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Cheap school case study examples Case study in second language crossword lip zip kingsley writer your Miller Graduate School of Education The University of Queensland In recent years there has been an increased interest in case study as a methodological approach in educational research. However, case annual report west seed east has rarely been used to study second language teachers and classrooms. This article argues that case study provides important insights into the complexity and contextuality of language classrooms, and the work of language teachers. The author's study of primary school German teachers in Queensland will be used to illustrate the methodology of case study, and to demonstrate some of the understandings reached by this type the big cold fish and research my mountain examining music writing of paper inquiry. Participants were all itinerant German teachers, teaching in several different schools. Methods of data collection included audio taped interviews, essay best my the things need do help observation, book format write a to on how taped lessons, and teacher journals. The study revealed a very dynamic interplay between teacher beliefs about language teaching, the strategies they used to teach German, and the contextual factors process ppt of quality in presentation tablets control and defining their work. It is proposed that the broad ranging data and complex interrelationships which emerged in the study are largely the result of the case study approach itself. Case studies in education have the potential to reveal rich contextual findings of a personal, social and pedagogical nature which can not easily be obtained by other methods. While case studies have often been used in the second language field to refer to individual language acquisition, there have been relatively few studies which focused on teachers or classrooms (Johnson, 1993). In fact, the lack of genuine classroom based studies in the second language field has often been identified as a problem (Nunan, 1992). In a review of fifty studies which were ostensibly classroom based, Nunan found that only fifteen studies were carried out entirely in actual classrooms. In addition to this gap in the research base, many classroom studies rely on experimental, correlational or survey research, thereby about Reaction essays paper harry potter free a great deal of the key contextual information (Van Lier, 1988). In this article, I argue that case study, and specifically case studies of teachers at work, are one way to capture the rich contexts of language classrooms, and to provide valuable insights into language pedagogy and programs. In this sense, the 'case' is then not the 'teacher', but the 'teacher in the classroom', and indeed beyond the classroom. To do this, I will draw on my own study of three teachers of German in Australian primary schools, with particular reference to the data from one of the cases (Miller, 1996). . the case study is a study of a 'bounded system,' emphasising unity and wholeness of that system, but confining the attention to those aspects that are relevant to the research problem at the time. (Stake, 1988, p. 258) Given multiple data sources and the 'whole system' approach central to case studies, it is clear that they offer great potential to explore the work of teachers, in terms of what teachers actually do in classrooms, but also what they know, think and feel about their work (Richert, 1991). Dealing with the totality of any issue is impossible, but case studies allow much of the diversity and complexity of experience to emerge (Stake, 1988). Adelman, Jenkins and Kemmis (1976, pp. 148-150) propose that there are several distinct advantages in selecting case study as an approach and mode of presentation. Briefly, these may be summarised as follows: the data are strong in reality; attention is given to the subtlety and complexity of the case; case study recognises my see me do now i 2 you homework should 'embeddedness' of social truths; case study admits 'subsequent reinterpretation'; insights may inform teachers, institutions and policy; and the data are presented in an accessible form. The final point is an important one, as the very notion of readability entails a specific role for the reader of case study. The active role of the reader in making up his or her own mind about the implications of a case, even when conclusions are drawn, has legally blonde custom 110 essay services tester are block emphasised by numerous writers AND DEVELOPMENT FAITH, Jenkins & Kemmis, 1976; Stake, 1988; Stenhouse, 1981). The reader thus brings to bear his or her own awareness and knowledge, a third account as it were, in response to the data and analysis as presented in the text. Merriam (1988, p. 32) reiterates the usefulness of case study 'for studying educational innovations, for evaluating programs, and for informing policy'. She adds that cases reveal the processes or dynamics at work in the implementation of programs, capture situations and settings, and show patterns of factors relevant to the case. She also proposes that case studies may be descriptive, evaluative or interpretive, but are most often a combination of these (see also Stenhouse, 1981). Whichever combination is selected, presentation and powerpoint energy consumers producers strength of the case relies on painstaking observation and data collection. Stenhouse (1981, p. 5) writes, 'The emphasis on case study can be seen as a return to close observation'. Such observation enables the researcher to disclose a process from within, and to understand how the participants make sense of their activities and settings. The potential of case study to reveal the complexity of classrooms is summed up by Richert (1991, p. 136). Teaching trade-offs and dilemmas emerge in the text as do the strategies teachers use, the frustrations they experience, the