Conducting reflexive ethnography on three novice English teachers in Japan: its impact on the researcher and the researched James M Hall June 13, 2014 Doing research in Applied Linguistics Conference King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand 1 References are in the proceedings! There are three accompanying handouts: -Critical Incident 1 -Critical Incident 2 -Critical Incident 3

Conducting reflexive ethnography on three novice English teachers in Japan: its impact on the researcher and the researched Organization of this Presentation 1.My Background and Today’s Purpose 2.Research Design – Framework of inquiry: linguistic ethnography – Focus of investigation: The participants, their development, mediating context 3.Methods of Data Collection and Analysis – Critical Incidents – Accumulated Data – Strategies for Analysis 4.Issues in Collaboratively Collecting and Interpreting Critical Incidents 5.Impacts on Researcher and Researched 2

Researcher Background and Today’s Purpose Who am I? James Hall: US born and raised English teacher educator living in Japan The research I am conducting is… 18 month study: describing the dilemmas junior high school teachers face in encouraging student learning and how they identify and resolve these dilemmas. Today I will discuss 1.Issues I have in – research strategy (Linguistic ethnography) – methods of data collection and analysis – Interpretation 2.The impact this study has had on the researcher and researched Today’s purpose To discuss my research with peers and get feedback to improve this study 3

2. Research Design Framework of inquiry: Linguistic Ethnography Ethnography Linguistics Insider perspective Reflexivity Analytic Resources -Discourse analysis -Conversation analysis Other Academic Disciplines Sociocultural theory Linguistics serves to tie ethnography down and ethnography to open linguistics up. (Rampton et al., 2004) Eclectic: Linguistics, ethnography, other areas of inquiry 4

2. Research Design: Participants TeacherEducationExperiencesEducational Goals Risa Bachelors in English Literature One month abroad Ｆｏｕｒ -week teaching practicum Students understand interest and value of communicating in English Maiko Bachelors, English Education Study abroad, TESL Professional experience working abroad Part-time JHS and HS teaching experience To be able to speak English and to work in an international society. Yuta 2013 Masters in English Education (Vocabulary Acquisition) 2011, Bachelors in English (Education) Two-week teaching practicum No experience abroad Not disclosed + retired from teaching James Masters, International Education Research student, Japan PHD candidate, applied linguistics 15 Years if Japan: JHS Assistant Language Teacher, Student, HS Instructor, University Lecturer in English Education Teach student teachers how to conduct “balanced” English classes. 5

2. Research Design: Focus of Investigation: The Teachers, Their Development, and Mediating Context Survival & Discovery Reflective practice CLT, character development Social interaction Problem identification → generating solutions → testing solutions Learning to work with novice teachers Novice Teachers Teacher of Teachers Outcome Active listening Dialogic discussion Physical vs. Symbolic Teacher Development TOT Development (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006) 6

3. Methods of Data Collection and Analysis: Critical Incidents (Tripp, 1993) Critical Incidents In TEFL “An unplanned and unanticipated event that occurs during a lesson and that serves to trigger insights about some aspect of teaching and learning” (Richards & Farrell, 2005) In this study: An event or accumulation of events identified by the teacher or TOT that sparked in the teacher a quandary about how to proceed in facilitating student learning. Critical Incidents What artifacts, concepts, activities mediate how teachers handle these dilemmas? 7

3. Methods of Data Collection and Analysis: Accumulated Data TeacherClasses viewed AudioVideo Only Field Notes Transcriptions + Field Notes Maiko94327 Risa95227 Yuta84044 Classes viewed between October, 2013 and May, 2014 TeacherInterviews AudioTranscriptionsNotes Maiko888 Risa888 Yuta7552 Interviews Conducted Between October, 2013 and May,

3. Methods of Data Collection and Analysis: Identify and Analyze Critical Incidents 1.Identify critical incidents – Anything unanticipated that occurred in the class – Identified by teacher or researcher (Angelides, 2001) 2.Probe critical incidents with teacher (in interview) – cause, significance, resolution 3.Interpret an accumulation of critical incidents (What are the major dilemmas the teachers faced, how did they resolve them, and how did they change?) 9

4. Issues in Collaboratively Collecting and Interpreting Critical Incidents Critical Incident 1: Summer or winter? Critical Incident 1 Critical Incident 2: Are you a Giants fan? Critical Incident 2 Critical Incident 3: Writing a Diary Critical Incident 3 10

4. Issues in Collaboratively Conducting this Linguistic Ethnography using CIs 1.Three ways to discuss Critical Incidents with teachers – The researcher brings up a critical incident in an interview after class (CI 1) – The researcher elicits CIs in the interview after class (CI 2) – The researcher writes up CIs and discusses them with the teacher (CI 3) 2.The CIs shown here demonstrate how teachers’ interaction with students, understanding of materials, influence their problem solving. 3.CIs provide a focus for the interviews. 4.Dilemmas that teachers face often originate outside of the classroom, can these dilemmas be revealed through CIs? 11

5. Impact on the Researcher and Researched From interviews: the Researcher has been impacted Decision made while writing this paper: get the participants more involved (Davies, 2008) – Better data – Benefit the participants 12

References Please see the proceedings. 13