Barton (2006) explains that conducting interviews after, and in addition to, surveying helps researchers add more depth to quantitative data collection:
Interviews can enrich interpretations that researchers make about quantitative results of their studies using pre-existing survey items... Although particularly useful for interpreting survey results, interviews can also contribute to the body of knowledge about [respondents'] reactions to [survey topics].
(Barton, 2006)
The questions forming the interviews were derived both from the contents of the survey and from the predictions and discussions of relevant research38. The interview questions were ultimately constructed to further answer the research aims: 1) What attitudes do Canadian and Norwegian teachers have toward the target accents? 2) How appropriate do the two groups feel these accents are in the language classroom? and 3) What are the implications these findings bring to the language classroom? Prior to conducting the interviews, a pilot interview was conducted in order to ensure that the interview questions were clearly structured and easy to follow, and that technical elements such as recording devices39 behaved as anticipated.
While the researcher made sure to work through a series of the same 13 prepared questions40 with each interviewee, the interview followed a semi-structured set-up, which allowed for divergence from the prepared questions if this proved to be relevant to the thesis. A relaxed, conversational flow permitted the researcher to ask for further explanation, clarifications and descriptions in order to do justice to the complexity of the topic and to encourage uninhibited conversation. When the researcher posed questions that explored reactions to theoretical aspects, such as opinions of Kachru’s (1988) myths of the uses and users of English or Jenkins’(2006) suggestion that only pronunciation that is unintelligible should be considered incorrect, the theory was first explained fully and in detail, in order to avoid making the respondents look or feel ignorant (Glesne, 1999). The length of the recorded interviews was approximately 45 minutes per participant. After being recorded on a computer, the interviews were transcribed and the audio recordings were deleted to protect the anonymity of the respondents.
Three Norwegian and three Canadian teachers were interviewed. As discussed in chapter 2.4b, Canada belongs to Kachru's (1992) Inner Circle, and the status of English in Canada, where it is a mother tongue to the majority of the population, is clearly different to the situation of
38 Chapter 2.2c discusses the theory that inspired the interview questions; in particular issues discussed by Jenkins (2006a), Kachru (1992b), Kirkpatrick (2007) and Seidlhofer (2005) inspired the interview questions.
39 The interviews were conducted in a closed room and recorded as audio files on a Mac computer.
40 The interview questions are included in appendix B.
teaching methods of English in the two target countries make it difficult to compare what is happening on Canadian and Norwegian soil. However, the study ultimately aimed to reveal how speakers from countries that were traditionally labeled ‘Expanding’ and ‘Inner Circle’ evaluated the target accents, and thus to offer perspectives from both the Inner and Expanding Circles countries, while considering whether these labels are still infact appropriate labels.
Nevertheless, the varying nature of English in Norway and Canada presented a challenge to the methodology. An attempt was made to level potential bias by avoiding exclusively English teachers in Canada who taught English only to mother tongue Canadians. Instead, both the interviews and the surveys were limited to responses from Canadians who had previously or currently worked as English second language teachers. The interviewees had some important factors in common, namely that all had undergone teacher training at a university level and were currently or had been recently English teachers to students who were not English mother tongue speakers. Some factors were unique to the different interviewees, such as years of teaching experience and the ages of their students. All of the interviewees were acquainted with the researcher, but not closely so41. Prior to the interview, the participants were given some insight into the topic of research, and were then asked to sign a consent form42 indicating their agreement to be recorded, and assuring their anonymity. The interview respondents have been given pseudonyms in order to ensure their anonymity:
Canadian interviewees:
Alice, Canada: Female, in her twenties. L1 English. Graduated from teachers college in Canada and taught ESL to adults in Toronto; has been now teaching English at a primary International School in Hong Kong for two years. Plans to return to Canada and teach French and English in Canada.
Britney, Canada: Female, in her thirties. L1 English. Graduated from teachers college in Canada. Taught ESL in South Korea and Ontario, Canada, to elementary school children.
Currently teaching French Immersion in Ontario, Canada at an elementary school.
Calvin, Canada: Male, in his thirties. L1 English. Graduated from teachers college in Canada. Currently teaching English academic and practical writing classes at a college in
41 The interviewees included classmates and acquaintances that were known to the researcher, but outside of the peer group of the researcher.
42 The consent form is included in appendix B.
Toronto, Canada. Has taught ESL courses to adults in Toronto. Has 5 years full time teaching experience.
Norwegian Interviewees:
Astrid, Norway: Female, in her twenties. L1 Norwegian. Graduated from teachers college from a Norwegian university with the main teaching subjects as English and French. Has 2 years full time teaching experience with children and youth school students.
Berit, Norway: Female, in her twenties. L1 Norwegian. Graduated from teachers college at a Norwegian University and worked as an English teacher at a Norwegian high school for one year.
Camilla, Norway: Female, in her thirties. L1 Norwegian. Graduated from teachers college from a Norwegian university. Currently works as a Norwegian teacher but has taught English to Norwegian students at youth school in the past.
One additional factor that may have affected the responses of the Norwegian interviewees was that the interviews were conducted in English. This was decided at the discretion of the researcher, as the topic being discussed was the English language and the researcher did not have the language skills to conduct the interviews effectively in Norwegian. Discussions about the respondents' own accents in English may have been uncomfortable for the respondents, as they needed to speak English while reflecting on their English accents. This was, however, discussed with the interviewees prior to the interviews beginning, and the respondents were encouraged to pass over questions if they felt uncomfortable answering them. However the respondents answered all questions and appeared at ease during the interview process.