chapter iv methodology
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CHAPTER IV
METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes in detail all the steps to carry out this research
study. To do so, the researchers are going to make use of a variety of research
techniques and tools in order to prove the certainty of the hypothesis. Thus, this
chapter describes the whole procedure to be conducted in the research study.
4.1. Paradigm and type of study
To carry out the research project “Factors that Affect the Majority of
Advanced English Students when Organizing their Ideas and Using
Grammatical Structures Accurately in the Spoken and Written Form in the
Semester I-2014 at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El
Salvador,” the researchers will make use of the quantitative paradigm to collect
the most suitable data. By using this paradigm, the researchers will be able to
find out the factors that limit the proper development of the productive skills of
the students of Intensive Advanced English II.
The researchers will carry out an explanatory study which consists on
testing and measuring the factors stated in the hypothesis that make Intensive
Advanced English II students hinder their development of their oral
communication and writing skills and the research team will analyze the causes
that such factors provoke on the students` development.
To prove the factors, the researchers will make use of different
techniques and tools during two months (starting in March and finishing in April,
2014) at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El Salvador.
During these two months, the research team will conduct several observations
while students are in their classes; some questionnaires will be administered to
the same population. With the collected data, the researchers will deeply
analyze both the factors and the causes that are affecting the students of
Intensive Advanced English at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus of the
University of El Salvador, semester I, 2014.
4.2. Sampling Procedure
The target population to be studied in this research is the students of the
two groups of Advanced English II of Licenciatura en Idioma Inglés Opción
Enseñanza at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus. The total population of the
Advanced English II groups is 72 students, 33 students from the morning group
and 39 students from the afternoon group. As it is a small population, all its
members will be taken into account.
That is why, a sample procedure is not needed in this study because
every student taking Advanced English II at the Western Multidisciplinary
Campus in semester I-2014 is the subject of the study.
4.3. Preliminary phase
The preliminary phase includes complete information describing the main
reasons why the researchers decided to select the topic of the research project.
In addition, the preliminary phase includes a complete description of how the
researchers will approach the field of study, the diagnostic study based on the
observation made, and finally, the preliminary phase includes the definition of
the problem.
4.3.1 Approaching the field of study
In late October 2013, the research team observed that some students of
Intensive Advanced English I showed some difficulties in their productive skills
(speaking and writing). When developing a speaking activity, the researchers
could observe that the majority of students have problems with the grammatical
structures that have been practiced since Intensive Basic English. Based on
some homework assignments provided by an English teacher of the Language
Department, the researchers noticed that Intensive Advanced English I students
made mixed constructions of basic grammar structures.
This observation led the researchers to the decision of administering a
questionnaire (Appendixes A and B) to some members of the population to be
studied and to the four teachers of the Intensive Advanced English I subject in
charge of the two afternoon groups to discover which factors affect students’
development in their writing and speaking skills.
With the information gathered through the survey, the researchers
noticed that students’ English problems in regard to their writing and speaking
skills rely on classroom atmosphere, teaching techniques, and study habits that
students have in order to develop these skills inside and outside the classroom.
4.3.2. Diagnostic study
To define the scope of the problem and to know how long the problem
had existed at the Foreign Language Department at the Western
Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El Salvador in Intensive Advanced
English I students, a preliminary diagnosis questionnaire (Appendix A) was
designed by the researchers and validated by experts in research. The
researchers administered a questionnaire to 10 students per each group from
the two afternoon groups of Intensive Advanced English I.
4.3.3. Definition of the Problem
The results of the preliminary diagnosis were helpful in order to find the
factors that cause students of Intensive Advanced English I at the Western
Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El Salvador to have problems in
their development of the writing and speaking skills. It also helped the
researchers to create the necessary tools that can be implemented to help
students improve these deficiencies that they showed in their productive skills.
The diagnosis showed that students did not practice outside the
classroom because they did not follow a schedule. For instance, they prefered
to do another activity in their free time such as chat on social networks and
spent time with their friends instead of practicing their English. Also, students
felt that the activities were not enough to improve their productive skills. They
stated that they did not have too much time to practice in the classroom; for
example, when they developed a role- play activity, just a few pairs of students
had the opportunity to develop it in front of the class; that`s why, they did not
have the opportunity to be assessed by the teacher, so these factors were
taken as the starting point to define the problem, its scope, and its objectives.
4.4. Planning Phase
After the researchers had already identified, described, and justified the
problem, they started the planning phase by looking for data related to the topic
to be investigated to build the theoretical framework. In this case, the
researchers made use of different sources to get reliable and important data
that already existed about the speaking and writing skill problems that students
faced when learning English as a foreign language. To make sure that the
information found in the sources consulted was reliable to build a truthful
theoretical framework, each researcher examined the theory carefully to check
if the information collected was related to the problem that will be investigated.
This information will be taken into account to build the operationalization of
variables and to create the instruments that will help to measure the level of the
speaking and writing skills that students of Intensive Advanced English II at the
Western Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El Salvador have and
also to find out if the hypothesis stated at the beginning of the project is true or
false.
