On October 20, 2009, I observed Student K in the ESL class Riverdale High School and conducted an ethnographic interview with this student. Student K is from Mexico and has lived in the United States for 10 months. He is a level 1 on the ELDA English Proficiency Scale. This blog will reflect upon my observation and interview with him.
What are your overall impressions of this observation?
This observation allowed me to see how teachers and aides work with students that are in the beginning stages of ESL. The lesson was very useful to the student. It was going over certain things that a person would find in a city, such as a bank, hospital, movie theater, etc. The aide had the students in her group pronounce the words by repeating after her. She then asked the students questions in relation to the words. She asked them if they liked to go to the movies. Student K responded more than the other student, but his responses consisted of mostly yes and no answers. Student K seemed to understand most of what the aide said because she spoke slowly and clearly. I believe that Student K would benefit from more activities that involve oral production.
What did you learn as a result of the fieldwork?
As a result of the fieldwork, I was able to see how teachers teach the students that are in the very beginning of ESL. I also was able to hypothesize that the student would benefit from more speaking activities. As a result of the Ethnographic Narrative, I was able to better get to know the student and what life was like for him. I learned that he is shy and does not use English much outside of school. Those two things are negatively affecting his progress in spoken English. Despite this problem, he claims that he reading and writing English is not that difficult for him.
What is the value of case study research and analysis in classroom practice?
Case study research and analysis allows the teacher to observe student behavior and personality. It also allows the teacher to observe how other instructors teach the students English. The observations, narratives, and analyses allows the observer to formulate opinions and theories as to what works best for students.
What is the value of the ethnographic narrative?
I consider the ethnographic narrative to be a useful means of getting to know the student. It also enables the instructor to know more about the student in order to better teach the student. A teacher can see what may be inhibiting the student to learn English. In cases such as ESL, where the students are new to the country, it is especially important to build relationships and trust. It is easier to do in ESL because there is typically a smaller number of students in the class.
How will this information assist future teachers (next year’s teachers) as well as yourself in
meeting the needs of this particular second language learner?
The information that I have obtained as a result of my research is that students need more exercises that simulate real life situations and in which the student must provide vocal output. I say this because it is the major problem that Student K and many other students have. I plan on implementing more activities that involve speaking into my classroom next year. I plan on seeing how well this works and how much it improves the speaking abilities of my students. If it works well, I will share my findings with other language instructors.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment