CRITICAL THINKING & REFLECTIVE PRACTICES (8611)

ASSIGNMENT # 2

Q.1 When can teachers conduct action research, how is it different from applied research and why is it needed?
Answer:

Action research is either research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. There are two types of action research: participatory and practical. Denscombe (2010, p. 6) writes that an action research strategy's purpose is to solve a particular problem and to produce guidelines for best practice. Action research involves actively participating in a change situation, often via an existing organization, whilst simultaneously conducting research. Action research can also be undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies, practices and knowledge of the environments within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its work practices.

Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term "action research" in 1944. In his 1946 paper "Action Research and Minority Problems" he described action research as "a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action". Action research is an interactive inquiry process that balances problem solving actions implemented in a collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis or research to understand underlying causes enabling future predictions about personal and organizational change (Reason & Bradbury, 2001). After six decades of action research development, many methods have evolved that adjust the balance to focus more on the actions taken or more on the research that results from the reflective understanding of the actions. This tension exists between

1. those who are more driven either by the researcher's agenda or by participants;

2. those who are motivated primarily by instrumental goal attainment or by the aim of personal, organizational or societal transformation; and

3. 1st-, to 2nd-, to 3rd-person research, that is, my research on my own action, aimed primarily at personal change; our research on our group (family/team), aimed primarily at improving the group; and 'scholarly' research aimed primarily at theoretical generalization or large-scale change

Action research challenges traditional social science by moving beyond reflective knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables, to an active moment-to-moment theorizing, data collecting and inquiry occurring in the midst of emergent structure. "Knowledge is always gained through action and for action. From this starting point, to question the validity of social knowledge is to question, not how to develop a reflective science about action, but how to develop genuinely well-informed action – how to conduct an action science". In this sense, performing action research is the same as performing an experiment, thus it is an empirical process.

Different from applied research and why is it needed:

Currently there is considerable interest in action research (AR) in the language teaching field. The December 1999 issue of The Language Teacher, for example, was devoted entirely to this subject. Action research is now frequently promoted as a new way for teachers to develop professionally and to investigate their classroom practice. But, despite the growth of new publications now discussing action research, would-be teacher researchers are not always necessarily clear about what action research is, or how it relates to other kinds of applied research in the second language teaching field with which they may already be familiar.

Take, for example, the following comment from a teacher with whom I recently worked on an action research project (see Burns, 1999).

My experience of doing action research is that it is difficult to grasp or explain the concept until one is in the process of doing it. It is in the doing that it starts to make sense and become clear. (Jane Hamilton, personal communication)

On the JALT Teacher Education SIG action research listserv, Dale Griffee recently raised the issue of how AR relates to other kinds of research that aim to have applications to second language teaching and learning:

What is the difference between AR and applied research? The answer has to be a characteristic that is not the case for applied research. I don't think we can say that AR is done by teachers, and that is its defining characteristic, because applied research is also done by teachers all the time. What are the characteristics that set AR aside and mark it as different?

This question is useful and challenging. In my experience, it is one that is frequently asked by teachers new to action research: How is action research different from other research? Action research and applied research are in some ways similar and overlapping, but there are also important differences between them. In this article I will attempt to draw out some of these similarities and differences, and address, in particular, the question of what characterises action research. I'll focus this exploration by first considering two hypothetical examples of research that might be carried out on the topic of classroom strategies to enhance oral interaction.

Example 1

As part of the introduction of a new syllabus, a researcher wishes to know whether the use of group work will improve students' ability to speak English. The researcher first consults the literature on this area of research and decides on the approach and methods to be used. The researcher's hypothesis is "Group work will increase the development of both fluency and accuracy in oral tasks." The researcher assigns one group of students in a school to an experimental group, where all classroom tasks are conducted through group work for a period of two months. An equal number of students (the control group) are taught using the same tasks through a whole-class, teacher-fronted approach for the same period. In order to ensure that the students in the experimental group are not at higher levels of language learning to begin with, the researcher first administers a test. She then assigns students to the groups on the basis of the test results. At the end of the two months, each of the groups is given a further identical test in order to see whether the use of group work has resulted in higher results for the experimental group. The results show that the students assigned to group work have performed at a higher level in relation to fluency, but that their performance on some aspects of grammatical accuracy is lower than the control group. The researcher publishes the findings of the study in a journal.

