Relooking my research proposal

As they say, the process of writing is a constant back-and-forth: you write, then you reflect, you analyse, you turn back, make corrections, reread - and the process goes on and on. The same goes with my research proposal. After completing it, and after submitting, I still read it, and the more I read, the more I realise the things that can make it a better proposal.

I am truly grateful to bump into my lecturer Dr Teoh who then told me that there are a few things that I need to amend to make my proposal better. I guess it's true that although it is just a research proposal, it has to be really clear, especially in terms of the objectives and the instrumentation.

The thing that worries me the most is the instruments that I will be using and the internal validity of it. I really really hope that it'll measure what I intend to and that the data analysis that will be done based on the data collected from the instruments will not be as difficult.

The constant battle of judgment

This is a reflection of the process of my research proposal write-up. I know this should actually be done while the process of writing, but I was too engrossed in finishing the task that I forgot. However, no fret for this is an honest account of the journey.

Firstly, it is not easy. There are times (most of the time) when I questioned myself, over the topic that I chose. Is it good? Can it be carried out as a research? Will it have issues of validity? Should I change the topic? Why does it sound boring now? All these made it really difficult. I would go back and forth, thinking, deleting the lines I have written, rewrote them, and at times, I just stared at the blank screen of my laptop.

Come to think of it, this is the active process that everyone engages in when writing. It's like you need to synthesize, organize and unify the scholarly articled related to your topi that you have read, and relate them to the topic that you have chosen to justify the need for that research to be conducted. At the same time, you will actively question your choice, and this actually helps you to grasp a better understanding of the content related to the area you have chosen, as well as of your own desire and aims.

Writing the introduction is not so much of a problem. However, when it comes to the justification part, it became a continuos battle between me and the literature, a constant back-and-forth deliberation that I felt like screaming! Hahaha. Nevertheless, in the process of doing so, I actually felt intrigued because it kind of tested my cognitive ability of reasoning. And I gladly say that I managed to finish the justification in a manner I think required at the master's level. Well, I hope so.

Literature in PBS

It took me quite some time think and rethink, to reevaluate and reanalyse my research problem and the area that I want to look into. At first, i thought of focusing merely on the teaching of literature, on whether cooperative teaching strategies will enhance students learning in the classroom. However, after much thinking, i feel that this research area or concern is a bit too 'normal' and could be boring. So i decided to change.

This was when I started to look into issues of education that are quite recent; after much thinking and reading, I decided that doing something on PBS would be enriching. Therefore, without diverging from the arch of literature, i tried to relate my then research area to the issue of PBS. 

PBS was introduced to improve the education system. It is believed that teaching and learning should be meaningful, and that it provides the opportunity for everyone to climb up the ladder. However, I am concerned

over the fact that literature is not included in the PT3 assessment that is replacing PMR. I am concerned that the teaching of the literature component will not be taken seriously, and it may even be left out. 

Another concern of mine is teachers' adoption of the traditional teacher-centered approach, which denies exploration and active meaning making when discussing a literary text.

A few questions come to my mind: 

1) can literature lesson still be made fun in the current PBS framework?

2) will cooperative learning strategy provides the environment where active learning of literature be fostered?

3) can cooperative learning increase students' participation in literature lessons?

I really hope that this research may shed some lights on what can be done to increase students' motivation and participation in learning literature. Though the subject of my research may be confined to one school, at least, I believe it will provide an insight on how literature lessons can be improved through the use of cooperative learning strategies.

Writing a research proposal

It is not as easy as it seems. just read the book and looked at an example of a research proposal. Definitely, I need to do lots of readings to get evidences to support my arguments. I remembered doing a research proposal once. However, it was not as long. This time, I need to write 18 pages! 

Why so much? Well, maybe because I am now at the masters' level, so the higher the level is, the tougher the tasks get. Another reason would be that the research proposal needs to be in-depth. I read about writing the purpose of the study where I need to be succinct as well as I need to elaborate my arguments clearly. Then, I need to justify my research, showing the importance and the gravity of it, where the results may be helpful in the field that I am studying.

After that, I need to describe my instrumentation, how I will analyse the data and many other important things. It is quite taxing, but hey, lets be positive! I can do this. I just need to focus and stay focused!

I got the book!

I finally got my hands on this book! It's like the sacred book of research! I know i am exaggerating but seriously, it's s hard to get this book. Although i could not get the original one, at least I have this. 

The book basically talks about everything that one must know when conducting a research. It started off with the basics such as identifying research problem and the ethics for conducting research, to writing research proposals and report. Mind you it's 640-pages long! Definitely need to start my revision now! 

Research Problem

Well this topic should have been posted earlier but hey, better late than never. Today, in class, we had a revision on this topic. It may sound simple and easy, but I remembered when I showed my research problem to my lecturer, there were a lot of things that I need to redo. I guess, the lesson is to not take things for granted. 

Nevertheless, I am glad that I learned about the correct way to identify research problems. As for the revision today, I managed to test my understanding and I am quite happy that I got 6 correct answers out of 8! Woohooo! Now I am more confident to write my research proposal!

Literature in the current PBS

The topic of PBS is highly debated by so many people nowadays. I believe it is an interesting topic to discuss about considering the amount of controversy it sparks. To get a more apt idea of what PBS really is, I did some readings on the web. Also, I am curious to know what other people from other states are thinking. Luckily, I found this article by Salmiah Jaba on the acceptance towards School-based Assessment. 

From there, I got some ideas on the aims and objectives of PBS. I also get to know the acceptance of students towards school-based assessment.  This actually helps me to build up the research framework that I plan to do. At the same time, this article suggests ways for teachers to improve the use of PBS.

This is crucial as I am interested to look into how do we increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning literature that can help achieve the aim of PBS.

Some of the things I identified from the reading. I am the kind of person who needs to write because it helps me to organize my thoughts.

Cooperative teaching of literature

For the first task, were were asked to think of a research area that we are interested and from there, we need to identify and specify the specific are that we want to look into. 

As for me, I am interested in the area of literature; the teaching of literature in ESL Classrooms. To be specific, I would like to look into the different pedagogies that can be used effectively to teach literature in the Malaysian classroom and how it will fit into the current frame of School Based Assessment (SBE) or popularly known as PBS.

To do so, I need to do a literature review. This is actually how one will get ideas on what to research on and eventually build up the whole research framework. To start with, i found this interesting article by Tok Hoon Seng on the use of cooperative learning in teaching literature. Enjoy reading!

Hello and Welcome!

Hello! I guess most of you may have known me by now. I am Farouk, I'm a teacher and now I am a meters students at UITM! I don't know why, but I feel so excited every time I tell people that I'm a masters student.

Anyway, this blog is specially for the Research Methodology subject that I am currently studying. To be honest, I really need this because my research skills are quite lacking. I believe with this blog, my friends and I, and also all of you, can share your knowledge so that we can all conduct a successful research!

Here are some basic information about this course:

1. Introduces learners to the basics of educational research. 

2. Focuses on the various concepts and philosophies underlying academic research in the field of education. 

3. Developing students’ understanding of research methodology.

4. Involves aspects such as research strategies, research design, data collection and data interpretation techniques. 

This is indeed an interesting subject and I hope that I will be able to excel and gain a lot from it!