How to Collect  and  Analyze Qualitative Data

            Friedman discussed Qualitative Research Traditions in SLA and drew my interest in conversation analysis which I have been reading about lately. One study by Peñaflorida entitled “Teacher Talk and Student Talk in College Freshman Science Laboratory Class” is an example of this. The researcher aimed at describing and analyzing class talk in the science laboratory class. In the study, the observer concluded that the teacher’s dominance in the teacher-student interaction is evident and that students only talk as they answer questions. Further, Peñaflorida realized that the teacher often repeats the student’s reply instead of giving feedback, an act which defeats the purpose of asking questions. As a teacher, this study impacts me for I do the same in my class. I do initiation and elicitation and most of the time mine is the longest of all the sentences said during the teacher-student interaction. Further, I am guilty of not giving feedback after the student’s response to a question. Yes, the researcher is right. The purpose of asking a question is to evaluate the learner’s comprehension of the lesson; thus, giving feedback after his response to a question is necessary. Students in classes observed were oriented to speak only in L2, whether they interact with the teacher or their classmates. This instruction, I think, could have been another factor why learners performed classroom tasks by compulsion rather than by motivation. It could have been conformation to the policy which prevented them to freely express their opinions and totally interact with anybody else in the classroom, an act which defies the objective of a task-based language teaching, that is, “To communicate socially in the target language and above all, to develop the skills necessary to take part in academic study (Nunan, 1991). Based on the researcher’s findings, exploration on the topics discussed was not manifested as students demonstrated reluctance in sharing their ideas. This observation supports the idea that L2 use in the classroom prevents spontaneous interaction among participants in a class discussion/activity thus limiting students of the occasions to delve into the topic and to appreciate the learning process. The subject observed is not English but the fact that the teacher-student interaction is in this language, the situations presented can be considered suitable opportunities for students’ L2 learning, only if the teacher had been flexible about classroom rules and concerned on students’ learning rather than on pedagogic tasks and language policy.

            As a researcher, I am interested in the application of CA to my future study considering my eagerness to discover the meaning of my students’ unsolicited talks in class. My students and I speak the same language, yes. However, there are times that they seem to speak in an English language that only them understand.  This observation poses curiosity on me and an idea that should CA be applied by L2 teachers in L2 teaching-learning situations, students’ difficulties and needs on L2 education would be dealt with accordingly as the teacher would not only understand her students’ talk features that are inside the interaction but also those which are outside of it (Nunan, 1991).