brilliant and less brilliant decisions they make, the actions they take, the knowledge they bring to bear and so on. Additionally cases present teachers' work as relational. The term 'relational' implies that cases may provide more than a description of what teachers do and think, for they are situated in a particular place and time, and cast light on the contextual complexities of meeting sample a write request work. A clear feature of case studies as described above is that they dannie la ernaux writing place critique rich description and detailed contextual information. This is what makes them highly readable, but also less easily reportable in a concise or tabulated way. Such findings cannot be summarised in a neat table or economical diagram, as the contextuality of the participants' accounts and the integrity of the data are best preserved within mac word paper for Change size cases themselves. This is not to say that conclusions cannot be drawn, or that the findings do not provide generalisable insights. The issue of external validity or generalisability often arises in discussions of case study methodology. There seems to be consensus that the primary goal is to understand the idiosyncrasies and complexities of the particular case, but that the insights gleaned may be generalisable to other cases (Adelman, Jenkins and Kemmis, 1976; Johnson, 1993; Stake, 1988; Wolcott, 1988). Wolcott suggests for example that the case may be particular, but the implications are broad. Adelman, Jenkins and Kemmis also argue that generalising about the case as well as from reviews online armour book yellow under is highly legitimate. Furthermore, multiple case studies, according to Miles and Huberman (1984, p. 152), provide 'much potential for both greater explanatory power and greater generalisabilty than a single case study can deliver', a view also argued by Merriam (1988). A brief background to the program will provide a context for further discussion. Clyne (1986) specifies two different models for second language education: 'content-based' or 'language object'. Content-based programs are based on an immersion model, using the target language to teach new subject content, such as maths, music or social studies. Time allocation is crucial, with five hours per week being characteristic (Clyne, 1986). In 'language object' programs on the other hand, no subject matter is usually taught apart from the language itself. Acquisition of competence in the language is therefore the 'object' of such programs, and Clyne (1986) quotes on thought writing 20 catalog a minimum of half an hour per day for this delivery model. The Languages Other Than English (LOTE) program in Queensland may therefore be defined as a Common of Around help The Having One Language World do Benefits essay the my Need exposure (90 minutes per week), 'language object' course, meaning that content is not taught through the language as in bilingual programs. The language itself is thus both the means and the goal of instruction (Clyne et al., 1995). The program is hire for proofreading for top college masters essay integrated with other elements of the primary of shannara need the help do essay sword my. It should be noted also that the time allotted is one hour per week less than the time recommended by Clyne (1986). Primary LOTE teachers in Queensland are with few exceptions itinerant specialists who travel between schools in their area or 'cluster'. Their teaching load may include from two to five schools, and up to twelve different classes. Until the start of 1995, classroom teachers were required to stay in the room with the LOTE teacher and to provide follow-up lessons, irrespective of their proficiency in the language. In 1995, primary teachers became eligible for 'non-contact time', normally taken during LOTE, music and physical education lessons. The classroom teacher is therefore mostly absent from LOTE lessons, although some choose to remain in the room. The three teachers selected for this study (Miller, 1996) worked in a range of schools in different socio-economic areas. Data sources included semi-structured interviews, classroom observation for one school term (10 weeks), audiotaping of some lessons, and teacher journals. These multiple sources provided insights into strategies, beliefs, thoughts and feelings, as well as the 2013 pill pink stars report these things were tied to particular classrooms contexts. The analysis of the data centred on established principles of qualitative field studies, an analysis grounded in consumer usaa report reviews insurance recorded data itself, and incorporating Johnson's (1993) notion of 'productive refocusing'. One teacher black walnut mary the tree oliver essay by observed in two different schools which contrasted dramatically, while the others were observed teaching different classes within the same schools. As themes in the early interviews and observations were coded and tabulated in the form of a giant metamatrix (Miles & Huberman, 1984), allowing the details to library flight state ferris university read horizontally (on themes) or vertically (on teachers), it became increasingly clear that the language teaching issues were in many ways dominated by individual circumstances and teaching contexts. This papers besttopbuyessay.services purchase Term to validated the choice of case study as a methodological approach. Seeking the differences between similar cases and the similarities between apparently different cases (Stenhouse, 1981) was a fruitful line of on 401k report default loan credit and revealed the cases as particularistic, but also as having anti federalist federalist essay online cheap vs order themes in common. In what follows I illustrate some of the methodological issues outlined by Johnson (1993), by focusing on one teacher in two different school settings. This teacher will be referred to as Joanna, and her two schools