action research on classroom participation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our tutor Mr. Sonam Rinchen, for leading us in to
the world of academic research which I felt is helpful in our profession as a teacher to enhance
ourselves professionally.
Sincere and grateful thanks are not nearly enough in expressing what I feel about the support and
guidance provided by our tutor Mr. Sonam Rinchen, and some of my colleagues. This action
research might never have been completed without sir’s inspiration and the belief and support sir
had continually provided me during the writing of this Action Research.
I also extend my appreciation and admiration to my colleagues, Karma Chenzom, Chencho
Lham for helping me to design my action research in sequential order and Khundu Wangchuck
for helping me to design my graph in my Action Research.  I thank them so much for their time
and patience that they have provided to me.
Lastly I would like to thank to the education system for providing us with this module,
“Research Method” here in Samtse College of Education

Abstract
In recent times there is a paradigm shift in our Bhutanese education system from one of teacher
centered classroom to that of student centered classroom. In the teacher centered classroom it
was of more of rote learning and it was teacher who played the main role in the student learning
and the students were passive listeners. Learning in the teacher centered classroom was found
minimum because the students cannot retain whatever is being said by the teacher. On the other
hand students centered classroom encourage the students to construct their own learning. It is
learning by doing method of learning. This paper is all about how the classroom participation can
be increased. The Research was carried at Damphu Higher Secondary School.
                                                                                                       
The aim of this research that I carried out is to present some initial findings from an investigation
into strategies for improving class participation from students during their learning process in the
class. The approach that I have used is a qualitative as well as quantitative approach and data
collection was undertaken using student focus groups i.e. one whole section of class XI Arts. The
findings highlight various reasons why students do or don’t participate. Also it includes some
strategies which I used to encourage student participation in the class.
Learning is a very complex process it demands a balance between the teacher and the learner.
Teacher has been the sole owner of the knowledge in our school days, they provided with what
we had to learn and how or why it is so. The lecture method was the most prominent form of
instruction and the children were mere receivers. With the science of human behaviors’ finding
about the impact of children’s participation in their learning there is now a shift towards child
centered instruction, every teacher is trying to involve more children in the teaching learning
process. In my action research I tried to assess my children’s classroom participation and then
improve their participation in the teaching learning process by following certain strategies such
as ‘ providing avenues for participating, giving positive feedbacks, being a role model,
motivation and so on’. The strategies worked wonders and the children showed improved
classroom participation.
.

Introduction:
  “Research ideally is a careful unbiased investigation of a problem.”
                                                                                              Clifford Woody
According to Lang (1996), “the active class room participation in the colleges or schools
facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and development of problem solving skills”
Classroom participation is a feature of many course designs. It can result in insightful comments
and interesting connections being made by students and can foster a high level of energy and
enthusiasm in the classroom learning environment. However, poorly managed participation can
also lead to instructor frustration and student confusion. 
A teacher may teach well and give all the information in the world but if the child does not
participate in the lesson we will not be able to grasp all the given information and even if they
can it may be only for a short duration without in depth understanding. When there is active
participation from the children not only does the children learn but the teacher feels the vibe as
well and the flow of the lesson is spontaneous.
Class presentation is important, because students can share their ideas and build the confident.
Moreover they get to learn more by exchanging the information, and participation in the class.
The one who is very introvert may not learn can’t participate in the class, they will lack behind.
A child who participates frequently will learn more and always participates in the class. Through
the class participation a child will participate in the class, to overcome with the class
participation a teacher need to assign lot of group presentation to the class.

