http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Role of the student's culture in second language acquisition
This case study reports on a doctoral research project conducted in a school using ethnography as the research method. The study aimed to identify the reason why students from some cultures appeared to take longer to acquire English for academic study than students from other cultures. As the culture of the students seemed to be the most relevant differentiating factor, the research methodology was based on the work of Pertti Alasuutari. The research method used was qualitative rather than quantitative and employed a variety of methods to provide different viewpoints of the situation. The methods used to collect data included observations in and out of classes; interviews (both structured and unstructured) with parents, teaching colleagues, and students; journal writing by the researcher and the participants; and case studies. Alasuutari refers to the next phase of the research process after data collection as unriddling. Here, the researcher re-reads, reflects, and compares the findings from the different methods to obtain a deeper view of what is going on. An important part of this unriddling process is called triangulation whereby the observations and conclusions from different methods of approach are compared to confirm or reject the findings. Both unriddling and triangulation of findings are essential to confirm the truth and reliability of the research findings and final conclusions.
Includes bibliographical references and index.