Planificación de la clase según la estructura: diagnosticar, planificar, ejecutar y evaluar

From the outset it was apparent that finding volunteers would not be straightforward, so my intention was to accept any students who met the criteria of the study (Chinese, international student, studying business or information sciences, in their first semester of study) until adequate numbers were arrived at, rather than to try to control the group for any particular characteristics.

On this occasion, given that the English of the target group could not be assumed to be advanced, all information was presented bilingually in accessible English and Chinese translated by an experienced translator (see Appendix 6). Volunteers were also offered the opportunity of giving any responses they wanted to in Chinese, which would later be translated.

In an ideal world, it would have been desirable to have contacted a group of students well before their arrival at the university in time for enrolment procedures in the second half of February 2004, so that first meetings and interviews could take place before classes began. The International Students’ Office had agreed to send information to them. The reality, however, was different. MUHEC approval was delayed because of trying to get extra information over a period when many staff members were on holiday. It was granted on 4 February, 2004 (see Appendix 2), so that by the time the notices could be sent out to students who had received an offer, it was very close to the time of their arrival. No responses were received by this means.

The next strategy was to present myself in places where international students were likely to be gathered. The week before classes began for the semester, an orientation programme was run for new students, including a day-long event for international students at which attendance was compulsory. I was given permission to speak briefly of my project and distribute information sheets. Another place where I could assume the presence of first semester international students was in two undergraduate courses teaching English for academic purposes for speakers of other languages. Once again, I presented myself and my information with permission at classes for each of the courses during Week One. By these means I recruited thirteen students, which seemed an adequate number to allow for potential attrition over the semester.

I conducted the first interviews in the first three weeks of the semester (for the schedule of interviews see Appendix 7). Two students asked to be interviewed together, but otherwise only one student ticked the Focus Group option. He was invited to have an individual interview, at the end of which he indicated that he was very happy with the opportunity it had given him to talk at length in a one-to-one situation and felt it was preferable to a group format. In fact, it was clear that the opportunity for extensive speaking in English, something that students were already aware was not going to be readily available in the university, was a significant reason for taking part in the study, and consequently I decided to shelve the focus groups. Although this potentially removed another way of “thickening” the description, to expand Geertz’s (1973) metaphor, the value of conducting an investigation that presented itself as mutually beneficial to the parties involved overruled that. None of the students took up the option of using Chinese in their answers, except as a while-thinking step in searching for an appropriate word in English, which was immediately offered as a translation.

Although the information sheet had clearly stated the criteria, it became evident after one of the interviews had begun that the student (YQ) was in her second semester of study rather than her first. In the interest of courtesy, and because the first semester experience was not the sole perspective I was seeking, I completed the interview taking a retrospective perspective on her previous semester’s experience. Richards (2003)

suggests we should “seize opportunities” because “sometimes there’s no second bite of

the cherry in the field” (p. 236, italics in the original). I did not recall her during that semester. She did, however, return in her final semester of study, as can be seen from Table 4.1, and made a valuable longitudinal contribution.

After the 12 initial first semester interviews had been conducted, it was apparent that only one of the participants was studying information sciences. The data I had already collected was very rich, but I felt it would be valuable to seek further informants in this field to investigate the possibility that the experience was very differently constructed in the two subjects. I therefore visited some computer laboratory classes to request more volunteers to redress the balance. Two students joined the study from this course.

Biodata for the resulting sample can be seen in Table 4.2. All names are pseudonyms.

Experience suggests that international students tend to trickle into the university at the start of semester, often arriving after classes have begun, and it was probably inevitable that the first plan of a group established and interviewed before classes began was unrealistic. However, in the event the initial interviews, although a little later than anticipated, were still very much imbued with a sense of the newness of the experience.

4.3.2.4.

