Action Research The History And Thinking

The dissertation presented the characteristics,methodology and its perspective by historical reflecting on the action research.Action research movement has appeared since Collier,J. and Lewin,K,during which Corey,S. and Foshay,A. were the leaders of the first stage,Stenhouse,L. of the second stage,Elliott,J. and Kemmis,S. of the third stage. Action research has raised four characteristics:a) involvement or 'teachers as researchers',teacher as 'reflective practitioners',b) improvement,i.e. to improve practice,understanding of the practitioners and the situation in which the practices are carried out. c) systematic. It rejects positivism but uses some scientific method,d) to made open. Collaborative discourse among teachers is required. And the research must be made open,so as to be criticized by public.Action research has suggested a series of research procedure and methods. The classical procedure is a spiral of plan-act-observe-reflect. During the process of observation,the neutral chairperson,triangulation and necessary scientific methods such as statistical tools,standard measurement and reviewing literature,which makes itself different from the regular educational research and appeared as three models of technical,practical and emancipatory action research.Action research found itself on the road of resisting positivism. So it has significance of methodology,i.e. reflecting positivism,changing teachers' everyday lives,nearing qualitative research,accepting some commitments of critical theory and going forward hermeneutics. Action research has to make teachers as reflective practitioners,if it wants to throw away positivism.However,teachers who wish to become reflective practitioners must put themselves in the theory-reading and to live in a way of hermeneutics. It is a pity that action research selected nothing but the attitude of bias which always put it into the dilemma of legitimate crisis. The dissertation encourages teachers read theory-text,when it suggests action research accept the paradigm of hermeneutics. But teachers' professional life and their time,energy can not directly make themselves be interested in theory-text. So,action research ought to have two prerequisites for theory-text reading:a) learn to have dialogue with outside researchers,b) select and produce proper texts,such as educational biography,educational cases,educational novels,educational prose and educational poems.