› ... › Appendicies.docx?sequence=2 · Web viewir.vanderbilt.edu2012-04-05 · His pronunciation of Mandarin is standard. He arrived in US in August this year. Functional use

Appendix A: Three Genre Reading Scaffolding Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan #1

Name: Chen ChenLesson #, Lesson Title: Short Story Penguin ChickDate (including day of the week): MondayGrade Level & Class Title: 6th grade, Reading ClassPeriod or Block: 1st

Instructional Contexto How does this lesson connect with and build on the previous lesson(s)?

Our students are intermediate level English language learners and are able to read with fluency to comprehend the text in English. But their writing skills are limited.

Students have been learning about basic literary elements, such as setting, plot development, character. Students understand the differences between fiction and non-fiction.

o How do you expect to build on this lesson in subsequent lessons? Students will apply the summarizing skills and retelling story skills to more

complicated texts.

Standards Addressedo NCTE/IRA Content Standards Addressed:1- Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding

of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

3- Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

4- Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different writing process.

10- Students whose first language is not English make use of their first language to develop competency in the English language arts and to develop understanding of content across the curriculum.

Learning Objectiveso List the specific content learning objectives for the lesson.

Students will be able to comprehend the content of the short story Penguin Chick.

Students will be able to summarize the main idea of the story and find details to support the main idea.

Students will be able to retell the story by looking at the main idea chart.o Note any goals or expectations related to student participation in the lesson.

Students will use gestures to act out the new verbs. Students will answer the questions that I ask as they read the story. Students will finish the main idea chart. Students will retell the story by using the chart and act it out.

Academic Language Objectiveso List the Academic Language or content language needed for this lesson.

Verbs Tenses Chronological adverbs

Students will learn the new verbs from the text and act them out with gestures. They will get familiar with different tenses that appear in the text. Students will learn words and phrases that signaling chronology, such as “after”, “finally” and use them in their orally speaking and writing.

Assessmentso All informal assessments will be documented in the Instructional Strategies and

Learning Tasks.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks (Procedures & Timelines)

Pre-reading: (5-10 minutes)o The students will be asked to answer a warm-up question: “What is the

life like in Antarctic?” Students will be given time to predict what they think the climate should be in Antarctic.

o The students will watch a Youtube video about Antarctic introduction (background information).

o Students will be guided to learn the vocabularies. They will read aloud and paraphrase the new vocabularies that are pulled out from the story in index cards.

fierce whips huddle shuffle echoes down junior

Individual Reading Response Exercise (20 minutes)o Students will be distributed iPads to read the story for several times. The

content on iPads will be controlled. The first time, students will be asked to underline the chronological

adverbs and the new words in the text.

The second time, students will be encouraged to ask any language questions in the text. Their questions will be answered.

The third time, students will then be asked to listen as the story is read aloud, and keep looking at the text on iPads, as well as answer the questions that appear on the screen (Insert comment). Students are required not only to orally answer the questions, but also to highlight the answers from the text on iPads. The questions are asked based on students’ comprehension. They include:

What is the meaning of “emperor penguin”? What is the setting? Why don’t they build a nest? Where does the egg stay for keeping warm? Why does mother penguin go so far for food? Does penguin father have a hard job to do? Why? How long should the father keep the position? Why the cold can kill the chick? When mother comes back, where does chick go? What is the difference between adult and chick’s beak? Why?

o Students will be asked to think about the concepts of main idea and details by presenting a stack of legos.

The whole structure of the stack of legos is main idea, and all the pieces that put together for the structure are details.

o Students will be guided to summarize three main ideas in the story based on the timeline. Also, they will be taught to insert chronological adverbs in front of each main idea.

The father stays with the egg. The father takes good care of the egg. The mother cares for the chick when she returns.

Group Activity (20 minutes)o Students will be divided into three groups and write down three details for

supporting each main idea on posters based on the scaffolding questions.o Students are asked to retell the story based on the main idea chart (the

chart is attached in the end) and insert the chronological words like “then”, “finally” to organize the information.

Individual Response (Last 5-10 minutes of class/Homework)o Students are then asked to act out the story and videotape the process as

their homework.

Authentic assessment evidenceo Students will be assessed informally during the pre-reading activity based upon

their performance of paraphrasing new vocabularies. o Students will be assessed about their comprehension of the text based upon their

answers to the questions and their highlighting sentences in text.

o Performance during the group activity will be assessed based on whether students can finish the main idea chart correctly and if they retell the complete story.

o Students’ retelling story skills will be assessed using a rubric by watching their videos. The rubric will be differentiated for different levels if necessary.

Student Supports o Consider the topic, skills, and strategies used in this lesson. How and where have

supports and scaffolds for these been incorporated into the lesson(s)? I will scaffold students to understand the content meaning by asking the

questions I have listed above. As students are asked to write details in group, I will use several guiding

questions to help them finish the task, such as “How can father protect it”, “Why does father have to stay”, “How does mother take care of the chick” etc..

I will use some guiding questions to help students retell the story. o Are there additional supports that specific students/student groups might need?

ELL? IEP? 504? Gifted? Since the students in this class are ELLs, I will ensure they have a basic

understanding of language meaning before moving deeper into content.

Materials and Resourceso List the handouts, notes, books, and other materials you will need for the lesson.

Index cards with new vocabularies IPads with story and questions A stack of legos Big paper for group activity/markers

Main Idea ChartTime Main Idea DetailsWinter

Spring

Summer

Tatham, B, illustrated by Davie, H.K. (2002). Penguin Chick, HarperCollins Publishers, pp. 91-109.

Lesson Plan #2

Name: Chen ChenLesson #, Lesson Title: Movie Forrest GumpDate (including day of the week): WednesdayGrade Level & Class Title: 6th grade, Reading ClassPeriod or Block: 2nd


Our students are advanced level English language learners and are able to follow the movie in English.

Students understand the concept behind theme, as it has been discussed in the context of other literature.

Students have already seen the movie Forrest Gump in last class. o How do you expect to build on this lesson in subsequent lessons?

Students will learn to brainstorm and use thinking maps in their future writing. Students will apply character analysis skills in other literary texts.



4- Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different writing process.

7- Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.


12- Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Learning Objectives

o List the specific content learning objectives for the lesson. Students will be able to comprehend the theme of “everyone can be a hero” in

the movie, Forrest Gump. Students will be able to understand the characters that contribute to the hero,

Forrest Gump.

Students will be able to make a personal connection to their own experiences and think about what differences they can make for themselves.

o Note any goals or expectations related to student participation in the lesson. Students will participate in the discussion about “who is the hero in their

minds”. Students will make a resume for Forrest Gump as the application of school. Students will orally report what Forrest did and what differences he made

according to a timeline. Students will discuss whether Forrest was a hero or not and what kinds of

characters contribute to what he did. Students will brainstorm and write what they may do to make a difference for

themselves or others.


Adjectives Tenses Idioms or slangs

Students will use different adjectives to describe Forrest Gump’s characters. They will use past tense to report what Forrest did, use present tense to present their opinions, and use future tense to state what they are going to do to be heroes. Students will meet idioms or slangs as they watch the movie, and they will be informed immediately about the meaning of idioms and slangs.


Learning Tasks.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks (Procedures & Timelines)

Pre-reading: (5-10 minutes)o Students will be asked to learn new words that are pulled out from the

movie. o Students will be asked to either agree or disagree with this statement:

Everyone can be a hero.o The class will be divided into four groups to discuss their opinions

towards the statement. They will give examples of the heroes in their minds and give reasons why they think they are heroes.

Individual Reading Response Exercise (15 minutes)o Students will then be asked to make a resume for Forrest Gump for the

school principle on their small white boards. They will be asked to indicate his IQ and whether he was disabled or not. The format of resume will be presented on the big white board. Then, they will present their resumes to the class.

o Students will be guided to recall their memories of the movie. They will be asked to list what Forrest Gump did according to a time line: before he joined the army/as he was in the army/after he left the army (In this phase, students will orally report their thoughts, and I will write them down on the board).

o As a class, we will discuss what benefits he brought to others according to the time line (These things will be written out in a chart on the board, and students will be encouraged to come write their thoughts during discussion).

Group activity (20 minutes)o The class will be divided into four groups, and each group will be

distributed a big piece of paper and several markers. Students will be asked to list the characters that Forrest Gump had based on what he did. Several vocabularies that describe characters will be given on the white board.

What kinds of characters do you think help Forrest make so many differences for himself as well as for others?

o Students will then be asked to discuss whether they think Forrest Gump is a hero or not. They will give reasons to support their statement.

o Each group will select one student to present their opinions in front of the class.

Individual Response (Last 5-10 minutes of class/Homework)o As a final activity, students will be asked to think about whether they can

be heroes for themselves. They will use thinking maps to brainstorm their ideas (I will explain the concepts of thinking maps and ask them to come up with as many reasonable ideas as possible, without any judgment).

Are you able to relate your experiences to state how you make a difference for yourself or others?

o They will be asked to write a paragraph (5-6 sentences) to state what they can do to make themselves as heroes, and will finish this for homework on their classroom blogs.


their participation of discussion. o Students will be assessed informally about their comprehension of the movie

based upon their products of resumes and answers to the questions. o Performance during the group activity will be assessed based on whether students

connect Forrest’s characters with what he did and whether they present their opinions in front of class clearly and coherently. A rubric will be given to assess their presentations.

o A rubric will be given to assess students’ writing homework. I will evaluate their comprehension of the theme, language fluency as well as their skills to relate to their daily life.


supports and scaffolds for these been incorporated into the lesson(s)? I will guide students to recall their memories about the movie, and facilitate

them to make complete sentences. I will use several guiding questions to scaffold students to come up with Forrest

Gump’s characters. I will give students different types of thinking maps as examples to help them

brainstorm. o What are the places in your lesson where the content might be confusing or “knot

up”? What alternative ways do you have to present/explain the content if you need it?

It may be difficult for students to come up with examples of heroes who seem ordinary or they may think it is too difficult for them to be heroes. I will give them such examples and tell them heroes could be those who overcome external obstacles and themselves as well.

o Are there additional supports that specific students/student groups might need? ELL? IEP? 504? Gifted?

Since the students in this class are ELLs, I will provide vocabularies and sentence structures for their productive skills.


Small white boards and markers A big board Big paper/markers

Lesson #3

Name: Chen ChenLesson #, Lesson Title: Chinese Folktale The Boy with the Magic BrushDate (including day of the week): MondayGrade Level & Class Title: 6th grade, Reading ClassPeriod or Block: 1st


Our students are intermediate level English language learners. Students have already learned the concept of the basic elements of story, such as

character, setting, plot etc..o How do you expect to build on this lesson in subsequent lessons?

Students will apply story map to analyze stories in future readings. Students will use story map for their future creative writing.



4- Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

5- Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

8- Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.


12- Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their ownpurposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Learning Objectiveso List the specific content learning objectives for the lesson.

Students will learn the folktale and be able to get familiar with the elements of story, such as setting, character, plot, etc..

Students will be able to find clues from the text according to the story map. Students will be able to use the story map to summarize the folktale. Students will be able to use the story map to create their own stories.

o Note any goals or expectations related to student participation in the lesson. Students will draw pictures in the pre-reading activity, and share their work with

partners. Students will answer the questions after they listen to the story and review the

story. Students will finish the story map sheets and present their work in front of the

class. Students will participate in summarizing the story according to the story map. Students will brainstorm and write their own stories.


New vocabularies Tenses Simple, compound and complex sentences

Students will meet several new vocabularies in the folktale. I will pull out the new words and guide students to guess the meaning. Students will also meet several compound and complex sentences in the folktale. I will rewrite the complex sentences for students to ensure they understand the content knowledge. They will read past tense in the text, and report their opinions in present tense.


Learning Tasks.

Instructional Strategies and Learning tasks (Procedures and timelines)

Pre-reading: (5-10 minutes)o Students will be asked to answer a question: “ What is the thing you want

most?” They will draw pictures on their small white boards about it. o Students will then be asked to share their pictures with shoulder partners,

and explain what the object is, and give several reasons why he/she wants it so much.

Individual Reading Response Exercise (15 minutes)o Students will be guided to learn new words appeared in the folktale.o Students will then be asked to listen as the folktale is read aloud, and then,

they will be asked to answer several questions. Complex sentences will be

read first, and then paraphrased into simple sentences as the folktale is read aloud.

Who is the most important character in the story? When and where did the story happen?

o Students will then silently read the stories themselves multiple times. The first time they will be asked to underline new words or parts of the

story they don’t understand. This will then be discussed. After they read the second time, they will be asked to close the book

and brainstorm whatever plot they can remember. I will write them down on the board.

Then I will introduce story map to students. It helps us organize every important element from the story, just like the string links every bead to make a beautiful necklace.

Group activity (20 minutes)o The class will be divided into four groups and each group will be

distributed a big paper. Every student will be distributed a story map sheet as a clue. Students will be asked to work as a group and fill in the story map sheet and then present it to the class on the big paper. They will compare their answers after the presentation, and I will give them comments about their answers.

o Students will be asked to summarize the story based on the story map within 8 sentences. Each group will select one member to orally report it in front of the class.

Individual Response (Last 5-10 minutes of class)o Students will be asked to use the story map to create their own stories.

