A plan for innovation in my teaching context:

Planning and designing engaging activities to increase students’ participation in online

classes

Introduction

This work will describe an action plan to address a problem I have identified in my online

classes. I will present the findings from the exploratory questions which informed the actions

I propose and how I intend to assess the level of success of such actions. In this respect, the

work is divided into four main sections. The first is ‘Context’, which presents background

information of my teaching context, the second is ‘The issue I wish to address’ describing the

problem to be addressed. In the third section, “What I have discovered’, I will present and

analyse the findings from exploratory research questions in relation to the problem, and in the

last section, ‘My action plan’ I will propose actions that I believe will help mitigate the

problem.

My context

I teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP) to undergraduate students from Management,

Human Resources and Management courses and I also teach English language teaching

methodology to mostly in-service teachers at Rovuma University, in Mozambique. In both

groups, teaching is blended, but the teacher trainees group is different in that they have a

greater mastery of the English language and also because it is a distance learning course

where online teaching and learning is the norm.

Challenges are also shared with these two groups mainly when it comes to resources. As a

teacher, however, I face most challenges in my teaching of English for specific purposes,

with regards to both resources and methodology. I see insufficient investment in teaching and

learning resources and regarding teaching skills, I sometimes do not know what methodology

to use, how to make sure students understand my lessons and how to have them engaged and

actively participating in lessons. This was even more evident last year when online teaching

became the norm. At first it was not very clear what learning platform would be used by my

university. Temporarily, several were tried out including Google Classrooms, Facebook, and

WhatsApp. In the end, the university opted for Moodle as the official virtual learning space, a

process which was not smooth. Teachers and students were confused for the fact that we had

to adapt to online teaching, and in my case, having to provide support in the use of these new

learning spaces while making sure to create effective learning opportunities.

Having joined the University of Warwick and shared my context and difficulties I face in my

teaching during the peer coaching session, I realised that while they were all important, not

all were feasible. Some are out of my control and others are not as. However, there was one

that I realised I could help mitigate, without having to face a lot of other challenges, and

based on the MUSE criteria, that refers to “the extent to which each possible topic for

research is Manageable, Urgent, Significant and Engaging” (Smith and Rebolledo, 2018:31),

I decided to focus on students’ low participation in online classes.

moment of enlightenment
The issue I wish to address

In my teaching of English online to undergraduate students taking Management, Human

Resources and Environmental Management courses last year, I noticed that, most students did

not actively participate in lessons and other activities. This included not doing the
recommended exercises, not posting into forums, not asking questions, and sometimes not

even logging into the sessions. This can have negative effects in learning because as Kaya

(2021:303) citing Palloff & Pratt (2011) states, “engagement and participation are often

highlighted as key components for effective learning in online courses.”

The issue of participation is beneficial, relevant, and urgent because it affects me and other

teachers, and because online teaching is planned to continue even after the pandemic. For

these reasons, I set out to explore the topic in depth and find ways of mitigating it. Therefore,

my plan seeks to respond to the following action research question: “How can I plan and

design activities to increase my students’ participation in my online classes?”. To be able to

answer this question, I needed to have answers to some other important questions which

during my peer coaching sessions I realized I did not have. In fact, I realized how little I

could say with certainty regarding the causes of this problem and that I had never reflected on

and given myself the opportunity to explore it. Instead, I assumed that students lacked
something I’ve never thought before
financial resources to buy data and that they were not dedicated enough, even though I had no

real evidence. Therefore, I decided to design some exploratory research questions and look

for answers from personal reflection, my colleagues, and my students. In the next section I

will discuss what I learned.

What I have discovered

I this section I will present and analyse the findings from my exploratory questions which

were addressed through reflection and questionnaires sent to teachers and students. There

were twenty-five participants in total, of which eleven are students from three different

courses and fourteen are teachers, two from the English Department and the remaining twelve
from other departments. The questionnaires were designed on google forms and were shared

with the participants through WhatsApp.

The analysis will be carried out by going through the research questions where for each I will

present the objectives, data/information collection methods used, and the results, as follows:

1. What do I mean by 'participation' in online classes?

In this question I sought to clarify to myself, and later to those I would interview, what I

exactly meant by participation. This was important because the term can be broad, and focus

was needed to ask the right questions and better respond to the problems. Here I used

reflection to understand what participation entails and what aspects of it I wanted to refer to

in my research. Because of the variety of activities involved in online teaching, I decided to

focus my research on students’ interaction with me and among themselves during activities

on Moodle and other complementary learning platforms.

