Bryman (2008) argues that interviews are probably one of the most widely em- ployed and most attractive methods of data collection because of the flexibility they offer to the researcher. Interviewing is an important qualitative data collection method which can be effectively used for exploring and describing educational problems and practices. Mackey and Gass (2005, p. 148) argue that classroom observation in its own right is a good method but would be ‘better’ if scaffolded with pre- and post- observation interviews. Corbin and Strauss (2008) support this in that the observation should be followed by interviews or questionnaire until the research arrives at the point of ‘theoretical saturation’ (p. 89).
While structured interviews are typically inflexible because of the need to ‘standardize the way in which each interviewee is dealt with’, semi-structured interviews, by con-
P a g e| 84 trast, are flexible and give both researchers and interviewees more room for probing issues (Bryman, 2008, p. 340). Bearing this in mind, I decided to use in-depth semi- structured interviews with both the observed teachers and some of the questionnaire respondents. The interviews reflected both the participants’ viewpoints and the re- searcher’s research aims.
4.6.1 Interview sampling
Each teacher who got involved in the classroom observation was interviewed prior to and after the observation in order to build a clear picture about teachers’ practices and perceptions. The post-observation interviews employed the stimulated recall tech- nique as discussed in section 4.6.4. Teachers were told to feel free to choose either English or Arabic for the interviews. This was because two interviewees in the piloting stage (see section 4.6.5) failed to express their ideas fluently and clearly in English. In these situations, they were encouraged to use Arabic to talk about what they could not express in English. Others spoke in alternating mode, i.e. switching between Arabic and English. Learning from this experience, the interviewees in the main study were encouraged to conduct their interviews in Arabic and they did choose to speak in Ara- bic. In either case, nine interviews were audio-recorded and backed-up for transcrib- ing, translating, and analysis as accurately as possible. For those (eight people), who did not agree to be recorded, their interviews were managed by shorthand note-taking as recommended by literature (Chapelle & Duff, 2003; Cohen et al., 2007).
4.6.2 Initial interviews
After official consent forms had been signed and prior to the classroom observa- tion, semi-structured introductory interviews were held to enhance the sense of close- ness between the researcher and the participating teachers. Each interview lasted for about 15 minutes. During the interview, I explained the broad outlines of my study, its purpose, its methodology and the expected implications. Selected teachers were briefed about the intended plans of observing their classes. They were told that I would be looking at their teaching practices. I was keen not to mention that I was par- ticularly looking at their interaction behaviours with their students. Teachers were re-
P a g e| 85 assured of confidentiality in the sense that they would not be identified by name, and that their data would not be passed to the school or government authorities. Mainly, the interviews collected bio-data about them, and received a verbal briefing of their lesson plans. The aim was to establish a sense of relationship and co-operation with them.
4.6.3 Follow-up interviews
Bryman (2008) argues that post-observation interviews are an essential part of the process if observation to be an effective means of improving the quality of English teaching and teachers' self-development. The post-observation interviews were de- signed to explore the teacher’s perceptions of interactive teaching and effective talk. Teachers’ responses were audio-recorded from the start to the finish of the interview. Each post-observation interview took around 20 minutes altogether.
The first part covered the following questions:
In what respects do you think the new curriculum is different from the previous one, (e.g. teaching style, learning objectives, content)?
What do you think makes for effective teacher talk? In the light of your experi- ence of English teaching, could you please explain what the ‘communicative learner-centred approach’ means to you?
Some teachers think that student-student interaction is less effective in teaching English, while others think that teacher-student interaction is more effective. So what kind of classroom atmosphere do you aim for in your class by the way you talk?
Some teachers use English most of the time, while others use English and translate some tasks into Arabic. What do you do/ think?
Do you think that a degree in English Language and Literature is not enough qualification to teach, as there are no modules on teaching methodology?
P a g e| 86 While writing these items, every effort was made as not to use technical terms, diffi- cult phrases, or leading questions. I also tried not to put words in the participants’ mouths. The second part of the interview used the stimulated recall technique.
