experience in the field. “Textbooks provide organized units of work. A textbook gives you all the plans and lessons you need to cover a topic in some detail” (Teachervision) By using this tool, teachers save lots of times dedicated to plan the classes and look for material related to the unit. Moreover “Textbooks are a detailed sequence of teaching procedures that tell you what to do and when to do it. There are no surprises—everything is carefully spelled out” (Teachervision) This can be an.

(17) 17. advantage for teachers that have no time to plan or use to be disorganized with their lives. As I mentioned the advantages, there are more disadvantages at the time of using text book, therefore teacher have to be careful about the use or overuse of this tool.. Finally we have to mix these ideas of new methodologies of group work, peer assisted learning, young learners work and the material provided by the book. All these represent the core of the investigation that will be aimed to make that all students work in class, no matter if some of them are slower than some others, the idea is that they learn in the English class. Moreover, students will benefit in some other areas using this kind of methodologies, As pupils get to know each other as learners, trust builds and so do contribution and collaboration: members become more likely to ask questions, express a minority opinion, play the devil's advocate, or publicly wrestle with ideas. Concerns about peer judgment and fear of criticism decrease. (Watkins, 2004) In some cases they get motivated and have a better disposition in the class. Additionally values are important in this school; therefore group work should be one of the best ideas to implement in this course.. Methodology As this research is focused on my practices as a teacher to foster students’ participation in the class, I need to see changes through the time, therefore one useful tool for this investigation would be a journal. This instrument has lots of benefits to my investigation since:.

(18) 18. Journal writing is something of a ‘classic’ tool in AR as it allows you to record the events and happenings in your location, your reflections, beliefs and teaching philosophies, your ideas and insights about your practice, and your personal histories as a teacher researcher. (Burns, 2010) Moreover, writing periodically on my journal will allow me to see if there is a change through the time and realize if the data that I will collect, it is going to help me in this investigation. I will take some minutes during the class to describe everything I am seeing, my impressions, changes, things that I need to improve, students’ attitudes and every important fact related to the investigation. After the class, I will read and analyze the data in order to complete some isolated ideas and compose a brief summary of the class.. Furthermore, students will have to work with their books, so that will be another source and we can recognize it as a classroom document. “[This instrument] can become a means for collecting data and identifying key issues – or even being confronted with some surprising feedback.”(Burns, 2010) The text book contains lots of activities related to topics of different disciplines, group work to rehearse communication and projects at the end of each unit. Also, in the case of group projects and external group activities, I will take pictures to support my investigation.. Finally, to make sure that students feel self-confidence with their knowledge, after and before the intervention, they will answer a questionnaire in order to know how comfortable they feel when they have to develop exercises from the book. These questionnaires are going to be given twice, one will be at the first class of intervention and the other at the end of process..

(19) 19. Questionnaire Through this questionnaire (see appendix A) I am going to be able to know the preferences of the students in terms of working in class. According to my journal notes, I have noticed that the methodology that I use in the English class has not had the expected results, so I will give a questionnaire to the students, so I can collect evidence of my practices and also look for possible future improvements in terms of methodology. The questionnaire consists of eight questions, which are focused on students’ perception of the English class and preferences of working. The question number one is: Do you like English classes? Why? This question is focused on the preferences of working in class. As I mentioned before, they have to use their book in all the English class and work individually, therefore they have been taught using just one methodology (teacher centered). This question aims to know if students like this methodology or if they really think that classes need improvement. The following question is: How do you feel working alone? According to my journal notes, I have observed that some students find very difficult the exercises of the textbook and ask to the teacher for help. Sometimes, there are more than five students who need help to complete the exercises of the textbook and the teacher cannot help all of them at the same time because it takes lot of time and the rest of the students will lose the continuity of the class. Therefore, this question aims to find out the students’ feelings regarding to this method of work; if they feel comfortable by working alone or if they feel they are not listened by the teacher. The question number three is: Would you like to work in groups? Why? Here, my intention is to introduce group work as a new way of working, by proposing them a change in the usual methodology. Since most of the classes have been the same, this question aims to open a new perspective of the methodology used in the classroom. Next question is: Do.