2. What type of activities do I design and use in my online classes?

In this question I intended to evaluate the activities I used to see whether in nature they

prompted or enabled students’ participation or not. To answer this, I carried out self-

reflection and revisited my university Moodle teacher account. Looking at my sessions, they

mostly included worksheets, links to English learning websites, grammar study and

discussion forums with open ended questions. Most of the tasks are individual, asynchronous

and there is no use of videos. I discovered that often, there were no feedback and follow up

tasks and in the discussion forums I did not provide students with enough support materials.

Overall, activities were not very engaging and did not create a need for students to

participate.

3. In what specific activities do students not participate?

In this question, I wanted to understand whether my perceived lack of participation was

general or specific to some types of activities. To answer this, I asked my colleagues if they

noticed any differences in participation in different activities and they mentioned chats,

seminars, research works and revision quizzes, and individual tasks. Although these were

actual responses from teachers, it appears that some of the items mentioned are not

necessarily activities but online resources and teaching and learning methods. On the other

hand, looking at my activities I can only conclude that they did not invite students to

participate because, there is no clear evidence that it has to do with the type of activity or if it

has to do with how I managed them. In this way, from the data collected, it appears that the

answer to this question is inconclusive and further assessments would be needed.

4. How do students consider their participation?

This question was addressed to students to understand what perceptions they have about their

own participation. I used electronic questionnaires and surprisingly, most students who were

interviewed consider their participation satisfactory. Out of eleven students interviewed one

said it was very high, another student said that it was high, four said their participation was

medium and two that it was low. This could be either because they have a different

perception of what participation involves when compared to the fact that majority of teachers

whom I interviewed consider students’ participation as being low (see Research Question 6),

or that they judge it considering the ways in which it is possible for them to participate, and

thus see it as satisfactory.

5. Why do my students say they do not (want to) participate in my online classes?

This question helped understand what students believe are the factors that reduce their level

of participation so that data could later be compared to the one collected from other sources.

This question was part of the questionnaire to students and the reasons mentioned included
that they cannot understand the language, no pronunciation feedback, lack of data and did not

have many synchronous lessons. The aspect regarding data costs was also mentioned by

teachers when asked about the reasons they believed contributed to students’ low

participation.

6. Do my colleagues experience the same problem, and if so, what do they do about it?

With this question I wanted to understand if the challenge I face is also shared with my

colleagues and from them get their opinions and experiences on the issue. This question was

addressed through a questionnaire to teachers, two of whom teach English and other twelve

who teach other subjects. The intention was also to find out whether the situation is subject

specific or not. More importantly, I was interested in learning from them how they coped

with the situation. The results show that other teachers do experience low levels of

participation in online classes, this is true to both English teachers and those who teach other

subjects. Out of fourteen teachers interviewed, ten classify their students’ participation as

low, one teacher as very low, three as medium and no teacher classified it as high or very

high.

One interesting finding is that those in the English department reported to have more

participation of students taking the English teacher training course than those learning

English for Specific Purposes.

With regards to what and how other teachers do to increase their students’ participations,

some of the actions mentioned were motivating them which were five mentions, encouraging

them two mentions, making participation count by checking attendance and designing follow

up activities to be completed online two mentions, using debates one mention, and support

and follow up two mentions. Although there might be other factors and that these actions

might not be successful in every subject, comparing them to how I conducted my own
activities I see differences that might explain the scenario I face or at least provide me with

alternatives to try.

Summary of findings reflection gives me some alternatives and inspirational ideas to try

Reflecting on my online teaching and the responses I received from the exploratory questions

helped me to both understand some factors that might contribute to my students’ not actively

participating in my online classes and also get some inspirational ideas on what aspects I

should consider in my actions to mitigate the situations. Below is a summary of what I

discovered:

• I never tried to assess and understand my students’ participation to explore why it is low;

• My activities were not engaging in nature; they don’t create a need for students to

participate;

• I do not provide enough follow up and support;

• Data did not clarify in what specific activities students do not participate;

• Students don’t think their participation is low probably because they have a different

understanding of what participation entails;

• Insufficient language, lack of feedback and data costs are some reasons students think

affects their online participation;

• Other teachers face a similar problem and they improve students’ participation by

motivating, encouraging and planning activities that compel students to do so.

