Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Initial Thoughts on my Inquiry Project (revised)

Part I: Exploration1. Identify the issue or problem that you plan to focus on in your Inquiry Project.

My hope is to work on something that focuses around students attitudes towards teacher comments on their papers.

2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic?

I have had certain reactions to my teachers’ comments on my paper. At times I am left confused on what I did wrong to receive the grade I got. Other times, I thought I fulfilled the assignment but got comments on areas that were not part of the initial assignment.

3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic?

I feel that most students can relate to the topic. I also am aware that teachers look for different things when grading and it can be hard to please them all. I think that teachers should provide the students with what they are going to be looking for in the final project before the students start. This way they know what is expected of them and will understand their feedback better.

4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic. What are your main questions about this topic? What are you most curious about?

The knowledge I already have about this topic is personal experience and observations that I have had throughout my school years. My main questions about the topic are:
-What are students’ reactions to teachers’ feedback?
-What methods of feedback do students respond the best to?
- What types of comments should teachers be putting on their students’ papers?
I am most curious about how teacher comments change the perception the student has on their work. Also, what they would want to see instead. I am really interested in researching that because I plan to be an English school teacher and would want to be helpful to my students in any way I could. I would like to see what they prefer with feedback.

5. How might composition theorists and researchers approach or study this topic? Does this approach differ from those of other related disciplines (such as communication studies)?

For education studies: I believe that education theorists will hold the most knowledge about this topic. They could have studies that they performed with students and teachers. Also, they could use information gathered by their years of teaching and provide their scholarly argument on what teachers should be doing with feedback and learn from their mistakes.

For communication studies: They may be more concerned with how feedback that is not understood by the student may change the teacher-student relationship.

For research studies: They can correlate the results of different forms of feedback to see which promote better student attitudes and which they disregard.

6. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews and/or observations)?

I could perform a survey with my peers. I could produce a questionnaire for my English professors to see what form of feedback they use and why they do it.

Part II: Focusing Write an initial claim, or an open-ended question, to guide your research on this topic. Make it specific but exploratory. Remember that a good claim opens up an area of inquiry about a topic; a claim should invite evidence, support, and debate.

What type of feedback methods do students appreciate and respond to the most?

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