(20) 20. you think you can speak in English if you work in groups? Why? This question is based on the observations that I wrote on my journal. It says that in some classes, when students have to practice communication, they can produce some sentences, but they sometimes do not receive feedback. The teacher cannot give them personal feedback to all the students since there is not enough time to do it. Therefore this question is basically to know if students are/feel prepared to communicate using English in the English class or if they are not sure about their abilities. The question number five is: What do you expect from group working? By asking this question, I want to know students’ disposition towards how we have been working during the whole year. Also, some of them may have experiences regarding to this method, therefore they can write something related to work in groups. Question number six is: Do you think it will help you? Why? The purpose of this question is to know if students realize the importance of group work. Moreover, it is expected that students give some positive characteristic of this method of work. The question number seven is: Do you prefer working alone? Why? According to my journal, some students do not like to work with other people since they have always worked alone. Therefore, by asking this question, I will be able to know who wants to work in groups and who does not. In the case that there are students that really do not want to work in groups; I will take special considerations to include them into a group. The final question is: Do you have any suggestion for future classes? By asking this question, I want to know how students want to learn English. Students know that they will work in groups, but suggestions are always positives to have good relationships.

(21) 21. Pictures In order to have empirical evidence of the previous work of the students, I will take photos to four pages from the textbook of a student that has an irregular participation in the English class. According to my journal notes, he is one of the five students who do not follow the instructions the teacher gives. What I observed and then wrote on my journal was that this student waits for the teacher to copy the answer at the end of each exercise. As the class has to continue, the teacher asks to everyone to give their answers of the exercises and then those answers are discussed with the class and finally they are written on the whiteboard. When this student is asked to show what he has done during the class, he shows the same that is on the whiteboard, giving no prove of his work during the class. Moreover in exercises of personal opinion or individual working, he does not complete the exercise since the teacher does not check all the students for the correct answer. We can see this behavior in appendix B figure 1 in the exercise 3 of page 59: “Draw 3 objects. What are they made of and what are they used for?” at the time of work using their own ideas, he does not complete it and leaves continues with next exercise. Furthermore, if we take a look to appendix B, figure 2 and 3, we can see that all the exercises are already completed, but according to my journal notes, this and 4 other students have this same behavior during the English classes, they copy the exercises from the whiteboard, but at the moment that the teacher asks them about what they learned from the exercises, they say “I do not know”. The pictures of appendix B, figure 2 and 3 show us the behavior that I previously described. In appendix B, figure 3, exercise 2, page 61 says: “Rewrite the sentences” the teacher gave them the chance to work in pairs because of the complexity of the exercise. We can see that these students just completed two of the six exercises and then when the teacher asked for the answers, the student took his classmates textbook and claimed that he completed the.

(22) 22. exercise. Next page was individual work, and the same behavior was repeated, if we take a look to appendix B, figure 4, we can see that just exercise number one is completed because the teacher completed it, but the next two items are not finished, so at the end of the class I borrowed his book to take photos and have empirical proves of the participation and work during the class.. Intervention plan After consulting different literature already mentioned in this action research, I came up with an intervention plan based on group work. According to my journal notes, some students of 6th grade A are used to copy the answers from the whiteboard to their textbooks. Moreover the participation is not frequent and when the teacher asks them to answer a specific question, they just say “I don’t know” or “I haven’t finished it” having no disposition to learn the contents and waiting for the teacher to copy the answers on the board. Keeping in mind this issue, my intervention plan will be the following: Step 1: The first class of intervention, students are explained that we are going to change the way we are used to learn, giving them a questionnaire with questions related to their preferences of learning. It is expected that students answer the questionnaire in English, but if they feel more confident answering it in Spanish, they are allowed to do it. The main idea here is to know about their preferences and I am not going to evaluate neither grammar nor English in this step. Therefore, students are going to be given ten minutes to complete the questionnaire. Step 2: next class, students are going to be explained that they are going to work in groups and also the teacher is going to ask them if they have a notion of why we are changing the way of teaching/learning in the class. The idea here is that students realize the.

