Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Xethod I 99

the research. But these issues were not explored in the study. An example
of a sequence which was not included in the analysis is that of a mother
asking her own child his name, where he goes to school and the like.

More problematic is the representativeness of the sample. Mot so much for
the selection of the subjects or the village: the 20 Target Children were
all the children of the village who had been admitted to Grade 1 for the
first time and had not attended the pre-school; the village was
considered representative of the general socio-economic conditions of
rural populations living in villages (INDE₁1984). The sampling of the
episodes of talk is a more complex issue, as it should cover the widest
possible range of contexts. The children of the INDE study were observed
and recorded at different times of the day, in a rota system, from 5.30
a.m. to 8 p.m. excluding school time, while engaged in a variety of tasks.

Processing and analysis of data confront researchers with a common
problem: the legitimate use of their interpretative skills in operations
like transcribing, delimiting utterances / turns / episodes, translating,
and coding. The cultural distance between the subjects and the
researchers may be a limitation, although not necessarily so (see 2.5.1).
This distance is more evident in some investigations than others, but in
fact adult investigators and young subjects very rarely share the same
cultural and class background, or attribute similar meanings to events
like schooling or telling stories. 'Classic' cross-cultural research 'has
come home' (L.C.H.C.,1986) in that its culture-sensitive approach is
recognized as much needed in any investigation. In the
ethnomethodologlcal tradition,

... the researcher does explicate how he used his knowledge as a
member of the culture to categorise, clarify and give significance
to the talk. (Adelman,1981:4).

Interpretation is part of the process of assigning or constructing
meaning to texts and in discourse (see 2.2.2), for both subjects and
investigators. The danger of imputing unwarranted meaning Intentions is
always present in language interaction; the investigator is particularly
aware of it and tries to avoid major errors by cross-checking his

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