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原创不易，公益翻译，请随手转发。感谢！ 朋友们： “英语教学法原著选读”这个系列，4月份已经办到了100期。今年以来，我们在集中读一本名为《语言学习机制》的书，相信一直在关注本系列的朋友肯定已经熟悉了文章的结构，有些朋友估计已经对这种固定的套路感到有点厌烦了。OK，今天我就来发一篇不一样的，节选自应用语言学泰斗、TESOL前主席、人教社初中英语《新目标》教材的原作者David Nunan的论文“Action Research and Professional Growth”。 之所以选这篇，是因为教学研究、职业成长是中小学英语教师的切身利益所在，也是学生、家长的利益所在，更是因为这篇文章写得很有意思，很真实。我想，如果一篇文章打动了我，那我就有责任把这篇文章推荐给大家。也欢迎大家把打动了你们的教研文章、教学法著作推荐给我，我会在这里向更多的朋友推荐，让这些文章和著作起到更大的作用。 ------------------------ 翻译：Jennifer Wang 审校：武太白 ------------------------ What are some of the problems and solutions in doing Action Research? 在开展教学行动研究中存在哪些问题？有怎样的对策？ Some time later, I acted as facilitator for other action research network. This time it was not with a group of ESL teachers, but with a group of high school LOTE (Languages other than English) teachers. They taught a wide range of languages from Spanish and Italian through Vietnamese and Indonesian to Polish and Greek. This group kept diaries and journals of their experiences during the semester-long project. In the next section, I will summarize the problems and challenges that teachers reported through their journals. 过了一段时间，我为其他行动研究网络担任项目推动者。这一次不是和一群ESL教师（协作），而是和一群LOTE（非英语）外语高中教师。他们所教授的语言种类繁多，有西班牙语，意大利语，越南语，印度尼西亚语，波兰语以及希腊语。在为期一学期的研究期间，教师们以日记、日志的形式记录下他们的经历。我将在下一段总结他们在日志中所反映的问题和挑战。 Problems / challenges 问题 / 挑战 One of the issues that I asked them to document was the challenges, problems and pitfalls that they encountered along the way. A content analysis of their records at the end of the semester revealed five major areas of concern as follows:
我让他们记录的议题之一是他们在这一过程中所遭遇的挑战、问题和容易犯的错误。学期末对他们的记录进行的内容分析发现主要存在以下五方面的关切：
Lack of time was the single biggest impediment to carrying out their action research. It was mentioned by every teacher in the network, and some teachers mentioned it virtually every time they made comments in their journals. Teachers are busy people, and involvement in the network, without removal of any of their other duties, added considerably to the burden of their daily professional life.
缺乏实践是教师们进行教学行动研究最大的一个障碍。网络中的每位教师都提到过这个问题，而一些教师几乎每次在日志中写下评论都要提到。教师是忙人，在没有减少他们的其他职责的情况下让他们参与到网络中来，加大了他们的日常职业负担。
Not surprisingly, the second most frequently nominated roadblock on the road to success was "lack of expertise". The word research raises all sorts of fears and uncertainties in the minds of teachers. Research is what other people do. It conjures up images of scientists in white coats with measuring instruments and mysterious methods of carrying out statistical analyses. In fact one of the benefits of engaging in action research is to demystify the notion of research, and the idea that one needs a licence to practice. All teachers can do research, and should be encouraged to add a reflective teaching / action research dimension to their professional armory. The idea of setting up a support network with a facilitator (me) was to assist teachers to develop the basic skills of research design. These included: identifying a problem and tuning it into a researchable question; deciding on appropriate data and data collection methods; determining the best way of collecting and analyzing the data; evaluating a research plan and reducing it to manageable proportions.
