Data Collection

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patterns, and teaching procedures.

3.2.4 Validity of the Material

After designing the materials, the researcher gave the lesson plans to one native English speaker and a peer debriefer to examine the “correctness, appropriateness, and meaningfulness” (Ormord, 1999, P. 158) of the matching content. They were also asked to verify whether the designed materials correspond to cultural teaching

principles. The researcher then made modifications based on their comments and suggestions. Finally, to ensure the teaching quality of the instruction, the researcher revised the teaching contents repeatedly and constantly based on the learners’

feedbacks reflected on the feedback sheets (see Appendix C) and also based on problems observed by the researcher herself in the class.

3.3 Data Collection

The current study employed multiple data collection methods, involving student feedback sheets, student interviews, teaching journals, and parent interviews to better compare different sources through which the findings and interpretation could be more credible (Denzi & Lincoln, 2005). Additionally, reflective journals were kept through the entire teaching session to not only gain the scope and depth of the analyzed data but also provide a more complete and solid-ground test for my conclusion (Becker, 1970). A detailed description of the specific data collection strategies are as the followings.

3.3.1 Feedback Sheet

The feedback sheet was designed by the researcher to keep track of the learner’s

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responses and comments toward each culture learning lesson. The feedback sheet contained two main sections. The first section was the “Learning Progress” in which the researcher stated main learning goals in each lesson and required the pupil to self-assess his own learning in regards to listening, speaking, and cultural learning.

The second section was the “Emotion diary,” which was designed to examine the participant’s learning attitude toward the IECT instruction. Also, there were questions requiring the participant to choose the activities he liked and disliked in the class. The researcher informed the participant that any comments, positive or negative, were welcomed.

The feedback sheet was distributed and collected after each lesson was taught as the source for data analysis. It was also used to help sort out teaching issues, i.e., whether the planning and the teaching strategies could really draw his attention or learning interest (see Appendix C for the example of the feedback sheet).

3.3.2 Teaching Journal

The teaching journals, maintained on a weekly-basis, were a compilation of reflection on my teaching methods, experiences, thoughts, and observations of the participant in the class throughout the teaching session. The researcher recorded in the teaching journals her own attitude toward the data collection process, the administration of instruments, and any problems and difficulties confronted in the practice of IECT. Reflection process is a vital element and an effective strategy in qualitative studies for it helps the researchers to orientate themselves and to get a closer look on their experimental practices (Hoban & Hastings, 2006; Reason &

Reason, 2007). Therefore, based on the reflective practice by keeping journals, the researcher could (1) develop new strategies to improve and adapt her teaching, (2)

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explore the ways to adopt the teaching practice more effectively and (3) analyze the role that cultural teaching plays in influencing students’ learning attitude.

3.3.3 Parent Interviews

To elicit more information in terms of the learners’ learning background, attitude, and feedback to the instruction, parent interviews were conducted before and after the instruction. Questions, such as “Did he talk about how he felt about the English class?,” “How does he usually react when he comes to the English class?,” “Did he show engagement or interest in doing the assigned English homework?,” and “Did he use or speak the English words, sentences learned in the class at home?” are asked during the interview. Additionally, since the interviews were semi-structured in essence, follow-up questions, such as “What kind of affective responses and attitude does he give toward English learning under this instruction and setting?,” and “Are they positive or negative? For example, does he show desire and enjoyment in English learning?” were added up to derive a clear picture of the learner’s overall motivation and attitude outside the classroom. The interviews were transcribed for analysis.

3.3.4 Student Interviews

The researcher conducted two student interviews before and after the instruction (see Appendix D and E for the interview questions). The objectives of the interviews were to elicit more in-depth verbal data from the participant. Both the pre and the post interviews contained the sections to ask the learner questions for probing into his English learning attitude. The post-interview was conducted after the instruction to specifically investigate the learner’s learning attitude toward the IECT instruction.

The questions about the general English learning attitude are adopted and adapted from two main sources: (a) Enever’s (2011) interview questions for children in the

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ELLiE project, a trans-national and longitudinal project that aimed at researching young children’s motivation and attitudes toward their FLL learning and teaching, their preferences for classroom activities and learners’ self-concept, and (b) the Attitudes of EFL Secondary School Students towards Learning English Language Questionnaire designed by Abidin, Pour-Mohammadi and Alzwari (2012).

Moreover, the researcher also conducted short interview sessions in Chinese from time to time after some classes to ask questions related to the learner’s opinions reflected on the worksheets to clarify problems and to let him talk about any opinions he had for the class.