Methods Selection in Current Study

According to the research tradition, Grotjahn (1987) provides an insightful argument that the previous distinction of qualitative and quantitative approaches oversimplified the real research methods in applied linguistics. In this regard, an exploratory-qualitative-statistical method (Grotjahn, 1987) is introduced. It is categorized as a mixed form of non-experimental approaches, such as interviews and production tasks. The focus of this method is the statistical analysis of the qualitative data. My research, which aims to statistically analyze a large amount of language production data received from qualitative method, fits in this concept. In this case, Grotjahn’s (1987) method was adopted in my study.

In terms of the qualitative scheme, even though observations could provide the purposeful examination of teaching and/or learning events through systematic plans and the process of data collection (Bailey cited in Nunan, 1987; Rossman and Rallis, 2003), I could not take the observational role since I was involved in the data collection process.

Another method in a qualitative inquiry is interviews, which can yield a relatively accurate picture of the learner’s current morphosyntactic competence. Mann (1983) and Seliger and Shohamy (1989) pointed out that employing interviews in SLA research enables learners to provide intuitive information on how they learn and function in their L2s. Hughes (cited in Greenfield, 1996), however, has underlined that data collected through interviews may be partly an artifact of the procedure employed (based on the situational contexts and interlocutor effects), so the interviewers should carefully consider the steps in conducting interviews.

In addition, to collect data on phenomena that are not easily observed (such as attitudes, motivation, and self-background), a questionnaire should be employed, as it

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is a time-saving method. Seliger and Shohamy (1989) have recommended that before using any questionnaires, it is necessary to try it out in order to obtain information about the clarity of the questions and maintain the quality of data collected. With the necessary revisions of the questionnaire, it could be then sent to the participants.

According to the benefits and issues of each method in terms of targeting morphosyntactic structures in my study, interviews are conducted in a relatively natural context with the supportive information from questionnaires. The questionnaire has been distributed among all the informants to find out their language learning experience and personal backgrounds. This questionnaire was designed based on the suggestions from Rowntree (cited in Greenfield, 1996: 152). The main questions (which are based on a pilot test) have been discussed with my supervisors before the final version was delivered to the participants.

In terms of the interviews, the most ‘dangerous’ issue in such a study is that the presumed target structures are underrepresented and thus not assessed (Corder, 1981; Chaudron cited in Doughty and Long, 2005). Hence, Mackey (1994) has suggested that the informal interview should be retained with the structured interview in conjunction with eliciting tasks, which could be more pragmatic and guaranteed that learners produce presumed structures. Moreover, concerning my research design, the designed tasks were frequently adjusted for different participants.

In the end, interviews, including designed tasks and free talk, are mainly employed in my research when collecting speech data on the use of Chinese grammatical functions as an IL. Regarding the predetermined topics in tasks, the Chinese L2 learners would make a range of choices based not on a description of Chinese, but on the capacity of their ILs: what they are able to produce in such contexts. Also, these learners are allowed the freedom to digress, namely to probe beyond the answers to their prepared standardized questions.

Besides, the establishment and maintenance of a good rapport is highly important in the interview process (Berg, 2004), so as such, some interesting and updated topics are usually prepared to get the conversation started with the research participants.

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An additional interview is conducted with the two language teachers of my research participants at Newcastle University. On the one hand, they have briefly introduced the in-class performance of each participant; on the other hand, the teaching syllabus and extra materials used in classes have been provided for reference.

Interviews are sometimes suggested to be taped, transcribed, and later coded and analyzed for evidence of participants’ language development over time (Ellis and Barkhuizen, 2005). Therefore, audio recording is employed to sample naturally occurring language in my study. Even though the presence of a recorder may induce self-consciousness in learners’ speeches, participants are likely to ignore it when they are involved in the conversation and behave naturally. Obviously, the quality of recordings is important to maintain the validity of the data, as mechanical failures of recording equipment always cause difficulty in data collection. The difficulty of obtaining clear recordings in a ‘noisy’ environment is overcome in my study through the use of modern clip-on radio microphones.

In addition, in order to verify the hypothesized PT hierarchy in the context of Chinese, a Textbook Analysis is to be conducted. The analysed textbook is the one that all the research participants used for Chinese learning at Newcastle University. In order to clarify the relations between the acquisition stage and the teaching sequence, a further analysis of two textbooks used in Zhang’s (2001 and 2008) and Gao’s (2005) studies have been carried out simutaneously.

The grammatical items included in the proposed hierarchy are to be marked in the textbook analysis. Then, the trajectory of these structures in the textbooks will be compared with the developmental route of the corresponding structures found in Zhang’s and Gao’s studies. More importantly, the textbook analysis is integrated together with the teaching plans (only for Newcastle study), since teachers are expected to incorporate and deliver extra knowledge in classes - this could ensure that the first formal occurrence (input) of a certain structure to the participants is accurately documented.

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together with the probability of learners’ natural acquisition, I could therefore justify whether the teaching context has some sort of influence on the PT-derived sequence in Chinese. For example, it could be supposed that the Chinese ba strucutrre proposed at stage 5 in the PT-derived hierarchy has been delivered to the learners before the introduction of grammar points at stage 4 in the teaching schedule. Under the provided contexts, if ba structures are rarely produced in use after the input, in spite of other objective factors being considered, one could say that the teaching input would not alter the L2 learners’ natural acquisition route in Chinese. This evidence to some extent supports the keystone of the Processability Theory, in spite of the consideration of instructional functions.