They will use thinking map to brainstorm whatever idea they come up with, and then fill in the blank of the story map.

o Students will be asked to write their own stories based on their story map within 10 sentences, and will finish this for homework on their classroom blogs.


their participation and discussion. o Students will be assessed on their comprehension of the folktale according to their

answers to the questions. o Performance during the group activity will be evaluated based upon whether or

not students finish the story map sheet correctly, and their participation in the discussion.

o A rubric will be given to assess students’ summaries for the story. It will focus on whether or not students include every element of the story in their summaries, as well as language fluency and accuracy.

o A rubric will also be given to assess students’ writing homework. I will evaluate if their stories include all basic elements, whether or not it is complete, and their logic and language fluency.


supports and scaffolds for these been incorporated into the lesson(s)? I will guide students to remember the plots in the story by asking several

questions, and facilitate them to make complete sentences. I will provide a model for students to help them summarize the story and create

their own stories I will give students different types of thinking maps as examples to help them

brainstorm their own stories. Students will be encouraged to create their stories based on their previous

experiences. o What are the places in your lesson where the content might be confusing or “knot

up”? What alternative ways do you have to present/explain the content if you need it?

The students need to predict what happened to the emperor in the end in order to finish the story map. I will guide students to predict the ending by asking questions. “Why did Ma Liang draw strong wind for the emperor?” What might happen for the ship with strong wind?”

o Are there additional supports that specific students/student groups might need? ELL? IEP? 504? Gifted?

Since the students in this class are ELLs, I will explain the meaning of new words and analyze several compound and complex sentences.

If students cannot answer the questions after they listen to the story, I will ask them to answer those questions after they read the story.


Small white boards and markers A big board A necklace Big paper/markers Story map sheets

Story map

Giskin, H. (1997). Chinese Folktales, NTC Publishing Group, Lincolnwood, IL, pp.76-77.

Setting (Place & Time)

Characters (Main & Minor)

Problem

Attempt

Solution

Appendix B: Assessment Student Analysis Project

Part I Background Information

The placement of my practicum is at the English Language Center

(ELC) of Vanderbilt University (VU), which serves English language

training for international students from VU. The student I selected for

my case study is a young man from Saudi Arabia who is nicknamed as

Husain. He has been studying in the ELC’s program to improve his

English for a year and a half. In this section, I will introduce my

student’s cultural and linguistic background, as well as the setting I

observed.

1. Cultural Background

I checked Husain’s files and had an interview with him to learn his

socio-cultural

background (See the interview protocol in Appendence A).

Husain is from a small city of Saudi Arabia. He is 19 years old. He

came to the U.S. fifteen months ago. Husain enrolls in a language

program of Vanderbilt University at the ELC. As soon as he finishes the

program at the ELC this July, he will go to the university that accepts

him to pursue an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. It is

not easy for Husain to come here. He was selected from 7,000

applicants in his country by an oil company, Sabic, which is also his

sponsor. Husain needs to come back to Saudi Arabia after graduation

and work for Sabic for at least 10 years as the exchange. As the top

student in Saudi Arabia, he performed very well in former schools,

especially in sciences.

Husain has a big family. In this family, there are seven people in

total, father, mother, one elder brother, one elder sister, two younger

sisters, and Husain. Father plays a role as a “boss”, mother is in the

second position. Younger brothers and sisters are supposed to respect

elder brothers and sisters. Husain’s father is the only economical

source for the family, and his mother is responsible for housework and

providing educational support for children. As Husain’s mother only has

high school degree, the educational support is limited as memory

check for the content of textbook. But due to visa issues and the

sponsorship, Husain’s family do not come to the U.S. with him. Husain

lives with his classmates who are also the sponsored members from

Saudi Arabia in the dormitory in Vanderbilt University.

In Muslims’ world, males and females do not talk. For general

politeness, males shake hands or kiss cheeks as greetings. Being a

pious Muslim, Husain has many limitations in communicating with

females. In Islam’s belief, males cannot see females’ body except

hands and face. Due to the religious belief, Husain has not had a

girlfriend. His mother will help him “blind date” with a good girl. They

cannot date until they get engaged. However, before the engagement,

Husain can see the girl for only once to say “Yes or No”.

The big holiday that Muslims celebrate is called Eid al-Adha. During

the festival, Muslims wear traditional clothes, sacrifice their best

domestic animals (like a cow or a goat), as a symbol of Abraham's

willingness to sacrifice his only son. During the Eid, Muslims cannot eat

or drink until sunset.

While I asked Husain to bring me an artifact or anything he thinks

that can symbolize his life, he introduced the traditional Arabic clothes

for males to me. From it we can see that Husain is a traditional Muslim,

and he has been deeply affected by Arabic culture.

2. Linguistic Background

I learned Husain’s linguistic background from the interview with him

and the

interview with the director of the ELC, as well as a language use survey

(See the Appendence B).

Husain speaks Arabic as the first language. He learned English since

the 7th grade.

His English teachers in Saudi Arabia are nonnative English speakers

and they speak Arabic in class. Although Husain has learned English for

about seven years, his English learning was not effective in Saudi

Arabia. We can learn it from the results of Michigan Placement Test

that Husain was assessed at the beginning days at the ELC. His score

is 44 overall, which indicates that Husain was in Basic level at that

time.

Because Husain and his classmates are a whole group at the ELC

that often contacts with each other, the language Husain uses with

them is Arabic. However, since Husain arrived in the U.S., he has had

much more opportunities to use English. Other than speaking and

writing English for classes at the ELC, he also reads English from

newspapers/magazines, information from Internet/TV and books in the

library, writes English via emails and on Facebook, as well as speaks

English with native speakers during the trips and service learning.

Husain has made a huge progress in English proficiency since he

began to study at the ELC. We can tell it from the results of three

TOEFL tests that Husain has taken since last June. His first TOEFL score

is 58 out of 120, after 2 months and a half, he got 78 points, and in the

TOEFL test this March, he got 92 points. After reviewing the sub-scores

of TOEFL test, I found that Husain has made the greatest progress in

reading and listening abilities. He got 18 points out of 30 points in

reading section, 16 points out of 30 points in listening section in the

first TOEFL test last June. While he earned 24 points in reading section

and 22 points in listening section in the TOEFL test this March.

3. The Setting---The English Language Center

The setting I observed is the English Language Center of Vanderbilt

University. In this part, I will describe what I have observed in this

center from the perspective of culture and the perspective of language

respectively.

1) Culture

The ELC does something to support students’ culture. New arrivals

in low level are encouraged to do presentations to introduce their

countries’ culture in order to dismiss stereotypes. For my participant’s

case, according to Arabic culture, he needs to pray five times a day.

The ELC allows Saudi Arabian students to pray in any classroom that

has no class. At the beginning of my classroom observation, it was

Ramadan for Muslims. The Saudi Arabian students did not drink or eat

anything until sunset. The teacher learned that and never drank water

or ate anything in front of them. Furthermore, the program in which

Husain is enrolled includes both in-classroom teaching and out of

classroom activities to improve English. The out of classroom activities

are language learning through service learning, outdoor recreation

activities, and engineering site visits. The ELC usually gives several

options for students to choose rather than to force students to do

something they do not like. For example, females in Saudi Arabia are

not expected to use hammers for physical activity. The ELC learns that

and respects the female students’ choice whether to do it or not in

service learning at homeless shelters. However, unlike Herrera’s

statement in meets criteria level that “the students’ culture is

respected and valued as a source of knowledge and experiences that

advance learning” (Herrera et al. 2007, p.110), there are not any

artifacts or characters other than English on the wall at the ELC. The

only decorations at ELC are pictures of Nashville.

2) Language

ELC does not care about whether students use their first language

(L1) or not outside the classroom. However, it makes a clear policy to

forbid L1 use in class, which is unlike Herrera’s saying in meets criteria

level that “supports L1 use at home and school” (Herrera et al. 2007,

p.110). As for the program that Husain is in, the students who

continually speak Arabic in class will be reported to their sponsor,

which may result in their loss of sponsorship.

Part II Assessment Requirements

The ELC is part of Vanderbilt University proper that provides English

training for international students. The purpose of Husain enrolling in

the language program at ELC is to better attain the college-level

academic study in the U.S. from a Basic level to Advanced level.

In this section, I will introduce how the ELC prepares students in

academic English abilities from curriculum’s perspective and

assessment’s perspective respectively.

Regarding the curriculums provided at the ELC, since Husain and his

classmates have specific purpose to be successful in academic study

from the language program, the curriculums provided for Husain focus

on academic study more than on daily use. As a sponsored group,

Husain and his classmates are full-time students enrolled in the

language program at the ELC. They have Reading/Vocabulary,

Listening/Speaking, Writing/Grammar classes on daily basis. All the

classes prepare students to use English in college-level environment.

In Reading/Vocabulary class, the teacher teaches students to use

reading strategies for reading academic papers on diverse topics, and

summarize the reading materials from multimedia sources, such as

Internet, newspaper, and magazine etc.. The teacher also helps

students broaden academic vocabularies by asking them to check

dictionary and practice paraphrasing. In Writing/Grammar class, the

teacher teaches students to write academic paper and cite references

in APA style. The ELC provides TOEFL/SAT test preparation courses as

well to help students get higher scores in these tests.

Besides formal study in classes, they also learn English from service

learning, outdoor recreation, and site visits, which belong to part of

academic orientation. Students in Husain’s program provide service for

the community, such as being volunteers for humanity. Through

talking and writing the experience from service learning, students

learn English in real world situation. For example, while Husain was

providing service in the homeless shelter, he learned many

vocabularies about door that are not easily acquired in daily life.

Students ski, hike etc. as their daily outdoor events. Since each event

recruits only one or two international students, Husain and his

classmates have enough opportunity to practice English with native

speakers during the trip. Moreover, ELC organizes day trips for

students as site visits, such as visiting NASA in Alabama. Because all

the students in Husain’s program major in engineering, visiting NASA

helps them broaden he vocabularies in space engineering.

Furthermore, ELC also recruits paid language partners for Husain

and his classmates. It provides a chance for Husain and his classmates

to communicate with different native speakers. Students meet their

language partners for one hour every week. In order to ensure the

effectiveness of the meeting, the language partners are required to

prepare diverse topics that covers from campus life and school work to

culture resources before the meeting and report it to ELC once a week.

As for the assessment, before Husain and his classmates enrolled in

the language program at ELC, their English proficiency was assessed

by Michigan Placement Test when they were in their country. As soon

as he enrolled in the program at ELC in January last year, he was

assessed by Michigan Placement Test again for placement. After six

months, Husain was assessed by Michigan Test for the third time to

see his progress. He will also be assessed by Michigan Placement Test

this July as the final assessment at the ELC. In Husain’s program, in

order to ensure the students’ visa status, the ELC gives one

attendance reporting every two weeks. As Husain and his classmates

are sponsored, the ELC also does progress reporting for the company

every three weeks. In this report, teachers need to grade and

comment on students’ attendance/ participants, attitudes, proficiency,

and achievement.

Based on what I have mentioned above, although Husain and his

classmates enrolls in the language program at the ELC for improving

their academic English as the preparation for their undergraduate

degree, the program for them goes beyond academic English training.

ELC is the first stop for Husain’s group in the U.S., so ELC also takes

the responsibility to help them adjust to the life here. Besides the

formal classes to improve students’ reading, listening, speaking, and

writing skills, the service learning, outdoor recreation, site visits, as

well as language partner, these events provide chances for Husain and

his classmates to experience real life in the U.S., and increase their

interest in learning authentic English and engineering. I think the

curriculums in this program at the ELC are well designed and

effectively support students to learn authentic academic English.

As for the perspective of assessment, the ELC only uses the Michigan

Placement Test for assessing students’ English proficiency. Although

the reliability and validity of the Michigan Placement Test are very

high, I still doubt the assessment is limited. What is more, teachers’

comments in the progress reporting are more attitude oriented and

depends on teachers’ subjective judgments, as well as the reports

directly relate to students’ sponsorship, I doubt the objectivity of the

report in students’ English proficiency. I suggest the ELC to consider

using diverse standard assessments to assess students’ English

proficiency as supplements, such as the Comprehensive Adult Student

Assessment System, the Basic English Skills Test, and so on. Rather

than commenting on students’ attitudes, I think portfolio assessment

that includes students' very best and worst work, the use of reflective

journals, and thinking logs can better reflect students’ progress in

English learning.

Part III States of SLA

According to Tennessee English Proficiency Levels, there are five

levels to describe English language learners’ English proficiency. This

section will discuss the stage of English language proficiency that

Husain is operating from.

Based on Husain’s scores on the TOEFL test and my classroom

observation, I believe his English proficiency is in Level 4---Advanced

level, in which students “are able to function well in most everyday

situations but still require academic language support. They may have

difficulty understanding text beyond the literal level. They often make

errors in structure and idiomatic language” (Tennessee English

Proficiency Levels).

