English Language Teaching in its Social Context

326 JOAN SWANNmay be hard to do this where you are observing in your own institution ~ the identityof those you refer to may be apparent to other colleagues. One solution is to tliscusswith colleagues or students how much confidentiality they feel is necessary and howthis may be maintained.In what ways should you consult those you have recorded about the dissemination and furtheruse fyour work? People may give permission to be recorded for a certain purpose, butwhat if' your purposcs change? E.g. you may wish to disseminate your work to a wideraudience, or to use a video obtained for your research in a professional developmentsession with local teachers.For those interested in the relationships between researchers and 'the rescarched' , Cameronet a]. (1992) is a useful source. Professional organisations also provide research guidelines- see for instance the British Association for Applied Linguistics (1994) Recommendations onGood Practice in Applied Linguistics.The sections that follow provide practical guidance on making audio and videorecordings, making fieldnotes to supplement these recordings, and transcribing talk fordetailed analysis.Making audio and video recordingsWhen planning to record talk in classrooms or othcr educational settings, it is importantto allow adequate time for this. Unlers recording equipment is routinely used, you will needto allow time to collect, set up and check equipment.You will also need to pilot your datacollection methods to ensure that it is possible to record clearly the kinds of data you areinterested in. When you have made your recordings you will need time to play and replaythese to become familiar with your data and to make transcriptions.An initial decision concerns whether to make audro or video recordings. Videos areparticularly useful for those with an interest in non-verbal behaviour; they are also usefulfor showing how certain activities are carried out, or certain equipment used. On the otherhand, video cameras are likely to be more intrusive then audio rccorders, and you may alsofind it harder to obtain a clear recording of speech.I have set out bclow some practical points to bear in mind when making a choicebetween audio and video recordings.After you have made recordings, it is useful to make a separate note of the date, timeand context of each sequence, and then summarize the content (use the cassette playercounter to make an index of your tape and help you locate extracts again).Audio or video recordings?A udio-recordingsAn audio-cassette recorder can be intrusive - though this is less likely to be thecase in classrooms where pupils are used to being recorded, or recordingthemselves. Intrusiveness is more of a problem if' cassette recorders are uscdin contexts where talk is not normally recorded, and where there is not theopportunity for recording to become routine (e.g. staff or other meetings).