My action plan

In the summary of the findings, I tried to provide answers to the exploratory research

questions. While they are all important, I will focus on those that are recurrent as this
suggests a higher level of reliability and priority, and because I intend to put this plan into

action within a semester, it would not be feasible to address all of the issues. In this way, by

presenting and not addressing some issues this research opens a room for further studies and

action steps.

The plan will be divided into three intervention areas on which specific actions are proposed

based on specific findings. I will also present the tools I will use to evaluate each action,

some anticipated problems, and solutions.

I’ve come to realise that I have not reflect
Intervention Area 1: Reflection properly and have not done enough
reflection

Under this area, having realized I do not systematically reflect on my teaching on a planned

and systematic ways, I intend to carry out self-reflection on a regular basis by keeping a

weekly reflective journal, have students evaluate classes mid and end term and talk to

colleagues mid and end term. I believe that if I had done this, I would have gained insights

and reduced the problem and thus by doing it from now on I will be able to solve not only the

problem under study in this plan but also future problems.

I will design a journal template with specific reflective questions to evaluate my lesson

weekly and a questionnaire to be administered to students. With my colleagues I plan to talk

to them via WhatsApp and telephone calls.

The limitation to this activity I anticipate that it will be time, given my workload. To avoid

this, I will include the item in my lesson plan and work timetable where I will attribute a slot

in my plan for this. Another action will be to include students’ feedback as part of the scheme

of work and make it part of the subject contents. I’ve come to realise that I have not
reflect properly and have not done
enough reflection
Intervention Area 2: Engaging Activities
The realization that my activities are not engaging in nature calls for a need to be more

thoughtful and creative in my planning, selection and/design of them. Here, based on what

lacks in my activities that proved to be important based on what students reported to affect

their participation and what my colleagues said works for them, I plan to keep a set of criteria

on what characteristics my activities should have. Some students reported that spending too

much time before a screen affects their participation so I believe my activities should be

moderate in length to avoid fatigue. They also should march students’ level or include pre

tasks that involve practice of the language to be used in the main task, as some students

reported to not know what to write, and that English is just difficult. This is also supported by

the findings that students with more advanced English skills participate more, which suggests

that language knowledge can be a barrier to participation. Data costs are an issue mentioned

by both teachers and students so I believe that I should be creative in designing activities that

are cost-effective. One last aspect is that activities should invite students to participate. One

way will be to have online synchronous activities, creating opportunities for students to speak

by eliciting answers from them and tasks that involve more than just opening a forum and

asking students to comment on the content or ask questions.

To implement this throughout the term, I plan to focus on one criterion a week and I will

assess the success of each activity through the reflective journals I intend to keep and by

including the evaluation in the lesson plan and by checking the level of participation at the

end of every lesson.

Some limitations I foresee in this action is insufficient materials and resources and not

enough time to assess the level of participation. With regards to resources, one possible way

of overcoming it will be to keep a collection or database of resources and activities ready to

use and I will use the reflective journals and record all sessions in case not enough time is

available to assess the level of participation.

Intervention Area 3: Support, Feedback and Follow up

Similar to my realization that I do not do enough reflection I also noticed that I did not

provide enough feedback and support around my online lessons. Some colleagues mentioned

how tracking students’ attendance and scheduling tasks to be delivered and/or performed

online made students participate more. In addition, one colleague reported that she sets a time

to assist students through telephone calls and that this made them feel more confident to

participate in her online classes. Therefore, I plan to include in my planning a slot for

support, feedback and follow up on activities. This will be done both as extension tasks to be

presented online and scheduling specific sessions for clarification and feedback.

One limitation I see in this action is that I might not have enough time to provide support and

feedback to every activity. As a possible solution, I will set a date, weekly, that I will include

in my timetable for feedback and support. There might also be limited time for follow up

activities and one way to overcome this will be to try and connect activities from one lesson

to another, in this way students and I will inevitably have to work on them.

Conclusion

In this work I presented a plan of action to tackle the problem of students’ low participation

in online classes, where I look for ways to plan and design engaging activities that will

prompt them to participate more. Understanding the root of the problem was important, and

with that in mind, exploratory questions where designed and questionnaires were used to get

insights from teachers and students. Lack of reflective teaching, non-engaging activities and

the absence of support feedback and follow up were the major areas to which findings

pointed. Subsequently, an action plan involving self-reflection actions, ways of engaging

students and opportunities for support, feedback and follow up was designed for future
implementation where limitations, possible solutions and evaluation methods have been

included.
References

Kaya, S. (2021). The Factors Predicting Students’ Participation in Online English

Courses. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 91, 301-320.