4.4.1. Literature Review
To build the theoretical framework, the researchers looked for some
primary sources such as books related to learning English as a Second
Language, teaching and assessing writing and speaking skills, thesis, and
dictionaries. The main book researchers consulted was “The Practice of English
Language Teaching” written by Jeremy Harmer. Besides, they looked for
suitable information on search engines on the Internet, mainly from
organizations, universities, or governmental articles.
First, the theoretical framework contains a brief concept of language.
Since this study is based on English as a Foreign Language, the researchers
included a definition of it. Then, the researchers focused on the main objective
of the study which is the productive skills (speaking and writing). Each
productive skill was described and also the factors that affect students
development in their productive skills.
All the aspects before mentioned were searched in a detailed way so that
the theoretical framework describes data strongly related to the topic that is
being investigated. The different factors that affect students` development of
their productive skills were also included in the operationalization of the
variables of the hypothesis.
4.4.2. Operationalization of Variables
First of all, the variables were meticulously selected and verified so that
they can be measured and observed. To do this, they were deeply selected to
be manipulated and make sure they were elemental to carry out this study. To
assure the variables were correctly defined, the researchers compared with
some examples provided in class by the teacher in charge of the Research
Methods class. Moreover, the independent and the dependent variables were
determined based on the theoretical framework. In this work, the variables were
operationalized taking into account the indicators observed by the research
team. Moreover, each variable was defined using reliable concepts that are
meaningful to the development of the investigation.
4.4.3. Data Collection Instruments
To conduct the process of data collection for the variables taken into
account in this project, the researchers will follow the procedure below:
The instruments for data gathering have already been designed. The
researchers have taken into account four necessary instruments to study the
indicators presented in the operationalization of the variables. The instruments
to be used are questionnaires, interviews, observation guides, and checklists.
These tools will also be used during semester I, 2014 to study the phenomenon
more deeply.
Questionnaires
First, two questionnaires were used as part of the preliminary study in
order to find the basis of the research and to measure the dimension of the
problem. These two questionnaires were validated first by the teacher in charge
of the research methods subject; then, they were checked and commented by
an expert in the field the researchers are studying (Appendix A and B).
On the other hand, two questionnaires will be used to study how deeply
the variable classroom atmosphere (Appendix C) and how the variable
students` feelings (Appendix K) affects Intensive Advanced English II students
of semester I, 2014 at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus.
Unstructured Interview Guide
The second tool the researchers will use to study how the classroom
atmosphere affects in the development of the productive skill in Intensive
Advanced English II of semester I, 2014 at the Western Multidisciplinary
Campus of the University of El Salvador will be an unstructured interview guide
(Appendix D).
Interviews
The third tool applied during the development of this research to study
the variable study habits in Intensive Advanced English II at the Western
Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El Salvador will be the interview
guide (Appendix J).
Observation Guides
The first observation guide the researchers will use to study the variable
teaching techniques that Intensive Advanced English II students (WMC) at the
University of El Salvador are exposed to during their classes will be an
observation guide (Appendix E).
The second observation guide will be addressed to students of Intensive
Advanced English to study the variable students’ vocabulary when developing
written activities (Appendix G).
The third observation guide the researchers designed to study the
variable students` vocabulary when developing speaking activities of Intensive
Advanced English II students (Appendix H).
Also, an observation guide will be administered to measure the variable
regarding the variable students` attitudes of Intensive Advanced English II
students (Appendix L).
Checklist
The last tool to be used in this research project to study the variable
teachers´ teaching techniques students of Intensive Advanced English II are
exposed to during classes of the semester I-2014 (Appendix F). The
researchers will also use a checklist to study the variable of students`
vocabulary (Appendix
4.4.4. Validation of Data Collection Instruments
After designing the research tools based on the indicators expressed in
the operationalization of variables of the hypothesis, the researchers will pre-
test each tool to make sure that each of them is suitable and understandable for
the population to be studied and in order to assure the tools bring the expected
information to the investigators.
To validate each tool, the researchers will attach an expert validation
sheet (Appendix M). That Expert Validation Sheet will have five sections which
contain different items ranking from “Poor to Excellent.” After that, the
investigators will present all the tools to an expert of the Foreign Language
Department at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El
Salvador, master in Research Methods and in the educational field. All the
suggestions and commentaries provided by this expert will be of great
importance to improve the deficiencies shown in the research instruments.
Finally, when the research instruments are improved, the researchers will select
a sample of 10 students who are not part of the population to be studied to
conduct a pilot test. Then, after validating the research instruments by the
expert and the sample of students, the tools will be ready to be administered to
the whole population since it means that each research tool is clear and
understandable.
4.4.5. Validity and Reliability
To make the instruments valid, the researchers will formulate them based
on three main validity criteria: “construct validity,” “face validity,” and “content
validity’ assuring that the instruments are elaborated taking into account the
operationalization of variables. Furthermore, the investigators will design the
instruments in a very detailed and careful manner to make sure that they did not
skip any important detail.
