Data Analysis

3.3.1 Organization of the data

Data were gathered primarily from interview transcripts (including the stimulated recall interviews) and reflective journals. Observation field notes and classroom artifacts were

considered secondary data. The data were organized in sets in order to build an individualized report for each participant. A folder was created for the data tied to each participant, which included the researcher’s field notes, interview and stimulated recall transcriptions, reflective journals, and artifacts. Other sets were created in order to be able to group participants within the two main distinctive variables: experienced vs. inexperienced GSTAs.

3.3.2 Interpretive framework

Since the purpose of the investigation was to identify the characteristics and differences between the participants’ PPK, a set of categories were used as the interpretive framework. The categories were based upon existing PPK literature and reflected a synthesis of previous findings (Chronologically: Elbaz, 1983; Golombeck, 1998; Meijer et al., 1999; Van Driel et al., 2001; John, 2002; Sen, 2002; Chou, 2003; and Ariogul, 2007). The preliminary categories selected as the project’s reference points were:

• Knowledge of self

• Knowledge of students

• Knowledge of instruction

• Knowledge of subject matter

• Knowledge of purpose

Based on the themes identified during data analysis, some of the categories listed above were further divided into sub-categories. Other categories were added to the framework as needed during the data analysis process (See section 3.3.3 below). It must be said at this point that my prior experiences and knowledge as a GSTA and doctoral student were not excluded from this data analysis. As Charmaz (2002) asserts, “coding necessarily reflects the researcher’s interests and perspectives as well as the information in the data” (p. 682). In qualitative research, these interests and perspectives can add power to the analysis as the “the personal-self becomes inseparable from the researcher-self” (Creswell, 2003, p. 182).

3.3.3 Identification of themes and patterns

Themes help to give control and order to research and writing (Van Manen, 1990). Each data set was studied for the purpose of identifying recurring threads of meaning that appeared throughout the data, or appeared less regularly but carried considerable impact (Ely et. al., 1997). These threads were cross-referenced and coded based on the interpretive framework previously described. Specific words, phrases and sentences that suggested key concepts were highlighted. A qualitative analysis tool called DeDoose was used to aid in the coding and analysis of the data (See Appendix F for screenshots of the qualitative analysis tool used). Finally, all data were compared and contrasted among participants in order to identify points of comparison and contrast in their PPK. Table 5 shows the categories and sub-categories of codes identified in the data. The categories, as they apply to each participant, will be discussed in the participant results chapters (Chapters 4 through 11). The themes that emerged as points of comparison and contrast between the two groups of participants (experienced versus inexperienced) are presented and discussed in the comparative results chapter (Chapter 12).

Table 5 Categories and Codes Found in the Data Category and Codes Excerpt/Illustration Knowledge of Self

• Improvement

• Limitations

• Personality

• Positive aspects

I hope that I’m improving just my overall behavior and philosophy and my understanding of what’s going on but, I just have a… general… just an easygoing personality and I can’t let go of that part of my personality. But at the same time, you know, every day I gain a little bit more knowledge as to how to address the students and what to do, you know, the specifics. But… other than that I like having fun. I like the students to have fun too…

Knowledge of Students • Student abilities • Student attitudes • Student limitations • Student needs • Student expectations • Student learning

• Differences among students

• Student-student interaction

• Student-teacher interaction

It’s truly frustrating for when students will stop me in the middle of class and be like “Um… I have no idea what you just said, but I think you said the cat crossed the street, and if that’s what you said then the answer is… he went into the house”. That really frustrates me when students just

translate what’s being said in class. And I tell them every single class for like the first several weeks that I don’t expect them to understand everything, and that I just expect like a percentage, like maybe 10% for them to get and that I will make sure that they do know…. That I won’t let them leave the class without knowing the essentials, what I need for them to know, the important stuff, so… It frustrates me when they put that expectation on themselves to understand every single thing, and it’s not realistic…

Knowledge of Instruction • Knowledge of teaching materials • Knowledge of assessment • Knowledge of assignments/activities • Knowledge of language acquisition/learning • Knowledge of teaching methodology • Flexibility • Planning • Time management

I feel like at this point in the semester both my students and I are getting tired of activities. I am running out of ideas of how to keep them interested. I did try a reading

comprehension exercise in class over the cultural reading. The students seemed to like it because they could see how much they understand in Spanish. If I could go back to the beginning of the chapter, I would manage my time a little better in order to have more time for the harder concepts (“ser” and “estar”), etc.

