Phase 1 Reflections

There are many things that I would do differently now that I have analyzed the results from

my data collection tools. If I were to implement a stage 2 action and assessment I now know key

changes I would make to enhance the learning experiences for my students. The following

section reponds to the data collected from each of the data sets outlined above and the areas that

emerged in my instructional practice as needing adjustment to respond more effectively to the

needs of the students.

Language questionnaire

On this form I wish I would have asked the questions in a different manner, especially the

questions on bilingual and English-only instruction. Initially, I thought that students would circle

the areas where they felt English-only instruction was more beneficial to their learning and

instead they wrote in never. For the question that asked when students preferred bilingual

instruction, I also thought students would circle the areas that applied but instead they wrote in

always. In addition, I only had two questions listed regarding the use of the native language

during our ESL classes and English-only instruction. Looking back now I should have put more

questions related to my research topic. I realized this after reading the results and was able to

make up for the lack of questions on my research topic during the audio-recorded discussions.

Audio-recorded discussions

In my opinion the audio-recorded discussions lead to better and more thoughful responses

from the students than the language questionnaire. In the future, I would like to add a few more

of the audio-recorded discussions in my research. I really enjoyed listening to the discussions as

it provided me with a better underestanding of the students thoughts on the use of the native

language. I also asked questions regarding English-only ESL classes the students mentioned they
had previously attended. I wanted to get their insight and a comparison on the differences both

classes had on their learning. It was great to hear both students bounce ideas from one another

and listen to their train of thought on the topics. Overall, the audio-recorded discussions provided

me with sufficient data for my research questions on the students behalf and it was ultimatly one

of the most useful data that I collected for my research.

Observation charts

The observation charts were the piece of data that needed the most modifications for clarity.

While creating the chart I felt that it was simple enough so that the ESL instructors, and myself,

could fill it in during class while observing. However, the chart was a little messy to understand

when reading the results as everyone filled it in differently than I expected. I was able to see that

the instructors noticed the students answering in English or Spanish and asking for Spanish

translations, but not during which instances. The chart also did not have a space for the

instructors to list during which occassions these actions were occuring, instead they placed a

checkmark every time it happened which really didnt help when analyzing the data. Luckily, the

instructors provided me with additional feedback comments and notes they took while observing

which made up for the lack of information and data on the observation chart.

Observations and feedback from ESL instructors

The feedback that I received from the ESL instructors was extremely helpful and contributed

greatly to my research. The instructors wrote very clear and detailed notes that made it easy for

me to understand and review while watching the videos I recorded. They provided me with both

areas of improvement and areas of strengths. This allowed me to alter my teaching practice so

that I can both improve in certain areas, as well as continue doing what worked well with my

students.
 I also received a formal evaluation form filled out by both ESL instructors on my overall

teaching practice. The evaluation form included the following lesson features: introduction,

bridging, materials, delivery, engagement, application, assessment, extension, closing, and

technology. The instructors provided evidence they observed of my integration or absence on

these features. The feedback provided on the evaluation forms helped me to view specific areas

in my lesson and teaching that needed improvements, as well as areas where I was able to

successfully integrate the features.

Ultimately, the feedback provided to me by the ESL instructors helped me to view other

alternatives to helping my students learn English rather than always using the native language.

Since they both teach ESL using English-only approaches they were able to help inform me

about using videos and pictures to help students understand word meaning before I used Spanish

translations. This information has not ony helped improve my teaching practice, but also helped

with answering my research question.

Reflective journals

The reflective journals that I wrote, after class sessions, helped me to note take the thoughts I

had at that time and later refresh my memory on how the lesson went. It was great to reflect on

my thoughts and see how they developed throughout the semester. Although, I do wish that I

would have wrote a bit more detailed on students interactions, questions, and their

comprehension instead of a short paragraph on how the class and lesson went overall. I also

realized a lot about my own teaching practice and the routine that I seemed to have within my

lessons. I now recognize that I need to use various methods of displaying and giving information

to my students. The use of technology could have really helped switch up the class from only

using worksheets, pictures, and vocabulary lists and provided a more interactive approach to ESL
learning. Also, through review of my journals I noticed that I heavily focus on communication

skills and not so much on writing and listening skills. This is something that I would like to

improve in my teaching practice for future lessons.

Exit slips

The exit slips that I integrated into the lessons did not happen as often as I had planned due

to time constraints. During many occassions students had questions regarding the lesson that I

wanted to address before having them fill out the exit slip. Due to this reason there were many

instances where class time was over before students could fill out the exit slip. Instead I decided

to use the questions from the exit slip prompt as review questions at the beginning of the next

session. In doing so, I planned to assess the knowledge that students remembered from the week

prior.

My orginal plan was to analyze the data collected from the English-only lesson exit slips and

compare them to the data from the bilingual lesson exit slips. I wanted to see if I noticed any

major differences in student responses and their comprehnsion of the lessons. However, due to

Graces late time of arrival I was really only able to conduct this activity with one of my

students, Jessica. While analyzing Jessicas exit slips I chose to ignore any punctuation and

grammar mistakes since she is still learning how to write in English. I focused on the content in

her responses and how well she seemed to understand the material from the lesson presented the

week before.

I was impressed with Jessicas exit slips repsonses as I observed her read her notes and

answer the questions correctly. Many of the mistakes included grammar, spelling, and

punctuation which I then reviewed with her afterwards. The answers Jessica provided showed

that she was able to read the English texts from her handouts and choose which answers matched
the questions on the exit slip. Although, from this data all I can infer is that she is able to read

and comprehend the English material from her notes and the questions on the exit slip. In turn,

the data from the exit slips did not help much in terms of my self-study action research.

Self-Teacher Practice Changes

After conducting my study at Gregory Middle School with the adult ESL students I

throughly reviewed and reflected upon my findings from the research. My research findings have

provided me with resourceful data on the instructional use of students native language in the

second language classroom. This has helped me to improve my own teaching practice through

use of bilingual teaching approaches that I have personally examined and tested on my own. I

aspire to continue to create participatory changes that will help marginalized immigrant

populations who struggle in my ESL classes by utlizing the successful teaching approaches in

my own teaching practice. Also, through the feedback provided to me by other ESL instructors I

was able to change some of my teaching practices so that less Spanish translations were needed

and more gestures and pictures implemented in order to help describe meanings of words using

English-only. I believe that this will also help my students have more practice in the target

language and ultimately become more autonomous.