Interviews

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Details for each data source and how they were administered in the study are delineated in the following sections.

3.3.1 Interviews

Interviews were conducted in two forms: semi-structured interviews and

stimulated recall interviews. The former aimed at documenting teachers’ stated beliefs, while the latter focused on the reasons of instructional decisions behind actual

teaching practices.

3.3.1.1 Semi-structured interviews

Semi-structured interviews refer to the kind of interview in which researchers prepare some topics about general direction but are also open to accept any issues that the interviewee brings out (Dörnyei, 2007; Nunan, 2001). Due to its adjustability, this instrument is popular among researchers who believe in interpretative nature of data (Nunan, 2001). Since the focus of this study is to deeply portray English teachers’

grammar teaching tensions, the adoption of semi-structured interviews was suitable for generating data with sufficient depth and breadth.

In the present study, two semi-structured interviews were employed for the sake of obtaining sufficient data (Polkinghorne, 2005). They were administered at the beginning of the study, each of which lasted for one and a half hours. The two interviews were conducted in Chinese, the language that the participant was

comfortable with. The first interview aimed at breaking the ice, establishing rapport and understanding teachers’ overall grammar teaching beliefs. After the first

interview, the investigator collected concepts that were worth exploring or ideas that need further explanation as topics for the second interview (Dörnyei, 2007;

Polkinghorne, 2005). The second interview concentrated on Jane’s grammar teaching

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beliefs, stated practices and other issues about tensions.

General topics covered in the interviews included (1) demographic information and autobiographical narratives about grammar learning and teaching, and (2)

teachers’ stated beliefs and stated practices about grammar teaching. The interview questions were mostly open-ended, allowing participants to “develop their responses in ways which the interviewer might not have seen” (Campbell, McNamara, & Gilroy, 2004, p. 99). For example, the investigator initiated the talk with the lead-off question

“Could you please tell me some general information about your teaching career, such as years of teaching and the schools you used to teach at, etc?” Based on the

participant’s answer, question like “What was your teaching experience like before you came to this school?” was later raised in order to know more about the

participants’ prior teaching experience. These general questions then led to

autobiographical questions about personal history of grammar teaching and learning, which has been reported to significantly influence beliefs and practices (Borg, 2003, 2006; Golombek & Johnson, 2004). Here, the investigator asked questions such as

“Could you describe how you learned grammar in the past? How did your learning experience as a student influence your present grammar teaching methods?”, “You mentioned that you joined a summer training program about English teaching. How did this experience influence you?” After these questions, the topics about teachers’

stated beliefs and practices were brought into the discussion. These topics were explored through a lead-off question: “Could you describe the typical teaching procedure in one unit?” and succeeded by questions about concrete grammar instruction practice such as “In terms of grammar instruction, can you tell me your detailed teaching procedure when it comes to a new grammar concept?” Other questions regarding the rationale behind participants’ grammar instructions followed.

The questions included: “What do you think is the most helpful way of teaching

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grammar to students in this school? Why do you think so?”, “Besides what you have mentioned above, what are the most common approaches in your grammar class?

Why do you like to use them?” All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed.

3.3.1.2 Stimulated recall interviews

A stimulated recall interview is an instrument in which participants are invited to reflect upon their thought process after performing certain tasks or experiencing some events (Dörnyei, 2007; Nunan & Bailey, 2009). To facilitate the recollection process, researchers usually provide relevant data collected during the events as stimulus, such as video recordings, audio recordings, transcripts of these recordings or researchers’

field notes (Nunan, 2001; Nunan & Bailey, 2009). Stimulated recalls are

recommended in classroom research because they can, as Nunan and Bailey (2009) states, “document the perspective of lesson participants without interrupting them while the lesson is in progress,” and “get better information than simply by asking them to remember the lesson without support data” (p.259).

Based on the guidelines proposed by Dörnyei (2007), stimulated recall interviews in the present study followed three principles: (1) The stimulated recall interviews were held within two days after classroom observations to ensure participants’ retention; (2) sufficient context information and audio recordings of teachers’ grammar instruction were provided as stimulus to elicit more responses; and (3) the interviews were conducted in the language that the participant were

comfortable with. A total of four stimulated recalls were conducted throughout the observation in Chinese. Questions for stimulated recalls mainly centered on the reasons behind teachers’ particular instructional decisions and how the reasons related to their beliefs. For instance, “In this class, you spent 10 minutes explaining the differences between gerunds and present participles, what was your rationale behind

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this instructional practice?” and “I noticed that you asked them to answer lots of questions about grammatical terminology today. Could you elaborate more about your purpose?” These questions helped reveal some insights valuable for the following analysis.