Education Research
Situational Analysis:
About the school (Damphu Higher Secondary School) under Tsirang
Dzongkhag

In 1948 a Mr. Lingden Lepcha along with another man near about formalized the school and
launched a stone and maize methodology of teaching those who were an odd collection of
unwilling children forced out of their homes from nearby villages. A thatched hut was then
housing students ranging from kindergarten to class IV.
The school was conceived sometime in 1959.An L-shaped wood and mud house was constructed
and named Jigme Pelden Dorji School were Mr. Lingden was the Headmaster. It was located at
the west end side of the present football ground. A separate room for each level/class was to be
experienced for the first time by both teachers and students. The level of education provided by
the school, however, was kindergarten to class VI, and that too in Nepali Medium. At the same
time, the method of teaching was still a modified version of the stone and maize methodology
which went on till 1964.
The modern system of education was introduced in 1964 with the recruitment of the first batch of
Indian teachers and English became the medium of instruction for the first time. In 1965 some
Mr. S.K.Nair, an Indian teacher took care of the school as the Headmaster.
The level of Education was still only up to class VI till in the middle of 1970. In 1971/72 the
additional classroom, which was situated in the present science block collapsed. As a result this
present main building was constructed in 1973/74 and became Junior High School (upto class
VIII) in 1975. Mr. R.B Rai was first headmaster of junior High School. The present staff quarter
was also constructed in 1971/72 to accommodate the increasing number of teachers both from
within and outside the country.
The school went on as Junior High School till 1990 when it had to come to a sad end due to the
disturbances and destructions by Anti-Bhutanese elements during the Headship of Mrs. Nim
Dem.
His Majesty, the King, Jigme Singye Wangchuk saw the Kidu in the people of Tsirang in
absence of a Junior School in the Dzongkhag and commanded the re-opening of the school as a
High School. Following the Royal command the school was re-opened as a fully fledged
boarding school in March 1998 with just 5 teachers and 220 students under the Headship of Mr.
Kinga Dakpa as the first principal followed by Tshering Yangdon.The existing Principal, Mr.
Jamyang Cheda took over the school charges on February 12, 2008
Damphu Higher Secondary School provides a serene natural setting for conducive teaching
learning activities for youths. It is only the high school under Tsirang Dzongkhag. There are
thirty eight teaching staff including seven hundred thirty-eight students. The school functions
under the head, Dawa Tshering (Principal) followed by two vice principals, Thinley Dorji and
Karma Jurmey.
The school has taken at its policy level, the principle of child centeredness and the principle of
democratic participation. It is from these two principles that the school practices the features of a
child-friendly school. The school reflects the richness and diversity of Bhutanese community and
it is committed in providing learning environments in which individual differences are viewed as
strengths.
Damphu Higher Secondary School is one of the renowned Schools in the past and it’s still with
the same spirits.
The school has all the necessary facilities along with competent teachers but still then the
children lacked class participation, the children were I guess inhibited, they were very reluctant
and rarely participated in the class, so I decide I would do my research on ‘How to improve class
participation’.
Literature Review:
According to Mettelal (2003) states that classroom action research will help discover what works best in
classroom for both teacher and students. Students’ hesitation to participate in the classroom discussion
has been a major concerning issue that is being confronted by the teachers. In order to overcome the
issue of passiveness of students in the class, Newmann (1989) suggests that educators can motivate
students if they (teachers) fulfill students’ need for competence, extrinsic reward, and intrinsic interest,
social and moral support, and show the signs of acknowledgment of the students’ effort in the classroom.
Similarly, Dallimore, Hertenstein and Platt, (2004) also agrees with Newmann and supports that teacher
has a major role to play when coming to motivating students. They also suggests that teacher has to
understand how students are reacting in the class while teaching, as classroom discussion with student
participation is one of the most embraced pedagogical strategies.
In addition, Wagaman (2009) also suggests that when teaching a lesson, a teacher should use
provoking techniques such as asking a question that does not have one right answer, reinforcing
them even if they get wrong with sign of thumbs up, acknowledging them for their effort, by not
only picking up on the most active students, and so on. With these provoking techniques, she
also reckons that all students will be provided with equal opportunity to participate in the class
and calling on the same students who are quick to raise their hands will allow other students to
sit back and avoid participation. 
Wubbles and his colleagues (1999) in Marzano, Marzano and Pickering (2003) comments that,
teachers should be effective instructors and lecturers as well as friendly, helpful and congenial
Teachers should be able to understand their students and they should be a good communicator in
the class. Mendlen (1992) in Jones and Jones (2007) states that “Nowadays, to be successful in
a position of authority requires an ability to connect in a caring way by inspiring hope
within others and by leading one’s own life in a manner that models the message” (p.73).

