Qualitative Theory and Methods in Applied Linguistics Research

1. Qualitative Theory and Methods in Applied Linguistics Research Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research. TESOL Quarterly, 29(3), 427-453. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

2. Controversies of QR in AL • Controversy surrounding three interrelated issues regarding qualitative inquiry: • research traditions, • definitions of research, • qualitative research theory and methods. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

3. Research Traditions in Applied Linguistics • Various research approaches utilized by applied linguists, each of which resulted from a particular philosophical and theoretical perspective. • These parallel research movements have developed and have tended to remain separate, rather than inform the field as a whole. • Three diverging areas of study within applied linguistics that are directly related to second and foreign language teaching: • second language acquisition (SLA) • ethnography of communication • and sociolinguistics Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

4. The SLA Tradition • Generally accepted the use of the research techniques and philosophy dominant in the social sciences, particularly psychology. • View of SLA as a mental process (believing that language acquisition resides mostly, if not solely, in the mind) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

5. The SLA Tradition • Research approaches and techniques for examining LA from a mentalist perspective: • case studies; • elicitation techniques (e.g., introspection and retrospection); • diary studies using both observations and introspection focusing on the psychological nature of LA; • discourse analysis to uncover the ways in which native speaker input may affect nonnative speakers’ learning strategies. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

6. The SLA Tradition SLA researchers . . . • attempt to gain objective data by controlling human and other extraneous variables and thus gain what they consider to be reliable, hard data and replicable findings; • see ready applications of statistical analyses to language testing and L2 methods; • believe that findings on the appropriateness of tests and methods could be generalized beyond the individuals participating in the study to those throughout the population from which the sample was drawn; Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

7. The SLA Tradition SLA researchers . . . • commonly utilize the quasi-experimental and experimental research paradigms and designs developed within the field of psychology; • draw on previously developed elicitation techniques and adopt a number of others from related fields (e.g., reading aloud, structured exercises, elicited imitation/translation, story retelling, and oral interviews). Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

8. The Ethnography of Communication Tradition • Linguistic anthropologists interested in language acquisition began to argue in the 1970s against sole reliance on Chomskyan psychological modelsand definitions of language. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

9. The Ethnography of Communication Tradition In 1974, Hymes suggested that • Linguistic theory treats of [ sic ] competence in terms of the child’s acquisition of the ability to produce, understand, and discriminate any and all of the grammatical sentences of a language. . . . Within the social matrix in which it [ sic ] acquires a system of grammar a child acquires also a system of its use, regarding persons, places, purposes, other modes of communication, etc.—all the components of communicative events, together with attitudes and beliefs regarding them . . . . In such acquisition resides the child’s sociolinguistic competence (or, more broadly, communicative competence), its ability to participate in its society as not only a speaking, but also a communicating member. (p. 75) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

10. The Ethnography of Communication Tradition • Linguistic anthropologists (e.g., Ochs and Schieffelin and Scollon conducted ethnographic studies of child socialization into language within diverse cultural settings. • Heath (1983): • a classic study of language socialization within African-American and European-American working-class communities. • suggested that children from communities whose language socialization patterns differed from those of the mainstream schools experience extreme academic difficulties because of these differences. • Based on the theory of academic difficulties due to home/school differences, bilingual education researchers began to conduct ethnographic studies in the U.S. in which they compared the language/social norms of mainstream schools with those of immigrant communities (e.g., Ortiz, 1988). Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

11. The Ethnography of Communication Tradition • Ethnographic studies focusing on L1 and L2 acquisition and use within homes, communities, and schools: • home/school differences as a source of school failure; • the larger political context within which schools and communities function (e.g., Ogbu, 1989; Willis, 1977). • Studies of language socialization have largely remained within the field of education through publication in journals such as Anthropology & Education Quarterly and Linguistics and Education or in books edited by scholars affiliated with schools of education (e.g., Cazden, John, & Hymes, 1972; Langer, 1987; Trueba, 1987). Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

12. The Sociolinguistics Tradition • focuses on the social aspects of language use; • encompasses a broad range of theoretical concepts and research techniques drawn from sources such as • linguistics, • ethnography (specifically ethnography of communication), • sociology, • dialectology, • psychology, • componential analysis, • folklore, • discourse analysis, • pragmatics, • and language planning. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

13. The Sociolinguistics Tradition • Sociolinguistics has commonly played a separate, if sometimes complementary, role in SLA research. • The social and cultural aspects of language acquisition generally have been viewed as distant from the mental processes of language acquisition and thus of less importance theoretically or for explanatory purposes. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

