Mini-project for current teachers of English

English Teacher Case Study Mini-Project

This project is for LTC participants who are currently teaching English at UAEM or other institution. The project is MANDATORY. You will earn an additional project-based constancia upon completing and presenting your findings.

Description:
You will work with your partner to conduct Case Study Research to answer the following research question:
Does a 2-week immersion program lead to short-term improvement in L2 output?

You and your partner may choose to look at student gains in speaking, writing, or both.
You will:
1. Design a mini-project that will attempt to answer the research question. Determine whether you want to focus on speaking, writing, or both. In my opinion, it is more feasible to focus on one skill, but you and your partner may make this decision.
2. Find subjects for your study TODAY. Each person must choose TWO subjects (people) to follow during the two-week period. In other words, you will be studying the progress of FOUR people. The subjects can NOT be from our advanced class. Please choose your case study participants today after class.
3. Record the subject’s level TODAY. For example, if you choose to look at speaking progress, record them delivering an impromptu speech on a topic that you provide. They may do this via laptop or even on your smart phone. Of course, you’ll then transcribe the short speech into written form. If you choose writing, give the person a short writing prompt. You may also use the placement test essay that was submitted prior to arrival. If you choose to focus on writing, I will provide a copy of the placement test for your two participants.
4. Track the progress of your two participants daily. You may do this by conducting short, daily interviews, asking them to complete questionnaires, or logging the desired information in a notebook. Uncover the types of activities the person participates in. Does he/she go out at night? Does he/she stay in the dorm with friends?
5. On July 13th, give another short skill test. (I’m sure you can see where this is going!) You will then compare the progress of the first and second skill tests. You and your partner may determine how to measure progress. Some possibilities might be: Did this person show improvement in a specific verb tense? Has this person’s use of idioms/phrases increase? Does this person seem to be experimenting with more vocabulary? You may also choose to focus on pronunciation.
6. Your last day of research will be on July 13th. (Yes, this is a short project!) You and your parner will combine results and prepare an analysis.
7. You and your partner present your findings in a 15-minute presentation on Thursday, July 14. The best project will be asked to present at the clausura on Friday, July 15.

Option 2:
Instead of measuring skills, you and your partner may opt to measure language attitudes. The procedure will be quite similar, but your research question will change. Here, you may focus on self-confidence or general attitude toward the English language. The disadvantage of this option is that you will need to design your questionnaire and administer it TODAY and again on July 13. You will administer it to a minimum of 40 people.


For general information about case study research in ESL, please go to:
http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?cid=476&did=2153