Phase 2 Findings

Roman-Journal

During Phase Two, Roman continued daily journaling primarily in English. He reported

entries were more frequent during the days following our meetings, tapering off until our next

meeting, which seemed to inspire more fervent writing. This speaks to the value of direct and

frequent teacher-student interaction.

Roman-Discussion

During our hours together, Roman was able to open up and discuss personal and

philosophical issues with an American in English. Our meetings often began with discussions on

Romans acculturation process, U.S. job search, and American etiquette. My role here took on a

sort of cultural ambassadorship during which I provided an open ear and guidance through his

culture specific struggles. I advised Roman on resume and cover letter creation and etiquette for

requesting references and letters of recommendation. I also listened empathetically to his

frustrations regarding these processes and related personal interactions with faculty and

counselors. Romans struggles seemed to stem from feelings of exile and uncertainty in trying to

navigate a foreign and unfamiliar system.

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He expressed frustrations in the in the indirect and non-specific instructions of counselors

and teacher, which seemed to presuppose native cultural understanding. He often felt frustrated

in class when a particular professor spoke in idioms, often referring to common American

examples and figures he was unfamiliar with. When asked whether he asked for clarification on

these issues, he confessed he did not because it would make him feel like even more of an

outsider. Meeting with me provided him with a safe and comfortable place to ask some of these

questions.

Roman also began to hint at his need for more error correction from me. I was initially

hesitant to correct any errors not interfering with communication cautious of raising his affective

filter (Brown, 2007). After more time with Roman and his expressed frustrations regarding the

ambiguity of American politeness, I began to realize that he may benefit from some corrective

feedback in the form of recasting, clarification or elicitation incorporated into our sessions because

he explicitly requested correction and the corrections would ultimately improve his academic and

personal writing performance providing him with a source of accomplishment in an English context.

(Brown, 2007; Watkins-Goffman, 2001) I had created a safe environment for him through our

sessions and correction in this context could help to improve his general speaking and writing ability

making him feel less like an outsider in other less familiar situations.

He stressed that as an outsider with high language skills he was still learning how to

translate non-verbal cues less dominant in Russian communication. He provided an example of

a friend saying, Dude, you didnt show up when you said you would (Roman, personal

communication, April 10, 2013). Roman struggled over whether the friend was expressing

anger, nonchalance, or manipulation with this statement. With increasing confidence over the

course of our verbal negotiation, he admitted deciding that the easy-going friend was just teasing
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him and that the situation was not a problem. This internal negotiation of meaning unfolded as

we discussed the situation and specifics of the friendships with Roman finally admitting that he

is beginning to understand the physical expressions of American English. Physical language is

key to effective communication (Watkins-Goffman, 2001). Later, Roman pointed out several

physical cues I exhibited throughout our conversation, including a slight raising of my brows

when asking a question, which he later exhibited following up with a question of his own.

These discussions also empowered Roman to educate me on Russian history, education,

and politics. Much of school and language emersion is receiving information. Allowing Roman

to teach me about things of which he is knowledgeable, helped to balance his English expression.

He was permitted the opportunity to play the role of expert in a language he was often the

novice.

Roman-Writing

Romans writing exercises were based on the role of character in developing story.

Roman was more receptive to this practice than prompts based on schoolwork. Our meetings

developed a pattern during which we met and discussed Romans cultural adjustments outside,

moving inside away from distractions to a small table in a quiet corner. We formed a small

writing community, silently writing together. This time fed my desire to write and motivated

expression of my own personal writing as well.

During our first meeting, I told Roman we were going to explore story telling based on

character development. This instruction was based upon a script writing text I had used to

develop writing ideas years ago while working toward balancing my academic and creative

writing selves (McKee, 1997). It was also inspired by an English assignment from high school,

which inspired a prolific stage in my creative writing life. This assignment was a character
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development called a persona project in which students were empowered to create their own

character and place him in varying life circumstances. It was my first experience with creative

writing in a classroom setting, blending academic and personal writing into a pleasurable story

telling experience. I sought to extend this type of experience with Roman.

During this phase, Roman created a character based on specific traits including characters

zodiac sign to incorporate Romans interest in zodiac and his belief that it determines behavior.

(See Appendix J). I coached Roman through the character development process as he

1)brainstormed 2)wrote character introduction 3)wrote scenes of action for his character (See

Appendix K). Roman told me that what helped him most through this writing process was the

outline, and my guidance as he asked questions. You gave me a road map and that helps a lot

(Roman, personal communication, April 3, 2013).

Roman exhibited an impressive vocabulary. (See Appendix J) This creative exercise,

heavily reliant on description was an excellent platform for Roman to practice his elevated

English vocabulary, not frequently used in spoken English. Roman added details and depth to

his character and story with each of our meetings. I read his previous writing and chose a point

of interest to request more detail. We discussed the chosen section of text and Roman wrote

expanding on text details. We continued this cycle throughout our meetings providing Roman

the opportunity for more in depth writing, and an outlet for expressing his English vocabulary.