Aims and objectives of doing this research on classroom

participation:
I have chosen this “How to improve class participation” as my research topic with aim to
improve student class participation during the learning process. I came up with this topic through
my own experience as a student when I was during my schooling and also through my
experiences when I was a contract teacher for a period of almost three years where I felt that
students still lack confident and they lack behind in everything that was carried out in the school.
I have good experiences about this because when I was teaching in one of the school that is in
Gopini Community Primary School under Tsirang Dzongkhag (as a contact teacher) there I
found the students very, very reluctant, there hardly a single child in the class who would
participate in the class, all the classes that I used to teach were very reluctant. Having those
problems in my previous school and I thought of doing this action research on the topic: “How
to improve classroom participation”
Even though, I knew I should not expect much improvement from this research due to time
constraint but at time I had expectations that I would be able to gain lots of experiences in
teaching and learning by interacting with the students within the short duration of my teaching
practice. I also had a feeling that I would be able to instill in my students the value and
importance as well as to share some of the techniques to enhance class participation during the
process of teaching and learning.  
Therefore the contribution of this research will helped me in shaping the knowledge of how
students view class participation, what barriers students put forward for not participating and
how we as teacher can overcome these barriers and ensure that participation is worthwhile to
each individual.
Action Research Questions
What strategies will I use to improve classroom participation?
Bloom (1980) in DiGiulio (2000) suggests that asking questions to the student is one of the basic
skill through which the teachers can learn and also improve the students as well. Not only asking
questions, O’Leary and O’Leary (1977) pointed out that “A teacher’s smiles, words of
encouragement praise, evolution and silent’s are powerful allies in effecting how the students
behave and change socially and academically”
Identify a research question or classroom problems. The first step is to select an issue or
methodology that we would like to research. Usually it is a technique or activity that has
potential for improving some aspect of instruction or academic life. It should be something
important that is of genuine interest to us.
Through the literature review I found various strategies/ways on how to help children participate
more in the class. So I thought I would try as much strategies as possible and then see/find out
which of them is the most successful/effective.
After looking at the literature of the class participation and a situational analysis of the class, I
framed my action research question as:
Questions
Q1. How does self-efficacy affect the achievement of the students?
Q2. Does cooperating learning improve student’s attitudes toward school?
Q3. What strategies should I use improve the classroom participation?
Q4. How will I make them to activity participate in the class?

Methodology used to collect the data :( tools used)

Selection of the tool is the important step in research. The instrument or the tool used for the
collection of the data must be according to the study and reliable as well valid.
A great variety of research tools helps the researcher to describe and qualify the data. Each tool
is particularly appropriate for certain sources of data, if used effectively. The tools of the
research are the important source in research to collect the data.
 Some of the appropriate tools that I have used are as followed:
1. Question and Answer      
2. Class Presentation and
 3. Questionnaire
All these methodologies were appropriately used in baseline interpretation to increase class
participation.
Intervention Strategies:                                                  
In my teaching practice, I brought up some changes in active class participation in individual
student while teaching them and for this I have used certain strategies, which helped me to
overcome with the class participation:
  I have developed a good relationship with students and provide children with adequate materials
and resources.
  I have organized and manage the learning activities which were accepted by the students and also
enhanced the elements of care, trust and respect in the interpersonal relationship between teacher
and students.
  Prevention of all forms of violence so children asked question without fear of ridicule or scolding
   Supported and applaud children for trying
  Changed the seats regularly to know person with varying abilities and behaviors to improve their
social skills
  I taught the subject with enthusiasm to motivate my students
  Equal opportunities were given to students
  Reinforcement is a must, to make them active participants
  I used scaffolding for weaker students. 
These are the strategies that, I have used effectively during my teaching practice.

