ORLC - Assignment

Name and surname(s): Carlos Diaz

Login: PEFPMTFL1201888
Group: 2013-02
Date: July 15th, 2014

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
OBSERVATION & RESEARCH IN THE LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM
Assignment:
Read the six case studies in the pdf document, each of which investigates a
different topic: literature, grammar, oral English, teaching techniques, language
learning, writing. When you have finished reading, follow the instructions below.
(From Wallace 1998: 166-169). Of the six case studies outlined above, which
topic would be of most interest/relevance for a group of students with which you
are familiar? Think about how you would need to adapt the case study for your
target group's needs by considering the following questions:
1. Clearly outline the population for your adapted case study.
2. How would you adapt the structure of the case study to fit in with your target
group and teaching context?
3. What sort of data would you generate and how would you generate it?
4. How would you analyse the data?
When considering the specific teaching situation we are presently involved in, the area
of writing, #6 of the case studies outlined in our study materials assignment, coincides
with what we consider to be a hurdle to successful output from our students and as
such, is relevant and requires further investigation.
1. Population: 50 lower intermediate male EFL learners in the 6 th grade of Elementary
(age 11-12) coming from a monolingual and upper echelon of society.
2. The structure presented in the case study we have chosen to investigate involves
students participating in a writing skills course which, in our case, needs to be
addressed to cope with the reality: that our students level of English is considerably
lower and, as a consequence, written production is limited to appropriate topics and
length. We will continue evaluating the motivational aspect in this case study, however,
motivation is central to successful learning of a foreign language, regardless of the skill
being examined.
Instead of the brainstorming session employed in example #6, we would substitute the
action research cycle. The main goal in our case is to see how students could become
more motivated to produce written work in the English language classroom. Therefore,

ORLC - Assignment

as stated by Penny Ur, (1996) Action research is meant primarily to improve the
teacher-researchers own teaching.
The age of the learners in our situation is considerably different from that of the case
study and, as such, the level of production will be quite different. Our expectations as
to what level of writing our subjects could actually achieve and what types of activity
our students perform will vary. The students in the case study we are comparing also
are much more proficient seeing how they are on a 5 year degree course compared to
6th grade students. We will be modifying the activities students complete so they are
adequate for their proficiency level (lower intermediate).
Another key point to address is that our population is exclusively male gendered and
topics of interest will be biased accordingly.
3. As practitioners of language teaching, it is unavoidable that we bring our own
personal beliefs, prior knowledge and experiences to the language classroom, which
often lend credibility to our personal intuitions regarding learning, which in turn lead us
to draw premature or erroneous conclusions to these phenomena. In order to gain
more insight and enlightenment, then, it is necessary to be able to support these
intuitions with solid scientific or systematic inquiry. Seliger and Shohamy lend support
to this view by saying, the difference between knowledge arrived at through common
sense and intuition on the one hand, and scientific research on the other, can be
expressed by concepts such as organised, structured, methodical, systematic,
testable and specifically by the notion of disciplinary inquiry. (1989)
Perhaps one of the most important concepts that has gained recognition and popularity
in the field of research has been that of what Schon refers to as a Reflective
practitioner. As Schon points out, teachers possess two different types of professional
knowledge which he refers to as received knowledge, which is comprised of facts,
theories and data and it is essentially what a teacher learns about teaching through
schooling and training. Teachers also have possession of experiential knowledge which
is gained through classroom experience, and it helps teachers make the on the spot
decisions which are largely based on intuition rather than on facts.
The ability of teachers to willingly reflect on their classroom experiences and think
critically about why classroom phenomena happens is paramount to successful
research. Having an inquisitive impulse and desire to understand the transactions and
causes of the events that take place during the course of a class can lead to more
effective research and, as a result, teachers who are capable of reflecting on their own
practices are more adept at developing their skills as educators and facilitators and
thus develop professionally.
The most appropriate method of research applicable to our specific situation would be
that of action research. Penny Ur affirms this by stating Action research is meant
primarily to improve the teacher-researchers own teaching. (1996) and as we are the
teacher/researchers in this case, we are principally concerned with enriching our
students and our learning experiences.
The fundamental characteristics of action research put forth by Elliot (1990) support our
choice of applying the action research model to this case:
- It analyses the human actions and social situations that students and teachers
experience.
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ORLC - Assignment

It uses an exploratory approach.

