The Context
The study was conducted in a home setting. I interviewed the students before beginning the tutorial. I also reviewed all of their previous writings and explored their academic backgrounds, their writing processes, their thoughts about their own writings, and their learning from their previous classes in order to determine their current level of writing.
I and my students shared the common mother tongue of Turkish and I conducted my research by providing the students 5 two-hour lessons.
However, he does like to write. He has kept a diary since he was a kid. In his native country, he learned to write paragraphs and reports in English. He has also learned to correct his errors and focus on his vocabulary and grammar while he attended the local community college. He thought he was doing well in school, that’s why he could not understand why he failed to receive a passing grade.
He has been living in the U.S. for about 14 months by the time that the study was conducted. He had the impression that college writing was different from what he was used to, and considering that his family expected him to do well in school, he was determined to learn more about academic writing, correct grammar usage, spelling, and idea organization.
Aside from his brother, nobody else speaks English in his family. However, since dropping out of high school, he thinks that his English has greatly improved from talking to the people on the streets. He even picked up some Spanish from his friends but he knows that his English is still not good enough for him to succeed in school.
He has been in the U.S.A for 14 months by the time of the study and he wants to get a high school diploma and go to college to become video game designer.
Statement of Research Focus
In this research, I will investigate the process involved in tutoring two ESL students who want to learn English as their second language. Most ESL students have problems in applying their communicative English skills into formal academic writing. In addition, most of the instructors who teach the English language do not understand the literacy approaches that are to be used, and how to implement them.
With the importance of acquiring English as a second language for immigrants, it is important to be able to identify strategies and approaches that would best facilitate ESL learning. Despite the various types of difficulties that immigrants experience in trying to learn the English language, studies have shown that with the right ESL teaching strategies, these immigrant students’ learning of the English language can be facilitated. For example, a meta-analysis conducted by Adesope, Lavin, Thompson & Ungerleider (2011) showed that the application of pedagogical strategies in teaching English as a second language to immigrant students resulted in improved competence in reading and writing. In addition, their study showed that the implementation of collaborative reading interventions resulted in greater learning compared to the use of multimedia-assisted reading interventions and systematic phonics instructions (Adesope et al., 2011). On the other hand, Nam (2010) suggested that the use of visual representations and L1 translation equivalents, as well as a higher involvement in vocabulary production processing, be used to promote vocabulary learning. As well, Lam (2010) claimed that the use of strategy instruction in ESL resulted in both desirable and differential effects on the target strategies.
Indeed, there are many strategies for teaching ESL where each strategy may vary in their effectiveness. In this regard, this research focuses on investigating the effectiveness of four ESL teaching strategies, namely the innatist, cognitive/attention-processing, and constructivist/interactionist strategies, as well as the use of graphic organizers in teaching. This research aims to test against the hypothesis that the innatist, cognitive, and constructivist strategies, as well as the use of graphic organizers, do promote ESL learning.
Methods and Literacy Approaches
In the course of my research, I used the three essential literacy methods with corresponding teaching approaches. The employed literacy methods were innatist, cognitive/attention-processing, and constructivist/interactionist. A fourth teaching approach used was the use of graphic organizers.
The Innatist Learning Approach
The innatist learning approach focuses on the natural interaction among students that resembles the method by which children learn their L1 (Ariza & Hancock, 2003). This approach limits the implementation of formal and restrictive activities and instead, aims to promote acquisition through meaningful interactions among students and the teacher. This can be implemented by encouraging students to work cooperatively and by encouraging them to take active parts in activities.
In this regard, I decided that the application of the jigsaw approach (“Jigsaw Strategy,” 2007) would be appropriate. I chose a story about a bad driver who had an accident. I briefly went over the vocabulary, (e.g.to cut off, eye contact, lane, rear view mirror, to signal, to spill, recklessly) then I cut the printed story into three parts with a scissor (part I, Part II, part III) where each of us were to study our parts and retell them to the entire group. Once we finished retelling the story as a group, we worked on True and False statements about the story.
The next activity was a group discussion. We talked about the characters in the story, what caused the accident, and who the better drivers were, men or women. In the last activity, we rewrote the entire story in our own words.
Throughout the activities, I let the students dominate the discussions and interact with each other without any restriction.
The jigsaw approach proved to be an efficient way to learn new material. It required listening, speaking, writing, and doing all of these together. Students were aware of the fact that no one could succeed completely unless everyone worked as a group.
