Myths and Realities: Assessment

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Assessment Myth #2: We teach everyone equally in our school, and we don't need to know who is an English language learner and who isn't. 
Reality: Educators need to know as much about students as possible so students are provided with the best educational experience possible.

I understand the myth because there is an aspect about giving different attention to students that somewhat singles them out.  Therefore, treating students equally implies some aspect of inclusion, which is important in education and treatment of our students.  It would also help with students that have come from another country with assimilating into American culture.  Students at certain ages also have a desire to fit in with their peers.  By including ESL students in regular curriculum without any specialized attention, they are "fitting in" with other native speakers. 
However, for these teachers believing in this myth, "we believe that they are in danger of doing their students a tremendous disservice by not recognizing that all students have special strenths and needs.  Being a nonnative English speaker is one of those special needs" (99).  The text also points out that ELL students' prior education and culture impact their English proficiency and their academics.  By pretending that ELL students don't have different needs than native English speakers denies them the opportunity of receiving an equal education because they are not getting the help and services required for them to perform to the best of their abilities. 

Shohamy's Assessment

Harley et al did a study on whether grammar, discourse, and sociolinguistic competence are three separate entities.  Schachter's reactions:
"She argued that discourse should be defined more clearly as pragmatic knowledge, since discourse knowledge involves both cultural conventions and appropriate grammatical choices" (202).
I really like this description of what discourse should entail; that it's learning about culture as well as aspects about the language, such as grammar.  Something that connects these two is using idioms in communicating.  This involves understanding a bit about the culture, how they communicate, as well as grammatical structure. 

"Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether the small number of items chosen to test the discourse trait truly tested what the researches had assumed" (202). 
This quote illustrates how a test simply cannot accurately assess a language learner's discourse competency.  It further touches on how testing will not assess what is intended to assess, which therefore clouds the administrator's knowledge of the language learner's skills and knowledge of the language. 

I think that we simply need to come up with more creative ways to assess language learners because we cannot test communicative knowledge without inadvertantly testing grammar and syntax.  Similarly, if we are testing on grammar, we know that grammar in isolation is not always effective.  If we are using student writing to assess grammar, this involves sentence structure.  I think that this somewhat implies that we should be testing overall proficiency or several aspects in one test, but I think that this is also problematic.  I think that assigning writing, which involves several different genres of writing, and authentic situations such as bringing language learners into the community to use their oral language (speaking and listening) skills would involve several aspects within these assessments.  However, this might show that I really advocate for communicative competence as a goal for a language learner.  There are several ways to assess students based on different goals of language learners, what we are testing, and the teacher's views.  Therefore, in this abundance of different ways to assess language learners, there are many that could be considered "effective," or "accurate" based on what we are trying to assess.

ENG 394

     Last week was my last week!  So, I want to blog about the type of environment that has been created and fostered since day 1.  Students feel so comfortable in room 238, with eachother, and with their teachers, that they discuss and even joke about citizenship status and family issues.  An instance of this last week was in ESL 3, which is a difficult class because a couple students in there have been friends since grade school and therefore talk a lot, one student is on a behavioral contract, etc.  We were discussing relationships and marriage and related this discussion to the reading.  One of the boys made a joke for Pablo to marry my cooperating teacher, Ms. Jones, and then he could "get papers." Pablo responded with, "I already got papers!"  Another boy responded to this by saying, "You do? Where'd you get 'em!?"  Everyone started laughing at this, and Ms. Jones joked that they aren't something you can get at Dairy Queen.  Vaiyron then said, "I got mine at Walmart, buy 1 get 1 free!"  The class bursted out laughing even more after this.  I thought this was very humorous but was hesitant to laugh because some of these students don't have papers, so this could be a rough subject.  But in this class, they talk about it, and feel comfortable about it because they trust one another and their teachers.
     Another example of student comfort is their involvement in International Club.  There were tee shirts made with each language spoken in the classroom included on the back that said, "Kiss me, I'm international!"  They wear these on Fridays, which is school spirit day.  This involvement has included outside activities such as a dinner at Ms. Jones home, a field trip to Starved Rock, and they are going to see Breaking Dawn Thursday evening at midnight.  I attended the dinner, and I didn't expect so many students to attend!  Ms. Jones had a full house.  This illustrates the togetherness and support within the ESL classroom.
     This third example is on facebook.  I have found that the majority of these students are friends with their teachers, and aren't worried about what they may or may not see, which is very surprising!  They also aren't simply "friends."  I am also friends with both of my cooperating teachers and their students write to them.  This comfort level baffles me.  I think the teachers express such a care and concern for their students, with providing a comfort level, that students feel invited and welcomed to the ESL classroom.  This care and concern goes further in an example I witnessed on my last day.  My CT's daughter was bit by a dog, and she was notified in class.  Ms. Claricoates was very upset and on the phone because her daughter was getting stitches.  She received a picture.  (Her daughter is fine, no worries).  Every student was asking if she was ok after this phone call, and Ms. Claricoates shared this picture with them.  They were worried about their teacher's family members, which shows care. 
     I have had a wonderful experience in my practicum and hope to build this type of community in my classroom because then, it's much more than a classroom.  It's a safe haven.

394: Inclusion

     These past few weeks, another student has been joining the level 1 ESL class for about 15 minutes a day.  His name is Israel and he is from Mexico.  His English is extremely limited.  He is in Special Ed. classes and has an aid, who doesn't speak Spanish, who has been with him since jr. high school at Kingsley.  Israel gets grand mal seizures, which affect his brain and development, therefore he cannot take in information for long periods of time.  This explains why he is in special ed. classes.  However, only recently he has been put in an ESL class as part of his daily schedule, but for only 15 minutes and then he returns to his other class. 
     I'm sort of confused as to why he is only in ESL for a short amount of time everyday, when the class has only 2 other students and he would receive individualized attention, learning more ways of communication.  Many times, ESL students are placed in special ed. classes because of their limited English.  However, that is not the case for Israel.  It's the opposite.  He needs to be in ESL and isn't.  What perplexes me even more is how he does his homework, actively listens in class, asks questions when he doesn't understand, etc.  I doubt that any of these are happening due to his very limited English, which means that he sort of just goes through the motions of a school day.  Students at my placement in ESL also have a study hall, called "Resource" where they go to their ESL classroom with their teacher who helps them with their homework, can reword tests and assignments, etc.  Israel desperately needs this! 
     It got me thinking about how he in included into the regular curriculum in terms of language, but not up to his needs.  He goes to classes where the focus isn't for ESL needs.  They do accommodate for his needs that are to do with his seizures that affect his development.  However, I wonder how far he could come with proper language teaching to help the rest of his education.  Why is our system so difficult!?
     Over the next few weeks, we will see his development (how much might be very slight, because he's only with us for 15 min!), so I'll update again.