In addition to vocabulary practice, this exercise highlighted Romans grammar

inconsistencies and suggested focus on improving these errors. His sentence structure was

strong, but he often misused prepositions and possessives. These are simple grammar points,

which if directly taught could considerably improve the readability of Romans writing,

building competence and confidence.

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The writing of a believable story includes research on the details of location and context

of events in it. Roman chose to write his story about a sailor from Blackpool. This choice

provided Roman an opportunity to research the coastal town, providing extensive reading

practice, which has the potential to positively affect his writing by providing solid and consistent

grammar examples within a content based learning environment. The exercise can be interesting

as well as informative.

Madrona-Writing

Madronas punctuation and grammar were the clear weaknesses in her writing, but did

not interfere with writing communicability. Because of this, and because of the nature of this

research, to develop L2 identity through writing, grammar played a secondary role in the

development of Madronas writing experience. However, because she had no other access to

academic resources and expressed clear concern for her lack of punctuation knowledge, I wanted

to address the most basic aspects of grammar form during our meetings. I chose to address

punctuation with brief lessons and exercises to reinforce her period and comma usage.

The first grammar lesson began with Madrona repeatedly reading her most recent writing

aloud. We then discussed her pauses in speech. In the simplest way I could, I explained to

Madrona that pauses in speech are punctuation in writing. She reread the writing aloud again

with the instruction to simply notice where she naturally paused. The next step was to read the

writing and mark each pause with a tiny x. After she did this, I explained that a sentence is a

complete thought, ending in a period; and that pauses that did not end in a complete thought were

expressed with a comma. Madrona then reread the writing, inserting periods and commas where

she saw fit applying the simple rules we discussed. I reviewed the paper, mentally noting errors

and instructed her to read it aloud again. Upon this next reading, Madrona faltered on the errors
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I had mentally noted, seeming to catch her mistakes. She read it again, looking up at me for

reassurance when she came to mistakes. I then walked her through negotiating the appropriate

punctuation for these problem areas. Madrona quickly seemed to recognize punctuation

organization this way, and the more calm and passive support I provided, the more confident

she became in her choices. (See Appendix L)

Following exercises attempted to reinforce these grammar points in a fun and interactive

manner. Based upon Madronas previously expressed interest in developing her digital literacy, I

chose to introduce her to dvolver, a digital moviemaking website incorporating text bubbles into

film. I showed her a silly video I had made, walked her through creating her own, and then how to

email it to share with her granddaughter, incorporating her family ties to the lesson.

The silliness of the dvolver exercise, provided a fun way for Madrona to express herself

in English writing. This exercise was individualized to address Madronas interest in

punctuation practice and building digital literacy, and in her responses to the initial assessment

survey and interview. Madrona described herself in the survey as a spontaneous joker when

relating to people in Spanish. She stated, that in Spanish, I feel like myself. I feel good

(Madrona, personal communication, March 1, 2013). She admitted telling jokes and funny

stories often in L1, but hardly ever in L2 because, Theres so many sayings in English I dont

understand. In Spanish, I can relate. In English I cant be spontaneous; I cant joke (Madrona,

personal communication, March 1, 2013). This exercise offered an opportunity for Madrona to

practice being silly and joking, two dominant aspects of her L1 personality, in English writing.

It also provided me with an opportunity to informally assess her application of our

punctuation lesson into a different context. All of Madronas writing prompts were hand written.

The dvolver video, was typed. Her handwriting capitalization was primarily accurate in
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handwriting, but virtually nonexistent digitally. In the dvolver video her only capitalization was

for proper names. While she positioned punctuation accurately throughout the video, she

replaced nearly all of the question marks with periods. Punctuation marks in the first two

sentences of the video were accurate, but following that, nearly all question marks were replaced

with periods, suggesting the lesson on punctuation position was effective, but needed to be

reinforced with more punctuation alternatives. This lesson was saved for a later time, in order

not to confuse the main focus of the lesson, placement. (I wanted to include link to video here,

but Madrona included her real name in the creation, so I could not). The decline in punctuation

accuracy in the video seems to support theories of process writing. Repetition of and reworking

of writings improved each draft. The opportunity for rewrites did not exist in the video lesson,

but could be added with repeated attempts. However, this was not the goal of the lesson. Instead,

it met its intended goal of providing Madrona an opportunity to express her spontaneous joker

side in English writing. The fun she clearly had, suggests this was successful.

Because process writing seemed to prove incredibly beneficial in Madronas writing

proficiency and confidence levels, the consistent role of family in her stories, and an expressed

desire to leave a legacy for those she loved, Madronas phase 2 writing prompts were written

with the final goal of compiling an autobiography filled with short stories about her family

connections and experiences. Throughout Phase 2, Madrona shared her family stories with me.

Her storytelling process followed a pattern of 1)verbal rendition 2)rough written draft 3)multiple

rewrites 4)Final draft on her own embellished stationary, written in meticulous print. These

exercises gained meaning when developed within the context of writing one comprehensive

description of meaningful life events defining her identity. Through them, Madrona was able to

negotiate meaning, express her value system, and clearly explore and express her personal
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identity in English writing. This learning was made meaningful because it was rooted deep in

Madronas value system. It was writing with a purpose; to share herself and her legacy with

those most valuable to her, her family. (See Appendix I)

To reinforce Madronas interest in developing digital literacy and to support her grammar

and punctuation practice, I assigned her exercises on cdlponline.org, a California state developed

website with adult ESL activities. I assigned her basic stories to read online. This website was

beneficial resource in introducing Madrona to academic style learning at an individualized pace.