I began the classroom observation since February, and Husain took

his third TOEFL iBT test in mid-March. He got 92 points out of 120

points in total in the test. The scores in reading, listening, speaking and

writing sections are 24, 22, 23, and 23, respectively. From the TOEFL

iBT performance feedback, I learn that Husain’s reading ability is in

high level. Test takers who get score from 22 to 30 belong to those

who are in high level of reading skills. Test takers in this level “have a

very good command of academic vocabulary and grammatical

structure; can understand and connect information, make appropriate

inferences and synthesize ideas, even when the text is conceptually

dense and the language is complex; can recognize the expository

organization of a text and the role that specific information serves

within the larger text, even when the text is conceptually dense; and

can abstract major ideas from a text, even when the text is

conceptually dense and contains complex language” (TOEFL iBT

Performance Feedback for Test Takers). In listening skills, Husain

reaches the cutting score of high level, which means that he can

“understand conversations and lectures in English that present a wide

range of listening demands that include difficult vocabulary

(uncommon terms, or colloquial or figurative language), complex

grammatical structures, abstract or complex ideas and/or making

sense of unexpected or seemingly contradictory information” (TOEFL

iBT Performance Feedback for Test Takers). Regarding the speaking

skills, Husain is in fair level, which indicates that he is able to speak in

English clearly and coherently not only about his personal experiences

and opinions, but also about academic reading and lecture materials

with only minor communication problems. As for Husain’s writing

ability, he is in fair level. The score can be interpreted as although

Husain expressed ideas with reasons, examples and details, he still has

grammar mistakes or incorrect uses of words, and may not provide

enough specific support and development for his main points (TOEFL

iBT Performance Feedback for Test Takers).

The Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL, is designed to assess the

English language proficiency of persons whose native language is not English in an

academic setting. As seen in the report based on the first year’s operational data from

September 2005 to December 2006, the total reliability of the TOEFL iBT test is as high

as 0.95 (TOEFL iBT Score Reliability and Generalizability). Regarding the validity,

researchers conduct studies of these validity-related topics, such as factor structure,

construct representation, criterion-related and predictive validity, and consequential

validity. Sawaki and Nissan’s report shows that the observed

correlations between TOEFL iBT listening section scores and the simulated academic

listening tasks were 0.56 for undergraduate students and 0.64 for graduate students.

(Sawaki & Nissan, 2009). Due to the high reliability and validity of the TOEFL test, the

evaluation of Husain’s English proficiency is reliable.

I observed Writing/Grammar and Reading/Vocabulary classes, and designed an

observational protocol for the classroom observation (See Appendence C). The textbook

for Reading/Vocabulary class covers diverse topics, including language, human history,

sciences, art, and so on. Husain usually gets the right answers for the questions affiliated

with the texts. In the mid-term of Reading/Vocabulary class, he got 94 points out of 100

for a reading material that talks about language acquisition. From it we can tell that

Husain’s English proficiency matches with the description of the Advanced level,

students in this level can “identify the main ideas and relevant details of discussions or

presentations on a wide range of topics” (Tennessee English Proficiency Levels).

He can understand the context of most text in academic areas with vocabulary support,

such as asking the teacher to paraphrase “irrigation” and “salinization”. Moreover, in the

Reading/Vocabulary class, Husain did a reading report that introduces the Tower of

London in both spoken and written form. I found that Husain spoke fluently and

coherently in the whole presentation, except some pronunciation mistakes in vowels he

made. For example, he pronounced “ow” in “allow” as /əu/ instead of /au/, “a” in

“evaporate” as /ei/ instead of /æ/. During classes, compared to other students who speak

Arabic with classmates, Husain usually speaks English with his classmates. Unless he

cannot make himself understood, he uses Arabic instead. Therefore, I think Husain’s

speaking skills are advanced because he “actively [engages] in most communicative

situations familiar or unfamiliar” (Tennessee English Proficiency Levels). As for

Husain’s writing skills, I think he is in the level that between intermediate and advanced

level. Although he can write multi-paragraph essays and personal letters, such as emails

and messages on Facebook, he rarely uses clauses and has some mistakes in grammar and

word choices. For example, Husain uses “I want to look closely at…” instead of the

correct use “I want to have a close look at…”.

From my classroom observation, I conclude that Husain’s reading skills and speaking

skills are in Advanced level, and his writing skills are at the beginning stage of Advanced

level. This judgment is mostly consistent with the TOEFL iBT results, except in the

speaking skills. My judgment of Husain’s speaking skills is higher than the TOEFL iBT

interpretation. In my opinion, it is because in real situation, the topics that Husain is

engaged are not only about academic study, but also about daily life.

Husain performs more naturally when communicates with persons on familiar topics

than speaks to a computer on only academic topics.

Part IV Content Area Knowledge

Since the student in my case enrolls in an English language program, all the content

area knowledge he learns is about English. In this section, I will evaluate his writing

abilities based on the Six-Trait Scoring Rubric.

I got a writing sample from Husain, in which he summarizes an article first and then

writes his reaction to the article (See Appendence D). I evaluate the summary and the

reaction respectively.

I give the summary 6.0 points in ideas, as the topic is narrow and manageable, and the

details and support are clear and relevant. All the details are accurate, and the reader’s

questions are anticipated and answered. In the aspect of organization, I give it 5.5 points.

“The [Tower] of London is considered [as] one of the most [famous] tourist attractions in

London”, which is an inviting introduction that draws me in; and “That’s why this

building [enjoys its fame] among [tourist attraction]” as a “satisfying conclusion” leaves

me a sense of closure. The sequence is logical, and the “structure moves me through the

text”. However, there are some problems in the transitions. Husain uses “also” as a

transition word in the essay, which makes me feel confused, as the context before and

after “also” is not going forward one by one. In the conventions part, I give 4 points. The

spelling is good. But internal punctuation, like commas, is sometimes missing. For

example, in “Richard the Lionheart and Henry III”, I suggest a comma before “and”.

Husain does not use capitalization for “the Tower of London”. As for the grammar,

Husain has problems in plural forms, preposition, and pronouns. For example, the

original sentence “Drawings and handwritings by the prisoners are still in this building’s

walls, which describe the pain and sorrow those prisoners underwent” should be edited as

“Drawings and handwritings by the prisoners are still on this building’s walls, which

describing the pains and sorrows they underwent”. In the aspect of voice, I give 5.0

points. Overall, the summary is engaging and the narrative writing is connected. But the

sentence “Prisoners were fatigued there” does not move me in the context. I have no idea

what the meaning it is. I give 4.5 points in the aspect of word choice. I can figure out the

writer’s meaning on a general level, but some words are not accurately used. For

instance, “since it was founded” should be changed as “since it was constructed/built”, as

“founded” is usually used for organizations, while “constructed /built” are used for

buildings. Moreover, in the sentence “It is very hard to penetrate this building.”, I think

“penetrate” is not used appropriately. When Husain says, “They stayed there with their

families for a while”, I suggest he can provide the exact time period instead of “a while”.

Since the sentence styles are not various, and connecting words are not very clear, I give

4.5 points on sentence fluency.

As for the reaction article, the points for every trait will be lower than those in the

summary article. In the aspect of ideas, I give 5.0 points. Although this article reflects the

writer’s original thinking, there are two sentences off the topic. They are “I have been

supporting Manchester United, English soccer team, since I was eleven years old.” and

“During my travels to many states here in the United States, historical buildings always

were in my list; for example, the empire state in New York City.” The grade of

organization is 4.5, as the transitional words are wrongly used. For example, Husain uses

“because” at the beginning of the article, which is not appropriate; and in the middle of

the article, the transitional words “however” does not make sense. Regarding the aspect

of conventions, I grade 3.5 points. The tense Husain uses is not consistent in the whole

article. Sometimes he uses present tense, and sometimes he uses past tense. He uses

“jewelries” wrongly, because “jewelry” does not have the plural form. The sentence “my

feelings are mixed and lost between terror and excitement when I think of visiting this

building” can be edited as “my feeling is mixed with terror and excitement when I think

of visiting this building”. In the trait of voice, I grade 4.5 points. The narrative writing is

sincere, but not passionate. But I want to mention that Husain describe his own feelings

in this article. He says that he wants to scream during the visiting, which is a good

sharing with readers. As for the word choice, I grade it as high as 4.0 points. “The

language is functional, even if it lacks energy.” For example, in the sentence “I already

thought that I have to put this building in my list when I visit London”, “thought” and

“have to” are not correctly used. I revise it as “I have already decided that I should visit

this tower when I go to London”. Another example is Husain wants to “look closely at”

the jewelry, which does not make sense. Based on the original meaning, I edit it as “have

a close look at”. In the aspect of sentence fluency, I give 4.0 points. The inappropriate

uses of transitional words affect the whole fluency. Moreover, the sentence structures are

not various, and some sentences are not even structured. For instance, in the sentence

“however, I don’t know why I think that when I visit this building, I will hear a sound of

screams because I already knew that prisoners were tortured in that place. Hence, my

feelings are mixed and lost between terror and excitement when I think of visiting this

building”, the meaning is not clearly stated, and some content are repeated. I revise it as

“I don’t know why I believe I will hear screams when I visit this building. Maybe, I knew

that prisoners were tortured in this place; or, my feeling is mixed with terror and

excitement.”

Based on what I have mentioned above, I judge Husain’s writing abilities is at the

beginning stage of Advanced level. I analyze the reason why the scores on Six-Trait

Scoring Rubric are different in the two articles. Husain can borrow the ideas, words, and

structure from the original essay in the summary article. However, in the reaction article,

all the things he writes should be developed and organized by himself. So, it is no wonder

that Husain does a better job in the summary article.

Part V Instructional Recommendations

Since Husain enrolls in an English language program at the ELC of

Vanderbilt University, which is a private organization that does not

receive funding from government, he does not have to take the

mandatory assessments that are required by TN State and Federal

government. The only required assessments for Husain and his

classmates are the Michigan Placement Test which plays a role as

measuring students’ progress in English proficiency at the ELC, and the

TOEFL test as well as the SAT test that are the admission requirements

of universities and colleges.

This section will discuss the instructional recommendations and an

assessment plan on a daily, weekly, and quarterly basis for Husain.

From the scores of the TOEFL test and my observation protocol, I

find that Husain’s speaking ability is better than his reading, listening

and writing abilities. In order to improve Husain’s reading and listening

abilities, especially the abilities of reading academic papers and

listening to academic lectures, first, I suggest the ELC to ask Husain to

broaden his academic vocabularies by reading more academic books

and list vocabularies that he is unfamiliar with. Husain needs to check

English-English dictionary to find the literal meanings of the words, and

make sentences to gain the authentic uses of them. Second, I suggest

the ELC to create an activity before each class. The teacher asks

students to summarize what they have learned from last class. In this

way, the students not only can practice summarizing and speaking

abilities, but also force themselves in class to listen to the teacher

carefully and absorb as much information as possible. Third, I think the

ELC could encourage students to explore more resources for extending

their knowledge in academic study, such as the speeches made by TED

conversations.

In order to improve Husain’s writing ability, I suggest the ELC to

create a writing workshop for Husain and his classmates. Since their

English proficiencies are above intermediate level, editing of writings

one to one is more effective than the reflection of the whole class. Or

the teacher could ask students to do peer review and group review

before students submit the final version of the paper.

As for the assessment plan for Husain and his classmates, I suggest

the teacher at the ELC to use running records on a daily basis. For

example, while the teacher is checking student’s summary of last

class, the teacher can take notes of what difficulties the student meets

in speaking ability. The teacher may also create portfolios for students

to assess writing ability. The teacher asks students to put their thinking

logs, thinking maps of brainstorming, best and worst work samples,

peer reflections and self-reflections into the portfolios. The teacher

checks the portfolios to find out the students’ strengths and needs.

These kinds of assessments are all informative for effective instruction.

On a weekly basis, the teacher may ask students to reflect their

performances based on the learning goals set up one week before. On

a quarterly basis, the teacher can measure students’ progress by the

Michigan Placement Test and the TOEFL test.

Attachment A

Socio-cultural background protocol

General information:

Name: Age: Nationality:

L1:

How long have you been in US?

Why come to US?

Highest degree:

How long have you learned English?

Former school records:

Educational Beliefs:

How did teacher teach English in your country?

Preferred approach for learning: group/peer/individual?

Visual/listening?

What are the appropriate behaviors for students in your country?

Family:

How many people are there in your family? What is the hierarchical

structure of the family?

What type of educational support is provided in the home? Who

provide it?

Social discourses of the culture:

How do people greet each other?

Religious Beliefs:

What religious beliefs are held by family?

Are there any specific restrictions and public rituals associated with the

beliefs?

Holidays:

What traditional holidays do you celebrate?

What is the traditional food/clothing for the holidays?

Activity:

Bring an artifact or draw the most important images in your mind that

can symbolize your life.

