DISCUSSION MATERIAL FOR PBI 1 & 2

Classroom observation and research

Clssroom observation is a quantutative method of measuring classroom behaviors from direct observations that specifies both the events or behaviors that are to be observerd and how they are to be recorded. As langauge classrooms are specifically constituted to bring about learning it is not unreasonable to collect data about what goes on there a means of adding to our knowledge of language learning and use.

Methods of classroom observation and research

A range of methods before focusing some detail on the use of observation instruments. That is a formal experiment, stimulated recall, observation scheme and interaction analysis.

The formal experiment

            Formal experiments have been widely used a means of collecting evidance on language learning and use, they are compatively rare in classroom research where the data have been collected in genuine classroom ( genuine its mean classroom which have been specifically constituted for teaching purposes, not for the purpose of collecting data fo research). One of the major reasons for carying out formal experimets is to control those variables which may intervene between the independent and dependent variables and thus render the results uniterpretable or, at the very least, make it extremly difficult to guard againts threats to the validity of the research . such as control is extremely diffucult to achieve in most classroom settings.

            Probably the best-known classroom studies employing experimental methods are the so called methods comparison studies, which seek to evaluate the relative claims of different methods by randomly assigning students two different groups and providing differential instructionto these groups. At the end of the research period, all the student are tested to determine which of the two competing methods is the more effective.  However the fact that language classrooms are complicated place makes life difficult for the researches, who wants to carry out a formal experiment to establish a relationship between the dependent variable of language proficiency and independent variables such as innovaties methods and matrials. And, the experience of the methods comparison studies of the sixties researchers to the need for detailed and precise records of what actually goes on in the classroom underinvestigation.

Stimulated recall

            Stimulated recall is a technique in which the researcher records and transcibes parts of a lesson and then gets the teacher and where possible the students to comment on what was happening at the time, that the teaching and learning took place. It is a particulary useful techinques in collaborative reseacrh because it enables teacher and students as well as the researcher to present their various interpretations of what is going on in the classroom, and for these interpretations to be linked explicitily to the points in the lesson which gave rise to them. In other word Stimulated recall elicited teacher’s comments about the options considered, decisions made and actions taken in the classroom. A lesson was videotaped and subsequently viewed and commented upon by the teacher.

Observation scheme

            In selecting an observation scheme, it is neccessary to match the scheme to the purpose of the research. Because our vision will also be influnced by the instruments we develop, adapt, or adopt to assist us in our observation. While the use of observation schemes can provide a sharper focus for our data collection than unstructured observation, it can also serve to blind us to aspects of interaction and discourse which are not captured by the scheme and which may be important to our understanding of the classroom or classrooms that we are investigating. Or in the other  words the aim of the scheme is to enable the obsever to describe as precisely as possible.

Interaction analysis

            Another method for analysing classroom interaction involves the discursive analysis of classroom talk. Halliday and hasan, by lemke (1985). Argues that classrooom education is talk; it is the social use of language to enact reguler activity structures and to share systems of meaning among teachers and students. Interpreting education as the use of language in the context of social activity enables the researches to observe, document, and interpret how teacher and students use language across all school subjects to build relationships, define roles and so on.

A comparison of the methods for classroom research

Method	Typical question
Formal experiment	Is method A superior to method D Do authentic listening text lead to greater language gains than non authentic text
Stimulated recall	What is the basis upon which teacher decide to depart from their lesson plan in the course of a lesson? Why do the teacher decide to correct some errors and not other?
Observation schemes	What is the range and distribution of language fucntions by the teachers and pupils in the language classroom? In mixed ability classroom, how often are low proficiency students addressed by the teacher
Interaction analysis	How do teachers maintain power and control through classroom discourse?

A review research

A review research aims to know where the data were actually collected or we can re-chek it again to make it clear.. Therfore the five dimensions of the analysis were as follow:

1.      The environment in which the data were collected (whether they were collected in genuine classroom or not)

2.      The rationale for the research ( whether the principal aim of the researcher was not provide insights which might be acted upon in pedagogy, or whether it was to investigate process of acquisition with only a secondary rationale relating to pedagogy)

3.      The research design and method of collection

4.      The type of data collected

5.      The type of analysis

Question:  

1. What is your opinion about Classroom observation Research? 
2. Could you explain the purpose of classroom observation and research?