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Chapter 3 Methodology
The study was conducted as a narrative inquiry. The research process began in the spring of 2014, when the participant, Erin (pseudonym), was accepted as a student by the Master’s program of counselling in one of the universities in the U.K. The study ended when Erin finished her study abroad and came back to Taiwan in August of the same year. In the following sections, I would first justify the use of narrative inquiry as the methodology for the present research and then present the protagonist of the story, that is the participant in the study. Later, I would discuss methods for gathering data and approaches for data analysis.
The Research Design: A Narrative Inquiry
The study investigated how Erin exercised her agency to cope with the challenges in different learning contexts she was engaged in, and the research was conducted through a narrative inquiry. Narratives, as Riessman (2008) noted, are
“event-centered and experience-oriented” (p.22). Narratives have been used in many fields of inquiry, such as psychology and sociology. However, only in recent years has narrative become a “legitimate mode of thinking and writing in research,”
(Barkhuizen et al., 2014, p. 1) and narrative inquiry is understood as an umbrella term referring to research involving stories, either using stories as research data or using storytelling as a tool for data analysis or presentation of findings (Barkhuizen et al., 2014).
The use of narrative in language learning research is acknowledged and valued since, as Connelly and Clandinin (1990) noted, “…humans are storytelling organisms
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who, individually and socially, lead storied lives,” and therefore, “the study of narrative is the study of ways humans experience the world (p. 2).” Barnjkze et al.
(2014) also identified the strengths of applying narrative inquiry to the field of language teaching and learning. Complementing experimental or statistical studies in which researchers are more interested in common features of a groups of people and adopt standardized procedures to assess objective reality (Dorneyei, Z., 2007), narrative inquiry focused on lived experiences the individual participant has or had, which can probably best help us to understand the “inner mental worlds of language teachers and learners and the nature of language teaching and learning as social and educational activity” (Barnjkze et al., 2014, p.2).
Drawing the focus on learners, as previous research indicated, through storytelling, the narrative forms, teachers or researchers can obtain insights of individual learner’s learning beliefs (Barcelos, 2008), language identities (Block, 2008; Chik & Benson, 2008), learning investments (Chang, 2011), and agency
(Coffey, 2013; Xiao, 2014; Ajsic, 2015) from the perspectives of learners, “the central actor in the drama of language learning” (Cotterall, 2008, p. 113). The nature of the present study was a longitudinal study which looked into the relationship and the interaction the participant, Erin, had with English in multiple contexts, spanning the time from her being a school girl to a mature adult studying abroad for her own expertise with English as the medium language. Under the circumstances, narrative inquiry is justified as the most appropriate method to use since, as Barkhuizen et al.
(2014) pointed out, “the most distinctive quality of narrative inquiry is its capacity to provide access to long-term experiences through retrospective and imagination,” and
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“narrative inquiry is the only methodology that provides access to language teaching and learning as lived experiences that take place over a long period of time and in multiple settings and contexts,” (p. 12) which is consistent with what this study intended to do.
My Role in the Research Process
I considered myself playing multiple roles in the research process. First of all, as a friend of Erin, I have her trust, friendship, and rapport as the support of this study. I felt certain that she would be willing to serve as the informant throughout the process of this study. Second, as a Taiwanese EFL learner born in the same year as my
participant, I knew exactly how the sociocultural context was like when Erin attended school in Taiwan during her formative years. As a researcher, I also needed to have a natural drive to understand what exactly happened to my participant. Although I knew her well and we shared the same learning experience in Taiwan, I did not have the opportunity to understand how she perceived her own experiences, particularly I have no access to her experiences in the U.K. and thus have to depend on her narratives and the interviews to develop a deeper understanding of my participant.
I did not stand in a neutral position, nor was I simply a distant researcher from the participant. Rather, in the interviews, I myself was also an active participant who explored, experienced and reflected on the stories together with Erin. As Mendieta (2013) stresses, the production of the narratives does not belong to an individual;
instead, narratives are shaped by “larger social, cultural, and historical contexts as well as the relationship between the narrator and the interlocutor” (p. 139). With such
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claim, narratives are both personal and collective (Moen, 2006), it is possible and acceptable that narrative researchers will bring their own worldviews to the inquiry process (Mendieta, 2013).
In the writing process, I re-experienced and reconstructed the narratives not only based on Erin’s stories but might inevitabley interpret the stories with my own values.
As a researcher, I would not and could not be entirely objective, and the narrative approach tradition does allow me to acknowledge my own personal biases and values.
Erin, the Protagonist
Erin was born in 1990. At the time when the thesis was written, she was a twenty-six-year-old research assistant (RA) working in a university in northern Taiwan. She majored in psychology in college and graduated in 2012. In 2014, she went to the U.K. for a Master’s degree in counseling. Finishing her one-year study overseas, Erin came back to Taiwan in 2015, working both as a full-time RA in a university and a part-time English tutor in a small-scaled private language institute.
The first time I met Erin was in junior high school. We were in the same class for three years, and we became close friends in the ninth-grade. Graduating from junior high school, we went to different community high schools in the same district.
