A workshop for language educators
Helen H. Shen
University of Iowa
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, Friday, April 5, 2024
1418 Van Hise Hall
About the workshop
An important paradigm shift in the field of teacher education this century is to encourage teachers to reflect on their classroom teaching practices for the purpose of maximally transforming their teaching effort into students’ learning results. Action research that emerged in SLA classrooms in the 1980s is considered “a powerful agent of educational change” (Mills 2018) as it empowers teachers to be researchers who reflect on and improve their classroom instruction in a systematic way. This workshop will introduce action research in SLA classrooms by focusing on aspects of its theoretical foundation, research topics, characteristics, and research procedures, followed by step-by-step practice to learn how to use action research methods to conduct research in language classrooms. Additional information on criteria for developing a good action research plan, ethical considerations for action research, and formats for writing up an action research report will also be included.
About the workshop facilitator
Helen H. Shen is Professor Emeritus and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Iowa.
Dr. Shen’s major research area is Chinese L2 literacy development and reading education. She has published dozens of empirical studies and is the author of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Character and Word Acquisition and Instruction (2nd Edition) and lead author of the college textbooks Introduction to Standard Chinese Pinyin System (2020, 2nd edition), Learning 100 Chinese Radicals (2019, 2nd edition), and Routledge Intermediate Chinese Reader (2013), and co-editor of the monograph, Research Among Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language (2010). She is the recipient of an International Research and Studies Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education (2005-08) to develop a comprehensive web-based reading project. The site was reconstructed in 2022 to fit mobile devices. Dr. Shen is recipient of four STARTALK grants from the U.S. National Security Agency (2010, 2016, 2017, 2021-23).
More information on Dr. Shen’s research, service, and grants is here.
Sponsors: Sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Institute, with funding from the International Division.
Contact: Jana Martin, Language Institute associate director
The UW-Madison Language Institute is committed to inclusive and accessible programming. To request an accommodation for this event, please contact Language Institute associate director Jana Martin three business days in advance.