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

Benefits of using journals Porter et al. (1990:287) sees as:

1) students can get help with areas of course content where they are having difficulty; get a teacher’s response;

2) they promote autonomous learning, encouraging students to take responsibility for their own learning and to develop their own ideas;

3) students can gain confidence in their ability to learn, to make sense of difficult material, and to have original insights;

4) the journal encourages students to make connections between course content and their own teaching;

5) the journals create interaction beyond the classroom, both between teacher and student, and among students. It allows an ongoing dialogue between teacher and students;

6) the journals make class more process oriented. Students input can in part shape the curriculum. The teacher can use this information to restructure the course.

Anecdotal records

Anecdotal records McKernan (1996:67) refers to narrative-verbatim descriptions of meaningful incidents and events which have been observed in the behavioural setting. They focus on narrative, conversation and dialogue and provide short, sharp incisive summaries of points that stick in the mind after the event. Anecdotal records are treated to be useful in teacher training education because they directly observe behavioural data which enable students to ‘see’ the incident and gain ‘inside’ perspective. One of the key tasks for the observer is to watch for the beginning and ending of ‘episodes’ of behaviour. McKernan (1996:68) sets some disadvantages of anecdotal records that are similar to diary keeping and journal as any piece of descriptive writing, such as:

1. they require extensive time to observe, write and interpret;

2. maintainenace of ‘objectivity’ is difficult;

3. observers require training in the use of anecdotes;

4. they are often reported without taking accounts of setting;

5. read out of context, they can be misunderstood and misinterpreted;

6. some observers focus on ‘negative’ or ‘undesirable’ events only.

Personal action logs

Personal action logs McKernan (1996:110) defines as record sheets which document a researcher’s activities over a lengthy time period ‘to get a full-blown representation’ of a day. Thornbury (1991:141) clarifies the purpose of log-keeping as ‘to direct trainees’ attention towards areas they may have overlooked or avoided; to measure the trainees’ assessment against our own; to make adjustments, if necessary, to the course design and/or content’. Logs may be kept in chart summary form, describing the main events with time sampling or in a more descriptive form similar to a diary. At the same time personal logs (McKernan 1996:111) are recommended to keep over a lengthy period of time and in connection with more extensive accounts, such as field notes, diaries and audio transcripts to validate findings.

Check-lists

The use of check-lists suggests the formulation of well-defined and ‘clearly delineated behaviour categories, which in turn presupposes more than a superficial acquaintance with the data’ (Hutt and Hutt 1970:38). It is used to focus ‘the observer’s attention to the presence, absence, or frequency of occurrence of each point of the prepared list as indicated by checkmarks’ (Hopkins and Antes 1985:467). Thus a prerequisite for obtaining reliable and valid data from check-lists is a set of clearly defined categories. For this reason a check-list would be unsuitable for recording behaviour with which the observer was not completely familiar or for recording the complete range of activities in a free-field situation. The researchers confirm that although in principle a large number of categories are feasible, in practice an observer is unable to cope reliably with more than fifteen. Different methodologists notice that as the number of categories increase, the problems involved in scanning these. That is why Hutt and Hutt (1970:69) offer from a practical view to have check-lists as compact as possible, since they are most commonly used in those situations where the observer is attempting to record unobtrusively and with the minimum of distraction to the subject.

The greatest advantage of check lists is the facility and speed with which they can be analysed, as observer just ticks off phenomenon against an appropriate category by mere observation. Measures that might be easily obtained are as follows:

1. frequency with which there is a change in activity;

2. number of different activities;

3. number of stimuli encountered;

4. duration of specific activity;

5. changes in nature and duration of activities with time.

However, McKernan (1996:108) admonishes that the arrangement of the points is crucial in that sequence in task completion should be logical and sequential. An observer or designer of this instrument must ensure that:

1. points to be observed are listed in their actual sequence of happening;

2. all similar attributes are included in categories;

3. all the relevant and specified points are listed.