4.6.4 Stimulated recall
In order to investigate teacher perceptions of what was going on in the observed lessons, the study made use of a stimulated recall technique. In the stimulated recall, I played back parts of the recording of the participant asking them to reflect on their be- haviours (e.g., why they behaved like they did, what was in their minds and so on). Through this technique teachers can comment upon their interactive decision-making processes to elicit to what extent their classroom judgments and decision were shaped by their assumptions and knowledge of language learning (Nunan, 1992).
Several studies have made use of stimulated recall for professional development. For example, in their study of Chinese ELT teachers, Wang and Seth (1998, p. 37) identi- fied the following four advantages in using stimulated recall as a teacher development tool:
It can lead teachers to recognize that they have a responsibility for their own development;
It gives the teachers insights of their own classroom experiences;
It introduces the teachers to a more developmental approach to teacher train- ing;
It is helpful in building a more supportive and trusting relationship between the teachers and the researchers, and to ‘realize the mutual benefits that would ac- crue from this.’
In the UK, Moyles (2003) also found that using video clips of lessons selected by the teacher to be a powerful means of promoting critical reflection on professional prac- tice. The very act of asking teachers to point to the most interactive teaching moments through a video-stimulated reflective dialogue provided them with opportunities for self-monitoring and self-evaluation.
P a g e| 87 Similarly, Walsh (2003, 2006a) suggests that teachers can find out about their lan- guage use in the classroom by making audio- and video-recordings of their lessons. By working with their own data, teachers are able to modify their classroom verbal behav- iour. Walsh stresses that teachers’ listening to recordings or analysing transcripts can significantly raise their awareness of their interactions with students, resulting in more appropriate language use. In his study of 8 ESP and EAP British teachers, Walsh (2006a, p. 54) argued that the reflective practices and collaborative process of inter- preting data and ‘meaning-making’ in a reflective feedback interview empowered teachers to uncover the interactive features of their classes and ‘make conscious changes to classroom actions’. In the present study as shown in Table 4.1, only two observed teachers subscribed to the stimulated recall, namely Mr Beta and Mr Zeta. The other teachers were too busy to sit for further interviewing. The piloting of the stimulated recall protocol was arranged with Mr Bill Soden from the Department of Education (Centre of English Language Teaching - CELT) at the University of York as discussed in section 4.6.5.
In the stimulated-recall interviews, teachers were asked to watch their video-recorded lessons and were asked to give me their opinions about their behaviours. I used the fol- lowing prompts to probe the participants: ‘Could you please talk me through what was going on in class at this time?’ and ‘Could you tell me more about it?’ However, I avoided constraining the participants’ thinking and tried not to be intrusive. Teachers were told to choose the language they wanted to use, i.e. Arabic or English. The stimu- lated reflection interviews were carried out with the teachers as soon as practicable af- ter the relevant class session in order to enhance the reliability of the data
4.6.5 Piloting the interviews
One way to enhance the reliability of interviews is careful piloting of interview schedules (Silverman, 2006). Hence, a Syrian PhD colleague who was a former EFL secondary school teacher was interviewed to test the interview schedule. As a result of the feedback she provided, there was a review of the duration of the interview and the number of questions. It was decided that two questions must be removed or substituted with others to help the interview run smoothly. For example, certain key concepts such
P a g e| 88 as ‘teacher talk’ and ‘effective teaching’ were re-positioned at the centre of the set of interview items. It was also realised that some questions were not clear enough to be understood and they required further clarification. So, these questions were also modi- fied (e.g. question two in the interview)
.
The modified interview schedule was re-piloted to make sure there were not mislead- ing or unclear points. In late December 2009, a Skype conference was arranged with two EFL Syrian teachers with the aim of re-piloting the interviews. As a result of this piloting, several items were re-phrased, re-structured and fine-tuned to ensure that the interviews would be conducted in a tactful way so as to encourage the interviewees to speak freely and provide genuine responses.