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CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the research method employed in this study will be presented.
The first section explains the reasons of choosing qualitative case study as research design. Then, principles of participant selection as well as participant profile will be described. The third section deals with data collection, including the multiple tools to generate data. The fourth section presents the procedures of the present study. Finally, the last section introduces the rationale of data analysis.
3.1 Design of this study
This study mainly followed Phipps and Borg’s (2009) rationale on grammar teaching tensions. A qualitative case study was used as the research design for three main reasons. First, the mental process of how teachers transform their grammar teaching beliefs into practices is very complicated and requires in-depth research methods to document (Hood, 2009; Pajares, 1992). Second, in-depth analysis of a case or multiple cases can maximize our knowing about the phenomenon under investigation (Dörnyei, 2007). This is also what Phipps and Borg (2009) encouraged researchers to do in studies about teacher beliefs. Third, grammar teaching tensions generated from discussions of actual classroom practices may more honestly reflect perspectives deeply rooted in reality (Phipps & Borg, 2009). Therefore, the results of this qualitative case study will be useful in teacher education because they can portray participants’ grammar teaching tensions in great details (Hood, 2009; Phipps & Borg, 2009; Richards, 2003), and can be applied to improve current practices in this
particular English teaching environment (Hood, 2009).
3.2 Participant
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3.2.1 Selection of the setting and participant
One junior high school in northern Taiwan was selected as research setting. The reasons of choosing this research setting are twofold. First, the investigator has taught in this school for six years and has established enough intimacy and rapport with teachers here. In qualitative studies, a higher degree of trust between researchers and participants can bring in rich data that help researchers become “empirically confident”
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p. 61) with the information needed to answer research questions (Dörnyei, 2007; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Second, conducting qualitative research at the investigator’s own school increased the participant’s awareness of grammar teaching tensions, which may serve as “driving force” (Golombek & Johnson, 2004, pp. 323-324) for professional development (Farrell & Bennis, 2013; Golombek
& Johnson, 2004; Phipps & Borg, 2009). This is also in line with a key feature of action research— to “change the social system in schools and other education organizations so that continual formal learning is both expected and supported” (Calhoun, 2008, p. 1).
To fully understand the tensions within this particular setting, one experienced English teacher, Jane, was selected as the participant of the current study. Jane was selected for three reasons. First, as the most experienced English teacher in this school, Jane has gone through the period in which grammar translation method was highly valued as well as the time when the spirit of communicative approach was included into textbooks. As mentioned earlier, Phipps and Borg (2009) found that core beliefs seemed to be the beliefs that are “experientially ingrained” while peripheral beliefs are the ones that are only “theoretically embraced.” Choosing an experienced teacher as the participant allowed the investigator to verify Phipps and Borg’s (2009) hypothesis about these characteristics. Second, after having some talks with two other experienced teachers in this school, both of them suggested Jane as the best candidate because “she teaches quite differently from the rest of us.”
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They described Jane as a teacher who liked to try out new teaching materials (such as e-books provided by publishers) and use different teaching techniques. One even mentioned that Jane was “good at teaching grammar.” Thirdly, during English teachers’ monthly meeting, Jane often encouraged other teachers to change their grammar teaching belief through time. For example, she advised other teachers not to use grammar terminology as instructions in the test paper because she thought terminology should not be the center of instruction. These were signs that Jane was a teacher who had her own teaching principle and rational thinking, making her
“different” from other teachers in this school. Patton (1990) described purposeful sampling as a way to “select information-rich cases whose study will illuminate the questions under study” (p.169). According to the reasons given above, Jane was no doubt the most suitable participant that may generate the most information in this context.
In the current study, investigator’s familiarity with participants’ personalities, school environment and atmosphere can not only elicit rich data but also increase the credibility of the results.
3.2.2 Background of the participant
This is a medium-sized school composed of 30 classes. This school is located in New Taipei City, adjacent to Taipei City. The average academic performance in this school was around medium to low level. About one-third of the students were unmotivated learners who had no interest in English. Neither did they spend much time on textbook materials or other extracurricular learning resources.
Jane, the most experienced teacher among the three, has been teaching for 22 years. During the first few years of her teaching career, she found that what she learned in previous teacher education courses seemed insufficient. Therefore, she
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joined a summer training program made for school English teachers who sought professional development. This training program lasted for four summer vacations and involved various courses such as poetry, prose, linguistics and English teaching theories. Most important of all, it provided a great opportunity for Jane to exchange teaching experience with other high school teachers. Compared with other teachers in this school, Jane was more willing to try out new teaching techniques than other English teachers. For example, when publishers started to promote e-books, she was the first one to include them in her teaching. She even shared her experience with other colleagues, telling them how e-book facilitates learning and teaching. Some teachers who were skeptical about its usefulness and afraid of operating new software started to give it a try after Jane’s encouragement. Except for e-books, other multimedia such as short clips, online articles and songs were also incorporated into her class. Jane’s passion to teaching, rich experience and open-minded attitude on new things made her the most influential and respectful English teacher in this school. In many ways, she acted as a senior leader who shaped the English teaching atmosphere in this school.