Example 2

As part of the introduction of a new syllabus, a researcher decides to move away from the use of whole-class speaking activities in his classroom. He decides to introduce more group work for certain tasks and to observe how the students react. He assigns students to groups and keeps a journal noting down his observations over a period of two weeks. At the end of this period, he notes that some students are not participating in the group tasks and are increasingly reluctant to work in groups. He decides that students are unused to this approach and need more practice. He increases the use of group work and assigns students to the same groups. He also asks the students to complete a survey on their responses to group work. His own observation and journal entries, as well as the surveys indicate that students are becoming even more reluctant to do group work. The teacher discusses the problem with some colleagues who suggest he tries letting students choose their own groups. The teacher tries this strategy over a further period of one week and notes that students are less reluctant. He also observes that the groups do not remain static, but appear to change according to the task. He decides to try a further approach of giving students a choice of tasks. This approach works even better and interaction amongst the students increases noticeably.

You may have already decided (correctly) that the first is an example of applied research, while the second reflects an action research approach. Both of these examples are, of course, simplified and idealised, but they do perhaps serve to draw out some of the essential similarities and differences between action research and applied research.

The first thing to note is that both approaches adopt a scientific perspective (Cohen and Manion, 1994) on the issues they are investigating. In other words, they are both concerned to go beyond intuitions or assumptions, and to use a systematic approach to asking questions, collecting data, analysing the data, and drawing out conclusions and interpretations from the findings. However, there are differences in the approach. The first study adopts an objective stance in which the researcher attempts to control variables that may affect the findings and to identify possible relationships between the treatment (group work) and the outcomes (increases in fluency and accuracy). The action researcher is not interested in establishing relationships of this type, but instead wants to find the best possible ways of setting up new classroom activities. This is a more subjective perspective, concerned with exploring different ways of teaching and deliberately changing conditions in the classroom.

Q.2 Write down a critical essay on the current syllabus of Urdu taught at grade five.
Answer:

Curriculum is typically a phenomenon which includes many dimensions of learning, including rationale, aims, content, methods, resources, time, assessment, etc; which refers to various levels of planning and decision-making on learning (for example, at the supra-, macro-, meso-, micro- and nano-levels); or, international, national, local, classroom and individual levels; and which relates to multiple representations of learning (for example, as already mentioned, ‘intended’, ‘implemented’, ‘attained’, etc). Curriculum can be understood as the totality of what children learn while at school – including what they learn through classroom activities; in interdisciplinary tasks; across the school, for example, in the playground, at lunch time when eating (civic responsibilities, etc.). This curricular totality also includes opportunities for wider achievement through sport, music, debating, and the like. For the purposes of this paper, curriculum is defined in a holistic, process-oriented way. This definition is based on the belief that, while curriculum might commonly be perceived as a set of documents, the quality of those documents is closely connected to the processes used to develop them and to the means through which they are put into practice. In other words, judging the quality of the curriculum itself cannot be done in isolation from the broader processes of curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.

The syllabus has been structured to cover each of the three years of Primary 1-3. Each year·s work has been grouped under five sections or themes (Diversity of matter, Cycles, Systems, Energy and Interactions of matter). Each of these themes is related to everyday experiences of the child, and to commonly observed phenomena in the child·s environment. The main aim is to enable pupils appreciate the links between different scientific topics and thus help them to integrate scientific ideas in dealing with phenomena. The sections/themes cover a core of concepts which provide broad based understanding of the environment upon which the foundation for further study could be built.

The topics under each theme are not to be looked at as separate or isolated blocks of knowledge. In general, there are no clear borders between these themes. There are some topics that are common to different themes. A conscious effort should therefore be made by the teacher to let pupils see the link between themes whenever possible. In particular, it will be noted that Systems, Energy and Interactions of matter are closely related. Another feature of the syllabus is the Spiral Approach. This is characterised by revisiting concepts and skills at different levels with increasing degrees of depth at each stage. The spiral approach has the benefit of matching scientific concepts and skills to pupils· cognitive development. It therefore helps pupils to build a gradual mastery of scientific skills.