Topic Management-Kuma

The idea of giving students the freedom to choose possible topics as the basis for interaction was originally brought about by Hatch in 1978.  The importance of this was later emphasized by van Lier and coined "topicalization" meaning a process that students take something from the teacher or another student and try to come up with the next topic from that.  Benefits are illustrated in that it results in personalizing the complexity of the input to the learner's own level, better opportunities for negotiating meaning, and fostering motivation for more complex production of the student.  "Assia Slimani (1989) found that learners benefites more from self- and peer-nominated topics than from teacher-nominated topics" (Kuma 120).  This idea takes brings ideas in that need to be considered such as investment, relevant content, and motivation.  Besides the benefits topicalization brings about in language learners, students will be more motivated to learn about something that they chose to learn more about; they showed a desire and have the interest.  This leads into investment.  When a student has more of a connection to the content, the result is that they will have more committment in their learning and the process of learning, specifically a second language, as a whole.  Also, topicalization allows students to come up with possible topics as the basis of interaction.  In this case, I think that the teacher should have to facilitate and monitor these so that lessons don't get too off track and can still scaffold.  Therefore, it is the teacher's job to pick meaningful and relevant topics from students' options.  From here, students would be learning something that they wanted to learn by showing interest, would have more investment in the material and the learning process as a whole, and would be learning content that is relevant and meaningful to their language learning.  I think topicalization is great for native speakers and non native speakers in other content areas as well because the idea of having students show interest in what they want to learn (according to relevance in the subject) isn't necessarily language specific.  It can provide benefits to Math (learning how many miles to the gallon a students' car takes), history (maybe one student really likes the Civil War period), English (some students might prefer poetry over essay writing, giving options), etc.  Overall, I'd say I'm a fan of topicalization.

Teaching Culture, Too

     This past week, both of my booperating teachers at Normal Community incorporated an aspect of Halloween into their lessons.  In ESL 2, Beginning ESL, Ms. Jones brought into the classroom the idea of using pumpkin in foods.  She showed pictures of pumpkin pie, seeds, muffins, flavored coffee, etc. and explained that the pumpkin is North American, which is why it might be rather new to some of the students.  I brought in pumpkin seeds for students to try and all except 2 or 3 students had not tried them before.  Each was able to try them.  I noticed that Abel, who is from Mexico, was not eating the shell.  Pumpkin seeds are actually meant to have the whole thing eaten.  Satoryu, from Japan, did not enjoy the pumpkin seeds.  We talked about the history of Halloween and related it to The Day of the Dead in Mexican culture.  Satoryu shared that in Japanese and Chinese culture, they celebrate Setsubun, which is where the father of the house puts on a mask and throws beans out the door to cleanse the house of evil spirits from the previouse year.  They also talked about and showed pictures of scare crows and halloween decorations.
     In ESL 1, basic ESL, Ms. Claricoates taught students about the carving of a pumpkin for Halloween and how it's a tradition.  She showed pictures of carved pumkins and talked about jack-o-lanterns.  This was difficult for the students to understand that they were pumpkins when they were plain, but were called "jack-o-lanterns" once they were carved.  Later in the week, Ms. Claricoates brought in a pumpkin for each student to carve in class and take home (there are only 3 students in this class).  Norma was overly excited that she was able to bring her "punkin" home but Edwardo did not care to.  Ms. Claricoates also picked a book about a skeleton having hiccups and all the ways he tried to get rid of them.  Students listened to the story once, and then a second time.  They had pieces of paper with sentences on them stating what happened on each page.  They had to put these in order when listening to the story the second time. 
     Through these lessons that incorporated or focused on Halloween, students were not only learning about new vocabulary, they were learning about American culture.  Through these lessons, both of my CT's made sure to ask students if they had anything that they celebrated in their culture that was like Halloween, or if they believed in ghosts, if they were dressing up, etc.  These questions placed value on the students' beliefs and their home culture.  They also showed that the teacher personally cared to learn about the students' culture.  This is vital in teaching a language because of the incorporation of teaching about culture.  Learning a second language will not be effective unless students are comfortable with their teacher and in the classroom.  This environment can only occur by asking questions like these, having students present about their culture, simply doing things that validate students' value of their own culture. 

Teaching Vocab is not the Writing Teacher's Job

What really grabbed my attention in Keith Folse's article was the plagerism point in the very beginning.  He discussed a student who was "genuinely surprised" by the teacher's question of plagerism in his paper.  Folse found that the student had written a good paper, but he had used his research and not cited quotes, therefore plagerising.  Folse brings up a very important point about the student; "He couldn't express these ideas better than the original author had."  Folse furthers his explanation of what the problem was in this students' writing, how, "In a research writing assignment, the goal is not to copy the original author's information but to use the strategies of paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing.  Each of these strategies is complex and, at least in part, culturally based."  I found two things that came about from this situation, one not already brought up in the text.  This point is how we need to educate students about what it means to plagerise, not only to ESL students, but particularly them because of the cultural differences.  When we bring in ideas of other individuals' work and use them in our own work, that needs to be cited correctly so that the first author receives credit for their work.  This is often a misunderstanding in students' writing, simply not citing correctly.  The problem becomes more complex when ESL students are writing a paper, specifically a research paper that requires use of other peoples' ideas, quotes, etc. 
The second point from this situation, the author already brings about.  "...paraphrasing requires extensive vocabulary."  For someone learning a second language, a broad range of vocabulary requires practice and comes about over time.  Therefore, the problem of plagerism is bound to occur several times when assigning a writing assignment that requires outside research.  This also is a reason for educating students on what plagerism exactly entails and how to prevent it.  For ESL students particularly, instruction on what is expected must be very explicit due to the cultural differences.  Because "Vocabulary most definitely plays a critical role in successful writing," extensive help in portraying a message in writing with word usage must also play a part. 
I think that, depending on the level of English proficiency, something as large of an assignment as a research paper should not be graded so harshly nor be such a large part of a students' grade.  I think that practicing writing is much more pertinent to a student learning another language and not only their speaking fluency but also their skills and comfort level in writing.

ENG 394: Issues in the classroom

     This past week, several outside factors have been affecting students in a few of the ESL classes I am in.  Norma, who is from Guatemala, has talked about how her mother had to go to traffic court and was taken by immigration.  She doesn't know where her mom is and they don't have any way of contacting her.  Another instance of this is among two siblings.  Their uncle had a similar situation happen to him.  Also, another girl, Noami, in the ESL classes has a brother-in-law who is a lawyer and is trying to help both of these families legally. 
     After hearing of all this that is going on in the class, I couldn't believe that these students are able to compose themselves and still attend class.  Typically, for some other students, attendance is a regular problem.  They miss school or they come in very late.  However, the situation is different for Norma and the siblings dealing with these family issues.  They come to school everyday.  Their strength baffles me. 
     Everyone has issues within themselves that they go through, at home, in other relationships, etc.  ESL students typically have much more than this.  They deal with citizenship problems, not having parents or guardians to always be there for several reasons, having a language barrier while trying to fit in with peers, and don't always have the option to further their education. 
     All of these issues are outside factors but are brought into the classroom everyday.  I think that, in general, it is a good idea to "leave your bag at the door" (meaning to leave any emotional problems or issues going on at the door for the time in class) because students still can get to the objective of the lesson.  However, in severe cases, it might not be possible.  For ESL students, it might be a better idea to incorporate ways to cope with these issues or to educate students on them, such as options to further their education. 

