Never Make the Same Mistake Twice:
A Student’s Reflection on a Research
Paper Gone Wrong
By: Susana Ackumey
Reflection-Not a
Research
It’s funny how when you
start doing something, you envision the way it will turn out. You don’t really
think about the things that can go wrong, right? You usually foresee that thing
ending in a certain way, for example, when you write a research paper. You
usually get a topic, locate all the research that is out there, make your own observations by gathering data, compare
the research you have gathered with studies that have already been conducted on
that topic, and then come to some sort of conclusion. Well, when I tried this approach with my research
project I never considered the things that could go wrong, and that’s exactly
what happened to me; everything went wrong.
So instead of having a research project, what I have ended up with is a
lesson in how to carefully plan out a research project. This paper is more of a
reflection, and in it I will talk about the process I took in conducting my
research and all the things that went wrong. I will explain how my attempt to produce
a research paper on what kinds of social interactions affect English Language
Learners (ELL) in elementary school failed, due to an inadequate interview,
lack of a student observation, and failure to make adjustments to my planning due
to circumstances beyond my control. In doing so, I will attempt to help other
students prepare themselves in writing a research paper with acute awareness of
the possible things that can go wrong.
Significance to Writing
Studies
My first step was to select
a topic. I tried to pick something that would be useful to me and relate to my
career choice. Since I have been observing a kindergarten class for my junior
field experience, I decided to choose a topic about an English Language Learner
(ELL) in my class. So my research question became, what kind of social
interactions with native speaking students help ELL students fit-in the
classroom? This research question is one that educators, students, parents, and
basically everyone could benefit from. Many people from other countries who
come to America are affected by this phenomenon. I believe that identifying
what influences ELL students socially and academically could determine how they
learn. There are so many ELL students who have
a difficult time adapting to the social and academic environment. They have a
difficult time transitioning into an academic environment because of their
language barrier. It is important to be familiar with the current methods we
are using today, and to see if they are effective, helpful, and whether or not
we need better methods. Eventually students will grow up and become effective
citizens since they will be part of our community. Educators need to ensure
that students will overcome those barriers. As such, this topic is
important to writing research studies.
Ruling-Out the
Literature
In searching for studies
to support what I was trying to analyze, I found two articles that came close.
The first article was An English-Speaking
Pre-kindergarten Teacher for Young Latino Children: Implications of the
Teacher-Child Relationship on Second Language Learning by Christina
Gillanders. When I looked at this article I noticed that it was stressing the
need for Bilingual teachers in teaching ELL students. When I reached the part
of the article that would actually help me out, the findings of the data, I
realized I had to purchase the full article to look at it. The price was a bit
much so I decided not to purchase it. It figures that the most important part
of the paper that I needed was not free. So I looked at my second article, Contemporary Perspectives on Social Learning
in Early Childhood Education by Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek. This article is focused on the need to develop a
positive relationship with the students in order to allow access for
opportunities for learning English. However like the first article, when
it got to the part that I would need for my research findings, of course I had
to pay for it and it was not cheap. I tried looking on other websites, to see
if I could find the article(s) for free elsewhere. It just wasn’t happening for
me. By this time, I started to get worried about my paper because I didn’t even
have the research to support why I was doing my own research project. But after
speaking with my professor, I realized I could first gather my own data and
then find the research to support it, so that’s exactly what I decided to do.
Attempts in Pursuing
Data
For starters, I decided
to conduct an interview with a kindergarten teacher whom I only met with once a
week. Keep in mind, I usually met with her the day after I have the class that
I was doing this project for. I can tell you at the moment that this could have
been a place where I put my timing into consideration given that it was very
limited. I also planned on observing a kindergarten student, Tommy (pseudonym),
whose first language is Portuguese. Tommy
transferred into the class at the beginning of the year (approximately January,
2013) and not at the beginning of the school year (September, 2012); when he
transferred he didn’t speak a word of English. I asked Tommy’s mother if it
would be alright to observe him for this research and she kindly agreed. At the
time I asked her permission I didn’t have the consent form to give her. I
decided I would have the two consent forms ready, one for the teacher and one
for the parent, the following week. When I conducted my interview with the
teacher the following week, I subsequently realized she did not open up as much;
she didn’t give me enough feedback to complete my data. It was only after I
transcribed my interview with Tommy’s teacher that I realized I needed more
supportive evidence to back up my focus question. I also realized that it is
difficult to ask questions based off the interviewee’s answers. Even with
practice, I must admit it proved a tough task. The end result was that the
interview didn’t provide sufficient information to put my research paper
together. I didn’t lose hope though; in fact, I was relying on the observation
I would conduct on the ELL student. I made sure I had my extra consent form in
hand at the end of the day. When the student’s parent came to pick him up, you
can imagine my surprise when it was his aunt who picked him up and not his
mother. I couldn’t obtain a consent form. Tommy’s teacher suggested I give the
paper to his aunt to have his mother sign it at home and bring it back the
following day. The aunt agreed to do so and once again my hope was raised.