Diversity of matter

Pupils should recognize that there is a great variety of living and non-living things in the world. Humans seek to organise this great variety to better understand the world in which they live. There are common threads that connect all living things. There are also unifying factors in the diversity of nonliving things that scientists use to classify them. The study of the diversity in the world should also help pupils to appreciate the importance of life·s diversity and therefore take necessary steps for maintaining this diversity. Topics covered under Diversity of matter include the following:

· Variety and characteristics of living things

· Materials

· Classification of organisms and materials

Cycles Pupils should recognise that there are repeated patterns of change in nature and should seek to understand how these patterns occur. Examples of cycles are the day and night cycle, life cycles of living things and the recycling of resources. Studying these cycles helps humans to understand the Earth as a selfsustaining system and secondly, helps humans to be able to predict events and processes. Topics included under cycles are as follows:

· Life cycles of the mosquito

· Water cycle

· Day and night cycles

· Convection and ventilation

· Reproduction in plants and animals

· Land and sea breezes etc.

Q.3 How can students and parents be a part of the assessment and evaluation process? Explain with examples?
Answer:

All effective educators use ongoing assessments to determine their students’ ability levels in various academic areas and to guide their instruction. In the realm of special education, the assessment process is absolutely essential. Parents, teachers, specialists and counselors depend on multiple assessments to identify a student’s strengths, weaknesses and progress.

What Are Assessments?

Assessments often include various tests, both standardized and criterion-referenced, but testing is not the only way that educators measure students’ aptitude. Assessments are evaluations, and might consist of anything from simple observations that a teacher or aide jots down while a student works on an assignment to complex, multi-stage procedures such as a group of teachers assembling a large portfolio of student work. Then there are assessments that are required by individual schools, districts or states that help educators determine whether or not a student qualifies for special education and, if so, the types and frequency of services that will best support a student’s success.

Common assessments in special education include:

Individual Intelligence Tests: As the name suggests, individual intelligence tests are administered to a student one on one.

· Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC): The school psychologist usually administers this test, which measures a student’s intelligence in a variety of areas, including linguistic and spatial intelligence. This is a norm-based test, meaning that student performance is measured against the performance of students at various grade levels.

· Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale (derived from the Binet-Simon Test): The school psychologist or special education team administers this test, which, like the WISC, is also norm-referenced. The questions are designed to help educators differentiate between students performing below grade level because of cognitive disabilities and those who do so for other reasons.

Group Intelligence Tests: Group intelligence and achievement tests are often administered in the general education classroom. It is through these types of tests that a teacher might first suspect that a student has a learning disability. These tests have two functions, measuring academic ability as well as a child’s cognitive level.

Skill Evaluations: Specialists such as the school speech pathologist and the child’s general practitioner use certain diagnostic measures for determining a child’s gross motor skills, fine manipulative skills and hearing, sight speech and language abilities. Teachers typically refer parents to a pediatrician or specialist so that the student can receive a full physical and evaluation as part of the process of gathering the evidence necessary to develop an individual education program (IEP).

Developmental and Social History: The child’s classroom teacher, parents, pediatrician and school specialists help formulate this narrative assessment. They may fill out checklists, answer questions, participate in an interview or write a report addressing a child’s strengths, challenges and development (or lack thereof) over time. The focus here is on issues such as the child’s health history, developmental milestones, genetic factors, friendships, family relationships, hobbies, behavioral issues and academic performance.

Observational Records: Anyone who works with the child can provide information about the child’s academic performance and behavioral issues. Daily, weekly and monthly observational records that show a child’s performance over time typically fall into the domain of the general education teacher, as he or she is the individual working most closely with the child on a regular basis. The general education teacher also typically has a firm notion of how a child’s work and behavior compares to that of other students of the same age and grade level.

Samples of Student Work: The general classroom teacher also provides most of the evidence in this domain. A folder of assignments, tests, homework and projects can provide a snapshot of a child’s abilities and challenges in performing grade-level work. A more nuanced portfolio, which may include a research project, a writing assignment with several drafts or samples of work throughout a thematic unit, affords the materials for an in-depth investigation of a child’s learning style, thought process and ability to engage in critical thinking tasks.

Who and What is Involved?

1. Anyone involved in the child’s life and education might suspect a learning disability or similar issue and ask specialists to explore it further.

2. The first person to conduct an informal assessment is typically the classroom teacher, though a guardian or pediatrician might start the assessment process. At this point, the teacher should review student work and conduct more formal observations of student behavior and performance to note any issues.