Chapter 11: Language Learning Strategies

Under the "Suggestions for ESL Instructors" section, I picked out a few that I felt were most important according to our current issues involved in education, particularly in the field of ESL.  With all the politics, personal biases, differences in a range of things, etc., it's quite difficult to have all these people in one room trying to learn the same thing!  Which is why I believe that these three suggestions are the most important and have reason to be addressed. 
3. "..Some teachers globally classify each student as an 'A' student or a 'C' student, or as a 'quiet person' or a 'talkative person'... Look more closely at eacho f your ESL students regarding the features of 'good language learners' listed earlier..."
     This is an important suggestion because labeling students, especially ESL students, based on what we know about them (which isn't much much, due to the language barrier and cultural differences) is actually deabilitating to their learning English, or in learning to live in a new culture in general.
5. "You can teach students to orchestrate their use of strategies by having them systematically combine and use strategies relevant to the ESL task at hand.  For example, begin with a metacognitive strategy (such as planning for the task), then unite a cognitive with a social strategy (analyzing or practicing expressions in cooperation with other students), and finally combine a metacognitive strategy and an affective strategy (such as self-evaluating progress and self-rewarding for good performance)." 
     Creating relevance in each lesson provides students a reason to learn more about the content, situations where they would actually use this knowledge, and encourages engagement more.  Utilizing metacognitive, social, and affective strategies includes different ways to grasp whatever is being taught in the lesson.  Using all three of these for a task is a process, one that requires each to be scaffolded onto the other so that the student benefits in the result.
8. "Pay attention to the range of factors influencing strategy use among your ESL students and those you can personally affect...You can control the nature of the language tasks in the ESL classroom, and you have a great deal of influence on students' motivation level.  Take advantage of the factors that you can control, and be aware of those over which you have no control (e.g., cultural background, gender, age)."
     It is vital to bring about awareness, education, respect, and celebration on these factors that differ among several students in an ESL classroom.  They can really hurt a students' performance and overall experience in the class, not to mention their goal of learning another language and about the culture.  As ESL teachers, we must take this upon ourselves to utilize what we can control and find out more (learn more about cultural background, for instance).  With this information, we must educate others in the class so that value is paid to individual cultures that exist within the class.

Olsen's Chapter 8

The first thing about this chapter that grabbed my attention was the inconsistency of how the researcher said that the growth of immigrant and limited-English speaking students at the school was up to 24%, which is about 1 in 4, while the principal of Madison High School, George Pereira, said that it was more like 12 or 15%.  Later on, when the researcher checked the files, it had turned out that the Newcomer School "confirmed the 24 percent" (174).  This shows that the principal was not up to date on the growth of students of this level of English proficiency, which is connected to his understanding of need based this category of students are.  Therefore, the principal did not have the accurate knowledge of the amount of need required by this student population, nor the skills or resources required to accommodate.

Another thing that bothered me was the teachers' perception of Madison High and Bayview and how it's "diverse."  Several of the faculty make comments that include: "A lot of the cultures now don't value education," "We have more kids with family problems."  A specific instance is Lisa Stern's statment: "...It's the way schools are.  It's the way our society is... I think you just have to focus on your teaching, not get sidetracked..."  (177)  These comments are "rooted in the past, where there was more unity and more focus.  And concerns are expressed about 'groups' who are unwilling to adopt a common culture" (177).  This is problematic in that this perspective has expectations of these students from other places with different cultures to assimilate and drop a part of their identity.  We have found in our TESOL classes that it is vital in preserving a person's 1st language and not only respecting but giving value to their culture.  If not, these students will be turned off not only in the classroom, but we will be pushing them away and fostering negative feelings towards American culture.  They will have a much more difficult time learning English, as well as any language where teachers sort of take away a part of them, their identity, where they are rooted in. 

Practicum: Olsen's Chapter 7 and Literacy Observations

     The situation at Bayview in the very beginning of the chapter with Shafiqa illustrates how the student body of the high school is drastically changing and how the teachers are not preparing themselves for a different, more diverse classroom.  I understand where Mr. Boyd is coming from when he says, "How could I have known?"  If I were in this situation, I would feel guilty for not being understanding or open minded towards the student and her situation.  However, as Olsen states that the faculty are "white-skinned, speak only English, and many were raised in Bayview...and many speak privately of feeling 'invaded' by outsiders" (152).  This faculty, firstly, isn't being open or welcoming to how their student population is changing.  Therefore, they also aren't trying to educate themselves on the major differences that might exist between themselves and students, or student to student.  The chapter explains how "the ethnic makeup of the school has changed markedly in the past decade-from a primarily white student body to a student enrollment where there is no single majority ethnic or racial group, where dozens of different home languages are spoken, and almost one-fourth are immigrants" (151).  The difference between previous years to the present shows how the teachers, such as Mr. Boyd and Ms. Williams are favoring the homogenous population that the school used to have.  Perhaps they aren't meaning to do so, but they are because the homogenous population that previously populated the school was like them too, and probably didn't require as much work on their part (such as educating themselves on beliefs, language, communication, etc.). 
     Despite the wrong approach that either teacher had on the situation, I think that the first problem was that neither one asked, "Why? Why can't you eat today?"  This could have been for a multitude of reasons.  Maybe her family is struggling financially.  What if she was sick?  (The question here would have been, "Why are you not able to run today?")  In this case, it was something much more sensitive and deep.  It was her religious beliefs, which is very detrimental on the students' relationship with these two teachers as well as her view on other white, English speaking teachers, or the culture itself.

Literacy Observations:
     In my practicum, I was able to see several activities that promoted literacy.  One of my cooperating teachers, in any subject, always has students read aloud the dialogue.  Often times, in an ESL textbook that they are using, there is an example that includes a dialogue.  Therefore, the teacher assigns each student a role to read.  This is effective in such a small class that they have. 
     Another example of literacy was this activity that the teacher did in class.  She had three envelopes (there are three students in this class) and handed each student an envelope.  Inside were pieces of paper with different sentences on each.  The teacher then read aloud a very beginner reading level book.  At this time, students were only to listen and look at the pictures in the book.  Then, they went through the book a second time and they were to find the piece of paper with the sentence on it that described what was happening in the book at that moment.  They were to put these events in chronological order.
     A third activity I was able to see happen in the classroom was moreso encouraging students to write.  My other cooperating teacher printed out pieces of paper that looked like postcards.  She had them choose from a list of cities from around the world to research.  They couldn't be a city from their country.  The students had to research the city, then write a postcard to their teacher acting like they had visited there over the summer.  After this activity, the teacher had bought each student a postcard with an international stamp on each one so that they could actually write to their friends or family back home in their native country.  She later mailed them for them.

(Discussions/Reflections Questions):
1. The teaching methodology that seems most dominant is task-based.  Some of the characteristics include utilizing the computer for programs, websites, and pictures that enhance lessons.  The program that is mostly used practices pronunciation, such as vowels and consonants.  Role play is also brought into the lesson.  I think that the teacher would agree with this description because she uses every opportunity she has to bring in a prop or picture or something that helps grab students' attention and communicate more effectively. 
2. Students' interactions that are regular are typically between those that are Spanish speaking.  This population is the largest in the ESl classes at my placement.  They talk regularly in and out of class (I observe this in the hallways all the time).  I would say that the nature of the class discussions are IRF.  Other languages that are spoken include Japanese, Chinese, among others.  Discussions in other languages are typically between siblings, such as Ken and Sotoryu, who are from Japan and the only students from Japan.  Therefore, it is easiest to communicate with eachother.

How do I support a student's first language when I don't speak the language?