What Went Wrong
What happened the
following week is something I can only describe as a spiral downward hill. I
had my second interview questions ready and I was confident I would get the
correct information I needed for my paper. But when I went to the school
instead of seeing my teacher, there was a substitute in place. The teacher had
gotten sick and didn’t make it to school that day. Disappointment filled my
heart. I knew that time was running out for me to conduct my research and therefore
I was worried. I still had a little bit of hope though because I could probably
observe the ELL student. I asked the assistant teacher if the boy’s mother had
returned my consent form the following day and she said no. I started to feel
worse but not all hope was lost quite yet; I could still get the mother to sign
the form if she picked up her son after school. So with my last glimmer of hope
I waited with the students after school to get picked up. When it was the boy’s
turn to get picked up his mother did not show. It was his aunt once again. Due
to the fact that I had insufficient data from the interview, and the fact that
I didn’t have the consent form from Tommy’s mother, I was unable to continue my
research project. I had simply run out of time.
Could it have been
avoided?
With all hopes gone
down the drain and feeling incredibly discouraged, I think back and wonder, how
can I have avoided this? Is there a way I could have known all these things
would go wrong? Well of course not; but I could have taken proper precautions
to assure it wouldn’t have gone that far. So how can my miserable experience
help others avoid such a catastrophe? How does one take precaution and make
sure they plan well in writing a research paper?
Should’ve Could’ve
Would’ve… but Didn’t!
·
Expand
the resources:
One thing I didn’t
consider is that instead of making it about just one student in the class, I
could have focused on other ELL students in the classroom. In the class I was
observing, there was one other ELL student. Expanding the research to more than
one student would have given me more feedback and fewer opportunities for
things to go wrong; in other words, the more resources that are studied, the
better the results of the data.
·
Time
Management:
First of all being
aware of the time you have is of major importance. If I would have taken into
consideration the amount of time I had to implement the research I could have better
managed my time. Of course I received the assignment at the beginning of the class;
however I just knew I would have ample time to come up with a topic. After
picking my topic I should have started using my time more wisely because I knew
that I would only meet with the teacher/student once a week. Perhaps it might
not be the same situation for others, but one important thing students can do
is use their time wisely. I have come to realize that most college students
procrastinate and end up doing their assignments at the eleventh hour. Since
most students are actively enrolled in more than one class, most of the time
juggling multiple classes, I would advise that students should try their very
best to start gathering the data earlier on rather than later. Even if the actual
writing part of the paper is deferred for a later time, I definitely recommend
starting the data collection earlier than later.
·
Planning
before Implementing:
Another step that could
have helped me achieve better results is to have made a strategic plan before I
started collecting my data. I rarely plan out most of my assignments. I usually
have an idea of how things are going to go, and then I go with the flow. I
realize now that this research paper should not have taken this path. I needed
a detailed outline or plan of how I was going to have everything done. Planning
also goes hand-in-hand with time management. Had I made a plan of when I was
going to have my topic ready, when I was going to have the consent forms
signed, when I would conduct the interview and observation, and when I would
write my paper, I would have known how much time I needed for each part. What I
am trying to relay is that students need a plan or outline of how they will
implement the entire research. I suggest that students actually write down all
the things they have to do for the paper in order to have an idea of what needs
to get done, this way they will not be surprised when the due date is getting
closer and there is still so much to do.
·
Rehearsing/
Practice:
I also could have
practiced my interview on how to give follow-up questions based on the answers
I would receive. I did practice going over my questions but I didn’t anticipate
all the possible answers my interviewee would give. I could have practiced a
few times on other students, to get a feel for how to pose come-back questions.
This could have possibly given me better data and I might not have needed a
second interview. With that said, if there is any part of a paper that requires
interviewing, observing, or surveying, I suggest that you practice, practice, practice!
As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. I might not have been able to
avoid all the downfalls, but practicing my interview a few more times with a
few more people could have saved me the hassle of trying to develop a secondary
interview.