14. The Sociolinguistics Tradition • Many sociolinguists have drawn on the dominant philosophy and methods of psychology in conducting investigations from a positivist perspective, collecting data using experimental techniques or surveys, and analyzing data using statistical methods. • For example, in examining speech acts or functions (pragmatic), although these phenomena are viewed as having social origins, sociolinguists also have tended to assume that native speakers possess a set of social rules in their minds; these social rules can then be discovered and taught to nonnative speakers. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

15. The Sociolinguistics Tradition • Researchers in the area of pragmatic have examined speech acts and functions using elicitation techniques such as role playing and completion tasks. • Experimental designs and statistical data analyses have been used to identify the use of social rules by native and nonnative speakers. • Researchers trained in ethnographic methods have tended to work and publish outside of the SLA and ESL fields in areas such as education, anthropology, and the sociology of language. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

16. The Separated Field of SLA • The dominant mentalist perspective • The socially, culturally oriented perspective Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

17. Different Discourses of Research Communities • Much of the difficulty in incorporating qualitative studies into SLA may be the result of the particular research traditions experienced by those in the field. • Gee (1990) suggests that individuals are socialized into particular Discourses or ways of believing, behaving, and valuing that include not only our early childhood experiences but also those of our chosen fields of interest. • For example, the terminology, interactive styles, and philosophical and theoretical assumptions shared by SLA researchers are inclusively a Discourse that is likely to be extremely different from the Discourse of the ethnographer of communication. • Communication breaks down between those from different applied linguistics disciplines. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

18. Discourse Apprenticeship • Gee (1990) suggests that incoming students of any particular field are socialized into or, more accurately, apprenticed to that field’s Discourse by taking classes and otherwise interacting with professors and other students who are further along in their studies. • This notion of Discourse apprenticeship suggests that we should also carefully examine the extent to which we expose students of SLA and ESL to various ways of understanding, researching, and applying SLA issues. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

19. The Essence of QR: Getting meaning from the actor’s point of view Erickson (1986) : • The issue of using as a basic validity criterion the immediate and local meanings of action, as defined from the actors’ point of view, is crucial in distinguishing interpretive participant observational research from another observational technique with which interpretive research approaches are often confused, so-called rich description. • What makes such work interpretive or qualitative is a matter of substantive focus and intent, rather than of procedure in data collection, that is, a research technique does not constitute a research method. • The technique of continuous narrative description can be used by researchers with a positivist and behaviorist orientation that deliberately excludes from research interest the immediate meanings of actions from the actors’ point of view. • Continuous narrative description can also be used by researchers with a nonpositivist, interpretive orientation, in which the immediate (often intuitive) meanings of actions to the actors involved are of central interest. (p. 120) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

20. The Essence of QR: Getting meaning from the actor’s point of view • A positivist’s “rich description” • “play by play account of what an observer sees observed persons doing” used by sociologists and anthropologists; • an etic perspective • The interpretive qualitative concept of thick description • an emit perspective, which demands description that includes the actors’ interpretations and other social and/or cultural information; • thick description “means taking into account all relevant and theoretically salient micro and macro contextual influences that stand in a systematic relationship to the behavior or events one is attempting to explain” Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

21. Distinguishing Interpretive Qualitative Research from Nonstatistical SLA research • Within applied linguistics, making a distinction between interpretive qualitative research and other SLA nonstatistical studies involves the question of whether the study takes an emit, holistic, semiotic approach or an etic, discrete, mental-process approach. • Conversational analysis could constitute an interpretive qualitative study if the meanings of actions from the actors’ point of view are of central interest and appropriate techniques (e.g., interviews and observations) are used to gain an understanding of those meanings. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

22. “Technique” vs. “Method” • Each research method involves particular philosophical, theoretical, and methodological parameters that must be observed to ensure studies are valid/credible, reliable/dependable, and generalizable/transferable. • To gain or maintain legitimacy within the applied linguistics field, not only must qualitative studies meet the specific requirements of the approach used, but they must also offer recognizable contributions to the field. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

23. Stating what you do vs. Labeling your method • However, conversational and discourse analyses within applied linguistics have also formed firm parameters and theoretical expectations for conducting these forms of research and could therefore easily claim method status. • One way for researchers to avoid some of the confusion when engaged in reporting various forms of qualitative research is to simply state what it is they are doing (e.g., discourse analysis) along with the main philosophical, theoretical, and methodological considerations involved in the research approach being utilized. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