In order to get reliable findings, the researchers will build a positive
atmosphere and good rapport with the students so that they are willing and
comfortable at the moment of being addressed; this will help the researchers
gather the necessary data for the study and will also help the interviewee to
provide the researchers with the information they are expecting to receive. The
investigators will also make sure that the conditions are suitable not only for just
one person but for the whole population that is taking part of the study; that is
why, the interviews will be conduct in a week; they will last two class-hour every
day, so the researchers will carry them out at the same time and under the
same conditions.
Moreover, the researchers will decide to use just the appropriate
instruments to get reliable and truthful information. Each tool will be checked by
an expert in order to avoid missing data that could generate any inconsistency
when analyzing the collected data.
4.4.6. Ethical Aspects
The researchers’ goal in carrying out this study is to identify the factors
that affect students’ development of their productive skills: speaking and writing,
for it is of great importance to respect the basic ethic principles of a research
project, so the researchers have agreed on undertaking the responsibility of
respecting the confidentiality and integrity of all the members of the population
being studied, so they will keep participants’ personal information anonymous
and will not reveal information that the participants do not want to be revealed.
They will also respect the participants’ free willingness to make choices at any
time of the process even if they do not agree with any of the steps of the study,
which include the chance to quit the study at any time if they consider it
necessary. Moreover, the researchers will respect the “non-maleficence norm”
so that nobody’s identity will be damaged during the process.
4.5. Execution Phase
In order to continue with the research study, the execution phase
contains the data collection procedure and a thorough description of the
research problem. Because this study will be carry out by making use of the
quantitative paradigm, all data will be processed and analyzed after having
collected and put together the two last parts of this phase, which are data
processing and data interpretation and analysis.
4.5.1. Data Collection Procedure
After validating the tools, the researchers will administer them to the
whole population of 72 students of Advanced English II of the Licenciatura
Idioma Ingles Opción Enseñanza at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus of
the University of El Salvador, semester I, 2014. Before administering them to
the students, the researchers will write a letter addressed to the teachers in
charge of the Advanced English II groups in order to get permission to go to
some of their classes and allow them some time to talk to the students. The
purpose of this visit will be to make the students be aware of the importance of
accurately developing their productive skills: speaking and writing. Moreover,
the researchers will let the students know that their desire is not only to carry
out the research project but also to help them to improve their productive skills.
4.5.2. Data Processing
To process, classify and organize the data, the researchers will use the
SPSS Software and Microsoft Excel 2010. By using these programs, the
researchers will generate different frequency tables and graphs to analyze and
interpret the results. The tools that will be created to collect data are
observation guides, questionnaires, an unstructured interview guide, checklists,
and interview guides. The observation guide is aimed at collecting data to
measure if the factors that affect students’ development in the classroom are
classroom atmosphere, teaching techniques, and study habits in the
development of Intensive Advanced English II students. To process the data
obtained through the tools, the researchers will use a nominal scale. This
consists of tabulating the number of answers of each question so that it can be
graphed later. To graph these results, a histogram will be used.
4.5.3. Data Interpretation and Analysis
The collected data will be classified, interpreted, and analyzed by the
researchers to make sure the results obtained through the observation guides,
the questionnaires, the checklists, the unstructured interview guide, and the
interview guides are reliable. The place where the data will be collected is the
University of El Salvador at the Western Multidisciplinary Campus during
semester I, 2014. The researchers will interpret and analyze all the data
collected with the help of the tables and graphs created during the data
processing since these tables and graphs show clear and real information of the
problem investigated. The analysis of the information collected will be made by
describing in a detailed way the different results obtained from each of the
questions of the research tools carried out by the researchers.
Then, the researchers will compare and contrast the analysis made from
the questionnaires with the information gathered from the observations made to
compare to what extent the data collected in the observation by the researchers
agrees or disagrees with the data collected in the questionnaires. This
comparison and contrast will help researchers move towards the final
conclusions and recommendations addressed to the readers, teachers, and
students.
Next, the researchers will analyze the information gotten from the
unstructured interview guide and interview guides. In this step, the researchers
will read the comments, listen to the recorded interviews, and transcribe them to
identify the different problems the students of Intensive Advanced English II at
the Western Multidisciplinary Campus of the University of El Salvador, semester
I, 2014, have, especially in their speaking and writing skills. The researchers will
analyze how able the population is to transmit a clear message in the speaking
and written form. In addition, in the analysis of the interviews, the researchers
will find out and state the different problems that the population has in the
production of their speaking and writing skills.
Finally, the information gathered through the interview will be analyzed
by a cause and effect relationship of the results that the histogram represents
as it will be the one that will show in which of the two productive skills students
of Intensive Advanced English II at the University of El Salvador, Western
Multidisciplinary Campus have more problems. Later, this information will be
analyzed by making a comparison and contrast between the different factors
that affect students` development in class. This will demonstrate which of the
factors affect more students` development. Besides, the researchers will
analyze the different information provided from the four different teachers in
charge of the two groups of Intensive Advanced English II so that the
researchers will know the percentage of students that are having problems in
the different productive skills (speaking and writing), which the speaking and
writing activities they as teachers develop more frequently in their classes are,
and which some possible reasons of students’ poor practice of the production of
the speaking and writing skills are.
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