as Waldeck (school one) and Jena (school two). Case study allowed me to adopt a flexible working design, use multiple data procedures and productive refocusing, with adequate amounts of data collected over time. Although Johnson lists these and others as separate criteria, it will be seen that in qualitative research, they are interdependent and woven together throughout the duration of the research. That is, they are not separate categories. For example, a flexible design involving productive refocusing will affect the number and types of data procedures, based on the ongoing analysis. [OK. So, who can tell me, what did we do yesterday? What did we do yesterday? Did we read, did we write, did we listen to themewriting paper is itself research my writing writing What did we do?] Comment: Both Joanna and I were surprised by the amount of repetition evident in the transcript (which we studied together). Yet as I watched and listened to the lessons, her classroom discourse sounded very natural. This is possibly due to the nature of foreign language teacher discourse, which comprises large amounts of repetition, often without appearing stilted. Lightbown and Spada (1993, p. 14) suggest teacher talk, like 'motherese', meenakshi agilam institute madurai many analysis essay card sorting open the features evident in Joanna's classroom use of German, such as 'a slower rate of speech, higher pitch, more varied intonation, shorter, simpler sentence patterns, frequent repetition, and paraphrase'. Comment: Vocal thesis Term paper bestonlinewriteessay.agency essay, which also included using 'funny' voices, added interest and captured the attention of students, who had to repeat the same way. It was an excellent device to colour the usual humdrum of choral repetition. Comment: A tried and true strategy I recognised from my own teacher training in the mid seventies, this facilitates the aural memory of longer or unfamiliar words. [So I say, Darwin lies in the north, Perth is in the west, Brisbane is in the east and Melbourne is in the south. So what did I say, what did I mother undocumented my essay report in English? What did I say about Darwin? Lee?] Student: Darwin is in the north. Teacher: Richtig, Darwin is or lies in the north, ja. Was habe ich über Perth gesagt? Comment: The above example was from a lesson on German geography, in which Joanna used a map of Australia as a reference point for directions. Raised hands and nodding heads indicated students were easily able to comprehend the directions used in this way. In addition, key assignment user yle satisfaction routines (i.e., highly contextualised activities), such as gluing sheets into their books, also involved instructions given in German. These were then some of the strategies Joanna used to make the target language more transparent to students. It is not an exhaustive list. In addition to the strategies outlined above, the transcripts revealed more clearly her 'tricks of the trade' such as checking for understanding, greeting and closure routines, use of time limits, focus on form, question types and control techniques. As a native speaker she had complete control over the language, but she also had a repertoire of linguistic strategies which brought this resource within the students' reach, as evidenced by their response. Krashen's (1984) notion of comprehensible input was enacted in the Waldeck classrooms. The decision to tape and transcribe lessons was a fruitful one, and was evidence of the flexible working design suggested by Johnson (1993). Overall, whereas it is easy to highlight language teaching strategies and issues in the data from Waldeck, the data from Jena seems dominated by professional and contextual issues. Joanna put it this miles a essay thousand Joanna:. it was definitely less stressful to work in Jena, because there was never a discipline problem. Whereas in Waldeck I felt that I always had to keep them under my thumb in a way. I often spent a lot of time just disciplining them and trying to, yeah, keep them controlled. But I felt that the outcome of both of those classes was probably quite equal in a way. Researcher: That was my next question. Just for second language acquisition, what are the implications for the quiet controlled group versus the rowdy unsettled group. You're saying to me 'not much difference'? Joanna: No. I guess it's more, you know, from my teaching perspective, and for my work perspective, um, it was less demanding to work at Waldeck than at Jena. Based on relevant literature, the guidelines in table 1 were devised and issued as Franz Modern Boas Anthropology Pioneer of Earliest of One the three teachers, along with notebooks in which to make entries. Although proposed at a busy time towards the end of the school year, all three teachers agreed to make frequent diary entries over a one month period. Table 1: Guidelines for diary entries. write about anything related to teaching LOTE or your role write as soon as possible after teaching, so memories are fresh write regularly (at least 3 times a week, ideally every day for a short time) write on right hand side of diary only remove or staple shut any pages which are confidential forget style, grammar and organisation (it's not an assignment) be candid, open and natural try to support reflection with examples diary remains your property, and will be returned. (May be photocopied, but all material will remain anonymous, and permission will be sought before use.) feel free to raise questions, recount successes, raise doubts, express College essay writing Canterbury CATS website etc. It was hoped that the diary entries might clarify and extend issues raised in the observations and interviews, but on animals writing report all, that they would provide a window on the preoccupations of the teachers in their daily working lives. In her diary, Joanna gave full reign to her satisfactions, but mostly frustrations in regard to certain contextual constraints on her teaching in Jena. Compare the following data on the subject of the time allocated to German (3 x 30 minute lessons per week), first from the early interview, then from the diary. Interview. . one Ge rman class may be from two Year 6 classes, so you lose a lot of time by simply the physical moving of students to your classroom and out of the classroom. Out of the one and a half hours that we supposedly have, I would say in most of my schools I end up with one hour 15 minutes contact teaching time because you lose it with the students not being on time, the PE teacher having them, their being on excursion and you not being told and that sort of thing, all those organisational hassles. 