Summary
2. Hypothesis
The problem lies in the privilege or devaluing scenario that a student gets when he either was able to be included in the classroom EFL or not respectively. Therefore, a hypothesis was stated such that: “the mismatch of Asian students’ classroom silences and the expectations set up by Western teachers’ desire for vocal response” (Mack, 2012). This only means that those students who are vocal and eager to state what’s on their minds are more intellectual and can comprehend easily, while those who are not are passive and don’t understand their lessons. This scenario only results to teachers who divide their class into responsive (or brilliant) students and making them more privileged than the silent ones.
3. Independent and Dependent Variables
For this study, the independent variables are Asian ethnicity, language-inhibitions, contextual elements and teaching methodology. On the other hand the dependent variable is the response of the students on the aforementioned variable, whether he or she becomes an active participant to oral communication or a passive one.
4. Research Design
On the other note, the research design questions are both quantitative and qualitative since the interviewer used both interviews and surveys. The interviewees were AE2 students who attended a 28-week class. In addition, the type of research design was a pretest/posttest control group. The interviewer conducted a whole-class survey in the first and last quarter of the classes of the student and then analyzed the changes made in their ratings. Also, the results obtained from the survey were used to construct interview questions and incorporate it in the impromptu questions. The interviews were made in week 7 which was then followed by a supplement interview by the week 27. It is obvious that the interviewer used the pre and posttest evaluation since there was a need to analyze whether there was a change in mindset because of the indoctrination.
5. Sampling
As stated above, the samples were students who were currently taking up AE2, 85 students to be exact. All of these 85 students were given the survey while only 15 of them were personally interviewed; the interviewer only chose those who volunteered. The students are not grouped anymore since only two sets of data gathering were used. There were three instances where the answers of the 85 students were collected;
6-7. Instruments used to gather data and Limitations
The researcher used the so-called “thematic constructs” and the open response of the survey was used so that the problems encountered such as the perspective and notion regarding oral participation would be minimized. Unfortunately during the conduction of research there were problems encountered which was then inevitable. Some of these are a person can’t be pushed too hard to answer properly the survey questions; another is that there can be instances wherein the methodology used could hinder the person interviewed from peaking up, jeopardizing the results or outcome of the study. One must know more importantly the background of the respondents prior to conducting the research or interview so as to minimize conflicts. Hence, t can therefore be concluded that the characteristics of the subject matters in the study as well as that of the system of collecting and analyzing data. It must be greatly thought of and several plans must be prepared to avoid any forthcoming problems.
8. Ethical Procedures
Moreover, I believe that there was no misbehavior or misconduct performed by the interviewers since there was consent from the students and teachers to conduct both the survey and interview. However, it should be taken into account that permissions or consents should have a written proof just to be sure that you have something in hand when time comes that the respondents suddenly felt violated and such.
9. Quality of Reseach
Lastly, the research was really helpful in understanding the relationship among the variables stated. It is very important that an educator understands his or her students to facilitate greater learning that will help them in the future. Especially this case wherein a student is be having a hard time voicing out his or her knowledge given the circumstances that he or she was prejudged. This study opened the eyes of many that one must care for one another especially if communication is the problem. Lesson learned is that race or color or culture should not be a hindrance to make you feel confident and state anything you know right; knowledge is not merely based on what you know but how well you impart them to others. One must have the courage to present him or herself to anyone provided that he is prepared of what he is going to say.
References
Mack, L. (2012). Does every student have a voice? Critical action research on equitable classroom participation practices. Language Teaching Research, 16(3): 417-434
