Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611)

B. Ed (2/5, 1/5 Years)

Spring 2019
ASSIGNMENT No. 02

GROUP NAME =AIOU ASSIGNMENT +PAST PAPER FOR ALL FREE

ASSIGNMENT

Q.1 When can teachers conduct action research, how is it different

from applied research and why is it needed?
Answer:
Action research is either research initiated to solve an immediate
problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by
individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of
practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems.
There are two types of action research: participatory and practical.
Denscombe (2010, p. 6) writes that an action research strategy's
purpose is to solve a particular problem and to produce guidelines for
best practice. Action research involves actively participating in a
change situation, often via an existing organization, whilst
simultaneously conducting research. Action research can also be
undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided
by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies,
practices and knowledge of the environments within which they
practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others
to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its
work practices.
Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term "action
research" in 1944. In his 1946 paper "Action Research and Minority
Problems" he described action research as "a comparative research on
the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and
research leading to social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each of
which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding
about the result of the action". Action research is an interactive inquiry
process that balances problem solving actions implemented in a
collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis or
research to understand underlying causes enabling future predictions
about personal and organizational change (Reason & Bradbury, 2001).
After six decades of action research development, many methods have
evolved that adjust the balance to focus more on the actions taken or
more on the 2
research that results from the reflective understanding of the actions.
This tension exists between
1. those who are more driven either by the researcher's agenda or by
participants;
2. those who are motivated primarily by instrumental goal attainment
or by the aim of personal, organizational or societal transformation;
and
3. 1st-, to 2nd-, to 3rd-person research, that is, my research on my own
action, aimed primarily at personal change; our research on our group
(family/team), aimed primarily at improving the group; and 'scholarly'
research aimed primarily at theoretical generalization or large-scale
change