Attachment B

Language Use Survey

L1 L2 L1+L2

I read

Newspapers/

Magazines

Advertisements

Books

Information from

Internet/TV

I write

Emails

Lists

Diaries

Letters to

family/friends

I speak

With family

With friends

In church

During trips

Service learning

Attachment C

Observational Protocol

Student Number: Teacher: Subject: Date: T=Teacher

Students= Ss First Language=L1 Second Language=L2

Scale: 1= never 2=rarely 3=sometimes 4=frequently 5=always

Student Verbal InteractionInteraction with T

Interaction with Ss in L1


WholeClass

group

peer

Whole Class

group

peer

Anecdotal recordsClarify informationExpansionParaphraseRepetitionCorrection

Self-correctionCorrection by T

Appendence D---Writing Sample

Summary:

London is the worldwide capital of tourism, in my perspective. It has an

enormous number of attractions. The tower of London is considered one of the most

important famous tourist attractions in London. The most important part of this complex

is the white tower. The tower of London has had many functions since it was founded. It

first was the most substantial prison in England due to the high quality of its protecting

system. Prisoners were fatigued there. Drawings and handwritings by the prisoners are

still in this building’s walls, which describe the pain and sorrow those prisoners

underwent. It is very hard to penetrate this building. Also, prisoners were taken to this

building through a gate called traitor, which was hard access. After that, Richard the

Lionheart and Henry III turned one its parts to a royal residence. They stayed there with

their families for a while. Today, this building was turned to the home of crown jewels.

The gold bars and precious metals where held there as an exhibition. There two

characteristics why people love to visit this building today: The beefeaters that are

accountable for protect this building and the ravens which give this place its exalted

horror. That’s why this building has its position among tourism.

Reaction:

Because travelling is one of my favorite hobbies, London should eventually be a

prospective destination. Honestly, I had never heard of the tower of London before

reading this article. However, I wanted to visit London though because of the EPL, the

English Primer League, which is the best local soccer tournament in the world. I have

been supporting Manchester United, English soccer team, since I was eleven years old.

(Forgive my detour Mr. Michael) The tower of London attracted my attention when I first

read its interesting name. I already thought that I have to put this building in my list when

I visit London. The fact that this building was a prison stimulates me more and more.

Also, I want to look closely at all the precious metals and jewelries. However, I don’t

know why I think that when I visit this building, I will hear a sound of screams because I

already knew that prisoners were tortured in that place. Hence, my feelings are mixed and

lost between terror and excitement when I think of visiting this building. Moreover, the

architect of this building is super amazing. During my travels to many states here in the

United States, historical buildings always were in my list; for example, the empire state in

New York City. In the end, all the aspects of this building assure that visiting this place is

my fate.

References:

Pray, L. (2009). Six-Trait Scoring Rubric. Unpublished course materials.

Pray, L. (2009). Tennessee English Proficiency Levels. Unpublished course materials.

Sawaki, Y. & Nissan, S. (2009). Criterion-Related Validity of the TOEFL iBT Listening

Section. Retrieved April 19, 2011, from

http://www.ets.org/research/policy_research_reports/rr-09-02_toeflibt-08

TOEFL iBT Performance Feedback for Test Takers. (2007). Retrieved

April 30, 2011, from

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/TOEFL_Perf_Feedback.p

df

TOEFL iBT Score Reliability and Generalizability. (2007). Retrieved April 19, 2011,

from

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/TOEFL_iBT_Score_Reliability_Gener

alizability.pdf

Appendix C: Foundations Fieldwork Experiences

Fieldwork #1

Part I Description of the school

Thurgood Marshall Middle School is the biggest middle school in Nashville that has

been founded for four years. There are 11,000 students in it, which covers grades from 5th

grade to 8th grade.

There are two schedules for students there. 5th and 6th grader students have block

schedule. From 9:00 am to 11:00 am, they have reading and language art classes; and in

the afternoon, they have science, math, and history classes. During the daytime, they also

have PE class. As for students in 7th and 8th grade, they use the second schedule. They

have seven classes a day. Each class lasts for an hour.

This middle school is mixed by both English lanuage learners and regular students.

There is a program, English Language Learners program, specially designed for ELL

students. There is only one ELL teacher in this school. But there are about 90 students

total in this program. 35 receive direct service and the remaining students are on consult.

All of the reading materials for ELL students are in English. They have a textbook, but

the teacher generally uses leveled texts for reading groups as students’ reading range is

broad. In ELL program, 5th and 6th grade students have class together; and 7th and 8th

grade students have class together.

The background and English profiency for students in ELL program are quite

different. ELL students in Thurgood Marshall Middle School come from many different

countries, including Albania, Mexico, Hunduras, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, San Marino,

Laos and so on. Some students have stayed in America for a long time, but do not speak

English at home; some students have been in America for only two months. If the

students arrive in America recently, they will have their own English language class to

get extra help. New placements for these students are based on tests. According to the

results of tests, ELL students are divided into four levels---ELL level 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Students with different levels are mixed in the same ELL class. Besides formal English

instruction in classroom, Thurgood Marshall Middle School also provides free tutoring

for ELL students, whose purpose is to help students that need more help in language.

There are a few challenges for Thurgood Marshall Middle School. For example,

cultural barriers between students and teacher, as well as difficulties in communication

with students’ parents influence learning efficiency. Furthermore, ELL students may have

learning disability. There also exist some schedule conflicts in having ELL class and

academic classes. Besides, the teachers for ELL students in this school are not enough.

As students in different levels of English proficiency are mixed in the same ELL class,

the teachers cannot guarantee every student to get appropriate instructions that are

consistent with their English ability.

Part II Observation of the classroom

The classroom is well organized. On the front wall, twenty-six alphabets are on the

top of the board. Several pictures of thinking maps are beside the right hand of the board.

Beside the left hand of the board, there are two posters, “Calendar” and interpretation of

“DIVERSITY”---Different Individuals have Values for Each other Regardless of Skin,

Intelligent, Talents or Year. On the right Wall, there is a big world map. A television and

Power Point screener are respectively in two sides of the map. On the left wall, there are

5 posters---Synonyms, Homophones, Compound, Contractions, and Antonym. In the

back of the classroom, there is a big window. Ms Woodroof’s desk is in one corner. On

her wall, there are some posters---“Good Readers”, “Ways Readers Choose Books” and

the vocabularies of different subjects. In another corner, there is a round table, which is

used for group instruction. There are six rectangle tables in the middle of the classroom,

each of which is for four students who are in different English levels.

Twenty-one students are in the classroom, thirteen boys and eight girls. After “Pledge

of Religion to the American Flag” and introduction to our visitors, a female teacher

comes in. Ms Woodroof lets four students go out and follow that teacher to another

classroom to get extra language help. Then class begins.

W: What day is today? (The teacher points to the calendar poster.)

S: Today is Thursday.

W: Today is Thursday. So, yesterday is….

S: Wednesday! (S1, a middle-east Asian student is the first to answer the question.

A white girl X near my table shows little interest in answering it.)

W: Tomorrow is….

S: Friday!

W: Tomorrow is Friday. We will have a party for our classmate Y. (Most students

giggle.)

Then Ms Woodroof asks students to introduce their class for us. Students in groups

begin discussion. A white girl in my left hand begins to speak, “Today our classroom has

two sweet visitors.” After she speaks this, her partner repeats this sentence. Next, Ms

Woodroof selects names from a box. The first student should answer the question is the

middle-east Asian student.

S1: Our class has nice visitors. (Ms Woodroof writes down the sentence on the

board.)

W: What are nouns in the sentence? (Some students answer it. The teacher

highlights all the nouns. The white girl X turns back and looks at us.) Great!

What nouns are they? (“Common nouns!” A black boy shouts the answer.)

What is the verb? (Students answer it.) Yes, “has” is the verb. “Has” is a big

verb. But there is one word missing. What is that? (Students answer “nice”, but

nobody knows it is an adjective.) Great! “Nice” is an adjective. Let us read this

sentence together! (Students read it.) Look at “our”, this “our” sounds the same

like “hour”, so they are….(Students glance at left handed wall and say,

“Homophones.”) Good, let’s add them to our chart. (The teacher moves to the

left wall, and adds “our-hour” to the poster “Homophones”. Then the teacher

gives several tickets to S1 as reward.)

Then, Ms Woodroof selects another name to make another sentence. The white girl X

does not pay attention to the teacher. Later, the teacher asks X to make a sentence.

X: Our class has smart and intelligent students. (X speaks in a low voice and the

teacher comes closer to her.)

W: Every student read it aloud. (Student read it.) Do you agree that our class has

smart and intelligent students? Thumb up or down? (Everyone thumbs up.) X, do

you remember how to speak “have” in your native language? (X shakes her head.

The teacher asks several students to speak in their native languages to express

“have”. A boy who shares the same native language with X answers the question.)

X, are you familiar with this? (X smiles and nods. She seems excited.) Very good!

(The teacher gives X several tickets as a reward.)

Part III Reflection and connection to literature

Ms Woodroof encourages students to speak their native language to strengthen the

concept of “have”, which belongs to transitional bilingual education. The white girl X in

the classroom seems frustrated to follow with the class as the whole class is overwhelmed

by English. Just as Baker says, in submersion education classroom, “frustration, non-

participation, even dropping-out can be outcomes tht educationally, economically and

politically disempower children” (Baker, 2001, p.195). Appropriate usage of native

language can reduce ELL students’ anxiety in English learning and improve learning

efficiency.

In the classroom, students are asked to discuss in group what the class is, which is

constructivism, since it includes “dialogue among peers” (Nieto & Bode, 2007, p.135). In

this interactive learning process, students can show their creativity and intelligence.

Moreover, in the classroom, four students in different English levels form a group is a

kind of cooperative learning strategy. It is true that students who are in ELL level 4 can

help students in lower ELL levels, which shows “a positive correlation between

cooperative learning and student achievement” (Nieto & Bode, 2007, p.135). However,

as the teacher cannot distribute enough attention to every student, and the results of group

work are showed by certain individuals in the group (mostly by students with higher

English proficiency), the learning efficiency of every ELL student cannot be guaranteed.

References

Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of Bilingual Education (pp.195). Tonawanda, NY: UTP.

Nieto, S. & Bode, P. (2007). Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of

Multicultural Education (pp.135). New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Fieldwork #2

Part I

Federal and state laws, as well as judicial rulings provide a basis of protection for ELL

students. On the legislative level, there are several key laws that have played a vital role

in guaranteeing English learners’ rights. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act forbids

discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any programs that receive

federal funding (Jammal & Duong, 2008). The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 (Title

VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) authorized resources for new ELL

programs, to train for teachers and aides, and to provide education for parents. The

reauthorization of this act in 1974 guaranteed equal opportunities for education, and

defined native language instruction as a bridge in bilingual education to support English

acquisition. The reauthorization of this act in 1994 provided more support for promoting

and maintaining native languages, and gave grant and funding preference to programs

that promote bilingualism rather than more English-oriented programs (Garcia, 2005). No

Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 supported standards-based education reform,

which encourages instruction and assessment in English. NCLB paid more attention to

“the academic and linguistic concerns of the low English proficiency community (LEP)”,

but less funding for teacher training and teaching (Jammal & Duong, 2008).

Several laws on the state level rather than the federal level also helped shape modern

American education. In 1998, Proposition 227 required all instruction in California

public schools to be in English and provided initial short-term placement in intensive

sheltered English immersion programs for ELLs. Proposition 203 in Arizona and

Question 2 in Massachusetts were passed later as the similar effects (Garcia, 2005).

There have also been several important judicial rulings related to the issue of

bilingual education. In Lau v. Nichols, the Supreme Court ruled that “there is no equality

of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers

and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed

from any meaningful education”. However, this decision did not indicate any specific

action for bilingual education. Castaneda v. Pickard declared that ELL programs must be

based on sound educational theory, implemented effectively with adequate resources and

personnel, and must be evaluated as effective with evidence. Horne v. Flores clarified

that the federal government should not supervise spending for teaching ELLs (Garcia,

2005).

Part II

Federal and state laws as well as judicial rulings have great influence for almost every

aspect of public schools. For curriculum, on one hand, laws emphasized effective

educational programs for ELLs in order to promote their academic achievements which

may be impeded by their limited English, which ensure ELL students’ equity. On the

other hand, as federal government controls money, which means “everything” for public

schools, laws’ influence on curriculum can be negative. For example, No Child Left

Behind Act ties funding with standard test scores closely, which leads teachers to teach

for tests. In this way, teachers might focus on students’ performance on tests rather than

their deeper understanding that can be transferred to similar problems. As to assessment,

although the federal government does not specifically require which standardized tests

each state should employ, it provides guidelines in selecting tests. Federal legislations

also mandate the basic qualifications teaching staff should equip with, and individual

states can determine what the specific qualifications they should have. As to the laws’

effect on integration of students, there is no denying that as laws and judicial rulings

addressed no discriminations for minorities and overruled the “separate but equal”

doctrine of segregation, they propel the integration of students.

Part III

Connecting the legislations and judicial rulings to the practice, I have noticed an

embarrassment between laws and effective teaching practice. Title VI of the Civil Rights

Act prohibits “discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs

receiving federal financial assistance” (Garcia, 2005). So, it is illegal to segregate the

students by ELL qualifications. But in Thurgood Marshall Middle School, ELL students

are pulled out for English language learning, which can be viewed as “discrimination”.

However, according to Samway and Mckeon (2007), “in order to ensure ELLs to receive

the most appropriate education, they may need to be placed in specialized programs that

serve only ELL students”. The readings cause me to wonder what extent can teachers

violate laws in order to benefit our students most. To protect the authority of laws or to

provide the most appropriate education for students is a question for teachers to consider.

Another thing I want to mention is the legislations’ effect on assessments. The middle

school I visited has state and English proficiency standards, and it obeys the standards set

by TN state government strictly. For example, in this school, ELLs are given one year

waiver for the TCAP test in reading and writing, but still have to take math, science, and

social studies accommodations, which exactly match with the state rules.