     As I was reading this article, I was thinking about what a great approach this teacher has in her classroom, especially in younger grades.  As a secondary education major, I felt lost as to how I would teach English to students as young as kindergarten and 1st grade.  However, this teacher incorporated things like having them take turns in teaching the class how to say something in their first language that really highlighted their culture instead of ignoring it.  I think that we as English teachers to students of other languages tend to focus on our content, English.  By doing so, we unintentionally take away value from not only students' first language but their culture, identity, etc.  By implementing presentations such as these by the students, we are giving that back to them but also showing that we as their teachers and their peers care to learn about their language, background, culture, etc. 
     As I read onto how the joke for the school newspaper done every two weeks, I thought, why not have a student assigned a date where they come up with a joke in their language?  Instead of choosing which is the most humorous.  By choosing which had the best reaction delves into difference in humor among cultures.  There is much more in this topic than what she did with it.  For a teacher whose approach is "loosey-goosey," I think that a unit could have been done on humor among different cultures.  Also, by assigning each student a different date to have a joke that would be published in the school newspaper, each student would be able to share what is funny to them or in their culture, not what is funny in our American culture. 
     This "loosey-goosey" term is simply another teacher's way of describing this practice.  I think that creating a unit on plumbing and water was creative.  The best part about this approach is that these units are created based on the students' interests.  Also, not only are they learning English, but they are learning about the American culture and things that might be different in the United States.  These are very important things that I don't think are focused on teaching ESL students and need more of. 

Activating Intuitive Heuristics

This chapter was very vague to me.  I could see the different ideas and approaches to teaching grammar and such, but what I didn't see were examples or strategies that teachers could really learn from and take into their classroom.  The ones that were included weren't detailed enough to come to an understanding from. 

For the Deductive teaching method, I think Chomsky is right in that "one does not learn the grammatical structure of a second language through 'explanation and instruction' beyond the most rudimentary elements, for the simple reason that no one has enough explicit knowledge about this structure to provide explanation and instruction" (183).  I think that there are two things here that I noted about this method and Chomsky's arguement.  First, although explanation and instruction are vital elements in teaching any concept, they are simply not enough in teaching grammar, especially when the audience is learning grammar in their second language.  It is not fair to expect students to come to a full understanding about all the factors that affect grammar and the exceptions and such from only explanations and instructing them.  They need far more than that.  In my Teaching of Writing class, we have been learning how the most effective way to teach grammar and that is most conducive to students' learning grammar isn't through worksheets, specific lessons solely on grammar, but it is through example.  A great example of this would be to use students' writing and explain what is done correctly or incorrectly grammar-wise and pull the teaching out of something else.  Using students' own writing makes them more involved/engaged because it is their own, that they are trying to improve and for ESL students, it is also how they sound when conversing and not only how they sound when on paper.  This is important to note because ESL students have factors that play into their learning because of the way they speak, such as being embarrassed, or being over-corrected so much that they don't want to volunteer again, or their accent.  So, learning through their own writing is beneficial in that they are able to learn correct grammar for an academic paper, and they are also learning about how to use it conversationally (because native speakers tend to sound grammatically correct but don't know how to use correct grammar usage in a paper). 

Second, Chomsky states that individuals don't have enough explicit knowledge to be instructing in certain ways about grammar, especially to ESL students.  I think that this is a fair argument, especially since language is constantly changing.  However, with this in mind, we as ESL teachers need to pick and choose the important grammar concepts that we will focus on for our students according to their grade, level of proficiency in English, whether it is for academic use or conversational use, etc.  Narrowing down these factors will help us choose what to focus on, what our objective should be for our students to learn, and our approach.  In the case of the two episodes shared in this chapter, the second was much more effective (on pages 179-181).  The first focused on adverbial clauses and the teacher utilized a textbook and sentences where the students were to fill in the blank on their own, before the actual lesson.  The second focused on complex sentences with cause and effect relationships.  The teacher used a cartoon where the series of actions will cause a final result.  She asked guiding questions and this activity was the opener to a more detailed, explanatory unit on grammar.  This approach was inductive. 

I think that both, inductive and deductive methods are missing a little bit of each other in creating an effective approach to teaching grammar.  However, I also feel that since grammar has to do with ever-changing language, that approaches to teaching it will also be ever-changing. 

Olsen's Chapter 6

I have always been aware of the different perceptions of education and how it is valued here in America.  However, I don't think I paid enough attention to it, based on the differences by background or among ESL students compared to native students.  In "The Pleaseures and Prices of Freedom" on page 124, the section discusses girls from different places that describe American girls as "open" or "free" because "Most of the girls have limits to their movement and behavior.  These limits are imparted by tradition, culture, and fearful parents who wish to protect their daughters in the midst of a new land that is viewed as both violent and seductive."  The author describes how because students are so sheltered at home and are not allowed to experience extracurriculars or dances, their view of school changes to a social one.  This is different in that native born students dread going to school and can't wait to go home at the end of the day.  In my practicum experience, I have seen a version of this.  Norma, who is a freshman from Guatemala, along with several other ESL students, does not stay after school for activities because of her family's wishes.  She has other reasons such as transportation; she takes the bus to and from school every day.  However, I have seen Norma's perception of school as a social experience.  She often speaks in Spanish to fellow classmates not only because she is a beginner in learning English, but also because this is her conversing with her friends.  She also dresses quite well for a high school day.  On the first day that I went to Normal Community, Norma arrived wearing one outfit, then asked at the end of class to use the restroom.  She came back in a whole new outfit.  I found myself observing this as her value in how her peers were perceiving her.  Several high school teenagers are concerned with what they look like, especially in front of their friends.  However, Norma displayed this on a different level not only because of her changing of outfits or how she dresses well every day, but because she arrives and is excited to be at school, not for her education, but for the social interaction.  My CT has to tell Norma several times during class periods that she has to stop talking about her weekend and do her work.  She requries much individual attention because of this.  Fortunately, Norma has not had to lie to her parents about relationships or something on a more serious level.  She moreso values school as a place for social interaction, which affects her academics. 

I think that this difference in how school is viewed can be placed among American students as well.  Students who do not get enough attention at home might view school as a place for social interaction because there, they get individual attention and are listened to.  I do wonder, however, if ESL students or American students such as these were to have the ability to participate in something outside of school (a club, sport, or an activity of some sort), if they would continue to have the same social perception of school?  Or, would it change to the typical American-dreading-school view?

Final Project Ideas

I think that I am going to do my application project on conducting a series of ESL tutoring sessions and writing a reflection paper on my experiences.  I am doing my TESOL practicum at the moment at Normal Community High School and am very active in the classroom.  So, I "tutor" all the time.  There are students that are from Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Ethiopia, Dominican Republic, Congo, among a few others.  I didn't think I would enjoy teaching English as a second language as much as I actually do now that I am somewhat in practice.  So, I would love to delve deeper into these experiences and share them.

The Three Models of Curriculum

Just as the three projects were categorized in their organization, these models of curriculum are similar in that each has its own pros and cons.  These seem to develop off one another, which is hopeful to me as a future ESL teacher.  However, I'm not sure that these are that helpful learning about individually because they always leave the reader with questions, wondering what the answer is.  As the author states, he offers a suggestion that "the framework most applicable to ELT today is an integrated approach which is essentially learner-centered and is an attempted 'synthesis of the product-oriented ends-means model and the process-oriented approach'" (74).  This suggestion, the 'New Pragmatism,' is merely a theory, however, and states that it could develop in the future with time.  However, one main point about this is that "in the integrated approach, needs analysis takes place not only at the pre-course planning stage, but also during the course, contributing to the development of teacher-learner negotiated learning objectives" (75).  This would be very beneficial in that it would keep students on track, so that they can scaffold their previous learned knowledge.  Teachers will be able to see what students have difficuly with while doing needs analysis during the course.  I like it!

