Qualitative Approaches to Classroom Research 1
Qualitative Approaches to Classroom Research with
English Language Learners
Patricia A. Duff
University of British Columbia
Address:
Department of Language & Literacy Education
University of British Columbia
2125 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada
Courier:
2034 Lower Mall Road
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada
Qualitative Approaches to Classroom Research 2
ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of recent qualitative research in classrooms examining English language learners (ELLs). I first present common features of qualitative research and review debates regarding research paradigms in the social sciences and humanities. I also discuss the role of triangulation and capturing participants’ insider or emic perspectives in qualitative research and highlight various data collection methods and ways of combining macro-level and micro-level analyses, particularly in ethnographic research. Ethical issues, difficulties obtaining informed consent in classroom research, and criteria for evaluating qualitative research are then considered. Three qualitative studies that have been deemed exemplary and meritorious by scholars in English language education are then presented and some common themes in current qualitative classroom research with ELLs are identified. The chapter concludes with directions for future qualitative research.
Introduction
Over the past 2 decades, research in language education, as in other academic disciplines, has witnessed a major shift in the types and methods of research that are accepted as valid, important, and useful. Whereas quantitative studies of a psychometric nature or involving (quasi-) experimental designs might previously have been viewed as more legitimate forms of research within education and the social sciences, rigorous