Limitations
Due to the nature of action research, there are some limitations that may have affected some of the results of the study. As with any research, there are some events and factors that may interfere with the ability to generalize to a greater population.
The amount of time during each phase may have impacted the results of the research.
One of the biggest limitations of this study was the amount of days in which the research was conducted. Due to the lack of days in which this study was conducted it is hard to generalize to a greater population. As seen with the charts in both phases, the amount of students choosing to write on pictures that I provided or those in their books steadily decreased over the days of the research. This pattern would have probably continued if each phase had been conducted for a longer period of time. This might have lead to varying results about the effectiveness of the implementations.
Another limitation due to time was the amount of time in between one day of writing and the next time we wrote. Due to the busy nature of the end of kindergarten, the students were writing less and less frequently. There were also a significant number of days in between some of the writing days. This could have affected the progress the students were making and impacted the results of the study. Although most students improved over the course of the research, this gain could have been substantially more if writing was done consistently.
It was hard to remain unbiased in what my students wrote about each day.
Although I gave every student the opportunity to write on a topic of their choice or a picture I was providing, it was hard for me not to suggest their writing about the pictures rather than come up with their own topic. This finding was demonstrated in what I modeled to the students during each writing session. I chose to write about a picture that I provided or one in a book throughout the course of the research. Only once did I model a topic of my choice. This may have influenced which topic students wrote about because, for the most part, students will likely chose to write on the same thing that the teacher modeled. This component could have impacted the number of students that were choosing to write on the pictures each day. This finding was especially true for the struggling writers. When the pictures were provided, I would model three sentences on one of the pictures. Although I do not leave my journal in view during writing time, some of the struggling writers could remember the sentences that I had written from the modeling time and chose to write on those instead of making up their own sentences. This finding was also present during phase two when the students could choose to write about a picture in a book. I had a few students who would write on the same topic as me even though they did not have that book or picture in front of them. This action could have impacted the number of students that were writing on the pictures provided each day.
The small population size makes it hard to generalize to greater populations.
The results of both phases of the investigation suggest that student interest in the topic is the most important factor when implementing new elements into any subject area. Although various research studies point to finding, it is hard to generalize the effects of pictures in the writing program when only implemented with twenty-one students who are all 5-6 years old. For the most part, the class is composed of Caucasian students. We do have some students who represent other ethnicities, however, the classroom population is not diverse enough to generalize to a greater population.
The set of students who participated in this investigation are also very comfortable with me. Being a teacher in their classroom every day probably made them more excited to try what I was providing. I knew their interests better than an outside researcher would, so I was more aware of the types of pictures to provide during phase one. Their level of comfort with me probably also impacted the number of students who chose to change their topics. They saw my excitement with the pictures and this may have led them to try something new. It is for these reasons that results cannot be generalized to a larger population. However, it appears that the pictures provided by me during phase one were successful in students’ choosing to vary their topic choice for writing assignments.
The rapid developmental gains made by kindergarten students could have accounted for the changes in writing and topic choice.
Students who are five and six years old develop at a much faster and more visible pace than older students. It is for this reason that the results of the study and the improvement in writing may have been due to the students’ overall development and not because of the pictures provided. During the course of the research, various students became more proficient at reading and made vast improvements in their reading levels. The complexity of the texts changes with each jump in reading level and this fact may have impacted some of their writing and their choice of sentence structure and vocabulary. Every student improved in writing over the course of the implementation of the inquiry. However, this improvement is also a pattern in most kindergarten classes. The sentences in student writing samples were becoming longer, more detailed and exhibited better overall mechanics at the end of phase two than they had during the baseline measures. It is for these reasons that it is hard to state whether the improvements in writing were from the pictures provided or just from their overall development.
Even with the limitations, the research did appear to show that phase one had an impact on the topics that students were choosing to write about each day. They seemed to enjoy the writing process more and were less concerned with invented spelling than they had been prior to implementation. Students’ writing competence vastly improved and they were avoiding the over-reliance of topics about dogs, cats and the park that I was seeing prior to implementation.
