Narrative Study in Chapter 5

The way of researching of the sample narrative study was quite familiar to me, but the method was too simple. The author just observed and interviewed the informant without any sort of prescription. What I expected on narrative study, although it's about a person's experience, is that there might be certain action by researcher based on the participant's situation, so the individual's reaction could be observed. However, in this study, researcher presented on the continuum of the individual's life and just observed, then interpreted.

Therefore, the focus of narrative study is a single individual, and evoking the presence of the author in the study, interpreting what the author observed.

Shouldn't there be any intervention by the researcher to see the reaction?

pop up ideas from Lit review

1. need validate evaluation methods
2. using "monopoly"
3. developing routine activity for 4 skills (e.g. show&tell / retelling the story at the end of each chapter for speaking, blogging, e-maililing or journal s for writing, shared reading or extensive reading for reading, song, solving question or dictation for listening)
4. for selecting textbook or materials: survay Ss' preference for the title / topics

Chapter 3. gave me a bit of freedom

Chapter 3 is informing about gerneral formation of qualitative research.
The main questions are key characteristics, reasons for qualitative researchs, requirements, how to design and what to be addressed in proposal.

1. the chracteristics for my project: researcher as key instrument, multiple sources of data, inductive data analysis, participants' meanings, emergent design, and holistic account.

2. when to use qualitative research: just like I'm considering, when a problem or issue needs to be explored.

3. the process: start an issue or problem - examine the literature - pose questions, gather data, analyze them, and write up their reports. ; but no standard or accepted structure
- topic : about emotion laden, close to people, and practical
- questions change
- vary data collection
- examine the data inductively
- involve participants in the study
- review how participants profit.

Key message: Begin not with the methods -- but instead with the broad assumptions central to qualitative inquiry, a worldview consistent with it, and in many cases, a theoretical lens that shapes the study.

: Start with a single focus.

4. Data collection and analysis:
- rigorous data collection (committable and accurate at the same time)
- analyze data using multiple level of abstraction (including unusual angle or unexpected perspective)
- engage the reader
- reflect the history, culture, and personal experiences fo the researcher (think about the case "전영주's grammar teaching in English - she was talking about what she did and interpreted.")

5. proposal: take references of 4 examples.


The shift I could make at this moment:

First, I must go back to the first doorstep of considering value for a litter more while to understand clearly the core concept of my project. It says, "begin with a single focus" and "incorporate the comparison or relating factors."

Second, no more wasting time on methodology, but rather spending more time on assumption, worldviews and try to elilicit the core concept I'm willing to study.

Third, not necessarily set a range of questions, methods, procedure. They could change or shift during the porcess. Just committ to extensive time to conduct tasks, collect and analyse data.

Rearranging my thooughts

Things to do
-Setting moodle or other online space
-reorganizing curriculum
-determining experimental class

Talks with advisor
-think about validity: describe what I've been doing including advise
-list key items of the research
-list problems
-take note every detail in the process
-focus on the procedures rather than data analysis
-even though there's no valuable results to generalize, it doesn't matter. this happens just in my case

There's big shift from what I've been thinking, planning and doing.

Let's start from scratch... from the readings and find out important problems and consideration from prior researches...

For now...

I surveyed my students about CLIL (becoming to SEIL: Science and English Integrated Learning).

Unexpectedly, many students, I mean, more than my assumption, didn't want clil education.
Four classes out of five agreed to SEIL by over 50 percent. However, I should consider the other percent, too.
If I should choose one class for the case, I could choose class 5, which agreed to SEIL by 63%, though. In addition, the main reason the "No" people wrote was potential difficulty.

The next step is now for me!! I should elicit science contents from the curriculum which could easily match with English curriculum. And I also should take a look and experience SEIL prior to my students.
Fortunately, my co-teacher, native speaker will help me learn and check the science contents.

Am I going well? Am I missing anything? Is there any problem? Is it allowed? haha... SIGH...

Chapter 4. Five approach

I'm just jotting down scrambled stuff in my head.

Five appoaches, narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study, are indeed qualitative as they are. While reading this chapter, I realized what Eric mentioned the first week, qualitative are more about the value rather than efficiency or efficacy.
I don't like being told "as a pubic school teacher", but yes, I should think if the research were efficient or at least working for students!!! So basically I can't help considering about efficacy.
Is it now more on quantitative side?

The more I understand the feature of qualitative approaches, the more I start confusing of my research direction. Pieces of plan in my head are mostly about setting, method, expectation, assumption and so forth. And now I'm looking back of my philosophical framework based on the plan.
What do I want to do this for?
What am I expecting from my research?
What could be valuable for students?
Would it even be valuable?

Talking about the five apporach again, I know I should take case study.
But thinking about why, the purpose of my research, I might have to change or reconsider my research framework including the title.... main question.

It gave me a lot of wonders... and ended up with a bunch of questions for myself... ㅜ.ㅜ

Philosophical framework for my project

Mostly my philosophical framework is on Methodological, which is focused on strategies, settings, results, and so forth. Depending on what to teach, the research result might be determinded very differently. So basically I'm in the process to elicit core contents appropriate to teach in English, which are mainly about important concepts or terms in Science. And also try to rearrange school curriculum according to them.
However, the more I'm digging in, the less I'm confident on my work. Am I going toward right direction? Am I missing some important procedure? Is my decision appropriate? These range of questions and wonder are coming up!!! SCARY~~

In my vague situation...

I thought I should have to understand how qualitative research method works. And I've got a few useful informations even in Korean, which helped me get a big picture of it quickly.
Actually, this course and time is not only for getting to know about research method but thesis design in real. Throughout a range of materials and articles are scrambled in my head, and I need to make things clear and neat... Reading the course book..

CLIL

What an interesting concept, although it's hard to get!
You are the first place I have to get to. Just wait!