Memo 5: Taking Stock and Making Sense!

With just a week left, I am nearing the end of my research. I’d have to say that this journey was a lot more intimidating from the start as opposed to the finish. At first,  I threw this assignment into the “stress and no gain” pile of schoolwork. Simply, it’s the pile that I would complete just to hand it in on time and get the grade… (too honest?) However, I prejudged too easily. During this journey, I was fearful of being able to get in contact with any primary sources but with the help of Professor Collins and willing participants at CCRI, be it professors or students, I really think I have more than enough to “sum up” my own insight of my research. Not only did I learn a lot about ELL’s- I also learned about ESL students. I haven’t just learned about ELL students as a whole, but I feel the need to mention that this journey shattered own biases because I’ve learned that each culture and native language comes with it its own unique difficulties and challenges when it comes to writing in English. Before this research, I never realized that I assumed that one ELL’s struggle is identical to the next ELL student. Each language outside of English has its own rules. To name a few, there are a variety of difficulties in which  Chinese speaking, Spanish speaking, and Portuguese speaking approach the English language and each language offers different challenges. I learned that English Language Learners of the Asian culture have trouble with articles because it doesn’t exist in their own language where as Spanish-speaking students are inclined to have trouble with prepositions,  yet this is only the surface of what I have discovered. I’m not so much frustrated as I am curious and passionate to learn more about ELL students.  Although my secondary sources touch on the cognitive processes of the ELL when faced with an English writing prompt, it is through my primary sources that I actually have had the chance to gain an insight on understanding the student. Primary research is more personal and it is what has driven my curiosity to understand the English Language Learner as opposed to solely researching and learning through academic journals. Yes, secondary sources provide a great foundation but the part of the project that I felt most nervous about ended up becoming the most enjoyable and fulfilling. Although this is just the memo of making sense of my research, I can see that I am able to just naturally express all that I’ve learned without having to flip through notes or strain to remember certain information. I am confident about all that I’ve learned but I don’t necessarily think I have a specific “answer” to my journey, there really isn’t a “the end”. Maybe I’ll discover that when I’m intertwining my secondary and primary sources, but instead of a single “strategy” in guiding the English Language Learner, my main focus was to learn about them and hope to understand them. I still believe that I have much more to learn as a future teacher but the insight I’ve gained only makes me more excited to teach my future ELL students. 

Memo #4: Making meaning of interviews and/or classroom observation

So far, I’ve had one solid interview. I was hoping to interview the CCRI Writing Center Professor before this memo but no such luck. I was, however, able to interview one of his English Language Learning students. Priscila* is a 31 year old CCRI student who moved from Brazil to Pawtucket, Rhode Island when she was 21. Hearing of her story, she was able to answer many questions for me without her even realizing it. I learned that her way of learning English wasn’t through her ESL classes (although she does admit that it did apply a helpful foundation) but she stressed the importance of environment. She explained to me that during her ESL night classes at CCRI her first years of living in America, the main reason why she wasn’t progressing with her English speaking over the course of five years was because as soon as she’d leave ESL class, she would arrive home and turn on a “novella” (a Brazilian soap opera).  When she took her ESL “level test” to see which level of English speaking she was at, on a scale of one to six, Priscila was at a two. This frustrated her very much, so she took it upon herself to start carrying around a Portuguese to English dictionary to translate every word of hers, and when she would arrive home she would turn to American news. In the cognitive process for the ELL, she was able to give me some insight. Priscila explained to me that the first two years of her arrival in America, everything was about translation. After ten years experience, however, she informed me that she would not only reflect in English but also dream in English. Although ESL classes was a good starting foundation for her, she told me that singing in English and surrounding herself in a English speaking environment helped with her communication. She  still tries hard but is now able to apply difficult words in her conversation and is inspired by her professor that I will have the chance to interview on Thursday. Hopefully I’ll gain an even broader understanding!

Memo #3: Planning to use Primary and Secondary Sources

This week I plan to meet with a professor at CCRI who works at the writing center. In landing this interview, I learned that through the course of his working day he helps English Language Learning students at CCRI with their academic papers. While he guides them through the corrections of each and every paper, he stays in communication with each student via email so that he may answer any questions while attaching helpful documents that pertain to grammar use and helpful tips on writing academic papers. Not only that, but he is also a talented writer and for the student’s that go to him, he sends them his own creative writing so that they may find some inspiration and practice with writing in English.  He has given me the hours he is available to talk and I plan on asking him his experience with ELL students and what he has learned from helping to guide so many. Also, he has been very helpful in landing me an interview via phone with one of his English Language Learning students. She has been in America for ten years now and plans on explaining to me her journey as a CCRI student and her journey with learning to write in English. I look forward to my first two interviews because I feel as if they will answer many of the questions my search is dedicated too, and it’s not even about finding a certain right answer but more so learning about the English Language Learner’s experience and I feel strongly that these two interviews will give me great insight.

