MeDensugh,J. § MeDenevgh, 5.41949) Research methods for Englith keachers. London: Arnord. Library reference he oot W136 4 Libeary reference 418.007 M196 GA Observing language classrooms Introduction “Oerain, sit stands it monolithic abl abroad and even amorphous lanbrella term sbeuring many nd ved purposes and izerprenions. opine (199), fr example, gies = pose sense of this breadth of pplication by deserting iar aval civ” with aerial lew play fn daseoam research, teaches’ peroal- profesional gro, and school ‘Solopment aa while, Obverton wih asi techniques i ko ‘fen embeded im ge sae rescuch pin a one rend among others, sehen perhaps vary of dit sures 2ppropriae. Her, however, we ake ices and lge discret retersag tit inthe al hapten the dicsson ti waysin which nethods ight be ed i cnjunction with each ober. ‘There are narber feats i which the werd of csr bs sation sve up in schemes propo in the era T ke us thre: Walace (91) wees abuut sten-tse/ethnographic/ad lo promeures Hophine (199) has a moce dete reakdovn int seat stracured ‘owas open sbsevaton, ad Sele Shlwny (1989) encapsulate the ‘ame spectrum in binary srutured/open distin. As we sal ell Sock frameorks bg nace of ques, odo withthe over degree ‘of partption the tue oF abuts inductive (eure) and dedive (Gnu) parameters among hers. The presen chapter mks straight ‘wad disinoon between systematic’ and naturals’ obseracion, We beg battering deine the erm ars way of easing on ts spi raen reach, There fallow» dncusion of the kinds of famewerks teachers Imight develo fr structuring obseetions, and comment on the delop- teat of coding estes for elsroom sed research. Afra bridging se thn on the interface tween quitatve snd guataive approaches, wt tothe more ‘open’ methodoy of dseripve observation. Throughout we take stern fo bean isons, act eaher han store recive “ain of esroom eves Observation: uses and perspectives Consideration of comet, cused in Chapt 3, imps ta cae typical fas to be ten with exon. Nevertheless, to provide simple102 RESEARCH METHODS FOR INOLISK LANOLNGE TEACHERS vvindo on the classroom, we might agree thatthe following description ti segment of lesson represent 1 resonably reas if unexceptional ‘Scenario for an EFL class in some farts of the word (In the absence of ther avaiable means of presenatinn, a verbal description will hve #0 suffice) ‘The teacher (7) has lover intermediate clas of 16 students (Se) ged 18-23 fom a number of cates This isthe fis lesson of ‘the day He chat litle aout the previous evening’ activi, then hominis few Ss in tun toy what they did. He occasionally ‘herects pase tense forms and pronunciation, He then ask ther © open thei eourseboahs atthe new Uni, which Begins with mata ine abot» fay’ experiences ox thi ldap. This is read aloud by Ss who sel-selec, ands follored by vocabulary checks: some Ss twits down the new word, somtimes checking in their bilingual pocket disonaries ‘The ex i alowed by questions, which Tasks Sta work on in pairs some do others work alone Answers ae then checked in plenary The enrscbook has some garam exp tations and exereices which the ease morks chrongh with T. Far he final activity Ss listen wo caste with wo people talking ina ques ‘ion-and-anawer format about an ecient one of them had Wi essed, Se fil neti ina tables hey ite. With few mints to go before the end of the Fssn, T does « quick verbal tt of feregler ver forms. “This is notin self pascal illuminating because there sn speciica ‘ona toabserver nor ast the purse ofthe ebseration so without this jnfoemation there ne many possible terpeations of whats going on. At Lincoln and Guba (1988) poine out and here we anticipate ‘azarae srguments about peespectve to beaidessed below — reality is constructed 4a interpreted dlferenly by dffeeat individuals, whether the ent Is {chi examples) commons, good manners, God, Harvard Universi, the Middle Ages, urban blight, socal scence, ericle-dwrn economic, ‘Watergate and, we might ad, 2 sexment ofan EFL lesson There ar, then, a least thre key parameters that need tobe lard ‘These are (i) the observer, (2) the goals of the observation, and (3) the procedure; in cther worde who wy? and how, which wil im tm be ‘etermined by the narare af the sean in whieh the observation i taking pce (see Chapter 1 fora aller dsusion of these fictors; a sel dis ‘sion ofthe Interaction of various erures at applied vo observation ean Also