The amount of time during each phase may have impacted the results of the research.
One of the biggest limitations of this study was the amount of days in which the research was conducted. Due to the lack of days in which this study was conducted it is hard to generalize to a greater population. As seen with the charts in both phases, the amount of students choosing to write on pictures that I provided or those in their books steadily decreased over the days of the research. This pattern would have probably continued if each phase had been conducted for a longer period of time. This might have lead to varying results about the effectiveness of the implementations.
Another limitation due to time was the amount of time in between one day of writing and the next time we wrote. Due to the busy nature of the end of kindergarten, the students were writing less and less frequently. There were also a significant number of days in between some of the writing days. This could have affected the progress the students were making and impacted the results of the study. Although most students improved over the course of the research, this gain could have been substantially more if writing was done consistently.
It was hard to remain unbiased in what my students wrote about each day.
Although I gave every student the opportunity to write on a topic of their choice or a picture I was providing, it was hard for me not to suggest their writing about the pictures rather than come up with their own topic. This finding was demonstrated in what I modeled to the students during each writing session. I chose to write about a picture that I provided or one in a book throughout the course of the research. Only once did I model a topic of my choice. This may have influenced which topic students wrote about because, for the most part, students will likely chose to write on the same thing that the teacher modeled. This component could have impacted the number of students that were choosing to write on the pictures each day. This finding was especially true for the struggling writers. When the pictures were provided, I would model three sentences on one of the pictures. Although I do not leave my journal in view during writing time, some of the struggling writers could remember the sentences that I had written from the modeling time and chose to write on those instead of making up their own sentences. This finding was also present during phase two when the students could choose to write about a picture in a book. I had a few students who would write on the same topic as me even though they did not have that book or picture in front of them. This action could have impacted the number of students that were writing on the pictures provided each day.
The small population size makes it hard to generalize to greater populations.
The results of both phases of the investigation suggest that student interest in the topic is the most important factor when implementing new elements into any subject area. Although various research studies point to finding, it is hard to generalize the effects of pictures in the writing program when only implemented with twenty-one students who are all 5-6 years old. For the most part, the class is composed of Caucasian students. We do have some students who represent other ethnicities, however, the classroom population is not diverse enough to generalize to a greater population.
The set of students who participated in this investigation are also very comfortable with me. Being a teacher in their classroom every day probably made them more excited to try what I was providing. I knew their interests better than an outside researcher would, so I was more aware of the types of pictures to provide during phase one. Their level of comfort with me probably also impacted the number of students who chose to change their topics. They saw my excitement with the pictures and this may have led them to try something new. It is for these reasons that results cannot be generalized to a larger population. However, it appears that the pictures provided by me during phase one were successful in students’ choosing to vary their topic choice for writing assignments.
The rapid developmental gains made by kindergarten students could have accounted for the changes in writing and topic choice.
Students who are five and six years old develop at a much faster and more visible pace than older students. It is for this reason that the results of the study and the improvement in writing may have been due to the students’ overall development and not because of the pictures provided. During the course of the research, various students became more proficient at reading and made vast improvements in their reading levels. The complexity of the texts changes with each jump in reading level and this fact may have impacted some of their writing and their choice of sentence structure and vocabulary. Every student improved in writing over the course of the implementation of the inquiry. However, this improvement is also a pattern in most kindergarten classes. The sentences in student writing samples were becoming longer, more detailed and exhibited better overall mechanics at the end of phase two than they had during the baseline measures. It is for these reasons that it is hard to state whether the improvements in writing were from the pictures provided or just from their overall development.
Even with the limitations, the research did appear to show that phase one had an impact on the topics that students were choosing to write about each day. They seemed to enjoy the writing process more and were less concerned with invented spelling than they had been prior to implementation. Students’ writing competence vastly improved and they were avoiding the over-reliance of topics about dogs, cats and the park that I was seeing prior to implementation.