Students’ sample writings:
John was driving in the right lane. He was late for work. There was a woman driving in the left lane. The woman did not see John’s signal to change lanes because she was putting make up on looking at the rear view mirror. The woman almost hit John’s car. John got nervous and drop his shaver into his coffee cup. John thinks woman should not allowed to drive.
John was driving. Woman was driving. The woman hit John’s car she was not looking. Woman should not be driving, they make accidents.
The Cognitive Learning Approach
The cognitive learning approach focuses on the processing of information by students (Clark & Harrelson, 2002). In particular, cognitive learning takes place in two processes. One of these processes is the micro process. This process entails the incorporation, restructuration, and involvement of working memory. In this procedure, the learner changes inter-language systems.
The other process is the macro-process, which involves a difference between incidental learning and intentional learning. Furthermore, it incorporates a distinction between implicit and explicit learning.
For this session, I gave the students the opportunity to discuss related topics prior to reading the text. This method was intended to help students anticipate the author’s message and expand their thinking on the topics. Before applying this method, I explained the strategy to the students. I chose a newspaper article about the drug addiction of the legendary soccer player Maradona and then I wrote down the following three questions:
- Do you think athletes would perform better if they had a healthy life style?
- Do you think money affects athletes’ lives positively?
- Is it hard to quit an addiction?
Based on these questions, the students indicated whether they agreed or disagreed with the corresponding statements on the chart. When the chart was completed, I had the students discuss the answers between them and come to a consensus, if they can, and mark those under the “My partner and I” column.
In the last step, each student filled in the “Author” column based on the reading. Finally, as a follow up activity, I asked the students to write a reflection about what they thought of the relationship between money and drug addiction.
Money is evil. Usually when it is acquired fast, money can create so many problems. Most of us grow up with the desire to make as much money as we can but we do not actually know what to do when we have more than what we need it
I like playing soccer. I want to be a great soccer player. If I make a great player and make lots of money, I do not do drugs. Drugs are dangerous. I like to travel. I like new places. I do not like drugs.
The Constructivist/ Interactionist Learning Approach
The constructivist/interactionist learning approach (Cakir, 2008) focuses on the interaction that exists between the students and the teacher. The teacher scaffolds the student’s attempt to improve the target language.
In this case, the interaction was between the two students and me. My intent was to help them decode unknown words, develop their ideas more efficiently, and improve their grammar and expressions through individual feedback. For this method, I asked my students to write about what they would do if they missed an important appointment.
Using what one of the student’s had written, we tried to rewrite the text as a team. Each one in the group provided feedback on the grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and rhetorical aspects of the text. One by one, we analyzed all of the group members’ writing, including my own writing as a teacher. After this, we rewrote the original texts based on the suggestions provided.
“I prepare a lot not to miss appointments. I have an alarm clock, when it rings I wake up fast and I get ready. Sometimes we are human, still we miss the appointment because there are other things. If it is possible, I would call my friend and let her know I will be late. I would ask if she would like to see me sometime later.”
“I would do anything not to miss an appointment. I would set my alarm clock before I go to bed, when the alarm goes off, I would wake up immediately and prepare myself to the appointment as fast as I can. On the other hand, one can miss an appointment based on circumstances beyond his/her control and if that happens to me I would let the other party know that I will not be able to make it on time. If it is possible I would try to reschedule the appointment over the phone and briefly explain why I failed to make it on time.”
The Use of Graphic Organizers
Another teaching approach I used was the use of graphic organizers for displaying ideas and concepts in an organized manner that would make their comparison and contrast easier for the students. My goal was to be able to divide the materials into understandable external pieces. For this approach, I chose the topic, “Americans according to foreigners.”
The lesson started with drawing a circle on a blank paper and collectively brainstorming on key terms that defined an American. After about five to six minutes, we were able to come up with 10-15 words (e.g. hamburger, baseball, war, Indians, cars, Hollywood, air-conditioning, etc.). I wrote all of the terms we came up with under the title,” My impressions of Americans.”
The second title we brainstormed on was “How do I differ from Americans?” This time, we completed sentences beginning with: “because I am.” (e.g. because I don’t play baseball, because we never had air conditioning at home before, because I am skinny, etc).
The third title where we grouped our ideas was, “ The things you like that Americans like.” This followed the structure: “I like.too” (e.g. I like hamburgers too; I like watching Hollywood movies too..etc) At the end of an hour, we had quite an inventory by which we could compare and contrast Americans to ourselves.
The final task was writing one or two paragraphs on “The things you like and don’t like about American people.”
