Teaching strategies Differentiated Instruction

32 Action research is a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview, which we believe is emerging at this historical moment. It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities Reason Bradbury, 2001, p.1. Further, they emphasized the key points of action research, which are participative and emancipatory in the purpose of pursuing practical knowledge and new abilities to create knowledge. In accordance with this, according to Stringer 2007, p.8, action research is “a collaborative approach to inquiry or investigation that provides people with the means to take the systematic action to resolve specific problems.” Action research has been practiced in diverse fields. As Kemmis, McTaggart, and Nixon 2014 mentioned, it has been employed in the fields of women’s movement, indigenous land rights, green and conservation activism, disease prevention, and in professional fields such as education, nursing, medicine, and agriculture. A number of terms such as industrial action research, action science, action learning, soft systems approaches, and participatory research have been employed in different fields with similar purpose of action research. Despite the different terms to address action research, they still share the common key features, namely people’s active participation in all aspects of the research process and people’s intention to make improvements over certain encountered problems Kemmis, et al., 2014, p.4. As a manifestation of postmodern civilization in education Mills, 2011, p.6 , participatory action research emerges as the “evolution of action research and practitioner research as practiced in education” James, Milenkiewicz, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 33 Bucknam, 2008, p.1. In this type of research, people and stakeholders are involved and their participation is highly required. As participation is the key element in this research, human justice, democracy, and equity are highly promoted in its process. Among the several fields, action research has been employed frequently in educational settings in the purpose of continuing academic improvements e.g. Varasarin, 2007; Mbato, 2013; Gustine, 2014; Mount, 2014. In education field, action research is defined as a systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers or other stakeholders in the teachinglearning environment to gather information about the ways of their educational settings operate, their teaching, and their students’ learning in the purpose of developing reflective practice as well as effective positive changes in educational practices, and improving students outcomes and the lives of those involved Mills, 2011. In short, action research allows academic practitioners to find effective solutions for local problems and increase the effectiveness of the work in which they are engaged Stringer, 2007. In the context of education in particular, action research aims to “identify a problematic situation” Burns, 2010, p.2 related to classroom, instructional activities, or curriculum, and bring out changes as well as improvements in order to overcome the problems. Thus, it is clear that the end purpose of action research is to improve “the quality of people’s organizations, communities, and family lives” Stringer, 2007, p.10. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 34

b. Process

The process of conducting action research has been made into models by numerous researchers in a dynamic way. The best-known and pioneering action research model that has provided the basics for more recent models is initiated by Kemmis and McTaggart 1988. This model involves four broad phases in a research phase, namely: planning, action, observing, and reflection. Figure 2.1 illustrates the respective model. Figure 2.1 The action research spiral based on Kemmis McTaggart 1988a, as cited in Burns, 2010, p. 9 The original action research cycle initiated by Kemmis and McTaggart 1988a above consists of four phases, namely planning, action, observation, and reflection. The details of each phase are elaborated further by Burns 2010, p.8. In the planning phase, a problem or issue is identified and a plan of action is 35 developed in order to bring about improvements in a specific area of research context. The following issues are considered: i What kind of investigation is possible within the realities and constraints of the situation, ii what potential improvements are possible. In this phase, in order to formulate the appropriate plan, theories on the related issues are explored. The individuals involved in the situation also contribute in this process. The second phase of action research according to Burns 20 10 is ‘action’. This phase is commonly referred as ‘acting’ or ‘implementing’. In this phase, the plan is carefully considered and put into actions together with the individuals involved in the research e.g. students. The third phase, ‘observation’, is often performed hand in hand with the ‘action’ phase. In the ‘observation’ phase, the phenomena happening during the action are observed systematically. The context, actions, and opinions of those involved are also documented. This is also the data collection phase in which the purpose is to collect information about what is happening through the implementation of the planned action. Finally, the fourth phase ‘reflection’ is performed subsequent to the three preceding phases. In this phase, the researcher reflects on, evaluate, and describe the effects of the action in order to make sense of what has happened and to understand the issue explored more clearly. The researcher may decide to go further cycles of Action research to improve more the situation. This model of action research cycle has in fact become the basis of modification of more recent action research cycles, which are elaborated further in the following compositions. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI