In this chapter, a rationale of adopting a mixed methods of qualitative research design
and quantitative data is introduced first. Second, the characteristics of the participants and the
details of the research procedure, including the teaching materials and the teaching procedure,
are explained. Next, the data collection and the data analysis are provided. Finally, the
strategies used to establish the trustworthiness of this study are presented.
The Rationale
This study aimed to explore the students’ perceptions of English-only instruction, the
obstacles encountered by the teacher and the teacher’s concerning the use of English-only
instruction. As Merriam and Tisdell (2016) mentioned, qualitative researchers are “interested
in understanding how people interpret their experiences, how they construct their worlds, and
what meaning they attribute to their experiences” (P. 6). Since both the students and the
teacher would be affected by their experiences in the program, in order to gain an in-depth and
holistic understanding of the people involved in the study, such as their perceptions toward the
instruction and the difficulties they had faced throughout the study, a qualitative case study
approach was adopted. Besides, the quantitative data were obtained from the questionnaire
about the students’ perception of the English-only instruction. The use of adopting a mixed
methods of qualitative research design and quantitative data was appropriate to answer my
research questions.
Participants The Students
The participants were 26 second graders (11 boys and 15 girls) from the same class at a
middle-scale public elementary school. The school had 30 classes, from grade one to grade
six, with a total of 716 students. The participants had been learning English for one and a half
years at school when the study was conducted.
Based on the scores they got on the English final exam taken the previous semester, the
participants were divided into three levels. Eleven participants were assigned into the High
Level. Eleven participants belonged to the Intermediate Level and four participants belonged
to the Low Level. The background information of the participants was shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Background Information of the Student Participants
Participants Gender English Level
High Intermediate Low
11 M 2 7 2
15 F 9 4 2
Note. For gender: M=male, F=female. For English level: High=grades above 90, Intermediate=grades between 80 to 90, Low=grades below 80
The Teacher
This study began in the end of February of 2019. In this study, I was both the
homeroom teacher and English teacher of the class. I had been teaching English for more than
thirteen years and a full-time elementary teacher for about five years as the study was
underway. Over the thirteen years of teaching English, I got the chance to teach every grade in
the elementary school.
To investigate an English teacher’s use of English in the classroom, I fulfilled the dual
role of the teacher and the researcher in this study. For this reason, there was a need to further
discuss issues of research done by the teacher as the researcher in this section. Research by the
teacher as the researcher can be advantageous to both teaching and doing research. Teachers
often carry out educational action research and examine their own practice in the classroom, so
as to improve teaching effectiveness (Huang, 2010). Babkie and Provost (2004) highlight the
advantages of research involving the teacher as the researcher in the following ways:
Studies involving the teacher as researcher have demonstrated a variety of positive outcomes: improving student performance, revising practice based on new teaching and learning knowledge, dialoging more about instructional issues and student learning, increasing their own critical learning skills, developing innovative approaches to instruction, and analyzing results more objectively. (p. 261)
Keeping the above notes in mind, I explained the situation in Chinese to my students
before the study took place. They were told as clearly as possible, that their teacher (meaning
this researcher) would only speak in English during the following ten weeks of English class.
All their questions, doubts and concerns were answered and the purpose of this study and the
method in which it would be conducted, was explained. I had attended many seminars and
workshops to strengthen my teaching skills, both in English teaching and class management as
a homeroom teacher. I also had obtained certificates for GEPT, TOEFL CBT and the IELTS at
the high–intermediate level, as well as the qualification of English teaching. Before doing this
study, I usually used both English and Chinese in the English classroom, but had never used
English-only instruction in one class, yet I did my best to use English in more than 70% of
every English class. This study was a good chance for me to see if the English-only
instruction, that is, 100% English, was an appropriate method for second graders to learn
English.
Teaching Materials and Teaching Procedure
A textbook, Go! Go! Starter 2, was used throughout the semester. Besides the textbook,
this study introduced the students to three songs to provide the students with more authentic
materials, so that the students could have more practice using English (Sharaby, 2018). The
names of the three songs are row, row, row your boat, I’m a little teapot and twinkle, twinkle,
little star. Using songs as part of English teaching in the elementary school could motivate
the students’ interest in learning (Chiang, 2013). The lesson plan was performed in three
stages: warm-up stage, practice stage, and wrap-up stage (see Appendix A). In the beginning
of each class, some brain-storming activities were used to arouse the students’ attention in the
class, making sure that they were ready for next part of the class. For example, first, the class
was given an object, which would be taught later. Next, the students were given a couple of
minutes to think of all of the different uses for that item. And then they were asked to share
what they had come up with for the discussion.
During the first stage, the students listened to the teacher’s words only, as they were
being taught the target words written on the board. After they had familiarized themselves
with the new words, they listened to the teacher’s pronunciation and worked on the
pronunciation and meanings of the new words several times. Next, the students listened as the
words were pronounced again, and at the same time they tracked the words on the board.
Third, games or worksheets were used to check their learning condition. The main
teach-and-learn process continued this way for ten weeks. Each single class period had forty minutes,
and one class period in each week.
Data Collection
In order to get a holistic understanding of this study, the instruments for collecting the
data included the following: a survey of students’ English learning background, a
questionnaire, video-stimulated recall, learning-feedback sheet, interviews, and a teaching
journal. By the tenth week of the study, the students were asked to fill in the questionnaire,
which was about their experience and perception of the study. These instruments for collecting
data are explained in detail as follows:
A Consent Form with a Survey of the Students’ English Learning Background Before the study, I asked the parents of my students to fill out the consent form (see
Appendix B). The form helped me to get the permission from the parents to conduct the
study. In the consent form, the parents were asked to fill in the students’ learning background.
It helped build an understanding of each student’s English learning experience and how much
time they spent in English learning each week.
The Questionnaire
A questionnaire about the students’ perception of the English-only instruction (see
Appendix C) was devised for the study. The questionnaire mainly adopted from Lin (2018),
and consisted of 10 items. Her study was about using English songs on fifth graders, so I made
some adjustments for the purpose of this study. For instance, on Item 4, the original statement
“I think learning English through songs can help me on knowing and remembering the words”
was deleted, because second graders do not have to remember the words at the stage (MOE,
2018). Item 8 was about the repetition of sentence patterns in the songs and item 6 was about
the repetition of words in the songs. For second graders, they may not understand the meaning
of what sentence patterns are, so I deleted item 8 and kept item 6. Item 6 was more easy for
them to understand.
I asked two qualified English teachers to review the ten items of the questionnaire; one of
them was the director of academic affairs of my school and the other was the teacher and
section chief of curriculum at one elementary school in Kaohsiung City. A Likert-type
response format with four choices was designed for students to check the option that best
represented their feelings about each statement in the scale. In order to assist the participating
students in better understanding the statements of the questionnaire, I, as the teacher, was also
able to give an immediate response to students who had questions about the statements of the
questionnaire while they were filling in the questionnaire. A total of twenty-six students filled
in the questionnaire on May 15th, 2019 right after the ten-week study.
Video-Stimulated Recall
In order to facilitate a better understanding of the process of teaching and learning, each
class was videotaped. The video camera was positioned at the back-left of the classroom to
ensure a clear view of the teaching class. Recording a teacher’s verbal and nonverbal behavior,
by means of videotaping, is beneficial for researchers (Bottorff, 1994). Researchers can review
the data when necessary because the data recorded via the video camera can be preserved
permanently. In this study, the data from the video could be reviewed for the teaching process
and method, as well as the reaction of the participants during the teaching process, and the data
could be reviewed whenever necessary. However, as Johnson (1992) pointed out, people who
are being videotaped may feel threatened, so the camera was set up before the study to allow
the students time to get used to the camera. At first, the students asked many questions about
the camera, but after several days, they got along well with the camera and were accustomed to
the video camera’s presence.
Learning Feedback Sheet
The student feedback sheet (see Appendix D) was designed to be filled in by the student
participants in order to further understand their opinions and thinking about the English-only
instruction. They filled in the feedback sheet on May 15th, 2019 after the ten weeks of the
study.
Interviews
Both group and individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in Week 5 and
in Week 10 to further the understanding of the students’ perceptions of the teacher’s
language use in class. In order to understand the perspectives of each level, students with
different English ability levels were interviewed: low achievers, intermediate-level
students, and higher-level ones. The individual interviews were compared and contrasted
with the data collected from the questionnaires, in order to observe the similarities and
differences of both types of data. By doing so, the reliability of the data collected could be
ensured, particularly when the data from the student questionnaire and the interview were
found to be identical with each other, which would lead to a smoother analysis of the said
data.
Chinese interview guideline (see Appendix E) was prepared in advance. The
guideline was mainly based on Su (2016), and consisted of two major items, about
students’ English learning experience, and their reflections of the instruction. As Seidman
(2006) noted, interviewing is “a powerful way to gain insight into educational and other
important social issues through understanding the experience of the individuals whose
lives reflect those issues” (p. 14). The students and I spent 30 minutes on each group
interview. There were three groups and each group had two students. One was high level,
another intermediate, and the other intermediate and low mix. Since their only free time
was during art class, the only option was to call out the students as they finished their arts
and crafts. Each individual interview lasted at least 5 minutes and no more than 20
minutes. The interviews were audio-recorded by using a digital app with students’
agreement. The interview was conducted entirely in Chinese to avoid any
misunderstandings or lack of comprehension.
Since the content of the interviews would be transcribed for analysis, I also took notes
during the interviewing process, clarifying the data after each interview. At the end of
each interview, the participants’ answers were confirmed once again. This would aid the
accuracy of the information collected. This interview data supplied what the students
thought about English-only instruction.
