Action Research workshop presentation.

1. Action Research and
Innovation Workshop
Tan Kan Tsai

2. Workshop
Content
Definition of
Action
Research
Key Features
of Action
Research
Action
Research VS
Conventional
Research
Action
Research
Processes
Template &
Writing Report

4. Definition of
Action
Research in
Education
As researchers, they conduct practical action
(intervention) for the purpose of:
Improving or increasing the
quality of their own practices
(teaching and learning)
Improving own understanding
about the practice as well as the
situation where the practice is
conducted.
Action research is a study in the form of self-
reflective inquiry conducted by educational
practitioners, teachers or educators as
researchers in their own social situations.

5. Key Features of Action Research
1. In the context of everyday tasks
2. Conducted individually/ in group
3. The research is directly involved in improving the practices
4. Using self-reflection activities/ methods
5. Done systematically
6. Conducted continuously

6. Action Research Helps Teachers to:
Systematically identify problems in the teaching and learning process.
Identify
Generate new and different teaching ideas/ methods/ techniques/ strategies to
address the problems in the teaching and learning processes.
Generate
Improve the practices (TnL) through self-reflection and reflection of TnL throughout the
period the study was conducted.
Improve
increase competence, self-confidence and collaboration among teachers.
Increase

7. Action Research VS Conventional Research
Aspect Action Research Conventional Research
Purpose • Improve own TnL practices • Creates new field of knowledge
Design • Procedure can be modified based on self-
reflection
• Procedure is maintained throughout the
research
Literature
Review
• Not the main focus because the research is
conducted in the context of the
practitioner daily task.
• Main focus to get information about the past
researches about the problem.
Sampling • The respondents are the students taught
by the practitioner in their daily task.
• Respondents are selected through a sampling
technique.
Data Analysis • Qualitative or quantitative data analysis
through descriptive statistic.
• Qualitative or quantitative data analysis
through descriptive statistic and inferencing
Researcher • The teacher who is teaching the sample. • Not necessarily a teacher

8. Action Research VS Conventional Research
Aspect Action Research Conventional Research
Intervention • can be modified according to the situation
based on self-reflection and student
learning progress
• Maintained throughout the research
Outcome • Solve problems to improve their own
practice in the classroom and student
development. Findings are not generalized
• Produce new innovations or technologies to
facilitate learning. Findings can be
generalized to populations
Study proposal • Based on findings on own actions and how
to improve own practice in the future
• Based on the findings of the study and how
the findings can contribute to the particular
field of knowledge.

9. Action
Research
Processes
• O'Leary's cycles of research

11. Issue
what learning issues/ problems exist among students in your school or classroom?

12. What is the main issue in your lesson?
Issues that are related to your own practices?
Issue that is practical for you to handle?
Is this issue relevant to your practices?
Is this issue manageable?
Is this issue important to be handled?
Do you need to solve this issue?

13. Example of Action
Research Notes
• Year 6 pupils are weak in answering
reading comprehension questions
in English Subject especially
questions involving reasoning and
describing.

14. Observation
Observation Self-inquiry Question Reflection
1. The initial study revealed that
pupils were especially weak in
answering 2 types of questions
which were:
- Double Clause. Why?
- Describe…
1. Why pupils were weak in
answering these types of
questions?
2. How do I teach them to make
suitable reasoning in PDPR?
3. How do I teach them to make
suitable description during
PDPR?
1. Although pupils can read but
they can’t really understand the
passages.
2. Give them more exercises and
guidance in giving reasons (using
Quizziz).
3. Give them more exercises and
guidance in making description
(using Quizziz).

15. Observation
Observation Self-inquiry Question Reflection
2. From further observation, it
was found out that pupils
were unmotivated in
studying (especially reading).
4. Why were pupils
unmotivated in studying
especially during the
pandemic?
5. Why were pupils
unmotivated to read at home
during PDPR?
a) Will pupils understand the
passages in their textbook
(by themselves at home)?
b) How did I find about the
passages in the textbook?
c) How do I make them love
reading?
4. They lost their purpose of studying due to
the abolition of UPSR.
“Kenapa perlu belajar, bukannya ada UPSR
pun?”
5. The reading materials were uninterested to
them. (textbook)
a) Probably not because most pupils were
weak in English and had limited
vocabulary to understand the passages in
the textbook.
b) I found that about 70% of the passages in
the textbook were mostly boring.
c) Introduce them with interesting reading
materials (Manga/comic) *That’s how I loved to read
and learned my reading skills.
pupils didn’t really read
the passages…!
Most pupils only spent less than a
minute to read passages with
about 300 words.
THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!

