To document the process from beginning to end, I interviewed individually each teacher before the exploratory research projects began in order to understand the journey they had already travelled, and whether/how they were using postmethod pedagogy in their teaching contexts. In addition, each participating teacher was asked to prepare an advice memo11 . The advice memo was used to gain insight into the teachers’ identities and beliefs about teaching but also was designed as a tool for teachers to use in analysing their own teaching acts. I sat in on and recorded the pre-observation and post observation meetings held by the teachers. The observed lessons were videotaped. At the end of the process I interviewed each teacher individually as well as the two groups of students who had participated in the student meetings. Transcriptions total 164 typed pages and therefore, because of their size, have not been attached in the appendices.
3.4.1 Observations, field notes of classroom interaction and meetings, and the reflective journal
I observed two lessons as a non-participant observer as well as all pre and post observational meetings for the exploratory projects. Because Pat’s students spoke very little English the teachers meeting with them was held in Portuguese and English, and then translated into English for the purpose of analysis. Field notes were made while observing the meetings and the recorded lessons. From the field notes I wrote journal entries in an attempt to capture and reflect on the research process and experience. The journal, comprising of fifty typed pages, recorded more than thoughts on what took place in classroom interaction and meetings. It became a log of my journey through the research and an opportunity to reflect on the process. I wrote of the challenges of obtaining permission and of the researcher being an outsider to the community. I reflected on themes that emerged in the interviews and made a brief initial analysis of the observed lessons. In addition, I recorded bits of information that took place in informal discussions which helped in better understanding the teachers’ contexts. I
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captured set backs and successes in obtaining data as well as rapport-building episodes between research participants and myself as the researcher. Some parts of the journal critically reflected on my role in the research. The journal entries have helped me not only reflect but also to be reflexive12.
Before data collection began I was aware that my presence as a non-participant observer during the exploratory projects would probably have an impact on interaction between participants, but it came as a surprise to find out how much. First and foremost, the exploratory projects would probably not have taken place at all if I had not been there. I believe this is true because firstly, neither of the teachers had carried out an exploratory project with a teacher from another school. The permission I received from the General Director of Education opened the door for the exploratory projects to take place and validated the teacher’s presence in each other’s classrooms. As data collection progressed I realized that the research design was providing a unique opportunity, in the Mozambican context, for teachers who had attended the TESSL course at IHLL to discuss their lessons together.
Secondly, as expected the teachers needed some guidance in carrying out exploratory research projects and my visit provided an opportunity to clarify aspects of the process. Even though the teachers were given a copy of the assignment which described the research process they relied more heavily on me than I had expected. It must be noted that most of the support took place between meetings in order to keep the research on track. However, I did interject twice in meetings: Once to ensure that the profile of Pat’s class had been
described to Alan in the pre-lesson discussion, and once in the first post-lesson discussion when the teachers were deciding what questions to ask the students at the student meeting. I felt the teachers were unclear about the objective of the student meeting because they wanted to ask questions about the content of the lesson rather than questions which would help them better understand actual
teaching acts from the students’ perspective.
Thirdly, my presence, as well as the video recording definitely, had an impact on the observed lessons: Before the class the video caused a stir at both schools and I believe impacted on the number of students who eventually attended the lessons13. On a more positive note Pat said it was good to have observers because the students were better behaved, and Alan admitted feeling motivated when Pat and I came to observe his class. However, I wondered if Alan had extended the lesson (to ensure it was complete) because his lesson plan stipulated 50 minutes and the actual duration of the lesson was an hour and a half.
3.4.2 Interviews
In order to triangulate the data (Fontana & Frey, 2000) individual face to face interviews were conducted with each teacher as well as with the two groups of students who had participated in the exploratory project. All the interviews were audio-recorded to provide a permanent record which was later transcribed, with the use of the code outlined below, and reflected on during the analysis stage of the research. Transcription code: I: Interviewer A: Alan P: Pat SS: Students S1: Student 1 S2: Student 2, etc. (.) Brief pause … Longer pause
(fail) Transcription uncertain – a guess
XXX Unclear speech –something that couldn’t be transcribed [ ] Short Interjections
Because the teachers are second language speakers of English I chose to
paraphrase on occasion, rather than quote, to make the research report more readable.
Interviews were semi-structured and open-ended to allow for flexibility. They were guided by questions aimed at clarifying and contextualizing significant moments of classroom observation and meetings. With both the initial teacher interviews I tried to understand the collegiality aspect of their school lives to determine what kind of collaborative environment the teachers were working in and whether it was conducive to exploratory practice and collaborative efforts.
As the interviewer I was not a neutral observer but rather an active co-participant within the discursive interaction of the interview (Fontana & Frey, 2000).
Therefore it is important to recognize my role as the teachers’ 2008 course tutor as this has possibly impacted on the data collection. My interview with Pat’s beginner students was done through an interpreter. The interpreter was a student from another class who had lived in South Africa and was attending school in Mozambique.
3.4.3 Artefacts
The artefacts for this study include the lesson plans for both observed lessons as well as a class handout which was prepared by Pat. The handout served as a ‘text book’, or resource, for a set of lessons that took place before the research study began. It was an example of Pat’s attempts at finding solutions to the lack of materials in his context of practice. The original research design also included teachers written reflections as artefacts for this research study but neither of the teachers provided me with any, although both teachers reported having written reflections.
3.4.4 Advice memo
Advice memos are autobiographical14 tasks which, according to Brookfield (1995, p. 8) highlight teacher values and perceptions. The memos were useful for triangulating (Fontana & Frey, 2000) the data because they brought to light what was informing the teachers’ decisions and actions. Although each teacher was asked to write a survival memo of advice15 to a colleague who might take over from him, due to time constraints both teachers opted to audio record the ‘memo’.