Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.7 Research Questions
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be adequately explained (Dörnyei, 2005), and their model could better illustrate the research findings, especially the contextual variable. It should be noted that the current findings may be interpreted from other theoretical lens (i.e. theoretical triangulation, Freeman, 1998), and the theory used in the study emerged only after repeated perusals of the interview data and classroom observations (i.e. a grounded approach to data analysis, see Wolcott, 1990).
To summarize, the rationale or motivation of the current study is threefold: (1) to address the underexplored area of teaching and learning L2 pragmatics in EFL
contexts in Taiwan; (2) to contribute to an informed understanding of and to raise awareness of the functions of L2 pragmatics instruction in EFL classes in Taiwan; and (3) to uncover the motivation of teaching and learning L2 pragmatics, which is
believed to be socially influenced in EFL university classes in Taiwan.
2.7 Research Questions
The following two research questions guided the investigation of the current study.
This study examined (a) whether, if any, the observed language teacher who adopted communicative approach taught sociolinguistic skills and (b) how teacher and students responded to L2 pragmatics in an EFL university class in Taiwan.
Specifically, what were the teacher’s and the students’ attitudes toward L2 pragmatics in one EFL class in Taiwan?
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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
The methodology section will first describe the design of the study—qualitative case study. Second, strategy of choosing the participants, i.e. purposeful sampling (Merriam, 2009), will be mentioned. Third, both the observed teacher and students will be profiled to provide the detailed educational background. In addition, the classroom will be described to understand the learning and teaching activities through one of the most widely used and developed observation schemes-communicative orientation of language teaching (COLT)—by Allen, Fröhich and Spada (1985).
Fourth, various sources of data collection, including its instruments (e.g., the use of the COLT-scheme in classroom observations and that of interviews), will be presented, followed by data analysis and its validation.
3.1 Design of the Study
This study employed a qualitative interpretive research paradigm (Nunan, 1992), which fit the purpose of the qualitative case study primarily (1) to gain an insider’s perspective of the research under investigation (Freeman, 1998), (2) to illuminate a better understanding of the effect of L2 pragmatics instruction in an EFL university class, and (3) to get the whole picture of L2 pragmatics instruction by tapping into the mind of the participants through semi-structured interviews (Merriam, 2009).
In addition, this study is qualitative in nature to fulfill three important purposes:
(a) to illuminate a better understanding of L2 pragmatics instruction; (b) to attain transferability in EFL contexts (Freeman, 1998); and to increase credibility or trustworthiness (Sarah, 2010; Walcott, 1990) through multiple sources of data
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collection (classroom observations triangulated with field notes and student/teacher interviews) (for methodological triangulation, see Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Freeman, 1998; Walcott, 1990) and hopefully to achieve catalytic validity, i.e. to facilitate student and teacher reflections that could be beneficial to future classroom practices (e.g., Li, 2007), a common research goal of doing teacher-research or classroom inquiry (Freeman, 1998). Simply put, not only could the investigator gain a better understanding of L2 pragmatics teaching and learning, but the observed teacher and participants (i.e. the students) could benefit from the study under investigation (i.e.
mutually beneficial).
The metaphor of a white elephant and blind men could illustrate the reasons for multiple sources of data collection. First, since either interview or classroom
observation (the instrument typifies the blind man) alone cannot precisely explain the whole picture of the elephant (the elephant typifies L2 pragmatics instruction), the study attempted to yield a substantial amount of information regarding what and how L2 pragmatics instruction was implemented through multiple data collection methods, in line with the spirit of qualitative research to meet the criteria of methodological triangulation (Freeman, 1998; Merriam, 2009; Nunan, 1992). Second, qualitative case studies conducted in various contexts could better provide different research
perspectives and methodologies for theory generation (Li, 2007). Third, another important advantage of case studies not thoroughly investigated previously is their potential for exploring the students’ own perspectives. Process-oriented case studies appear to be an optimal tool for understanding the observed teacher’s and students’
acquisition of L2 pragmatics.
3.2 Selection of the Participants
The selecting strategy was based on a number of measures. First, through online
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course syllabus in university websites in Northern Taiwan, the investigator looked for certified candidates who implemented CLT-based instruction in the university. Second, the observed participants need to acquire TESOL background training and expertise at least with a Master’s degree. Third, he/she believes in the core principles in
communicative approach (see Brown, 2007) or closely related concepts such as learner-centered, or task-based language teaching (TBLT) to develop students’
communicative competence.