Action Plan First week(12th to 16th July) Remarks 

Week Plan                                           
Situational Analysis        Analyze the situation in the school Keep record of situation in
classroom. classroom.
       Decide on which method to adopt for data
collection

Baseline Data Second Week(18th to 23th July)
       Observation on the student’s classroom
participation.
       Distribute questionnaire to the students.
Intervention Third Week (25th to 30th July)
Keep record of the daily c
the students. Record what
actively participate and wh
not participate in the class
Recording the findings.

       Increasing group work

       Presentation
       Question and Answer
 Forth Week (1st to 6th August) Involve a critical friend to
collection.
       Collection of post data through observation
       Distribution of Questionnaire to the
students.
Analyze post data Fifth Week (8th to 13th August) Ask a critical friend to che
                  data.
       Analyzing and writing down the findings
from the post data.
Compile the work and report Sixth Week (15th to 20th August) Thank the students and tea
writing. cooperation.
       Report writing.
       Compile my action research finding.

Background information about the school

Firstly, I have collected background information about the school in the first week and keep
records of it. It is very much important to how it is going on, getting familiar with the teachers as
while as with the students and involving in other school activities knowing the rules and
regulation of the school, how the school is functioning at the moment and what are the
responsibilities that I need to follow up being one of the member and joining as school family.
My Class
I was asked to teach class xi Arts, xi Science and xii Commerce, In the second week, I observed
the students participation in all class that I was suppose to teach and keep record of it, among the
three sections I found class xi Arts was lacking behind comparing to two other sections, the class
consisted of 10 boys and rest were all girls, the class was always quiet, and most of the students
seemed very shy and reluctant. I took as a challenge and thought I would have to bring about
some change in the children and make them better participants and more confident. So my action
research on ‘How to improve classroom participation’ was carried out in this class.

1. Questions and Answer Session     

  Baseline data:
 Question answer session
(Figure1 Percentage of students in the Question and Answer Session)               
The question and answer session which was carried out after every group work and presentation.
I have asked questions to every individual in the class, I maintained diary to record student’s
 participation in question answer session. Their participation in question and answer session gave
a good knowledge on their classroom participation for baseline data. I discovered that only 33%
of the students participated in question and answer session, they were also only the high achiever
students. And rest was very inactive and shy in the class and after Analyzing baseline data I felt
that there was urgent need for some intervening strategies to improve student’s participation.
Intervention
In order to make them active class participation in the classroom I have mostly focused on the
skills “interaction variations” and “Questioning and handling pupils Responses”. My main
aim here to bring some changes and to make them actively participates in the class.
So as an intervention each students was made to ask a question to the presenter and the presenter
had to answer their questions. The presenter was also made to ask question to the floor. I always
supplemented their answers and gave feedbacks thus scaffold their learning. Reinforcement was
provided for asking questions and for answering. Even when the answers were wrong the
students were given encouragement. The entire students had to have one question for the
presenter to make the class more interactive.
Post Data
After the intervention students came up with lots of questions of different level. I found drastic
improvement during question and answer session. As a result of question answer session the
students concentrated more in the classroom. The question and answer kept the students up to
date with the lesson taught so in a way it was benefiting their learning in a big way. Since they
were made to ask question they had to think critically and frame the questions hence their
thinking were also enhanced. I always scaffold them during this session and doubts were also
cleared during this session. The class was so interactive and lively even during the afternoon
classes. At the end of each day I saw improvements in student’s participation in question answer
session. This ultimately had increased their classroom participation. The percent of students
participating increased from 33% to 78%. Thus, this was good improvement. After the
intervention used
Post Data

