Phase I

Action Plan
Through numerous class-based and noting lower oral participation levels from the non-

native English speakers, I decided to employ a questionnaire to gain insight into why non-native

speaking students are not participating in class. The purpose of questionnaire was to understand

my students backgrounds deeper and to understand their level of comfort in class oral

participation.

Based on the questionnaire, 63% of non-native English speakers felt uncomfortable

speaking, whereas, only 44% of native English speakers felt uncomfortable. Based on the

Discomfort in Speaking
8
7
7
6
5
5
4 4
4
3
2
1
0
Non-Native Native

Uncomfortable Comfortable

Figure 1 Speaking discomfort in class discussion

research from theorists in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), internal variables of

language learners, such as the affective domain, are related to a higher percentage of discomfort

in speaking. In addition to the sense of discomfort students experienced in speaking up in

classroom academic discourses, English was second or third language to non-native students and

most of them took ESOL classes before coming to the accelerated basic-skills class. These

findings were important to my study because knowing the percentage of who feels discomfort in
speaking will demonstrate the hidden meaning behind the silence. In addition, knowing the fact

that the students speak more than one language will help me to understand the struggle they go

through because they need more time to process words in order to code-switch the language.

Furthermore, I was able to notice how non-native English speakers relied on native

English students when it came to group discussions. They tended to ask questions to the native

speakers to find out the answer. During the discussion, I heard most of the native students

speaking when there was silence from non-native students. I corresponded the silence with what

Duff (2002) notes, silence protected them from humiliation (p.312). Because both native and

non-native students can be silent, I correlated non-natives silence with embarrassment and the

need to protect their language ego. Furthermore, some students were content to remain silent and

invest more deeply in the written activities in the classroom (Hernandez Gonzalez, T., &

McDonough, K., 2015). Some non-native students preferred written activities because they can

correct their mistakes as they write. In addition, they can review their written ideas, whereas in

speaking, it is difficult to review the words once it is let out. These observations told me that

through written work, non-native students can avoid humiliation and embarrassment by

reviewing their work and correct the mistake as they write. However, the western academic

classroom expectation is that students are required to discuss and speak in the class because

academic courses highly value students thoughts and ideas that support their critical thinking, as

well as, independent learning. If the non-native students greatly rely on native speakers in

discussion and only write down their thoughts on the paper, they will not receive the full

participation points and there might be a misinterpretation between the instructor and the

students. The instructor might misinterpret the silence as not wanting to participate which will

result a low grade. Furthermore, when the non-native students are called on, they answer the
question on the surface level. For instance, they can identify the characters, events, places, and

dates, but cannot relate to their own experience. However, the notion of not reaching the critical

thinking skills does not only apply to non-native speakers but also to native students too. As I

was observing the class, it was easier to notice this phenomenon from non-native students due to

lack of oral participation in the class discussion. Based on what I have observed from the class, I

thought of supporting critical thinking skills and motivation to invest their time to improve their

speaking skills.

In supporting the reasoning and critical thinking skills, Blooms Taxonomy provides six

different levels of thinking in education. Based on Forehand (2010), she annotates that Blooms

Taxonomy is a model of six cognitive levels of complexity. The six levels, the lowest to the

highest, are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluation, and creating. In most

accelerated English basic-skill classes, the instructor aims towards the three highest levels in

Blooms Taxonomy because according to the California Acceleration Project, Hern (2013) states

that underprepared students need practice with college-level skills, content, and ways of thinking. They

need to reason their way through open-ended questions on topics that matter. They need to think. (p. 5).

Because the accelerated

basic-skills classes are

aimed towards the

preparation for college-

level skills, many

instructors guide the

students to practice their

thinking which is linked to

higher order thinking.

