English Language Teaching in its Social Context

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 55for language learning. One might legitimately challenge this assumption however. It has beensuggested that classroom L2 acquisition is likely to proceed most smoothly if learners enjoythe same participant rights as their teacher (Pica 1987). Howcvcr, teachers’ questions, in anyform, imply an asymmetrical power structure in the classroom and, therefore, may not bethe most effective way of creating conditions conducive to language learning. A more seriousproblem is that the applicd science view of teaching allocates particular roles to researchersand to teachers, which are necessarily social and value ladcn in nature. Researchers are theproducers of knowlcdge while teachers are consumers; researchers are experts whereasteachers are mere technicians. The applied science view, therefore, implies a hicrarchicalrelationship between researchers and teachers (hence the term ‘top-down’), mirroring thckind of division which exists between teachers and students in traditional classrooms and,arguably, reinforcing it.At first glance, the interpretative tradition of research avoids many of these problems.By adhering to what van Lier (1 990) calls the emic principle (i.e. try to understand how asocial context works through the perspectives of the participants) and thc holistic principle(i.c. try to understand something in terms of its natural surroundings), it may makeapplication to differcnt contexts less problematic, if only because teachers will be able to seeclearly whether their own teaching contexts are the same as, or different from, the contextsstudied in the research. Also intcrpretative research does not claim to provide objectiveknowledge. Indeed, it makes a virtue of seeking out subjective knowledgc.’Thus, even thoughinterpretative rcscarch may have theory construction as its ultimate goal, it can be consideredpractical in nature. Carr and Kemmis (1 986) explain how interpretative accounts facilitatedialogue between interested parties (i.e. researchers and teachers).They can lead to changesin the way actors comprehend themselves and thcir situations; ‘practices arc understood bychanging the ways in which they are understood’ ( hd.: 91). In fact, interpretative researchachieves validity whcn it passes the test of participant confirmation.Thus, the beliefs, values,and perceptions of teachers are not ignorcd (or controlled) as in educational research in theconfirmatory tradition, but are given a constitutive place in the research. Thc traffic of ideasbetwecn researcher and teacher is, potentially at least, two way.Again, though, there arc problems. One is that because interpretative rescarchinsists on explanations that are consistent with the participants’ own pcrceptions it runs therisk of accepting accounts that are illusory. Obviously, actors can be mistaken, so theirinterpretations of events need to be examined critically. In other words, adherence to theemic principle can lead to faulty understandings. The holistic principle is also problematic.It can result in information that is too rich, so detailed that the wood cannot be seen for thetrees. The major problem, however, as with confirmatory research, lies in the relationshipbetween the researcher and the teacher. For, although the gap has been narrowed, they stillinhabit different worlds. Carr and Kemmis (1 986: 99) put it this way:Despite thcir differences . . . both the ‘interpretative’ and the positivist [;.e. confirmatory]approach convey a similar understanding of cducational researchers and ofthe relationship to the research act. In both approachcs, the researcher stands outsidethc researched situation adopting a disinterested stance in which any explicit concernwith critically evaluating and changing the educational realities being analysed isrejected.The truth of this is evident in what is perhaps the best piece of interpretative research in SLAto date ~ van Lier’s (1988) study of aspects of classroom discourse (i.e. turn-taking, topicand activity, and rcpair work). Although van Lier offers a few comments on how teachers