(Figure2: Percentage of students in the question and Answer Session after the intervention)
2. Class Presentation
(Figure3: Percentage of the students in the Class Presentation)
Baseline Data
To check student’s participation in the class I collected data on number of students participating
in the class presentation, when analyzing the baseline data, there were only 28% of the students
who actively participated in the class presentation.  I also keep the record of the students
participating while doing the class presentation. There were very few students who wanted to
come and present their work. The same students came to present repeatedly and the majority of
that too were boys most of the other children shunned away from any form of presentation.. It
was very shocking for me to see these things so intervention was very necessary for me to apply.
Class Participation:
So some of the strategies that I have included in the class are as follows:
  Initiated class discussions on the lesson taught
  Made students to work in groups
  Used more of open ended questions
  Asked them to do oral presentation in the class
  Asked them to read the text frequently
                                     Intervention:
The findings of my baseline data revealed that most of the students were shy and were
uncomfortable participating in front of the class. I found that the best method to overcome their
shyness and hesitation of participation was to make them come in front of the class and speak
out. This gave them an opportunity to overcome their shyness. To have maximum participation I
assigned group work in small groups, so that everyone gets opportunities to present their work,
which would slowly built confident and lead to more participation in the class. Presentation was
carried out after every group work by different members. I made it compulsory for all the
members to take turn in presenting their work.
Post Data:
After the intervention I found that the percentage of students doing presentation has increased
from 28% to 68 %. The students were now willing to do presentation on volunteer basis and also
their quality of presentation has improved. To my surprise even the shy and quite students were
also actively participating in the presentation and they were gaining confidence to face the class.
Class Participation after the intervention
(Figure 4: percentage of students participating in the presentation after the intervention used)

3. Questionnaire
I made a list of questions with the objective to get the answer from various respondents. The
pattern of the question is as followed:
  I would participate if teacher appreciate my effort in the class
  I would participate more if my teacher recognize my effort and reinforce me continuously
  I often volunteer in the class
  I like to participate more in the class
  I do not participate due to shyness
These all were the questions that I have designed to ask my students. I have done this to see how
students feel about classroom participation.
Baseline data
Questionnaire        Strongly     disagre Sometime Strongly
e agree agree
1. I would participate if teacher appreciate 100
my efforts in the class.
2. I would like to participate more if my 12(30.76%) 16(41.02% 11(28.20%
teacher recognize my effort and reinforce ) )
me continuously.
3. I often volunteer in the class. 19(48.71%) 13(33.33% 7(17.94%)
                                                                        )
   
4. I like to participate more in the class. 21(53.84%) 10(25.64% 8(20.51%)
                                                       )
5. I do not participation due to shyness. 9(23.07%) 12(30.76% 18(46.15%
) )

Baseline Data
(Figure 5: percentage of the students in questionnaire)

In my baseline data I passed a questionnaire each and asked my students to fill up the forms. In
the class there are thirty nine students which consists of nine boys and rest are all girls. Going
through the questionnaire I could see that there was no improvement in class participation. In the
above question number one everyone have written strongly agree. May be they could not
understand the question or they are may be confused with the questions so, all the students have
strongly agreed. And in the second question, there are more numbers of students who sometimes
agree, and very less number of students who strongly disagree, and so on. 46.15% of the children
said they did not participate due to shyness, so my first challenge would be to try and build
confidence in them.

Intervention strategy
       Reinforcement 
       Positive feedback                                     
.
After the intervention
I continuously reinforced and gave positive feedback to the students. I also shared my past
experiences when I was in schools. I used to be very frank with the students and I used to say
always that, if they have any problems I used to solve the problems, I used to be very frank with
every individual, speak with them politely, listen to them, and respond them positively. After the
intervention applied I could see positive behavior in every student. They came forward, shared
their views in the class, they did not hesitate to come in the front of the class. Here in the
baseline data there were only 46% of the students were participation in all the activities provided
by the teacher an after the intervention applied number of the students increased to 74% so here
shows vast differences, between before and after.
(Figure 6: Percentage of the students in questionnaire after the intervention)

