Discussion
The data that was gained from this action research study has a very positive and encouraging influence over my practice as a teacher and my furthered development as a researcher. I was very apprehensive at the beginning of this action research study because I had never conducted research before, and I certainly had never designed a research project. I was nervous that the methods I was using and the assessment tools I was administering were not going to be effective and useful in the overall study. However, I was passionate about my research topic and was excited to gain the results back from the phases to interpret. This mix between being nervous and being excited ended up benefiting me as a researcher because it caused me to be both cautious and energetic in my practice.
My findings show that EIL is a new concept to many students, and something that is highly influential over confidence levels and feelings of membership. This information has positively affected my practice and my development as it has become engrained in the basic foundation of my teaching methods. Upon the conclusion of my action research study, I began using various aspects from my three phases in my every day teaching methods. My outlook is different now, because I understand how new the information is to the students and I love being the one to teach it to the. However, it also puts into perspective how much more there is to do in terms of mainstreaming EIL and the effects that could have on English language learning. While I have read many researchers and educator' opinions on the negative aspects of considering English to be an international language, I believe that from what I have experienced so far is that the positives at this stage outweigh the negatives. I have had feedback from students telling me how interesting it is to learn about English and that they had never thought of a lot of the information before. The implementation of EIL has strengthened my beliefs in the necessity of accented English to become more widely accepted and for the shift from native-speaker pronunciation goals to goals for intelligibility to continue.
The data from my study shows that the students experienced exponential learning over the three phases, as they were exposed to new information throughout every phase. I watched my students learn, and grow, over the course of my study and become well-rounded with a stronger EIL foundation and a broader understanding of the world we live in, a world that utilizes English fully. The students' confidence levels in themselves and their increased feelings of membership were evident in their reflections and reactions to the activities. I watched as students who had been shy at the beginning of the study open up and increase their amount of speaking. Other students noticed this as well, and commented on how much more vocal our class became. The findings show a positive connection between the implementation of an EIL framework and students overall confidence levels and membership. That being said, my research question did a lot of evolving over the three phases. In the end, the question I was most concerned with was how a combination between explicit teaching and practical application of EIL can continue to increase student confidence levels and feelings of membership. My concern over whether or not the students' pronunciation goals had changed had waned. I realized that it was not the students' goals I was most concerned about, but in fact how connected they felt to the English speaking community and how confident they were with their own accents.
The findings from my action research study significantly altered my perceptions on research and being a researcher. I was hesitant to apply to graduate school because I did not want to have to conduct research. In my interview, I was asked if I had any specific research questions in mind. At that point, I had no idea what I wanted to research or how I was going to successfully complete a research study. However, it was the combination of teaching and being a student that made me realize how passionate I was at identifying student needs, and experimenting to find the best possible solution to meet those needs. I realized that when I was researching my own students, people I genuinely care about and want to help, research did not present itself as research to me. Instead it seemed like a lesson plan I was creating for myself in order to benefit my classes and my teaching practice. When I was creating my action plans and designing my assessment tools I realized the similarities between what I was doing as a researcher and what I had been doing as a teacher. My findings showed that I had been right, that there was a need that needed to be addressed, and that some portions of my phases were successful at meeting this need. This gave me confidence and showed me that although there were many strenuous times over the last four months, every mishap and struggle along the way was changing me into a better researcher and practitioner. Upon discussion with professors and peers, I realized that I was not alone in my initial fear or research, nor was I alone in the observation that research and teaching are not wholly different after all.
My findings show that EIL is a new concept to many students, and something that is highly influential over confidence levels and feelings of membership. This information has positively affected my practice and my development as it has become engrained in the basic foundation of my teaching methods. Upon the conclusion of my action research study, I began using various aspects from my three phases in my every day teaching methods. My outlook is different now, because I understand how new the information is to the students and I love being the one to teach it to the. However, it also puts into perspective how much more there is to do in terms of mainstreaming EIL and the effects that could have on English language learning. While I have read many researchers and educator' opinions on the negative aspects of considering English to be an international language, I believe that from what I have experienced so far is that the positives at this stage outweigh the negatives. I have had feedback from students telling me how interesting it is to learn about English and that they had never thought of a lot of the information before. The implementation of EIL has strengthened my beliefs in the necessity of accented English to become more widely accepted and for the shift from native-speaker pronunciation goals to goals for intelligibility to continue.
The data from my study shows that the students experienced exponential learning over the three phases, as they were exposed to new information throughout every phase. I watched my students learn, and grow, over the course of my study and become well-rounded with a stronger EIL foundation and a broader understanding of the world we live in, a world that utilizes English fully. The students' confidence levels in themselves and their increased feelings of membership were evident in their reflections and reactions to the activities. I watched as students who had been shy at the beginning of the study open up and increase their amount of speaking. Other students noticed this as well, and commented on how much more vocal our class became. The findings show a positive connection between the implementation of an EIL framework and students overall confidence levels and membership. That being said, my research question did a lot of evolving over the three phases. In the end, the question I was most concerned with was how a combination between explicit teaching and practical application of EIL can continue to increase student confidence levels and feelings of membership. My concern over whether or not the students' pronunciation goals had changed had waned. I realized that it was not the students' goals I was most concerned about, but in fact how connected they felt to the English speaking community and how confident they were with their own accents.
The findings from my action research study significantly altered my perceptions on research and being a researcher. I was hesitant to apply to graduate school because I did not want to have to conduct research. In my interview, I was asked if I had any specific research questions in mind. At that point, I had no idea what I wanted to research or how I was going to successfully complete a research study. However, it was the combination of teaching and being a student that made me realize how passionate I was at identifying student needs, and experimenting to find the best possible solution to meet those needs. I realized that when I was researching my own students, people I genuinely care about and want to help, research did not present itself as research to me. Instead it seemed like a lesson plan I was creating for myself in order to benefit my classes and my teaching practice. When I was creating my action plans and designing my assessment tools I realized the similarities between what I was doing as a researcher and what I had been doing as a teacher. My findings showed that I had been right, that there was a need that needed to be addressed, and that some portions of my phases were successful at meeting this need. This gave me confidence and showed me that although there were many strenuous times over the last four months, every mishap and struggle along the way was changing me into a better researcher and practitioner. Upon discussion with professors and peers, I realized that I was not alone in my initial fear or research, nor was I alone in the observation that research and teaching are not wholly different after all.