in research where they had to collaborate closely with seven other peers. They were
asked to keep a journal two weeks before, during and after travelling to the research
sites. Detailedfield notes were kept in response to the observation protocol and
prompts. They were also encouraged to use their own initiative and collect data
which was relevant to EAL but not mentioned in the protocol (see McEachron et al.
2015 for details).
Each student researcher collected data individually, followed by discussion with
the teacher. This could be a conversation or an interview, depending on
researcher/teacher interaction. Every evening they met as a focus group of eight
researchers to critique and share their cumulative experiences. The notes from focus
groups, chaired by a different student researcher each time, were shared via Google
Doc^4. As two principal researchers we also met the teachers to thank them for
hosting our students. Notes from these meetings and conversations about teaching
and learning in EAL classrooms were also documented. This led to very rich data.
46.8 EAL in Real Classrooms
What follows is a selection of data on EAL teaching in Bristol and Henrico County
collected within 9 days of immersion in one classroom by each student researcher.
It demonstrates the usefulness of reflexivity for enhancing a deeper understanding
of the pedagogical process. Thestudent researcher’s, theteacher’s, and the prin-
cipal researcher’s perspectives set out together illuminate the complex realities of
the EAL classroom. A selection of quotations fromfieldwork is presented. Why
were teachers teaching students with EAL? What were they trying to teach? How
did they feel about the presence of student researchers?. The following themes were
generated during coding and analysis.
46.9 Ethnicity, Language and Allegiance
Lydia (BSU researcher in Henrico County high school)
Issues surrounding race and ethnicity were rarely discussed by teachers but it was expressed
by the students via jokes and mocking of accents between Spanish/Nepali male students.
This evidenced a kind of hierarchy between the ethnicities, as Spanish and Nepalese are the
most common spoken languages in the ESL classrooms at X High. I did observe that
student/student interaction was predominantly between members of the same spoken lan-
guage and ethnicity (minimal interaction between Nepali and Spanish speakers in the lower
sets, yet the upper ESL level classes would often interact regardless of language spoken)
Religion was not discussed or evidenced during my observations, yet an emphasis on
patriotism and unity was expressed by the ritual pledging allegiance to theflag, as well as(^4) Google Docs are web-based programs created by Google, Inc.
688 G. Bhatti and G. McEachron