Through it, she was able to read and listen to narrated articles and practice unfamiliar

vocabulary. Reading and listening to articles allowed for the opportunity to reinforce punctuation

recognition and practice. There are more in depth exercises included in the website, but I chose

to start Madrona out small during this phase, so as not to overwhelm her. After reading an

article, Madrona reported moving on to the spelling exercises that followed. She reported that

she had considerable difficulty in spelling new words, but had confidence that she would get

better. I introduced Madrona to this website to facilitate learning and to gage her preparedness

for classroom learning. Madrona had mentioned that she enjoyed working one on one with me

because we were moving at a pace comfortable to her and that she could ask me many questions

throughout the process. I wanted to maintain Madrona's eagerness to learn, but not overwhelm

her with too much too soon. A typical ESL class would move at a much faster rate than the pace

Madrona admitted being very comfortable with, and would not allow her the one on one

attention of our focused meetings. In this sense, I saw our meetings as an initiation into academic

life that was personalized to Madrona's needs, introducing her to grammar and digital

opportunities typical of college learning, but at her pace. When Madrona reported that she read

the story, but it took a long time (Madrona, personal communication, April 11, 2013)
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and that she made many mistakes on the spelling work, I realized that maintaining a slow pace

was vital to maintaining motivation and strong learner confidence.

Madrona-Journal

Following her passion for family, legacy, and human interaction, Madronas phase 2

journal transformed into a written dialogue between her and her granddaughter. She wrote sweet

messages of love to her granddaughter, explaining her day, what delights she might find in the

kitchen, and personal jokes or stories the two shared. Her granddaughter responded to some of

these entries, but Madrona stressed, Even when she doesnt write, I write a lot to her, because

then when I am gone she can read this book and remember me (Madrona, personal

communication, April 25, 2013). The journal seemed to fulfill Madronas need for legacy,

incorporating an existing pattern into her learning and practice (Ausubel& Anderson, 1966).

At the end of this phase, I visited Madrona in her home and met her granddaughter. She

proudly showed me her journals and paper she had reserved for future writings. I felt privileged

that our relationship had become so intimate that she brought me into her home and shared her

personal journal with me. We drank tea and she told me more family stories. This encounter

helped me to realize the success of our discussions in building a positive, safe, and trusting

relationship and context of learning and expression. It reinforced my faith in the value of sincere

personal interactions between teacher and student. While I realize as a teacher, I will not be able

to visit the homes of all of my students, by taking the time to communicate with and open

myself to each of them, I can positively affect them and they can affect me.

Patricia
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I met with Patricia for one discussion and writing session during Phase 2. During this

time, she proudly showed me essays from school and discussed personal stories of inspiration of

her family. When it came time to translate a story we had negotiated into writing, Patricia was

out of time. She promised to write the story for homework, but again due to a busy schedule was

unable to do so; Patricia works fulltime and attends community college four days a week.

Further attempts to meet proved unsuccessful and Patricia and I did not have any more

scheduled meetings or writings together. I wanted to maintain a positive and supportive role in

Patricias English practice and identity, so I informally met her often while on campus. She was

always pleased to see me, and eager to share schoolwork and successes with me. I worked with

Patricia for two and a half years before this research. During this time, I witnessed her

confidence and pride develop with her academic success and bonded with her over the stresses

and rewards of fulltime work and school. She seemed to become more beautiful, strong, and

whole with the completion of each semester. I wanted to continue to be a part of that

development, and invited her to participate in this study.

While Patricia was unable to fully participate in Phase two of this research, she proved to

be an invaluable influence to it. She provided inspiration supporting holistic English expression

opportunities for Madrona and Roman. Action and ideas cannot be supported solely by

literature, they must also be grounded in reality and experience. I learned a lot about balanced

L2 identity through my discussions with Patricia and was able to apply this knowledge in an

attempt to balance myself and positively affect it in Roman and Madrona. Patricia was an

example of how transformative a role academic access and success can play in strengthening

identity. Witnessing Patricias academic development and pride resulting from it, reinforced my

work with Madrona. I wanted to witness this growth for academic opportunity in Madrona.
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Patricias intimate English relationships with her daughter and friends served as a

reminder of how vital these relationships are in developing positive L2 identity and the value of

intimate relationships, supporting the development of close English relationships for Roman

and Madrona, initiated with our intimate weekly discussions.

I hope that our informal meetings benefitted Patricia as they did me. She often proudly

shared assignments with me showing her academic improvement. Despite our inability to

continue writing together, I believe that our meetings did benefit her because they provided her

with an opportunity to share and rejoice in her English and academic accomplishments. I look

forward to the opportunity to introduce Patricia to more personal forms of writing in the future

when her schedule permits, but am happy to play a supporting role in her positive English

relationships in the meantime.