Observation

Observation is ‗the systematic viewing of people's actions and the recording, analysis and interpretation of their behaviour' (Gray, 2009: 397). It is 'one of the most commonly employed data collection procedures in classroom research‘ (Gass and Mackey, 2007: 165). It allows ‗researchers to gather detailed data on the events, interactions, and patterns of language use within particular foreign and second language classroom contexts' (ibid.). Dörnyei makes the point that observation 'provides direct information rather than self-report accounts' (2007: 178). In this sense, observational data capture the actual practices and behaviours and provide insights into how things are done rather than how they are thought should be done.

A researcher may choose to be a participant observer who 'becomes a full member of the group, taking part in all the activities' (Dörnyei, 2007: 179) or a non-participant observer who sits back in the corner observing without being actively involved. In relation to action research, Burns claims that:

The very nature of action research, conducted, as it typically is, within a specific school or organisational context, implies that all teacher researchers are participants to some extent, although, in practice, participant observation may mean adopting different levels of involvement in the research situation. These range from completely active involvement, where the teacher is both a participant and an observer, to a more passive form of involvement, where the teacher researcher may be an observer but not a participant (1999: 82). In this study, my role as an observer changed throughout the process from being a passive observer in the first cycle to being an active participant observer in the second cycle. Alder and Alder claim that participant observation 'enjoys the advantage of drawing the observer into the phenomenological complexity of the

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world, where connections, correlations, and causes can be witnessed as and how they unfold' (1994: 378, cited in Richards, 2003: 119).

Burns (2010a) highlights the point that AR observation is different from the observations teachers may be involved in their daily classroom practices. She claims that action research observation is 'self-conscious' because it is:

focused: you are seeking specific information about something, rather than looking in a general way;

objective: you are aiming to see things as they really are and not just through a personal, subjective or intuitive lens;

reflective: you are observing in order to see things from a position of inquiry and analysis;

evaluated and re-evaluated: you check out your own interpretations by yourself or collaboratively with others (Burns, 2010a: 57)

In this sense, observation and its thorough documentation contribute to the trustworthiness of action research (see 4.3.4).

Observations can also be classified as structured and unstructured. Dörnyei claims that 'the 'structured/unstructured distinction is similar to the 'quantitative/qualitative' distinction in observational terms' (2007: 179). To him, 'structured observation involves going into the classroom with a specific focus and with concrete observation categories' (ibid.), whereas unstructured observation is more qualitative

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as it is 'less clear on what it is looking for and the researcher needs to observe what is taking place before deciding on its significance for the research' (ibid.). In the case of this research, the observation conducted was semi-structured in the sense that the teacher-researcher knew in a general sense what she was looking for but the categories were not pre-specified. Dörnyei makes the point that this is 'a continuum, and in practice usually some combination of the two approaches takes place' (ibid.).

Given the qualitative nature of this research and the time pressure on a teacher- observer, the observational data took the shape of note making. In the first cycle, as I was a passive observer, I took notes when learners were busy doing the tasks, whereas in the second cycle and as I was involved in students' discussions, I decided to reduce my note taking while the activities were being done as taking notes was believed to distract learners and influence their interactions. So, I only took notes of particular events during the interactions that I thought I could not remember if postponed. Since I audio recorded all lessons (see 4.4.2.), it was less important to capture full descriptions of all activities than would have been the case had I been relying entirely on notes.

Burns claims that 'not all observation data are counted. Some are produced using a descriptive and narrative style and are not as structured as observation checklists. These kinds of data are recorded in the form of notes made by the researcher' (2010a: 67). Burns points out that these kinds of data 'are used to note descriptions and

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accounts of what happened in the classroom, including – depending on what you are focusing on' (ibid.). According to Burns,

Observational note-making of various kinds is a flexible tool for action research data collection, although, of course, it requires additional time during or after teaching. It can be utilised (…) as a way of documenting and analysing issues and themes already identified as the main purpose of the research (1999: 85).

In the current research, I used the notes not only to describe what happened while doing the internet activities but also to guide and to structure my questions to the learners after doing their internet activities. The notes helped me to ensure the immediacy of getting feedback as the short time span between the action and the feedback was believed to generate more detailed comments from the learners.

Another distinction is made between covert and overt observation. In covert observation, the participants are not informed that they are being observed whereas in overt observation they are told that they are (Gray, 2009). Gray claims that 'one of the arguments in favour of covert observation is that people may change their behaviour when they know they are being observed, thus threatening the validity of the results' (2009: 397-8). However, the problem with this kind of observation is that 'it can be construed as unethical' (ibid. 398). In practice, 'the extent to which participants in a research project are informed that that they are being observed ranges from full disclosure to no disclosure at all, with many projects somewhere in the middle' (ibid.).

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