Literature Review
4.6 Construction of the Instruments for Questionnaire Survey
4.5.3 Sampling Plan for Classroom Observation
Classroom observation was done in the 16 schools where the students’
questionnaire survey and interview were conducted. A total of 32 lessons (two from each school) were observed from the selected schools.
4.5.4 Sampling Plan for Assessment test
15 students were selected from each class of the selected schools. The total number of samples for assessment test was 240. Only class 10 was considered as the test aimed at exploring the effectiveness of teaching writing. Simple random sampling was used.
4.5.5 Sampling Plan for Experimental Design
Two sections were selected from class 10: one experimental group and one control group Simple random sampling was used for selecting the section.
The items were mixed up in order to avoid any kind of biased answer on the part of the respondents. However, adequate attention was paid to the question-sequence while preparing the questionnaire. Questions were arranged in such a sequence that the relation of one question to the next became clear to the respondent. The questions that were easiest to answer were set in the beginning while relatively difficult questions were set towards the end. The questions were arranged in such a way that they moved from general to the more specific.
There are five types of questions in students' questionnaire while four types in teachers' questionnaire. Section 4 of students' questionnaire and section 3 of teachers' questionnaire contain a grid consisting of five columns: ‘Not at all’, ‘Rarely’, ‘Sometimes’,
‘Very often’, and ‘Always’; each column has particular, which are assigned, values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 respectively. Respondents were asked to tick the appropriate box, to indicate how far or to what extent the procedure embodied in each item was implemented in the classroom. It was decided that a high score on the scale would imply a favourable attitude. Thus, favourable statements (i.e. statements consonant with principles of the writing skills) would be scored 5 for ‘Always’ down to 1 for ‘Not at all’. In order to elicit the correct information, unfavourable statements were also included in the questionnaire. These were particularly helpful when the respondents were unwilling to give the true information. For the scoring of unfavourable items the values were arranged in such a way that the result would mean, ‘the higher the score, the lower the writing practice’.
The respondents’ level of linguistic proficiency was taken into consideration while designing items on the instruments for the questionnaire survey and interview. In order to make the questions accessible and comprehensible to the respondents, the easiest possible language was used. Familiar words were used instead of difficult ones, and words with ambiguous meanings were carefully avoided. The use of technical terms was reduced to a minimum level and where it was not possible to avoid, it was explained in easy language.
4.6.1 Detailed Description of the Instrument for Students’ Questionnaire Survey
The students’ instrument is divided into five sections. The first section titled
‘Personal Details’ is a brief one containing five items about the personal details of the respondents. The personal details include name, age, sex, name of the institution and
class. The second section titled 'family background' contains 3 items about the parents' educational, occupational and financial status. Section three contains 10 questions that are focused on the infrastructure of the institution, materials used in the classroom and the attitude of the students in some specific issues. Section 4 contains 30 questions. This section was designed to collect information about the classroom procedure of teaching writing in Bangladesh, to see how far it conforms to classroom practices suggested in ELT and as embodied in the syllabus, methods and selected materials. They were also meant to collect information about the preference of method, practice of higher and lower order writing skills, approach and methods of teaching etc.
In the questionnaire, question nos. 11, 12, 13 are concerned with the homework, class work and class test. Item no 14 is purely focused on the preference to pair/group work and item 15 is focused on the use of technology in preparing assignment. Items 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 are focused on teaching vocabulary. Question 22 is about activities and tasks.
Question nos. 21, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 are concerned about teaching and learning of mechanics. Question nos. 28, 29 and 30 are designed to obtain information about the techniques of teaching sentence level structures adopted in the classroom. Question nos. 31 and 34 are devised in order to collect information about the ways of starting an essay or paragraph. Question no 32 and 33 deal with the concept of maintaining cohesion and coherence in a piece of writing, while question no. 35 deals with the development of an essay. Question no. 36 is concerned about the provision of model presentation. Question no.
37 is focused the importance of situation and audience, while question no. 38 is concerned with the content. Question no. 39 focuses on grammar, while 40 deals with feedback.
Section 5 of students' questionnaire contains only 3 open-ended questions. The first question deals with the level of satisfaction with the way English is being taught in the classroom. The 2nd question is concerned with the expectations of the students from the teachers, and the last question seeks students' opinion about developing proficiency in writing skills. (For the instrument, see Appendix 1).