Conducting the interviews

Various measures were taken to encourage the desired relationship between the two parties discussed in section 4.1.2.2. Verbal and written assurances were made and repeated about confidentiality and freedom to speak (see Appendix 6). The actual interview began with mutual introductions using a large map of China to chat about the experiences of both parties. I had long experience in communicating with Chinese learners of English, making communication accessible and providing a supportive atmosphere. I was also able to use this experience to good effect in presenting my understanding of their existing achievement as language learners who had attained entry to the university, and of the degree of difficulty that studying at university level in L2

represented. This contrasted with the deficit view of their “poor” English and inappropriate learning skills that some were already aware of in some quarters within the university. The interface of the two cultures was for the researcher an area of careful negotiation, with necessary attention to avoid any sense of disrespect for the original culture and its ability to provide worthwhile educational experiences and outcomes, which I had observed at first hand. This disclosure of self seemed to achieve the desired end of enabling informants to see me as a person with a genuine interest in their experience and views who would work to understand them, rather than as a distant researcher or an ally of the university to whom a certain view should be presented, and seemed to engender a willingness to talk openly. One student even responded to my PhD candidature by positioning me as fellow-student when drawing an analogy.

Table 4.2 Participants in the longitudinal study

My role was defined not simply by how I spoke of myself but how I listened to the participants, and I tried to be, as Kvale (1996, p. 148) proposes, knowledgeable, structuring, clear, gentle, sensitive, open, steering, critical, remembering and Name Sex Age IELTS Highest study in

China

Prior study in NZ Time in NZ Degree Bena

M 19 ? Incomplete high school 2 years’ high school 2 years BIS Andya M 20 Incomplete high school 1 year high school,

ELC

18 months BIS

Connorb M 23 5.5 3-year DB ELC 1 year BBS

Gao M 23 6 3-year Diploma

Computing

ELC 8 months BIS

Gemma C F 24 6.5 High school ELC; Polytechnic BBS courses.

18 months BBS Li Mingb

M 20 6 High school Foundation course 1 year BBS Lindab F 22 6 Incomplete Diploma

Teaching

ELC; PTE business studies

1 year BBS

Louiseb F 25 5.5 College DB ELC 1 year BBS

May F 22 5.5 College DB ELC (2); distance art course

1 year BBS

Mike M 24 5.5 College DB ELC 1 year BBS

Saul M 24 6 College DB ELC; Polytechnic

incomplete NZDB

2½ years BBS

Scott M 25 5.5 College DB ELC 1 year BBS

Skyb F 24 5.5 College DB ELC; distance BBS course

18 months BBS

Thomasb M 25 5.5 College DB ELC 1 year BBS

Note. BIS = Bachelor of Information Sciences; ELC = English language centre; BBS = Bachelor of Business Studies; PTE = Private Tertiary Education Provider

a

interpreting. I allowed the talk to flow in a logical way in response to what interviewees offered “building on the motivations of the respondents” in order to avoid invalidity in the data that emerges (Cohen et al., 2007, p. 145). Interviews were very individual, responsive to various factors, not least of which was degree of extroversion.

The questionnaire developed as a result of early answers. As ideas emerged, I pursued some lines of enquiry a little more and re-worded questions. As Creswell (c.1998) says, “our questions change during the process of the research to reflect an increased understanding of the problem” (p. 19).

As a number of these students had come under the special arrangements with the Wideweb agency, several of them had a lower level of English language than was the norm for university enrolment, but in fact in the face-to-face situation with an experienced interlocutor, there was only occasional indication of comprehension difficulty. One of the students appeared to misunderstand some questions, which was soon revealed by the answers he gave, so the original question was re-formulated. One of the students who chose to be interviewed as a pair relied on his partner, whose English was much stronger, for translation now and then. Occasionally, students seemed to be using an incorrect vocabulary item, but the context generally indicated the intended meaning. The possibility, however, must be acknowledged that language difficulties may have prevented them from presenting some thoughts which would have been forthcoming had they been speaking L1.

Transcribing, summarising and beginning preliminary analysis as I went along was also enormously helpful in giving me the opportunity to refine my questioning and interviewing manner. Transcripts were sent to those interview subjects who requested them after each round of interviews.