            Also, many secondary sources I have found shopping online for textbooks through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I have purchased about three texts that are dedicated to learning about the ELL student, and many give strategies in helping these students while dedicating the time to explaining what goes through the ELL’s mind when faced with a prompt.            

            I feel confident so far with my primary and secondary sources. Yes, they all differ in perspectives and their aims all range with their approach towards the English Language Learner but I feel as if that is the whole point towards my journey anyways, I’m not fixed on finding an answer but simply learning and understanding the English Language Learning student! 

Memo #2: Searching for Scholarly Sources and Educational Research!

            The idea of searching for information via library database overwhelmed me at first. I remember my first time using HELIN for a final paper in my American Literature class. It was a tedious experience of having to narrow down a plethora of academic journals to what was relevant and what wasn’t necessary. I ended up with heaps of irrelevant information that didn’t go well with my thesis. For my I-Search Project, however, HELIN proved me wrong. 

In searching for scholarly sources that could assist me with exploring the English Language Learner’s cognitive experience while writing in English, I at first grew irritated because many of the options had to do with the English Language Learner and technology…completely irrelevant to my search. In digging deeper, however, my anxiety eased because I found articles such as “The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach: A model for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms” by Anna Uhl Chamot, as well as “Independent Language Learning: Building on Experience, Seeking New Perspectives” by Bruce Morrison. Just by getting a general idea of these articles, I know it will benefit with my search in understanding the English Language Learner, simply because these articles don’t just draw on strategies for teaching the ELL (which many of the articles do). It isn’t that I am completely uninterested in learning strategies in order to help the ELL, but I’m looking for something, anything that will help me to take on a new perspective. If I know what the English Language Learning student is going through when faced with a prompt, I can be that much more useful in assisting them and easing them of an upcoming learned helplessness. Knowing that there is educational research available for me to use in understanding the English Language Learner without so much of a focus on “what can we do to help”? “How can we engage them”? These articles focus more on: ”what is it that disengages the English Language Learning student?” -which is the main focus of my search. I believe this educational research will bring me closer to understanding my future English Language Learning students.

Memo 1

It all started from the experience of my service learning hours during my FNED 346 course: Schooling in a Democratic Society. In the hours I had to fulfill, I was only assigned to one class, which was an ESL World Literature course. At first I felt that only being assigned to one class would limit the amount of experience I could get, but it actually ended up being exactly what I needed. During my nine visits to the high school I was visiting at the time, I grew close to each student in this ESL course that ranged from ninth graders to twelfth graders. When the actual teacher was absent, the students felt close enough to me to disregard the substitute teacher and have me call the shots…(a bit awkward at first, but I did appreciate it)…it was then that I realized how much I had a passion for the “light bulb” when a student understands a question in English they had trouble translating for themselves. I didn’t just want to teach English, I wanted to inspire English Language Learners.
 The classroom was filled with students who were so passionate about bettering their English language speaking. Then there were those who developed a learned helplessness due to their frustration with having to write in a completely different language. I remember one student referring to himself as “stupid” because he couldn’t understand a certain question and had to keep referring back to the dictionary. It was then I realized that if I ever wanted to help these students who feel this sense of inferiority, I needed to understand what goes on in the ELL’s mind when their faced with a writing assignment outside of their own language. In my journey I want to see what it is that disengages these students from writing and what triggers this learned helplessness?
 First, I plan on interviewing students in high school who are English Language Learners. Then I hope to interview teachers who have had experience with teaching ELL’s. I have already made an appointment with a CCRI professor who’s had many years experience working for the CCRI writing center. He helps those who struggle with writing outside of their native language, and in this I plan on gaining great insight to the English Language Learning student as well as those who teach the English Language Learner. I also hope to interview those who aren’t of the high school grade level, but are English Language Learners. What was their journey like? Also, what is the most challenging aspect of living in a country that requires changing your whole world, such as your language? Is there anything they wish they could’ve done differently? Anything they wish they could have been warned about? Any advice to give to the younger generation?
 I believe that in order to get the student engaged in a language outside of his or her own, the teacher must understand the student. If the teacher can understand what goes on cognitively inside the student’s mind when they are faced with a prompt or reading assignment, then the teacher will have had already created a comfortable environment and the student will feel confident to pose any questions. This is exactly what I plan on investigating throughout my journey. I hope to learn about the English Language Learner’s cognitive experience with writing as well as gaining insight on strategies from experienced teachers.

Learning about the English Language Learner!