One public university in Northern Taiwan was chosen based on its reputation in English-mediated environments and the recognition of internationalization. The college English education guidelines also implemented CLT-based instruction and wished to develop learners’ appropriate language skills. At first, the investigator sent email requests to the qualified research participants to obtain their permission to observe them in the classroom. However, after the investigator substantiated the main purpose of the study and its research methods (i.e. classroom observations and
interviews), the teachers refused to enroll in this study due to (1) their concerns of being observed and evaluated and (2) worries about the investigator’s interruption of their original teaching schedules. In fact, it is due to the time-consuming nature of doing process-oriented research that the high rejection rate was expected (Richards, 2009). Fortunately, one willing teacher, Yuan-Yuan (a pseudonym) lent her support to participate in the study and the investigator reached a consensus that both students’
and the observed teacher’s confidentiality shall be protected (Paltridge & Starfield, 2008). The letter of confidentiality (see Appendixes A and B) was signed by both the observed teacher and students to protect their privacy (Freeman, 1998). The
transcribed and recorded data obtained in the study are kept in the investigator’s computer only for research purposes.
To confirm the belief of the observed teacher implementing CLT-based
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instruction, the investigator went to the intended observed class (i.e. research site) and conducted one pilot study at the end of December, 2010. The main purpose was to ensure that the teacher satisfied the set criteria of the study. After observing and examining the course syllabus and the required textbook, Hemisphere 4 (Renn &
Iannuzzi, 2008), the investigator was able to know how and what the observed teacher taught in her class. According to the investigator’s field note, the observed teacher acted as a facilitator who helped students (1) verbalize freely by engaging students in various graded conversational activities and (2) facilitate student-student interaction in English to develop their communicative fluency. Reading and writing instruction centered on meaning and comprehension with a central focus on reading strategy training, such as pre-reading, reading and post-reading strategies. As for writing, the teacher would teach students how to write summary reports of textbook articles with minor instruction on students’ grammatical errors. Last, Yuan-Yuan implemented her teaching of sociolinguistic competence, both verbally and nonverbally. Take
nonverbal cues for example, intonation was taught to highlight speakers’ attitudes and intentions (for the six principles in communicative competence, see Brown, 2007, p.80).
In addition, the course syllabus indicated that the objective of the course was to develop students’ communicative competence (see Canale & Swain, 1980). After a thorough understanding of the educational background of the observed teacher with both an MA-TESOL degree in the US and a Ph.D. TESOL degree in Taiwan, it was assumed that the observed teacher knew what communicative competence meant and she appeared to be an ideal candidate in this regard. Apart from her TESOL-related credentials (i.e. her extensive teaching experience in formal and informal educational institutions), her kind support and willingness to participate in this study were highly valued due to limited willing participants.
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3.3 Profile of the Participants
This section first introduces Yuan-Yuan, the observed Taiwanese university English teacher in the study. Based on interview data concerning her educational background and demographic information, the following sub-sections will be divided into (1) the training Yuan-Yuan received in her MA-TESOL program, (2) motivations of pursuing a Ph.D. degree, (3) her perceptions of the TESOL training theoretically and practically, (4) teaching experience, (5) teaching philosophy, and (6) role of a facilitator, all of which were revealed in the first teacher interview and tabulated in Table 3.1.
3.3.1 Courses Taken in the MA-TESOL Program
The observed teacher, Yuan-Yuan (a pseudonym), got her MA-TESOL degree in the United States of America. In her MA-TESOL program, Yuan-Yuan took more linguistics-related courses than TESOL-related ones. The courses Yuan-Yuan took placed less emphasis on the pedagogical aspect, such as theoretical pragmatics and sociolinguistics. As for the practical courses, she only took TESOL methodology and materials and second language acquisition (SLA) courses. According to Yuan-Yuan, two thirds of the courses were linguistics-oriented and the remains were
TESOL-related. However, there have been additions to the program, integrating more TESOL-related elements to the original course structure. As she remarked, “it has a lot to do with the specialty of the teachers in the program.” It appears that more TESOL-related courses have been expanded since Yuan-Yuan graduated from the MA-TESOL program.
