CONTRATACIÓN ELECTRÓNICA

Hammersley (2008) asserts that the only standards for educational research are validity and relevance. Gomm, Hammersley and Foster (2000), in a book on case study method, present helpful chapters on naturalistic generalisation (Stake, 2000), transferability and schema theory (Donmoyer, 2000) and the generation of a “working hypothesis” (Lincoln and Guba, 2000), then partially dismiss them as “notions [which] capture one way in which case study research may be used” but which do not permit general conclusions to be drawn. Stake’s (2000) idea of naturalistic generalisation parallels Flyvbjerg's (2011) comment on knowledge developing from cases as an example of experiential learning. As a possible mechanism for this learning, Donmoyer (2000) uses Piagetian schema theory, in which knowledge is constructed and constantly renewed in the light of new evidence. This allows for case study as evidence in developing the schemata of its readers and for the use of research evidence to be assimilated into existing understanding, which in turn is changed by it. Although Gomm et al (2000) appear to dismiss schema theory as a feature of child development, it is surely a prime example of a constructivist theory of learning and they offer no argument or evidence of its inapplicability to adult learning. Indeed, Korthagen and Lagerwerf’s (1996) model of teacher learning explicitly draws on Piagetian schema theory.

As Tight (2010) observed, nothing in case study research will “convince those who believe the only useful research involves large representative samples”; therefore other approaches are needed to support any claim to validity. J.Dunne (2005) considered that generalisability in natural sciences research entails “a certain thinness of content”, and fails to explain irregularities. That was the case in my previous classroom research (Regan, 2002) mentioned earlier. J.Dunne (2005) suggested that reflective “thickly descriptive studies” may have “epiphanic power” where the setting of the study “illuminates other settings”. This is a more dramatic version of Stake’s (2003) characterisation of instrumental case study informing understanding of other cases. Creswell (2005:34) noted the lack of statistical generalisability as a weakness of case study but supported Stake’s (2000) view of the “naturalistic generalisability” of case study in which “readers recognize aspects of their own experience” in a case and generalize from it. This leads to a discussion of the recognisability or typicality of ITE MFL at Macadamia.

Schofield (2000) and Gomm et al (2000) agreed, that choosing a case for its typicality increases its generalizability. An element of homogeneity in ITE in England is imposed by the centrality of the Teachers’ Standards in all teacher training and the government requirement for all ITE courses to include 120 days of school experience, so that the scope for course to be atypical without becoming non-compliant is limited. Additionally, the typicality of the Macadamia ITE course as a whole can be claimed on the basis of favourable Ofsted inspections (2010, 2014) before and during the case study, indicating compliance with national standards for ITE. Macadamia’s high levels of trainee satisfaction and employment rates, in both MFL and ITE as a whole, suggest a degree of fit with schools’ expectations. Macadamia’s approach to integrating school-based experience and campus-based inputs may be atypical. The course structure allows continuous school experience with one day a week on campus, rather than the block inputs and block placements which competing local courses offer.

The MFL placement schools during the case study were not atypical of English schools in terms of the proportions of independent, state and faith schools and academies providing placements for the trainees as these are broadly similar to the proportions of students educated in those types of schools nationally. The comparison is inexact as the national figures are expressed in terms of student numbers, not numbers of schools. As shown in Appendix 1, the 19 placement schools of the trainees whose essays were analysed spanned four local authorities and included two language colleges, two academies and one independent school. All but two were mixed schools and two were

faith schools. Silverman (2011) suggests using purposive sampling as a way to increase the generalisability of case study findings; although the sample of schools in this thesis was an opportunity sample and not purposive, in fact it is not atypical of English schools. Generalizability is discussed in the next section.

The need for generalizability in case study research is itself contested. Silverman (2011) observes that the sample size required to claim generalizable results, on a quantitative model, precludes the depth of analysis which characterizes case study. In Stake’s (1994) view of intrinsic case study, the case itself is of interest without generalization. Case study as narrative was discussed in an earlier doctoral essay (Regan, 2010), in which Bruner’s (1991, 1998) defence of narrative helped my thinking. The use of narrative as a way of understanding the world is again invoked here, with Bruner’s (1991, 1998) suggestion that a narrative’s verisimilitude can be equivalent to verification and verifiability in the scientific method.

Flyvbjerg (2011:309) takes as an indicator of rigour in case study approaches the observation that “researchers […] typically report that […] case material has compelled them to revise their hypotheses on essential points.” In the present study, my initial analysis of trainees’ essays used pre-determined categories with marked lack of success; this necessitated a closer reading of what trainees had actually said, not instances of what I had expected them to say, about their experience in school. Biesta (2007) supports a change of focus in research, in order to maintain the necessary critical distance between research and practice where it becomes apparent that the initial question had been the wrong one. That has been true of the present case study as it emerged that classroom language acquisition as a whole should be the focus of attention, not speaking skills in isolation.

This case study is thus my account of the ITE MFL course at Macadamia. Rather than a definitive view on MFL pedagogy or teacher education, it is the account of an informed insider who has aimed to be worthy of trust, from which generalizations or illumination may be drawn as a contribution to knowledge.

3.9. Elements of Action Research in the Initial Teacher Education and Classroom