2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Facework and peer interaction in group work tasks from an emic and an etic perspective
| Project/Area Number |
19K13299
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| Research Institution | Reitaku University |
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Principal Investigator |
チジャック オルガ 麗澤大学, 外国語学部, 講師 (70803948)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | peer interaction / face threatening acts / face saving strategies / group work / collaborative learning / interactional patterns |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Over the course of five weeks, communicative group work activities in an intact German university course were video-recorded. The course consisted of 15 students in the second half of their first year. The overall level was between A1 and A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The total length of interactional data amounts to 6 hours. Subsequently introspective data was gathered in video-based recall sessions with five students who volunteered. The total length of recall data amounts to 11hours and 24 minutes. Both datasets have been transcribed according to HIAT (German: "HalbaInterpretative Arbeitstranskriptionen", English: Semi-Interpretative Working Transcription) and analyzed. Through a conversational analysis approach typical patterns in the group work interactions were retraced, while a content analysis of the introspective data makes the learners’ individual decisions visible. For example, noticing an error leads to different possible strategies such as not saying anything, confirmation checks, laughing friendly or giving hints for self-correction. These actions may also be combined with each other and realized in L1 as well as in L2. There are strong indications that a low number of language specific negotiations is not so much characteristic for uncooperative group work, but rather evidence for the use of face-saving strategies to ensure harmonious interactions. At the present moment the overall analysis has been finished.
First results have been presented at different conferences and in two peer reviewed journals.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The overall analysis has been finished by the end of April 2020. One major reason for the rather smooth progression that I was able to pilot the project in 2018 thanks to a grant by Reitaku University, so that I could plan the actual data collection as well as the data preparation beforehand. Especially the collection of the second data set, the video based recall interviews, went smoothly, thanks to the cooperation of the volunteering students as well as my colleagues. Further, I was able to employ a student assistant who helped a lot with the transcription of the data and some general coding procedures for the qualitative data analysis.
Two other factors were the extremely helpful feedback at the conferences in 2019 as well as the cancelation of several events due to COVID-19 in March and April of the present year, which gave me the opportunity to organize my workday very efficiently.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The next step starting this May is to connect the results of the analysis to build a framework for a theory about how face saving strategies impact group work activities. To ensure the validity of my findings I will have to embed my results in the theoretical background, so the general procedure will be to study the existing literature and re-analyse my data.
To my knowledge there has been no studies yet in foreign language education which connect peer interaction in a language class focussing on face saving strategies. Based on my analysis I am going to describe face sensitive situations in group work settings and how students are handling such situations. On one hand, different types of face threats lead to different types of strategies, on the other hand those strategies are also influenced by factors like task type and individual roles within the group. The description of the underlying patterns will lead to a theoretical framework for face management in peer interaction.
For the present year I am focussing on the elaboration of the theory. Furthermore, I am planning on presenting my research at two online conferences in July and October in 2020 and hoping be able to travel again by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021 for further scientific exchange possibilities, such as the FaDaF in March 2021 in Kassel, Germany or the IVG congress in Palermo in July. In my experience an online discussion is not an adequate substitute for a an actual conference. Moreover, especially older literature has not been digitalized and is only available in certain libraries in Europe.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Since I was planning to attend to two conferences in March 2020 in Germany which both were cancelled the travel expenses were reduced. I am hoping to be able to travel again by the end of the present year or the beginning of the next year and present my results at more conferences during this fiscal year. Meanwhile, I will have to buy relevant publications, which I usually would have used at libraries.
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