Figure 2 Framework of Bloom's Taxonomy
Furthermore, in my course professors syllabus, it clearly states that the purpose and the goal for her

accelerated English basic-skills class is to teach the students how to reflect critically on the processes of

writing and reading and to make appropriate decisions on arguments and rhetorical conventions. Having

said this, if the non-native students are not reaching the three highest level of Blooms Taxonomy which

involves critical thinking, they will be unable to participate in the activities and not receive the proper

points for their grade. Therefore, it is important for them to reach the steps towards higher order thinking

and reasoning.

In order to support my action using Blooms Taxonomy, I desired to use voice recording in the

small group discussion to understand and annotate on which level the non-native speakers hit the

language barrier in discussion. Although recording would have been the best data to use, it was

understandable that my mentor professor did not feel comfortable using due to the insecurity that I may

raise in students during the discussion. Therefore, rather than voice recording, I managed to take notes on

the students dialogue to support my action based on Blooms Taxonomy. Furthermore, this is an

accelerated class and there were a lot of materials that needed to cover. Due to the specific amount of

work and limited time, the classroom procedures were quick. In this circumstance, I could not teach them

all six levels of Blooms Taxonomy but could possibly support students critical thinking skills to develop

and improve to a level where they can evaluate and analyze among different literature novels we are

using.

In the accelerated basic-skills class, my mentor professor is using four novels that are

nonfiction memoirs. These novels are based on cultures and the purpose for reading varieties of

culture-based literature are to bring the cultural awareness. Through culture awareness, we

discussed Vietnamese, African American, Jewish, and Hispanic cultures in order to compare the

similarities and differences between the cultures. I believe these literatures will help the students

to think critically when the culture draws similarities to their own. Furthermore, I expect to see
and hear some sharing in small groups to discuss on their own culture to see if there are any

similarities or differences in promoting the oral participation.

At the request of my mentor professor, I planned to do a Snowball Discussion activity as

my action plan that is very similar to how she usually sets up the small group discussion. My

mentor professor likes to have majority of her class time used for activities because that is the

time where the students can utilize their skills to improve critical thinking skills. Therefore, I

arranged the activities based on interactive skills snowball discussion. Snowball discussion is

an activity where the students will begin in a pair, responding to a discussion question. After

each person had a chance to share their ideas, they will join another pair, creating a group of four.

It will continue until the whole class become a one large discussion. The purpose of putting non-

native students and native English speakers is to share different perspectives in cultural

awareness. Moreover, Vygotskys (1980) social constructivist theory supports that language

development happens through social interaction. Through social interaction from pair to one

large discussion, students will acquire the knowledge of different aspects from the novels by oral

participation.

In closing, I plan to do an exit slip on what they have learned from one another and if the

oral participation has gotten easier after sharing ideas and thoughts with the classmates. In

addition, I plan to leave few questions such as what was most difficult concept of todays

discussion? and write one thing I can help you to improve in oral participation.

Phase I Assessment
 For the upcoming essay, the students have to write an analysis essay based on the two

novels we read in the class. The two novels are I Love Yous Are for White People by Lac Su and

The Color of Water by James McBride.

These two novels share two different

minority cultures. It is their task to find the

common theme between the novels to

analyze, argue, and support their thesis

statement. In order for the students to

support their critical thinking skills, the

handout called The Ultimate Cheatsheet

for Critical Thinking was given. The

handout contains 5 Ws (Who, What,

Where, When, Why) and 1 H (How) to

illustrate the students how to think

critically. Furthermore, the handout

contains guiding question based on each

Figure 3. A handout for students to help them to reach higher order thinking
letter that it leads the students how to think

based on each letter.

The prompt for the current task was for the students to find a passage that stood out to

them the most. The reason behind of this activity was for the students to dig deeper on the why

and how the passage stood out to them. If they understand the details in the novels, it will be

easier for them to draw connecting lines and between place, events, and characters as they

describe to themselves the relationship among them. Also, the activity will smooth out the
process in connecting and relating the passage to their own experience. When the students have

their theme and passage written, the snowball activity will begin.