Questions

Chapter 1

1. Olsen's study is a historical anthropological study of ELL in our classrooms.  It focuses on a California high school.  She takes into account how identity is largely affected by how we view and categorize students by their race, class, language, etc. 
2. Her theoretical background is the Head of California tomorrow.  She attempts to combine racial and economic theories to create a new social theory.  Her definition of schooling focuses on the related issues of language, race, culture, and national identity
3. The research method Olsen utilizes is the ethnic graphic approach.  This observes culture and participating/interviewing the participants. 
4. The participants of the research were 15 faculty/administration members at Madison High, 7 at the Newcomer School (ESL Program), 47 students, and 5 teachers.
5. The central issues/research questions include:
-How did they understand "America?"  What does it mean to be "American?"
-What borders and boundaries did they create or detect in social relations? What language did they use to articulate and create those borders and boundaries?
-How were the crossings, the borderlands and terrain in between languages, cultures, and national identities experienced, shared, contested?
-How did they experience and view their encounters with each other across languages, cultures, and national identies?
-What was it like for those students and teachers who felt themselves involved in forging new terrains of language, culture, racial, and national identity?
-Why were they in school, and how did they experience school? What relationship did school have to the rest of their lives?
6. Olsen kept date through journals, categorizing three different personalities of herself which were the storyteller, the anthropologist, and the advocate.  She also utilized census and school reports. 

 7.
The researcher’s roles were to be the observer.  She viewed participants in the school and in the community.  She wanted to see how students perceived their own education and how this was constructed. 8. The demographics were Demographics: 32.8% white, 26.1% Hispanic, 13.5% African-American, 13.3% Asian, 11.1% Filipino, 2.4% Pacific Islander, and less than 1% Native-American.

Olsen't Chapter 5

In the first few pages, students share accounts of their feelings of being in the United States and their feelings about their home country.  I was so sad to hear some of these.  Sandra, from Brazil, actually sheds tears because she is so homesick and doesn't have a sense of belonging in the U.S.  Her account was beautiful in what she was sharing but very sad to hear.  Hanh, from Vietnam, also feels this.  It was interesting that two students who are so very different related on a level, however.  Hanh shared because she was trying to empathize with Sandra.  What is most bothersome about these is how we are all guilty of categorizing people.  The chapter has a great explanation of it on page 117: What constitutes a pan-Latino population? What is an immigrant need? Do Brazilians and Central AMericans and Mexican newcomers and Chicanos belong in a single category either as immigrants or as Latinos? With what implications? The process ocurring within Madison High and Bayview reflects national trends toward broader racialized categories; and works against the national specificity in the identities that immigrants bring with them.  The process is not, however, without fissures and conflict for the students themselves.

Semistructured Projects

"Semistructured projects are defined and organized in part by the teacher and in part by students" (110).  This is what I plan on utilizing every year in my classroom, when doing projects.  I feel that structured is too one sided towards the teacher's vision and doesn't consider what the students are interested in, what is relevant to them, or what their needs are.  We as teachers in any subject have the responsibility to assess our students' needs, whether that be because they are behind in something, have a disability of some sort, or need more of a challenge.  The structured projects do not do this.  Unstructured, I feel, gives students too much freedom.  They don't always know what is best for themselves, nor what the teacher's objective is, so they could easily miss that and the purpose of the project.  However, it is interesting to think what a very motivated class would do with this, where they would take it and how well they would do on their own.  With this semistructured project, I feel that a performance based project might be the most beneficial to use.  What immediately came to my mind was an experience I had that is a good example of this.  I've had several teachers facilitate debates in the classroom where students are split into two groups that represent a position.  They don't choose the side they are on and must do research on their own representing and supporting their position.  Although they are spitting out statistics and factual information, this process leads to students coming to an understanding of their position, the other side, and the situation as a whole all on their own.  They are able to interpret that information and respond in a debate about a real world situation that is important and relevant to the class.  This teaches students a variety of skills that they are able to get to mostly on their own through the research and debate.  I think this is a great project and will use it in the future.

Communication Strategies

Communication strategies, picked as one of the aspects in the project that was said to promote language acquisition, involves a very active role by the learner.  I know only a few are also in practicum, but I chose this topic for discussion board because we discussed in practicum how ELLs pick up slang and common sayings to fit in, even though they might not know the true meaning.  Communication strategies, such as requests, turn taking, confirmation, etc. are similar to slang in that these are new concepts to ELLs and they are specific to American culture.  They might be used in order to adapt, but they more than likely aren't understood right away and take practice.  The text states that, "The underlying notion is that opportunities to modify and restructure interaction until mutual comprehension is reached are what enable learners to move forward in their interlanguage development" (101-102).  One major aspect about both slang, common sayings, and speech acts such as requests is that "underlying notion" with the goal of "mutual comprehension."  I think that to be able to communicate in the target language is more often the goal when learning another language, more so than for academic reasons, etc.  For this reason, communication strategies is an effective part of teaching, in particular, English as a second/foreign language and would have also been helpful as part of the project. 

Demographic Myths

When reading "Demographic Myths" out of our "Myths and Realities" book, I was surprised by the numbers stated in these.  Percentages only say so much, but when given specific numbers to compare is a reality check.  I knew that the fastest growing group of students in the U.S. today are ELL students, as Demographic Myth # 1 states.  But what I didn't know was exactly how many that meant.  As stated, "More than 5 million ELLs were enrolled in public or nonpublic elementary or secondary schools during the 2003-2004 school year, representing an increase of approximately 2 million ELLs over the past decade (NCELA 2005)."  This directly states that we have 2 million more English language learning students than only a few years ago!  This statistic is exciting but leaves me with questions.  Are we fulfilling their educational needs?  Highly doubtful.  The percentage of functional illiterate high school graduates is very surprising (we were discussing this in another one of my classes) and so this makes me wonder, how many ELL students are out there that are functionally "illiterate" as in they can get by with certain language skills but aren't where they need to be? 

TESOL Practicum

My Cooperating teachers are Anita Claricoates and Annette Jones at Normal Community High School.  They are the only teachers for the TESOL classes there and have 4 levels: Basic, Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced.  They also do this study hall type class called Resource where the students in their TESOL classes are able to ask them for help with homework from their other classes.  The two teachers co-teach in some subjects to help out with the ESL students, such as in Regional World Studies and Physics.  I will be helping out during classes with students.  My CT's want me to be as active as possible, which is exciting!  I will be going every week during these times:
Monday 7:15-9:30
Wednesday 7:15-9:30
                   11:30-2:30
Friday 7:15-2:30

The End of CLT

I feel that "The End of CLT" was a very biased and opinionated article.  "CLT

has always neglected one key aspect of language teaching—namely the context in which it takes place—and that the consequences of this are serious, to the extent that we need to demote CLT as our main paradigm, and adopt something more similar to what I term a Context Approach."  I really liked learning about the Communicative Language Teaching Approach, and actually didn't feel that it lacked in the importance of context.  I agree that the consequences of not including context are serious, because that delves into how something is more appropriate in this situation rather than that, etc.  However, after reading the article, I don't think I agree with it's position.  I felt that because I support the CLT approach, that I was attacked in the article in some way.  I also thought that it wasn't that effective in that the arguement against CLT was based off of assumptions.  For example, "The learning context may be claimed to be important, but since it is not top of the list of priorities, it is, in practice, considered as of relatively minor importance."  I might be misunderstanding this though!  I understand both approaches, the Context Approach and the Communicative Language Approach, but only in the way that it is portrayed in our previous read articles, not in this one. 

