CLASSROOM RESEARCH

Assoc. Prof. Dr. ehnaz ahinkaraka

The aim of classroom research is to understand

what is happening there.

Classrooms constitute a distinct context for

research.

POSSBLE DRAWBACKS IN
CLASSROOM OBSERVATONS

Obtrusive Observers:
Any observer in the classroom has the risk of
being an obtrusive observer
-events

observed may not be represantative of the

class in its typical behaviour (so data has limited
validity)
-quality of the lesson may be affected negatively: Ss
may be more interested in the audio recorder or the
observer than the lesson itself.

The Hawthorne Effect

Named after a study was conducted at Hawthorne
(a branch in an Electric Company). In the study
the productivity of workers increased regardless of
whether or not there were positive changes in
working conditions. They were happy to receive
attention from the researchers!

In classroom research, the students (and teacher)

may improve or modify an aspect of their behavior
when they know that they are being studied.

COMMON TECHNQUES FOR DATA

COLLECTON N CLASSROOM RESEARCH

Observation data are common in Second

Language research:
We can get in-depth information about types of
language, activities, interactions, and events in
ESL/EFL classes through observations.
There are many different observation schemes
developed by second language researchers

OBSERVATON PROCEDURE AND

CODNG SCHEMES

There are many readily available observation schemes for

L2 classrooms (Fanselow, Nunan, Allwright and Bailey)
These schemes can vary considerably in their
organization and complexity (simple checklists for
tallying behaviors or highly complex ones for judging the
meaning)
They may be

low-inference

(real-time) schemes: behavioral characteristics

can be observed and high levels of agreement / reliability can
be reached.

high-inference

schemes: requires judgement

NUNANS TALLY SHEET (1989)

Nunans tally sheet has low-inference categories.

The categories are for classroom events such as
the instructors praise, instructions, and
explanations of grammar points as well as
learners questions, answers and interactions
with other students.

FOCUS (FOC FOR OBSERVNG

COMMUNCATONS USED N SETTNGS),
FANSELOW, 1977

FOCUS consists of 5 general categories:

Source (Who?)
Medium (Purpose?)
Use (What mediums?)
Content (How?)
Pedagogical purpose of a move
These categories can be adapted to various
settings and participants

TALOS (TARGET LANGUAGE OBSERVATON

SCHEME), ULLMAN & GEVA, 1985

TALOS has two parts: low-inference and high-inference

The first part (low-inference)

Live

classroom activities: drills, dialogues, translation, etc

Linguistic content: sounds, words, phrases, etc
Skill focus: reading, writing, listening, speaking
Teaching behaviors: drills, narrations, comparisons, etc
Student actions: types of questions asked

The second part (high-inference)

Ratings

on a 5-point scale for categories

Enthusiasm
Humor
Negative/positive reinforcement

COLT (COMMUNCATVE ORENTATON OF

LANGUAGE TEACHNG), ALLEN, FROHLCH, &
SPADA, 1984

COLT is intended to systematically describe instructional

practices and procedures in L2 classrooms.
It consists of two parts:
Part A (real-time)
Participant organization and activities
Topic type, content and control
Part B (post-observation)
Student-teacher & Student-student
interaction
COLT is still an influential observation scheme to be used
in many areas of EFL;
e.g. student motivation, L1 vs L2 use, etc

A SAMPLE OBSERVATON SCHEME

ON FEEDBACK

Using the readily available observation schemes,

it is possible to develop a scheme that would
address your focus of inquiry.
A sample scheme on feedback:
You

can determine the frequency of the use of

feedback by instructors and students in language
classes.

You

can also compare the frequency of feedback types,

feedback focus and uptake in classes at different
institutions or among learners with different ages or
different language abilities.

PONTS TO CONSDER WHLE USNG OR

ADAPTNG AN OBSERVATON SCHEME

a) make sure it is appropriate for your research

goal: your scheme should have a clear focus that
is relevant to the research question. (validity)
E.g.

If your scheme focuses on teacher-learner

dialogues, then you shouldnt be focusing on the
language use in the classroom

b) If there is only one observer in the classroom

(and if it is not video-taped), then only one rater
observes and codes the data. (reliability)

INTROSPECTVE METHODS N
CLASSROOM RESEARCH

Introspective methods encourage learners to

examine their own conscious thoughts and
feelings. We can elicit learners perspectives on
classroom events

There are many methods in EFL.

E.g.

Uptake

sheets
Stimulated recalls
Diaries

UPTAKE SHEETS

Allwright (1987) defines uptake as

whatever

it is that learners get from all the language

learning opportunities language lessons make
available to them

Uptake sheets are given to students at the

beginning of the lesson, and they are asked to
mark or note things on which the teacher is
focusing

A SAMPLE UPTAKE SHEET

(BY MACKEY, MCDONOUGH, FUJ, AND
TATSUM, 2001)

In this uptake sheet, learners were asked to

indicate
a)

which language forms of concepts they noticed (e.g.

pronunciation, grammar, vocab..)
b) who produced the reported items (e.g. learner,
teacher, classmate)
c) whether the reported items were new to the learner

In their study, Mackey, et al. gave these sheets to

the learners at the beginning of class for six
consecutive classes and asked them to fill the
sheets out as they noticed the language forms of
concepts during the instruction

STMULATED RECALL

In this method, the observer

audiotapes

or videotapes a lesson
then plays the tape to a participant
stops the tape periodically and
asks what the participant was thinking at that
particular point of time

Stimulated recall can be used to provide the

researcher with access to the learners
interpretations of the events that were observed

DARES
Diaries can produce useful data. They can be
learners or instructors diaries
Learner diaries

Some

structure can be provided for the diary entries

Can address specific points (how well they have
followed the lesson; what is enjoyable, etc)
Can even be a part of the coursework (or assessment)

Instructor diaries
Generally

focuses on classroom experiences,

perceptions about student reactions and learning,
instructional decision making, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKvn0TY4_lA

(tally sheet)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnw3l21pWIc

feedback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRMTSlS4gFs

(feedback)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue4-8y2MfQw

(sample class-grammar)