A Collaborative Action Research on Creating English as a Foreign ...

A Study on Building English
developer to collect and organize artifacts in many formats (Barrett, 2000). With the help of
computers, teachers can work with students to create a permanent digital scrapbook that
students can take with them when they graduate. The following devices can be used to
create digital portfolios (Oros, Morgenegg, & Finger, 1998): Computer networked to a server,
scanner, digital camera, computer with AV capabilities, VCR, camcorder, and CD recorder.
Owing to the advantages of digital portfolios, in this study we used a digital teaching
and learning portfolio to build a permanent portfolio for teachers as well as students. We
utilized some of the equipment listed above to record the teaching and learning process and
activities.
METHODOLOGY
<strong>Research</strong> Structure
What is action research? Kemmis and McTaggart (2000) stated that:
<strong>Action</strong> research is a form of collective, self-reflective inquiry that participants in
social situations undertake to improve: (1) the rationality and justice of their own
social or educational practices; (2) the participants' understanding of these
practices and the situations in which they carry out these practices. Groups of
participants can be teachers, students, parents, workplace colleagues, social
activists or any other community members - that is, any group with a shared
concern and the motivation and will to address their shared concern. The
approach is action research only when it is collaborative and achieved through the
critically examined action of individual group members. (p. 529)
Based on the issues regarding action research indicated above, we designed our research
structure based on Tsay’s (2001) model as shown in Figure 1.
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