Questions
If you were to design ethnographic diaries in order to research a particular context and group of learners and/or teachers with which you are familiar, what would the key features of the diaries be, and why? For example, to what extent would the diary be structured or unstructured? How often would you ask participants to update their diary? Would the diary follow a “traditional” paper-and-pen format or make use of new technologies?
In what ways do you think your decisions and actions as a researcher might affect the data? How would you deal with these issues during the process of data analysis and interpretation?
Note
1 1 Although diary-based research into language teaching and learning can be traced back to the early 1980s (e.g., Bailey, 1981 study of an individual’s language learning experience, and her 1983 examination of competitiveness and anxiety among adult learners; Brown’s, 1985 exploration of the differences between adult and young learners), more recent diary studies remain relatively uncommon. Published studies include Yi’s (2008) investigation into teachers’ perceptions and use of rating schemes, Lopera Medina’s (2013) study of the teaching of reading, and Farrell’s (2013) account of teachers’ own professional development through diary-writing. Meanwhile, learners’ experiences and concerns have occasionally been uncovered through diary approaches, including fluctuations in the motivation of an individual learner (Casanave, 2012), the language anxiety experienced by students in a specific class (Gkonou, 2012), and more general difficulties and constraints on learning English experienced by students within an institution (Huang, 2005).
Suggested Reading
1 Alaszewski, A. (2006). Using diaries for social research. London: SAGE.
References
1 Alaszewski, A. (2006). Using diaries for social research. London: SAGE.
2 Allwright, D. (1984). Why don’t learners learn what teachers teach? The interaction hypothesis. In D. Singleton & D. Little (Eds.), Language learning in formal and informal contexts (pp. 3–18). IRAAL.
3 Allwright, D. (1992). Making sense of classroom language learning. Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Linguistics, Lancaster University.
4 Ansell, N. (2001). Producing knowledge about “third world women”: The politics of fieldwork in a Zimbabwean school. Ethics, Place & Environment, 4(2), 1010–1016. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668790123027
5 Atkinson, P., & Hammersley, M. (1994). Ethnography and participant observation. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 248–261). London: SAGE.
6 Avineri, N. (2017). Research methods for language teaching. Palgrave Macmillan.
7 Bailey, K. (1981). An introspective analysis of an individual’s language learning experience. In S. Krashen & R. Scarcella (Eds.), Issues in second language acquisition: Selected papers of the Los Angeles Second Language Research Forum (pp. 58–65). Newbury House.
8 Bailey, K. (1983). Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: Looking at and through the diary studies. In H. W. Seliger & M. H. Long (Eds.), Classroom-oriented research in second language acquisition (pp. 67–102). Newbury House.
9 Bailey, K. (1991). Diary studies of classroom language learning: The doubting game and the believing game. In E. Sadtono (Ed.), Language acquisition and the second/foreign language classroom, Anthology Series #28 (pp. 60–102). SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
10 Block, D. (1996). A window on the classroom: Classroom events viewed from different angles. In K. Bailey & D. Nunan (Eds.), Voices from the language classroom (pp. 168–194). Cambridge University Press.
11 Blommaert, J., & Jie, D. (2010). Ethnographic fieldwork: A beginner’s guide. Multilingual Matters.
12 Bolger, N., Davis, A., & Rafaeli, E. (2003). Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 579–616. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145030
13 Breen, M. (2001). The social context for language learning: A neglected situation? In C. Candlin & N. Mercer (Eds.), English language teaching in its social context (pp. 122–144). Routledge.
14 Briggs, J. (2020). Grappling with originality and grounding in qualitative data analysis. In J. McKinley & H. Rose (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics (pp. 182–191). Routledge.
15 Brown, C. (1985). Requests for specific language input: Differences between older and younger adult language learners. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 272–284). Newbury House.
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17 Casanave, C. (2012). Diary of a dabbler: Ecological influences on an EFL teacher’s efforts to study Japanese informally. TESOL Quarterly, 46(4), 642–670. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.47
18 Casanave, C. (2017). Representing the self honestly in published research. In J. McKinley & H. Rose (Eds.), Doing research in applied linguistics: Realities, dilemmas and solutions (pp. 235–242). Routledge.
19 Clayton, A.-M., & Thorne, T. (2000). Diary data enhancing rigour: Analysis framework and verification tool. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32(6), 1514–1521. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01609.x.
20 Elliott, H. (1997). The use of diaries in sociological health research. Sociological Research Online, 2(2). http://www.socresonline.org.uk/2/2/7.html
21 Erikson, F. (1986). Qualitative methods in research on teaching. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 119–161). Rand McNally.
22 Farrell, T. (2013). Teacher self-awareness through journal writing. Reflective Practice, 14(4), 465–471. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.806300
23 Fine, G. (1993). Ten lies of ethnography: Moral dilemmas of the research field. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22(3), 267–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124193022003001
24 Freeman, D. (1996). Redefining the relationship between research and what teachers should know. In K. Bailey & D. Nunan (Eds.), Voices from the language classroom (pp. 88–115). Cambridge University Press.
25 Gaies, S. (1980). Classroom-centred research: Some consumer guidelines. Paper presented at the Second Annual TESOL Summer Meeting. Alberquerque, NM.
26 Gkonou, C. (2012). A diary study on the causes of English language classroom anxiety. International Journal of English Studies, 13(1), 51–68. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2013/1/134681
27 Halbach, A. (2000). Finding out about students’ learning strategies by looking at their diaries: A case study. System, 28, 85–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(99)00062-7
28 Hall, G. (2008). An ethnographic diary study. ELT Journal, 62(2), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccm088
29 Hall,