Case Study--Definition “The study of the speech, writing or language use of one person, either at one point in time or voer a period of time, e.g., the

Case Study--Definition

“The study of the speech, writing or language use of one person, either at one point in time or voer a period of time, e.g., the language acquisition of a child over a period of one year.” (Richards, Platt, & Weber, 1985, p. 36)


“A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon winthin is real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used.” (Yin, 1984, p. 23)


“The most common type of CS involoves the detailed description and analysis of an individual subject, from whom observations, interviews, and (family) histories provide the database.” (Dobson et al, 1981, cited in Duff, 1990, p.35)


“A longitudinal approach typically involves observing the development of linguistic performance, usually the spontanteous speech of one subject, when the speech data are collected at periodic intervals over a span of time . . . The longitudinal approach could easily be characterized by at least three of the qualitative paradigm attributes: naturalistic (use of spontaneous speech), process-oriented (it takes place over time) and ungeneralizable (very few subjects).” (Larson-Freeman and Long, 1991, pp.11-12)


“[The] qualitative case study can be defined as an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single entity, phenomenon, or social unit. Case studies are particularistic, descriptive, and heuristic and rely heavily on inductive reasoning in handling multiple data sources.” (Merriam, 1988, p.16)

Case Studies-1

Characteristics an examination of a case (a language learner,

teacher, or classroom) in its context *deep and thick description, holistic and

comprehensive

Case Studies-2

Use tracing the oral language development of

second or bilingual children child literacy development, adult language

learning, teaching strategies, etc.

Case Studies-3

Issues accessible and interesting to teachers often viewed as non-rigorous

Case Studies-4

Suggestions method is selected in relation to the question

asked flexibility allowing exploration and refocusing multiple data-collection procedures longitudinal in nature valid and credible information data analysis procedures clearly described

Ethnography-1

Characteristics extensive and long-term participant observation naturalistic, interpretive, contextual multiple data collection methods: observation, fi

eldnotes, audio and/or video taping, interviews, researcher as tool

Ethnography-2

Use understanding sociocultural differences and its

effects on learning can be used to understand various aspects of s

chooling, teaching, and learning

Ethnography-3

Issues advantages: unobtrusive, holistic, thick

description of contexts and processes *very time-consuming

Ethnography-4

Suggestions there should be more ethnographic research in

the L2/FL fields

Discourse Analysis -1

Characteristics studying language beyond the sentence level interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary reliance on transcripts, careful analyses of

spoken and written language


Use provides information about rhetoric structure

and style, teacher-student interaction, student-student interaction, politeness strategies, coherence conventions, etc.

analysis of spoken discourse in the full context of classroom activities

cross-cultural comparison


Issues bottom-up approach: begins with a specific feature and

examines its forms and functioning in discourse; linguistically oriented

top-down approach: begins with a communicative event in its natural context and then analyze aspects of discourse in relation to context; sociolinguistic and ethnographic orientation

advantage: transcripts allow repeatable analyses limitation: specific examples are provided but lacking a

general picture


Suggestions provide information about the frequencies and

variations of observed phenomena

Types of Research Design:Pure Forms

Paradigm 1: Exploratory-interpretive non-experimental design *qualitative data interpretive analysis

Paradigm 2: Analytical-nomological experimental or quasi-experimental design quantitative data statistical analysis

Types of Research Design:Mixed Forms

Paradigm Design Data Analysis

3 Experimental or quasi-experimental

Qualitative Interpretive


Qualitative Statistical

5 Non-experimental Qualitative Statistical

6 Non-experimental Quantitative Statistical

7 Non-experimental Quantitative Interpretive


Quantitative Interpretive

Parameters in research design

Types of Research

Primary: Research that is derived from first-hand information (e.g., directly from students learning a language) Case Study Statistical

SurveyExperimental

Secondary: Reviewing and synthesizing existing research literature

Definition of Ethnography

“Ethnography involves the study of the culture / characteristics of a group in real world context rather than laboratory settings. The researcher makes no attempt to isolate or manipulate the phenomena under investigation, and insights and generalizations emerge from close contact with the data rather than from a theory of language learning and use.” (Nunan, 1992)

Characteristics of Ethnographic Research

Contextual The research is carried out in the context in which the subjects normally live and work.