It aims to explain what happens in the classroom.
It interprets different classroom events from the point of view of those who take
part.
It uses direct simple language to explain the classroom situations that are
analysed.

What Kemmis and McTaggart mention also supports our stance on carrying out action
research. First, as previously mentioned, we are the teacher/researchers; we will also
be collaborating internally and our goal in this circumstance is to improve and change
the motivation regarding writing, which should lead to better writing skills. Although
action research does not necessarily require collaboration and change, to lend
credibility and validity to our research we will consider these points mentioned above.
In order to determine the type of data we would need to engender and how this would
be produced, we first of all need to identify what phenomena needs to be addressed.
The purpose of conducting research as stated by Selinger and Shohamy in their
summary (1989) is that:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

There exists a phenomenon that is not understood

To understand this phenomenon, it is observed and analysed
Questions are formed about the phenomenon.
Intuition is used to predict outcomes or reasons
A hypothesis is formed based on the most probable explanations
This hypothesis is investigated by collecting and testing data.

As our research is aimed to be carried out in the classroom, it follows that classroom
research (practical research) will be the logical choice in our case.
In addition to Selinger and Shohamys summary above, Cohen and Manions eight
stage model provides us with an outline for conducting research. Following this format:
Stage 1: The identification, evaluation and formulation of the problem.
Students do not show interest in the writing activities done in class.
Stage 2: Preliminary discussion and negotiations amongst interested parties
culminating in a draft proposal.
The 6th grade teacher, (Dean Lenton) along with Graham Jarvis and Kenneth
Summerford, discuss the issue and brainstorm ideas as to how to go about the
investigation.
Stage 3: Review of research literature and comparable studies.
We would review our study materials and relevant articles on the internet to
provide examples and insight.
Stage 4: Restatement of the problem, or formulation of a hypothesis; explicit
discussion of the assumptions underlying the project.
Students are not motivated because the writing activities are not significant or
authentic.
Stage 5: Selection of research procedures, allocation of resources, choice of
materials and methods, etc.
Collaborative action research will be used along with naturalistic, ethnographic
observation and to some degree experimental approaches. Observer notes,
interaction analysis, semi structured questionnaires and semi open interviews
will be used to collect data.
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ORLC - Assignment

Stage 6: Choice of evaluation procedures- bearing in mind that evaluation will be

continuous.
Both qualitative and quantitative evaluation procedures will be used to measure
both grammar and the functions of language with the quality of written work in
terms of meaning and style.
Stage 7: The implementation of the project itself, including data collection and
analysis, monitoring and feedback.
Apply the project
Stage 8: The interpretation of the data; inferences to be drawn; overall project
evaluation.
Upon completion.
In order to conduct an effective investigation into the problems associated with writing,
we need to adhere to what Van Lier states are key topics for classroom research. We
need to consider and collect data on students inter-language, the interaction and
relationship between students and teacher, what specific learning strategies for writing
are employed, preferred cognitive styles of the students and the efficiency of evaluation
techniques. In addition, the points presented in figure 1.1: A framework for L2 teaching
analysis and research (Madrid 1995) should be included.
It is worthwhile to note what Donald Freeman asserts in his article, Data and gathering
it, or why an interview or survey isnt data. (HLT, issue 5, 2000 www.hltmag.co.uk)
in that the data in question when researching is the actual interaction that happens
during a class, and it comes from three sources: the students, the teacher and the
settings, which include the curriculum, school records, etc. The use of questionnaires,
surveys, interviews etc. are how we collect the data. With this in mind, the data
regarding writing and how motivated students are to participate in these types of
activities is always present in class, it is just a matter of devising the right tools for
collecting it.
In order to generate this data then, we would make use of interviews and
questionnaires to provide background information regarding the learners social context
and their individual characteristics. Semi structured interviews and questionnaires
would be used to gain more specific feedback to the cognitive styles students use or
prefer whereas more structured questioning would be used to extract personal social
information.
In order to evaluate the level of motivation stemming from the teacher and his/her
relationship with the subjects, we propose to observe the population in class and use
an ethnographic approach in order not to intervene in the normal transaction of the
class. With this said, we would also interview the teacher in question as he is an
integral participant and source of motivation for the students in question to find out
more about his beliefs and classroom practices. This naturalistic setting would be
optimised to provide us with a realistic portrait of how this skill (writing) is dealt with on
a day to day basis and the teachers curricular plan and class plan would be
subpoenaed to evaluate the types of writing activities being used in class. Another tool
we would use would be that of interaction analysis and in this case the FLINT model
could be called upon to propagate this data that helps to demonstrate the interaction
that happens between a teacher and his students in order to see if there are any
adverse problems with the teacher-student relationship that might be causative of a
lack of motivation. Additionally, notes taken by the researcher would be compiled
during these observation sessions and analysed along with the other data collected.
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ORLC - Assignment

