Cao Duy Trinh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGI IE 91(03) 53 57 RESEARCH METHODS CRITICAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IN CURRICULUM STUDY Cao Duy Tr inh* (''''olk''''gc ol Sciences T\ I'''' SUMMARY Researchers must know wh[.]
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RESEARCH METHODS CRITICAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
IN CURRICULUM STUDY
Cao Duy T r i n h *
('olk'gc ol Sciences T\ I'
SUMMARY
Researchers must know what they arc doing in their researches; the concepts related and the methods; the natural or social nature of the inquirv; Ihe viewpoints and attitude of the researchers towards the objects they are working on If v\c want to study the curriculum, for example the exercise of power in the English course-books, then uc can use research methods of Critical Educational Research Exactlv wc can use Critical Discourse Analvsis (CDA) methods, I hese methods will help reveal the inequality established in the course-books for st)lutions for that abolishment
This article will revise the conceptions of research and research methods with paradigms such as Positivism or Anti-positivism as the progress of history in scientific researching It also offers the Critical Educational Research to be used for ideologies search in the curriculum The author also
suggests a link with Critical Discourse Analysis for a concrete study of liiglish course-books
Key words: Research, research method, critical edueatioinil research, curriculum study
RESEARCH & RESEARCH METHODS
As language teachers, we know that Applied
Linguistics, since its foundation in the 1950s,
ashas stressed the relationship between
experience of language teaching and the study
of linguistics Language teaching
methodology has relied on linguistic
traditions such as Chomsky s
Transformational Generative Linguistics,
Hyme's Sociolinguisties and Halliday s
Systemie-Eunetional Linguistics It has also
been basing on psychological traditions such as
Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and
Humanism (Canh, L.V , 2004 ppl5-58) [1]
Research also has its own underlying
assumptions, theories, methodologies and
methods Educational research is the
investigation of activities and the
undertakings of a science: the systemic and
scholarly application in teaching and learning
in social contexts and formal education
framework It helps us in achieving a sound
knowledge to develop education and relating
professions and disciplines
Human always ask questions about
themselves and the world around them The
ordinal^ questions then become
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epistemologieal questions and assumptions
To answer those questions with satisfaction, they need methodologies, instrumentation and data collection In the process of finding out answers to questions about the nature of the phenomena around them, human have ever
had their experience, reasoning and research
as their means Experience or the common sense knowing is our everyday tool of the world's discovery Anyway, laypeople's personal experience usually relies on undetermined happenings and is nol
thoroughly tested Scientific research is done
systemieally and tested empirically with firm explanations and professional concern with the relationships among phenomena Scientists have the control over the sources of influence in explaining the occurrence
Research is the further means human uses to find out about truth, ll is systematic, controlled, empirical and critical study of hypotheses about the relations among the phenomena And thus, research is different from experience Research is the combination
of experience and reasoning and become our successful tool for the world discovery Educational research comes from different views of social sciences: established and traditional view, interpretive view, critical theory, feminist theory and complexity theory
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How shall wc look nl social ivalih and wlial
arc the \ icws coiistriiclcd on dilTcrcnl \va\s of
interpreting the rcalil\'' There can be four scls
oi" explicit and implicit assumptions
underlining the conceptions of the social
world: onlologs, cpistcmolog) hnman nature
and methodoKigN
First, peojile have asked questions about the
essence of social phenomena investigated as
assumptions of an ontologiail kind
Ontokigical assumption concerns on the
nature of the world and human being in social
contexts The nominalist belicxcs that social
reallt\ the product ol individual
consciousness and realitv is the result of
individual cognition, therefore, created b\
one's in\n mind The\ think objects of though
are nothing but mereK words and there is no
independentl\ accessible thing that constitutes
the meaning of a word Meanwhile, the
realist insists that objects exist
independenth "out there" in the world and
the\ impose on us from outside They exist
independenth from us
Secondl\ the set of assumptions are of
epistemological kind: knowledge and its
forms, acquisition, and the communication of
it to other human being The positivist thinks
that knowledge is hard, objective and
tangible, requiring an observer role of the
researchers and natural science methods The
anti-positivist assumes that knowledge is
personal, subjective and unique, requiring the
researchers involvement with the subjects
without natural science methods
The third set of assumption is about human
and their environment Human being is not
only the subject but also the object of the
study - the products of the environment and
also creators and producers of the
environment The three sets of above
assumptions have been leading to different
methods: survey, experiments, etc for the