Unobtrusive The researcher avoids manipulating the phenomena under investigation.

Longitudinal The research is relatively long-term.

Collaborative The research involves the participation of stakeholders other than the researcher.

Characteristics of Ethnographic Research

Interpretive The researcher carries out interpretive analysis of the data.

Organic There is interaction between questions / hypotheses and data collection / interpretation

Multi-methods The Researcher uses multiple methods to collect data: participant observation, fieldnotes, audio and/or video taping, interviews.

The Weak and Strong Views of Ethnography

The Weak View: Sees ethnography as essentially inferior to psychometry

as it is unstructured and unsystematic; Valuable only for its capacity to “throw up” questions or

hypotheses which can then be tested in a formal experiment;

Sees ethnography only as a “ground-clearing” operation rather than a valid tradition in its own right.

*The Strong View Sees ethnography as a valid research paradigm in its o

wn right: “ethnography is theory-building, and this the core of a humanistic approach to social science)

Research Design for Ethnography?

Open-ended observation and description, no design needed??

The course of ethnography cannot be predetermined, but this doesn’t mean that pre-fieldwork preparation is not needed. Ethnographic research design is a “reflexive” process which operates throughout every stage of the project.


Foreshadowed Research Problem in Ethnographic Studies

Beginning with a general research topic interesting to the researcher (theoretical, social, cultural); a secondary literature review may help.

Specific research questions are developed from the data (there is an interactive process between data and research questions).


Selecting a Setting According to the research problem: identifying a

setting that would be most appropriate for investigating the research problem, as currently formulated.

Opportunity Preliminary evaluation: Analyzing any

documentary evidence available; interviewing anyone familiar with the setting

Pragmatic considerations: Access, travel costs, availability of documentary information


Setting and Case Setting: a named context in which phenomena

occur that might be studied from any number of angles

Case: those phenomena seen from one particular angle.

A setting may contain several cases; conversely, a case may not be contained within the boundaries of a setting (the researcher may need to go beyond a certain setting to collect information on important aspects of a case)

Research Design for Ethnography? Sampling in Ethnography

Time Round the clock observation is not feasible and not desirable. Appropriate temporal sampling is necessary. A range of coverage as full and representative as possible. Should include both typical routines and special, extraordinary even

ts People

Demographic categories Member-identified categories Observer-identified categories (hypothetical categories constructed

by researcher) Context

Human behave and speak differently in different contexts (e.g., teachers in the classroom and in the staffroom)

Frontstage vs backstage

Guarding Against Threats to the Realiability

of Ethnographic Research

Type Questions

Internal Reliability

Does the research utilize low inference description?

Does it employ more than one researcher / collaborator?

Does the researcher invite peer examination or cross-site corroboration?

Are data mechanically recorded?

Guarding Against Threats to the Realiability

of Ethnographic Research

Type Questions

External Reliability

Is the status of the researcher made explicit?

Does the researcher provide a detailed description of subjects?

Does the researcher provide a detailed description of the context and conditions?

Are constructs and premises explicitly defined?

Are data collection and analysis methods presented in detail.

Stimulated Recall

A technique in which the researcher records and transcribe parts of a lesson and then gets the T and/or Ss to comment on what was happening at the time the teaching or learning was taking placeUseful for discovering the options considered, the decisions made, and the actions taken in the classroomUseful for getting initial data to be studied in later more formal investigation

Observation Schemes

A scheme that helps the researcher to observe classroom processes and interactions in a more structured, objective, focused, and precise manner.Useful for obtaining systematic, quantifiable data from language classroomsIssue: The “objectiveness” of this method

The COLT Observation Scheme

COLT: Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching Purpose:

To enable the research to describe as precisely as possible some of the features of communication in L2 classroom; To develop observational categories to capture significant features of verbal interaction; To provide a means of comparing classroom discourse and natural language

COLT Features: Classroom Activities

1a. Activity type Drill, role play, dictation?

2a. Participant Organization

Whole class, groups, individual?

3a. Content On classroom management, language (form, function), or others?

Topics selected by?

4a. Student modality

Are students involved in listening, speaking, reading, writing, or combinations of these?

5a. Materials Types? Length of texts? Source?

COLT Features: Classroom Language

1b. Use of TL To what extent is TL used?