We have been keeping in touch with each other ever since, and we even went to the same university but different departments.
Erin never liked English in her school life, as I can recall. She held quite a resistant attitude toward English learning as a junior high school student, and her
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relationship with English became even worse when she was in senior high. I
remember her always complaining to me about the heavy study load of English. She could not see the value of spending so much time studying English at a time, and she was not satisfied with Taiwan’s educational system, either. In our first interview (August 25, 2014) when Erin gave me an overview of her English learning history from elementary school to the end of college, she stated in her own words: “I hated English through the whole period of senior high school.” Erin would even deliberately skip the English class every Tuesday for the whole spring semester of the eleventh grade. With such a struggling relationship with English, Erin failed the subject for at least four consecutive semesters, and no doubt she was defeated in the battle of college entrance exam as well, only getting 18 as her score.
However, the chemistry between Erin and the language has subtly changed ever since the end of senior high school. Breaking away from the formal educational system, Erin began to pick up the language in her own ways. Exposed to a variety of learning sources, Erin’s English comprehension gradually improved. She even found a part-time job as a teaching assistant in a private language institute, and later decided to go further her study in psychology in the U.K.
The uniqueness of Erin’s case lies in the dramatic change as she interacted with English the language in multiple contexts. As a friend, I have witnessed her stumbling along the way in achieving English proficiency. I am amazed at the progress she made over the years and impressed by her determination and courage to study abroad. As a researcher, I find it worth noting that English for her seems more than just a language to learn, and she actually has a dynamic and subtle relationship with English. When it
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comes to learning the language in formal schools, the more powerful social discourse she encountered as a young adult learner, Erin was determined to shut herself off from the language. Graduating from senior high, however, Erin appeared to make peace with the language: she was getting along with the language instead of just learning it.
While studying abroad, Erin was using the language she once hated as the medium to develop her expertise, counseling. At that time, English was no longer just a subject to study, and Erin was gradually aware of the fact that language was actually a way of thinking.
In the multiple contexts with the variety of social discourses that she encountered, Erin seemed to act as an active agent who purposefully and consciously decided if she was going to accept, ignore, or resist what the context offered her instead of the other way around.
I, as a researcher, appreciated Erin for giving me the chance to walk beside her, exchanging life stories with each other while she was in England. More importantly, I appreciated the fact that Erin did not mind reflecting on, re-experiencing, and
reconstructing her past and present English learning journey with me. The next section discusses how we walk through the journey together.
Data Collection
Two instruments were adopted for data collection: interviews and some written records, including Erin’s posts on Facebook, the chatting records between Erin and I via Facebook and LINE, a widely-used communication application (app) in Taiwan.
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The data on Erin’s past learning experiences and current perceptions was mainly collected from interviews with Erin. Interviews, as Barkhuizen et al. (2014) pointed out, are probably the most suitable instrument to access personal perspectives on language learning, and a life history approach was adopted in the study. The approach
“concerns a person’s life story through his/her own retelling” (p.16) and is used in narrative inquiry to capture long-term language learning experiences.
I conducted the first interview with Erin before she left for the U.K. in August, 2014. The interviews continued via Skype while she was in England so that I could gain process data, closely tracking her life experiences in the U.K. The last interview was conducted after she came back from her study in September, 2015. Altogether there are 14 hours of formal interviews conducted over the period of 13 months, mounting up to 95 pages of transcript, not to mention many face-to-face and
skype-mediated informal conversations. Table 1 shows the interview timeline, with all the dates, foci, and other details for each of the formal interviews.
Table 1
The interview timeline
Year Date Interview Foci
2014
August 25
Narrating and reflecting on the past English learning experiences
l Initial prompt: Would you please tell me your story of English learning from the time when you knew the existence of English?
September 7 Open and Unstructured Interview on the First Week in the U.K.
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l Initial Prompt: Would you tell me about your first-week life experience in the U.K.?
l Her responses included:
Ø First impressions of the country and people there
Ø Solving problems she encountered Ø Interaction with the English people Ø Meeting up with other Taiwanese and
Chinese students
September 14
Open and Unstructured Interview on the Second Week in the U.K.
l Opening Question: Are there anything
interesting happening this week you would like to talk about?
l Her responses included:
Ø First pub experience
Ø Participated in all kinds of activities held by the dormitory or the Department and interacted with people from different countries
Ø The courses that she was taking
September 21
Semi-structured Interview on the Third Week in the U.K. and the Courses that She was Taking l Interview Protocol
Ø Now that the semester has officially begun, and one of the four classes you took, the research methods class, just started. Could you tell me how the class works and how do you feel about the class?
Ø How do you feel and what do you think of studying your profession with English as a medium?
Ø Could you tell me how you prepare for the
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Is the life there similar to what you imagined when you were still in Taiwan, or is it actually quite different from what you thought?
Ø Are there any other special experiences you would like to share with me?
