Participatory learning

Photovoice is a participatory action research method which aims to enable students to create compelling visual representations and identify the local social issues.  This paper attempted to investigate the impact of photovoice as an innovative method on the levels of reflection manifested in EFL learners' narratives. To this end, a convenience sample of 48 Iranian intermediate EFL learners including 17 males and 31 females, learning English in two institutes located in Isfahan, Iran, were chosen. Before research implementation, the participants were provided with comprehensive photovoice guidance and workshop. The learners had to present their photos and narratives during a semester which took about two months. The collected data include 237 photographs and 48 essays which were learners' critical reflection on the photos. Then, the levels of reflection in their narratives were measured by Kember (2008) and Ryan and Ryan's (2012) frameworks. According to the results, poverty and air pollution were the most prominent social concerns captured by the participants. Furthermore, photovoice incredibly fostered Iranian EFL learners' reflection, and they all had positive attitudes toward participatory learning. This study could have pedagogical implications for the learners and practitioners in the field of SLA. They can employ innovative methods such as photovoice as a participatory learning tool to improve critical reflection.

Purpose: Learning is an important factor in life on which the survival and success of organizations depends. The purpose of this survey study is to investigate the causal relationships between the effective factors of participatory learning in primary schools in Bandar Abbas, Iran. The research is applied in terms of purpose.  Methodology: The participants of the study consisted of 35 experts who were selected by purposive sampling. A researcher-made pairwise comparison questionnaire consisting of 5 influential factors of student, teacher, school principal, school atmosphere, and curriculum was used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed by DEMATEL technique.  Findings: The results of the analysis based on ranking showed teacher factor at the top of ranking following with the student factor in the second rank; the third rank belonged to the school atmosphere factor, the curriculum factor was ranked fourth; the principal factor fifth. The results also showed that the teacher factor (R+J=23.91; R-J=0.35) had the most interaction (impact / influence) and then respectively, the student (R+J=23.87; R-J=-0.35), the school atmosphere (R+J=23.85; R-J=1.00), the curriculum (R+J=22.88; R-J=-0.71), and, the principal factors (R+J=22.53; R-J=-0.30) considered the most interacting of all. The school atmosphere (R=12.42) was the most influential factor on the other factors, then the teacher (R=12.13) was the next influential factor, which according to the R-J value of these two influential factors are pure. The most influential factors were the curriculum, the student and the principal, respectively.  Conclusion: According to the results, the content of textbooks should be written and compiled with a special focus on this method of teaching and learning. Also, new determining scales of the correct performance of participatory learning should be developed and used.

Productive skills have a vital role in learning the English language as they provide foreign learners with opportunities to practice real-life activities in the classroom. The photo-based method for teaching language skills has been developed due to advances in visual technology, the shift to student-centered learning, and the demand for 21st-century skills. Thus, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of utilizing Photovoice on Iranian intermediate learners’ English language productive skills. The research followed a quantitative quasi-experimental design that included pretest and post-test equivalent treatment and control groups. Sixty intermediate female language learners were chosen from a private institute in Isfahan, Iran. First, they were selected conveniently and then they were homogenized based on their performance on the Preliminary English Test. They were divided into two experimental ( n = 30) and control ( n = 30) groups. The experimental group received Photovoice as a methodological innovation, incorporating reflective and collaborative activities, while the control group received routine language instruction involving traditional teaching practices such as lectures, textbook exercises, and grammar drills. One pretest and one post-test were administered to assess the learners’ speaking and writing skills. Then, between-subjects MANOVA and t-tests were employed to analyze the data. The results revealed that Photovoice significantly helped students improve their speaking and writing skills. The present study might have useful implications for curriculum designers, language learners, teachers, and other researchers who are considering the use of Photovoice in language classes.

Speaking is a multifaceted skill that involves many different areas, such as discourse, grammar, and sociolinguistics. As a primary means of communication, speaking is essential in any instructional program for language learning. Besides, Photovoice is a participatory learning method that represents the viewpoints, issues, and experiences of individuals or communities through photography. Following a mixed-methods design, the present study tried to investigate employing Photovoice on Iranian intermediate language learners' skill in speaking English. It also looked at how the participants felt about using Photovoice to learn languages. Using a convenient sampling procedure, a total number of 60 participants were chosen. Once their homogeneity was confirmed based on the Preliminary English Test, they were randomly divided into two equal groups of thirty participants, one experimental group and one control group. While the control group received typical language teaching using conventional methods, the experimental group followed the PHOTO model, which emphasized participatory photography, as well as the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model for generating innovative solutions. Triangulation was also accomplished through conducting pre/post tests, a questionnaire, and an interview. Then, the data were summarized, and descriptive and inferential statistics such as one-way ANCOVA and paired samples t-tests were used. The results showed that Photovoice integrated with CPS was an effective method for enhancing students' speaking skill and emotional engagement in language learning. The findings can be helpful through new insights into language pedagogy, suggestions for researchers and language teachers in the study of speaking skill, and visual methods such as Photovoice.