Communicative Language Teaching

I really liked reading this article.  It provided examples of what not to do and was sort of like a FAQ and answered all of my questions in CLT.  It provided several activities that we as future TESOL teachers can utilize.  I think that emphasis on communicative language teaching is the best way to teach a language, "-knowing when and how to say what to whom."  "If teachers intend studentsto use the target language, then they must truly understand all that being communicateively competent entails."  I totally agree with the Communicative Approach in that communicative competence is the goal of language teaching.  I do think that there was a lack of emphasis on being able to use the language academically, being able to read and write in it, etc.  However, I think the most important aspect of learning a language is the communcation aspect.  I particularly liked the section, "Thinking About the Experience" because it broke down what each observation meant and how it should be interpreted in association with the communicative approach to language teaching.  The first observation stated is perhaps one that should be prioritized.  "The teacher distributes a handout that has a copy of a sports column from a recent newspaper."  The principle of this is "Whenever possible, authentic language'-language as it is used in a real context-should be introduced."  The reason I believe this should be prioritized is because of its' relevance to learning another language.  Sometimes, when saying something in another language or translating, words or sayings sound funny.  Especially for me teaching a high school class, students might laugh or joke about it.  This takes away from the learning experience and what they get out of the lesson and what they learn of the language overall.  So, using authentic language would hopefully prevent that and show students real situations where the target language is used; how, when, where, etc. (this shows the context). 

Olsen's Chapter 3

I want to discuss the discussion in the very beginning of chapter 3 in "Made in America."  The teacher asked the students, "If it were up to you, what would you learn in high school that would be useful to you?  What would you be studying?"  As a student, I have also been prompted this in a classroom.  However, the discussion in my classroom went much differently.  A factor I believe that caused a different result was that I went to a private, Catholic, college prep high school.  The discussion in Lisa Stern's world history class started right out with what is offered in terms of ethnic background in order to include certain groups that Tony, a student, felt were left out.  When I have had this question posed to my classroom, my classmates and I had responses that were more along the lines of how we wanted to learn things that we deemed as more relevant to us, or we wanted more of a variety of classes.  We didn't have home economics or pottery, we pretty much just had the basic stuff.  I don't think my experience with this discussion has ever gone as personally as this one did in the book.  My brothers, on the other hand, went to the public school near us where they were the minority; they were typically the only white students in the class.  Having heard their experiences, I believe that this prompt would have gone more similarly to Lisa Stern's class.  Noting these results and comparing them shows all the factors that contribute to a students' learning experiences in a classroom.  Where they go to school is made up of subcategories: class, race, academic successes and failures, etc.  All of these, along with many others, contribute to a student's attitude towards learning in that school.  If we were to address some of these issues, only a few, I wonder how the academic progress would change! 

Critical Approaches to TESOL

This article was definitely dense, as Dr. Seloni said!  I found myself reading sentences over and over again to understand what was stated.  Even so, I really liked how this focused on such abstract ideas.  I liked the critical view of social and political relations, particularly class, power, and inequality.  Language is so closely tied into one's culture, and then several subcategories under that, that it would only make sense in effective teaching of ESL to take into consideration these elements (social and political, etc.).  Gender, sexual orientation, and ethnic background are also major elements to include in the critical view of TESOL approaches.  Paulo Freire takes these factors deeper and breaks it down into the oppressed and the oppressors.  In terms of pedagogy, Freire has a concept of conscientization, described as "A first step in critical work may therefore be to develop an awareness of the issues; nothing will change unless people know things need to ('if it ain't broken, don't fix it').  I think that especially in a TESOL environment, these factors need to be made aware of personally (our own possible biases) and among students.  We must be careful in that this awareness fosters respect in the classroom, however. 

The Role of the Teacher

Kuma's Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Teaching Acts really grabbed my attention in the section The Role of the Teacher.  I've wanted to become a teacher for everything noted under this section, "The teacher has been variously referred to as an artist and an architect; a scientist and a psychologist; a manager and a mentor; a controller and a counselor; a sage on the stage; a guide on the side; and more... Each of them captures the teacher's role partially but non of them fully" (Kuma 6).  As I read through how teachers are as passive technicians, reflective practitioners, and transformative intellectuals, I found myself critiquing each role as well as considering how I want to be as a teacher.  When I first began reading teachers as passive technicians, it didn't seem so ineffective as it actually is.  I liked the description how teachers are to act "like a conduit, channeling the flow of information from one end of the educational spectrum (i.e., the expert) to the other (i.e., the learner)..." (Kuma 8).  However, the flaws in this role are that the teacher is "prescribed" information.  I continued to read the next role of teachers as reflective practitioners and wrote down a few books that were referenced by John Dewey and Don Schon because I was agreeing so much with these views.  "Reflective teaching, then, is a holistic approach that emphasizes creativity, artistry, and context sensitivity" (Kuma 10).  This was very defining to me as a teacher in training.  However, the flaws of course were pointed out and I then agreed with the role of teachers as transformative intellectuals.  This role intimidated me because, just as it's described in the chapter, it's "such a radical role assigned to teachers" (Kuma 13).  I found myself unsure of which role I identified with most but was reassured at the end of this section with the statement, "It is useful to treat the three perspectives not as absolute opposites but as relative tendencies, with teachers leaning toward one or the other at different moments" (Kuma 17).

Made in America

I really like this book.  It's easy to read and really an inspiration.  It has facts and numbers, but that actually helps the story, as opposed to making it more difficult to follow or imply things.  On top of that, the history is what we are learning from.  I've learned theories in Second Language Teaching and such, but I haven't read about methods and theories, etc. as a story to benefit us as future ESL teachers.  This is how all history books should be written!  On page 36, I really like this quote included in the Madison yearbook: "DIVERSITY.  Diversity is not just a word, but a word that symbolizes the different types of backgrounds of teachers and students that we have here at Madison."  The chapter goes on to discuss issues of identity on page 39, "Can I be American and still be me?"  I can't imagine this as something to deal with, or how difficult that must be.  This book really is eye opening and I'm happy to continue reading.

Language Teaching Approaches

I really liked learning about the history of language teaching.  The article states that, "one reason for the frequent changes that have been taking place until recently is the fact that very few language teachers have even the vaguest sense of history about their profession and are unclear concerning the historical bases of the many methodological options they currently have at their disposal."  This was a great point.  I never actually thought about how important the history of language teaching is.  The article goes on to state how there before 2000, there were two approaches to languag teaching: using language and analyzing language (which focuses on grammar and we know how well that goes).  While in many of my TESOL classes, we've learned about English as lingua franca.  I thought it was interesting to hear about Greek and then Latin as the lingua francas during the Classical Greek and Medieval periods.  I think that some of the reasons that people learned these two languages can be similar to some of the reasons proposed to use Standard English; politics, business, philosophy and religion.  The educated became fluent in these languages, which is also what Standard English is known to be used by.  The Direct Method, having the goal as to use the language rather than analyze it, seems so obvious to me (for that to be the goal).  I can't imagine learning a language just so that I could analyze it.  There were so many contributions from several different people to spread this method that I was amazed.  It seems like this method was the one to start the major changes in language teaching, which I can probably say for all of us, we're grateful for.