4.6.2 Detailed Description of the Instrument for Teachers’ Questionnaire Survey
The teachers’ questionnaire consists of four parts. The first part contains personal details of the respondents: their names, designations, names of the institutions, experience, academic background etc. The second section contains 21 questions. The items of this
section were meant to collect general information about the size of the classroom, number of classes held in a single day, medium of language, problems encountered by the teachers and students in the classroom, teaching aids, stock of ELT books, importance of teachers' guide, holding tutorial classes, use of materials, training of teachers the nature of classroom procedure presently used in Bangladesh etc. They were designed to find out some general aspects on teaching writing in the classroom. Questions in Section 3 were designed to collect information about the teachers’ predisposition and preferences, concerning the teaching and learning of English. Actually this section focused on the aspects of writing skills being taught in the classroom. The questions were basically focused on lower order writing skills and practice of those aspects in the classroom.
Third section of Teachers’ questionnaire contains 29 questions. From question 32 to 60, five options were given and they were scored according to scaling. Question no 32 focuses on the mode of teaching in the classroom. Question no 33 is concerned with pair/group work, and 34 focuses on task. Question no. 35 deals with content, while 36 is focused on model presentation of different genres. Question nos. 37, 38, 39 and 40 are concerned with directed writing, while 41, 42, 43 and 44 focus on the teaching of higher order writing skills like starting and developing paragraphs in an essay. Question nos. 45, 46, 47, 48, 50 and 51 are focused process and product approach of writing. Question no.
49 is about brevity or precision of writing. Question 52 deals with teaching of vocabulary, while 53 and 54 are concerned with sentence writing. Question nos. 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60 deal with feedback.
Question nos. 61 to 73 deal with how the different aspects of writing are taught in the classroom. Here the options are different from those of the previous section since the teaching of every sub-skill may vary from one to another. Question no.61 focuses on how grammar is being taught in the classroom, while 62 is about the way of teaching preposition. Question 63 is concerned about teaching tense, and 64 is about spelling.
Question no. 65 deals with vocabulary, while 66 and 67 are focused on diction. Question nos. 68 and 69 are concerned with cohesive ties while 70 and 71 are concerned about mechanics. Question 72 is about the starting of an essay, while 73 is about the awareness of purpose and audience. 74 to 80 are purely open-ended questions focused on the challenges faced by the teachers in the classroom and their suggestions to improve the situation. (For the instrument, see Appendix 2).
The results of section three were intended to demonstrate what aspects of writing skills were being taught in the classroom and to what extent they were taught. The results of section four were intended to demonstrate how English was being taught in these two streams.
4.6.3 Description of the Instrument for Teachers’ Interview
In the interview, questions were asked orally to the respondents and the answers were written on papers. Audio tape recorder was also used. The questions were not formulated earlier. The interview was focused on eliciting qualitative data. The questions that emerged during those sessions have been presented in an organised order in the appendix. The information that were collected from the teachers included: suitability of the syllabus in the local context, barriers in implementing the syllabus, availability of materials, scope of teaching writing in the syllabus, syllabus designing, importance of literature in language teaching, opinion about process and product approach of writing, approach followed in checking the scripts, feedback, teaching sub skills etc. (for the Instrument, see Appendix 4).
4.6.4 Description of the Instrument for Principal's Interview
The questions were asked orally to the respondents and the answers were written on papers. Audio tape recorder was used also. The questions were not formulated earlier and the interview stressed on eliciting qualitative data. The questions that emerged during those sessions have been presented in an organised order in the appendix (See Appendix 5). The information collected from the heads of the institutions encompassed: the recruitment procedure of teachers, provision of monitoring teachers, teachers' evaluation by the students, initiatives taken by the school authority for the training of teachers, the present situation of English language study in the institution, results of English language in comparison with other subjects, special measures for writing skill development, evaluation system, social and financial status of the teachers, provision of ACR , teaching environment, challenges etc.
4.6.5 Description of the Instrument for Interviewing Key Informants
The same procedure adopted in teachers’ and principals’ Interview has been followed here. Issues that emerged during the interview with teachers and Principals, more or less dominated the interview with key informants as well. This is why, the questions have not been presented in the appendix.