Action research challenges traditional social science by moving beyond

reflective knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables, to
an active moment-to-moment theorizing, data collecting and inquiry
occurring in the midst of emergent structure. "Knowledge is always
gained through action and for action. From this starting point, to
question the validity of social knowledge is to question, not how to
develop a reflective science about action, but how to develop
genuinely well-informed action – how to conduct an action science". In
this sense, performing action research is the same as performing an
experiment, thus it is an empirical process.
Different from applied research and why is it needed:
Currently there is considerable interest in action research (AR) in the
language teaching field. The December 1999 issue of The Language
Teacher, for example, was devoted entirely to this subject. Action
research is now frequently promoted as a new way for teachers to
develop professionally and to investigate their classroom practice. But,
despite the growth of new publications now discussing action
research, would-be teacher researchers are not always necessarily clear
about what action research is, or how it relates to other kinds of
applied research in the second language teaching field with which they
may already be familiar.
Take, for example, the following comment from a teacher with whom I
recently worked on an action research project (see Burns,
My experience of doing action research is that it is difficult to grasp or
explain the concept until one is in the process of doing it. It is in the
doing that it starts to make sense and become clear. (Jane Hamilton,
personal communication)
On the JALT Teacher Education SIG action research listserv, Dale
Griffee recently raised the issue of how AR relates to other kinds of
research that aim to have applications to second language teaching
and learning:
What is the difference between AR and applied research? The answer
has to be a characteristic that is not the case for applied research. I
don't think we can say that AR is done by teachers, and that is its
defining characteristic, because applied research is also done by
teachers all the time. What are the characteristics that set AR aside and
mark it as different?
This question is useful and challenging. In my experience, it is one that
is frequently asked by teachers new to action research: How is action
research different from other research? Action research and applied
research are in some ways similar and overlapping, but there are also
important differences between them. In this article I will attempt to
draw out some of these similarities and differences, and address, in
particular, the question of what characterises action research. I'll focus
this exploration by first considering two hypothetical examples of
research that might be carried out on the topic of classroom strategies
to enhance oral interaction.
Example 1
As part of the introduction of a new syllabus, a researcher wishes to
know whether the use of group work will improve students' ability to
speak English. The researcher first consults the literature on this area
of research and decides on the approach and methods to be used. The
researcher's hypothesis is "Group work will increase the development
of both fluency and accuracy in oral tasks." The researcher assigns one
group of students in a school to an experimental group, where all
classroom tasks are conducted through group work for a period of two
months. An equal number of students (the control group) are taught
using the same tasks through a whole-class, teacher-fronted approach
for the same period. In order to ensure that the students in the
experimental group are not at higher levels of languag
learning to begin with, the researcher first administers a test. She then
assigns students to the groups on the basis of the test results. At the
end of the two months, each of the groups is given a further identical
test in order to see whether the use of group work has resulted in
higher results for the experimental group. The results show that the
students assigned to group work have performed at a higher level in
relation to fluency, but that their performance on some aspects of
grammatical accuracy is lower than the control group. The researcher
publishes the findings of the study in a journal.
Example 2
As part of the introduction of a new syllabus, a researcher decides to
move away from the use of whole-class speaking activities in his
classroom. He decides to introduce more group work for certain tasks
and to observe how the students react. He assigns students to groups
and keeps a journal noting down his observations over a period of two
weeks. At the end of this period, he notes that some students are not
participating in the group tasks and are increasingly reluctant to work
in groups. He decides that students are unused to this approach and
need more practice. He increases the use of group work and assigns
students to the same groups. He also asks the students to complete a
survey on their responses to group work. His own observation and
journal entries, as well as the surveys indicate that students are
becoming even more reluctant to do group work. The teacher
discusses the problem with some colleagues who suggest he tries
letting students choose their own groups. The teacher tries this
strategy over a further period of one week and notes that students are
less reluctant. He also observes that the groups do not remain static,
but appear to change according to the task. He decides to try a further
approach of giving students a choice of tasks. This approach works
even better and interaction amongst the students increases noticeably.
You may have already decided (correctly) that the first is an example
of applied research, while the second reflects an action research
approach. Both of these examples are, of course, simplified and
idealised, but they do perhaps serve to draw out some of the essential
similarities and differences between action research and applied
research. 5
The first thing to note is that both approaches adopt a scientific
perspective (Cohen and Manion, 1994) on the issues they are
investigating. In other words, they are both concerned to go beyond
intuitions or assumptions, and to use a systematic approach to asking
questions, collecting data, analysing the data, and drawing out
conclusions and interpretations from the findings. However, there are
differences in the approach. The first study adopts an objective stance
in which the researcher attempts to control variables that may affect
the findings and to identify possible relationships between the
treatment (group work) and the outcomes (increases in fluency and
accuracy). The action researcher is not interested in establishing
relationships of this type, but instead wants to find the best possible
ways of setting up new classroom activities. This is a more subjective
perspective, concerned with exploring different ways of teaching and
deliberately changing conditions in the classroom.
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Q.2 Write down a critical essay on the current syllabus of Urdu taught
at grade five.
Answer:
Curriculum is typically a phenomenon which includes many
dimensions of learning, including rationale, aims, content, methods,
resources, time, assessment, etc; which refers to various levels of
planning and decision-making on learning (for example, at the supra-,
macro-, meso-, micro- and nano-levels); or, international, national,
local, classroom and individual levels; and which relates to multiple
representations of learning (for example, as already mentioned,
‘intended’, ‘implemented’, ‘attained’, etc). Curriculum can be
understood as the totality of what children learn while at school –
including what they learn through classroom activities; in
interdisciplinary tasks; across the school, for example, in the
playground, at lunch time when eating (civic responsibilities, etc.). This
curricular totality also includes opportunities for wider achievement
through sport, music, debating, and the like. For the purposes of this
paper, curriculum is defined in a holistic, process-oriented way. This
definition is based on the belief that, while curriculum might
commonly be perceived as a set of documents, the quality of those
documents is closely connected to the processes used to develop them
and to the means through which they are put into practice. In other
words, judging the quality of the 6
curriculum itself cannot be done in isolation from the broader
processes of curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.
The syllabus has been structured to cover each of the three years of
Primary 1-3. Each year·s work has been grouped under five sections or
themes (Diversity of matter, Cycles, Systems, Energy and Interactions
of matter). Each of these themes is related to everyday experiences of
the child, and to commonly observed phenomena in the child·s
environment. The main aim is to enable pupils appreciate the links
between different scientific topics and thus help them to integrate
scientific ideas in dealing with phenomena. The sections/themes cover
a core of concepts which provide broad based understanding of the
environment upon which the foundation for further study could be
built.
The topics under each theme are not to be looked at as separate or
isolated blocks of knowledge. In general, there are no clear borders
between these themes. There are some topics that are common to
different themes. A conscious effort should therefore be made by the
teacher to let pupils see the link between themes whenever possible.
In particular, it will be noted that Systems, Energy and Interactions of
matter are closely related. Another feature of the syllabus is the Spiral
Approach. This is characterised by revisiting concepts and skills at
different levels with increasing degrees of depth at each stage. The
spiral approach has the benefit of matching scientific concepts and
skills to pupils· cognitive development. It therefore helps pupils to
build a gradual mastery of scientific skills.
Diversity of matter
Pupils should recognize that there is a great variety of living and non-
living things in the world. Humans seek to organise this great variety
to better understand the world in which they live. There are common
threads that connect all living things. There are also unifying factors in
the diversity of nonliving things that scientists use to classify them.
The study of the diversity in the world should also help pupils to
appreciate the importance of life·s diversity and therefore take
necessary steps for maintaining this diversity. Topics covered under
Diversity of matter include the following:
- Variety and characteristics of living things 7
- Materials
- Classification of organisms and materials
Cycles Pupils should recognise that there are repeated patterns of
change in nature and should seek to understand how these patterns
occur. Examples of cycles are the day and night cycle, life cycles of
living things and the recycling of resources. Studying these cycles
helps humans to understand the Earth as a selfsustaining system and
secondly, helps humans to be able to predict events and processes.
Topics included under cycles are as follows:
- Life cycles of the mosquito
- Water cycle
- Day and night cycles
- Convection and ventilation
- Reproduction in plants and animals
- Land and sea breezes etc.
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Q.3 How can students and parents be a part of the assessment and
evaluation process? Explain with examples?
Answer:
All effective educators use ongoing assessments to determine their
students’ ability levels in various academic areas and to guide their
instruction. In the realm of special education, the assessment process
is absolutely essential. Parents, teachers, specialists and counselors
depend on multiple assessments to identify a student’s strengths,
weaknesses and progress.
What Are Assessments?
Assessments often include various tests, both standardized and
criterion-referenced, but testing is not the only way that educators
measure students’ aptitude. Assessments are evaluations, and might
consist of anything from simple observations that a teacher or aide
jots down while a student works on an assignment to complex, multi-
stage procedures such as a group of teachers assembling a large
portfolio of student work. Then there are assessments that are
required by individual schools, districts or states that help educators 8
determine whether or not a student qualifies for special education
and, if so, the types and frequency of services that will best support a
student’s success.
Common assessments in special education include:
Individual Intelligence Tests: As the name suggests, individual
intelligence tests are administered to a student one on one.
• • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC): The school
psychologist usually administers this test, which measures a student’s
intelligence in a variety of areas, including linguistic and spatial
intelligence. This is a norm-based test, meaning that student
performance is measured against the performance of students at
various grade levels.
• • Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale (derived from the Binet-Simon
Test): The school psychologist or special education team administers
this test, which, like the WISC, is also norm-referenced. The questions
are designed to help educators differentiate between students
performing below grade level because of cognitive disabilities and
those who do so for other reasons.

