Action Research in Education in Applied

Linguistics
MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
2.1.Main Concepts of Researching
Validation
It is to do with people agreeing that what you say is
believable. Research has an aim of advancing knowledge.
You are claiming that because you have undertaken your
research you now know more than you did. You are
presenting your I-enquir y as a valid form of knowing.

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What is validated?

What is validated are the I-enquiries of people as

they generate knowledge about their own work in
company with others, and show the transformative
process of coming to know. They explain what they
hoped to achieve and how they feel they have
achieved it by pointing to critical instances from the
data which can be regarded as evidence. They explain
how they are generating their own theories of
practice from within the practice, and that the
process of theorising is an ongoing dialectical
engagement with inherently volatile problematics.
Validating such personal practical theories involves
moving beyond standardised categories of analysis,
not an easy thing for many traditionalists, some of
whom prefer not to engage and refuse to recognize
the claim or indeed the need to develop new ways of
thinking themselves.

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Who validates?

Who do we choose to validate our work? Habermas

(1979) says that the criteria needed to judge the
legitimacy of knowledge claims are that • a statement
is true; • the speech act is comprehensible; • the
speaker is authentic; • the situation is appropriate
for these things to be said.

Therefore, when we invite people to judge the

validity of our claims to knowledge, we need to agree
that: • what I say about my practice is true; • we use
words and expressions that we all understand; • we
are sincere and avoid any deception; • the situation
is right for us to be discussing this issue.

It is perhaps wise to start with the most supportive

critics and work outwards to the general public. One
would therefore appeal to the following audiences:
Self-validation, Colleagues’ validation and Academic
validation.

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How do we validate?

Reports are judged by criteria set by the audience

who are scrutinizing them. If the work is in a
business context, for example, it will be judged in
terms of a marketplace philosophy; if it is judged by a
traditional academic audience it will be judged in
terms of normative academic standards.

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R I C H AR D W I N T E R ’ S ( 1 9 8 9 : 4 3 – 6 5 ) W O R K H AS B E E N
S E M I N AL I N S U G G E S T I N G N E W K I N D S O F C R I T E R I A F O R
AS S E S S I N G AC T I O N R E S E AR C H R E P O R T S . H E S AY S T H AT
R E P O R T S S H O U L D D E M O N S T R AT E S I X P R I N C I P L E S :

• Offer a reflective critique in which the author shows that they have reflected
on their work and generated new research questions.
• Offer a dialectical critique which subjects all ‘given’ phenomena to critique,
recognizing their inherent tendency to change.
• Be a collaborative resource in which people act and learn as participants.
• Accept risk as an inevitable aspect of creative practice.
• Demonstrate a plural structure which accommodates a multiplicity of
viewpoints.
• Show the transformation and harmonious relationship between theory and
practice.

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Research is generally held to involve the following: •
ontology – the way we view ourselves, a theory of being •
epistemology – how we understand knowledge, including
how knowledge is acquired • methodology – how we do
things.

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Thanks!
Action Research in Education in Applied
Linguistics
MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
2.2.Ontological Issues
TEXTO DE EJEMPLO PARA EL PIE DE PÁGINA

Action researchers accept the responsibility of

ensuring that their own lives are in order
before they make judgements about other
people’s. This means honestly critiquing
their practice, recognizing what is good
and building on strengths, as well as
understanding what needs attention and
taking action to improve it. It involves
Ontological issues commitment to the idea that learning
will transform into purposeful personal
action for social benefit.

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 Ontological issues
Often action researchers live in
social contexts where these values
are prized in principle but denied
in practice. The realities of their
contexts often show preference for
privileged elites rather than the
underprivileged and
marginalised. Action researchers
aim to understand these issues in
order to change present realities
into futures which are more in
tune with their values.

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Thanks!
Action Research in Education in Applied
Linguistics
MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
2.3.Epistemological Issues
TEXTO DE EJEMPLO PARA EL PIE DE PÁGINA

Action researchers see knowledge as

something they do, a living process. People
can generate their own knowledge from
their experience of living and learning.
Knowledge is never static or complete; it
is in a constant process of development as
new understandings emerge. This view of
knowledge regards reality as a process of
Epistemological Issues evolution, surprising and unpredictable.
There are no fixed answers, because
answers would immediately become
obsolete in a constantly changing future.

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Some theorists believe that learning
happens only in critical episodes.
Epistemological Issues
Certainly it does, but learning
also happens all the time, in our
moment-to-moment living. We
learn how to walk, to catch a
ball, to avoid trouble, to respond
to our feelings. Learning, says
Mary Catherine Bateson
(1994), often happens
peripherally; we learn a good
deal without effort and without
conscious intent. Learning can
be accelerated and intensified
through critical awareness, and
reinforced through intellectual
study 15
Thanks!
Action Research in Education in Applied
Linguistics
MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
2.4.Methodological Issues
TEXTO DE EJEMPLO PARA EL PIE DE PÁGINA

Action researchers regard learning and experience as

processes which enable individuals to make
choices about who they are and how they are
together. However, people’s choices often
conflict, so they have to be negotiated and
accommodated. This can be very difficult, but it
can be done if people try to see one another’s
point of view. The methodology of action
research is that people ask questions such as
‘How do I do this better? How do we
understand?’ They do not aim for consensus or
harmony, but they do try to create spaces of
tolerance to negotiate differences

Methodological Issues

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The focus of the work is how to nurture
creative and life-giving encounters.
Action researchers regard their work as Methodological Issues
ensuring that encounters with others
are opportunities for learning and
growth. When they reflect on practice
they are reflecting on their relationships
with others, and whether those others
have benefited from the encounter. This
can be a major test for judging the
quality of the practice: has the other
person benefited from the encounter?
The implications are awesome. If we
are always in relation and those
relationships have potential influence
for changing people’s lives, even in
small ways, how great is the
responsibility to ensure that the
influence is life-affirming.
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Thanks!