·
Have
a plan B and C... maybe even D:
Finally, I suggest
having a plan B and plan C, maybe even a plan D. If I have learned anything at
all from conducting this research it is that I have to always prepare for the
worst. It’s actually a good thing that this happened to me because as an
education major, I should know that I have to always have a back-up plan
because things don’t usually go as planned. I actually did have a plan where I
was going to conduct the interview, receive the parental consent and conduct
the observation, analyze my data and see what it tells me about how social
interactions with non-native students influence social interactions of ELL
students, and then put it all into one big research paper. Unfortunately what I
failed to do was to revise my plan as the situation evolved. When I started to
realize that things weren’t working out as planned, I should have changed my
plans accordingly however, I never went back to do that; I didn’t change my
plan soon enough. This, I believe, was a major mistake. It’s true that I had a
topic that I fell in love with and was so excited to research because I felt
that it was such an important topic for writing studies. However my enthusiasm
for the topic shouldn’t have stopped me from having a back-up plan or two, or
better yet, adjusting my plan to the situations that developed. Students need
to always be prepared for the worst. Having a printer/ink malfunction, having
people who you plan on having an impact in your paper disappoint you, and other
things can possibly go wrong. That said, students should plan to have a back-up
plan, and should be flexible to execute it accordingly when the need arises. Go
back to the plan and check it off once something on that list is accomplished.
And if something occurs that does not go according to the plan, go back and
edit the plan and make it work for you. Also set time limits on the plan so
that you can be aware of when specific items on the list are due. That way if
something is not accomplished by a certain time, the student can go back to the
plan and start adjusting it. Students must learn to deal with situations as
they are encountered instead of giving up or dwelling on what has gone wrong.
·
My
Major Lesson/ Analysis of Salvaged Data:
I realize now that I
had my heart set on my topic so much that I didn’t want to let go of it. But I
have to learn to respond to the situation. I have to learn that things don’t
always go my way, and when that happens I must learn to adapt. That was a very
difficult lesson for me to learn. I also learned that you can salvage data and
insight even from a project that doesn’t work- After all, I still had some
material. So don’t discard everything and learn how to salvage what you have.
Research doesn’t have a plan; it’s never a set map that you can follow. My
biggest lesson is to take things as they come, I cannot dwell on the things
that went wrong. At this juncture, I have put together my analysis of what I would
have included in my research paper from the data that I acquired. The following
are two segments from the interview I conducted with Tommy’s Kindergarten
teacher where I am S and the teacher I interviewed is N:
S: So
when you first umm… I guess, just in general it doesn’t necessarily have to be in this classroom but in
other classes that you’ve taught, When
the ELL students first come in to the classrooms, how do you approach them? Like what kind of things do
you do?
N: Okay
well first I would introduce myself and see, talk to them a little and see if they understand English and if they
did not understand me, maybe I would
search out for someone in the school that speaks their language and English and we can communicate that way.
S: And
then how do you build upon that I guess?
N:
And if there is a student in the classroom that speaks their language and English, I would buddy them up with that
student.
And
later in the interview she came up with this:
S: How
did he seem to act in the classroom when he first arrived?
N: He
seemed quiet, and we had a student helping him and he did become a little frustrated with the
student telling him what to do all the
time.
One of the strategies the teacher uses is the “buddy
up” system where she sits a student who speaks both English and Spanish (which
she feels is a similar language to Portuguese) next to Tommy to translate. Obviously
it isn’t working out too well because Tommy gets frustrated when other students
constantly tell him what to do. If someone is consistently telling you what to
do, especially your own peer, after a certain point, you would feel inadequate.
Another aspect of this is that there simply aren’t enough resources to aid ELL
students in the classroom environment. Teachers do not receive strategic
training in aiding ELL students so I do not blame the teacher for not having
adequate strategies to help Tommy’s academic and social growth in the
classroom. It’s unfortunate that teachers face these kinds of difficulties however
this is a pressing issue in our economy. Indeed, there is a need to find a way
that better aids foreign students who come to America adapt into the classroom
environment.
Works Cited
Gillanders, Christina. “An
English-Speaking Pre-kindergarten Teacher for Young Latino Children:
Implications of the Teacher-Child Relationship on Second Language Learning.” link.springer.com.
April 2nd 2013
Saracho, Olivia N. and Spodek,
Bernard. “Contemporary Perspectives on Social Learning in Early Childhood
Education.” Books.google.com. April 2nd
2013
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