16. Observation
Observation Self-inquiry Question Reflection
3. Pupils weren’t serious in
answering their test paper
(during GG1 in March 2021).
6. Why were pupils unserious
when answering their test
paper?
7. Is it still relevant for pupils to
answer test papers?
8. How will the pupils be
assessed without UPSR?
9. What are the new
opportunities from this
change?
6. The abolition of UPSR makes it meaningless
for them to answer the paper.
“Kenapa perlu belajar, bukannya ada UPSR
pun?”
7. No, since the marks from exam are no
longer a part of the assessment.
8. Pupils will be assessed through PBD
(Classroom-based assessment)
9. Pupils no longer needed to focus on exam.
They can focus on important skills instead

17. Planning
Intended objectives/ targets.
a. pupils are able to answers reading comprehension
questions involving reasoning.
b. pupils are able to answers reading comprehension
questions involving giving description.
c. Improve pupils reading skills by the integration of
manga/comic in reading comprehension.
d. Motivate pupils to read for information and
enjoyment.

18. Conducting
Research
Summary of Action
1. pupils read certain pages in a certain
manga/ comic in Quizziz.
2. Pupils answer reading comprehension
questions in Quizziz.
3. Teacher marks pupils’ answers.
4. Teacher analyse the data by comparing
pupils’ mark to their mark from the initial
study.
5. A questionnaire was used to get pupils
responses to see if objective “D” is
achieved.

19. Conducting
Action Research
(step 1)
• Pupils read certain pages in a
certain manga/ comic in
Quizziz.
• The diagram shows the
examples of questions given
to pupils in Quizziz.

20. Conducting
Action Research
(step 2)
• Pupils answer reading comprehension
questions in Quizziz.
• The diagram shows that 8 pupils had
answered the quiz.

21. Conducting Action
Research (step 3)
• Teacher marks pupils’ answers.
• Here are some examples of pupils’
answers and marks.

22. Conducting
Action Research
(step 4)
• The data were analysed by
comparing it to the initial
study to see if objective “a”,
“b” and “c” were achieved. *These pupils never score any mark in subjective reading comprehension questions. So,
their initial marks for Q3 – Q5 are zero (0).
- Objective “A” was achieved. pupils had shown improvement in answering reading comprehension questions involving
reasoning by 43.75%. (Q4)
- Objective “B” was achieved. Pupils had shown improvement in answering question involving giving description by 31.25%.
(Q5)
- Objective “C” pupils reading skills had improved by 63.75% after the integration of manga/comic in teaching reading
comprehension. (average scores)

23. Conducting
Action Research
(step 5)
• A questionnaire was used to
get pupils’ responses to see
if objective “D” is achieved.
• Based on the finding, it is
concluded that objective “D”
is achieved.
- All pupils agree that it is more interesting to learn reading comprehension through Manga/comic.
- All pupils agree that the pictures in Manga/Comic help them to understand some new words
- All pupils agree that they are interested to read more about the manga/comic.

24. Conclusion
This action research is a huge success.
The integration of manga/comic in teaching reading
comprehension has proven to be effective in improving
pupils reading comprehension skills.
Pupils were more motivated to learn reading
comprehension when more pictures are involved and less
words are used.

25. Re-
observation
Pupils were found to be still weak in
answering reading comprehension
questions when normal passages/ texts
were used.
However, there was slight improvement
seen is some pupils as they were seen to
be able to predict the answers by relating
it to the questions.
Example:
Question Answer
Do you…? Yes/ No…
Why? because…

26. Re-reflection
The success of this action research is closely related to
the nature of manga/comic itself, which communicates
messages with lots of pictures and simple dialogues.
Pupils were able to perform better when manga/comic
was integrated in the TnL of reading comprehension
because of some factors which are:
• pictures in manga/comic helped pupils to better understand the
information or messages.
• Less words in manga/comic which was less stressful to the pupils.
(pupils stressful when they see long complex texts/ passages)
Weakness of this study: Manga/ comic used in the TnL
of reading comprehension may not be aligned with the
topic/ syllabus in Year 6.

27. Suggestion of
future Study
• Future study can be done by
“integrating pictures in Teaching
and Learning reading
comprehension”
• Instead of using manga/comic,
teacher will teach the passages in
the textbook with the aid of pictures.
• The passages can also be divided
into smaller parts so that pupils will
feel less stressful.
Adapted from: The Knight of the Night. Year 6 English Textbook. Page 4