The mean peculiarities of michael west`s method contents: introduction chapter I. The main principles of michael west`s method

Ethnographic Research

Advantages • It really forces you to ‘get out there’ and get immersed in your local culture, developing language skills and confidence. • You learn how to apply qualitative research methods, which develop transferrable interpersonal skills for the world of work. • It means you can study more unconventional topics such as food, dance and music, or study an underrepresented group whose members appreciate being able to have their voices heard

Disadvantages • Factors such as lack of participant interest mean that you might not collect as much data as you had hoped • The research process itself is more complicated in terms of confidentiality and ethical issues to consider. • The distinction between ‘fun’ and ‘academic research’ needs to be made clear. Why exactly do you want to study beer drinking in Hamburg’s Red Light District, for

CONCLUSION
Thus it could be concluded that it is impossible to arrive at the perfect approach or technique for language learning in Indian context. Language learning is such a complex process that it is impossible to offer a single solution to all our problems. Perhaps the best method is the one which works, and this varies from context to context. Any method which creates conditions for learning to take place is good. It should enable the learner to acquire the strategies of learning rather than merely equipping him with knowledge. What is important for the teacher, therefore, is to find out what approach and what method will enable him to realize a particular objective under a set of particular circumstances. Prior to writing the New Method Conversation Course, West had come to the conclusion that a specific speaking vocabulary was needed, different from that for reading (West 1933c; cf. West 1930). Following his return from Bengal his research work was to be increasingly focused on issues of vocabulary selection with a focus on productive as well as receptive skills. After a year in the UK, West accepted an offer of a lectureship at the Ontario College of Education, Toronto, where he continued his research efforts to develop what he termed a ‘minimum adequate vocabulary’ for elementary level textbooks (Swenson and West 1934) , and to come up with a ‘definition vocabulary’ (West 1935) limited but flexible enough to serve as a basis for definitions in a projected learner’s dictionary (West and Endicott 1935). In these pursuits he was both influenced by and came increasingly into conflict with Ogden’s Basic English project, as will be discussed further in Volume 5. In 1934 West succeeded in gaining funding from the Carnegie Corporation, which had been sponsoring some of his research work, for a conference which would bring together the leading figures in the vocabulary control movement. One of West’s achievements during the pre-Carnegie years which deserves particular consideration was the publication in 1935 of The New Method English Dictionary (West and Endicott 1935). As Rundell (1998: 317) has remarked, this was the first ever monolingual learner’s dictionary, predating by seven years the better-known and ultimately much more widely used dictionary compiled in Japan by Hornby, Gatenby and Wakefield (1942). Stein (2002: 21) indicates that it was an immediate success, requiring at least one new impression per year – in the pre-war years it was ‘the EFL dictionary’ (ibid.). In his preface, West explains how the dictionary ‘economises space by omitting the rare and highly technical words which the foreigner is unlikely to meet’. Cowie (1999: 24–5) discusses another original feature which has stood the test of time, at least in Longmans dictionaries: definitions based on a ‘minimum adequate definition vocabulary’. As with his earlier experiments on reading, West’s approach to testing and refining the 1,490-word defining vocabulary of the dictionary was very systematic: beginning with the 1,779-word vocabulary he had used for producing the first five New Method Readers, he and Endicott attempted to draft a preliminary version of the dictionary within it, and this enabled him to alter the word-list on the basis of practical experience.¹³