24. Theory and Method • Theory and method are inextricably bound together in conducting and reporting interpretive qualitative research. Studies are both informed by and inform theory in the process of conceptualizing, conducting, analyzing, and interpreting research. • The particular methods used during the various stages of the research process are both instrumental and goal driven. • Methods are instrumental in that they are designed to obtain data from an emit perspective while ensuring credibility and dependability. • Methods of data collection, analysis, and especially interpretation are also utilized with the goal of generating theory. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

25. Theory and Method in QR • Contrary to the often-held belief that qualitative researchers have no preconceptions about the area under investigation, they bring particular theoretical and experiential frames of reference to the research task. • The first step in conducting a qualitative study is to determine the theories and views that are likely to affect the study. Researchers examine both their own frames of interpretation and the social theories that may inform the investigation. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

26. Personal Theories and Perspectives Erickson (1986) observes . . . • We always bring to experience frames of interpretation, or schemata. From this point of view the task of fieldwork is to become more and more reflectively aware of the frames of interpretation of those we observe, and of our own culturally learned frames of interpretation we brought with us to the setting. (p. 140) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

27. Reducing Biases • Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest the use of member checks (referring data and interpretations back to data sources for correction/verification/challenge); debriefings by peers (systematically talking through research experiences, findings, and decisions with noninvolved professional peers for a variety of purposes—catharsis, challenge, design of next steps, or legitimation, for example); . . . . the use of reflexive journals (introspective journals that display the investigator’s mind processes, philosophical position, and bases of decisions about the inquiry). (p. 109) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

28. Social Theories Fetterman (1989): • Researchers interested in social change tend to use one of two types of grand theory: ideational or materialistic. Ideational theories suggest that fundamental change is the result of mental activity—thoughts and ideas. Materialists believe that material conditions—ecological resources, money, modes of production—are the prime movers. (p. 16) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

29. Social Theories • Studies can combine bothapproaches in a single study. • Davis, 1994: • study of languageplanning in Luxembourg, • utilized materialist theoryin suggesting that socioeconomic conditions determined both governmentpolicies and individual experiences related to language and literacyacquisition. • used ideational theory in interpretingteachers’ implementation of language policy as the result of culturallydetermined thoughts and ideas about language acquisition. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

30. Grand Social Theories • Ideational vs. Materialist • Nature vs. Nurture Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

31. Middle-Range (or Grounded) Social Theories • Turner (1985): • middle-range theories try to explain a whole class of phenomena—say, for example, delinquency, revolutions, ethnic antagonism . . . . • broader in scope than empirical generalizations and causal models (p. 27). • Middle-range (or grounded) theories are often developed through research, such as the home/school difference theory (Heath, 1983; Philips, 1983) and the perceived labor market theory [e.g., parental job ceiling] (Ogbu, 1989; Willis, 1977). Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

32. Grounded Theory • A major goal in interpretive qualitative research • Glaser and Strauss (1967): • grounded theory--theory generated from a qualitative study that will “fit the situation being researched, and work when put into use.” • “fit”: the categories must be readily (not forcibly) applicable to and indicated by the data under study; • “work”: the categories must be meaningfully relevant to and be able to explain the behavior under study. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

33. Grounded Theory Reason (1981): • The information that is gathered in the field situation is used by the holist to build a model which serves both to describe and explain the system. The model is built by [quoting Diesing] “connecting themes in a network or pattern” (p. 155); the connections may be of various kinds, but they are “discovered empirically rather than inferred logically” (p. 156); the result of this is an empirical account of the whole system. This account explains the system because it describes the kinds of relations the various parts have for each other, so that the “relations between that part and other parts serve to explain or interpret the meaning of that part” (p. 158). This type of explanation is called a pattern model of explanation. (pp. 185–186) Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

34. Generalizable or Transferable? • A common criticisms of qualitative studies: not generalizable • Qualitative studies allow for an understanding of what is specific to a particular group, that is, what can not possibly be generalized within and across populations. • The grounded theory established by interpretive qualitative studies (such as functionalist and home/school difference theories) potentially allows for transfer to a wide range of cultures and social situations. • Te reader of an interpretive qualitative study determines whether and how the grounded theory described in one study applies to another situation. This determination is made by accumulating empirical evidence about the contextual similarity between the described situation and the situation to which the theory is to be transferred. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research

35. Davis, K.A. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research