Teaching Journal
A teaching journal would help researchers gather first-hand information during the
research process. As Hopkins (1993) suggested, journals should be written right after the
class. So, after the English class, I used the reflective journal log to record my perceptions
and reflections on what had happened in class. The teaching journal was recorded right
after each class. According to Merriam and Tisdell, “observations are also to triangulate
emerging findings; they are used in conjunction with interviewing and document analysis
to substantiate the findings” (2016, p. 139). In this study, I recorded my personal feelings,
insights, findings, and interpretations about some special events or experiences which
happened in class in the reflective journal log right after each class (see Appendix F for a
sample).
Data Analysis
This study followed a qualitative research design. Multiple resources were used to
collect data, such as the questionnaire and the learning feedback sheet from the students, the
teaching journals from the researcher, and the interview with the students. The content
analysis method was used to analyze the collected data and to find the answers to the three
research questions. The data obtained from the interviews was transcribed, coded, analyzed,
and triangulated.
To answer the first research question, the following data were compared and analyzed:
the questionnaire of students’ perception toward English-only instruction, the teaching
feedback sheet, and the interviews. For example, the questionnaire of the student’s perception
of English-only instruction applied a 4-point Likert scale design with four choices for students
to circle the number that best represents their feeling about the statements on a scale of 1-4.
The scale ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). A higher score indicated a
higher level of agreement or positive attitude. The participants’ responses in the questionnaire
were categorized into two themes, including learning outcomes and affective domain. In
addition, transcripts of the interviews were read several times. The results from the interview
data were compared with the results of the questionnaire and other related sources to support
the findings. The data analysis would help me take notice of my language use in class and
gather some important points.
To answer the second and third research questions, the following data were compared
and analyzed: the teaching journals and the videotapes of each class. After each class, the
teaching process and the video-recorded lessons were reviewed. The data collected from
each class aided in the examination and integration of the patterns found or the teaching
obstacles. Again, content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Then the
similarities and differences of the data collected from the questionnaires filled out by every
participant, and the interviews were compared and contrasted. Data from the interviews
was then also integrated to support the findings. The data analysis of this study was an
on-going process. Throughout this process, the research purpose was always kept in mind and
adjustments were made, if needed, by following the procedures pointed out by Ely, et al.
(1991, pp. 150-151):
1. Study and re-study of the raw data to develop detailed, intimate knowledge.
2. Note initial impressions.
3. List tentative categories.
4. Refine categories by examining the results of step 2 and 3 and returning to the entire database in step 1.
5. Group data under the still-tentative categories and revise categories, if needed.
6. Select verbatim narrative to link the raw data to the categories.
7. Study results of step 6 and revise, if needed.
8. Compare findings for commonalities or patterns, differences, and unique happenings.
Trustworthiness
It is crucial to ensure the reliability and validity of a research project in conducting
qualitative research. As Merriam and Tisdell (2016) mentioned, “being able to trust research
results is especially important to professionals in applied fields because practitioners
intervene in people’s lives” (p. 237). To ensure the trustworthiness of this study, the
following techniques were employed: triangulation, persistent observation, and member
check.
First, to ensure proper understanding of the data, I applied triangulation by using multiple
sources of data. Triangulation is “a principal strategy to ensure validity and reliability”
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 245). To achieve the criterion for triangulation, the data were
collected through group and individual interviews, questionnaires, my teaching journals, and
the students’ feedback sheets. By means of diverse aspects, the data were triangulated to
analyzed to examine the students’ perceptions toward English-only instruction, to help check
the interpretations and to increase the trustworthiness of the results.
Second, persistent observation can assist researchers in being more able “to identify those
characteristics and elements in the situation that are most relevant to the problem or issue”
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 304). In this study, I was the homeroom teacher and English class
teacher, which allowed me to get a full understanding of the teaching process. By doing so,
the specific incidents happening in the classroom could be dealt with in time. The study was a
ten-week teaching process and each class lasted 40 minutes per week. Reflection on each
class was done directly after the class and notes were taken on each class. Thus, I was able to
be involved in the research site, both as a teacher and a researcher, for ten weeks, as well as
being the class’ homeroom teacher. It was easy for me to get familiar with my students,
which greatly helped in obtaining supporting and relevant data.
Third, in this study, member checking helped me establish credibility. According to
Maxwell, member checking could reduce “the possibility of misinterpreting the meaning of
what participants say and do, and the perspective they have on what is going on” (cited in
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 246). To minimize the chances of misinterpreting the data, the
students’ answers were checked with the students themselves at the end of each interview.
The key points were summarized, and then read aloud to the students, who were then asked to
check if the information was correct. I then checked whether the data from the interview and
the observations were consistent. This helped me greatly in the collection of proper data, and
valuable feedback and comments from the interviewees was received as well.