Investment Fluctuations of the Immigrant ESL Learners in New Zealand: A Problem Statement and Proposed Methodology

Investment is defined as language learners' commitment to their language learning practice (Norton, ۱۹۹۵) which is the result of an interplay among social capital, dominant ideologies, and learners' identity (Darvin &Norton, ۲۰۱۵). Unexplainable investment fluctuations of ESL learners was the main complaint of ۲۴ ESL teachers (۱۵ female, ۹ male) in three focus group interview sessions in Auckland-New Zealand . To explore whether this fluctuation is statistically significant enough to consider it a real problem, the transcriptions of these three focus-group sessions, observation of the language learners' classrooms during ten month, and a semi-structured interview with the language learners were used as the data. A coding scheme was developed for the signs of commitment to language learning. Clarke and Braun's (۲۰۱۳) thematic analysis revealed that ۱) participating in classroom activities, ۲) being focused in the classroom,۳)note-taking and summarizing, and ۴)proactively interacting with peers were considered by the ESL teachers as the visible signs of investment. A Likert scale and a scoring system were developed for observation of the video recordings of ۱۹۳ Iranian ESL learners in New Zealand. Two independent observers completed the Likert scales and coded the data to increase the validity and reliability of the results. A Chi-square analysis and the qualitative results displayed a U-shaped pattern of investment in the ESL leaners. A proposed methodological framework for discovering the reasons of investment fluctuation includes: ۱) observing the visible signs of investment, ۲) collecting short-story narratives of ESL learners (Barkhuizen, ۲۰۱۶), and ۳) thematic analysis (Clarke &Braun, ۲۰۱۳).

Keywords:

U-shaped model of investment , identity , short story narratives , focus-group interviewing , thematic analysis