Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics
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Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics A Practical Introduction Edited by
Juanita Heigham Sugiyama Jogakuen University
and
Robert A. Croker Nanzan University
Selection and editorial matter © Juanita Heigham and Robert A. Croker 2009 Chapters © their authors 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-21952-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN : 978–0–230–21953–3 paperback ISBN 978-0-230-21953-3 ISBN 978-0-230-23951-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230239517 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
Contents List of Tables
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List of Figures
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Acknowledgments
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Preface
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Notes on Contributors
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Overview
1 An Introduction to Qualitative Research Robert A. Croker 2
What Makes Research ‘Qualitative’? Donald Freeman
3 25
Part II Qualitative Research Approaches 3 Narrative Inquiry Garold Murray
45
4 Case Study Michael Hood
66
5 Ethnography Juanita Heigham and Keiko Sakui
91
6 Action Research Anne Burns
112
7 Mixed Methods Nataliya V. Ivankova and John W. Creswell
135
Part III Qualitative Data Collection Methods 8
Observation Neil Cowie
165
9
Interviews Keith Richards
182
Open-Response Items in Questionnaires James Dean Brown
200
10
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Contents
11 Introspective Techniques Sandra Lee McKay
220
12
242
Discourse Analysis Anne Lazaraton Part IV Practical Issues
13
Ethics and Trustworthiness Sharon F. Rallis and Gretchen B. Rossman
263
14
Writing Up Your Research Christine Pearson Casanave
288
Glossary of Qualitative Research Terms
306
Subject Index
325
Tables 1.1 2.1 3.1 6.1 6.2 6.3 8.1 11.1 11.2
The main characteristics of five qualitative research approaches 16 Choosing between data collection methods: a small example 32 From text to themes 55 Observational and nonobservational methods for action research 117 Using journals for action research 119 Presenting your action research 126 Key dimensions of observation 172 Main procedures to conduct verbal reports 225 Common problems with verbal report procedures 227
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Figures 1.1 2.1 2.2 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5
Qualitative data collection methods The research cycle Disciplines of the research process Explanatory Design procedures in Saito and Ebsworth’s (2004) study Exploratory Design procedures in Daud’s (1995) study Triangulation Design procedures in Lopez and Tashakkori’s (2006) study Embedded Design procedures in Andrews’s (2006) study Visual diagram of Explanatory Design procedures in Jie and Xiaoqing’s (2006) study
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19 29 35 140 141 143 144 151
Acknowledgments We would like to begin these acknowledgments by saying thank you to Sara Cotterall for the push that night in Kyoto to act on the idea of this book. It has taken a while, but with the help of many, we finally did it! We would also like to thank: ●
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our contributors for their patience and perseverance as this project grew and changed our colleagues who gave us time, space, and help to get this done our families and friends who cheered us on from the side lines our publishers at Palgrave who gently helped us through the rough spots Ueda-san for her delicious food and U2 for his quixotic company Shannon Kiyokawa for listening and listening and listening Anne Burns, Christine Pearson Casanave, and Keith Richards for helping us again and again with good advice and humor and the outside readers who gave so generously of their time and insight – thank you one and all!
Umidahon Ashurova David Barker Michael Carroll Christine Pearson Casanave Steve Cornwell Heidi Evans Greg Hadley Louise Haynes Paul Hays Harumi Kimura David Kluge Yukihiro Kunisada Alan Mackenzie Fumiko Murase Mike Nix Midori Shikano Kazuyoshi Sato Mathew White Thanks are also due to the group who assisted us in a myriad of different ways: Jane Koerner, Dexter Da Silva, Damian Fitzpatrick, Carol Grbich, Joy Higgs, Tim Murphey, Michael Patton, Ronald Schaefer, and Connie Vivrett. ix
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Acknowledgments
We and Palgrave Macmillan wish to thank Sage Publications for their permission to adapt Rossman, G. B., & Rallis, S. F. (2003). Learning in the field (2nd ed., pp. 61–88). We also owe a debt to qualitative researchers who have gone before us, taught us much, and cleared the path for all to follow. And finally, we say thank you to Yuki. We are humbled by your patience and tireless support. Plain and simple, without your help this book could not have come into being.