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Table 3.1 Teacher’s Profile (Yuan-Yuan) Name of the
Teacher
Yuan-Yuan (University English teacher) Notes
1. Major courses taken in MA and Ph.D.
Linguistics-related courses mostly in Master’s degree program
TESOL Methodology, SLA, Seminar on Reading Theories, CALL, L2 Writing
2. Motivations for pursuing Ph.D.
degree
a. Meeting the requirements of the school b. Sharpening research skills and accumulating
research experience
a. Too much focus on exam preparation b. Need for more hands-on practice to produce
research papers
a. Formal (affiliated language center of a private university and a public university) b. Informal (Intensive English Institute)
About ten-year teaching experience 5. Teaching
philosophy
a. Critical thinking
b. Establishment of personal value c. Student-centered
Principles or essence of CLT
6. Teacher Role
Facilitator who provides scaffolds to facilitate student learning
Affected by her teacher belief
3.3.2 Motivations of Pursuing a Ph.D. Degree in Taiwan
Yuan-Yuan was motivated to pursue her Ph.D. degree in that she needed to satisfy the school requirement. In addition, she needed more solid support to carry out her research. Yuan-Yuan returned to Taiwan immediately after her completion of MA-TESOL program. She secured a teaching job in a private university and she taught adults English in its continuing education center. Due to school requirements, Yuan-Yuan must submit papers to conferences or school journals. Yuan-Yuan opted to
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study in Taiwan given the vicinity of her workplace and family in Taipei city. As she humorously put it, “Generally speaking, no one will improve teaching by studying in a Ph.D. degree program, which is kind of irrelevant to teaching. The fact is that you do not have time to improve teaching.” As for Yuan-Yuan’s specialty, she is interested in reading theories. She chose Reading Theories and Seminar on Teaching Reading and wrote her dissertation on teacher belief of teaching students reading strategies in Taiwan. She mentioned that she benefited greatly from taking the reading courses. In addition, she took cognitive linguistics, pragmatics and discourse, among others, in the Ph.D. degree program. Her linguistics professors emphasized the practical aspects more than the theoretical ones.In other words, Yuan-Yuan’s professors asked them to integrate theories into practice and focused more on the practical aspects of linguistics theories, such as analyzing speech acts in the films and comparing the differences between native and non-native speakers of English. Therefore, unlike the MA-TESOL program in the United States, Yuan-Yuan took more TESOL-related courses in
Taiwan.
3.3.3 Perception of the Training
According to Yuan-Yuan, she received training more on the theoretical than on the practical aspect. She expressed that she had some fundamentals in the field of corpus linguistics, L2 writing and computer-assisted language learning (CALL);
despite that, she integrated what she learned to real classroom practices. Yuan-Yuan longed to improve the program concerning publications because she took many courses without hands-on practice on writing papers. For Yuan-Yuan, writing research papers for publication is an essential skill for investigators in order to be promoted, which is one of the responsibilities that current university teachers need to assume to publish papers in journals indexed SSCI or SCI (Lillis & Curry, 2010). This may
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affect her teaching to some extent if she focused too much attention on doing research.
3.3.4 Teaching Experience
Yuan-Yuan had extensive teaching experience. She used to be a head teacher in a continuing education affiliated to a private university in Northern Taiwan. She
expressed that in the institution she needed to teach English in Intensive English Institute (IEI). “Actually, it is like cram schools although it has the university logo, so it sounds fancier and she asked us to teach students in English only,” said Yuan-Yuan.
However, she mentioned that not every student she taught was good at English. As a consequence, Yuan-Yuan pondered over what her teaching practices should be
because she did not have much teaching experience when she started teaching English.
In addition, Yuan-Yuan used to be a supervisor of IEI, so she was quite used to teaching students in English with occasional explanations in Chinese to achieve effective teaching.
In total, Yuan-Yuan had had approximately 10-year teaching experience in formal and informal educational institutions when the study was conducted. Based on her teaching experience and training about L2 reading strategies in the Ph.D. degree program, Yuan-Yuan believed that meaning always comes first because learning English must make sense to students so that it can be meaningful to them. As for the forms (i.e. grammar and vocabulary), she mentioned that she would take care of them later. Simply put, Yuan-Yuan, who practiced CLT-based teaching, also taught grammar and vocabulary, but she focused more on the use of the target language.
