Today marks the end of the pilot phase of my doctoral study. In MA and doctoral research in education, one is normally expected to produce an original piece of research, which often entails researching teachers and learners. As any MA or PhD students in TESOL will know, some of the most widely used research instruments in our field are classroom observations, interviews and questionnaires and before starting to use them, it is common practice to trial them and refine them. After piloting a teacher background interview, a classroom observation sheet, a learner questionnaire, some learner interviews and a video-stimulated recall interview, here is everything I've learned, including some spectacularly trivial and seemingly needless but actually helpful things I wish I had been told before. Technology can be your friend, but..
Working with teachers and learners is incredibly interesting, however..
And now for the obvious that's not so obvious..
For more on this, see: Baker, A. A. and J. J. Lee (2011). "Mind the Gap: Unexpected Pitfalls in Doing Classroom Research." Qualitative Report 16(5): 1435-1447. Happy piloting! Categories All
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AuthorI am an ELT teacher and I am currently pursuing my PhD in Language Education at the University of Leeds. I have taught in the UK, Spain and Italy and am now investigating beliefs and listening skills in ELT in Italian secondary schools. ArchiviCategorie
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