be found in Walle, 1985: 120, These are fast a few ofthe possi fies under these headings and the perutations are may: ‘onseevna LaNoUnoE CLASsnoO™S 77 Obcerver (Course director ‘lead senor teacher Calleague/ per “Trsinee/ junior reacher Now wacher Researcher from outside he nsicution Extemal assessor Goats Pacem of abe Evaloon of efecy of materi “Apprenticeship for nove erine taf caf ering) ‘Sam appre formnive/ Soop umm tg manapenentdesons on emplorsnent ua assrance and control Pesta ripe Improvement nnetodolsy Procedures ‘Checklists and write criteria observe~construte agrecd i advance sviththov observed prepared by enteral agency Audion and video eecordings [Notes and gs Parscpation/nom-partcipation ‘With without Feeback, Jus this brief and selective oerview should be enough 10 show thar “observation” is multiceted and withow: clear cut-offs berwe=n spplice tions, Most combination could infact te inoled as + way of looking at the EFL. leson described above, We now need to consider more specif fely the user of observation aa research oo Oberst for rexorch Even with this apparent narroing-down ofthe rle of observation, there fenin mny and vari posites or bot approach and exe ae {esearch applicaions of observation therefore need to be situated i the Comment of the Hines of argument in he present book. Let us remind our Selves that we are concerned primarily withthe Kinds of investigations that teachers can undertake asa integral part of thei professional Ives, at tbo with the uptake, whether receptive or by application, of the work of tes (researchers, ther teachers), and ith what ean be done when thersisan opportunity to ake time out concentrate fully on 2 research pro- ject Although tachers working directly from thir day-to-day teaching {experience may well feel more in tune with natu Tem pereigan te spetrian tle ww wn Choices ‘The uicusion in this chapler is rected to observation care fut the classom itself, though of course there i no reason in principle ‘why it should nor be able to hand lokng at stafrooms, shadowing ind ‘duals at work and so on, a indeee ir often the cate with or example, pariipan’ observation studies, ‘A well-known volume in the edcstonsl literature on observation is nitled Laoking i Clarvoms (God and Brophy, 1978) ‘The overall tone tfte book i peesripive im tht» sor goal to ierease teacher aware- hess and effectiveness: nevertheless, the te memorable and the pre- Poston significant. Everyday langage allows « number of possiblities Tooking in looking at, looking Jor, looking mith, looking int». each reflecting Somewhat different orientation, 2 the work of Stenhouse (0975, 1985, in the Rudduck and Hopkins.colleion) reminds us. Researchers and policy-makers can lok a teachers, who themselves can lok at hei earners o ther colleagues; teachers can look with eachother, tea researcher with a teacher any of these people can look for something specific once the issue for insstgniion has been formulated; looking is ‘in be done by someone standing outside, tale by an inside in the sta sion. Most ofthe appreaches and atte dgcuted in Pat 1 ofthe book Should be recognizable here “The main interrelated areas tht the temuinde of this chapter will be concerned with under the two headings lagged above (and they will of ‘course reer in subsequent chapters) are imp «+ research in he interests of increasing Knowledge and understand. ing of 2 phenomenon, or o creating ‘new’ Knowledge, whether that knowledge aspires to be iiographic and particu, or tans ferableand gener «research undertaken explicitly to bring about change, innovation And action often at institutional level this an important point at Inbich research and evaluation ler interact, 1 esearch for persona professional development ‘Within these broad eateries, we shall need to invoke a number of further the observer's role om «spectrum of objeciviy-subjectivity, and the whole question of bias; degrees of participation /nom-partic- 1 therol of hase observed cosmic LANGUAGE cLASHROGN: 105 1 the nature of the dats derived fom observation andthe timing: of | its callction; the use of daa wigger research questions versus it role in answering questions already formulated citerent ways of counting, stematining and analysing data, anc some ofthe problems asocired both with selectivity ant dacs Feducsion, andthe converse of ich data ‘the mature of the setting ie, including