Дипломная работа: Learner observation tasks as a learning tool for pre-service teachers

Field notes

Field notes are records of naturalistic observation in the natural context of the behaviour researched through direct listening and watching. The main focus of observation notes is accurate description rather than interpretation. An observer can write down interesting details on various aspects of school life in general and of the teaching process in particulars. ‘Each observational note represents a happening or event – it approximates the who, what, when, and how of the action observed’ (McKernan 1996:94). McKernan considers field notes as a useful tool as

1. they are simple records to keep requiring direct observation

2. no outside observer is necessary

3. problems can be studied in the teacher’s own time

4. they can function as an aide-memoire

5. they provide clues and data not dredged up by quantified means.

At the same time an observer should consider some drawbacks in the use of this technique presented by McKernan (1996:96) as follows:

1. It is difficult to record lengthy conversations

2. They can be fraught with problems of researcher response, bias, and subjectivity

3. It is time-consuming to write up on numerous characters

4. They are difficult to structure

5. They should triangulate with other methods, as diaries, analytic notes.

The case study

Elliot and Ebbutt (1986:75) treat case study as a research technique in which teachers identify, diagnose and attempt to resolve major problems they faced in teaching for understanding. Richards (1998:73) considers case materials help students to explore how teachers in different settings ‘arrive at lesson goals and teaching strategies, and to understand how expert teachers draw on pedagogical schemes and routines in the process of teaching’. McKernan (1996:76) reminds that the researcher or an observer should use a ‘conceptual framework’, which can relate to existing science. So, the researcher employs various concepts to make sense of the observed data.

Richards (1998:76) enumerates advantages for using case studies in teacher education:

1. students are provided with vicarious teaching problems that present real issues in context;

2. students can learn how to identify issues and frame problems;

3. cases can be used to model the process of analysis and inquiry in teaching;

4. students can acquire an enlarged repertoire and understanding of educational strategies.

5. cases help stimulate the habit of reflective inquiry.

Diary/journal

Some research employ both terms equally. Allport (1942:95) has made the point that ‘the spontaneous, intimate diary is the personal document par excellence’. Many researchers have kept diaries as self-evaluative tool of their own experience. The most notable study of a diary keeping method is described by Bailey (1990). She has used the diary study approach as one option for the classroom-centered research project required in the practicum. The resulting journals have focused on issues related to lesson planning and creativity, time management, problems faced by non-native teachers of English, classroom control, group work, and difficult student-teacher relations. Baily's (1990:218) sense of result is that diaries were often extremely useful exercises for the teachers-in-preparation, both in generating behavioural changes and in developing self-confidence.

Requirements to write the diary entries she identifies as follows:

a) to set aside time each day immediately following the class, in pleasant place free of interruptions;

b) the time allotted to writing about the language teaching or learning experience should at least equal the time spent in class;

c) to set up the conditions for writing so that the actual process of writing is or can become relatively free. It's difficult in getting started;

d) in recording entries in the original uncensored version of the diary, one should not worry about style, grammar, or organisation. The goal is to get complete and accurate data while the recollections are still fresh.

Her studies reveal some problems in keeping diaries. In actual practice, students experience difficulties in describing events freely, the process of writing seems to be tedious for them; they do not get used to criticize, reflect, express frustration, and raise questions in written form. Some students were reluctant to edit their private journals.