September 27
Semi-structured Interview on the Fourth Week and the Courses that She was Taking
l Interview Protocol
Ø So far you have experienced both of the two required courses, the research
methods course and the certificate course.
How do you feel and what do you think of these two courses?
Ø Have you had difficulties regarding the English language when you prepare for the courses?
Ø Have you had difficulties regarding the English language when you are in the class?
Ø Are there any other special experiences you would like to share with me?
September 29 Erin’s oral narrative (an audio-recorded narrative) on course experiences
October 2 Erin’s oral narrative (an audio-recorded narrative) Narrating course experiences
October 12
Open Interview on Courses
l Opening question: How are your courses going? Would you like to share anything interesting or the difficulties you encountered this week?
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Semi-structured Interview on Past Learning Experiences:
l Interview Protocol
Ø In one of our previous interviews, you mentioned that you had thought about dropping school in high school. Why did you have this thought at that time?
Ø Previously, you also mentioned that you did not like your high school English teachers’ attitudes and ways of teaching.
Could you talk more about it?
Ø You have said you “hated” English when you were in high school. What made you think so, and what did you think of English then?
Ø I am also curious about why you liked the subject of History and that of Geography so much in high school. What made you like these two subject so much?
October 18
Part I: Narrating course experience (continued) Part II: Semi-structured Interview on
Comparison and Contrast between the UK and TW:
l Interview Protocol
Ø What are the differences in how courses are conducted here and in Taiwan?
Ø How do you feel about speaking English in class and during group discussion? Are you already used to it?
Ø Do you like the way how courses are conducted in the U.K.?
Ø We have talked about the content learning experiences. How about language
learning? In such an English-only
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learning environment, do you find it helpful for you to learn the language?
Ø If you got a chance to go back to junior high and senior high school, what kind of changes could have made you learn the language better, or made you like English more?
October 26
Open Interview on Courses Taken
l Opening question: How are your courses going? How is everything going this week?
Would you like to share anything interesting or the difficulties you encounter?
Semi-structured Interview on Interaction and Relationships with Others as well as Views on Different Learning Contexts
l Interview Protocol
Ø Last time you mentioned that you accompanied one of your Taiwanese classmates to take an additional listening class, and the class already finished.
Could you talk about the experiences of taking that listening class?
Ø Last time you discussed the period of time when you were learning English with a professor. You also talked about the differences of the learning environment at my home and at his place. Could you talk more about how differently you perceive the professor as your English teacher and the English teachers you had in high school?
Ø In our first interview, you mentioned that you had started to watch
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American/English TV series in the
summer before you went to college. Could you talk more about this experience?
November 1
Open and Unstructured Interview l Opening Question: Are there anything
interesting happening this week you would like to talk about?
l Her responses included:
Ø First experience of participating in a parade
Ø Self- perception on her own English competency while in England
Semi-structured Interview on the TA Working Experiences in the Private Language Institute l Interview Protocol
Ø Last time you talked about your job interview experience in the private language institute. Can you talk about your first day at work?
Ø How would you feel when you see the international teachers/colleges? How is your interaction with the international teachers/colleges at and off work?
2015 January 9
Narrating on the academic aspects and life for the past half year
Interview prompt: Would you please summarize your experiences while studying abroad for the past six months?
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The first meeting was a face-to-face interview scheduled on 25 of August, 2015, before Erin went to the U.K. for the pursuit of her master’s degree. The interview was conducted in her home, an environment she felt most comfortable with. As Connelly and Clandinin (1990) noted, it is important to give the voice to the participant: “In narrative inquiry, it is important that the researcher listen first to the practitioner’s story, and that it is the practitioner who first tells his or her story” (p. 4). Reissman (2008) also indicated the special quality of narrative interview: “the interviewer and the interviewee are two active participants who jointly construct narrative and meaning,” (p.23) and the interviews aimed to generate detailed accounts rather than brief answers or general statements. In our first interview, I only gave Erin a prompt to start her story: Would you please tell me your stories of English learning from the time when you know the existence of English the language? While Erin was telling the story, I acted as an active listener and jotted down notes, allowing Erin enough time and space to speak without being interrupted so that “it [the interview process] too gains the authority and validity that the research story has long had” (Connelly &
Clandinin, 1990, p. 4).
A few days after the first interview, Erin headed for England, and the subsequent interviews were conducted through video calls using Skype. I had thought that Erin would encounter great changes in her life since this was the first time she stayed abroad, so we talked to each other almost every week in the first two months. By
September 17
Narrating and reflecting on the study abroad experiences/stories
Interview prompt: Would you please summarize your experiences while studying abroad?
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doing so, I could not only give her emotional support but closely follow her life and changing perceptions while she was trying to adjust to the new environment as well as living and studying abroad. On September 29th and October 2nd, Erin sent me two recorded audio files in which she orally narrated her course experiences. In her own words, she explained the contents of the two recorded audio files were the “dark side”
of her, which I assumed she wanted to tell me but did not intent to discuss in detail in
of her, which I assumed she wanted to tell me but did not intent to discuss in detail in