| dc.description.abstract | Language ability entails our capacity to express ourselves and to understand what others are saying. Language difficulties can have a negative impact on children?s academic achievement, social skills, emotional regulation, and behavioural skills (Myers & Botting, 2008; Paradice et al., 2007). The potential of the educational environment to support language development, and in particular the effectiveness of language enrichment interventions implemented in the educational environment, contrasts with reported difficulties implementing a focus on language development in primary schools (Cregan, 2010; DES, 1999; Eivers et al., 2004; Howe, 2008; NCCA, 2015). An epistemological perspective can assist in exploring and articulating the apparent gap between theory and practice in supporting school-aged children?s language development, which frequently occurs in the context of evidence-based practice and inter-professional practice (Dollaghan, 2007; Eikeland, 2015; Heron & Reason, 2008; Nancarrow et al 2013).
Action research is a research methodology that can be both robust for scholars and useful for practitioners, and has the implementation of change at its core (Coghlan, 2011). Therefore, action research was employed to answer the research question: ?How can classroom practices be changed to support effective language enrichment??. I, a speech and language therapist, sought to work collaboratively with teachers over a school year to change the status quo in relation to supporting language development in mainstream classrooms.
In all action research inquiries there are two action research projects running in tandem, the core action research project and the thesis action research project (Zuber-Skerritt and Fletcher, 2007). In this study, the core action research inquiry focused on planning, implementing, evaluating and revising classroom practices to support effective language enrichment. Occurring in parallel, the thesis action research inquiry was a form of meta-analysis, exploring the processes involved in supporting changes to classroom practices, concentrating and reflecting on the experiences of the core study. The core and thesis action research projects of this inquiry overlapped and are essentially interwoven.
Five key propositions were identified through the core and thesis action research cycles. The first proposition offers a contribution to practice - Proposition 1: Collaboratively designed activities are central to changing classroom practices to support effective language enrichment. The four other propositions that were abstracted stem from Proposition 1 and provide theoretical contributions to the themes of participation, change, and epistemology (Proposition 2: Facilitation is an essential third dimension of participation, shared by all co-researchers, Proposition 3: Degrees of participation may fluctuate, Proposition 4: Practical knowing is a critical element in models of change, and Proposition 5: Power plays a role in the interface between practical knowing and propositional knowing).
While the limitations of the potential contribution of this inquiry are acknowledged, a number of important implications for practice and policy, theory, and research are discussed. Furthermore, ?all good research is for me, for us, and for them?, and the integration of first, second, and third person voices is characteristic of an action research inquiry (Reason & Marshall, 1987, p. 112). Therefore, this thesis concludes with a summary of the findings of this inquiry through these three voices, with an understanding that their amalgamation is essential for a complete representation of the possible contribution of this study. | en |