Smith, R. and Rebolledo, P. (2018). A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research. London:

The British Council.

APPENDIX 1: ACTION PLAN OUTLINE

PROBLEM: Students’ low participation in on-line classes.

PLAN OF ACTION: Planning and designing engaging activities to increase my students’ participation in online classes

Action Steps Rationale/Findin People Deadlin Resources Evaluatio Possible Solutions Future
gs Respons e n Problems Actions
ible
• Peer Coaching Meeting William• Week 2 • Study room• Problem • • Use MUSE•
& identified criteria
Candida
• Designing and refining • • Candida• • • • • •
Exploratory Questions
• Exploratory research on • I had no • Candida,• • Google • Questionn• Not • As help Design
the questions raised knowledge of the Alfandeg Forms aires reaching from action
nature and causes a, Luis • Questionnai completed students colleagues plans on
of the problem res and to share and the issues
submitted send that will
back reminders not be
to class covered in
WhatsApp the present
groups plan
• Data recording and • • Candida• Week 7 • Google • • • •
analyses Forms
• Action plan design • • Candida• • Laptop, • • • •
Data, Office
• Peer Review • • Canndid• Decemb• Zoom • Changes • Time • •
a er 14 made
&Willia
m
Do self reflection on a Reflecting back, I• Candida • Every • Reflective Problems Time • (have •
regular basis. rarely ask for week journal identified reflective
• keep a reflective journal feedback nor have • questions
• Have students evaluate I ever tried to Mid and Term Time ready and
classes understand, in a end of evaluation Action record
• Talk to colleagues systematic way, term by students steps put every
why my students forward session)
don’t participate
• Mid and Calls Make it part
I had assumptions end of of the
that changed after term course
reflecting and taskes
collecting data

Design activities that are Worksheets • Candida• Whole • Short Video• Ongoing Lack of Keep a •
engaging in nature, that Links to online term recordings • (Check material collection
will somehow ‘force’ exercises the level or database
students to participate individual WhatsApp of of resources
• Personalize Grammar study audios participati and
• Make them not too long material on at end activities
• Simple, gradual level of Often of every ready to use
difficulty asynchronous lesson)
• Use video features Use of forums University
• Group works ( (not chats) (Ask wi-fi
• Low-cost activities them to post Create a
• Provide prompts and questions) space in
elicitations (No follow up, the lesson
• How to make these not engaging, plan for Use the
activities more engaging? don’t create a evaluation reflective
Simple chats, because need for them to journal
some students reported participate) instead
that they don’t know how Students: Problems Record
to use English, Spending too with time to activities
Use video feature much time online assess the
Organize group works was an issue level of
participatio
Students and n (might
teachers forget)
Data costs are an
issues

English teachers
Students in the
English course
participate more
than others;
students reported
English is
difficult, I ask
them to write
 questions, no
prompts

• Support, follow up and Self-reflection: I Candida Every Moodle Level of Limited Set a date,
give feedback on use worksheets lesson interactio time to weekly, for
activities Links to online WhatsApp n I have follow up queries
• Check attendance (then?) exercises with on every
• Make every participation individual students activity Add one
count Grammar study hour in my
(incentives/penalty?) material schedule/sc
Often Marked heme of
asynchronous tasks and work for
Use of forums exercises feedback,
(not chats) (Ask correction,
them to post and support
questions)
(No follow up,
not engaging)

Students
(They say they
English is
difficult, they
can’t write)

Colleagues
reported that
checking
 attendance and
scheduling tasks
increases levels
of participation.

• Share lesson objectives From teachers, on Candida Every Moodle Lesson Might not Ask Another
and expected outcomes how they keep lesson reflective be enough students to Action
clearly students and Scheme of form to assess reflect on plan
work
(Share with students that participating or/activit whereby whether what they needed
they participation could Motivation, y for the students’ students have
be improved, that it is not persistence whole performan understand learned to
satisfactory) Motivation, term ce I assess objectives do in the
support and follow if they subject at
up acted the end of
accordingl the term
From students y
(They think their
level of
participation is
normal, not low,
even though
teachers classify it
otherwise.
Probably don’t
know what is
expected from
them)
APPENDIX 2: EXPLORATORY RESEARCH OUTLINE

PROBLEM: Students’ low participation in on-line classes.

ACTION RESEARCH TOPIC: How can I plan and design engaging activities to increase my students’ participation in online classes?

