tion of intuitive insights.
10. Its emphasis on social processes.
The method to be selected will be that of participant observation, wherein, however, the researcher/observer functions primarily as an observer while participating sufficiently to establish appropriate rapport with the target-population. The main reasons for this choice are the young age of the children to be observed, viz. six years old first-graders, as well as the general educational approach of the language program, viz. communicative.
The Project will use the naturalistic contrived situations approach, in which the observer intervenes in a natural situation in a manner that cannot be detected by the subjects. Given the time constraint, the relatively large population (26 children), and the participation of only one researcher/observer, the research situation will have to be contrived if the level of intensity and the actual occurrence of the events are to be reasonably and contrivedly manipulated.
The evaluation of the observer's work will be based on the following criteria used to judge the validity in which the participant's observations will be carried out (Smith, 1978):
1. The quality of direct on-site observations.
3. The intensity of the observations.
4. The qualitative and quantitative data.
5. The triangulation of multimethods.
Classroom observations will be limited to daily ESL classes of 50 minutes each over a period of 12 weeks. Three types of observational variables will be distinguished, viz. descriptive, inferential, and evaluative. Descriptive variables will form the basis of the observations, because they have the advantage of requiring little inference on the part of the observer and, consequently, are more likely to yield reliable data.
For this Project, I shall record all utterances of certain key phrases which lead to meaningful communication. Likewise, I shall record all responsive and interactive behaviors invol...