(23) 23. reasons why of all of this. Then the teacher makes groups of four students. The class is composed by 15 students in the classroom, two of them have adequate classes, this means that their work in the English classes is less than the rest of the students, therefore they have a special book with Basic English exercises. These two students will compose one group, then the 13 other students will compose 3 groups, two groups of 4 students and one of 5 students. The process of choosing group members is not just because, students cannot choose the people they want to work with because “Allowing students to select their own group members can work well in small classes, but this method always runs the risk of further isolating some students or creating cliques within the class as a whole” (Gross, 1999) The students are grouped using the teacher criteria to create heterogeneous groups, which means that in each group there will be students with different levels of English and compatible in terms of relationship. Step 3: Before start working, the teacher will give them two important objectives: the academic and social skills objective: The academic objective must be specified at the correct level for the students and matched to the right level of instruction according to a conceptual or task analysis. The social skills objective details what interpersonal and small group skills will be emphasized during the lesson. (Johnson, 1991) The teacher will write “the mission of today’s lesson” that will be some pages of the book, then the objective of the lesson that will depend on the objective of the book according with the unit they are developing. After giving the academic objective, the teacher will give the social skills objective that will consist of emphasize the collaboration inside the group. Students are told to help all the members of the group and when one member has a doubt, he or she has to ask to the partners of his or her corresponding group..

(24) 24. Moreover, students are told that they have to discuss every exercise with all members, it is expected that they all develop the same exercise at the same time, helping to each other and do not giving them the right answers. The purpose of this is that students collaborate and also participate in the group, we have to remember that the problem was focused on the lack of participation in the English class and looking for a solution that make students change their habits inside the classroom. Finally, the teacher will give them time to finish the “mission of today” Step 4: Once students are working in groups, the teacher is going to be walking around the classroom and talking with each group. In this step, the teacher will give students a specific role inside the group according to their capacities. One of them will be the leader of the group; the students who have a higher level of English will be the leaders, it means that he or she will be responsible to read the exercises of the book and explain them to his or her classmates, in the case they need. Other member will be the encourager and observer; he or she is going to be responsible to encourage his or her classmates to contribute in the group and checking that all of them are working, not just copying the right answers. The other two members of the group will be the reporters; at the end of the class, the teacher will ask the groups to give the right answers to make sure they have completed the exercises correctly. Step 5: The teacher will be asking questions about the work they are doing depending on the exercise they are developing. For example, if they are developing exercises related to past simple, the teacher will ask the students “What is an irregular verb?” or “What is the past for of the verb “go”?” and also the teacher will ask about the work inside the group; “Have you had problems in the group?”, “Do you need any change in the group?”.

(25) 25. Step 6: when the time given at the beginning of the class finishes, the teacher will ask them if they finished “the mission of today”. In the case, students do not finish the work on time, the teacher will give them a couple of minutes to complete all the exercises. After that, the teacher will ask the reporters to give the correct answers of some exercises in order to discuss with all the class if the answers are right or wrong. Once all the pages of the textbook are already checked, the teacher will close the class making question to all the students. Those questions will be about the contents of the class and also about how they managed the group work. It is important to mention that the teacher here accomplishes the role of mediator or guide, since students will be responsible from their own learning. Moreover, when the exercises turn difficult and students are not able to answer by themselves, the teacher will have to intervene and help the whole class with the exercise. Also when there will be exercises based on listening, the teacher will provide them enough material to develop the task correctly. In the case of the two students that are integrated on the English class, they are given a special book with exercises of Basic English. They have to do the same as their classmates, in their group they have to work and develop the exercises together. The teacher will be also checking their work during the class. The contents seen in the intervention will depend on the units of the text book. It means that I will not going to use extra material to work in groups, rather that, I will include all the contents and activities of the text book as if they were planned for group work. The mission of the class will be some exercises of the book that will have to be developed, for example: each page has about 3 or 4 exercises. The mission is to complete.

