NETRUZ Champion Teacher: Dildora Ashurova

I am Dildora Ashurova, an English teacher at the Academic Lyceum of Bukhara Engineering Technological Institute. I have been teaching English for more than 20 years to teenagers. The lessons I conduct are mostly directed to improve students` four skills to achieve B1 level according to the state standard to enter the higher educational establishment. Simultaneously, I am a teacher trainer of the ESN (English Speaking Nation) program, which was implemented by the collaboration of the American Council for International Education and the Ministry of Public Education of Uzbekistan. As a Core trainer, I received TESOL international certificate by participating in both the TESOL Core Certificate Program and Training of Trainers (ToT) program in 2021.

My research interests

As an educator and teacher trainer, I have been interested in motivating students, improving students’ autonomy in learning, finding the ways to make learning and teaching more effective and engaging, the role of homework for students’ learning, how to teach teenagers more effectively.

Abstract of my research project

Completion of homework is a crucial learning process. Though it often takes place as an after-school activity, it presents multiple challenges for many students, especially for those who have got low-level knowledge and lack autonomous skills. In my exploratory action research, I tried to explore the reasons why do some of my teenage students at the academic lyceum come to the lessons without completing the homework. The data was collected from 24 students of both specialized and non-specialized groups in English, using a questionnaire. The findings show that the reasons varied in those two groups. Accordingly, I implemented some changes in order to help my students to deal with those challenges and manage their homework more responsibly. My study offers new practical ways of motivating students to complete their homework regularly.

My reflection on the training and exploratory action research

I can say that the new phase has started in my life in terms of research activities when I first contacted Elyanora about my interest to participate in the NETRUZ project. I noticed her willingness to support teachers who were novice in research. I should admit the fact that this feeling was leading me during the whole project too. With the help of a group of knowledgeable and supportive mentors like Elyanora and Malika, I have learned how to reflect on my teaching. I can now see that reflecting on your teaching practices helps teachers to discover how what we do in the classroom works or doesn’t work .

I would like to express my deep gratitude to all our mentors who did a great job in each online zoom session to explain the steps of exploratory action research in the easiest way. During the process of exploratory action research, I learned how to search for appropriate articles to find out about how other teachers dealt with the same challenges of teaching. Moreover, I found out that it is better to simple consult students about the problematic issues in order to understand the situation more vividly and take some steps accordingly. Students get motivated if their voices are heard.

Such kinds of projects are the best opportunity to share your experience and get to know other colleagues too. I will surely continue my participation in this project in the future and advise other educators to join this wonderful growing community.