When considering the evaluation of written work, it would suffice to apply both
qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection. In regards to grammar and
the functions of language we would apply quantitative evaluation to the students written
work found in their workbooks and notebooks or other writing activities. When
examining procedural concepts we would apply a more qualitative approach to the
evaluation of student work. Utilising both approaches should provide objective
evaluation through quantitative study and subjective evaluation with qualitative
investigation. It would be difficult to examine just one aspect when trying to identify why
students are experiencing difficulty in this area so both types of analysis should be
conducted.
As stated above, before we begin any research, it was important to consider a
framework in order to encompass the divergent variables of research. The subjects in
our particular case are presently being taught by one of the actual investigators
(Teacher/researcher) and to clarify and give credence to what has been written above,
investigation and observation will be carried out through collaborating parties, those
being the other teachers/researchers involved.
4. The analysis of data is the final stage of research where the hypothesis is evaluated.
There are many options available to analyse data however and there should exist
some concordance between the methods used for data collection and those used for
the analyses of this data. At this stage, we can draw conclusions about the research
and confirm or reject what was previously put forward in the research project.
In order for our research to hold water, it is of the utmost importance that our findings
can be validated. This can be accomplished by applying data triangulation techniques.
We will be concerned principally with internal reliability as we seek to improve
conditions in our specific teaching content but with the premise that this research can
be duplicated in others grades and offer similar results. What we have laid out in data
collection is that we will use a variety of strategies to obtain data which include
interviews, questionnaires, diaries, interaction analysis, note taking and setting
examination (curricular plans, school records etc.).
Investigator triangulation will be achieved through 3 different researchers observing
similar and individual aspects of the study. Each individual member is responsible for
and conducts specific data collection, which is shared in the data analysis stage.
Before analysing the data though we will discuss and present an agreement on how we
will grade or rate the analysis of data to achieve inter-reliability. At the same time it is
important that we define constructs, A psychological construct is a theoretical label
that is given to some human ability that cannot be seen or touched (intangible)
because it goes on in the brain (Brown 1992). Clear definitions of what is being
evaluated, for example, the concept of motivation (it can mean different things to
different investigators) need to be established and considered in the analytical
processes used.
Methodological triangulation will be applied and evaluated and would include the
analysis of observer notes, teacher self report notes, interview notes, questionnaire
results and so forth.
In short, we will be applying multiple triangulations with the aim of collecting reliable
data that can stand up to scrutiny by later research.
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ORLC - Assignment

Because of the diverse methods used while collecting data, the analysis process in this
case also necessitates a variety of analysis techniques. We will be operating with
different analysis tools including qualitative, quantitative and multivariate analysis.
The qualitative data collected through interviews with subjects and the teacher will be
analysed using deductive qualitative analysis to assess the data. Deductive analysis
coincides with the application of action research and the fact that we have
hypothesised what we believe will be the outcome of the research and are looking for
evidence to support or refute this. As our questionnaires are semi structured and seek
more specific insight into background information, the subjects preferred learning styles
and cognitive styles we will utilise descriptive research analysis to present statistics
about the data. Finally, multivariate techniques will be used to assess the construct
information collected, for example, the motivational levels subjects demonstrate
towards writing.
In order to better understand what happens in the language classroom, teachers like
ourselves need to become familiar with the methods and techniques for conducting
research into our own practices. The latest trends seem to be centred on two central
ideas, reflective thinking and action research. When teachers realise that they are the
primary instigators of research and it is not done by theorists and scholars who have
nothing better to do than try to explain learning phenomenon, the sooner these
teachers will start developing professionally. Conducting action research provides
insight and enlightenment into the learning experience and the reflective practice that
experienced teachers apply to their day to day work provides a wealth of situations for
investigation. All the data for research is there for the taking, it is just a question of
deciding how to collect and analyse this data.