Using Action Research to Better Understand Effective Pedagogical Methods during a Teacher Preparation Program

By: Michael Foster

I never imagined going back to school after completing my PhD in French and second language acquisition almost 13 years ago, especially because there wasn’t really a need to do so at my first two universities, where I only taught French. However, now at EMU, I teach courses in PK-12 teaching methods, bilingual education, and also supervise student teachers completing their student teaching practicum in middle school or high school language teaching. Supervising these student teachers ultimately ends with the decision of whether or not they have successfully completed student teaching with a recommendation from me for certification as a future teacher. 

With this new responsibility, it became apparent that I needed to have a better understanding of the PK-12 educational setting and have my own certification as a secondary French teacher. After coming to this realization and discussing it with my department chair, I decided to go back to school and enroll in EMU’s post-bachelor program to receive my PK-12 teaching degree and certification in French. I have been taking education classes each semester and during the summer for the last few years, and this semester I am completing my student teaching in French at Novi High School. I am working with a wonderful cooperating (mentor) teacher who has been at the high school level for over 25 years; I am teaching her French 2 classes. 

I will be graduating next month and have already passed the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) in French and the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in French, both of which are required for certification. Looking back on these last few years, I realize how much I have learned, how it has changed my outlook on teaching for the better, and how much I will be able to share with students in my education classes going forward.

Throughout my time in the post-bachelor PK-12 French program at EMU, especially in my two practicum classes, which included over 60 hours of observations and teaching, and now in student teaching (Monday to Friday from 7:30 AM to 3:15 PM), I have been able to learn a lot of valuable information about what it is really like in a high school these days, what issues high school teachers deal with on a daily basis, and how they adjust their instruction to meet the needs of their 100-plus students. Taking in all of this valuable information, making notes on what to adapt and modify in my methods classes and practicum classes that I teach, and how I mentor my student teachers, is what is known as action research, according to Paul Main at Structural Learning. Specifically, Main defines it as: “a participatory process designed to empower educators to examine and improve their own practice. It is characterized by a cycle of planning, action, observation, and reflection, with the goal of achieving a deeper understanding of practice within educational contexts. This process encourages a wide range of approaches and can be adapted to various social contexts.” 

When teachers are able to engage in this process within their current educational setting, they are able to develop a growth mindset and find ways to improve what they are already doing on a daily basis in the classroom. Additionally, Barbre and Buckner (2013) advocate for the use of action research for student teachers during their student teaching placement to help them become more successful and familiar with teaching so they can better complete the placement and not become overwhelmed, or worse still, drop out altogether. They recommend that student teachers reflect critically about their teaching after they review data from sources such as video recordings of their teaching, interviews with students for feedback, and formal observations (such as those conducted by a university supervisor or a cooperating teacher). Student teachers will be able to use all of these sources to help them make improvements in various aspects of their budding teaching repertoire as they move ahead in their teaching careers.

Specifically, I have been collecting data from my observations of various language teachers at the high school, talking with my cooperating teacher about issues such as classroom management, lesson planning, and assessment in language teaching in the post-pandemic era, and receiving feedback on my own teaching from my university supervisor. It has opened my eyes to “how it really is” in the contemporary high school classroom and how the traditional lesson plan or assessment activity we tell our pre-service teachers to prepare is rarely taught or delivered in such a traditional way, given all the distractions and interruptions that can arise during each class period. 

With all these distractions and issues with student absences due to extracurricular activities or illness, teachers must modify the amount of content they can realistically cover and expect students to remember in one 55-minute class period. Many of the high school language teachers don’t use a textbook as the main source of content anymore, and they create their own materials based on a curriculum that somewhat follows a textbook. With all of these new insights, I have learned how to adapt and modify my own teaching practices to best fit the needs of the French 2 classes, and I receive daily feedback from my cooperating teacher on how I am doing with the students.

Going forward, I am going to have a lot of information to unpack, process, and then share at appropriate times with my EMU students beginning next fall. I look forward to doing so.