I believed an opportunity to see lessons taught by participants would enhance my understanding of the context for the study, and yield insights that would help me in interpreting the survey and interview data. Being able to speak with teachers after seeing them teach would allow me to further explore their thoughts about teaching for citizenship with reference to what I had observed.
3.8.1 Approaching teachers with requests to observe classes
It was important that any classes I observed had the potential to be relevant to my research questions. I did not want to see just any English teaching, but rather lessons where the JTE’s objectives were in some way citizenship-related. For this reason, when considering which teachers to approach about observing classes, I focused on those who, based on the survey and interview data, seemed to have the most opportunities to address citizenship-related aims. Teachers who appeared to have few such opportunities were less likely to be teaching the kinds of classes I wanted to see.
Table 3.2 lists all 14 teachers who participated in both stages of data collection; it indicates those I approached with requests for classroom
observations (seven teachers), and those who accepted my request and invited me to their schools (two teachers). It proved harder than I imagined to find classes I could observe. Two teachers I contacted were no longer working in high schools, so were unable to help. Three others were reluctant to open their classes to me, one citing discipline problems at his school, and another heavy work commitments. One said she did not envisage having any further citizenship teaching opportunities that semester. In the end, just two teachers agreed to let me observe classes, and conduct a short follow-up interview afterwards.
Table 3.2
Teachers approached about class observations
No. School type Opportunities for citizenship teaching; other comments (observation/ interview requested?)
Accepted/Declined request
1 Private SHS few opportunities No
2 Public SHS few opportunities No
4 Public SHS many opportunities; highly committed Yes Declined request, citing heavy work commitments.
5 Private
JHS/SHS very few opportunities No
9 Public JHS/SHS
many opportunities; highly committed Yes Accepted request.
Observations/interview conducted Sept 8, 2015.
12 Public SHS recently moved schools; had hinted that a visit might be difficult
No 14 Public SHS reported discipline problems at
current school
No 19 Public SHS some opportunities, including
Integrated Studies Yes No longer teaching in high school. Now a college teacher. 21 Private
JHS/SHS
few opportunities but expected more with new international programme
Yes No longer teaching in high school. Studying for a PhD overseas. 30 Public SHS many opportunities; highly committed Yes Declined request. Current classes “not
suitable for observation”. 33 Public JHS some opportunities; switched to part-
time status, making a visit difficult No 40 Public JHS some opportunities including
Integrated Studies; highly committed
Yes Declined request, citing problems with classroom discipline.
42 Public JHS some opportunities but reported
discipline problems at current school No 46 Public SHS some opportunities, including
Integrated Studies; highly committed
Yes Accepted request.
Observations/interview conducted Sept 2, 2015.
3.8.2 Ethical matters connected with school visits
In addition to renewing my assurance that I would preserve teachers’ personal anonymity, to respect the privacy of students and other staff at the school, I undertook not to use any electronic recording equipment during my visit; no photographs or video were taken, and no audio recordings made of the interviews. Teachers gave me permission to make handwritten notes during lessons. I requested a seat at the back of the classroom, behind the students, to intrude as little as possible.
The two schools I visited were both public institutions, but quite different types of school. The first was a large senior high school with a highly vocational curriculum, located in an agricultural region in southern Japan. The school has a strict policy on screening visitors, and I needed to apply to the school board for permission to observe lessons there. This involved a certain amount of
indication of her keen interest in my study. To reassure the board that my visit would not impact negatively on students, and might actually be beneficial for some, I offered to meet informally with students during the lunch break, giving them an authentic opportunity for communication in English. The school board welcomed this offer, and it seems to have increased their readiness to approve my visit.
The second school I visited is a relatively prestigious institution in a suburban area in central Japan, which combines junior and senior sections. It is well known for its innovative curriculum, and regularly hosts visits by
educational researchers and trainee teachers. I did not need to obtain formal permission from the administration for my visit; an invitation from the teacher was sufficient. Class observations appear to be a regular occurrence at this school, and indeed, on the day I visited, several student teachers joined me at the back of the classroom to watch lessons.
3.8.3 Choosing lessons to observe
Both teachers who invited me into their classrooms offered me a choice of lessons to observe, and we discussed these options via email. Having been involved in the earlier stages of data collection, the teachers were familiar with my study and were able to suggest classes that might be relevant. In both cases, the observations and follow-up interviews were scheduled for the same day, so as to minimize any disruption my visit might cause, and also in view of the
travelling involved to reach the schools (one took three hours to get to, while the other was a full day’s travel away, and involved an overnight stay).
Table 3.3 lists the five classes I observed. I was able to see examples of teaching at both SHS and JHS levels. I observed a “typical” class using a government-authorized textbook, an Integrated Studies class based on the teacher’s own materials, and an example of team teaching with an ALT.
Table 3.3
Class observation schedule
School 1 (3 classes, all SHS)
Communication English II A “typical”, textbook-based English class focusing on reading comprehension and grammar instruction. Topic: “Working elephants in Asia”
Integrated Studies #1 An elective, content-based English class on the topic, “Landmines in South East Asia”
Integrated Studies #2 A continuation of the previous class, but team-taught with an American ALT
School 2 (2 classes)
Topic Studies (SHS) A content-based class on the topic, “Food waste and
hunger”.
Introductory English (JHS) A 4-skills class with a focus on speaking. Topic: “Hobbies and vacation activities”
3.8.4 Approach to the observations
Cowie (2009) recommends spending time before a class visit thinking about what aspects of the lesson to observe. My purpose was not to analyse the lessons as such, but to identify features that would inform my interview with the teacher afterwards. The focus was on my second research question: “How do JTEs believe they are combining citizenship-teaching objectives with language teaching?” I was particularly interested in learning more about teachers’ objectives, the resources they use, and their pedagogical practices. Prior to the school visits, I re-read the transcripts of our previous interviews to help me recall what teachers had said about these areas.
As a general guide to what to look for in lessons, Cowie recommends the dimensions listed by Spradley (as cited in Cowie, 2009), which include space, actors, activities, objects, acts, events, time, goals and feelings, and I bore these dimensions in mind as I observed classes. At the same time, Cowie stresses the importance of “having as few pre-conceived ideas as possible so that what you observe is seen with fresh eyes,” (p. 169). A balance needs to be struck between planning what to look for, and remaining open to new insights. To this end, rather than creating a detailed observation schedule, I adopted Cowie’s simple, three-column approach to note taking: on the left was a timeline where I noted the duration of each phase of the lesson, the middle column was for notes on
what occurred, and the right-hand column was for reflections and questions to follow up afterwards with the teacher.
Since observations are prone to making teachers feel self-conscious, the notes I took during lessons were made as inconspicuously as possible (I
purchased a small, handheld notebook for this purpose). Within an hour of leaving each school, I wrote up my handwritten classroom notes as “full field notes” (Bryman, 2008).
3.8.5 Follow-up interviews
I interviewed each teacher soon after observing their lessons. We had agreed that out of respect for the privacy of students and other staff, I would not record our conversations, and in both cases this seemed appropriate as other members of staff were in the vicinity. With the teacher’s permission, I took notes during our conversation. Interviews focused on lesson activities I had observed that
appeared relevant to the citizenship-related teaching objectives listed in Section II of the survey, and the materials teachers had used. Within an hour of speaking with each teacher, I wrote a detailed summary of our interview. These summaries were later added to the data set from previous interviews, and coded in the same way as the other interview transcripts (see 3.7.6).
3.9 Representing the participants: A note about quotations used in the thesis