References

Garcia, E. E. (2005). Teaching and Learning in Two Languages. New York: Teachers

College Press.

Jammal, S. & Duong, T. (2008). Language Rights: An Integration Agenda for Immigrant

Communities.

Samway, K. D., & McKeon, D. (2007). Myths and realities. Protsmouth, NH: Heinemann,

ch.8, pp.121-144.

Fieldwork #3

Part IThe school I have chosen to do community description is Tusculum Elementary

School. Tusculum Elementary School is located along Nolensville Pike, southern area of

Davidson County, which is the oldest county in Middle Tennessee. Davidson County is

named in honor of William Lee Davidson, a North Carolina officer who died in the

Revolutionary War. “As the county's many known archaeological sites attest, the

resources of Davidson County had attracted Native Americans for centuries.” The first

white child to be born in Middle Tennessee was born in Davidson County (Wikipedia,

2010). Nashville & Davidson County Metropolitan Government that was merged by the

City of Nashville and the Davidson County government in 1963 is near Tusculum

Elementary School.

The area that Tusculum Elementary School locates is more like an urban area. There

are many businesses there. Most of them are markets and restaurants serving for

Hispanics and Latinos. The class level of people there is lower than people living in

Greenhills and West End. The diversity of population in the community is great,

including Hispanics, Latinos, Whites, African Americans, Asians and Native Hawaiians

etc..

When I was driving around Tusculum Elementary School, I found the houses for

living there are not made by wood or brick, but by vinyl siding. The sizes of the houses

are much smaller than what I have seen around Vanderbilt University. There are no trees

or flowers around the houses. It is an area of “no oxygen”. I haven’t seen any swimming

pools around the houses. The number of parking lots there is limited. Moreover, a big car

dealership is in the community. I do not think it is common for a district (except

downtown) having a car dealership. As there is a large population of Hispanic and Latino

immigrants in the community, Latino stores are here and there. Besides, there is a big

K&S international supermarket there. The language on the advertisement wall includes

Chinese, Japanese, English, Spanish and Korean. Many piñatas are hung up as

decorations inside the market. In the doorway, there are Chinese, Latino and Spanish

newspapers. The products in the market include Mexican food, Chinese food and Korean

food. The meat that this K&S market sells is rare in US. For example, there are duck

heads, chicken feet, pork liver, and pork tails in it. What is more, when I had my lunch in

Las Americas, I found the mural on the wall is Latin style. The songs on TV that were

playing are in Spanish.

The religions in the community are diverse. I have seen many different churches

there. They include Tusculum Church of Christ, Tusculum Hills Baptist Church, Radnor

Primitive Baptist Church, a Korean Christian church, and two Catholic churches. Most of

these churches are very small. Furthermore, there are two parochial schools in the

community. One of them is St. Edward Elementary School which is associated with St.

Edward Catholic Church. This school has served the Nashville community for over 48 years

providing a Catholic education.

Part II

During our field trip to the K&S international Supermarket, which mainly serves

Asian and Latino immigrants, I took the photographs from the advertisement wall outside

the supermarket (see figures 1, 2, and 3). Figure 1 is an advertisement of Chinese flower

tea, Figure 2 is an advertisement of Britain tea and Figure 3 is an advertisement of

Japanese green tea. Students could discuss whether they have tasted these kinds of tea,

whether they know what the ingredients of the tea, and what healthy effect they can have

for people. Furthermore, students could discuss whether they know the languages that

appear on the brand boxes.

As to Chinese and Japanese students, they could discuss tea culture in their

countries. It would be interesting for students to know that there is Gongfu tea ceremony

in China. The teapot and cups for Gongfu tea are special. If there are any Chinese

students in the classroom, they might be willing to perform the way of brewing tea.

Figure 1 Chinese Tea Ad Figure 2 Lipton Tea Ad

Figure 3 Japanese Tea Ad

Part III

The subject I want to teach is social study. I focus on geography part. The overall goal

of the lesson is to introduce world map for students and introduce characteristics of

climate and soil that are suitable for tea growing. I will choose the pictures that I have

presented in Part II as the supplementary teaching tools. These materials are new to

students, and they are relevant with the teaching goal and other countries’ culture, which

will increase students’ interests and their learning efficiency.

After a brief introduction of the world geography that our world has seven continents, I

will introduce each continent respectively. When I move to Europe, I will tape Figure 2

on Scotland, since Lipton is a brand that originated from Scotland. In this way, students

establish the relation between Lipton with Scotland, which will help them better

remember the position of Scotland.

When I move to Asia, I will tape Figure 1 on China land and tape Figure 3 on Japan

land. Then, I will circle several parts in China land as well as some parts in Japan land,

and explain why these places are famous for good tea, what characteristics of climate and

soil those places have. I will also briefly introduce the origin of tea and some tea culture

in Asia. Then, I will ask students to try to find some places in America that share the

similar characteristics of climate and soil as Asian part. In this way, students not only

remember the position of Asia, but also remember the natural conditions for tea growing.

References

Wikipedia, (2010, October 26). Davidson County, Tennessee. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidson_County,_Tennessee

Fieldwork #4

Part I Interview protocol

1. What kind of program has been implemented in your school for ELL students?

a. Is this program effective in your opinion?

b. What would you change about your school’s ELL program?

c. What other kinds of programs have you worked with?

2. Please tell us about your professional background.

a. Did you feel prepared for teaching ELL students?

b. Do they have professional development offered for you and other teachers?

c. Why did you decide to focus on ELL education instead of other forms?

3. What is the most challenging experience that occurs for you on a daily basis?

4. What is the most rewarding experience that occurs for you on a daily basis?

5. How do you use your students’ personal cultures in your class?

6. Are you able to engage with the students’ families in a creative and effective way?

7. How do you feel state and federal standards affect your lesson planning and

classroom?

8. How do you involve parents in the teaching of your students?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidson_County,_Tennessee

9. What difficulties do you face during communication with parents?

10. Do you find students are more effective learners if their parents are more

involved/would you correlate student achievement with parental involvement?

11. What advice would you give students, who are studying to be ELL teachers?

12. Is there anything you would like to add to this interview, which you believe would

prove helpful to pre-service teachers?

Part IIInterviewers: Chen Chen and EricaTeacher: Heather Woodruff

1. What kind of program has been implemented in your school for ELL students?Okay, we have a pull-out model at the middle school. They receive direct instruction in

reading and writing from me, the ELL teacher, which is called ELD and ELD reading. They receive math, science, and social studies in regular classroom.

There is another one, Title I Program – Currently we offer free tutoring for ELL students provided by other teachers at the school. They could be teachers that students already have during the day, but they are not qualified ELL teachers.a. Is this program effective in your opinion?

Yes, umm. Students receive direct instruction and full English immersion in other classes. Most other subjects make appropriate accommodations for ELL students.b. What would you change about your school’s ELL program?

It would be nice if all of the general education teachers were trained with ELL strategies, which are strategies that allow ELL to access the content.c. What other kinds of programs have you worked with?

Not another ELL program. It was a self-contained ELL class. At a previous elementary school in Virginia, I was a general education teacher for 6th grade student, and ELL students were pulled out for an hour a day (with beginners), and the rest were in regular classes all day long.

2. Please tell us about your professional background.This year is the 13th year of teaching. I taught general education grades 2-5, and this is

my third year in ELL. I earned BS and M.Ed. degree at University of Tennessee at Knoxville and my ELL endorsement at University of Virginia and have thirty-one postgraduate hours in language acquisition, science, and social studies.a. Did you feel prepared for teaching ELL students?

Well, I had seven years of teaching before getting my endorsement. The endorsement was helpful, but I still had many things to learn. Some of the learning curve may have been about program models that were not addressed in the ELL endorsement.b. Do they have professional development offered for you and other teachers in ELL?

Yes, we have comprehensive literacy training, which is the way we are delivering reading to ELL students and strategies training, such as the use of thinking maps. There are many different offerings for ELL professional development and for general education teachers. c. Do ELL teachers and general education teachers attend these seminars?

For ELL teachers, they are required. But for general education teachers, they are not. Most of the trainings are during the school day – so a teacher has to get a reliable substitute. Some trainings are offered during the summer but not all, and many of the teachers have summer jobs as well.d. Why did you decide to focus on ELL education instead of other forms?

Firstly, I love being able to see growth quickly, which is very fulfilling as a teacher. In general education – you work hard but the results are not that clear. But in ELL you see the gains on a daily basis. Secondly, most of the ELLs are motivated students and very few have behavior problems. But there are some challenges – worrying about parents’ immigration status and jobs. I do a lot of advocating for kids, which is a different set of challenges.

3. What is the most challenging experience that occurs for you on a daily basis?As to ELLs, there are disruptions within a family system. Many of our ELLs are living

below the poverty line. The other thing is getting resources for what the students and the parents need. I need to do a lot advocating for them. Communication can also be an issue. Here, we have a Spanish translator, but we still have nine other languages besides Spanish.

4. What is the most rewarding experience that occurs for you on a daily basis?I think it is to see their gains and that they love to learn new things. Moreover, the

students can make connections with other content classes.

5. How do you use your students’ personal cultures in your class?We celebrate holidays and talk about families, incorporate what students do in their

home countries. I also make comparisons between their school here and in their home countries. In read-aloud time, I choose are historical fiction, such as the Holocaust. They make the biggest gains when seeing others overcoming really bad experiences, which mirrors their own experiences.

6. a. Are you able to engage with the students’ families in a creative and effective way?Last year, we had an ELL parent night. We invited students and parents to learn about

resources within the community of the school. Lately, we have had conferences, and have spoken with 5-6 parents directly and others are spoken via phone. And a cultural festival is on the potential list to do. b. Do the parents want to help? Do they feel awkward?

Some feel very uncomfortable at school maybe because of their own school experiences and language barrier, but they offer lots of support at home.

7. How do you feel state and federal standards affect your lesson planning and classroom?

Well, we have state and English proficiency standards. And two years ago, I was apart of task forces that wanted to merge these standards tighter for intermediate students. With regard to state assessment, ELLs are given one year waiver for the TCAP test in reading and writing only, so students in US would be required to take math, science, and social studies with accommodations. And much math in middle school level from what I’ve seen is a lot of vocabulary. So Students may not do as well as they should.

8. What difficulties do you face during communication with parents?I am dealing with a 6th grader now who arrived in the US in January but was born here

and lived in Chicago till four then went back to Mexico. He had all her schooling there. But he is not even making those basic gains, since coming here. When we asked for records from the previous school from her mother, she seemed reluctant in giving those records and revealed that her son is dyslexic. Because she will not communicate, the school cannot assist the student effectively. Not sure if this is a cultural thing? Maybe she is fearful of the extant of his needs? I suspect it is something greater.

9. Do you find students are more effective learners if their parents are more involved/would you correlate student achievement with parental involvement?

Yes. I can think of only a few exceptions. If a student has parents that work with him or her at home or expose him or her to education opportunities outside school, it will help the student.

10. What advice would you give students, who are studying to be ELL teachers?Start collecting materials and go to all the books sales you can. So you can create

your own classroom library. Research the districts model you are planning to work and visit teachers in that district and look at upcoming state standards. Read Ed Week! Definitely pay attention to what is happening at the national level. Also, I would say I felt more comfortable was because I had a strong teaching of reading background instead of someone who just has ELL experience. Find people, who are research based, make sense, and tried and true, then read everything they have written. Ask questions. You must advocate for students! In most cases, I am the only advocate they have because of the language barrier.

11. Is there anything you would like to add to this interview, which you believe would prove helpful to pre-service teachers?

Obviously I cannot learn all my students’ languages but I think it is important to be in their shoes.

Here, it is. After ten years in general education, I wanted my time with students to be 100% instruction. Your school might have a lot of distractions, and you will be doing scheduling, advocating for kids and that will take up your instructional time. Wish someone had told me that because I was frustrated. Sometimes I spend 10-20% of my day working on that. Remember attempt to have a plan and hope for the best. The more you know before the first day the better because there will be many changes that day.

Part III Discussion

Parent involvement is a big issue and “good relations with parents can be the difference

between loving and hating your job” (Nieto & Bode, 2007). We need to think more about

how to build good relations with parents and getting their support. Thurgood Marshall

Middle School where I have done the interview organized “ELL parent night” to involve

parents, but not all parents supported it. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits

“discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal

financial assistance” (Garcia, 2005). I think this rule is not only for students but also for

their parents. ELL students in this school are integrated with other regular students in

general education classes. But in this activity, their parents are “segregated” with other

regular parents. Perhaps the intention of this activity is good, but it could be viewed as

discrimination for ELLs, which makes some parents feel uncomfortable to attend this

activity.

What is more, as the teacher stated in the interview that “much math in middle

school level from what I’ve seen is vocabulary, so students may not do as well as they

should”, I think the school should consider to take more effective program for ELLs.

ELL students’ academic development should not be delayed by their limited English.

According to Samway and Mckeon (2007), one of the features of effective programs

for ELLs is the integration between language and subject matter development. One

possible option is ESOL program, in which teachers can incorporate the curriculum

content into it, or collaborate with content teachers in a push-in model. In this way, the

teaching methods can be incorporated with development of both language and content.

