Data Collection Sources

In order to explore in depth pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding peace and MPLAs in the English language class (and their relationship with their actions), data were collected through the following data sources.

3.6.1.1. Semi-structured interviews. Semi- structured interviews were used to collect data regarding pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding peace and MPLAs before, during, and after their Practicum I experience. Semi-structured interviews enable participants to express their insights based on questions that serve as guides to direct the interviews but include open-ended questions to allow participants to elaborate (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2014). The interviews were held on campus; they were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Each participant was interviewed three times (on week 3, week 9, and week 15), and each interview lasted from 30 to 50 minutes. Participants had the option to use their L1 (Spanish) or English during the interviews (see Appendix A).

3.6.1.2. Journal entries. Pre-service teachers’ diary entries were collected during their practicum experience to collect data regarding their beliefs and emotions about peace and MPLAs. They are useful tools since they are “autobiographical, introspective documents that record the experiences of language learning from the learner’s perspective” (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2014, p.35). They allow researchers to explore aspects about the learner’s learning process that cannot be captured by direct observation (Faerch & Kasper, 1987). Journals in the practicum are of great value for teacher educators to learn about pre-service

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teachers’ subjective lived experiences contributing to teacher development. Through reflections in journal entries, pre-service teachers are given the possibility to voice their beliefs about teaching and learning to teach, as well as their emotions involved in these experiences (Johnson & Golombek, 2016). Participants had the possibility of writing the entries outside of class and send them via email. They had the option to write the entries in English or Spanish. A total of five journal entries were collected from each participant (on week 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) (see Appendix B).

3.6.1.3. Lesson plans. Lesson plans were collected to explore the relationship between pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding peace and MPLAs and their actions in their classroom practices. All the lesson plans of the semester were collected (four weekly lesson plans) from each participant in the study. However, only those lesson plans that included MPLAs were considered for analysis. Lesson plans were collected to observe the presence or absence of MPLAs, the type of MPLAs designed, topic involved in the MPLA, their source (whether they were adapted, designed by the pre-service teachers, or taken from an existing source), the teaching techniques to be used in the implementation, and the procedures specified for the implementation. Participants wrote the lesson plans with their pedagogical pair. Lesson plans were collected from weeks 9 to week 12. (See Appendix C for lesson plan guidelines pre- service teachers were expected to follow).

3.6.1.4. Field notes from classroom observations. Pre-service teachers’ lessons were observed from an emic perspective. That is, by participating as closely as possible in the activities and setting of pre-service teachers in order to develop an insider’s view of their experiences (Patton, 2002). Field notes from pre-service teachers’ classroom observations were collected during their Practicum I experience to explore the relationship between pre-service

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teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding peace and MPLAs, and their actions in their classroom practices. “Field notes contain the description of what is being observed” (Patton, 2002, p. 302). For the purposes of this study, field notes included descriptive information related to the

physical setting of the classroom, the social interactions occurring among pre-service teacher and students, and the MPLAs that were carried out. Each participant was observed eight times as a course requirement. However, only those classes in which pre-service teachers previously incorporated MPLAs in the lesson plans were considered for observation. The field notes contained descriptions of the classes containing MPLAs that are being observed, quotations from pre-service teachers during these classes, the researcher’s notes including feelings and reactions on what was being observed, and insights and interpretations of what was being observed and described (Patton, 2002). Some aspects that were observed include (but are not restricted to) presentation techniques on the language of peace, MPLA management (how the pre-service teacher sets the tasks, manages the tasks, and closes the tasks), awareness raising or reflection on the language of peace, classroom environment (including discipline management, pre-service teacher and students’ interactions, rapport, pre-service teachers’ and students’ attitudes), pre-service teacher and students’ roles during the implementation of MPLAs, and transitions among activities (connections made between an MPLA and other parts of the class). Observations began on week 10.

3.6.1.5. Narrative frames. Narrative frames about pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding peace and MPLAs were given to pre-service teachers’ to complete and were collected at the end of their’ Practicum I experience. Narrative frames are a type of guided composition that “provide guidance and support in terms of both the structure and content of what is to be written” (Barkhuizen & Wette, 2008, p. 376). Because of their structure, these

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types of data sources are facilitative and allow participants to construct meaningful stories (Gia Viet, 2012). Participants were sent the frames to complete via email, the week after they

finished their practicum course (week 15). They were asked to send them back via email or print them and take them to the practicum instructor’s office during the same week (see Appendix D).

3.6.1.6. Researcher journal. The researcher kept a journal during the study to be used as supplements to the other data collection sources. The diary allowed the researcher to keep a record and reflect on each stage of the study, including details of the steps and methodological decisions taken, difficulties encountered, to disclose her own beliefs and emotions about the process and topic of the study, and also her subjectivities and biases as a researcher, among other aspects (Dörnyei, 2007). The researcher journal data was used frequently during the analysis of data to enhance comprehension of the data, as well as to organize and better interpret the findings.