(26) 26. those three or four exercises in a specific time decided by the teacher. As it will be group work, the first mission will consist of complete one page, so I can realize how the work is going on. At the end of each mission, the teacher will check the answers by asking to the reporters of the groups. When I make sure that all the students have the same answers, I will give them more time to complete more exercises of the book. The time will be based on the complexion of the exercises and also for what the teachers’ text book recommends for each item. There are items in the text book that enhance speaking and phonetics. Some of them will be answered for all the groups at the same time, so we are going to practice phonetics and pronunciation all together and the teacher will guide them with this sometimes difficult item. Some other exercises will not be completed, because as they will have to be speaking in English during the class, they will be practicing the language, therefore to practice these kind of exercises will be a waste of time. There are some listening exercises in the book that students will have to complete in order to continue to the next item. In these cases, the audio will be played at the beginning of the class in order to provide them all the necessary material to work in their groups. Moreover if the listening exercise is presented at the middle of the work, the teacher will ask them to stop whatever they are doing and to pay attention to the audio, this will help the teacher to make sure that all students are completing the listening exercise. As the English teacher has one extra hour of classes, the she will use the book as she normally does it with the students; this means that the work in groups would be used only in my classes. In addition as we have to complete the book, she will have to report me how many exercises students completed in order to be organized and plan the time for each “mission” of the class..

(27) 27. If one group does not finish the exercises during the time given by the teacher, they will have more time to complete what they have not completed. If this issue is repeated constantly, there will be changes in the group because it will not be working as the teacher expects. Finally the intervention is thought to be delivered in four classes; the first one will consist of fulfilling the first questionnaire, the second one will be the presentation of this new methodology and work in some pages of the book depending on the time. The third class would be working in groups and the last class would be class work and answer the same questionnaire, but the ideas is to have the new information about students’ perception of this new way of working. Action plan timeline Interventions. Date. Detail of the intervention. 1st intervention. October 2nd. Complete the first questionnaire. 2nd intervention. October 9th. Create groups and explain the new methodology of working Assign roles to the students Write the objectives and missions of today’s class Work in groups Change the members of the group Ask for the right answers Monitoring the progress of the class Ask about what they learned today.

(28) 28. 3rd intervention October 16th Write the objectives and the mission Work in group Monitoring the class Ask for the answer of the exercises Give them feedback of their work Ask about what they learned today 4th intervention October 23rd Write the objectives and the mission Work in group Monitoring the class Ask for the answer of the exercises Give them feedback of their work Complete the questionnaire again Ask about what they learned today. Data analysis To begin with, I would like to mention that at the moment of giving the questionnaire to students, I explained that this was not a test and it was not going to be graded; therefore students will answer it honestly. Besides, I told them that if they find difficult to answer in English, they can use Spanish, the main idea of the questionnaire is to know the opinion and feeling of the students regarding to the English classes and the methodology I was using at that time..

(29) 29. Before the intervention After analyzing the answers of the questionnaire, I realized that English classes were not well commented by the students, many of them wrote that they did not like the classes and the idea of working alone was normal. Moreover at the moment of mentioning this new concept of group working, they immediately agreed and consequently some students were motivated by the idea of working with friends, some others just filled it quickly in order to spend time doing things not related to the class. According to my journal notes, the students who were used to copy the answers from the whiteboard finished first and started to talk and draw in their notebooks. When students were asked about speaking in English with their groups, the majority of them answered that it was difficult and the idea of speak in English was not a possibility for them. Some students directly answered that they do not speak in English and therefore they were not going to do it. Students immediately understood that this new idea wanted to help them, so at the moment of answering if they thought that this new concept of working would help them, the majority answered positively and preferred the idea of group work rather working alone. At the moment of asking them for suggestions, they answered: more dynamic activities as games, music, and singing. This shows the real connection with the disconformity of the methodology I use in my classes. To summarize, students are not satisfied with the way I teach them. At the moment of asking them to change the methodology, they immediately answered positively and got motivated with the idea of changing. Students do not know if they can speak in English, but in some cases they, at least, will try, and finally they need more dynamic classes instead of fulfill the exercises of the book..

