CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the process of doing this research. This includes research questions, research design, research site and participants, data collection and data analysis.
3.1 Statement of Problems
The study was inspired by the necessity of EAP course students, especially those taking IELTS training, of getting the minimum IELTS total band of 6.5 to be admitted in most universities in Australia and England. The data of students’ achievement taken from several times of practice tests showed that their writing competence was not good enough. It was supported by their mean scores of writing practice test which were below 6. For that reason, the students’ problems in writing hindering the students obtaining the score needed should be seriously addressed and solved.
3.2 Research Design
A case study is chosen because the phenomena being observed is so complex that a variety of different kinds of data is needed in order to gain a full picture Wray et al., (1988:188). The phenomenon was complex since, related to the research questions, the students’ problems in writing, especially EFL writing and also writing for exam, might be varied. Therefore, it needed a variety of different kinds of data to gain a complete picture. In this case, the researcher used triangulation of data collection methods involving classroom observation, interviews with the teacher and the students, and documentation of students’ texts. Verschuren (2003, cited in Dornyei, 2011: 152) says that although case studies are typically discussed under the label of qualitative research (because a single case cannot be representative of a population), actual case studies often include quantitave data collection instruments as well as questionnaires. Thus, the case study is not a specific technique but rather a method of collecting and organizing data so as to maximize our understanding of the unitary character of the social being or object studied.
Besides, it was a case study since it was carried out in “a small scale, a single case” (Stake, 1985: 278, cited in Emilia, 2005). It “focused on one particular instance of educational experience or practice” (Freebody, 2003: 81), employed “multiple data collections and analytic procedures” (Freebody, 2003: 83).
3.3 Setting
state university in Bandung. The EAP course has two programs: TOEFL and IELTS training, but in this research, the IELTS training program was preferred since IELTS has been a high stake test covering four language skills.
The research site was chosen for several reasons. Firstly, this research site has been conducting EAP courses focusing on the IELTS Academic Module for pre-departure students of the Directorate of Higher Education for several terms. It is more reliable to conduct the research here than in an institution that has just opened a new EAP course focusing on the IELTS academic module.
Secondly, having been a teaching member in this language center for almost five years, the researcher hoped to get access easily to the research site, and thus to increase feasibility of the study. The researcher’s familiarity with the situation in the research site was expected to lead to a more natural conduct of research, in the context that normally occurs.
In addition, this research site is easy to reach by the researcher. Moleong (2005:128) states that the limitation of geographies and practice such as time, cost and energy should be considered in determining the research site.
3.4 Participants
quite similar. Besides, based on the preliminary study, it was shown that the students faced similar problems in completing Writing tasks. Therefore, the researcher used one class as population. As to the sample, this research used purposive sampling in that participants were not chosen randomly as individuals. With the help of the Writing teacher, who knew the students’ achievement well, the students were chosen as representatives of three groups, namely: above average, average, and below average achievers based on their average IELTS scores for academic writing from the writing practice tests. Above average group consisted of three students whose average score for writing was more than 5.5, average group consisted of three students whose average score for writing was between 5 and 5.5, and the last, below average group comprised three students whose average score for writing was below 5.
All participants were between 30-38 years of age, four males and five males. They were originally from the Javanese ethnic group, having Bahasa Jawa as their mother tongue. Bahasa Indonesia is their second language and English is thus their foreign language.
Six students involved in this study had taken English courses but none of them had taken any EAP course or the real IELTS test. All participants enrolled this EAP focusing on IELTS training since they intended to take a PhD program in universities in Australia and England, and they were granted by the Directorate of Higher Education for taking this course.
different majors. Their majors include Computer Science, Biology Education, Anthropology, Research and Education, Management, Hard Science Education, Education Technology, Electrical Engineering, and Agricultural Engineering.
3.5 Data Collection
As stated above, this study employed a qualitative research and several data collection techniques. There were three data collection techniques used in this study including interview, questionnaires, and documentation of students’ texts.
3.5.1 Classroom Observation
Observation is one of qualitative forms of data (Creswell, 2008: 220). Observations represent a frequently used form of data collection, in which the researcher is able to assume different roles in the process (Spradley, 1980, cited in Creswell, 2008). In this study, the researcher was a non-participant observer. She was an observer who visited the research site and recorded notes without becoming involved in the activities of the participants. Creswell (2008: 222-223) says that the nonparticipant observer is an “outsider” who sits on periphery or some advantageous place to watch and record the phenomenon under study (i.e. the back of the classroom).
students. Further, the researcher made notes of what was said and what was done by both the teacher and the students in classroom interaction.
Unfortunately, the classroom activities were not recorded. This may become the weakness of the study. However, Alwasilah (2002: 226) states that researchers are suggested to videotape the observation. This implies that videotaping is not a
must. Instead, a researcher must be a good note taker who is able to note the whole activity in the classroom. In this case, the researcher had tried to be a good note-taker who noted the activities covering all that the teacher and the students said and did.