Group Intelligence Tests: Group intelligence and achievement tests are

often administered in the general education classroom. It is through
these types of tests that a teacher might first suspect that a student
has a learning disability. These tests have two functions, measuring
academic ability as well as a child’s cognitive level.
Skill Evaluations: Specialists such as the school speech pathologist and
the child’s general practitioner use certain diagnostic measures for
determining a child’s gross motor skills, fine manipulative skills and
hearing, sight speech and language abilities. Teachers typically refer
parents to a pediatrician or specialist so that the student can receive a
full physical and evaluation as part of the process of gathering the
evidence necessary to develop an individual education program (IEP).
Developmental and Social History: The child’s classroom teacher,
parents, pediatrician and school specialists help formulate this
narrative assessment. They may fill out checklists, answer questions,
participate in an interview or write a report addressing a child’s
strengths, 9
challenges and development (or lack thereof) over time. The focus
here is on issues such as the child’s health history, developmental
milestones, genetic factors, friendships, family relationships, hobbies,
behavioral issues and academic performance.
Observational Records: Anyone who works with the child can provide
information about the child’s academic performance and behavioral
issues. Daily, weekly and monthly observational records that show a
child’s performance over time typically fall into the domain of the
general education teacher, as he or she is the individual working most
closely with the child on a regular basis. The general education teacher
also typically has a firm notion of how a child’s work and behavior
compares to that of other students of the same age and grade level.
Samples of Student Work: The general classroom teacher also provides
most of the evidence in this domain. A folder of assignments, tests,
homework and projects can provide a snapshot of a child’s abilities
and challenges in performing grade-level work. A more nuanced
portfolio, which may include a research project, a writing assignment
with several drafts or samples of work throughout a thematic unit,
affords the materials for an in-depth investigation of a child’s learning
style, thought process and ability to engage in critical thinking tasks.
Who and What is Involved?
1. Anyone involved in the child’s life and education might suspect a
learning disability or similar issue and ask specialists to explore it
further.
2. The first person to conduct an informal assessment is typically the
classroom teacher, though a guardian or pediatrician might start the
assessment process. At this point, the teacher should review student
work and conduct more formal observations of student behavior and
performance to note any issues.
3. A classroom teacher or pediatrician might request a referral to a
medical specialist, therapist, psychologist or other specialist to focus
on a particular area of concern. These individuals keep written records
of findings, and should also write descriptions of any discussions
concerning the child.
10
4. The school’s special education department or student study team
begins informal and formal evaluations. They will request that the
classroom teacher and other individuals working with the child submit
any evidence gathered.