(30) 30. While the intervention According to my journal notes, at the beginning students did not understand the idea of group work and they were all the time asking the teacher to solve their problems. The three groups showed confusion towards the way they were working, but after I explained them again what the “new rules” were, so they understood the idea and started to work in their textbooks. As the pictures attached in appendix D, figure1, 2 and 3 show, students were concentrated working and developing the exercises as a group , all together at the same time. Moreover it is important to highlight that all members of the different groups participated during the class, asking questions and listening to what their classmates said. After making some changes in one group, students understood the idea of group work and applied it in the class, giving instruction to their classmates and avoiding that other groups’ members bother inside the group. The leaders of the group accomplished their roles giving orders and claiming that they are the responsible for the class work. In my journal I could see that in the last intervention, the students identified as “lazy” and “poor working in class” were highlighted because of their work. I could observe that some of them participated, asked and were an active part of their group. Moreover, as I gave them the role of reporters, some of them were very interested on having the right answers to finally read them aloud and avoid mistakes. According to my journal notes, in one group, students were discussing about the answer of an exercise. Four of them discussed about the order of a sentence, two had the same answer and the other two had different answers. What I considered interesting in this argue was that all of them gave me their reasons and some of them were right, even one of the students who were not used to participate in class, she showed me some notion of.

(31) 31. knowledge, even though her final answer was wrong. It proved me that all members of the group were participating actively and putting effort in their work. The group composed by two students acted similar to their classmates. They use a different book with Basic English exercises. This is thought to improve their skills and finally make them work in English. These two students use the same methodology, they worked together but in this case, students used Spanish to argue their answers. They also asked me whenever they needed help.. After the intervention After the intervention, students were given the same questionnaire again, and the results were different compared to the ones given before the intervention. At the moment to answer them about the English classes, they all answered positively, a huge change in contrast with the first questionnaire where students did not seem happy with these classes. At the moment of asking them about their preferences between working alone or in group, all students answered that they preferred to work in groups and put emphasis on working with friends and having fun while they are learning. When they were asked about speaking in English during the classes, their reaction changed, now some of they speak in English with their classmates, they also make me questions using English and they encourage the other students to use the target language. The disposition changed compared to the previous questionnaire and I could notice that when one student answered “es dificil pero mis compañeros me ayudan” (Appendix E, figure 1) he or she answered in Spanish, but the idea was clear, maybe he or she could not speak English all the time, but this new idea of group work was successful in this point, because all the members of the group helped that student to speak a language that maybe he or she finds difficult, but at the time of speak it, his or.

(32) 32. her group helped him or her to manage it. At the time to ask them about what they expected by using this new methodology, students changed their minds, now they knew that English was a tool of communication because their answers were all aimed to speak with someone or just improve the language, showing a change in comparison with the first questionnaire. Finally at the time to recognize the importance of this way of work, they were very honest and answered that this method of working would help them because they have to speak in English and solve problems without the help of the teacher, so it created independence and better relationships with their classmates. Finally when students were asked if they preferred to work alone, they all answered negatively and some of them give reasons like “it’s not funny” (Appendix E, figure 3) and suggested more games and dynamic activities.. Reflection and analysis of the intervention After reviewing some concepts about psychology and new different ways of teaching, I could clearly realize that the problem was me and the way how I taught. Altamira school is a place where values and human relationships are the focus of the education, giving students the space and tools to develop themselves, helped by the whole community. Keeping in mind this, ideas about cooperation and working with partners came to my mind When I analyze my practices as a teacher, I immediately realized that something was wrong there, I taught like my guide teacher used to teach, standing in front of the classroom asking for the right answers. Also, there was not fluid communication between me and the students, I was focused on complete an amount of pages of the textbook according to the annual planning. At the beginning I thought it was normal to teach like.