There are differences between my culture and American culture. The way an American eats is different than a Turkish. The Turkish cuisine is a lot more different than the American cuisine. Sometimes I see American people eating friend chicken as their entire meal, nothing else! I think that is crazy to eat only meat. Salads, fruits, vegetables are very healthy and should be consumed by American people more frequently.
I love America. I love American people. American people like to eat hamburgers. I like burgers too. I do not eat pork. People in America eat pork. My mother told me don’t eat ham because ham is pork too. America is very big, where I come from is not big.
The Findings
The two students in this research showed that different learning strategies facilitate and improve language acquisitions in different ways.
On the other hand, Student B had no background in academic writing in his L1, which caused him extra difficulty. Although Student A and Student B were brothers, they had different attitudes on writing. Student B considered some of the writing topics useless and ended up not doing well. In order to get Student B motivated, I realized that I had to choose topics that would draw his attention.
As a teacher, I corrected surface errors and helped them eliminate the confusion in sentence meanings through rewording.
The number of errors that the students made prompted me to classify and examine the nature of their errors. By referring to the pre and post writings of the students, their errors could be classified into spelling errors, verb tense errors, morphological errors, article errors, errors in word order, syntactic errors, lexical errors, and prepositional errors.
I found that the spelling and verb tense errors were the most frequent errors. On the other hand, the morphological errors included past tense ending omission (he talk to me); subject verb agreement (everything are expensive); plural ending omission (six banana); preposition errors (he told to me; stayed on the house); and the misuse of articles (if I have a money; I have a same watch ).
The lexical errors were due to the direct translation from Turkish to English (my stomach is hungry) whereas the syntactic errors included inconsistent subjects (I should stay if we can).
The errors that the students made were expected of Turkish ELLs. Although it is possible to see the interference from the Turkish language, which was the students’ L1, it was not the only factor that led to the errors.
Nevertheless, although the students’ acquisition of the English language wasn’t greatly improved due to the short period of time by which the research was conducted, the research did show that the use of the innatist, cognitive, and constructive approaches, as well as the use of graphic organizers, were effective in promoting ESL learning. The research also showed that the use of these approaches created a fun and natural way of learning where the students learned through practice and not just through concepts.
In particular, the research showed that Student A was more proficient in the English language than Student B, which can be attributed to Student A being ahead of Student B in terms of educational level. Regardless of their difference in their English proficiency levels, though, improvements in their literacy skills were evident throughout the lessons and activities that they were provided.
When the innatist approach was used, the students’ use of the English language was successfully facilitated through their discussion of the topic. They were very much engaged in the discussions, especially since I limited my interruption of their discussion.
Similarly, the cognitive approach enabled the students to gain a better understanding of the reading material’s topic. This was evident from the answers they provided for the questions that I posed. By allowing them to obtain background information on the reading material’s topic beforehand, they were able to get a better under understanding of reading material’s context and were able to better understand the underlying messages.
In the same regard, the constructivist approach enabled the students to establish new schemata for the target language. This was facilitated by the feedback and corrections that I provided them. The students naturally used schemata from their first language in learning the English language, but the feedback I provided them enabled them to distinguish the similarities and differences between the schemata of their first language and that of the target language. As well, the use of this approach showed that improvements could be seen in the students’ writing, particularly in their revisions, due to the feedback and suggestions that they received. Similarly, by being able to criticize each other’s work, they were also able to develop the skills to criticize their own work.
Finally, the use of graphic organizers enabled the students to group and organize their thoughts, which made it easier for them to think or form ideas. When learning a foreign language, students can easily get overloaded with information. However, with the use of graphic organizers, they are able to process information in the new language in smaller and more manageable pieces.
Implications
The findings of the research implied that although students have different ways of learning, they benefit greatly from learning through collaboration, cooperation, and feedback. This study also implied that the innatist, cognitive, and constructivist theories can be applied in learning activities that promote ESL learning through collaboration and cooperation.
In addition, the findings of the study implied that learning English through practice may be more effective than through conceptual learning. More specifically, the study showed that ESL learning can be facilitated by engaging the students in discussions about topics that they can relate to and are interested in and by providing them with constant feedback in order to promote self-correction and a better understanding of the language and the context.
Finally, the study implied that ESL learning can be facilitated by the presentation of information in smaller chunks rather than by having them learn so many things at once.
Given the limited time and limited number of students involved in this research, it would be recommended that a more in-depth research be conducted with regards to the use of the innatist, cognitive, and constructivist approaches in facilitating ESL learning. In addition, this study implies that there may be benefit in designing and developing more sophisticated academic curricula that make use of the aforementioned approaches in order to promote ESL learning across all educational levels.
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