#3 - Rambling about language

I’m still sold on the topic of investigating the specific strategies that teachers use to promote oral language in their foreign language classrooms. Ana suggested that perhaps I find a way to integrate my interest in linguistics into the topic, which I think is a good idea. I could include into my research instrument a manner of asking instructors about their own background in linguistics and if they integrated that knowledge into their lessons (for example, explicitly telling students how to hold their mouths and in what position to place their tongue to produce more authentic and accurate speech sounds [phonemes and their allophones included] in the target language). I’m inclined to think (fully aware that this is a supposition based on my ignorance) that few k12 foreign language teachers in this region get that specific in teaching strategies to approximate a native sound. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting aspect to integrate into my study.

This week, the focus of our reading has been qualitative studying, so I will approach my topic from that perspective. Dr. Redmond, in our correspondence, has suggested that qualitative research, with a focus on in-depth one-on-one with foreign language teachers, would be the best approach for answering my general question. Besides the pitfalls of low response rate from questionnaires and surveys (which Dr. Redmond indicated is a problem from her experience), the practical insight (for my own teaching) gained from a questionnaire is likely much less than what I would gain from an interview. I must concede I believe that to be an important point. I’m inclined toward my topic not only because I find the oral aspect of language interesting, but also because I personally believe foreign language teachers (generally) could do a better job of teaching it. While a perfect accent is far from necessary, a persistent, good accent can go a long way in making yourself understood in a foreign language. Thus, I want to gain practical information I can personally use for my own classroom. That said, I could include more structured elements to an interview, perhaps a few Likert-scale type questions administered orally. I could those questions to quantify certain attitudes or the frequency of implementation of various strategies. Pairing these interviews with classroom observation, to see these oral focused strategies in action, would give me added insight of seeing how the ideas I’m exposed to from interviews are implemented in a real-life classroom.

I’m inclined to focus my study on teachers of older students, as older students would be most receptive to explicit manners of promoting oral language accuracy. Older students may have an easier time with following instructions on tongue placement or to understand specific criticisms of their pronunciation. Also, promoting accurate grammar in oral language also seems more geared towards older students, as grammar is much less of an emphasis on the elementary school level.