Introductions - Ross Graham
james henry
We are a small community of teacher-researchers united by interests
in
academic writing and more broadly, academic literacy in higher
education,
as this applies particularly to non-native writers of English. All of
us
are working on the British Academy funded project 'Action Research as
a
tool for the improvement of first year academic writing programmes in
Ethiopian universities'. The project started officially on Oct 1st,
2011,
and is scheduled to continue for three years, until Sept. 30, 2014.
During
this time, close links will develop between the research participants
working in Coventry University (where I work), Addis Ababa University,
and
Hawassa University.
Electronic communication provides a way for us to form an online
'community
of practice'. As an initial step, we at Coventry have set up this
Googlegroup to enable sharing of what we are trying to do in our
action
research and how we are actually going about this. I have called the
Googlegroup CESAW : Coventry-Ethiopia-Student-Academic-Writing. I
hope you
will agree this has anappealing 'ring' to it, with the name suggesting
the
to-ing and fro-ing of ideas.
I envisage CESAW as being an immediate contact point where we can
exchange
practical ideas. This can also involve sharing of certain tools of our
work
such as syllabusses, worksheets for students, correction keys for
written
work, or questionnaires. I would like the Googlegroup to be a medium
for
transferring the hands-on approach which is AR in the classroom to a
global
classroom where we are all explorers and learners about the process
of
doing action research. Importantly, CESAW is intended to be a
completely
level playing field, a place everyone should feel good about
participating
as equals, somewhere we can tell others what we are doing, and also
feel
free to ask questions relating to questions of 'what' and 'how'.
Action research consists of phases of planning and observation and
review.
It is mainly on these levels that I envisage CESAW being most active
in
bringing us together. We will find others who are working on similar
themes, and members will develop these themes through discussion
threads. In the interests of good housekeeping, participants should
try to
keep threads going under a common thread-name for as long as this
seems
useful.
James Henry, who is one of the teacher-researchers at Coventry, is
the
moderator of CESAW. James will have the job of enrolling people as
participants. To be a participant in a Googlegroup, you must have a
gmail
account. Once your name has been forwarded to James with a current
email
address, James will send an invitation to join the group,
You may have noticed that I made no mention of 'reflection' or
building
'theories of practice'. This is because CESAW is more about the
practical
business of being an action researcher in one community across
continents.
The more reflective part of AR will have a place too: we are
currently
constructing a 'blogsite'. This will enable direct sharing of
thoughts, a
means of creating an open-minded dialogue of ideas. I know that
blogging
for some in the blogosphere is like a 'soapbox'. For us, it has to be
about
creating joint understanding, and earning and showing respect for
others'
ideas.
I hope to report on the development of our CoP (community of practice)
at
the MATSDA Conference in Limerick, Ireland which is taking place next
June.
Also, of course, at the workshop in Hawassa in the second part of
June.
Hope to see you all in one or other of these places!
Selamta
Ross