Chapter 2: Lesson Planning and Classroom Management

I really liked reading about these two topics because classroom management can be intimidating and lesson planning in a TESOL class is a bit foreign to me (no pun intended).  For lesson planning, Harmer has set elements in a lesson plan.  On page 27 they are listed as the description of the class, recent work, objectives, contents, and additional possibilities.  I don't really think anything is left out here.  The objectives part is something I think should be emphasized because a teacher could create a very engaging lesson that students will enjoy just because it's engaging, grabs their attention, or fun for them.  However, with this, the lesson can be lost and overlooked by students because the objective of the lesson, what they were intended to get out of it, wasn't emphasized.  The description of the class was interesting to me but not new.  I really liked how it was described as adapting, in the case where a lesson was already planned, because it goes along the lines of how to be creative and make something personal; your own.  I am not someone who enjoys planning out things too ahead of time, but from reading this I realize how important planning is in creating an effective lesson for students; one where they will leave the lesson with the intended objective.  The three classroom management aspects pointed out, motivation, constraints, and teacher's role, were also helpful.  I haven't read about it being broken down into those three aspects before but the descriptions for each really clicked.  The effective use of these strategies will help students "make the most of the opportunities for learning and practicing language" (28).  I hope I can do this in my future classroom.

Who Speaks English Today?

I thought this article was especially interesting and grabbed my attention because of my previous knowledge on the subject.  Having taken a TESOL class with Dr. Seloni before, some of this information was not brand new.  So, gaining more in depth knowledge on the ENL, ESL, and EFL was helpful in my understanding.  Also, I enjoyed hearing more about pidgins and creoles because I learned basic definitions in previous English classes and was very interested in learning more.  I really liked reading about McArtheu's six proviso's about what's wrong with categorizing English speakers into only three groups.  Each one was very descriptive and I felt that nothing was really left out or left me with questions.  The two that I definitely couldn't agree more on are the first two; how, "ENL is not a single variety of English, but differs markedly from one territory to another, and even from one region with a given territory to another.  In addition, the version of ENglish accepted as 'standard' differs from one ENL territory to another," and the second, which describes how, "Pidgins and creoles do not fit neatly into any one of the three categories."  These two points are sort of obvious in my opinion, and are the two biggest problems with the three categories of English speakers.  The one that I wasn't quite aware of was number six, which was about the separation between native and non-native speakers of English by those who were born and raised learning the language and those who learned it through their education.  This continues on to describe how native speakers are considered (and apparently always have been) superior, somehow "better" simply because they learned from birth and their home, but has nothing to do with quality, which baffles me.  The intranational purpose for English would be offensive to me if I were in the Netherlands or Scandinavians, etc. shoes because language is so SO much more than just words; it's culture, how we communicate and have understanding with another person, show emotion, describe things, and many other things.  It kind of makes me wonder, what is so great about English that these people are almost changing their country's native language?  I feel like it's so much more, which we know; politics, social status, and the list goes on.

Chapter 7

3. Highly intelligent people are good language learners:

This idea about language learning is not new to our English 344 class; that there are "good" language learners.  I found this interesting because it incorporated students' IQ tests as a predictor for success on learning about a language, such as grammar and vocabulary.  The text states that, "research has shown that learners with a wide cariety of intellectual abilities can be successful language learners.  This is especially true if the emphasis is on oral communication skills rather than metalinguistic knowledge" (Lightbown and Spada 185).  This research reminds me of how musically inclined students tend to do better on their math portion (?) of standardized tests too.  I find this very interesting because it shows how some people's brains have tendencies to work better with learning certain types of materials.  It shows preference.  I have friends that are in Spanish, currently, and they frequently say that they, "hate Spanish," which I think just sounds funny because it's a language!  It sounds odd to say that one hates something so abstract.  But, maybe their brains aren't as inclined to learn another language?  It's not the language, Spanish, but learning another language itself; learning another set of vocabulary, sentence structure, sayings, exceptions, etc.  So on their IQ tests, would their scores show more metalinguistic knowledge rather than oral communication skills?

I also appreciate how the text is respectful to students who might not have this IQ score that shows they are a good/bad language learner by stating that, "Students should not be excluded from opportunities to learn another language on the grounds that they do not have the academic ability to succeed" (Lightbown and Spada 185).  It further addresses the importance in language learning; that a teacher must find ways to engage different kinds of ability. 

Discourse, Communication, and Concepts

From the article "On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in SLA Research," I found the Chomskyan paradigm most interesting.  It has roots in Plato and Descartes's rationalistic theories of the mind.  This "was to manifest and subsequently establish itself within SLA as a central concern with language as an aspect of individual cognition (759)."  Chomsky said that "linguistics is simply the sub-field of psychology that deals with these aspects of the mind."  This approach is less focused on the problem of what language is for as its used as communication and involves/concerns more than the individual. 

I really like this approach because of the psychology aspect.  For my final project, I am focusing on individual learner differences (in English language learners).  Cognition, motivation, age, etc. are all part of these differences, which is where psychology comes into play.  Language as an aspect of individual cognition seems to click with my thoughts of it as communication.  There is so much to the mind that is unknown.  We learn a lot about language acquisition but I don't believe it is the most central to cognition; that it influences how we think.  I think that the psychology of the learner is the umbrella as to how a person would learn a second language, and that goes for other concepts as well.  I don't believe that someone who has less knowledge of a language or language itself is unable to think in similar ways as another who has a higher knowledge of language.  When reading this article, I thought of the movie we watched in class; The Wild Child.  This boy showed his intelligence in learning certain behaviors, the number system, alphabet, etc.  I think it was so difficult for him because he had never been introduced to these concepts before.  Not having spoken yet was even more difficult for communication with him and by him.  However, it did not show that he was unable to learn.  Also, when his caretaker found things he was interested in (the psychology of the learner; motivation, etc.), such as going for walks, the wild child was more interested/willing to learn.  There are many other things to consider in this approach, but I think it's very important to incorporate psychology and language learning together. 

Vygotsky's principle

What I found very interesting in Chapter 4 was that although we cannot have a "formula" type of approach to learning by doing, Vygotsky came up with a principle for addressing the problem that there may be an argument for any number of effective combinations (of things such as context, instruction, level of proficiency, age, etc.).  He stated that, "Any function in a child's cultural development appears twice, or on two planes.  First it appears on the social plane and then on the psychological plane" (p 115).  He stated that it moves from "inter-psychological," which is the social, to the "intra-psychological," what's internalized individually.  An example stated in the book where teachers use this principle is where, "Social forms of reading lead to independent reading." 

I never thought of learning in these terms, from the "inter-psychological" to the "intra-psychological."  But, it makes sense.  Reading about Vygotsky's principle reminded me of scaffolding.  As teachers, we are drilled with knowing what scaffolding is and how to use it as a strategy for our students' learning experiences.  We as teachers help students first before they begin to try new material or a concept by themselves, building and utilizing their previous knowledge acquired with us in order to do these things on their own, independently. 

Then, the chapter goes on to tell about learning by doing, which is when students work independently in the "intra-psychological."  I think that learning by doing is the most effective way for a person to learn, in any aspect.  Similar to language learning, a person will most effectively learn a new language by practicing it.  Further, it would be most effective through immersion because the language and culture is all around you. 