Data Triangulation:
From the detailed analysis of pre and post line data through various intervention strategies that I
have used could get a quiet good amount students responded, as I want on with my study through
a teaching activity. Here when I compared the baseline data and the post data there is vast
 differences in responses of the students. I see that, the implementation of the strategies that I
have used really helped me to overcome with the problems.
 Triangulation of multiple data sources:
The final triangulation of the final data showed the achievement of the intervention. The data
showed that there was enhancement in student’s classroom participation. After changing the
seats students who did not like interacting in the classroom started giving responses, volunteered
and answered and interacted well in the class, they came in group to clarify doubts and the group
members enjoyed and reaching at a conclusion certain topics taught in the class.
From the classroom presentation I found that most of the students were reluctant to present in the
classroom. This was mainly because they were not used to do presentation; it was only some few
students who presented. After the intervention there was a big change in how the students did
their presentation. All most all the students took part in the presentation and they were eager to
do presentation and share their views, ideas and thoughts. From the question and answer session
it showed that the frequency of question and answer given has drastically changed. The students
by asking questions constructed their learning which is the best style of learning. They asked
different level of questions and discussed among themselves. The students asked questions to the
teacher to clarify their doubts. In fact the class was more interactive and lively.

 Comparison of question answers session, presentation and questionnaire:

(Figure7: Bar graph showing triangulation of multiple data sources :)
Over all intervention used to improve classroom participation:
We could see drastic changes in all the tools that I have used in my action research this is
because I have used a variety of intervention methods to overcome the problems. Some of the
most important intervention that I had used are as follows. These are the most important that we
teacher should have these qualities in us so, that we will be able to fulfill their desire in future.
-Being Role Model                     
-Classroom Management
-Classroom Discussion
  Brainstorming
  Fishbowls
  Debates
  Oral presentation
 -Motivation
Conclusion
“Once the students felt that I was excited to teach them, they slowly began to show the same zest
to learn.” Action Research has being deeply rooted in our Education system which cannot be
desolated in any way. It is undoubtedly an invincible weapon, a very natural and a
comprehensive key to unlock the way towards acquiring knowledge in a real and healthy
manner. This present Action Research aims to acknowledge me with the knowledge of methods,
tools, techniques and other aspects of Research.
Action Research is an effective learning device teaching the process of scientific investigation
and systematic problems solving. Involving students in gathering data and systematically
studying real world problems enhances the relevance and authenticity of classroom instruction. It
is also kind of case study, an experiment, a survey, or interviews. I have learned how to ask the
right questions, gather data, tabulate results, draw conclusions, and present finding. Action
Research is concerned with assessing the effectiveness of a particular treatment or procedure. In
the classroom it usually involves teachers gathering and analyzing data about their practice to
improve it. The focus is on resolving practical problems and systematically testing new ideas.
Action Research can serve several purposes simultaneously; professional development,
curriculum development, school improvement, and self-reflection. It also gives teachers greater
confidence in the quality of their classroom decisions.
The action research that I carried out not only enabled me to help my students to participate
more, or how to improve class participation but more over I am now equipped with the basic
knowledge on how to carry out an action research. Which is I feel a necessary in the ever
changing world of teaching and learning process.

Report Writing
Through my Action Research on,“How to improve classroom participation?”  It really helped
my students in the learning process and me in having a successful and effective teaching. The
interventions that I have used were effective and systematic. This action research provided a rich
body of knowledge about how to promote class participation during the process of teaching and
learning. It really helps me to let students know that class participation as a worthwhile activity
by providing them with a clear understanding of what was expected.
The findings at the end of this research suggests that encouragement, real life scenarios and
challenging content are the key role in motivating and promoting class participation in our
Bhutanese students . This also suggests that students do respond to the efforts and commitment
of teacher in the process of improving learning process in the classroom.
To conclude here, the reason of my successful Research is due to my personal experiences,
facing the difficult when I was as a student. And by my effective intervention, that I have used,
by motivation, positive reinforcement, positive feedback and by using different types of teaching
methods in the class, and most importantly providing avenues for the children to participate.
 I am proud to say, that I could bring out some changes to my students and it was my main motto
to carry out this Action Research.

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