Why So Many Assessments?

In the world of education, quantity is not always quality. However,
educators require multiple measures to ensure that they gain an
accurate picture of a student’s performance compared with others at
the same grade level. This process is essential, because a student might
not do well on a specific assessment due to performance anxiety or a
learning disability, but an alternate measure might demonstrate that
the student can function at grade level given certain conditions. For
example, some students perform poorly on standardized tests but do
well in authentic assessments (those that mirror the usage of skills in
the real world) such as hand-on projects.
What Does It All Mean?
No single test or evaluation can capture a child’s full spectrum of
strengths and challenges. Assessments give educators guidance as to
how to provide the best services and support for children, but they are
not everything. As a parent or teacher, you will provide multiple
assessments on an ongoing basis. From these, you can create short-
term and long-term goals for the child.
For example, if you find that the child has trouble meeting grade-level
benchmarks in writing, you might focus on broadening the contexts in
which the child writes, providing multiple opportunities for engaging,
authentic practice. The child might write lists, label maps, keep a
dream journal, sing songs and record the lyrics, try different forms of
poetry or start a blog.
In the course of practicing and refining skills, the child should be given
time for self-assessment. Student-led activities such as reviewing work
and choosing items for a portfolio allow metacognition (thinking
about thinking) to happen. This process is underscored by the fact that
a student’s work need not look identical to the work of grade-level
peers, but that the child should instead focus on improvement over
time.
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Q.4 On any of the social media that you use - facebook, twitter or
whatsapp, make group teachers. Initiate a discussion regarding
classroom issues and write down a report of what was the topic. What
did different people said what your conclusion is?
Answer:
I’m a big fan of social media. Facebook, Twitter, blogging platforms
and other ‘web 2.0’ sites offer users the ability to publish their
thoughts and exchange ideas with a global audience. In this article I
will be discussing ways that you can use social media in your classes
and courses.
You can use them in the following ways:
1) Building a class blog, where students can take it in turns to write
posts on topics of interest. Other students can then add comments.
The teacher will probably need to moderate, as comment threads can
sometimes become heated and if you are representing an educational
institution, this could become a tricky issue.
2) Creating lessons based on blogs. I once devised a reading task
taking four types of blog- one academic, one on the life of an
ambulance driver, one personal blog and another on current affairs. I
had students skim read each blog and answer thematic questions.
They then exchanged their opinions on each blog and decided which
one seemed most interesting. We then had a language analysis task,
with samples of text from each blog. Students examined differences in
style (i.e. formality), lexis and tone, before focusing on the personal
blog, which used more colloquial language. After a matching task
where some key phrases were identified, students were set the task of
writing a blog entry on something they had done that week.
3) Having students start their own blogs. For this to work, they will
probably need support, as blogging is a habit that has to be kept up
consistently and it takes time to get good at it. Teachers can do this by
examining the discourse features of personal blogs and producing a
structured lesson that enables learners to mimic these features in their
own writing. Common discourse features of personal blogs are:
• • Short posts

• • Informal or colloquial language

• • First person perspective

• • Contemporary topics

• • Taking on the form of a dialogue with readers (especially in comment

threads)