the wes fn vescarck of the ‘normal’ casstonm end opposed tothe specially constructed tor even the experimental Systematizing observation Preinnariee In this section we shall lok a ways of observing cistrooms which were ‘ery popular at ene time and ty fo ealute them as tole for teacher research We refer tothe use of prplamed oservational categories, some times coding schemes, o “systematic eberaton schedule To use ther the observer has t lesen how to recognize instances of parvicular ca pris of clasoom behaviour and note them down as they occur, efthe= live or frm some Lind of recording. Clearly, observing one's own class i= Lica, bueno impossible, to reconcie with teaching cat the sane time the Open University's courte on Curcfum in Acton (1981) contains veo ‘of several teachers doing just that However, im practic, seit ‘servation by teachers is ely to ivolve video or sio-resari ut collaborative obmvation ~ going into colleague's isin some ways easier to conde na ine. Why sptematie? Earlier in the chapter an important disnetion was draun between obs=—— ‘ation as an Yntetioal acvty” and “eactive noticing” of classroom ‘vents. The second is + necessary par of generating rscarch seston (Gnd of reaching anyway), bot intentional ebseration implies planning fan the use of some previously established categories The fmportance of sstemaicty was nea put by Fansley (1977) who devised particule coding scheme called FOCUS, when he pointed ou that weal see differ et earues inthe same scene and therefore give diferent accounts: in his bse categories involved. So sytemarcity implies prior decisions boxe hat to record. Furthermore, i impli agreement or atleast prior Gee isons aboue methods: when to recor, fr example ‘© on a regular time base every 3 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, ind soon)106 eestasca steTH00s POR ENGLISH LANGUNOE TEACHERS using a recogizale boundry marker ~ lke SOK" ~ wo signal « Segment fa lewon devoted one topic nd so on; and what kind of tempor information to record, sch a “Coding systems may be published and in widesprend as, sch 25 the ‘venerable ‘landers Interaction Amaljis Categories’ (RIAC) (Flanders 1990) or the ‘Commanistive Orienmtion of Language Teaching’ (COLT) Feheree (Erlich oa 1985), or they maybe st up for pares pur pone by individual, “The ue of systematic coding schedules is therefore very much an eabor- tol chee approach, Cheelists ate used to ensufe that relevant steps Se noticed and remembered, Ikea week's shopping lis ora pila’ land- ing Checks; but since they thereby spstematilly reduce the raw dita interesting events in tht ata tate ot incladed on the checks will ot be noted "The advantages ofa coding system approach may be easily summarized follows. I. They are easier fo wie than on-the-spot description or paper renrtieg 2. The we of agreed and even published category systems enables ‘comparisons with other stolies and therefore generalizabiits “They ean be tlo-made for a particular problem ‘Amaiyss can be by simple equency counting and numerical amiss 5. Pater of interaction and development through time can be ‘etished. 6, Personal patterns of 2 paniclar teacher or larer canbe estab lished. 4. leis possible, inetd si, tai observers in the cong system. “Arnesure of reliably ofthe scheme is gven bs the relative ease Giferene observers have in agreing hat actual behaviours are instances fone or other 0" “The disadvantages ofthe use of coding stem general ar as illo 1. They involve eng, reduction, of the data, in however = Teiatca way. Depending on the wnt of anal, for instance tak- Ing ume bat ors segment of lesson, what is ging on outside that uit docs ns coune dic nthe analysts Thus, noting what is happening every 0 seconds exci discards what has hap Dena inthe interning time. 2. The egies ae preslted, and may noc be the evant ones foe the leson being observed, Put mere stony, observation schemes need ta be validated aginst some independent criterion tf elevance of eelaon o achevement of whiter. How other- Urise do we Know what the anses categories ave that are sig Cnt for Tearing? Tie Ia naly Uses dome even wth eatery ‘Sytem that rein widespread se 43, Mery often, obnerving» hus using a caegorzal checklist cannot fake into acsoune eleant tut unobserved shared Knowledge mong the actual parcipant. Thus going into other teachers’ ‘hss and using 2 #stematc observation schedule ea