(33) 33. that, but when I realized the problems that provoked that way of teaching in some students, I put emphasis on looking for ways to change my methodology. The objective was clear, I had to change the method I used to teach to enhance students’ participation, but which one should I choose? There are a lots of methodologies that a teacher can use in the classroom, but keeping in mind the vision of the school, I decided to use group work in my classes because it enhances participation among students, and it helps to develop personal opinion, as well as, critical thinking. Moreover, by using this methodology, students can face real problems, discuss, use arguments and recognize that they all are different, so they have to be respectful with each other.. At the beginning of the intervention, students were informed about this new methodology and the changes that were going to be in the class. Students understood and immediately asked me about the groups, they wanted to create the groups, but I declined for their request based on the literature I already read. It recommended the teacher to create the groups since he or she recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of his or her students. Keeping this in mind, I created heterogeneous groups based on their knowledge of English and their participation in the class. When groups were already conformed, they did not get the whole idea, so after making some changes and explaining the new mode of working again, they started to work. After this step, I could clearly realize that the students, who did not usually work in the English class, were working and contributing to their groups. While I was monitoring the progress of their groups, I was asking students about if they liked working like this, and I received positive answers from them and at the same time, I could prove it by observing their achievement in their groups..

(34) 34. Roles in the groups were given according to the profile of the students. At the time that students were given their roles in the group, they clearly understood why I assigned that role; the students with low participation in class were given a special role, the reporter. It basically means that he or she will have to give the right answers at the end of the mission, so the groups can compare their answers and correct them if it is necessary. The low-participation students were sometimes the most active in their group since they knew that it was their responsibility to give the right answers to the whole class, therefore I was able to observe them many times motivating their classmates, arguing for some questions and giving their opinion as much as possible. In a moment I imagined that they knew that those students were in my aim because they actually were working and participating in their groups, and at the time to ask them about the contents, they showed knowledge, maybe not all the answer were correct, but they were trying to learn and speak in English, accomplishing with the purpose of the activity that was to foster participation in the classroom. At the beginning of this reflection I mentioned psychology because at the age of 11 and 12 years old, students experiment some changes in their lives, they have physical changes and the relationship with the rest of their classmates is different, they acquire new social skill and learn from their peers. Moreover in this period of their lives, students can solve problems by thinking, create criteria and express their point of view. Keeping in mind those aspects, group work helped them to share their points of view, the students who did not work in classes learned how to listen to their classmates, participate and contribute in the class, accomplishing again the objective of the intervention, but now seen under a psychological scope..

(35) 35. At the end, the four classes of intervention were successful, I did not have to repeat the rules and how they had to work again; at the beginning of the two next classes, students waited for the objectives (academic and social) and the mission, and then they started to work. They understood the idea of collaboration and being responsible for their groups, and in some opportunities there were competitions among the groups, which group had all their answers correct or which group worked faster. As the pictures and the questionnaires showed, students experienced a change by using a different methodology with them, they wanted more dynamic activities, to be in contact with their friends, to discuss and show their points of view. Furthermore, I noticed that they had a proper behavior during the days of the interventions, there were not students walking around the classroom nor shouting from one corner to the other, most of them were concentrated on completing the exercises of the book and discussing with their partners about the best solutions. Finally, one negative aspect of this intervention was the group of two students with low level of English. They always work apart from their classmates, because they use a different book with Basic English exercises. They worked fine, but at the time to give the mission for all of them, they asked me “What do we have to do now?” I obviously gave them a different mission, but I could no include them in all the steps of the intervention. Both of them had the same roles, worked and reported to me all the answers and activities that they did in the classes. They worked perfectly, but I truly believe that I have to look for a strategy that includes them within their classmates, even if they do not use the same book, they should be included in future classes. Additionally, my guide teacher asked me to include this methodology in all the courses that I taught, because she also could notice the change that students had in terms of working in class, participation and behavior. Once I implemented this methodology with other courses (5th grade A and 6th grade B) I could.

(36) 36. notice something similar to the 6th grade, some students got motivated and enhance participation in their groups.. Conclusion As a conclusion, I can say that the intervention was successful. I exhaustively followed all the steps mentioned in the Gantt chart in order to accomplish the main objective of this action research; which it is to answer the research question. To enhance participation of the students of 6th grade A of Altamira School, I had to change my own practices in the classroom, to give students roles and responsibilities. Group work helped them to express their own ideas, contributing with a common objective which was stablished at the beginning of the class. According to the results of the first questionnaire, I was able to conclude that students needed more dynamic activities (See appendix C). As they expressed, students were unsatisfied with the English classes because they found them bored. Moreover, they got motivated at the time to accomplish “the mission”, since they worked very hard to finish all the exercises before the rest of the groups. I had to make some changes in the groups since some students did not understand the idea of cooperation and communication inside the groups. It was basically to discuss and choose the best answer for every exercise of the book; participation in this step was essential to accomplish the objective of the intervention, as well as, to foster participation in the English class. Once changes were made, the intervention worked perfectly, students discussed and participated into their groups. I also had to help some students, this was because they were not used to work in groups, and so I had to guide the students and give them a piece of advice for a good communication with the people..