Moreover, in order to improve ELL students’ academic development, schools can

incorporate more native language instruction. From Lucas and Katz’s report (1994),

we can see “native language is a key resource for teaching both content and English”.

Appropriate uses of ELL students’ native language will help them catch up with

regular students.

Besides, as Barth (2006) said, “Schools are full of good players. Collegiality is

about getting them to play together, about growing a professional learning

community”, being pre-service teachers, we should create healthy relationships with

our colleagues to improve professional practice. Furthermore, as the teacher mentioned

“school might have a lot of distractions”, in order to improve our efficiency, getting

familiar with our colleagues’ duties and know when to call for help and receive support

from them is important (Marchesani, chapter 12).

References

Barth, R. (2006). Relationships within the schoolhouse. Educational Leadership, March,

2006, 9-13.

Garcia, E. E. (2005). Teaching and Learning in Two Languages. New York: Teachers

College Press.

Lucas, T., & Katz, A. (1994). Reframing the debate: The roles of native languages in

English-only programs for minority students. TESOL Quarterly, 28 (3), 537-561.

Machesani Chapter 12

Nieto, S. & Bode, P. (2007). Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of

Multicultural Education (pp.135). New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Samway, K. D., & McKeon, D. (2007). Myths and realities. Protsmouth, NH: Heinemann,

ch.8, pp.121-144.

Appendix D: Language Assessment Midterm

Question 1A) 1. Description

The placement of my practicum is at the English Language Center (ELC) of

Vanderbilt University (VU), which serves English language training for international

students from VU. The participant of my project is a Saudi Arabian student who is

sponsored by a company. He has been studying in ELC’s program to improve his English

for a year and a half.

1) Culture:

ELC does something to support students’ culture. It meets the basic level on Herrera’s

rubric, since the “students’ culture is respected and valued on principle”(Herrera et al.

2007, p.110). New arrivals in low level are encouraged to do presentations to introduce

their countries’ culture in order to dismiss stereotypes. For my participant’s case,

according to Arabic culture, he needs to pray five times a day. ELC allows Saudi Arabian

students to pray in any classroom that has no class. At the beginning of my classroom

observation, it was Ramadan for Muslims. The Saudi Arabian students did not drink or

eat anything from sunrise to sunset. The teacher learned that and never drank water or ate

anything in front of them. Furthermore, the program in which my participant is enrolled

includes both in-classroom teaching and out of classroom activities to improve English.

The out of classroom activities are language learning through service learning, outdoor

recreation activities, and engineering site visits. ELC usually gives several options for

students to choose rather than to force students to do something they do not like. For

example, females in Saudi Arabia are not expected to use hammers for physical activity.

ELC learns that and respects the female students’ choice whether to do it or not in service

learning at homeless shelters. However, unlike Herrera’s statement in meets criteria level

that “the students’ culture is respected and valued as a source of knowledge and

experiences that advance learning” (Herrera et al. 2007, p.110), there are not any artifacts

or characters other than English on the wall at ELC. The only decorations at ELC are

pictures of Nashville.

2) Language

ELC needs improvement in the language component of Herrera’s rubric. ELC does

not care about whether students use their first language (L1) or not outside the classroom.

However, it makes a clear policy to forbid L1 use in class, which is unlike Herrera’s

saying in meets criteria level that “supports L1 use at home and school” (Herrera et al.

2007, p.110). As for the program that my participant is in, the students who continually

speak Arabic in class will be reported to their sponsor.

3) Community

The community for the students I observe in class meets the basic level in relation to

the rubric, as “recognizes selected organizations as valuable to the positive overall

development of CLD students” (Herhhrera et al. 2007, p.112). The International Student

& Scholar Services (ISSS) often organizes activities for them, such as celebration of

Arabian festivals, and field trips to downtown. What is more, as Nashville is a diverse

city, the Nashville community also provides resources for them, such as prayer time in

local mosques.

2. Suggestion

I have several suggestions to improve the environment. First, the administrators at

ELC can exhibit pictures or artifacts from other countries around the center to show

support for other cultures, so that students feel their cultures are respected by the center.

Second, teachers can be more tolerant for the L1 use in class, since students there are in

beginning levels. Appropriate use of L1 helps students get the real meaning of new

vocabularies and sentence structures. Third, teachers at ELC can fully utilize the

activities organized by ISSS and by the Nashville community, treating them as assets for

students’ English development. Doing this will help students integrate daily life with

their language learning.

B) Assessment Framework

1) Socio-cultural background protocol

In the protocol (see attachment 1) to learn about students’ socio-cultural background, I

will check students’ files to learn general information, such as nationality, L1, reason and

time to move in US, when to begin learning English and former school records etc.. Such

information depicts basic pictures of the students and tells me the economic status of their

families in US, as well as students’ former school performance. Then, I will do individual

interviews with the students to learn their educational beliefs, family, social discourses of

the culture, religious beliefs and traditional holidays. Educational beliefs help me know

students’ learning background, which gives me information to assist students to learn

more effectively. From family part, I can learn who I should contact with when I need

family support. From social discourses of the culture and religious beliefs, I can know

how to communicate with students and their families appropriately. Based on questions

for holidays, I can organize some activities to celebrate students’ holidays, which shows

their cultures are respected in US. Last, I will ask students to bring an artifact or draw the

most important image in their minds that can symbolize their life for me. From this

activity, I can learn more about students’ origins and culture.

2) Language use survey

3) Observational protocol

In the observational protocol, I want to know how students verbally interact with the

teacher and classmates, and what strategies do they use during interaction. In the class I

observe, students are all from one country. So I divide students’ interaction among

themselves into L1 use and L2 use respectively. No matter which language students use, I

divide their interaction into whole class, group work and peer work to see if there is any

difference for students to interact with each other in different forms. The strategies I think

students may use to assist communication in class include clarify information, expansion,

paraphrase, repetition, and correction. I also divide correction into self-correction and

correction by the teacher to check students’ awareness of mistakes they commit. Rather

than using check mark to see whether students do anything, I use rating scales to record

how often students do in certain context. The frequency can show students’ learning

attitude and English proficiency, as well as make it easier to analyze data. Moreover, I

leave one column to record anecdotes, in case there is anything interesting happens in

classroom.

Attachment 1

Socio-cultural background protocol

General information:Name: Age: Nationality: L1: How long have you been in US? Why come to US? Highest degree: How long have you learned English? Former school records:

Educational Beliefs:How did teacher teach English in your country? Preferred approach for learning: group/peer/individual? Visual/listening? What are the appropriate behaviors for students in your country?

Family:How many people are there in your family? What is the hierarchical structure of the family? What type of educational support is provided in the home? Who provide it?

Social discourses of the culture:How do people greet each other?

Religious Beliefs:What religious beliefs are held by family?Are there any specific restrictions and public rituals associated with the beliefs?

Holidays:What traditional holidays do you celebrate?

What is the traditional food/clothing for the holidays?

Activity: Bring an artifact or draw the most important images in your mind that can symbolize your life.

Attachment 2


Student Number: Teacher: Subject: Date: T=Teacher Students= Ss

First Language=L1 Second Language=L2

Scale: 1= never 2= rarely 3=sometimes 4=frequently 5=always




WholeClass

group peer Whole Class

group peer

Anecdotal recordsClarify informationExpansionParaphraseRepetitionCorrection Self-correction

Correction by T

Question 2

According to Tennessee levels of English language proficiency, I think ESA’s

English oral language proficiency is in level 3-Intermediate. From the transcript, I can see

ESA is “able to understand most oral language pertaining to familiar topics but have

difficulty using academic vocabulary”, her speech is “basic and contain frequent errors”

(Tennessee English Proficiency Levels). Since ESA only tells a story based upon a

wordless picture book in this test, there is not too much interaction between her and the

teacher. But we can also see that ESA fully understands simple questions from the

teacher. For example, when the teacher asks her “What does it look like?” and “What else

do you see?”, she answers them appropriately. Furthermore, ESA organizes the story

from a wordless picture book and makes it understood. ESA’s grammatical competence,

which is the ability refers to master “lexical items and rules of word formation, sentence

formation, literal meaning, pronunciation, and spelling” (Brantley, 2007, p.18), is in

intermediate level. The sentences that ESA makes sometimes are not grammatically

correct, for instance, “But he [//] he looks sad um has um good room”; and some

sentences do not make sense, such as “and there like slippers boots chair uh shirt in the

window”. But ESA still can structure grammatically correct sentence, such as “and then

frog came out of the jar”. ESA uses repetition, such as “the dog broke the jar so [//] so he

could smell” and self-correction, like “the boy went out [//] outside and he got mad” as

communicative strategies, presenting her strategic competence is also in intermediate

level. As for the second standard in level 3 of Tennessee levels of English language

proficiency, “communicate orally with some hesitation” (Tennessee English Proficiency

Levels), ESA is consistent with it. She has a lot of unfilled pause and longer unfilled

pause in transcript.

In further research of the stages of development, ESA’s grammatical morpheme

acquisition is in the highest level. She uses regular past –ed, like “lived”, and third person

singular –s, like “he looks sad” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.84). As for the negation,

ESA is in stage 3. She says in the transcript, “I don’t know” and “the little frog was not

happy”, which matches with the statement “learners begin to place the negative element

after auxiliary verbs like ‘are’, ‘is’, and ‘can’” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.85). Her

proficiency of possessive determiner is between stage 2 and stage 3. ESA keeps using

“his” in sentences, and occasionally use “their slippers boots”, which shows she knows

more than one form of possessive determiner. ESA’s proficiency of reference to past is in

stage 4. She uses a lot of regular past tense as well as irregular past tense in narration. For

instance, “waked up”, “looked up”, “fell out”, and “felt”. But at the beginning of

narration, she does not use past tense to tell story, so she is not in the highest stage

(Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.91).

Applying the checklist I design to assess students’ oral language ability to the

transcript, ESA’s oral English language proficiency is intermediate. ESA knows many

vocabularies in daily life and does a good job in word choice. Occasionally, ESA makes

mistakes in using prepositions. For instance, in the sentence “the dog was so happy 'cause

the dog was in the boys head”, the preposition “in” should be “on” instead. ESA also

makes mistakes in sentence structure, such as “frogs frogs little frogs mom and dad but

which ones my frog they said”, in which sentence structure is in disorder. I am impressed

by ESA’s use of some phrases, such as “came out of the jar”, “got stuck in” etc.. It makes

her oral language seem idiomatic.

Overall, from this test, it is concluded that ESA’s oral English language proficiency is

in level 3- intermediate level. However, there is no denying that this test has some

limitations. For example, as ESA narrates the story all the time, we cannot measure her

oral language proficiency in interaction. The observational protocol I design in

attachment 2 can be a supplementary tool to further assess ESA’s oral English language

proficiency. ESA would better be exposed more opportunities to practice oral English.

Attachment 1

Checklist of oral English language proficiency

____ 1. Pronunciation is not severely influenced by L1.

____ 1) Pronounces vowel sounds correctly

____ 2) Pronounces consonant sounds correctly

____ 3) Uses word stress correctly

____ 4) Uses phrase/sentence stress well

____ 2. Answers are on topic

____ 3. Uses grammar correctly

____ 1) Uses tense markers correctly

____ 2) Uses prepositions correctly

____ 3) Produces questions correctly

____ 4) Uses sentence structures correctly

____ 5) Uses phrases correctly

____ 4. Uses vocabularies correctly

____ 5. Uses idioms correctly

____ 6. Speaks fluently

Attachment 2


Student Number: Teacher: Subject: Date: T=Teacher Students= Ss

First Language=L1 Second Language=L2

Scale: 1= never 2= rarely 3=sometimes 4=frequently 5=always




WholeClass

group peer Whole Class

group peer

Anecdotal recordsClarify informationExpansionParaphraseRepetitionCorrection Self-correction

Correction by T

References:

Brantley, D.K. (2007). Instructional Assessment of English language learners in the K-8

classroom. Pearson: Boston. (Chapters 2 & 4)

Herrera, S.G., Murry, K.G. & Cabral, R.M (2007). Assessment accommodations for

classroom teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Allyn and

Bacon: Boston. ISBN 0-205-49271-1.

Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd edition).

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tennessee English Proficiency Levels, handout delivered by Dr. Lisa Pray.

Appendix F: Educational Linguistics Case Study

Part I Introduction to the learner

In order to help readers get a clear picture of the subject in my case study, in this

section, I will describe his cultural background, functional use of L1 and L2, education

background and attitudes toward L2, as well as challenges he meets in US.

1. Cultural background

The participant of my case study who is nicknamed Xiao is a Chinese English learner.

He is now a graduate student who is majoring in International Education Policy and

Management in Peabody College. He is twenty-three years old, and he is outgoing and

confident. He studied English for eleven years in China when he was in middle school.

Mandarin is his first language and English is his second language. His pronunciation of

Mandarin is standard. He arrived in US in August this year.

2. Functional use of L1 and L2

When Xiao was in China, he did not have many opportunities to be exposed to

English environment. All of his English teachers are Chinese, and he did not have

chances to communicate with native speakers. He spoke Chinese in daily life and only

used English in classroom and English tests. Although Chinese government emphasizes

the importance of English, as for Xiao himself, before he decided to go abroad to pursue

a master degree, he lacked motivation in learning English. As he reported, “I learn

English only for passing the exams…I don’t need to use it in my life, so why do I have to

work hard on it?”