be lind > Feaures of the history of tha clas and its instivational context tehich aye presupposed by the parGspants themsebes. This Uhiction may ot hold for serving one's own classes, but the Use of snsder noaledge” im eterpretaion fas ro be consistent nd ule governed, Kinds of analy Tn Joking for behaviour oslo into ctgores, the researchers ulcimately Imeresed im what the obserable bekaiour tall him about something Aeper he aspect of aning or teaching under study. Categories vary thereon the degee of predon the exhibit A fequent division heres between high inerence eateries and lo inference extepories. Using high= Inference categories an dzerver bs te make a considerable fort of de iment to decide whether + range of behaviours consites = ego: A Tingstnding example. of thi i the fst category of the Flanders Tnreraction Anal Categrie:‘Accetng the feeling tone ofthe std [teacher might do this either verbally oe non-verbal by 2 major or mine Change from his/her planned lesson; ty ceding turns of speech ia student xpressing that mood or by explicit erring to che fecling von” or amb nvatmosphere The observer has ro make aramber of judgements which ‘onccrn the intention and probable outcome ofthe behaviour; the teacher's Seuacy of pereption of whi he sedans ae feeling, nd a hos of ote Context bound arable to msig the event to a category. By comet aon Inference category Uke “hand-up"& vltively easy to code, fut the ter {erpretation might prove more dieu In particu, efen with low= Jnference categories, the observer probably sto decide whether they ae Tooting something deliberate, pasilysymiolic and messing o ax ental unintentional and without symbolic inifesnce. Publish ar ceed argos ‘There’ no nee to elton published literature fr categories: esearcher ‘an develop his of her oem for sone particular research purpose. For| asl HESEANCH METHODS FoR ENGLISH LANOUNGR TEACHERS ‘example, teacher retarcher might be interested inthe possible effets of itferen kinds of strategies forging orl feotach or intervening sboet an exror in spoien performance ather than tikng» label ctetory He ‘pease’ oes’, » projet wight choose more dete catego, ‘elon denying the lction ofan eto by prompt or non-word —oht 1S sing location by repettion 2 Bion prompt sking a grammatieal queon faking + meingrcated question pretending not to understnd the uterance containing the error 1S Eeing fr tranaion + ghing paraphrase [Sking Fors paraphrase intervening mediately to error occured tervening afer the end of the suerte to speak Inververng ata ope sit boundary marker CO) 1 non-verbal resem ch gesture snd 000 Titer contests, a echer might want to develop vet of observational categories for event ie handling questions fom the elas or Sitting soup work activity or “sting Up reading comprehension us’ or i ng grammatical explanations in ncpl the posites se endless Experience of using the inemted-entegory system would show. how workable it was and how consistent the researcher nas in applying. the dings ying to tach somes to ure would help esablich whieh ‘acegoris were more rae. The usual ters for sly of eoding sys, tems i the percentage of agreement between independent coders (eh sbi), and the percentage ef areement Ive rstinge at aifrent times bythe sme judge consistency), Notice i this mocked suspen. ‘on there ull considerable amount of judgement involved ven these tre relatively hgh-inference eategwies. Another difficulty the eeseather oul hove with these eategories me nce each of these may eccupy ‘ne or even prt of urn of speech, ecogizing and meting them may be {oo dificult for retime work, and resort would have fo be made 10 2 cording and tancrpt ‘A further set of decsions which would bear onthe choice ofeategories, wou be thei suitability for aiferent Kinds of partcpant groupe, For crample the teacher researcher incur examples might be terested the teacher ina locksteptescher-fronted ass 1 teacher atudeninterattior 1 selected group of aden: within co-actng cass ‘SEEING LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS 108 ral working group fst dents na group-work css 1S the tacher working in torr with socal groupe working Othe same or diferent materi Analy of endings Coed wanscips of ase can be ale in evra useful ways 1. By counting fiequeny, im hich the relative frequency of each kind of behaviour ean be se out i tabular form and sonclsone drawn from the over picure: This might nda, peeps the surprise ofthe clas the teacher, particulary favoured Kinds of behaviour of mannerisms seated with pertculr ls Students or teacher; or might demonstrate the proportion of tine Spent om certsn hinds of inguistc exchanges atthe expense of ‘thers or the proportion of tine spene in the age langue 18 ‘opposed oa common langue. Blur drawing many cnelsions ‘it would be possible to chek bow any markedly ver: or under= ‘sed behaviours compared with what chance would predict by ‘sing an appropri sisi est fr the signicance of propor tions ane Chapter 9 on chi-square By finding patrm, in the trae that there may be certain sequences of bchaviour that are characteristic of the lesen soliciting answers + nominating «pupil + reciting an answer ‘Checking with noche pupil» pre ‘These paterns may be individ o a particular teacher or generat depending on what ie under oburvaont At the teacher researcher inspets the dt for such pacers thre wl be two concern in patel Est wo use any "ier knowledge carefully tad defensioy pecially when ebserving one's own behavnur or one’s awa clang mond, ‘member hat one swallow does no: mae x summer, and otto belie there ea patern unt there are sve example of Relation hips wih ther information Instances of pactieular coding, Fequencies and pacers, ae dificl 0 interpret onl) by reference to themvetves Lesson, in partcl,usly have a plnned structare which telat canbe comapared tothe atl Sequence ofthe leson co observe al erp difrenees, Less and their parsiipans ls havea tempctal and structural place i & pro- {grmme or curralam which el ay be sigan in explaining what ‘Sor noc observed, Furthermore, sons and the people ce-producing10 arseanci erHoDs FoR ENGLISH LANOUAGE TEACHERS them - the teachers an the tent — have bath individual and corporate Instore, and any aut observer wing a ending scheme may mist Nery important ever by noe Knowing thse hrs. An inside participant enchr researcher wil probably know some of but ic « ess of the method tht there i 9 steric way of including this Lind of formation, Last, behaviours which cao be coded may be expressed in all Sorts of diferent ways, both iguisic and nonlin, 0 some record Df thesype of expresin migh be kept, especial inthe case ofa anguage| {as Am important ssc in many ely lngaage-asroom obserations ‘va simply how much, and when, aed fr what purpose, eter teicher er ‘dent sed their mother rogue othe reign language Live eretion r ecoring? Any form ofebseraton i going invade sme distortion fom nor ‘ality. ris iacumbent onthe teacher reasrcher to sty himself or her- lf that any dorton is eased or taken accpant of At its worst, the {tortion ofthe dats could inal the ebserations wa tue picture of ‘wa normally ecurs st bes, the mount and kind of distortion can be Enown andthe eonclsions maid scrdingy, Siting a the back of| simecge el’ casroom ~ oof one’ awn wile the dens are working ‘on thei en ~condacing an oberon snd marking down instances of particular vers code can distract the tention of students an teacher Alike, however used they may be the presence of another teacher in the ‘as Inteoducing a tperecrde into th cs to listen 0 later ean also ‘isract attention, and the recording canal dintore: microphones are much more Hinited devices thn te human ex, voces On the recording 2 mach ess easy to identify and stunt parepans ray not be picked tp, Hlwever, such a recording can be eed as check on 2 ein eon Alced He, without neces wing 4 anscrpt. Writing up 4 tan- ‘crpt of an auie-ecording makes it arise for cael anal, eng "he researcher rom the eesti fre ing, but sil avery tie consuming exercise, and acral ss mare information which may be recesary to decide between coding exteorie, such a intonation and (ther pralinguistic cues and non-rral acti, unless the recording ‘an be supplemented by Bld notes. ‘iden as naturally been sed ret dali ebseratonal work, but Fequires an operator who is necessarily eding the record ashe or she ‘hones what to record. Even the comparael sitple problem af cord- ing nterection between students and texcher ina teachertrotedclass- oom i quite dificult w acompish: Camera equipment ina css may also distract and possibly invite strange behaviour, leaving ie unused fora time wo let the class get wsed nic has ben advoeateed. Siving suio- q ‘iden ecording equipment ut of sight of the prticipac=. as with the ose ‘fone-way vison scene