This chapter included the research conceptual framework, research hypothesis, research methods, data collection, research participants, data analysis and of the study.
The research framework was related to independent variables and dependent variables in this study. In this chapter, it would also show the details of research methods, research participants and instrumentation. And then it would provide research procedure which will explain the steps.
Research Framework
The development of research framework was used to meet the research purpose.
Through the curriculum of English teaching and learning, students’ cross-cultural communication ability would have a positive impact on students’ cross-cultural awareness. Besides, through the curriculum of English teaching and learning, students would also enhance cross-cultural awareness by acquiring global perspectives. The research framework is presented in figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1. Research Framework Cross-Cultural Awareness (Xo):
· Cross-Cultural Communication
· Global Perspectives
-Self-perception of global awareness -Attitude toward global issues
Curriculum
Cross-Cultural Awareness (X1):
· Cross-Cultural Communication
· Global Perspectives
-Self-perception of global awareness -Attitude toward global issues
Xo X1
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Research Hypothesis
The hypotheses were:
Hypothesis 1: There is a statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test of students’ cross-cultural communication ability.
Hypothesis 2: There is a statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test of students’ global perspectives, self-perceptions of global awareness and attitude toward global issues.
Research Method
The research would be conducted by experimental research based on teacher’s teaching curriculum. Experimental research which manipulates and controls certain variables in order to test and measure the dependent variables is used to predict phenomena (Martyn, 2009). This research was used to test small samples of junior high school students’ cross-cultural awareness after the delivery of the curriculum.
The study was going to use one-group pre-test and post-test design which is used to check if there are any differences of the group before and after the experiment manipulation. The questionnaire is used to investigate students’ cross-culture competence (Kao, 2006). Pre-test is the measurement of the dependent variable before the treatment. Therefore, before the teacher delivered the curriculum, students would need to be tested first. After the treatment, post-test is used to be as a measurement of the dependent variable and it was for non-equivalent control group. This research would also test students again to compare the outcomes of pre-test and post-test.
Besides, the research also adopted quantitative method which was followed to collect and analyze the data. The purpose of using quantitative method was because it could demonstrate the test of significance (Jones, 1997). Also, it could help analyze descriptive data. In this study, the goal was to determine whether independent
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variables which were cross-cultural communication ability and global perspectives had a significant effect on a specific dependent variable which was junior high school students’ cross-cultural awareness.
Thirdly, the qualitative research was also adopted. To compare qualitative research with quantitative research, the former uses an interactive way which can be much more flexible (Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Guest, & Namey, 2005). In this research, it used in-depth interview which categorized the students’ feelings feedbacks after the post-test.
Data Collection
Because this research adopted quantitative and qualitative methods, the data collection would be in different ways. In quantitative research, questionnaire was used in the study to describe in detail and was used to investigate junior high school students’ cross-cultural awareness before and after the experiment. The items in the questionnaire were the items from the inventory of cross-cultural communication ability and students’ global perspectives (Kao, 2006). The inventory included 47 questions in total. It was a Likert type scale that the students rated their views in terms of 1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree. The questionnaire would be used before and after the delivery of the curriculum. The questions are presented in Appendix A.
This research also found other 6 students as non-participants to fill in the questionnaire. It was because it had to make sure that it was the curriculum which resulted in the enhancement of students’ cross-cultural awareness. These 6 students did not receive the experimental treatment condition. The result would be used to compare with the participants’ pre-test and the post-test results. It assumed that there was no significant difference between participants’ pre-test and non-participants’
results and would have significant difference between participants’ post-test and
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non-participants’ results. The non-participants are students who are between K7 to K9.
The other part of study would use qualitative method. Before the interview, the researcher would send the interview questions to the students. The interview questions were developed according to the research questions and literature review. Once the students got the interview questions, they would have the chance to review and organize the questions in advance. During the interview, the research would record all the contents and conversation after the students’ permission. The advantage of using the recorder is to help the researcher organize and analyze the data after the interviews.
Using the recorder can also efficiently save time of taking notes and accurately record the contents without a slip of the memory. After the interviews, the records would be transcribed which contained topics, categories and key concepts. All the interviewees would be interviewed between April and May of 2012. The interview questions are shown in Appendix B.
Research Participants Samples
Zumbo (1998) explained that the minimum class size would be six. The professor Daniel Miller from University College London also gave a minimum number from six to ten as formal interviews (Baker & Edwards, 2012). Thomson (2004) found sample sizes could be between five to three hundred and fifty. In this research, the samples were 6 students who studied in junior high school in Taiwan.
The students were between 13 and 15 years of age (M =14 years); 4 girls and 2 boys in total. The teaching lesson would be conducted once a week, 90 minutes per time and ten weeks in total. The teacher would test and observe the change of students’
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cross-cultural awareness. Table 3.1. would show the background information of the 6 selected students.
Table 3.1.
Background Information of the 6 Selected Students
Student No. Name Gender Grade
S1 Angle Female 7th Grade
S2 Casey Female 8th Grade
S3 Nicole Female 8th Grade
S4 Savanna Female 8th Grade
S5 Tim Male 8th Grade
S6 Kevin Male 7th Grade
Parental informed consent
The teacher wrote to parents of selected students and told them that their children would be offered mentoring and tutoring in English related to cross-cultural awareness. This letter was written in Chinese and would be transferred in English.
Parents were given informed consent and understood the purpose and the procedure of research. They could also discontinue students’ participation in research at any time when they felt unsuitable.
Data Analysis
The questionnaire was distributed to the selected students in selected junior high school. Once the data was collected, it was prepared for data analysis. This was done by coding each response with a number sequence. Once this process was completed, the data was keyed into Excel. And then, in order to test the hypothesis of this study, the data was inputted into the Software Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The
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study used paired T-test. It was used to results of the pre-test and the post-test. It was related to significance.
Research Procedure
In this research, after the determination of topics, significance and purpose of study, the researcher did literatures review to help understand and support this study.
Then, the teacher delivered the curriculum to junior high school students before students filled in the questionnaire again. After that, the researcher did in-depth interview with the students and analyzed the data. Last, it developed the conclusions and recommendations for future studies. See figure 3.2. for the research procedure.
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Determine the research method
Pre-test
Delivery of the curriculum
Post-test
Data Analysis Literature Review
Determine the research topic and purposes
In-depth Interview
Conclusions
Figure 3.2. Research Procedure
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