3. A classroom teacher or pediatrician might request a referral to a medical specialist, therapist, psychologist or other specialist to focus on a particular area of concern. These individuals keep written records of findings, and should also write descriptions of any discussions concerning the child.

4. The school’s special education department or student study team begins informal and formal evaluations. They will request that the classroom teacher and other individuals working with the child submit any evidence gathered.

Why So Many Assessments?

In the world of education, quantity is not always quality. However, educators require multiple measures to ensure that they gain an accurate picture of a student’s performance compared with others at the same grade level. This process is essential, because a student might not do well on a specific assessment due to performance anxiety or a learning disability, but an alternate measure might demonstrate that the student can function at grade level given certain conditions. For example, some students perform poorly on standardized tests but do well in authentic assessments (those that mirror the usage of skills in the real world) such as hand-on projects.

What Does It All Mean?

No single test or evaluation can capture a child’s full spectrum of strengths and challenges. Assessments give educators guidance as to how to provide the best services and support for children, but they are not everything. As a parent or teacher, you will provide multiple assessments on an ongoing basis. From these, you can create short-term and long-term goals for the child.

For example, if you find that the child has trouble meeting grade-level benchmarks in writing, you might focus on broadening the contexts in which the child writes, providing multiple opportunities for engaging, authentic practice. The child might write lists, label maps, keep a dream journal, sing songs and record the lyrics, try different forms of poetry or start a blog.

In the course of practicing and refining skills, the child should be given time for self-assessment. Student-led activities such as reviewing work and choosing items for a portfolio allow metacognition (thinking about thinking) to happen. This process is underscored by the fact that a student’s work need not look identical to the work of grade-level peers, but that the child should instead focus on improvement over time.

Q.4 On any of the social media that you use - Facebook, twitter or whatsapp, make group teachers. Initiate a discussion regarding classroom issues and write down a report of what was the topic. What did different people said what your conclusion is?
Answer:

I’m a big fan of social media. Facebook, Twitter, blogging platforms and other ‘web 2.0’ sites offer users the ability to publish their thoughts and exchange ideas with a global audience. In this article I will be discussing ways that you can use social media in your classes and courses.

You can use them in the following ways:

1) Building a class blog, where students can take it in turns to write posts on topics of interest. Other students can then add comments. The teacher will probably need to moderate, as comment threads can sometimes become heated and if you are representing an educational institution, this could become a tricky issue.

2) Creating lessons based on blogs. I once devised a reading task taking four types of blog- one academic, one on the life of an ambulance driver, one personal blog and another on current affairs. I had students skim read each blog and answer thematic questions. They then exchanged their opinions on each blog and decided which one seemed most interesting. We then had a language analysis task, with samples of text from each blog. Students examined differences in style (i.e. formality), lexis and tone, before focusing on the personal blog, which used more colloquial language. After a matching task where some key phrases were identified, students were set the task of writing a blog entry on something they had done that week.

3) Having students start their own blogs. For this to work, they will probably need support, as blogging is a habit that has to be kept up consistently and it takes time to get good at it. Teachers can do this by examining the discourse features of personal blogs and producing a structured lesson that enables learners to mimic these features in their own writing. Common discourse features of personal blogs are:

· Short posts

· Informal or colloquial language

· First person perspective

· Contemporary topics

· Taking on the form of a dialogue with readers (especially in comment threads)

Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging site. Microblogging involves writing very short updates on what you are doing, your ideas, activities, links to interesting sites and so on. Twitter limits updates to 140 characters, and these updates are known in the Twitter community as ‘tweets’. When you join the site, you can ‘follow’ other users’ tweets, which appear in a kind of news feed when you sign in. They have the option of following you back. There is the same culture of regular updates as with regular blogging- and some users are very prolific, tweeting many times per day, while others are less active.

The short length of tweets is linguistically interesting because it forces the writer to be very concise, and to focus very specifically on the readers’ interests.

Some ideas for using Twitter in a course:

1) Twitter warmer: Focus on a Twitter feed from a news source such as the BBC or CNN. In small groups, learners can read one tweet and try to predict the broader details of the story. They can then exchange ideas with another group before checking fuller details online.

2) Twitter search activity: Twitter has a powerful search tool that allows users to look for specific search items in the ‘twittersphere’. Learners can be given an item of new vocabulary, for example, and search for authentic examples of use in real time. They can then derive the meaning from context (with appropriate support from the teacher).