in clasroom wall can be ccszed ressom {Myon ethical promnde All he parties cane commie wu awe = Tigh of consent to the reach, so concaled ghrervasio= sss Be Ser preted as bypassing tha right unless the searcher reveals fs ise ce {nd ction which eather negates the pint of cone=sizse== = the ese = Alternatives to coding schemes Using onding scheme or 2 systematic dervation scheviule whether = real ne or om a resordingo transcrip, ia way of sep=——esme ou eS ant events from the mass of ta, speting paterns. snl acrving ac ac Jntepreation of the aucture of what las been observed Fe mecemacs involves reducing the dita by some preconceived plan. emce the check: sf eteporien The valli ofthe reulngimerpreacion has 2 loe ro deo With the sality of che coding cateoriey esublished ox othe~ data i ther chssrooms and it falls dat i as ese ro do wits che eigenen ‘i dhe putea abscron. Nunan (1998.16) demonserates, usin = teanscrpe of leon except, how thee diferent ass Of represen tnd analysing the dats give quite differ insights into “be progress oF ‘hat lesion, which rin tthe opening equence of Erecting snd war=~ up He uses an adaptation ofthe Fandes FIAC, anoshe= sstem for cat ‘poring verbal behaviour detloped by Bowers for Entish for Spec ‘rpc caus; and a narrative desorption, They alee difer in “uses friendlies The redection of the data the FIA sborracts and ish lights ceisin procases charscteriic othe opening: of = leon: che hibellod transcript using the Bowers decripore presets = eead-mace interpretation, bt the narrative cats the dats wich aD ite beman sirsis. meng and ances ithe author (preps only the sushor) sae fe Tic ‘erson i, Naan elle, perceved athe most user friends by teachers Te describes the teacher not just coming in and siting Gown bot slurp ing in hs cai’ tude tlk is described ar ‘muttering’, “echoing, "ome isting suggesting’ and ‘venturing ch vorabulary for = rick ser of ances ofitrpretation, How accurate ich anarratve ca be is open 2 svalation, Recordings ad felines ate, we discussed th we of recardings forthe purpose of running = hel on coding accuracy: An extension df the practice of recording, Dear ‘ng in mind of course he caves about rending and daza selects[IE essence werio0s rox mtn tanounoe rescues Fecond lesson o part ofa ess and chen transcribe tung eld noes taken a the time of the reconing Putting the wo sources of dat together represen: asmowe amay fom reductionist observation methods toards ‘Simething ne might useful cal saborive dserpton, Tea analycie Allwright, in his inluential paper “Tams, topics and casks (1980), pre- Senis a mito of analsis tat moked both (entatine) coving fate ‘work a ech of three level and ine-y-fine commentary om the ede teensript of the lesion. The commentary acted ar an immediate inger- prstacon of the Now of negotiations that constituted the management of the mterseion by all che participants inthe lesson. This paper is lo dis ‘used in Alisrght’s book (1988) which describes the developments in ‘observational research in language classrooms ove the previous decade or so. An interesting theme drawn oat by Allright i the enont to which obseration can in principle reved complete picture of the classroom dynamic Stina real Another technique which researches have used with seachers but teachers ‘ould use with their colleagues and dent is known ss simulated real “Hire, a recoding is made ofthe lon orcas tobe obserse, but inter reation ofthe observation is made with the cllsboration ofthe pari Ding teacher or stadems the resexcher roping ot fezing the recording 4 poins of interes and asking the parisien think back tothe lesson ‘nd reveal what had been going on thie perceptions at that point and thet dessin proceses. This technique ns been sed in published work by "Noman, working on eson recording with teacher, als for example by Poulss etal (1987) working on native speler earner daleguer with leamess of English. Taking the exmple narrative of css given at he begining ofthis chape, this teckrique allows a researcher fo ask wh, fr ample the teacher nominated senso ny wha heya Gone the pe. ‘ows evening but allowed the studests to sl select who a ging to Fea inthe clas, onthe fae of ta crious dserepancy the motivation of Which ‘necoverable fom the naetve, The work of Peck An example of language-taching research on quite large sale which des ‘ot use a systematic observation sesedule but at the same