3.5.2 Documentation of Students’ Texts
This technique constitutes the ways to elicit the information by analyzing the written or visual contents of a document (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1993:385). In line with Travers (2001:5), the researcher could gain a lot of data from documents available. They can be a valuable source of information in qualitative research (Creswell, 2008: 230) since they provide the advantage of being in the language and words of participants, who have usually given thoughtful attention to them.
As stated above, the participants whose texts analyzed were chosen based on their level of achievements as recorded by their writing teacher. In collecting documents, the researcher collected nine students’ texts in the form of Writing Task 1 of IELTS Academic Module.
practice test. These texts were chosen based on a consideration that they could represent the students’ achievement after taking the IELTS preparation program for about three months.
The texts were written based on a task. The participants were given a chart giving information about global population percentages and distribution of wealth by region. Then, they were asked to summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparison where relevant. As usual, for accomplishing Writing Task 1 candidates are suggested to spend about 20 minutes on writing at least 150 words.
The texts collected were analyzed based on the assessment criteria of Writing Task 1 of IELTS Academic Module. The data found then were classified into four categories: problems related to task achievement, problems related coherence and cohesion, problems related to lexical resources, and problems related to grammatical rage and accuracy.
3.5.3 Interview
research techniques available for researchers, the interview is the most often used method in qualitative inquiries. It is regularly applied in a variety of applied linguistic contexts for diverse purposes.
In this study, the researcher conducted interviews with the teacher and the students for obtaining information to address the research questions. Interview with the writing teacher was done to investigate the teaching and learning activities in the writing class, and find the solution to solve the students’ problems. Besides, interview with the students was conducted to identify what the students and teacher did to minimize the problems of students in writing.
Interview with the teacher was conducted at the end of the observation. Interview with the student was conducted after the observations.
There were two reasons why interviews were conducted in this research. First, they were to confirm and/or to verify the data obtained from observations. Second, it was expected that the data gained through observations could be made clearer by the presence of interview data.
The researcher conducted ‘semi-structured interview’ type since it offered a compromise between the two extremes (Dornyei, 2011: 136):
“Although there is aset of pre-prepared guiding questions and prompts, the format is open-ended and the interviewee is encouraged to elaborate on the issues raised in an explanatory manner. In other words, the interviewer provides guidance and direction (hence the ‘structured’ - part in name), but is also keen to follow up an interesting developments and to let the interviewee elaborate on certain issue (hence the ‘semi’ – part).”
Related to the recent study, the researcher had a good enough overview of the phenomenon in question as she was a also one of the teaching members in which the study conducted and was able to develop broad questions about the topic in advance but she did not want to use ready-made response categories that would limit the depth and breadth of the respondents’ story.
3.6 Data Analysis
Data analysis is different from data collection. It is recursive and dynamic (Merriam, 1998:156). In this research, data analysis was conducted during and after data collection. It was done simultaneously with ongoing activities related to teaching and learning activities in writing, especially Writing Task 1 of IELTS Academic Module. As stated previously, this study collected the data from classroom observations, documentation of students’ texts and interviews. Then, all data gathered were analyze, summarized, and then classified.
Regarding the task achievement, all the texts were analyzed to examine the students’ ability in interpreting the task and in summarizing significant features of the graph or diagram. Moreover, those texts were observed to see the students’ ability in including key data to support and completing the summary, in using complete sentence and in avoiding using bullets, and also in writing at least 150 words in 20 minutes.
The analysis of cohesion was related to how the students’ words were linked to form sentences, and how their sentences were joined together logically to form the argument – all was achieved if the students applied correct agreement between subject and verb; with number (singular and plural forms); agreement with case (word forms before and after verbs; and possessive forms); and gender forms. Besides, it analyzed the sequence and order of tenses, and verb forms for different tenses that help organize information in the text; articles (a/an and the); pronouns; and conjunction (joining words) that are important for linking ideas, causes and results, giving reasons, presenting conditions and contingencies, and explaining and clarifying statements.
The analysis of lexical resources referred to students’ ability in using a range of vocabulary across academic topic areas and paraphrasing to easily and clearly summarize and described a variety of graphic texts with an appropriate tone and level of formality. Then, it involved the command of word forms (for example, machine, mechanic, mechanization, mechanical, mechanize, mechanically). It also focused on the correct spelling (the number of spelling mistakes is a clear indicator of language ability), and punctuation.
The students’ command of the grammar of English: active and passive voice structures and the correct use of preposition of time and place were analyzed to know their problems in grammatical range and accuracy. Furthermore the analysis was on the sentence types: the use of a mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences of varying length. In additional, it observed the length of sentences.