Knowledge of Subject Matter

• Cultural knowledge

• Linguistic knowledge

I gave my students a quiz over formal & informal

commands. I just gave them a chart with the 9 most common verbs and asked that they write the command conjugations (both affirmative and negative) for “tú”, “Ud.”, “Uds.” and, for a bonus, “vosotros”. I don’t normally put so much emphasis on grammar + memorization, but commands are so ever-present. I feel it’s important for them to be able to recognize and use them when necessary.

Knowledge of Purpose I want my students to not feel intimidated. I don’t want them to feel like “Oh, my gosh, how am I ever going to learn something so difficult and complicated?” Like I don’t want to make it feel overwhelming for them. I don’t want it to seem complicated… I want it to seem interesting. But more than that I want it to seem accessible. Like it’s something they can do. Even if they don’t get an A+ or master every single thing we did throughout the course, I want them to leave the classroom with a certain confidence and interest. To feel that they’ve at least scratched the surface and they know what it holds and that there’s something there for everyone…

Knowledge of Context

• Classroom context

• Department/program

context

• Context outside the

university

• Peer collaboration

I… think that [the program] promotes like independent study. I think it promotes the students to take it on

themselves to really study the information. And I’ve heard the director say that we are a bridge between the material and the student, which puts a lot more responsibility on the students to take it upon themselves and to study on their own. Background • Apprenticeship of observation • Academic background • Personal background • Language learning background • Learning of instruction • Work experience

Last fall (2011), I started my master’s studies and I was working at the time so I couldn’t be a graduate assistant. But I finally got the chance in the spring and I became GLA. I was a tutor in the language lab. So I did that in the spring and summer. And I was a little nervous about being a GTA, but I knew it would be a great opportunity, so I applied, and of course I was approved [laughter] because most graduate students are. But I had a little bit of experience, very

informal, some ESL stuff years ago.

Current Goals [My program is] Master’s of Arts in Spanish. And I’ve taken more literature classes, but I’m studying for the areas of the conquest of Latin America, listening skills, and applied linguistics. Future • Teaching-related future • Non-teaching, professional future • Academic future • Personal future

I’m not against teaching in the future, but like I said, I want to translate and interpret. But I like the fact that now I have some experience, so if I can’t find jobs interpreting or translating, I can find jobs teaching.

Program support

• General program support

• Program training

I was very excited but then I showed up [at the foreign language teaching class for GTAs] and it’s only one hour as opposed to 2 and a half hours, and it’s not as hard for us I guess. I think it’s more designed for people doing PhDs. But I was excited to learn about those concepts because I think I need them.

helped me brush up on my Spanish skills because I’m having to teach things that either I never learned, just sort of got… no one ever taught me but I learned as I spoke Spanish. Or things I forgot, like the difference between preterit and imperfect. Not that I forgot completely but it’s nice to go over the rules and teach myself at the same time I’m teaching them.

Frustrations with Teaching I still cannot help but to some extent feel bad for them because they still look at me with these confused faces when I speak Spanish to them. However, at the same time it frustrates me especially if I am using words that we covered in class and they are still not familiar with the meaning of the word. I try to repeat verbs and adjectives that were covered in class so that they hear it often and get used to it, but at the same time they need to study these words at home and know what they mean so that they are not confused. Language Use As [the program director] said [laughter], I speak majority

Spanish in class. I’m so glad that he said that, at least in the lower levels, we could use English for teaching grammar because otherwise I don’t think I would be able to do it so they can understand. I do try to do about 95% in Spanish because I agree with the approach. Even though I wasn’t taught that way, but I had about 6 years to learn what they have like 4 semesters to learn. But I do speak Spanish the majority of the time. I monitor myself, because I do speak very quickly in English, so in Spanish as well, so after a while I thought back and said to myself, ‘you’re probably taking a bit too quickly’ [laughter]. So I’m still working on speaking a little more slowly, especially in Spanish, but I’m trying to every class, if I realize they’re not understanding me, maybe try to use a synonym or a cognate. I rarely, very rarely, do the code-switching unless it’s something I know they will not get otherwise. But I try to stick to Spanish. Influence of GTA Experience - I used to get tons of emails with a million questions. So I

go into every single class, for the first three or four classes, I go into the site, open everything and make sure to ask any questions, and now I only get one or two emails. With the oral [assignment], I go into it, explain it to them, and I tell them what it is, how to get to it and what my expectations are. And then later on I’ll show on the projector…

- So you’re anticipating problems…

- Yes. Anything that came up over the past semesters I try to at least mention it.