Data collection instruments

This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative data on the linguistic interaction between the languages Albanian, Macedonian and English. The quantitative data were collected through proficiency tests and language background questionnaires, which were used to group bilinguals and to aid in the interpretation

of data gained through a writing task. The proficiency tests were conducted for Macedonian and English only, because all students are proficient in their L1 Albanian. The qualitative data were collected through written texts and classroom recordings. In this chapter, an overview of data collection methods will be described, while the details of each will be discussed in the relevant chapters in the empirical part leading up to data analysis.

5.3.1 The language background questionnaire

The aim of the language background questionnaire was to gain information about the learners’ educational and linguistic background as well as about their exposure to their L1-Albanian, L2-Macedonian and L3-English. The questionnaire consisted of 23 questions and it included items on the learners’ knowledge and use of the three languages in their social network. It was designed according to Daller’s (2002) model “Fragebogen zur Spracherwerbsbiographie” and some original items were developed for the purpose of this study (see Appendix A).

The questionnaire was handed out in English and it included questions about the stage at which they started to learn their L2- Macedonian and L3-English in order to gain information about the acquisition order of the languages. I did not include questions about their L1-Albanian acquisition, as the general situation of bilingualism of Albanians in Macedonia (see, chapter one, on the sociolinguistic background of the study), is complex, and the L1-Albanian is the dominant language in west Macedonia. Then, there were questions about the use of the languages. The last questions were about the student’s attitude toward learning L2-Macedonian and L3-English.

5.3.2 Proficiency (level) tests

To form a homogeneous group of Albanian students, in terms of their language proficiency in L2-Macedonian, standardized placement test was used. The test was designed by a committee of Macedonian language teachers who teach at State University of Tetovo, and are used for the purpose of placement of Macedonian language students into homogeneous groups.

In regard to English placement test, the English Department of the State University of Tetovo uses a placement test (see Appendix C) from a web source (www.anglictina.sk/download/tests/Place) as a temporary solution for the need of finding a way to establish homogenous group of students. In addition, there has been a committee formed to construct a placement test which will suit the needs of the State University of Tetovo.

The placement test consisted of grammar questions, multiple-choice questions related to denotation and connotation of words, as well as phrases, sentences and reading passages

5.3.3 Classroom recordings

In addition to the written data, spoken data were collected for this research study. The analysis employed in this study is conversation analysis based on William and Hammarberg’s (1998, 2001) Role-function Model, which refers to the aspect of speech. The model describes the roles between various languages of a third language learner in a number of areas: the learner’s language switches during conversations, attempts at lexical formulation, pronunciation, and to some extend morphology.

For the conversation analysis, the recordings were made while the students were talking about a text which they had already read in the classroom. Both the interaction between the students and teachers as well as the interaction among students were recorded.

5.3.4 Word recognition task

The purpose of this task was to analyze transfer of lexical knowledge to the third language- that is, it was investigated whether students are able to apply their knowledge of words and concepts in Albanian and Macedonian when translating English words. Second, this task is designed to analyze the extent to which this transfer of lexical knowledge is mediated by the awareness of cognate relationships between the three languages.

Many words in Albanian and Macedonian have close English cognates, that is English words with obvious orthographic similarity and closely related meaning. Because many words derive from Latin in all three languages, they have relatively common words, so the students can recognize the cognate relationship. In relation to false friends, the students are sometimes encouraged to take advantage of true cognates, without being warned of the existence of false friends.

5.3.5 Translation task

The second part of the data collection was the translation task. A text in the students’ native language Albanian was designed and students were asked to translate the text into the target language English, their L3. The translation was approximately 200 words long. The time allowed for the translation task was 30 minutes. I suspected that the quality of the translated texts would vary a great deal from student to student, as some would require more time to think about the storyline than others. Previous research has also shown that translation tasks tend to result in more cross-linguistic influence (Ringbom 1987).

5.3.6 Written compositions

Further instruments used for the investigation were written compositions produced by the subjects under study. A broad theme was chosen, so that content was not constrained by knowledge limitations. The learners had to write a letter to a prospective English host family, where they had to introduce themselves and talk about their family, their school, their home town, their hobbies and interests and any other aspect of their life which they wanted to share with the host family. This theme was also selected, because it did not impose any constraints on the type of language, vocabulary and grammatical structures which could be used. The students had 30 minutes to complete the task and no limitations were imposed on them regarding their writing but for the topic defined in the instructions. Thus, the free character of the task allowed students to deploy as much linguistic knowledge in English as possible.

With this topic, it was guaranteed that subjects would have something to write about, and differences in the resulting essays as regards content and length due to different subject knowledge were ruled out. The resulting essays are variable in length, content, linguistic structures, and lexical items, but all respond to the instructions. Instructions were given in the student’s native language, Albanian, and in English.

5.3.7 Interviews

The last step of the data collection of the study involved interviews with teachers who teach English as a third language to bilingual students. The main purpose of interviewing teachers was to find out what they thought about the influence of the students’ previously learnt languages (L1 and L2) in the process of learning English in situation when it is considered as third language of the learner. The interview was based on five prepared questions which were supposed to initiate the discussion. The opinion of the teachers was important for this study because I hoped to make recommendations based on these teacher’s experiences about cross- linguistic influences in the third language production.

CHAPTER SIX

DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

This chapter presents the results of data collected from bilingual Albanian students. First, there were 206 students interested in participating, this number was reduced to 180, however (see below for a possible explanation). Six English teachers also expressed their interest in assisting in the testing process.

6.1 Analysis of the language background questionnaire

Although the number of interested participants was 206 at the beginning, there were 180 students who actually took part in the language background questionnaire task. I was not very surprised, because when I introduced the study and told students that a section on the Macedonian language was integrated, in which they would be asked about their language background and tested for proficiency, I heard some students’ words of confusion: “Why Macedonian?”. After the questionnaire was completed, we arranged another day for the proficiency test.

The questionnaire was analyzed in cooperation with my colleagues, the English teachers, who volunteered to participate in the study. Most of the students participating at this study were nineteen and tewenty years old. Starting with the student’s L1-Albanian, the questionnaire did not include questions about the age at which they had started to learn their native language, because in West Macedonia, Albanian is the dominant language and it is used in the family, social environment and in education. While in administration, the dominant language is Macedonian, the official language of Macedonia.

By means of a self-evaluation scale, designed by Daller (1999) (ranging from ‘very bad’, ‘bad’, ‘normal’, ‘good’ to ‘very good’) and adapted for the present study (ranging from ‘bad’, to ‘normal’ and ‘high’), the students could express how they assess their L2 proficiency. Out of 180 participants, three different groups of bilinguals were identified based on the self-evaluation scale:

1) 74 had little knowledge of Macedonian. They had started to learn Macedonian at school, and their exposure to the language was limited.