3. Education background and attitudes toward L2

He majored in physics in college. He usually skipped English classes and did not do

any homework for his English course. There are two English examinations for college

students in China, College English Test 4 (CET-4) and College English Test 6 (CET-6).

Xiao only passed CET-4, which is the lowest English requirement for college students to

get a bachelor degree in China. In the fourth year of college, Xiao started to spend more

time in learning English because he needed to take TOEFL and GRE test to go abroad for

further study. It was learning English for test. In his TOEFL test, he earned 85 out of 120

points. His scores in reading, listening, speaking, and writing are 27, 17, 17, and 24

respectively, and the total possible points in each section are 30.

As for his time in middle school and high school, he reported that the last class he

wanted to have was English class. Other than finishing teachers’ assignments, he did not

do other English readings. Moreover, during his middle school and high school, Xiao did

not attend any after-school English training courses that are viewed as popular and

“normal” for most middle school and high school students in China.

4. Challenges in US

Xiao reported that he has met some difficulties in US. Listening is the biggest barrier

for him. During the conversation, he said that he could only understand 30 percent of the

content in class. Although Xiao is outgoing and talkative, he is struggling to make

himself understood.

Part II Oral and written language abilities

In this section, I will analyze Xiao’s oral and written language abilities from the aspects

of phonology, morphology, morphophonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics

respectively, which are based on the oral and written samples I have collected.

1. Analysis of phonetics & phonology

In the oral language sample, Xiao’s pronunciation is good, especially on the word

“strategy”. Although the IPA form of “strategy” is /strætidʒi/, native speakers produce it

as /strædidʒi/. Xiao pays attention to the subtle change and pronounces it as /strædidʒi/.

Moreover, he has no difficulty in pronouncing /n/ and /l/, which is a popular problem for

Chinese English learners.

However, he still has some problems in phonology. He always adds a schwa after /d/

sound. For example, he pronounces “good” as /gʊdɚ/, “and” as /əndɚ/. I think the reason

for it is because in Chinese, there is a character sounds like /dɚ/ and it is very commonly

used. When Xiao pronounces the ending sound /d/, he connects Chinese /dɚ/ sound with

it and automatically adds a schwa after it. Xiao’s other problem in phonology is that he

cannot pronounce inter-dental consonants /θ/ and /ð/ correctly. To produce these two

sounds, we need to “put our tongue between our teeth and [obstruct] the flow of air with

the tongue and teeth” (Justice, 2004, p.17). However, Xiao usually does not put his

tongue between his teeth to pronounce the two consonants. In result, he produces “their”

as / dɛə/, “them” as /dəm/. I think the reason for this problem is that there is no sound in

Chinese that requires putting tongue between our teeth. When Chinese English learners

produce inter-dental consonants, they need to force themselves to do this first. It is a little

“energy-consuming” for their mouths.

2. Analysis of morphology & morphophonology

In the aspect of morphology, Xiao made mistakes in the –ing form of verbs in writing

sample. He spells “shopping” as “shoping”, “training” as “traing”. He also makes

mistakes in spelling “volleyball” as “vollyball”, and “competition” as “competation”.

However, Xiao does well in spelling plural forms of nouns. For instance, he spells the

plural forms of “child”, “advice” and “knife” correctly.

In morphophonology, Xiao does a good job. He can tell the differences of the “s”

sound in “strategies”, “classes”, and “parents” and pronounce them /z/,/əz/, and /s/

respectively. And in Xiao’s writing sample, he does not have any problems in spelling the

words that are -s ended, such as “pleased” and “matches”, despite the sounds of –s being

different.

3. Analysis of syntax

As for the aspect of syntax, Xiao often makes mistakes in word classes, both in oral

language and writing. The examples follow.

In oral language, (a) “That is a kind of waste money.”

(b) “Everyone have different backgrounds.”

(c) “At that day, we just come to the building and talk about…”

(d) “They find the things are not useful for their.”

In writing, (a) “The government could save 5 billion for cure disease”,

“I am not pursue fellowship but my dream”.

(b) “How much money the government pay for the cancer per year…”.

(c) “When I choose admissions from universities, I prefer Peabody.”

In (a) type of mistakes, Xiao misses –ing form for “waste”, “cure” and “pursue”. In

(b) type of mistakes, Xiao has problems in using the 3rd person singular form correctly.

He does not use the 3rd person singular form from the verbs “have” and “pay”, although

“everyone” and “the government” are singular nouns. In (c) type of mistakes, Xiao

cannot use verb tense correctly, especially in the past tense. Xiao also makes oral

mistakes in pronouns, such as in example (d). At this time, he should use the objective

form “them” instead of “their” (Justice, 2006, p.165). In contrast, in Xiao’s writing, he

can use pronouns correctly. For instance, he writes “let them play sports” and “you can

organize a team to help us do it”. I suppose Xiao has already understood the correct ways

of using pronouns, and the reason that contributes to his mistake in oral language is that

in oral language, he does not have enough time to think about the forms of pronouns.

Moreover, Xiao also has problems in subcategorization. The examples are listed as

follow.

In oral language, “I hold the first meeting with my partners at Friday noon.”

Correction: “I held the first meeting with my partners on Friday noon.”

In writing, “I insist exercising.”

Correction: “I insist on exercising.”

It is a big problem for Chinese English learners to remember the phrases that consist of

prepositions.

Nevertheless, Xiao rarely makes mistakes in phrase structure, no matter whether it is

in oral language or in writing samples.

4. Analysis of semantics & pragmatics

In the aspect of semantics, most of Xiao’s writing and speaking make sense. In his

writing samples, he uses idioms, such as “the cheaper the better” and “win-win project”,

but he still has some problems in lexical semantics (Bergman et al., 2007, p.235). For

example, in his writing, he writes “we should learn how to arrange our money”. There is

a mistake in word choice of “arrange”. Native speakers usually say “manage money”

instead of “arrange money”. In his oral language sample, Xiao says, “We can use money

to take investment.” The word “take” is used inappropriately. Native speakers usually say

“make investment” instead. The reason contributes to the mistakes is possible because the

translations of “arrange” and “manage”, “make” and “take” are very similar in Chinese.

As Xiao usually refers to English-Chinese bilingual dictionary for learning English, he

does not distinguish the differences between them.

As for the aspect of pragmatics, Xiao does not have any problem in talking with me.

He fully understands what I ask him to answer and what content is relevant to the topic.

Nevertheless, in a video that Xiao recorded, he was supposed to speak on a specific topic,

but he went off the topic. The topic is “you have three to five minutes to talk about the

following prompt. What does individual responsibility towards the environment mean?

You may consider the responsibility, problems and solutions in life style, shopping,

personal finance, or your field of study”. Part of Xiao’s answer is as follows.

“I think life style, such as go to bed early and get up early is a good health habit for

people, such go to take a ride, play some sports is also very good and healthy…I think a

lot people have know that and take the actions, so they have a good condition of body.

The second is shopping. I think we should try don’t buy something that’s unnecessary.

Some people, when they see some cheaper things on the advertisement, they want to buy.

But after that, they find the things are not useful for their. So that is a kind of waste

money. Next is personal finance. What is personal finance? Such as how to deal with

your money, maybe. For example, if you have too money, such as 2,000, you shouldn’t

take it on your wallet, maybe you should save it into the bank account or take some

investments.”

The excerpt above is not relevant to the topic. I think it violates the maxim of

relevance in pragmatics (Bergman et al., 2007, p.274).

Part III Stage of second language acquisition

In this section, I want to discuss Xiao’s stage of second language acquisition.

Generally speaking, Xiao’s receptive skills are at level 4, and his productive skills are

at level 3 according to Tennessee English proficiency levels. Xiao can read different

genres of materials fluently, yet with some difficulties in understanding complex

sentences. He is able to catch the main points in face to face conversation, but he is

struggling to get the details from speech in classroom. As for his speaking and writing

skills, he produces simple sentences with restricted vocabularies.

To prove my justifications above, I will do further analysis of his development of

grammatical morphemes, negation, questions, possessive determiners, relative clauses,

reference to past and his first language influence in pragmatics specifically.

1. Acquisition of grammatical morphemes

According to Krashen’s summary of second language grammatical morpheme

acquisition sequence, Xiao’s acquisition of grammatical morphemes is in the

intermediate level. In the sentences “Parents want their children to get better education.”,

and “I am going to be a graduate student of Peabody.”, we can see Xiao has no problems

in dealing with plural, copula (to be), auxiliary, and articles. But he sometimes makes

mistakes in -ing, past verbs, third person singular –s (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.84).

The examples are listed below.

In oral language, (a) “That is a kind of waste money.”

(b) “Everyone have different backgrounds.”

(c) “At that day, we just come to the building and talk about…”

In writing, (a) “The government could save 5 billion for cure disease”,

“I am not pursue fellowship but my dream”.

(b) “How much money the government pay for the cancer per year…”.

(c) “When I choose admissions from universities, I prefer Peabody.”

2. Development of negation

Xiao’s development of negation is in stage 4. “In this stage, ‘do’ is marked for tense,

person, and number, and most inter-language sentences appear to be just like those of the

target language” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.86). In the writing sample, Xiao states “I

didn’t think about this question.”, which proves that he is in this stage.

3. Development of questions

Xiao’s development of questions is in stage 5. In this stage, “inversion [occurs] in wh-

questions with both an auxiliary and a main verb” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.87).

During the conversation with Xiao, while he was confused about the word “method”, he

asked me, “What is the meaning of ‘method’?”

4. Development of possessive determiners

As for the development of possessive determiners, Xiao is in the post-emergence stage.

As Xiao says in oral language, “I met a girl in IEPM. His name is XX. I like to have

group study with her. ” This utterance matches the definition of stage 3 in development of

possessive determiners, “Differentiated use of ‘his’ and ‘her’ but not when the object

possessed has natural gender” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.89).

5. Development of relative clauses

In the aspect of development of relative clauses, it is interesting to find that there are no

relative clauses in Xiao’s oral language samples or writing samples, even though

academic writing samples are included. This phenomenon corresponds to the theory in

Lightbown and Spada’s book (2006, p.91), “where learners have a first language with a

substantially different way of forming relative clauses, [such as Chinese and Japanese,]

they may avoid using relative clauses” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.91).

6. Development of reference to past

As for the development of reference to past, based on Xiao’s oral language and writing

samples, I cannot find any sentences in past tense except one is incorrectly used. In

Xiao’s oral comment on group study, he states, “I think group study is very helpful, but

someone didn’t agree with my idea.” I think in that context, he should use present tense

instead. Xiao does not use any past tense in his samples, but it does not mean it is

unnecessary. There are many sentences should have been used in past tense. For instance,

“I hold the first meeting with my partners [on] Friday noon.”, “There is a party for our

Chinese festival last Saturday.” In result, I think Xiao is in level 1 in the development of

reference to past, which corresponds with the content in the book that in that level,

“learners with limited language may simply refer to events in the order in which they

occurred or mention a time or place to show that the event occurred in the past”

(Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.91).

7. First language influence of pragmatics

In the aspect of first language influence of pragmatics, Xiao is in stage 2, in which

“reliance [is] on unanalyzed formulas and imperative” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006,

p.102). When I was about to talk with Xiao, he said, “Let’s begin the interview.” During

the interview, he requested me, “Open the window, please.” The two sentences he used in

request are formulaic.

Part IV SLA Theoretical Framework

In this section, I chose communicative competence as the second language acquisition

theoretical framework for my case study. I am going to support the analysis with my

samples.

1. Dell Hymes’ model

In Dell Hymes’ model, communicative competence includes “tacit knowledge and

ability for use”. This tacit knowledge includes “both grammatical competence and

sociolinguistic competence” (Johnson, 2004, p.89). Xiao acquires English grammatical

knowledge from English classes, and he gains sociolinguistic competence from his first

language. Hymes defines sociolinguistic competence as “the ability to use the

grammatical rules that are appropriate to a given social context” (Johnson, 2004, p.87),

which can be further explained as the knowledge of “when to speak, when not, and as to

what to talk about with whom, when, where, in what manner” (Johnson, 2004, p.87).

Xiao started learning English in middle school, when he had already had cognitive ability

and high level of first language. After he knew the meaning of the context in English, he

transferred his sociolinguistic competence in L1 to L2. That is the reason he speaks

appropriately in different social contexts.

What is more, in Hymes’ model, non-cognitive factors, such as motivation,

confidence and courage belong to ability for use (Johnson, 2004, p.89). As I have

mentioned before, Xiao lacks motivation in learning English, which results in his low

scores on TOEFL test. However, Xiao is confident and outgoing, and he always seizes

any chance to speak in public. I think this is the reason he does not have many problems

in pronunciation. Practice makes his pronunciation perfect.

2. Canale and Swain’s models

Within Canale and Swain’s models (Johnson, 2004, p.89), communicative

competence includes grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, strategic

competence, and discourse competence. Strategic competence is defined as “verbal and

non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for

break-downs in communication due to performance variables or to insufficient

competence” (Johnson, 2004, p.90). Xiao has gained strategic competence. As he said in

the interview, when he had difficulty in referring to a machine, he would search the

Internet or draw pictures for assistance. From the conversation with him, I found he also

used gestures to supplement his speech.