2b. Information gap

To what extent is requested information predictable in advance?

3b. Sustained speech

Is discourse extended or restricted to a single sentence, clause, or word?

4b. Incorporation of preceding utterance

Does the speaker incorporate the preceding utterance into his/her contribution?

5b. Relative restriction of linguistic form

Does the teacher expect a specific form, or is there no expectation of a particular linguistic form?

Sample of Observational Notes

9:38 Small group continues. T is taking running record of child’s reading. Othersreading familiar books. Next, T coaches boy on sounding out “discovered.” Covers upword parts as he says remaining parts. T: Does that make sense? . T: What is anotherway to say this part [“cov” with short o]? T passes out new book: My Creature. T hasstudents share what the word creature means. Ss: animals, monsters, dinosaurs, Dr.Frankenstein. 9:45 11/12 OT (On Task)

Levels 1-3: C/s/r Levels 4-7: r/t/a/r Levels 4-7: wr/t/c/or Levels 4-7: v/t/r/or

In this example, the Level 1-3 codes c/s/r indicate that the classroom teacher ( c) was teaching a small group (s) in the major literacy area of reading ( r).

The level 4-7 codes r/t/a/r indicates that one literacy activity that was occurring was reading (r ) from a narrative text (tn),the teacher was assessing one child (a), and children were expected to be reading (r).

Another literacy activity was the teacher coaching a child in word recognition (wr) as he was reading a narrative text (tn), the teacher was coaching (c), and the child was responding orally to the teacher’s prompts (or).

A third literacy activity was discussing the meaning of the word “creature”, coded as vocabulary (v) from a narrative text (tn); the teacher was engaging the children in recitation (r) , and the children are taking turns responding (or-tt).

Interaction Analysis

Discursive analysis of classroom talkInterpretive analysis of elicited or naturalistic spoken language at the linguistic or non-linguistic level

Introspection

The process of observing and reflecting on one’s thoughts, feelings, motives, reasoning processes, and mental states with a view to determining the ways in which these processes and states determine our behavior. (Nunan, 1992)

Issues of Introspective Methods

Does the verbal report accurately reflect the underlying cognitive processes giving rise to behavior?

Possible discontinuity between what is believed to be happening and what is actually happening.

The task (thinking aloud, e.g.) may affect the cognitive processes.

Free Association Task

The subject is required to say the first word they thought of in response to a stimulus word.

Often used by psychiatrists (Jung, e.g.)

Sentence Recall

The subject is required to respond as quickly as possible if he/she did or did not understand the cue sentence, which is usually ambiguous or difficult.

Think-aloud Technique

The subjects are required to perform a task or solve a problem and at the same time verbalize their thought processes as they do so.

Diary Studies

A first person account of a language learning or teaching experience, documented through regular, candid entries in a personal journal and then analyzed for recurring patterns or salient events. (Bailey, 1990)

Part of a growing literature on classroom research, useful for research or teacher education

Benefits of Using Diaries in T Edu Students can articulate problems. Promote autonomous learning. Sharing of dairies promotes confidence and

generate new ideas. More productive class discussion Student teachers can relate course content to

their own teaching Creates T-S and S-S interaction beyond the

classroom Leads to more process-oriented T training

Five Stages in Diary Studies

Diary-keeping: a candid account of the diarist’s personal learning history

Revision: Revising diaries for public consumption

Identifying patterns and significant events Interpretation Discussion

Diary Studies: Bailey (1983)

An account of her experiences in learning French.

Major finding: Affective factors of competitiveness and anxiety were important.

Diary Studies: Schmidt and Frota (1985)

A language researcher learning Portuguese in Brazil.

3 Phases: 1)trying to pick up a little Portuguese while interacting with native speakers; 2) getting formal instruction; 3)abandoning formal instruction.

Major finding: Interaction of “in class” and “out of class” experiences on language development.

Diary Studies: Campbell (1996)

Campbell’s diary of her experience of learning Spanish in Mexico.

Major finding: the author’s prior experience and attitudes determined the course of her Spanish language learning to an extreme (using strategies from past experience of learning German, e.g.)

Documents

Case Study--Definition “The study of the speech, writing or language use of one person, either at one point in time or voer a period of time, e.g., the