Qualitative Research – Classroom Interaction

Analysis

Some Empirical Research Topics in Second Language Classrooms

1. Teaching methods2. Classroom organization3. Interaction between students4. Interaction between students and teachers

Can you suggest a possible research question for each of the above types of research?

Examples of research questions

1. How effective is ‘the silent method’ of language teaching? (teaching methods)

2. Do students like working in small groups? (classroom organization)

3. Can students learn from each other? ( student to student interaction)

4. Do students like teacher explanations? (student to teacher interaction)

How do teachers interact with students in the classroom?

Examples of Teacher Focused Classroom Research Topics

1. Teacher questions

2. Teacher error corrections

3. Teacher explanations

4. Teacher ‘wait-time’ for student responses

What could be error correction research questions?

Error Research Questions

1. Which errors are corrected, which are not corrected?

2. How does the teacher correct errors?3. What are the results of error correction?4. Does error correction assist learning?5. What do student think about error correction?6. What happens if teachers do not respond to

errors?

Example of teacher error correction research project

1. Research question – how do teachers respond to student grammatical errors?

2. Language data e.g. student spoken statements:“He not go home”“I eaten dinner”

As the teacher, how would you respond?

Possible Teacher Responses

1. Model correct form – ‘Oh, hasn’t he gone home?’2. Drill correct form – I haven’t, you haven’t, they

haven’t . . . 3. Repeat faulty form with rising intonation4. Prompt correct form – ‘That’s wrong’5. Explain correct form – present perfect, negative6. Restate the original question – ‘Has he gone

home?’7. Tell the student what to say – ‘You should say . . .

Example of Teacher Error Correction Research Project

Research MethodObserve one lesson given by each of five

teachers.Tape-record the types of teacher response to

student error.

How would you display the data?

Data Display

1. Construct a frequency table*Type of response Frequency

2. Draw a histogram or pie chart3. Write a descriptive outline of each lesson to

include the error correction responsesIdentify some patterns and draw conclusions

from your study.

Analysis

Analyze according to categories

- What categories might you use for teacher error correction?*

Learner to Learner Interaction

Communicative teaching method stresses learner/learner interaction as an effective means of second language acquisition.

Interaction Research Questions

What do students say to each other when they undertake a joint language task e.g. sequencing sentences in a paragraph ?

Do they talk about the task? If so, who says what. And when?

Do they talk about non-task topics?

Learner/Learner Interaction Exercise

If you were given a story in 12 jumbled pictures and asked to work in pairs, what comments might you make during the exercise?

• If you were a researcher, how would you record the comments?

• How would you analyze and display the comments?

Types of CommentType Code ExampleDescribe a picture D ‘There’s a clock’Proposal w/o a reason P- ‘I think . . .’Proposal w/ a reason P+ ‘I think because . . .Support S ‘Good/OK’Non-support N ‘No’Counter-proposal/no reason CP- ‘Not here, there’Counter-proposal+reason CP+ ‘Not here, there because . . .’Filler F ‘Mmmm/perhaps’Operational O ‘What next?’

Exercise

Work in groups of four- Two students will sequence the 12 pictures*- Two students will observe the student/student

interaction and record the interaction using the coding system.

- Each observer will observe one of the two students who are completing the exercise.

- The student observers will also need to record the frequency of each comment

What might be some more learner/learner interaction research questions?

Learner/Learner Research Questions

1. Are there any patterns of learner/learner interaction in cooperative classroom tasks?

2. How do different tasks affect interaction?

3. Does learner/learner interaction assist language acquisition?

4. Do students like interactive work?*

Research into Teacher Beliefs

Your research may be influenced by your beliefs about teaching and learning derived from your own educational experiences.

What are your strong beliefs about how to teach? (Refer to your teacher belief survey form for ideas, if needed)

Teacher Beliefs/Axioms

Rate the following on a 1/5 scale when 5 = strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree

1. Positive feedback is better than negative feedback

2. Teachers should not change their speech for L2 learners

3. Real situations are better than invented ones.4. Learner/learner interaction is very helpful.

Research into Stimulated Recall

Researcher records the lesson, plays it back to the class and asks the teacher and students to comment on what is going on. This process is called ‘stimulated recall’.

- What might be the research focus for stimulated recall (what are you looking for?)

Stimulated Recall

Some research questions:- Do the students understand the point of the

lesson?- How does the teacher respond to student

comments?- What is the significance of the silent periods?

How would the data be displayed and analysed?

A Warning

“There is no such thing as ‘objective’ observation. What we see will be determined . . . by what we expect to see” (Nunan 98)

Can you think of an example of this warning?Does it invalidate qualitative research?

Classroom interaction exercise

• I want to find out the characteristics of student/student interaction and student/teacher interaction in this classroom.

• My research tool will be a 10 question questionnaire using a 4 point Likert scale.

• Design the questionnaire in groups of 4.

• Uwe, Kardoff, Syeinke What is Qual. Research?• • Life worlds ‘from the inside out’• meaning patterns may not be known by the participants themselves• Goffman’s study of prisons – theory of ‘total institutions’• Garfinkel, rule governed ineractions• Whyte’s street gang• Advantages of qual. studies?• • Types:• Symbolic interationism/phenomenology – study of subjective meanings• Ethnomethodology/constructivism – stuffy of construction of social reality• Structuralist/psychoanalytical – study of social and psychic structures• • Data collection: interviews, coding, content analysis, focus groups• • Assumptions:• Meaning is constructed• Recursivity of social reality• Life situation can be reduce to ideal types• • Features:• Multiple methods• Everyday events• Importance of context• Participants’ perspectives• Reflective investigator• Understanding rather than cause/effect• Open• Case analysis• Use of texts• Construction of social reality

• Ha, Uni classrooms in Vietnam• • East/West – difference not = to deficit• • Self, Colonial / Other, colonised perspective• • Ha argues for “a harmonious combination of global an local pedagogies.

Difference should not be interpreted as ‘deficit’”, 52/185• • Vietnamese classroom:• family relationships• supportive/polite• collaboration• teacher as mentor and moral guide

• McKay/Lee Classroom research• • Research is not a matter of finding definitive answers but a way of enhancing understanding of learning and teaching.• • Nunan, components of research• Question, problem, hypothesis• Data• Analysis and interpretation• • Research paradigms• basic/applied• • Data• primary/secondary• • Traditions• qualitative/quantitative, p. 7 gives excellent review of the differences • degree of control and structure, see p. 11• • Quant. Research• validity

– construct validity – degree to which the instruments used in the study measure the construct being examined– external validity – can the findings be generalised– internal validity – the control of influential variables

• Reliability– Internal – the extent to which someone else analysing the same data would arrive at the same results.– External – whether a similar study produces the same conclusions

• • Qual. research• Validity:• credibility depends upon

– length of the project– regularity of observation– triangulation– data checking by the subject– peer debriefing

• transferability• • Reliability:• Dependability – the extent to which the results can be trusted.• •

• Richards/Lockhart, Approaches to classroom investigation• • In every classroom events occur that can be used as basis for critical reflection,

intervention and improvement• • Procedures• journal• lesson reports• surveys/questionnaires• audio/video recording• observation• action research•  •  

• Continuum of research methods, see p. 16 – action, survey, introspection, qualitative (case studies/ethnographies)

• ethnographies provide emic rather than etic perspective, insider rather than outsider view.• • Designing research• aims• audience• constraints• ethics• resources• • identify own beliefs or ideologies• specify a research question• read relevant articles• specify type of data required• • Ethics• research to be used for the benefit of the community• empowering research = research on, for, and with students and teachers•