Alternative Assignment

Hooper, Simon, and Michael J. Hannafin. "Psychological Perspectives on Emerging Instructional Technologies: A Critical Analysis." Educational Psychologist 26.1 (1991): 1-27. Professional Development Collection. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=111&sid=462ea688-f327-47bf-952d-493390d8d06b%40sessionmgr113&vid=11>.

This article takes on a psychological perspective on technologies in education.  It talks about the instructional methods and how they affect the students’ need based on their cognition.  This will help my project in that it takes into account different instructional methods/technologies according to students’ cognition, an aspect of individual learner differences.

Green, Anthony. "Washback to Learning Outcomes: a Comparative Study of IELTS Preparation and University Pre-sessional Language Courses." Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 14.1 (2007): 75-97. Print.

This article is a study on different advantages/disadvantages test preparations had on learners in their writing test scores.  The International English Language Testing System academic writing test was what was used.  The different types of preparation were those with a test preparation, those to introduce academic writing in the university, and those with both.  The findings are relevant to my topic because they show differences in participants with their questionnaires and test data.  These findings stated that there weren’t any advantages to those with a test preparation focus.  The differences among learners will be what I look for in this article.

Harper, Candace, and Ester De Jong. "Misconceptions About Teaching English-language Learners." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 48.2 (2004): 152-62. Print.

This article discusses effective teaching of ESL and its misconceptions.  It also touches on teaching methods for native English speakers as well as ESL learners.  The article includes much of the pedagogical aspect of learning in ESL.  I will focus on the TESOL aspect in individual learner differences from this article.

Hawson, Anne. "A Neuroscientific Perspective on Second-language Learning and Academic Achievement." Bilingual Review 21.2 (1996): 1-22. Print.

This article states that there is controversy on what factors influence academic results for second-language learners.  It discusses the relationship between the two and different perspectives on it.  The Threshold Hypothesis, by Cummins, is included here and is examined.  The article states that immersion causes learners to have a shift from auditory to visual processing, and states that this is beneficial to learning but it also inhibits learning in concepts that depend on auditory learning.  This article will be helpful in connecting the different learning strategies and second language acquisition for my topic.

Feminist Problem Posing

As I read this section, I began wondering how it was being connected to language and TESOL.  At the end of the section, however, I learned something.  Two quotes stood out to me, a lot. 
"...we in TESOL who are ourselves the descendants of slaves or indigenous or colonized people or who teach the descendants of slaves or indegenous or colonized people can redefine, rethink, and re-vision whom knoledge serves  (p. 112)."  The "whom knowledge serves" part really connected the beginning of the chapter to this feminist aspect.  "Serves" in the problem posing approach does not mean to transmit knowledge to students and expect them to accept it, as is.  In the problem posing approach, knowledge is meant to focus on making meaning to the knowledge offered.  It includes the emotional aspect of the concept and its' students.  It also is a more effective way of teaching in that it encompasses many different strategies/ways of teaching which results in students having the ability to solve a problem on their own, think for themselves, and come to a conclusion.  In this section, that idea is emphasized but is also made more complex on bringing in racial and gender issues.  "whom knowledge serves" is a very powerful statement and illustrates the importance of equality.
Another quote that stood out to me was this: "Feminist and womanist problem posing can open new criteria for ethics and morality and create new spaces for the creation of aesthetics and tastes" (p.112).  It really shows what this type of approach can do for the teaching world.  All in all, this section surprised me with what it had to offer. 

Dialogic Approaches

I really liked learning about the two different dialogic approaches, the Socratic Method and the traditional Eastern Philosophical roots of it.  The Socratic Method, created by Socrates, made very interesting connections through his analogy of a pregnant woman compared to a student, "pregnant with thoughts, was in labor."  Also, the "midwife," or the teacher, being the one asking the questions, skillfully.  "Through questioning, the student gave birth to concepts and understandings that were already in his mind."  I love this approach to teaching.  This approach implies that the student has capability/potential, but just needs proper questioning, no matter who it is.  An example in the text is that even, "an uneducated slave boy could reason through difficult mathematical problems and arrice at the Pythagorean theorem."  He also does not ignore the point of ignorance, that state of being unknowledgable, pointing out that an awareness of one's ignorance is wise. 

I also enjoyed learning about Confusius, "China's 'first teacher' Kong Zi."  He recognized what was needed in society and focused on how to attain ren.  This scholar and teacher portrays the importance of loving learning and that one never, ever stops learning.  His teaching had good intentions, wanting to influence society and cause social reform.  This sort of teaching is what brings about change and causes a shift or a movement. 

I loved learning about these two teachings, as a future educator. 

Changing Perspectives

This article was very interesting to me in that what I got out of it was not our techniques of teaching a language but how dependent on the learner and their successes/failures is what matters.  This approach takes the focus off of different strategies and ideas of what it takes in SLA and puts the pressure on the learner and their skills of acquiring new knowledge. 
"The questions of interest were how good learners approached language learning tasks differently from poor learners and what characteristics of learners predisposed them to good or poor learning."
This quote from the text explains much of what I understood .  Other than students with some sort of disability, we as students who are future teachers aren't really taught that students are "good" or "poor" learners; we assume that all without a disability should be able to learn with the right strategies.

Accommodation Theory

The Accommodation Theory was very interesting to me.  It describes the social aspect on learning an L2 language, specifically microsocial.  This describes how learners of a second language change their pronunciation unintentionally due to the person they are talking to.  This change in their language is their pronunciation and further, the grammar aspect of a sentence.  In the text, it explains that this theory, "accounts in part for why native speakers tend to simplify their language when they are talking to an L2 learner who is not fluent..., and why L2 learners may acquire somewhat different varieties of the target language when they have different friends" (103).  This struck me because I have volunteered for the semester to speak with a student from the ELI and help in their learning of English.  She is not very fluent at all and I can tell she struggles with certain things because of her responses; they are a lot of agreeing with me instead of responding verbally.  She shakes her head yes even though she probably does not understand.  After realizing the struggle she was having with her English, and especially after reading this, I noticed how simplified my language had become when speaking with her.  I talked slower and tried to use more common, simpler words so that it was easier for her to understand me. 

Contrastive Analysis

Contrastive Analysis, "involves predicting and explaining learner problems based on a comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and differences" (p. 34).  When I first read this, I thought that it made sense in that it was, "primarily pedagogical in nature: to increase efficiency in L2 teaching and testing."  As I read on, however, I found that it was creating predictions based on assumptions and it did not address the logical problem of language learning.  CA didn't produce its predictions and didn't account for learner errors.  I was mainly interested in this analysis because it seemed like it had such good intentions in the beginning, but failed to produce results.  I feel like I would be an advocate of this, but would then have to learn from it due to its failures.  It is one of the earlier theories and is one that we have learned from and developed because of it. 

Interesting Ideas

In the readings, I thought that the multilingual competence was one note-worthy to point out.  It is described as the compound state of a mind with two or more grammars.  What caught my attention with this was how English is the most common L2 language.  Why not another language? 

Another section in the reading I felt necessary to share was the stimulus-response theory.  It tells how children learn by imitation and that it is true that initial language learning can be due to this imitating of sounds.  However, many of these sounds are original and there isn't an explanation for it.  That baffles me and I found it very interesting.