First, using the snowball grouping, the students will first be paired to discuss their theme

using the 5Ws and 1H handout. Then, they will join with another two students in multiple of two.

Two students will join another two students, then the group of four students will join another

group of four until it ends as a whole class discussion. The purpose of this is to allow both non-

native and native students to share different perspectives based on the two novels. Some students

might face similar themes during the discussion that might seem redundant. However, it is the

students task to also acknowledge the similarities and embrace the differences in academic

discussion. Second, for each group, the students will read the passage they chose and identify

5Ws to their group members. In this way, each group members will have a chance to speak.

Furthermore, if there are collapsing passages or themes, group members can share and discuss

why it stood out to them based on their experiences. However, when they are expressing their

rationale, they need to use the handout. For instance, if they are identifying the Who, they will

say the name of the character and discuss one of the given questions, such as who benefits from

this?, to think deeper by analyzing and evaluating. When each member is finished, they will form

another group until the group becomes one large group. The task of negotiation will be the same

when the students form a larger group. At last, it is the whole group discussion. The students had

a chance to speak and share their thoughts in small group, which will give them confident and

less discomfort in speaking in class discussion because they will be sharing what has been

discussed with the instructor. In addition, through small group discussion, the students practiced

their higher order thinking skills with the guidance from the handout and when the class becomes

one, they will practice their oral participation with the knowledge of what has been discussed
with their peers. This will allow the students to practice their critical thinking skills and

independent problem solving skills with their peers.

Phase I. Assessment Plan

In order to understand the impact of my intervention, I plan to collect data in the

following way. I will observe the students and record my observations in my teaching journal.

Through observation in my teaching journal, I can reflect my understanding but also record what

I have seen in the class. I will also have the students complete exit slips to understand if their

needs and learnings were met. In addition, I will have conference(s) with them to understand

what I was unable catch through my observation and exit slip. It is through conferences that I can

build trust with the students to give richer and deeper analysis on what their needs are and what

needs to be supported for my students learning growth.

Observation. I kept a log of every class and it includes my teaching reflection journal.

The purpose of doing so was in order to capture the uniqueness in each class. Furthermore,

according to Creswell (2009), there are four options within types complete participant,

observer as participant, participant as observer, and complete observer. These four types made

observation unique and powerful because I was able to draw in and out of class activities. In

other words, I was able to see the whole picture of the discussion in class and within small

groups to pay attention to the details in oral participation. Because I am not using the voice

recording in class, I took notes on dialogues that happened between non-native and native

English speakers to know if Blooms Taxonomy has met or not. Furthermore, I took notes on

affective domains, such as motivation and anxiety, from language learners to see what they go

through when they speak in class.

 Exit Slip. Another method to keep the high oral participation was to have exit slips. Not

it only helped me to focus on what has met or not, it also helped students to summarize what has

been done and rethink about what they have learned. I gave two questions on the exit slip, such

as what was most difficult concept of todays discussion? and write one thing I can help you

to improve in oral participation, for the students to answer. The exit slip was given to everyone

in the class to comprehend what has happened in snowball discussion. The exit slip touches on

the private information that I may have not able to catch through observation.

Conference with students. Meeting one-on-one outside of the class will allow me to

meet their needs and learning. It is difficult to analyze what needs and learnings to be met in

class where there are multiple occurrences happening at once. The conference would rely on

flexibility for the student to feel relaxed. Furthermore, as the conference unfolds, topics and

issues rather than pre-set questions will determine the direction that the interview takes (Nunan

& Bailey, 202009, p. 313). Nunan & Bailey (2009) call this semi-structured interview because

through the social interactions, it provides rich information to support the data. Sometimes, if the

conference is too rigid and relies heavily on the questions, the information might not lead to

where I wanted to be. At the end, my action research is student-centered and by all means, the

conference need to be aimed towards the needs of the students to improve and support their low

oral participation.