Action Research as a Criticism of Korean Teaching in the Classroom
Jeong, Jae-Chan
Cheongju National University of Education
Korean Language Education Research Vol. 25 pp.389-420 (2006)
Abstract
The essence of education can be found in the classroom which is the field of our daily teaching. Recently the concern about classroom teaching and the field studies for action research are increasing. Most of all, we should pay attention to classroom in order to observe, describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate it sincerely. Quantitative study usually put to use the checklists regardless of teaching subject matter. However, the quantity of action does not always coincide with the quality. Qualitative study, although it gives us a very fresh viewpoint, has also serious problem that it needs too much burden to take into action. Efficiency is not the only key of teaching. If we value the efficiency only, classroom teaching would tumble down as a mechanical process which focuses upon the relationship between input and output. But classroom is not a factory and the teacher is not a factory worker. Instead, the teacher has a very resemblance with the artist, and the text of class can be regarded as an artistic text. Whether the field study is quantitative or qualitative, the common problem is that it has not the own language of the subject matter itself. While we are watching the classroom teaching, we have to maintain the professional insight and the highly pedagogical content knowledge of the subject matter. In short, the study of Korean classroom teaching should have both sides, the universality of pedagogy and the individuality of Korean pedagogy as the specific subject matter. If we regard the classroom teaching as a kind of art, expect the alternative to reduce the burden of qualitative study and to be based on the professional knowledge about the subject matter, we would meet the classroom teaching criticism. It could be defined as a critical and creative writing based upon the description, interpretation, and evaluation of the classroom teaching text. It regards the educational text as well as a sort of cultural, artistic text. Particularly, it pursues to be as an action research and a field consulting by studying the quality of classroom teaching concretely and practically with a fully vivid context. Furthermore, if we could load the classroom teaching text on the web by transforming it as a VOD text, it is possible to share the field itself, enhance the reliability of the qualitative study, and eventually activate the controversy among Korean education studies. Most of all, the criticism of the Korean classroom teaching can be expected as a model for other departments because it has a good tradition and many resources such as literary criticism for developing the classroom criticism. This paper can be considered as one to try the classroom teaching criticism among many probabilities.
Keywords
qualitative studyclassroom teaching criticismKorean teaching criticism