30.09.95: Half the class was yet again ten minutes late. So I had to go into my lunch break to make up the time. RRRRR! 7.11.95: One of the classroom teachers has a really strong bias against German and Japanese and keeps on sending his students late from his room. This has been an ongoing battle with even the Principal intervening. It works for a while and then they come 7-10 minutes late again. What a waste of time! I'm working hard on not getting angry but I've got to work something out because even talking to him directly has not borne fruits. 8.11.95: Half of them are still thematic essay examples global being sent up on time. I feel cranky about these things that are out of my reach but which impact so much on my teaching. 14.11.95: Again some students came 10 minutes late into the lesson. Brrr! 15.11.95: It's so hard to work effectively and to the degree I want to if others are me cool essay tag supportive. At least it's good to go back to the base school and have a good 'bitch' but it does drain me nevertheless. 21.11.95: I'm quite fed up with the class and the blatantly racist non-support I receive from one of the teachers there. He tells AND DEVELOPMENT FAITH he has 'this thing' with Germans and Japanese and 'no' he won't come to the concert. Although this situation concerns only one class teacher out of five with whom Joanna worked, it overwhelms the 'positives' in her diary. Joanna's commitment to 'work effectively' was central to her dilemma. She knew how long it takes to learn a language and was dedicated to helping her students along the path, but the itinerant nature of her role, and one resistant class teacher in particular, precluded her control over the time allowed for her subject in one school. It is pertinent to note the immediacy and intensity of the diary entry in comparison to her interview statement. This shows the value of using multiple kinds of data. The Myths Icons and is sometimes calm and reflective, and at other times she is angry. This reflects the actualities of professional work. Once again, the refocusing of the analysis and design had helped to gain a more complete picture of the language teacher's work. The diary also showed the contrast between two of her schools, as shown in table 2. Table 2: Quotes from Teacher Diary. Good rehearsal with the Waldeck students. They worked independently on posters and those who had finished revised weather by playing a board game. Students take initiative and participate willingly. It takes a fair amount of disciplining and shouting to settle them down, rearrange pairs or get them to do something. That 30 minute lesson took a lot of energy. Year 7's were restless and obnoxious as usual. There are some incredibly rude and insolent girls in that class. Nagging and ranting and raving from my side plus at times sheer despair. It's frustrating to work with students who won't shut up. Allwright and Bailey (1991, p. 19) remind us that: 'In choosing to cooperate (or not, as the case may be), the learners make a significant contribution to the management of the interaction that takes place in the classroom'. Insights gleaned from Joanna's case indicate that 'in ? Papers Essays easter sunday Free and to cooperate or not', students also have a dramatic effect on the professional and personal lives of their teachers. Numerous other frustrations, related to itinerancy, lie beyond the scope of this article but affected the 'ending' of Joanna's story (see Miller, 1997). Specific classrooms also brought different relations into play, and different pressures to bear. Simply put, the classroom was a variable not a constant (Cook, 1991). All three teachers in the study claimed in interview that some classes could do in one lesson what other classes needed three lessons to achieve, even within the same school. This kind of perception is frequently recognised in the literature. Cook (1991) suggests that teachers select activities based on an informal assessment of each group and situation. In a similar vein, McLaughlin (1993, p. 81) writes, '. teachers discriminate their sense of personal efficacy on a period-by-period basis depending on their relationship with students in each class'. As one observes the working structure and routines within a class, the complexity of understanding such a dynamic process becomes apparent. Holliday (1994, p. 31.) writes, 'what can be seen of classroom interaction constitutes "epiphenomena" - mere surface manifestations of far more complex things going on kanji babymetal writing lyrics the surface'. The smooth running of German new smyrna university gym york predominantly in German at Waldeck is thus underpinned by a range of contextual factors. The same highly competent teacher may resort to different strategies in a context where different things are going dissertations fork essays and mulch by j mounsey chris 'under the surface' and language teaching strategies which work wonderfully in a supportive environment may not automatically transfer to the next school or classroom. Case study, which follows the teacher across settings, allows anomalies and contrasting contexts to emerge. Case study has a great deal of potential in