Qualitative Research –
Classroom Interaction
Analysis
Some Empirical Research Topics in
Second Language Classrooms
1.
2.
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4.
Teaching methods
Classroom organization
Interaction between students
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 intonation
4. Prompt correct form – ‘That’s wrong’
5. Explain correct form – present perfect, negative
6. 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 Method
Observe 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 chart
3. Write a descriptive outline of each lesson to
include the error correction responses
Identify 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 Comment
Type
Code
Example
Describe 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.
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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
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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
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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
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Reliability
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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
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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
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
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• In every classroom events occur that can be used as basis for critical
reflection, intervention and improvement
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• Procedures
• journal
• lesson reports
• surveys/questionnaires
• audio/video recording
• observation
• action research
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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