3.3.5 Philosophy of Teaching English
As for Yuan-Yuan’s teaching philosophy, she hoped to engage students in
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establishing their value system to boost students’ communicative confidence. She considered English to be a means to the end.In other words, Yuan-Yuan intended to teach students English for specific/academic purposes, like business English or academic listening skills. Through English, she expected students to develop their own value system and thinking ability, not solely limited to vocabulary learning or exam preparation in secondary schools.
Yuan-Yuan chose student-centered approach in teaching English because she was influenced by some student-centered theories. She considered teachers to be
facilitators who could maximize learning opportunities for students to use the target language. In Intensive English Institute (IEI), she was able to use student-centered approach to teach English in a small-size class. She felt that for students who enrolled in IEI, they were already motivated, either extrinsically or intrinsically, to study English because of (1) the investment of time and money; and (2) their urgent needs to improve English due to work, graduation requirement, or simply self-reward, such as curiosity/interest, (i.e. intrinsic motivation). According to Yuan-Yuan, unlike cram schools, students in formal schools were more likely to nod off in class and less cooperative with her probably due to students’ perceived irrelevance to their own learning English in their daily lives.
Although Yuan-Yuan cares fluency over accuracy, she finds it indispensable to strike a balance between fluency and accuracy to ensure that meaning can be conveyed comprehensibly to interlocutors. Yuan-Yuan also considers grammar important because without appropriate use of L2 grammar learners will not perform language functions accuratetly.
3.3.6 Teacher Role as a Facilitator
Yuan-Yuan used to teach various kinds of students with different learning
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motivations in both cram school and university. The class size and willingness to cooperate with her differed substantially, which is the major concern for her to teach English. Interestingly, she considered students’ unwillingness to cooperate with her not because of low motivation but because of other factors, such as individual differences. In addition, Yuan-Yuan would not challenge or compel her students to speak up in class; instead, she, as a facilitator, would assist her students in speaking English by scaffolding them to build English language repertoire despite students’ low motivation.
3.4 Student Profile
The participating students are described below, which will briefly touch on their English learning experiences and their preferred learning styles in English classes.
3.4.1 Students’ English Learning Experience
As far as students are concerned, they had various English learning experiences.
One male student, John, used to study abroad for more than five years and came back to Taiwan in elementary school, thus having a better command of English than his peers. Another student, Peter, attended high school in Seattle, Washington, in the United States, having some study-abroad experience there. Still others studied English in Taiwan and never studied abroad. All of the participating students had some years of experience in cram schools for exam preparation, private language institutes, bilingual schools, and children’s English learning centers, etc. However, not every student had pleasant experience or experienced a sense of achievement in learning English. For example, one student called Timmy once had a disastrous experience in childhood. He went to a private institute and he was trapped by the automatic door of the institute. Since then, Timmy did not dare to go there again except when he went to
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cram school for college entrance exam in the 12th grade. Still, he considered his listening and speaking abilities poor.
3.4.2 Students’ Preferred Learning Styles in English Classes
Students seemed to have different learning styles. Take English Conversation class for example. Some students enjoyed learning in English-speaking environments in secondary schools. The English conversation class was conducted by a foreign teacher, who conversed with the students and encouraged them to speak English. One male student John figured that when he returned to Taiwan, he found his English ability backsliding because of “living in Taiwan and receiving the same education like everyone in the school system.” One student commented that “it is useless to teach us how to prepare for exams [because] the major thing is to apply and enjoy English.”
That is, the participants considered English to be an important tool for authentic communication to increase intrinsic motivation for communicative functions.
However, for some students, they do not enjoy learning English whatsoever.
3.5 Classroom Vignette & Course Materials
Based on classroom observations, the English class generally followed a fixed sequence/routine. It usually started with reviewing the previous lesson or assignments in the last class. In the textbook, each unit was divided into listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and conversation strategies, with more emphasis on reading plus supplementary materials, which were adapted from
Based on classroom observations, the English class generally followed a fixed sequence/routine. It usually started with reviewing the previous lesson or assignments in the last class. In the textbook, each unit was divided into listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and conversation strategies, with more emphasis on reading plus supplementary materials, which were adapted from