objectivists and positivists who believe the
world of natural phenomena to be hard, real
and external to each individual; accounts,
observation and personal constructs, etc for
the subjectivists, anti-positivists, considering
the social world soft, personal and humanly
created
Methods, for the positivislic model in normative research, means giving responses
to questions measurement recording, phenomena describmg and experiment performing, in interpretive paradigms, they means observation ol' the participants, interviewing, role-playing, episodes and accounts These are techniques and procedures, Methodology is about the scientific process It describes the approaches kinds and paradigms oi research, not the products of scientific mquiiA
Positivism, since the M>"' century, has
regarded observation and experiment as only means of behavior understanding and scientific explanation I his is the influence of
natural methodologies on social sciences And
the social scientist will i)bserve social reality with the products formulated like the ones of natural sciences Anwvay the complexity and intangible quality ol social phenomena are quite different from the natural world The great challenges lor positivistic researchers can be seen in the context of cla>sroom and school in teaching, learning and interaction Positivism has been successfully used, especially for natural researches However, in
the second half of the nineteenth century, it has been criticized fox its mechanistic and
reductionist view of nature It is always trving
to measure the objects instead of learning
things from inside and with choices, experience individuality moralitv and
lesponsibilitv of human beings as living
organisms Positivism tails to consider to capacity of human subjectivity, dehumanizing
effects of social science, focusing onlv on
discovering general laws governing human behavior Quantification, computation and statistical theories lack of exploring the circumstances of human conditions For positivism, scientific knowledge then becomes everything to human, which ignore the creative, moral, critical, aesthetic and hermeneutic sides of knowledge Behavior means only techniques Positivism has also been accused of being banal and trivial as it show little connection to whom it is intended for and their environment
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Replacing positivism, there appears
anti-positivism movement - the naturalistic
approaches The anti-positivists agree that the
world can be understood from the views of
the individuals with their autonomous models
Social science, for them, should be seen from
inside subjectively with different participants'
direct experience in certain contexts
Developments in psychology, social
psychology and sociology have made the
understanding and treating of human beings
as persons more satisfactory Working as
alternative to positivist approaches,
naturalistic, qualitative, interpretative
approaches have some distinguishing
features: people are active and creative in
their meaningful activities; they construct
their social world deliberately; situations
change, events and behaviors evolve;
individuals and happenings are unique and
not generalizable; social world is studied
naturally, with no intervention of the
researcher; fidelity is important; events must
be interpreted in real contexts and situations;
one event or situation, many interpretations
and perspectives; reality is complex with
many layers; thick descriptions are better than
simplistic ones; situations should be studied
from the view of participants, not researchers
Anyway, research methods are not merely
technical exercises They are our
understanding of the world: our viewpoint,
consideration, and aims of understanding it
More ever, educational research, politics and
decision-making are always going together in
researching for the truth The funding of local
authorities and government will favor the
policy-related research which guides the
policy decisions, improves their quality and
implements them Who will be sponsored,
who will control and release the data and
findings, whose research will be chosen for
educational service are, therefore, the
problems Research involves indirectly in the
decision-making process with concepts,
propositions, explanations, strategies,
methodologies, theories and evidence to make
inputs, guidance, gloss, orientation, insights
and generalization The relationship of education research, politics and policy-making is very dialectic and complex Researchers can influence the policy-makers
by the links with power groups Only politically acceptable research will survive That means the research will be used when it agrees with the political agenda of the governments and the policy-makers In fact, research is also part of political process in which who does the research, whal knowledge is worthwhile and how the results will be used will matter
CRITICAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM S lUDY
Critical educational research is an emerging
approach while positivist and interpretative paradigms are incomplete accounts of social behavior as they ignore the political and ideological contexts in the educational researches Positiv ist and interpretative paradigms are too much interested in technical and hermeneutic knowledge
Critical theory does nol only describe or understand the society and behavior It calls for a society of equality and democracy through social changes Cohen writes about the origin and the aims of the theory:
""The paradigm of critical educational research is heavily influenced hy the earlv work of Habermas and, to a lesser extent, his predecessors in the Frankfurt School, most notably Adorno, Marcuse Horkheimer and Fromni hiere the expressed intention is deliberately political the emancipation of individuals and groups in an egalitarian society In particular it seeks to emancipate the disempowered lo redress inequality and
to promote individual freedoms within a democratic society
Cohen et al (2007:26) ) [2] Critical theory points out the problems in the common sense and legitimacy of power and powerlessness, suppression and suppressed, inclusion and exclusion, voicing, ideology, participation, interest and representation For this theory, even the researches will not be for
Trang 4Cao Duv Irinh lap chi KlIOA \H)C cK: CONG NGHE 91(03); 53-57
the interest of all people, fhe ihcorv will help
ihe icsciircher uncover the mtcicsl in certain
situaliiMis before hcMic can do something to
chiingc the society and olhei iiuliv iiluals for a
real dcmocnicy, Ihe resciireh o\' critical
education is praclicnl as it aims nl abolishing
ii society ol" inequality iiiul illcgitimncy
Marxism can be the departure o\' such iilciis
Ill their stutlics icsciiichcis must claim their
standpoinl and there is no place lt>i neutrality
ov ideological iiiul political innocenee, ( ritical
llieoiy and critical cdiicalional research, as
C\ihcii <7 (//, (:()()7;27) ) | 2 | siiy :
,,have their suhstaiilive agenda for
cxiimplc cxiiminiiig and inleiii>giiliiig: the
lelatitMiship between school and society
htnv school pcrpeluale or reduce inequality;
the social conslruetioii ol knowledge and
curricula, who define worthwhile knowledge
what ideological inlerests this serves, and
how this reproduces inequality in society;
how power is produced and reproduced
through ediiealion; whose interests are served
by education and how legitimate these arc
(e.g the rich, while, middle class males rather
than poor niMi-whiic females)
1 he impact ol' critical theory on curriculum
research is far-reaching, Ihe rationale lor
curriculum is expressed in I y ler's questions;
IVhal educational piirjHJses should the school
seek to attain'
What educational experiences can he
provided that are likely to attain these
purposes.^
Hinv can these educational exjierienccs be
effectiveh organized/
How can we determine whether these
f)urfloses are being attained.'
Cohen etal, (2007:30) [2|
fhe above positivist view comes from the
ideas that the curriculum is controllable,
predetermined, ordered, predictable, uniform
and behaviorisl fhis assumption does not
lake ideology and power into consideration It
is kind of positivist political neutrality and
objectivily ignoring psychology and
psycho-pedagogy offered in eonslriietiv ism ll is a
closed system, different from the view seeing
postmodern society open, diverse
mullitlimensional and fluid In fact, power is less monolilhic and more problematical The contemporary curricula are rather the products of chaos and complexity Curricula lire rich, relational, recursive and rigorous with an emphnsis on emergence, process cpislemology and eonstnictiv ist psychology, Ihe knowledge selected in the society and curricula expresses ideologies and power The choice of knowledge is neither political neutral nor innocent, kicologics as beliefs come from powerful groups in the society and knowledge selection for the curricula will scenic their interests Ibis is why curricula arc viilue-laden or value-based and never viilue-lrcc Values and power are strongly conneeled; not only what knowledge is but also whose knowledge is for whom the knowledge is and finally, whose interests the currieulii will serve (or not serve) will count Ihe currieiilum is really ideologically eonstrueled
For critical research, knowledge is not purely intelligence It belongs to different interests, lechnieal interests will guarantee the power
of then owners because interest, in general, has ideological liinction Interests and know ledge go together in ihe possession control, interprelation etc of that knowledge
Cohen et cd (200" V ) ) | 2 | mentions the llabermas's naming o\' technical, practical
and emancipatory interests I echnical interest ilciils with scientific and positivist method, focusing on laws, rules and the prediction and control of behav lois, Practieal interest try to interpret the subjects with hermeneutic interpretative methodologies of qualitative approaches from the eyes of the participants
in the interaction with other people
I luaneipatory interest points out the exercise ol" power and the necessary change for a better socielv Ibc idea that ideology of the authorities, the dominant groups with their values and practices outgo other disempowered social groups is not new One
of the ideology critical approaches is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) [3.4.5] This method can be used for the study of language, culture and ideologies expressed in different curricula (Ejiglish text-books, for example),
as a special kind of discourse
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REFERENCES [4] Nguyen 116a (2000) in Introduction lo [1] Canh, L.V (2004), Understanding Foreign Discourse iinilysis National University College
Language Teaching Methodology, Hanoi National of Forciun l.iumuimcs Hanoi
University j^j ^ ,^, j^^,^ -|-,.ji^l^ (2006) I.xplnraiion
[2\ Cohen L., Manion L., rrison K (2007) • J , • , ' , • i t i i
r, , , , , , r , r^ , tdeolo\iteul power relations in a vlohal document: Research Method tn Educalton, Routlcdiic , '
London and New York ^ ^'''' ^'"'"'' ^•""'•^•"""" I'"' i'^'-' proleetnm of [3] Fairclough N L (2001) Language and hieraiure and artistic works \,mn vikn \.\\ac sU.u
Power, Lonuman, London Dai hpc Ngoiii Ngir, Dai hpc Quoc gia Ha nt)i
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