Discourse competence is defined as “knowledge of rules governing cohesion and

coherence” (Johnson, 2004, p.90), and it includes transition words. In Xiao’s samples,

there are some transition words, such as “then”, “however”, “so”, “such as”, and “for

example” and so forth. Xiao acquires this competence from English class. In writing class

for English learners, teachers give students a list of transition words that are divided into

different types. They encourage students to use these words to make text flow smoothly

and coherently.

3. Lyle Bachman’s CLA model

In Lyle Bachman’s communicative language ability model, there are three

competencies, language competence, strategic competence and psychophysiological

mechanisms. He divides language competence into organizational competence and

pragmatic competence. There are two subcomponents for pragmatic competence,

functional competence and sociolinguistic competence (Johnson, 2004, p.92).

Sociolinguistic competence in CLA model is different from that in Hymes’ model. It

is defined as “sensitivity to differences in dialect or variety, to differences in register and

to naturalness, and the ability to interpret cultural references and figures of speech”

(Johnson, 2004, p.93). Xiao reported that he had difficulties understanding English that

spoke by people who have dialects. In this way, his sociolinguistic competence is not at a

high level.

4. Additional types of data needed

In order to provide a more accurate explanation in communicative competence for my

case study, I still need additional types of data.

First, from the samples I have collected, I found Xiao rarely used past tense. In order

to judge whether he gains grammatical competence in this aspect, I will give him a task,

“Tell me what happened in your past two months.”

Second, I will give Xiao several sentences which are in the same meaning but in

different contexts, and ask him to guess the appropriate situations the sentences will be

used. In this way, I can make justification for Xiao’s functional competence, since

functional competence “enables us to interpret relationships between utterances or

sentences and texts and the intentions of language users” (Johnson, 2004, p.93).

Third, to get more accurate justification about Xiao’s sociolinguistic competence, I

need to observe how he acts in classroom. I need to observe how he interacts with his

classmates and professors. I can also observe what his reaction to the videos that are

related to American culture for him. For example, I will play the video Who’s on first for

him and see whether he can interpret the cultural references.

Fourth, I need data for explaining discourse competence. I will present some pictures

for him, and ask him to create a story according to the pictures. This activity will help me

judge whether Xiao achieves coherence and cohesion in a text.

Part V Instructional Plan for the Learner

In this section, I will design an instructional plan for the participant of my case study. I

believe this plan will help him improve English proficiency, considering the theoretically

supported recommendations made by Lightbown and Spada and the SLA framework

discussed above.

1. Let’s talk

From the samples I have collected, I found Xiao rarely used relative clauses and past

tense, and he often makes mistakes in subcategorization in syntax as well as in lexical

semantics. Moreover, his listening and speaking abilities are lower than reading and

writing abilities. According to these data, I recommend to adopt the teaching approach

“Let’s talk” for him (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.150).

I will arrange Xiao to have pair work with a student who is in higher English

proficiency level than him. During the conversation between them, the other student will

be dominant. He can provide a lot of input of relative clauses and past tense. After being

adequately exposed to the information, Xiao will mimic the similar sentence structures

and create sentences under the grammatical rules. If Xiao makes mistakes, the partner

will give him corrections during the negotiation of meaning (Lightbown & Spada, 2006,

p.153).

I will also organize group discussion of a specific topic for Xiao and other students.

Since they are focusing on the same topic during the discussion, they will use the words

that are relevant to the topic. It is a good way to increase Xiao’s amount of vocabulary.

During the interaction with other students, Xiao will know which words are more

appropriate in the situation. In this way, Xiao’s grammatical competence in semantics

and syntax will be improved.

2. Other instructional plans

From the samples I collected, I found Xiao lacked interests in learning English and

his functional use of L2 was limited. His understanding in English-speaking countries’

culture was not enough, either. As a result, I will give him some recommendations that he

can do outside classroom.

I recommend him do readings from Time ect. magazines. Since readings from these

sources are closely connected with English speakers’ lives, and provide authentic

language environment for Xiao, they can help Xiao gain sociolinguistic competence.

I also recommend Xiao check the meaning of the words by English-English

dictionary rather than English-Chinese bilingual dictionary. As Xiao has problems in

lexical semantics, checking English-English dictionary helps him get the original

meanings of words.

Furthermore, in order to improve Xiao’s listening ability, I will ask him to listen to

VOA and CNN. Maybe I will require him to listen to Special VOA first, then, move to

standard VOA. During the process of listening, he needs to take notes. At the end of each

news item, Xiao should organize a report based on the notes. This practice will help him

improve his summarizing ability as well.

Besides the above activities, I will also require Xiao to carry a notebook in his pocket,

so he can pick up slang and idioms whenever and wherever. It is a good way to

accumulate vocabulary. I also recommend Xiao watch English movies and make friends

with native speakers, which can help him gain a higher level of sociolinguistic

competence.

Part VI Implications

After doing this project, I have learned a lot from the participant of my case study as

well as the readings. In this section, I am going to discuss my critical reflection on it.

First, it is not easy to be a good ELL teacher. As ELL students are from different

countries, the most important thing to be an ELL teacher is to tolerate and respect

students’ cultural and linguistic background. Being a good ELL teacher should be fair for

everyone and provide appropriate personal attention to each student. Personal attention

for students can increase students’ motivation in learning, which is proved to benefit

English learning (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.64). Moreover, since learning English is a

“case by case” study, I should have enough time to get background information as well as

oral and written samples from my students and know what levels they are at. Then,

according to their different levels and problems in learning English, I can make

individual instructional plans for them

Second, interest is the best teacher. Within Hymes’ communicative competence

model, non-cognitive factors such as motivation, stage confidence, courage and so forth

make contributions to second language acquisition (Johnson, 2004, p.89). Lightbown and

Spada (2006, p.63) also state in the book, “If learners need to speak the second language

in a wide range of social situations or to fulfill professional ambitions, they will perceive

the communicative value of the second language will therefore be motivated to acquire

proficiency in it.” Xiao skipped English classes when he was in China because he did not

need to use English for communication in daily life, which resulted in his low motivation

in learning English. I should increase my students’ interests in learning English. When I

back to China, I can create English authentic use environment by organizing English

story telling competitions and drama plays. I can also adopt co-operative learning

activities to increase my students’ motivation in learning English (Lightbown & Spada,

2006, p.65).

Third, I should choose the most appropriate teaching approach for my students. There

are many teaching approaches for ELL classroom, such as “Just listen and read”, “Let’s

talk”, “Get it right in the end” and so on. Nevertheless, none of them is perfect. On behalf

of students, ELL teachers can adopt different models in different situations. Teaching

approaches depend on students’ needs. In bilingual program, the teaching approach “Two

for one” propels students’ academic development without limitation of L2 (Lightbown &

Spada, 2006, p.157). If students’ communicative competence are low, the teaching

approach “Let’s talk” is suitable (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.150).

Fourth, achieving sociolinguistic competence is the most difficult part for English

language learners, especially for ELLs who are in other countries. From the case study, I

found Xiao’s sociolinguistic competence was weaker than other types of communicative

competence. As for the teacher who is also an ELL, it is a big challenge for him/her to be

a model for students. Schools should consider to employ native speakers as

supplementary teaching resource. As for myself, I need to try my best to collect teaching

materials, such as books, magazines and videos, to create my own classroom library to

help students gain more knowledge about English-speaking countries’ culture.

References

Bergman, A.; Currie Hall, K, & Ross, S.M. (2007). Semantics. In A. Bergman,

K.Currie Hall & S.M. Ross (Eds.) Language files 10: Materials for an

introduction to language and linguistics (pp. 231-308). Columbus, OH: The

Ohio State University Press.

Johnson, M (2004). Communicative competence versus interactional competence. In

M. Johnson, A philosophy of second language acquisition (pp85-99).

London: Yale University Press.

Justice, P. W. (2004). Relevant linguistics: An introduction to the structure and use

of English for teachers (2nd edition). Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University

Center for the Study of Language and Information.

Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd edition).

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Appendix G: Practicum Teaching Mini Lesson PlansMini Lesson Plan #1Unit 3 Friends and Family Block 4

Instructional Context:Students have already learned basic vocabulary for the topic of Friends and Family, and practiced “because/because of” sentence structures in the previous three blocks. Block 4 should wrap up all the things that students have learned.

Content Objectives:Students will be able to understand the volunteer opportunities from three NGOs in Nashville, which are listed in a chart.

Language Objectives:Students will be able to tell partners/class about what kind of work they will volunteer, and give their reasons by using “because/because of”.

Key Vocabulary:VolunteerBudgetAbuseSiblingRefugee

Materials:Copies of the chart and directionsWhite board and markers

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Time Activities Rationale2 mins Students will be given directions of the

activity and provided meanings of several key vocabulary.

Directions will guide students to do the activity. Explaining the vocabulary makes sure students understand what they are expected to do.

3 mins Students will be practice the conversation with their shoulder partners.A: What would you like to do as a volunteer?B: I’d like to be a….because…

Students will get familiar with the context and sentence structures from pair work.

20 mins Students will play Chain Game. As the first student states his/her willing and reasons, the second one will repeat the first one’s willing and reasons. Then the third student will introduce the first two students’ story for the class, and so on. The teacher will help students take notes on the white board as they may meet new vocabulary in the conversation.

Students will have more opportunities to practice “because/because of” sentence structures and reinforce new vocabulary.

5 mins Conclude what students have learned today.

General conclusion, including review grammar and vocabulary.

Assessment Evidence:Students’ performance in the pair work and Chain Game will be the evidence for assessment.

Handout of BLOCK 4

Organizations Opportunities &DutiesNashville Area Habitat for Humanity

Help people who are homeless or are not able to buy their houses to purchase and own quality and affordable homes.

Budget Coach Volunteers Help Habitat partners review money management.

HomeWORKS Instructor Volunteers Help Habitat families learn to deal with legal issues in order to own the houses.

HomeWORKS for Kids Volunteers Tutor partner family children classes, such as math, science, reading and social studies.

CASA Help children who are hit by

their parents find permanent and safe homes.

Reviewing documents Interviewing the child's parents,

siblings, neighbors, and school officials

Provide medical care services

Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc. Help people who are from

poor countries adjust to their new lives as refugees in Nashville.

Family Mentor –Teaching life skills and providing transportation assistance.

English Language Tutor – Teaching English for refugees.

Youth Assistant – Help refugee youth in improving academic performance.

Office Assistant – Filing, data entry and creating mailings.

Elders Assistant – Creating a fun and engaging social meeting for Refugee Elders.

In the chart, there are three non-government organizations in Nashville that need volunteers to make a difference in our community. What kind of volunteer work would you like to do? (If you know other options to volunteer, or you want to do something else to contribute to your community, please feel free to share them with us.)

Brenda says: I would like to be a Homeworks for kids volunteer in Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity because I like spending time with children.

Kumiko: Brenda would like to be a Homeworks for kids volunteer in Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity because she likes spending time with children. I would like to be a …. because…..

Ayakos: Brenda would like to be a Homeworks for kids volunteer in Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity because she likes spending time with children. Kumiko would like to be a…..because she….I would like to be a …. because…..

You can take notes during the activity.

Mini Lesson Plan #2Unit 4 Block 1

Content Objectives: Students will be able to preview the unit by talking about the pictures.

Language Objectives: Students will be able to brainstorm key vocabulary for the topic. Students will be able to practice language use in doctor room.

Key Vocabulary:Food pyramidScaleOverweightMedicationDietVegetables: cauliflower, tomato, broccoli, carrot, cabbage etc..Carbohydrate

Materials:TextbookWhite board and markers

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Time Activities Rationale3 mins As I introduce the topic of the lesson to

students, I will ask students to brainstorm some healthy habits and routines. If students mention healthy food, I will ask students “what food do you eat?”

Warm up activity, which leads students to the topic.

Brainstorm students’ vocabulary about food.

6 mins Ask students to describe what they see in the first picture. Introduce key vocabulary, like scale, food pyramid.I will further explain food pyramid for students and expand their vocabulary in food.

Expand students’ vocabulary about the topic.

3 mins Ask students to describe what happens in the second picture. I will introduce the vocabulary about describing weight and blood pressure. Then, ask students “do you think Stanley is healthy?”

Build students’ background knowledge about the topic and help them get the vocabulary that they may use in future activities.

2 mins Ask students “what is happening in the Introduce healthy habits and routines.

third picture?”3 mins Ask students to link the story in the three

pictures, and role play it with shoulder partners.

Practice students’ speaking abilities in using the vocabulary that they have learned.

3 mins Students will perform the skit about the story.

Practice students’ communicative competence.

Optional Check the answers of listening

Assessment Evidence: Students’ response in vocabulary brainstorming part will demonstrate their understanding of

my questions. Students’ oral abilities will be demonstrated in their performance in the pair work and skit.

Documents

› ... › Appendicies.docx?sequence=2 · Web viewir.vanderbilt.edu2012-04-05 · His pronunciation of Mandarin is standard. He arrived in US in August this year. Functional use