time does et ‘Spouse fill atralistic enquiry philosophy, i given bythe wor af Peck (1988) Pecks methodology was develped to enable hin to compare the reais of linge chisooms devo t6 sever illerent foreign, fee flags in fie eourtres iain, ran, German, Norway and the USAG Engi, rrench and German) and yet ic ely adaptable for use by ind tidal teacher researchers investigating eons in their own schoots. Peck fntended to provide workble scheme for describing language tale “etegore forthe interpretation of eaten practice, an [to] make avasibc + tumber of useful comparisons betwen lessons and teaches (1988: 3). “Telingy his introduction cosine he statment" could tox obserss, or describe, language teaching fom he point af view ofan outsides ke for instance « Martian observing acricict match; [red to bring to obser ‘ation and explanation all the knowledge and experience which 1 have Acquired mysef ver = numberof yrs at language teacher, textbook ethos and teacher trainer (1988.4), Peck observes and describes fit numberof lessons and teachers using ‘is ‘inside? apprach, wthow placing sri and difcalsrestricons on ‘ims a os choice of unit anus or his buervational techies His objects of stady mere normal eatgois of teaching, lke presente = ‘ex, new granmay, ice expression, native, pronunciation, oral peacict teacher support His uni of aalsis atthe “part of t lean. Pls cat ‘zris fr observation ar often expesed as comparisons or tradeoff, lot tng them on coordinates how how a tcl son or teacher Farce Range oflingusiesrucures vers Pace f oral practice “Tehclvarixy venus Intensity of language “Teacher intrvs venus Student paricipacion Fluency vers Preparation far oral work 4 many instances he ples a xcgoey oe the time course ofa leon (see Fig 7. veyareut ay Z tage edgar ed guner Atquarer Fig 71 Lesa ia Pc, 886, Fig 12, apdAvery uefa feature of his book that many of che suggestions for avabais te eliteratly fee af copyrgh that any teacher ean use them ‘Biscumion of these apavoaches to inerpetaon of the pres of lan= guage clases using semiontolled tar rch ata serves aa bridge besneen fhe quasi scienie reductionist paaiigms ofthe systematic observation Sehedules and full turd obeerton, co which attention now ens. Naturalis observation | ‘Some dfnition and imp itions [At che simplest and most general lea “atuaisti” isto be taken in con- {rest to contrived, manipulated or eperimetal it refers in other words to concer with the understanding of natural stings and the repre “uation of the meanings of the ars within that setting. Inthe ce of EPL s nauraiotic cbservation would eed arts dasbase the everyday fesson wth sual patcpant nel ne, rather than, sag» class con- ced ory out a prticr peg method, or one-off with volun tees no normaly together, ora teacher not known to the stadt any OF Wiki whatever ther ether researh mens ~ would constitute erent {aorions of naturally occuring penomena (Ia pasing its worth n= ing Nunans (19926) somewhat sryising sais chat of $0 welH4nown Clasroom research stadis onl 15 were earied ou in ‘genuine lnguage saroums) Lincoln and Guba (1985) frter remind us that naturalistic Shauiry io elf defined at the paradigm and not mecesriy at the ‘hethogotogia level, though clearly the tendency of such research wold ‘be weighted sovarde preference fo qualitative method. There ae impli ons, therefore, not just for goal td Seng, but also forthe relative oles of partipente snd for the nature, coletion and analysis of dt Ti prt then, terns ofthe oie ofthe paradigm, thee are at teas wo important cole, Fis ofl, the notion of contest becomes, (Curia beenuse estes the phenomenon of sry in space and tne, and ‘an therefore tap int the constant Macuaing interactions a relation Ship pttern ina group of people working together. (This isthe bolisti, “emi word of Van Lit 1988, whee the setting speaks for tel) AS We ‘Sern the short example in Chaper 3, a 'clesroom culture’ i ually full up over quite slong period af tne, s0 even short interaction may Contain some complet yerbal ard. behovioural_presuppesions. The SSERE inthe Lou Segment nthe heat soon ofthis caper may have “Stsider knowledge” reasons for closing not to nominate certain indi- ‘als to anor which an outside observer might well misinterpret): a Teference bya learner otha prepsiion probles could be retrompetve ty several weeks Walker and Adelnan’s (1976) example of the els who cee unonor