(37) 37. This negative reaction from some students made me think about the literature that I read, it said that there will be cases where students do not feel comfortable in their respective groups, therefore we immediately have to relocate them in other groups. If this attitude persists after the first change, it means that those students are not interested on working with their classmates for any reason; therefore I should consider applying new strategies to encourage them to participate in the groups. Fortunately, at the time to make the changes, it all ran perfectly and those students could be part of the group work activity. Personally I believe that the changes that this class had were all positives. Since I wrote some notes in my journal before the intervention about the results of the questionnaires that students answered after the intervention, I could see the changes through the time in some students. At the beginning I mentioned that some students did not participated in the class, they waited for me to copy the answers in the whiteboard and at the end they did not understand what the class was about. After the intervention, I could observe the same students participating and collaborating in the class, showing a change in their behavior and their disposition towards the English class. Additionally, I was able to see that students created partnership because now some of them have a better relationship than before; those students discussed in their groups, but after a while they understood the others’ point of view and also understood the idea of the group work, so they created bonds inside their groups. Finally, this investigation need more time to have the real results. I just spent four classes to see the changes, but it does not mean that those results were enough to improve participation. This method implies an exhaustive monitoring during the whole semester at least, if the main idea is to participate and be an active part of the class, I cannot make sure that students changed their habits just because they work with more people, it can also be a.

(38) 38. coincidence because they got motivated with this new way of working, but what will happen in one month? Or even in the whole semester? Maybe there will be some changes in their attitude along the time, therefore it is necessary to analyze the whole research again and include some new activities to attract students to group work again and also it could be a very good idea to replace students monthly with the purpose to enhance communication with their classmates and also to refresh the way they work. Obviously the changes cannot be randomly, it is expected that groups are heterogeneous, so students can learn from their peer and also contribute to their groups, therefore the roles also should be reassigned to have a very nice experience inside the classroom..

(39) 39. References. . Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. Routledge.. . Erford, B. (2010). Group work in the schools (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.. . Gross, B. (1999). Cooperative learning: students working in small groups. Speaking of teaching, 10 (2).. . Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (1991). Cooperative learning: Increasing college faculty instructional productivity. Washington, DC: School of Education and Human Development, George Washington University.. . Shaffer, D., & Kipp, K. (1999). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence (8th ed.). Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Pub.. . Super Minds | Primary. (2015).Cambridge University Press. Retrieved October 9, 2015.. . Textbooks: Advantages and Disadvantages. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2015,. from. https://www.teachervision.com/curriculum-planning/new-. teacher/48347.html?page=1 . Topping, K. (2005, December) Trend in peer learning. Education and psychology, 25 (6), 631-645.. . Watkins, C. (2004) Classrooms as learning communities. NSIN Research matters, 1-8..

(40) 40. Appendix Appendix A Questionnaire for students Questionnaire: 1. Do you like English classes? Why? 2. How do you feel working alone? 3. Would you like to work in groups? Why? 4. Do you think you can speak in English if you work in groups? Why? 5. What do you expect from group working? 6. Do you think it will help you? Why? 7. Do you prefer working alone? Why? 8. Do you have any suggestion for future classes?.

(41) 41. Appendix B Pictures of the book with exercises uncompleted Figure 1. Figure 2.

(42) 42. Figure 3. Figure 4.

(43) 43. Appendix C First questionnaire completed Figure 1. Figure 2.


(45) 45. Figure 5. Appendix D Students working in groups Figure 1.


(47) 47. Appendix E Second questionnaire completed Figure 1. Figure 2.


(49) 49. Appendix F Picture of the book with exercises completed Figure 1. Figure 2.






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