Fred activat tèrmicament (FAT)

To arrive at the essences of the experience is the focus of a phenomenological investigation. The ultimate goal for the phenomenologist is to obtain the essences of peoples’ shared experiences. The essences are the essential, invariant, and vital meanings which are elicited from different human experiences of the same

phenomenon. They are identified through rigorous and careful analysis of experiences of the phenomenon which are compared and accurately described (Patton, 2002). In order to proceed with the phenomenological analysis it is essential to develop

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understanding of the dimensions that signify the phenomenological approach to inquiry. Moustakas (1994) discusses the phenomenological analysis with reference to the

following steps in the phenomenological research process: the epoché, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and synthesis. The Epoché

Practicing the epoché is the first step towards returning to the things themselves and seeing them as they appear without the burden of preconceptions and judgments. Bracketing presuppositions and putting out of action his or her own ways of

conceptualizing reality allows the researcher to develop receptiveness to an authentic experience of the phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994). All the past knowledge about the phenomenon obtained from various sources and personal experiences has to be excluded and put aside (Giorgi, 2007; Giorgi, 2008b).

Phenomenological Reduction

In essence, to adopt the phenomenological attitude means to practice the epoché and reduction. By employing the phenomenological reduction, the researcher refrains from claims about the existence of the phenomenon from the natural

standpoint. The phenomenon presents itself in consciousness, whether it is real or not, and its presence is only witnessed without being confirmed as existent. “It is a

reduction from existence to presence” (Giorgi, 2007, p. 64; Giorgi, 2008b). The researcher accepts the phenomenal presences and intuitively looks for essential meanings of the phenomenon.

The task of phenomenological reduction requires a deliberate way of looking at, noticing, and describing the individual’s experience while focusing on central recurring

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themes which epitomize the meanings of that experience. The process of reduction does not reduce the value of the experience or delimit its scope. It opens up a possibility of discovering unlimited horizons of the experience and enables the researcher, through reflection and curiosity, to understand the texturally essential meanings of the experience. The textural description is developed to illuminate the textural qualities of what is being experienced in relation to the phenomenon

(Moustakas, 1994). Furthermore, the researcher intuits the aspects that are essential to the appearances of the phenomenon through an imaginative series of variations. Imaginative Variation

The procedure of imaginative variation allows the researcher to vary the idea of the phenomenon and imagine its variations within the conceivability of its original form. Through imagining and varying the aspects of the phenomenon it is determined which are essential to its appearance and cannot be eliminated. These aspects are carefully and straightforwardly described. In contrast, the aspects are considered to be non- essential if their variation yields no substantial changes in the phenomenon (Giorgi, 2007). From different vantage points, imaginative variation looks at possible

perspectives of the phenomenon and through fantasy considers structural qualities underlying the experience. The aim is to uncover the structures or dynamics of what is being experienced and integrate them into essences. The structural description is constructed to explicate the invisible dynamics that evoke the textures of the phenomenal experience without destroying the integrity of the experienced phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994).

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The last step is a process of integrating the textural and structural descriptions into a unified description to allow for the synthesis of meanings and essences of the phenomenal experience (Moustakas, 1994). The textural-structural synthesis portrays the common essential qualities without which the phenomenon loses its identity. They are represented at a time and place from the perspective of a researcher who has developed an intuitive-reflective understanding of the phenomenon (Cresswell, 2007; Moustakas, 1994).

With regard to the phenomenological analysis, Moustakas (1994) developed modifications of the van Kaam’s and the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen methods of data analysis. The latter is more frequently and practically employed in phenomenological research (Creswell, 2007). Both methods can be traced and summed up in the following outline of procedures which include: horizonalization of data, textural

description of the experience, structural description of the experience, and construction of essences of the phenomenon. For the purposes of this research, I followed the modified version of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of data analysis.

The interviews generated a large pool of audio recorded data which I personally transcribed to get better acquainted with the participants’ statements and create a written record of their stories. During the process of transcribing, I used the interview notes and written comments to add annotations to the transcripts in order to provide relevant details about the paralinguistic cues and nuances of behavior that signified the emotional message conveyed by the participants. All the transcripts were assigned

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codes in the form of the pseudonyms selected by the participants prior to the data collection.