Research Sources of Information Results/Responses Action Steps Notes

Questions
• What do I • Self-reflection • I rarely ask for feedback nor have • Do self-reflection on a
mean by (combined with reading I ever tried to understand, in a regular basis. (Keep a
'participate' and understanding about systematic way, why my students weekly journal)
in online participation) don’t participate • Ask for feedback
classes? • What is participation? • Students’ interaction with me and • Understand problem
among themselves on the causes and think of
platform. solutions
• Focus on synchronous
• Participation on forums, and other
activities
• What type • Reflection, revisit • Worksheets • Design activities that are
of activities UniRovuma Cozys • Links to online exercises engaging in nature, that
do I design • individual will somehow ‘force’
and use in • Grammar study material students to participate
my online • Often asynchronous • Follow up and give
classes? • Use of forums (not chats) (Ask feedback on activities
them to post questions)
• (No follow up, not engaging)
• In what • UniRovuma Cozyz • Chats • How to make these Data not
specific (Moodle) • Seminars activities more engaging? very
activities do • Research works • simple chats, because telling
students not • Revision quizzes some students reported
participate? that they don’t know how
to use English,
• Use video feature
• Organize group works

• How do • Google forms • 44.4 medium, 22.2 low, 11.1 very • share with students that
students Questionnaire to students high, 11.1 high, 11.1low. they participation could be
consider (WhatsApp, through improved, that it is not
their colleagues) satisfactory
participatio • share with them what is
n? expected of them and why
being engaged is important
• Share objectives and
expected outcomes of each
lesson
• share the benefits of being
engaged in activities
•
• Why do my • Google forms • Can’t understand the language; • Give feedback
students say Questionnaire to students • there is no pronunciation • Follow up on activities
they don’t ( (WhatsApp, through feedback; • Bring low-cost activities
want colleagues) • no data; • Be more present and
to) particip • didn’t have online lessons consistent
 ate in my
online
classes?
• What do my • Google forms • Interaction, grammar and • Make tests less stressful
students Questionnaire to students communication, interaction, how • Now the time to stop,
think about (WhatsApp, through the teacher explains, almost don’t make activities last
my colleagues) everything, only the tests too long (how to avoid
lessons? • Lack of translation; fatigue)
• pending too much time before a
screen,
• chat not saved,
• English is difficult, I didn’t have
any class
• Yes, yes, yes, yes, no, no
•
• Do my • Google forms • 1%very low • Use some of the ideas put
colleagues questionnaire my • 50% low forward by my colleagues
experience colleagues • 30% medium • Check attendance (then?)
the same • 0% high • Make every participation
problem, • 0% very high count (incentives/penalty?)
and if so, • Always ask for feedback
what do at the end of every term
they do
about it?
• debates
• competence based
• make participation count
• Motivation, persistence
• Motivation, support and follow up
• Find out why they are not
participating and find solutions
• Encourage, the platform is similar
to other social media apps
• Motivate
• Motivating them
• Assess participation
• Make myself available; offer to
call students back
• Give advice on the importance of
investing into their future
• Check attendance and sensitize
them
 22

APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRES

THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
MA in TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

INNOVATIONS IN TESOL METHODOLOGY MODULE ASSIGNMENT

Assignment Title: ‘A plan for innovation in my teaching context.’

Action Research Topic: How can I plan and design activities to increase students’ participation in online
classes?

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

Questions:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSey_ygpKoFppP4SSKj1Z0fWWuVd9wn0feOWvmkVw
WNXu3H6HQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Answers:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSey_ygpKoFppP4SSKj1Z0fWWuVd9wn0feOWvmkVwW
NXu3H6HQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

This questionnaire aims to collect data as part of an action research that will tackle the issue of low
participation in online English lessons at ISTTC, Rovuma University, Mozambique. Through this
I wish to hear about your experience with online lessons, whether you face the same problem as I
do, and if so, how you cope with it. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if
you would like to say more than it is possible in this questionnaire, through WhatsApp (842316037)
or e-mail (Candida.Arlindo@warwick.ac.uk).

