Elitnaurilleq piciryaramtenek qanemcitgun: a participatory teacher action research study to improve language and literacy instruction in a Yup'ik immersion school

Abstract

Elitnaurilleq Piciryaramtenek Qanemcitgun: A participatory teacher action research study (Teaching our way of life through stories) is participatory action research involving four Yugtun immersion teachers investigating first and second grade Yugtun reading and language instruction through lesson study. Lesson study involves a group of educators collaboratively implementing teacher action research to investigate a problem area in their teaching. The research questions that guided our investigation include: How can teachers' involvement in a Participatory Action Research (a) contribute to their own professional development; (b) improve their language teaching; and (c) generate new strategies for teaching reading based on Yugtun language principles? Data collections included video recordings of our sessions, the journal entries of the participants, and audio recording of the interviews. Data were analyzed using Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014). Primary categories that emerged were: Selecting vocabulary words; organizing lesson that help students make meaning from text; How and when to teach vocabulary words; Recognizing differences between Yugtun and English morphology in relation to language and literacy instruction. Each of these categories are addressed in terms of a professional development inservice and a workshop series designed to involve teachers in continued lesson study.