其次最常提到的成功路上的绊脚石是“缺乏专业知识”，这也不奇怪。“研究”二字在教师心目中会引起各种恐惧和不确定。研究是其他人做的。“研究”会召唤出穿着白大褂的科学家用测量工具和神秘方法进行数据分析的画面。事实上，开展行动研究的好处之一就是使研究这个概念去神秘化，使“做研究要有执照”的想法去神秘化。所有教师都可以做研究，并应鼓励他们在职业技能库中增加教学反思 / 行动研究这一视角。建立有着推动者（我）的支持网络的想法就是为了帮助教师们培养的基本研究能力。这些基本研究能力包括：确定问题并使之成为一个可研究问题；选定合适数据并确定数据收集方法；选择收集数据和分析数据的最佳方法；评估研究计划，将其缩减到可控范围。
The third most frequently nominated challenge was lack of support "on the ground". This lack of support most often came from the individual to whom the teacher reported (most typically the Departmental Chair or Panel Head), or, in some cases, the school Principal. In some cases, the Principal refused to sign the release allowing the research to go ahead. In other instances, it was done reluctantly — the attitude being "Well, this is a lot of nonsense, but if you want to go ahead and waste your time, feel free. However, don't let it interfere with you proper job — which is to teach". Interestingly, resistance and negativity sometimes came from colleagues. This took the form of an attitude that to do research indicated that one had ideas above one's station. Lurking behind these negative attitudes was the notion that the proper job for a teacher is to teach, not to do research, and that this "make believe" role as researcher was not a legitimate thing for a teacher to be doing. To be fair, the opposite reaction was also encountered. A number of teachers reported that their status and esteem had risen among their peers as a result of having taken part in the action research network. 3. 缺乏持续性支持 第三个最常提及的困难就是缺少“基层”领导的支持。这种不支持主要来自教师的直接领导（最典型的是系主任或（教研）组长），或者，在某些情况下，是校长。有时，校长拒绝在同意开展行动研究的文件上签字。在一些其他情况下，他们勉强签了字——态度是“这其实是一大篇无稽之谈，但是如果你想做，把时间浪费在这个上面，我也不管你。不过，不要让这事影响到你的本职工作——教学”。有趣的是，有时这种抵触或者负面声音来自于同事，其表现形式是这样一种态度：一个人做研究，表明他有了超出自己地位的想法。这种负面态度背后的观点就是：教师的本职工作是教学，而不是做研究，而这个“假作”的研究者角色对教师来说并不是合情理的东西。不过，公平地说，也遇到过相反的反应。不少教师报告说，他们的地位和所受的尊重都因参与行动研究网络而在同事间得到了提高。
This was an interesting reaction. Any form of research carries within it the possibility of a negative result — or indeed no result at all. This view is reinforced to a certain extent by mainstream published research which rarely reports that research outcomes were inconclusive. These teachers were investigating aspects of their own practice. An inconclusive or negative outcome could be interpreted as a sign of failure, an indication that the person was an incompetent teacher. The fact that the results would be made public (see below) only added to the anxiety of the teachers.
这是个有趣的反应。任何一种形式的研究都会存在得出负面结果的可能性，或者完全没有结果。这种观点在某种程度上被强化，是因为那些已经发表的主流研究结果很少报道说研究结果并无定论。这些教师探究的是自己的教学。没有结论的或者是负面的研究结果可能会被解读为失败的标志，或者暗示研究者不能胜任教师岗位。研究结果会公开发布这一事实只会使教师更焦虑（见下文）。
This was the final most frequently nominated problem area. It was also the one over which I as the facilitator had the greatest difficulty. Teachers who have no trouble developing a sensible and coherent plan and putting it into action baulked when it came to writing up and making their research public. A number of them wanted to stop at this point, asking "why do we have to make it public" and "I find writing so difficult". The answer, of course, is that without a public account, the exercise constitutes reflective teaching, not action research. The publication need not be an article in a refereed journal. It could be a presentation at a teachers' conference.
这是最后一个频繁提到的问题。这也是我作为项目推动者所面临的最大困难。在设计合理连贯的计划并付诸实践方面没有困难的教师，在把研究内容组织成文并且发表时变得畏缩不前。不少人在这个时候都会停下来问：“为什么我们必须发表？”“我觉得写起来太难了。”答案当然很简单：没有公开陈述，此事只能算教学反思，而不是行动研究。其实研究发表不一定要在专业杂志上发文章。可以是教师大会上的一次演讲介绍。 |
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来自： 昵称70926123 > 《待分类》