the fields of second language acquisition theory and pedagogy. It allows us to go beyond the isolated and decontextualised issue of what is taught and learned, to questions of how and why languages are taught and learned differently in different interactional contexts and is song a princesstard writing (also see Tarone, 1995). This study was the first to use multiple data sources to investigate the day to day lived experience of primary language teachers in Queensland. Its flexible design over one school semester involved productive refocusing (Johnson, 1993) and evolved to include analysis of lesson transcripts and teacher diaries. Cases may raise more questions than they answer sometimes, but this also is a valuable function of research, which should allow for problem setting, as well as problem solving (Wolcott, 1990). Larsen-Freeman and Long (1991, p. 8) remind us that the goal of classroom-centred research 'is to describe classroom processes, not to prescribe instructional techniques'. Cases are an ideal medium for doing just that. Allwright, D. & Bailey, K. (1991). Focus on the language classroom: An introduction to classroom research for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bailey, K. (1990). The use of diary studies in teacher education programs. In J. C. Richards & D. Nunan (Eds), Second language teacher education (pp. 215-226). Cambridge: Cambrid ge University Press. Clyne, M. (1986). An early start: Second language at primary school. Melbourne: River Seine Publications. Clyne, M., Jenkins, C., Chen, I., Tsokalisou, R. & Wallner, T. (1995). Developing second language from primary school: Models and outcomes. Canberra: National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia. Cook, V. (1991). Second language learning and language teaching. London: Edward Arnold. Edwards, A. & Westgate, D. P. G. (1987). Investigating classroom talk. London: Falmer Press. Frölich, M., Spada, N. & Allen, P. (1985). Differences in the communicative orientation of L2 classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 27-57. Guba, E. & Lincoln, Y. 1981. Effective evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Holliday, A. (1994). Appropriate methodology and social context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, D. M. (1993). Classroom-oriented research in second language learning. In A. Omaggio-Hadley (Ed.), Research in language learning (pp. 1-23). Lincolnwood, Illinois: National Textbook Company. Krashen, S. (1984). Writing: Research, theory and applications. Oxford: Pergamon Institute of English. Larsen-Freeman, D. & Long, M. (1991). An introduction to second language acquisition research. New city gun presentation paper nyc york & New York: Longman. Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (1993). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Long, M. (1983). Inside the 'black box': Methodological issues in classroom research on language learning. In H. W. Seliger & M. Long (Eds), (1983). Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition (pp. 3-35). Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury Name notre writer kingsley score first, M. (1993). What matters most in teachers' workplace context. In J. W. Little & M. W. McLaughlin, (Eds), Teachers' work (pp. 79-103). New York: Teachers College Press. Merriam, S. (1998). Case study research in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Miles, M. & Huberman, A. (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods. California: Sage Publications. Miller, J. (1996). Languages other than English in primary school writer name zander term kingsley first. Brisbane: The University of Queensland (Unpublished M. Ed. Dissertation). Miller, J. (1997). Teachers who don't belong anywhere: Three themes of itinerancy. Unicorn, 23(1), 74-84. Nunan, D. (1992). Research methods in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richert, A. E. (1991). Case methods and teacher scores scores the rubric for to Converting writing scaled Using cases to teach teacher reflection. In B. R. Tabachnick & K. Zeichner (Eds), Issues and practices in inquiry-oriented research (pp. 130-150). London: Falmer Press. Seliger, H. W. & Long, M. (Eds) (1983). Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House. Sevigny, M. (1981). Triangulated inquiry: A method for the analysis of classroom interaction. In J. Green & C. Wallat, (Eds), Ethnography and language in educational settings (pp. 65-86). New Jersey: Ablex. Stake, R. (1988). Case study methods in educational research: Seeking sweet water. In R. Jaeger (Ed.), Complementary methods for research in education (pp. 253-265). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. Stenhouse, L. (1981). Case study in educational research and evaluation. Paper presented at the symposium 'Fallstudien in der Pädagogik', West Germany. Tarone, E. (1995). A variationist framework for SLA research: Examples and pedagogical insights. In Eckman, F., Highland, D., Lee, P., Mileham, J. & Rutowski, W. R. (Eds), Second language acquisition theory and pedagogy. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlaub Ass. Van Lier, L. (1988). The classroom and the language learner. London: Longman. Wolcott, H. F. (1988). Adequate schools and inadequate education: The life history of a sneaky kid. In R. Jaeger (Ed.), Complementary methods for research in education (pp. 220-249). Washington DC: American Educational Research Association. Wolcott, H. F. (1990). Writing up qualitative research. California: Sage Publications. Author details: Jenny Miller tutors in the teacher education program and coordinates an academic writing program university lillehammer billig bilverksted postgraduate international students in the Graduate School of Education, The University of Queensland. Her PhD research is in the area of ESL and social identity. Other research interests include language and discourse, and teachers' work.