Success is cheesecake: a guide to analyzing student discourse

Abstract

Action research, conducted by teachers in their own classrooms, with the goal of improving practice, is an invaluable practice that can provide insight into students’ lives. One of the many challenges associated with action research is knowing how to analyze and interpret data. In this manuscript, written as a “how to” of sorts, I explain how to use a qualitative data analysis technique known as generous reading. This method, similar to discourse analysis, has theoretical roots in the works of Bakhtin and Vološinov. In this manuscript, I apply the tools of generous reading to a transcript from my own qualitative action research project, using one student’s discourse as an example of an effective way to dig deeper into the meaning behind text-based data.

Keywords:

• action research
• qualitative
• data analysis
• success
• student perceptions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.