Twitter Twitter is a microblogging site. Microblogging involves writing

very short updates on what you are doing, your ideas, activities, links
to interesting sites and so on. Twitter limits updates to 140 characters,
and these updates are known in the Twitter community as ‘tweets’.
When you join the site, you can ‘follow’ other users’ tweets, which
appear in a kind of news feed when you sign in. They have the option
of following you back. There is the same culture of regular updates as
with regular blogging- and some users are very prolific, tweeting
many times per day, while others are less active.
The short length of tweets is linguistically interesting because it forces
the writer to be very concise, and to focus very specifically on the
readers’ interests.
Some ideas for using Twitter in a course:
1) Twitter warmer: Focus on a Twitter feed from a news source such as
the BBC or CNN. In small groups, learners can read one tweet and try
to predict the broader details of the story. They can then exchange
ideas with another group before checking fuller details online.
2) Twitter search activity: Twitter has a powerful search tool that
allows users to look for specific search items in the ‘twittersphere’.
Learners can be given an item of new vocabulary, for example, and
search for authentic examples of use in real time. They can then derive
the meaning from context (with appropriate support from the
teacher).
3) Practice of short forms- the concise nature of Twitter lends itself to
this
4) Practice of the present continuous- the immediacy of Twitter
suggests the present continuous, e.g. ‘writing an article on social
media in the EFL classroom’
Facebook and other social networking sites
Social networking sites allow users to make connections and keep in
touch with other users, who become ‘friends’. As there is the
possibility to interact via messaging (both instant and 13
via a form of email service) and status updates (you say what you are
doing), there is the opportunity for language practice.
Some sites are more or less ‘serious’ than others. LinkedIn, for
example, is a social networking site for professionals, and has an
appearance and functionality to match. How these sites can be used in
class totally depends on the level to which your class members are
willing to interact with each other in a (relatively) private space, and
how suitable that is.
Some ideas:
1) Create a class group on a social networking site. Groups are a form
of virtual club. If the group has a clearly defined purpose, which can be
defined in class (perhaps as a task making use of various language
items), this will encourage online activity. The teacher can act as an
administrator, suggesting topics for discussion and posting links. This
can become more exciting if members are attracted from outside the
class by class members inviting their friends to join.
2) Your school can create a profile on the site and students can
become friends with the school. Teachers can then answer students’
questions online and engage in discussions. This will also have the
effect of boosting the school’s profile.
Conclusion Teachers must be aware that while it’s easy and exciting to
put your thoughts all over the web, you must be aware of the law in
the country you are working in. You must also be particularly careful if
you’re working with minors and ensure that no sensitive information is
revealed online. Remind your learners never to share addresses or
location specific contact details with people online who they don’t
know. You can help protect them by making blogs password
protected, protecting Twitter updates and creating hidden profiles on
Facebook.
You should also check terms of use and privacy statements to make
sure you know what the owners of the sites are doing with any
information they collect and to check that the services are suitable for
the age group of your class ( Many don’t allow users below the age of
13)
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Q.5 Chose two news TV channels who provide opposite narratives of
political scenarios. Write down a short report of how did you notice
the different of opinion and what is your conclusion on the issues.
Answer:
Some see the conflict between Geo and ARY as a kind proxy war for a
larger struggle, involving the Pakistani powers that be - over who
really controls the country.
The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on a slightly complicated
media story that reveals much about politics and power in Pakistan.
"The competition was rooted in how well the channels themselves
were performing ... but over time, it morphed into something way
more ugly, way more public," says Sadaf Khan, director of
programmes, Media Matters for Democracy.
April 2014 marked a turning point in the competition between the two
channels.
An attempt on the life of Geo News' most prominent anchor, Hamid
Mir, put the journalist and his channel on a collision course with the
Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI. Mir had reported extensively on
the agency and said he was convinced it was behind the attack.
This wasn't the first time the ISI was accused of targeting a journalist.
In 2011, investigative reporter Saleem Shahzad was kidnapped and
then found dead in northeast Pakistan. Shahzad had documented
three warnings from the ISI, letting him know his work had put him on
their radar.
Now, three years later, the Mir case put the lingering issue of alleged
rogue operations of the ISI back in the headlines, and ARY waded into
the debate.
When ARY backed the ISI, it ostensibly aligned itself with the
intelligence community and the military - the Pakistani establishment.
Geo, on the other hand, was seen to be allied with the elected
government.
"The Geo-ARY debacle was perceived to be a proxy war between the
establishment and the government of Pakistan," explains Munizae
Jahangir, senior anchor and executive producer, AAJ Television. 15
ARY News made it personal by accusing Geo TV owner Mir Shakil-ur-
Rahman of taking money from Indian intelligence and using it to
defame and discredit Pakistan.
Such accusations can get you killed in Pakistan.
"One of the main allegations was that we had run this campaign for
peace between India and Pakistan, which was a media-led campaign -
The Times of India, and The Jang Group had come together. This was
completely an initiative that was funded entirely by ourselves - we had
absolutely no funding from any international organisation, let alone
intelligence agencies, and, and yet, continuously, documents were
waved on the screen," says Geo TV president Imran Aslam.
"The editorial stance taken by our channels on various issues are
different ... However, if you work on the behest of any government or
you ally yourself with a government, then your journalism is flawed
and the Jang and Geo group's output are perfect examples of this,"
says ARY News host Arshad Sharif.
ARY reported that Rahman has escaped to Dubai with the active
collusion of elements of the Pakistani government.
"Blasphemy accusations in Pakistan lead to vigilante justice," says
Khan.
Thus Geo TV and the Jang Group took their case against ARY News to
the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the
Pakistani courts. Those cases dragged on and are still pending.
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