Qualitative Method Assessment Task: Data analysis

Qualitative Method Assessment Task: Data analysis
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1. The first question in all the interviews are directed towards gathering a
general understanding of the teacher and his / her class. The purpose behind this
question is to understand the background of the class the teacher is teaching. This
would indicate towards certain anticipated responses to certain questions by the
interviewer. Furthermore, it would also help the interviewer understand the specific
standpoint of the teacher on what s / he currently thinks of, knows about and expects
from the class.
2. SELF-REPORTED LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY NOW OR ONCE
Participant Karina Paola Vanessa Motoko Andrew
Native
language
Greek Spanish English Japanese English
Domina
nt
languag
e
English Spanish,
English
English English,
Japanese
English
High
proficiency
language (7-
10)
English English English French
Medium
proficiency
language
(4-6)
Japanese
Chinese
Italian,
Portuguese
French,
German
Latin
Low
proficiency
language (0-
3)
French Spanish,
German, Italian.
Resurrected
(from previous
study/experien
ce)
Chinese
Some contact
Chinese
(personal
interest)
Other Hindi (prior
experience)

It can be seen that most of the teachers have English as their dominant language,
which is understandable, given that their profession demands high level of English
proficiency. Furthermore, while some teachers like Andrew, explained that they had
learned some languages (French and Latin) in elementary school, others like Paola,
stated that she wanted to learn and have learned bits and pieces of Chinese because
of her interest in the language. Furthermore, most of the categorisations that are
made by the teachers in terms of their language learning also indicated that they
have a general idea of what level they are in in terms of language use in
conversational context.
3. All the three teachers have varied attitudes towards the students using their
first language in class as well as towards the use of dictionaries in the class. The first
teacher, Karina, discourages the use of the L1 in the class, as well as restricts the use
of dictionaries to only English to English ones. The reason that she provides is a
justified one where she states, “
I discourage it in the classroom, especially at this
level. Ah, they’re supposed to be at an advanced level and it’s the ten weeks prior to
entry um, into university”. At advanced level, the learners are expected to be
conversationally fluent in English, meaning they would have to rely less on their first
language. Therefore, Karina takes the approach of restricting the students’ use of L1
in the classroom. With respect to dictionary use, the same reason goes for positively
promoting the use of monolingual dictionaries by the students. While Vanessa
mentions that she gets a bit jumpy with students using L1, she too actively
discourages the use of L1 for the same reason, stating that it is eventually
counterproductive. She however, lets the students use electronic dictionaries
because it helps in contextual teaching, as she mentions “
we do rely on them quite
heavily so the vocab. um, you’re pre-teaching some of it, doing some in context um,
some word lists, a variety of things.” Motoko on the other hand is teaching both adult
and adolescent students and states that, while adults understand the importance of
the course, the younger students use more L1 in the classroom, which she actively
discourages. With regards to dictionaries, Motoko explains her preference for
monolingual (English-English) electronic dictionaries.
A lot of their attitudes towards L1 use in classroom or the use of dictionaries
come from their prior experience of learning English or any other target language.
Karina responds to being asked about the same, “
That’s right and I was in a situation
where I was surrounded by the language”. Motoko also responds saying that, even
though it’s easier to teach English through Japanese, she prefers discouraging that
approach as it does not help the students develop their skills.
4. While looking at Andrew’s transcript, it can be identified that Andrew has