Preface Research is a quest, an attempt to better understand the complex worlds we live in. It is an endeavor that can have the highest possible purpose – to help others. In applied linguistics, this means helping language learners, teachers, researchers, materials writers, and program administrators gain a deeper understanding of the multifarious worlds of learning and teaching languages. Qualitative research has evolved over the past three decades into a broad body of knowledge. Within its domain is a wide range of approaches and methods that reflect not only the multiplicity of its root disciplines but also the diversity of contexts and purposes to which it is applied. You, like most people approaching qualitative research for the first time, may find this breadth overwhelming. We know this well because we have experienced it ourselves. As a result of that experience, we decided to create a practical book that might help reduce the anxiety novice researchers often feel as they begin their qualitative research journey. Qualitative research is not just a body of knowledge, it is also a craft (Richards, 2003). It demands concentrated engagement with the participants in your study, and that engagement calls for an array of research skills. These skills are not necessarily difficult, but understanding, practice, reflection – and thoughtfulness – are required to develop them fully. This book is designed to help you build your qualitative research knowledge and skills. Each main research approach and methods chapter opens with an illustrative example to give you a snapshot of its entire research cycle. That example is then woven throughout the chapter to show you how each element of the research process is realized in a qualitative research study in applied linguistics. Pre-reading and post-reading questions ensure that you have grasped the main concepts in each chapter, and tasks give you a chance to work with and reflect on your new knowledge. The chapters are written in a conversational tone to help you engage with the ideas offered within them, and accessible additional readings are suggested to encourage you to take your qualitative research journey further. Doing qualitative research can be extremely fulfilling and has the capacity to transform not only your understanding of what you are studying but potentially, and more profoundly, of who you are in this world. So whether you are a graduate student being introduced to research approaches and methods in preparation for writing your
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thesis, or a practicing teacher whose curiosity has been ignited and who has decided to find out what qualitative research is all about, this book is written for you. May it give you the confidence you need to begin your quest. ROBERT A. CROKER JUANITA HEIGHAM
Contributors James Dean (‘JD’) Brown is Professor of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. He has spoken and taught in places ranging from Brazil to Venezuela. He has published numerous articles on language testing, curriculum design, research methods and connected speech, as well as a number of books on reading statistical language studies, language curriculum, language testing, testing pragmatics, performance testing, criterion-referenced language testing, using surveys in language programs, doing applied linguistics research and connected speech, as well as various edited collections and translations of his books. Anne Burns is a Chair Professor in the Department of Linguistics and the former Dean of Linguistics and Psychology at Macquarie University, Sydney. She has worked with many language teachers interested in action research in Australia, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, and the UK and has published extensively on this topic. She is the author of Collaborative action research for English language teachers (CUP, 1999) and is currently preparing an introductory book on action research for Routledge. Her latest co- edited book (with Jill Burton) is Language teacher research in Australia and New Zealand (TESOL, 2008). A co-edited book (with Jack Richards) The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education will be published in early 2009. Christine Pearson Casanave was an ESL teacher for many years. Then, after finishing her doctoral work, she went to Japan and became an EFL teacher. More recently, she has been advising students on qualitative dissertation projects at Temple University’s Graduate Collage of Education in Japan and reviewing manuscripts for various journals. She never expected to maintain such an active interest in her speciality of first and second language writing for her whole career, but this is in fact what happened. The act of putting ideas into lines of words seems to her to be nothing short of a miracle. Neil Cowie has been an English teacher in the Foreign Language Education Center of Okayama University in Japan since 2004. Prior to that he taught in various universities, language schools and businesses in Japan and the UK. His research interests include collaborative teacher development, student resistance, and exploring the connections between emotion and language learning and teaching. His favorite form of observation is to look at the sports field from his office window. xiii
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John W. Creswell is a Professor of Educational Psychology, co-directs the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research, and is the Co-Founding Editor of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research at the University of NebraskaLincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. He specializes in mixed methods research, qualitative research, and research designs. He has authored several research methods books for Sage Publication and Merrill Education that are used throughout the world and are translated into many languages. In addition, he serves as an international consultant on mixed methods research and has worked extensively in the health services research area. Recently he was appointed to be a Senior Fulbright Scholar to South Africa. Robert A. Croker is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Policy Studies, Nanzan University, in Nagoya, Japan, and teaches qualitative research methods in the Graduate School of Linguistics. He is also the Coordinator of the World Plaza, a resource-light, interactive-oriented self-access center that is a fascinating prism of language culture. His research interests include qualitative research methodology, learner development through learner autonomy, and teacher development through peer observation. Donald Freeman is Director of Teacher Education and Associate Professor of Education at the School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. His research interests focus on teacher learning, in the contexts of organizational and systemic reform, and its influence on student learning. His books include Doing Teacher-Research: From Inquiry to Understanding (Heinle-Thomson, 1998) and Teacher Learning in Language Teaching (co-edited with Jack C. Richards; Cambridge University Press, 1996); he was also series editor of the TeacherSource professional development series published by Heinle-Thomson. He presently serves on the Editorial Board of the Modern Language Journal. Juanita Heigham is Associate Professor and the Director of the Communicative English Program within the School of Cross-Cultural Studies at Sugiyama Jogakuen University in Nagoya, Japan. She also oversees the university’s self-access center. Her interest in participating in the creation of this practical book stems from a desire to demystify the research process for novice researchers so that more people are empowered to search and discover. Her research interests include teacher education, learner autonomy and curriculum design. Michael Hood is an Assistant Professor at Nihon University, College of Commerce, in Tokyo. He has taught literature and writing at universities in both Japan and the US for over ten years. He served for four years as Editor of OnCUE Journal, a publication for college and university educators in Japan. He has also written textbooks on EFL writing, reading and presentation skills as well as several articles on the Irish writer James Joyce. He is currently conducting qualitative case studies of Japanese learners in
Contributors
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American universities. His research interests include modern literature, second language writing, academic literacy, and motivation. Nataliya V. Ivankova is Associate Professor in the Department of Human Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Previously, she worked as Research Associate and Projects Coordinator in the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During the first 20 years of her professional career she taught ESL and contrastive linguistics at the Izmail State Pedagogical Institute in Ukraine. Her expertise is in research design, qualitative inquiry and mixed methods research and their applications in social and health sciences. She also develops and teaches online applied courses in research design and methodology, including mixed methods research. Anne Lazaraton is an Associate Professor of English as a Second Language at the University of Minnesota, USA, where she teaches courses in ESL Methods, Language Analysis, Language Assessment, and Discourse Analysis. She also supervises the required graduate-level ESL practicum course. She has published in TESOL Quarterly, Modern Language Journal, Language Learning, and Language Testing, and is the author of A Qualitative Approach to the Validation of Oral Language Tests (Cambridge University Press, 2002). Her research interests include oral assessment, language use in political blogs and the classroom discourse of pre-service language teachers. Sandra Lee McKay is Professor of English at San Francisco State University where she teaches courses in sociolinguistics and research methodology, as well as methods and materials for graduate students in TESOL. Her books include Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches (2002, Oxford University Press) and Researching Second Language Classrooms (2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates). Her interest in introspective techniques developed from her work with the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute for Education, Singapore, where she served as an External Collaborator for a Research Grant (2001–2004) on the topic of English Language Use and Learning in Singapore. The study she conducted there, cited in her chapter, depended heavily on the use of verbal reports. Garold Murray teaches English at Okayama University in Japan. His research employs narrative inquiry to explore learner autonomy in language learning in classroom, out-of-class, and self-access learning contexts. Dr. Murray is also interested in the development of self-access centers and programs. He has recently developed two self-access centes in Japan, one of which is open to the general public. Sharon F. Rallis is the Allen Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Reform at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she teaches
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inquiry, program evaluation, qualitative methods, and organizational theory. A past president of the American Evaluation Association, Rallis has co-authored nine books, including Learning in the field (2nd ed., 2003), with Gretchen B. Rossman, and Principals of Dynamic Schools: Taking Charge of Change (2nd ed., 2000), with Ellen B. Goldring. She has published more than 30 edited volumes, journal articles, and book chapters on methodological issues in evaluation, qualitative research, ethical research practice, and educational reform efforts. She is currently program co-chair for the qualitative research section of AERA’s Division on Methodology. Keith Richards is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, UK, where he is Director of Graduate Studies and teachers on the Spoken English and Applied Linguistics courses on the M.A. program. He has worked in a number of countries in Europe and the Middle East and has been involved in teacher development around the world. His main research interests lie in the area of professional interaction and his recent publications include Qualitative inquiry in TESOL (2003), Applying conversation analysis (2007, edited with Paul Seedhouse), and Language and professional identity (2009). Gretchen B. Rossman is a Professor of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with expertise in qualitative research methodology and mixed methods monitoring and evaluation. She has co-authored nine books, two of which are major qualitative research texts (Learning in the field, (2nd ed., 2003), with Sharon F. Rallis, and Designing qualitative research, (4th ed., 2006, with Catherine Marshall). She has also published over 20 articles and book chapters focused on methodological issues in qualitative research, mixed methods evaluation, ethical research practice, and the evaluation of educational reform efforts both domestically and internationally. She is currently serving as program chair for the qualitative research section of AERA’s Division on Methodology. Keiko Sakui is Associate Professor at Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan. She teaches EFL classes as well as teacher education courses, and is Director of the Foreign Language Education Center in which a lot of her time is consumed doing administrative work. She enjoys and perseveres with these different roles, adopting an ethnographer’s eyes. She has several publications in journals such as System, ELT Journal, and JALT Journal. Her most recent publication is on student resistance in Japanese universities in Narratives of learning and teaching EFL (2008), published by Palgrave Macmillan. Her research interests are teacher and learner beliefs, classroom management, and critical pedagogy.