Following the modified version of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of data analysis based on the processes of the epoché, phenomenological reduction,

imaginative variation, and synthesis, I organized and analyzed the study’s data taking a specific series of steps outlined as follows:

Step I. Researcher’s Experience and the Epoché

At the outset, I obtained and recorded a full description of my own first-hand experience of English learner underachievement. This was accomplished to serve three major purposes. For one thing, it provided the venue for self-exploration and self- reflection in regard to my own experience of English learner underachievement. For another, it was a meaningful and constructive activity that enabled me to carry out the phenomenological analysis of my experience through the step-by-step process which was later applied to the explication of data obtained from the participants’ experiential accounts. More important, reflecting on my personal experiences and examining my personal beliefs were critical in the process of recognizing and bracketing the meanings I ascribed to English learner underachievement. I acknowledged that my experience of English learner underachievement cannot be discarded or ignored. Neither should it be renounced but rather recognized and accepted. I made every effort to abstain from any existential claims regarding English learner underachievement and revealed my

knowledge of this phenomenon by describing its tenets in an attempt to minimize their detrimental impact on the process of analysis. The overall attitude I assumed was to set aside my understanding of English learner underachievement and open up to the

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participants’ experiences of this phenomenon. The researcher withholds assent to the existential claim and endorses an experiential standpoint that the phenomenon is lived and experienced rather than presents itself as an affirmation of its existence in reality (Giorgi, 2008a, 2008b). The epoché, although “rarely perfectly achieved”, is a continual process involving attention, effort, and attitude that enhance the researcher’s ability and state of openness to receive things as they appear (Moustakas, 1994, p. 90).

Step II. Horizonalization and Phenomenological Reduction

During the continual process of horizonalization it is crucial to identify and consider all the horizons of experience. Each horizon adds meaning and enhances understanding of the phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994). Horizonalization requires a deliberate and meticulous study of the text in order to see a more accurate and holistic portrayal of the phenomenal experience. It is recommended to read and listen to the entire interview transcript several times to develop a sense of the whole (Giorgi, 2008a; Hycner, 1985). Using the two sources of data, the interview and the essay, I generated a combined transcript that presented a full description of each participant’s experience. Every participant’s transcript was considered and treated with equal importance and value. During the process of in-depth reading I focused on salient and dynamic

information that was relevant to the experience of the phenomenon under investigation. At this stage of data horizonalization it is imperative to be receptive to all the statements and regard each statement as equally significant (Moustakas, 1994). The next step involved reducing the text to essential characteristics of the phenomenon and

condensing lengthy descriptions into more compact units. This was accomplished by identifying the non-repetitive statements which constituted the meaning units or

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invariant horizons of the experience. Caution is suggested when exercising redundancy elimination since repeated statements may indicate emphasis and suggest a different connotation (Hycner, 1985). The invariant horizons stand out as the distinctive

characteristics of the experience. In the phenomenological framework, participants’ significant statements are explored with the purpose to discover and describe the essential structures of the phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994). Through in-depth reading and reflection the meaning units were formulated on the basis of the participant’s original text. I integrated the original wording into the meaning units to avoid losing connectivity with the first-hand account. In view of the commonalities identified across the invariant meanings the larger thematic units were further constructed using

imaginative variation. Determining the connections between the meanings is the way to organize them around the central theme that conveys their essence (Hycner, 1985). The process of thematizing was performed at the stage of the individual transcript

analysis and later at the point of the composite analysis when themes common to all the participants’ accounts were developed. At the individual level, the emergent themes represented the aggregated meanings that provided a portrayal of the specific individual experience. At the level of the composite analysis, the themes were rearranged and restructured to capture the wholeness of the collective phenomenal experience. Step III. Textural Description and Phenomenological Reduction

During this stage the invariant meanings were integrated into a textural

description of each participant’s experience of English learner underachievement. Each individual textural description was carefully constructed on the basis of the participant’s

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verbatim account which conveys the authentic and vivid image of the person’s experience (Appendix G).

While performing the initial steps in the phenomenological reduction and

engaging with the participants’ experiential accounts I intuitively probed for statements and descriptions that are essential to the experiences of English learner

underachievement in order to create meaning units and piece together the textures of the participants’ experiences.

Step IV. Structural Description and Imaginative Variation

After developing the textural description, I imaginatively considered an array of possible divergent perspectives from which the experience of English learner

underachievement would emerge as eminent and self-sufficient without losing its selfhood and retaining its identity originated from the participant’s account. Through imaginative variation the underlying dynamic structures of the experience were

explicated accounting for how and under what conditions things experienced by each participant in relation to English learner underachievement were experienced. The essential structures were integrated into an individual structural description of each participant’s experience.

Step IV. Textural-Structural Descriptions and Synthesis

From all the textural and structural descriptions, an individual textural-structural description of each participant’s experience was developed. At this final stage, I integrated the textural and structural descriptions of all the participants into one composite textural-structural description which provides a synthesis of the meanings and essences of the participants’ experience of English learner underachievement.

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This account portrays the qualities of the phenomenon of English learner underachievement experienced by the participants as a group.