1. In what courses do you teach English?

2. In general, how would you rate your students’ participation in your online lessons?
3. (If low) Have you ever explored what could be the reasons?
4. (If low) How do you cope with the problem?
5. (If high) What actions and/or activities do you take or use that make them participate?
6. Have comments from students about their participation in your lessons ever come to your knowledge? (If
yes) In general terms what are their comments?
7. Are there specific courses where students participate more than others? (If yes) Which ones?
8. Do have an idea of what could be the reasons?
9. Are there specific courses where students participate less than others? (If yes) Which ones?
10. Do you have an idea of what could be the reasons?
11. What kind of activities do you use with your students in online lessons?
12. Are there specific activities where students participate more than others? (If yes) Which ones?
13. Do you have an idea of what could be the reasons?
14. Are there specific activities where they participate less than others? (If yes) Which ones?
15. Do you have an idea of what could be the reasons?
 23

THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
MA in TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

INNOVATIONS IN TESOL METHODOLOGY MODULE ASSIGNMENT

Assignment Title: ‘A plan for innovation in my teaching context.’

Action Research Topic: How can I plan and design activities to increase students’ participation in online
classes?

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NON-ENGLISH TEACHERS (originally in Portuguese)

Questions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfV-LaJox_4OoUr7JCbcM0Gssg4edj-adm4eTV1-
nyVYTzzOQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Answers: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfV-LaJox_4OoUr7JCbcM0Gssg4edj-adm4eTV1-
nyVYTzzOQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

This questionnaire aims to collect data as part of an action research that will tackle the issue of
low participation in online English lessons at ISTTC, Rovuma University, Mozambique. Through
this I wish to hear about your experience with online lessons, whether you face the same problem
as I do, and if so, how you cope with it. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions
or if you would like to say more than it is possible in this questionnaire, through WhatsApp
(842316037) or e-mail carlindo@unirovuma.ac.mz Candida.Arlindo@warwick.ac.uk

1. How many subjects do you teach?

2. What subject(s) do you teach?
3. In general, how would you rate your students’ participation in your online lessons?
4. (If low) Have you ever explored what could be the reasons?
5. (If low) How do you cope with the problem?
6. (If high) What actions and/or activities do you take or use that make them participate?
7. Have comments from students about their participation in your lessons ever came to your knowledge? In
general terms what are their comments?
8. Are there specific courses where students participate more than others? (If yes) Which ones?
9. Do have an idea of what could be the reasons?
10. Are there specific courses where students participate less than others? (If yes) Which ones?
11. Do you have an idea of what could be the reasons?
12. What kind of activities do you use with your students in online lessons?
13. Are there specific activities where students participate more than others? (If yes) Which ones?
14. Do you have an idea of what could be the reasons?
15. Are there specific activities where they participate less than others? (If yes) Which ones?
16. Do you have an idea of what could be the reasons?
 24

THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
MA IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

INNOVATIONS IN TESOL METHODOLOGY MODULE ASSIGNMENT

Assignment Title: ‘A plan for innovation in my teaching context.’

Action Research Topic: How can I plan and design activities to increase students’ participation in online
classes?
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (Originally in Portuguese)
Questions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaybO034L_d1cZUSEFhQNLizV2iOF9_Z7Ks-
NhL7w9eeC7jg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Answers: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaybO034L_d1cZUSEFhQNLizV2iOF9_Z7Ks-
NhL7w9eeC7jg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Este questionário pretende colher as suas ideias e sensibilidades em relação a alguns aspetos
relacionados com as aulas virtuais na cadeira de Inglês. Os seus comentários são muito valiosos pois
ajudarão a perceber quais aspetos precisam ser melhorados e a identificar a melhor forma de fazê-lo.
As suas respostas serão registadas em anonimato por isso sinta-se livre em responder com honestidade.
Em caso de dúvida ou caso tenha algo a dizer que não seja possível por via deste questionário, por favor
entre em contacto através do WhatsApp (842316037) ou pelo e-mail
Candida.Arlindo@warwick.ac.uk

1. In what year did you have English?:

2. Course:
3. Shift:
4. How do you rate you participation in English online lessons?
Very high; High; Medium; Low; Very low.
5. (If very low or low) What makes you not participate much?
6. (If medium) What could increase your participation?
7. (If high or very high) What makes you participate so much?
8. How do you rate your participation in English lesson as compared to other subjects?
Same level.
I participate more in the online English classes.
I participate more in online lessons of other subjects.
9. What are the aspects that you like in online English lessons?
10. What are the aspects that you don’t like in online English lessons?
11. Do you think that the aspects you don’t like about online English classes affect your participation? (If yes,
How?)
12. In what type of activities do you like participating in online English lessons?
13. In what type of activities do you not like participating in online English lessons?
14. Do you think that the activities you don’t like affect your participation in lessons? (If yes, how?)
15. Use this space to add any comment related to online lessons in the English subject.