’subject specialists'. Second, both video recordings and tape recordings were
seen as a potential influence on normal classroom procedures and behaviour of
both children and teacher. Nevertheless, in School Two one of the early
lessons which would take place in a similar format with every teaching group
was video-re∞rded. This video-recording (with the consent of the teacher
involved) could provide the reader with some insight into the complexities of the
multi-ethnic and multi-lingual primary school classroom.
5.3.2 Analysis of Data from Lesson Observations
If classroom research is to have meaning and purpose, some form of
categorisation and grouping Offindings is necessary. Long (1980: 21) stated
that in ethnographic research 'the structuring is done by the researcher and not
by the data gathering device chosen prior to beginning the observation'.
While every effort was made to present as holistic a picture as possible of
classroom life, the categories used for analysing the data collected from lesson
observations were underpinned by only those aspects of the theoretical
discussions in Chapter Fourwhich were deemed observable, analysable and
interpretable without having necessarily been formally measured or assessed
such as enthusiasm, attention spans, learning strategies, written language and
social learning. Observations on children's French and feedback on their
performance were also included, however, these were not formally measured,
as important variables such as quality and quantity of language input and
patterns of interaction, for example, could not be controlled. Therefore no claim
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