Professional Development

Originated by Birmingham MA TEFL/TESL students

A Recent Success Story in the Classroom

While the focus of my endeavors is on teaching English to Japanese university students, I have also been ‘moonlighting’ in an area of personal passion: teaching research methods and statistics to my EFL peers. During my quantitative-heavy graduate studies in Hawaii, I found great rewards from instructing Masters students in their first course on statistics. It was a real joy to carefully guide apprehensive but eager students through the complex topics and abstract concepts of fundamental statistics that I had come to appreciate and enjoy so much in my own studies. Local conferences and JALT chapter meetings have provided me a venue to offer a variety of workshops related to statistics, quantitative research methods, and action research. However, these one-session workshops do not allow for in-depth exploration of topics nor give me the chance to work closely with a group of teachers over an extended period. Thanks to Steve and the MASH gang, I have finally been given an opportunity to get back into the statistics classroom and teach the quantitative arts in a way that is extremely satisfying. After attending my workshop, Zen and the Art of Statistics at a Kobe JALT meeting, Steve approached me about teaching an on-line course on statistics for a group of EFL colleagues. I jumped at the opportunity and a wonderful, collaborative partnership was born...

Comment

Show enthusiasm for everything you teach. It’s infectious and can lead to new, exciting opportunities.

A thought or idea in progress

I am in the process of developing a series of worksheets for the budding teacher-researcher. They offer a complete but simple guide to a flexible quantitative action research project that can be conducted with relative ease. This guide should serve as an educational experience and introduce the logic and procedures of a quantitative research study.

Comment

Seek out a niche. Become an expert in one specific area and branch out from there. The deeper you go, the better it gets. Like-minded people will find you, as I’ve been lucky to experience firsthand, and your professional, collaborative network will grow.

From teacher-researcher to teacher-researchers

In the beginning, focus more on a simple, solid research design that can be executed with minimal difficulty, rather than trying to answer big educational questions or solve complex problems. Getting bogged down with lengthy data collection periods and complicated schemes can lead nowhere fast and leave you feeling discouraged with research in general. Get a handle on research procedures with simple studies that are easy to complete and work your way up towards more advanced projects. Replicating previous research is also a great way to learn the process and make a valuable contribution to your field.

If you’re curious about my work or perhaps ready to take a significant step in your own professional development, come check out one of my workshops or sit in on an introductory lesson of MASH’s next online course, Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods. You can find all you need to know at http://www.mash-collaboration-efl.com/

Editor's note:

I originally met Greg at a Kobe JALT Chapter meeting where he was giving his Zen and the Art of Statistics presentation. Literally, five minutes into the presentation I knew I was going to approach him right after the workshop. I asked him to help a bunch of us take the next step in our professional development by becoming more proficient with quantitative research methods. Greg's enthusiasm for statistics is contagious. Come see what I mean...

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Contact Steven Herder at steven.herder@gmail.com or click below to check us out a little further at http://www.mash-collaboration-efl.com/

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