Gathering  the  data

4.2.1 The interview sessions and the interview guide

In the e-mail I sent to the novice teachers, I suggested that I could come to their school to have the interview there, but I added that it was also possible for them to come to the University of Oslo and have the interview there – if that by any chance was easier for them.

One of the respondents preferred to have the interview at the University of Oslo and one respondent invited me to his home, close to the university. The five other interviews were held at the respondents’ workplaces. The interviews were conducted in a quiet room without any disturbances. One respondent, who is from the USA and has English as his mother tongue, wished to have the interview in English, as he did not feel confident enough with his                                                                                                                

1This particular respondent is also a Spanish teacher and was also interviewed about her education and teaching in Spanish by the other researcher. Also another respondent (one of the six I contacted first), who teaches Norwegian in addition to English, was asked questions about her Norwegian education and teaching by yet

Norwegian. The other interviews were held in Norwegian. Before starting the interview I outlined the background for the study and how the interview would be structured, in addition to assuring them their anonymity. I brought with me a consent form for the sound recording, which the respondents signed. I also asked them if they had any questions before we started the interview. The interviews were audio-recorded and lasted for approximately 35 to 50 minutes.

The interviews were based on the interview guide, but the order in which the

questions were covered varied, depending on what the respondents talked about. The opening question was the same in each interview and was rather wide. Since it was a semi-structured interview, I could follow the direction of the respondent, and therefore the actual structure of each interview differed somewhat. At the same time I made sure I went through all the questions and that we covered all the topics. I also included some follow-up questions, of which some about writing, as this is the main focus of this study.

I started the interview by telling the respondents that I was interested in their subject knowledge, what kind of subject knowledge they regard important and what they possibly would prefer to have more knowledge of (see interview guide in Appendix 1). I then asked them the opening question: “What is the English subject to you?” (“Hva er engelskfaget for deg?”) The interview further covered the following topics: the respondents’ English subject education, the English school subject and the Didactics of English course. The respondents were then asked what they consider to be the central constituent of the English school subject and what they found central in their English subject education. Next they were asked about how they evaluate their subject knowledge of the part of the subject they find most central, and how they acquired that knowledge. The respondents were then asked questions about the different parts of the English school subject: oral communication, written communication, literature, culture and history, and English as a global language. They were asked how they considered the importance of each of these parts in their teaching, how they judge their subject knowledge of these different parts of the subject and how confident they feel, and how they have acquired their subject knowledge. They were also asked if they had taught at vocational study programmes. Furthermore, they were asked what they consider to be most challenging with the English subject. Another topic was didactics of English, and what kind of position the respondents assign to the didactics course, in relation to the English school subject and the English university courses.

I also asked the respondents about their educational background, including their particular degree, what other subjects they have studied in addition to English, how many

credits they have in English and if they had any special language background, such as educational stays in English-speaking countries. At the end of the interview I asked the respondents if they wanted to add something or if they felt that something had not been communicated clear enough.

As mentioned in 4.1.4, two of the interviews were conducted together with two other researchers, of which one from foreign language didactics, and one from Norwegian

didactics, from the research project “Språklærerutdanningene i Lektorprogrammet – fagutdanningene i norsk, engelsk og fremmedspråk og nyutdannede læreres utfordringer”

[Language teacher education in the five-year teacher education programme – Norwegian, English and foreign languages programmes and challenges for novice teachers]. The interview guide was mutual for these subjects (see Appendix 1). During the interview we took turns asking questions. We agreed prior to the interviews on how to proceed, and the respondents had accepted two interviewers.

With regard to the two interviews with the two experienced teachers I used the same procedure as described above. The interview with the retired English teacher took place in her home and the interview with the other experienced teacher was conducted at her

workplace. Both interviews were conducted in Norwegian. I used the same interview guide as with the other respondents, in addition to some supplementary questions about the writing project (see Appendix 2).

4.2.2 The respondents

As previously stated, I interviewed seven novice teachers: four female and three male. I have given the respondents pseudonyms in order to ensure anonymity: Anne, Kristine, Thomas, Jane, Pete, Martin and Sara. Thomas, Jane and Sara work at upper secondary schools in Oslo, while Anne, Kristine, Pete and Martin work at upper secondary schools in Akershus county. I also interviewed two experienced female teachers (of which one is retired), which I have given the pseudonyms: Elisabeth and Karen. They have both worked at the same upper secondary school in Akershus county. More information on the novice teachers is provided in subsection 5.1, and on the experienced teachers in subsection 5.7.