3) Practice of short forms- the concise nature of Twitter lends itself to this

4) Practice of the present continuous- the immediacy of Twitter suggests the present continuous, e.g. ‘writing an article on social media in the EFL classroom’

Facebook and other social networking sites

Social networking sites allow users to make connections and keep in touch with other users, who become ‘friends’. As there is the possibility to interact via messaging (both instant and via a form of email service) and status updates (you say what you are doing), there is the opportunity for language practice.

Some sites are more or less ‘serious’ than others. LinkedIn, for example, is a social networking site for professionals, and has an appearance and functionality to match. How these sites can be used in class totally depends on the level to which your class members are willing to interact with each other in a (relatively) private space, and how suitable that is.

Some ideas:

1) Create a class group on a social networking site. Groups are a form of virtual club. If the group has a clearly defined purpose, which can be defined in class (perhaps as a task making use of various language items), this will encourage online activity. The teacher can act as an administrator, suggesting topics for discussion and posting links. This can become more exciting if members are attracted from outside the class by class members inviting their friends to join.

2) Your school can create a profile on the site and students can become friends with the school. Teachers can then answer students’ questions online and engage in discussions. This will also have the effect of boosting the school’s profile.

Conclusion Teachers must be aware that while it’s easy and exciting to put your thoughts all over the web, you must be aware of the law in the country you are working in. You must also be particularly careful if you’re working with minors and ensure that no sensitive information is revealed online. Remind your learners never to share addresses or location specific contact details with people online who they don’t know. You can help protect them by making blogs password protected, protecting Twitter updates and creating hidden profiles on Facebook.

You should also check terms of use and privacy statements to make sure you know what the owners of the sites are doing with any information they collect and to check that the services are suitable for the age group of your class ( Many don’t allow users below the age of 13)

Q.5 Chose two news TV channels who provide opposite narratives of political scenarios. Write down a short report of how did you notice the different of opinion and what is your conclusion on the issues.
Answer:

Some see the conflict between Geo and ARY as a kind proxy war for a larger struggle, involving the Pakistani powers that be - over who really controls the country.

The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on a slightly complicated media story that reveals much about politics and power in Pakistan.

"The competition was rooted in how well the channels themselves were performing ... but over time, it morphed into something way more ugly, way more public," says Sadaf Khan, director of programmes, Media Matters for Democracy.

April 2014 marked a turning point in the competition between the two channels.

An attempt on the life of Geo News' most prominent anchor, Hamid Mir, put the journalist and his channel on a collision course with the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI. Mir had reported extensively on the agency and said he was convinced it was behind the attack.

This wasn't the first time the ISI was accused of targeting a journalist.

In 2011, investigative reporter Saleem Shahzad was kidnapped and then found dead in northeast Pakistan. Shahzad had documented three warnings from the ISI, letting him know his work had put him on their radar.

Now, three years later, the Mir case put the lingering issue of alleged rogue operations of the ISI back in the headlines, and ARY waded into the debate.

When ARY backed the ISI, it ostensibly aligned itself with the intelligence community and the military - the Pakistani establishment.

Geo, on the other hand, was seen to be allied with the elected government.

"The Geo-ARY debacle was perceived to be a proxy war between the establishment and the government of Pakistan," explains Munizae Jahangir, senior anchor and executive producer, AAJ Television.

ARY News made it personal by accusing Geo TV owner Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman of taking money from Indian intelligence and using it to defame and discredit Pakistan.

Such accusations can get you killed in Pakistan.

"One of the main allegations was that we had run this campaign for peace between India and Pakistan, which was a media-led campaign - The Times of India, and The Jang Group had come together. This was completely an initiative that was funded entirely by ourselves - we had absolutely no funding from any international organisation, let alone intelligence agencies, and, and yet, continuously, documents were waved on the screen," says Geo TV president Imran Aslam.

"The editorial stance taken by our channels on various issues are different ... However, if you work on the behest of any government or you ally yourself with a government, then your journalism is flawed and the Jang and Geo group's output are perfect examples of this," says ARY News host Arshad Sharif.

ARY reported that Rahman has escaped to Dubai with the active collusion of elements of the Pakistani government.

"Blasphemy accusations in Pakistan lead to vigilante justice," says Khan.

Thus Geo TV and the Jang Group took their case against ARY News to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the Pakistani courts. Those cases dragged on and are still pending.