Chalsie Kennedy

FL 694

November 16, 2014

Action Research Reflection

As a component of my FL 694 Practicum in Second or Foreign Languages class,

I was asked to carry out a classroom action research project. This was something new
to me, but something I found intriguing. Jean McNiff (2002) describes action research
well when he says built into action research is the proviso that, if as a teacher I am
dissatisfied with what is already going on, I will have the confidence and resolution to
attempt to change it. I will not be content with the status quo. (pg. 5). This quote
motivated me to do just that.
After thinking about some of the things I am dissatisfied with in my classroom, I
came to the conclusion that the number one problem that I would like to address first is
target language (TL) use and anxiety levels. Every year, I try to push my students to
use the TL as often as possible and this year hasnt been any different. In my level 3
and level 4 classes, I have put a lot of emphasis on TL use and have been concerned
about the progress of it so far. My students have been resorting to their native
language (L1) way too often and other students have avoided participation altogether
even when they are reminded over and over again. Therefore, I decided the question I
wanted to address is how can certain activities help increase TL use while also
decreasing anxiety levels.
Before a two week research cycle, a group of 11 level 3 high school students
were asked to take a pre-questionnaire that looked at their current anxiety levels.
During the research cycle, two different activities were put in place for a week at a time
in order to see their impact on target language use in the classroom. The first activity

was a rewards system that rewarded students for using the target language and
punished them by taking away rewards when they resorted to their native tongue. The
second week, students were given a whole class daily participation grade based on
target language use.
In order to see the true impact of these activities, I kept a journal that detailed
target language use and symptoms of anxiety that I observed during every class.
These journal entries and the information given in the pre-observation questionnaire
were used along with results of a post-questionnaire to analyze the impact these
activities and other changes in teaching methods had on TL use and classroom anxiety
levels.
The findings were very enlightening. Based on the pre-questionnaire, an
average of 38% of my students responded to the questions in a way that was indicative
of FLA. This is concerning, but could be a possible explanation for why my students are
resorting to their L1 as often as possible and are hesitant to participate. The findings of
this questionnaire imply that significant FLA is experienced by a large percentage of my
class. Their responses show that most students experience some degree of anxiety in
at least one aspect of foreign language learning. The aspect that is addressed the most
in this questionnaire is communicative apprehension, which seems to be the main
source of anxiety in my classroom. In the questions that address this area of FLA, 42%
of students answers reflect that they become anxious when they must speak in the TL,
whereas only 30% show signs of text anxiety.
After seeing these statistics, I was even more hopeful that the two activities I
planned to put in place during the research cycle would decrease the anxiety levels in

my classroom environment and also promote TL use. Based on the daily journal I kept,
it is clear that the rewards system was a great method for increasing TL use. By the
end of the week, classes were almost entirely in the TL. Every day, students resorted to
their L1 less and less. It was clear that using a rewards system, motivated them, kept
them on task, and even made class fun. Although some students still showed small
signs of FLA, the majority of students seemed more confident in their abilities and were
less hesitant to use the TL in front of me and their peers.
In the pre-questionnaire, the students already assured me that a rewards system
would encourage them to use the TL more often (72%). Even 36% of the class believed
it would decrease their anxiety. The post-questionnaire testifies that their assumptions
were correct. The amount of students that believed the rewards system would increase
their motivation went from 72% to 90%. After trying it out for a week, instead of 36% of
students believing it would decrease their anxiety, 63% acknowledged that it did
decrease it in the post-questionnaire.
The pre-questionnaire and my daily journal demonstrate that although the
conversation gauge motivates them to use the TL, it was not nearly as successful as the
rewards system. According to the pre-questionnaire, 36% of my students believed they
would be more motivated to use the TL if participation was part of their grade and only
18% believed their anxiety level would decrease. After a week of implementing the
class participation grade, the numbers changed much more than I wouldve guessed
based on my own observations. The amount of students that believed the
communication gauge would increase their motivation went from 36% to 72%. Instead

of 18% of students believing it would decrease their anxiety that number increased to
45%.
Clearly, these results show that although the rewards system was more
successful, the participation rubric also helped achieve both goals. The notes in my
daily journal did point out that the students strayed from the TL more often throughout
the second week and overall they just seemed less likely to participate. The shell that
I seemed to break through during the rewards week, reappeared the week of the
communication gauge.
The other classroom activity that was a factor in decreasing anxiety was think
pair share. The students already recognized that this would decrease anxiety (72%)
and promote TL use (54%) in the pre-questionnaire. In the post-questionnaire and
through classroom observations this held to be true. It was extremely successful in
meeting both goals. According to the results of the post-questionnaire, this exercise
was the most effective in promoting TL use and decreasing anxiety. 91% of the
students testified that think pair share encouraged them to use the TL more and 81%
said it decreased their anxiety levels.
Overall, these findings were very informative. Before the research cycle, an
average of 38% of my students responded to the questions in a way that was indicative
of FLA. However, this number dropped to 29% in the post-questionnaire. In the
questions that address communication apprehension, answers that reflect anxiety when
speaking the TL dropped by 16%. The post-questionnaire also revealed that 63% of
students believed their anxiety level decreased over the 2 week research cycle and the
entire class acknowledged that they used the TL significantly more.

I hope to continue using both activities in my classroom along with utilizing think
pair share more often. The findings of this action research project will allow me to refine
my educational philosophy in order to maximize students language acquisition in my
classroom. The information I learned in the published research articles can be
supplemented with this research that focuses on the learners in my specific classroom.
Although I did a lot of research on TL use and foreign language anxiety, doing the
research on my own and seeing how things truly work for my students was more
beneficial that reading any journal article. Like Mike Shomoker (1999) points out, the
research we do at the local level collaboratively is what makes formal, outside
research work. Outside research cannot be installed like a car part it has to be fitted,
adjusted, and refined for the school contexts we work in (pg. 77).

References
McNiff, J. (2002). Action research principles and practice. London: Routledge.
Schmoker, M. (1999). Results the key to continuous school improvement (2nd ed.).
Alexandria, VA.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.