- still working on it but i'm not sure about the headings I put up.
- I'm also not sure about my organization.
- Is there too much information with -"The research out there" ? Should I just cut it out or leave certain parts.
- I don't know why I'm finding this more difficult to do;maybe because I feel like i didn't conduct actual research...
What Could Go Wrong?
It’s funny how when you start doing something, you picture the way it
will turn out. You don’t really think about the things that will go wrong,
right? You usually see that thing ending in a certain way, for example, when
you write a research paper. You usually get a topic, find all the research that
is out there, make your own observations
by gathering data, compare the research you found with what is out there with
what you have found, 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. In this paper I will
talk about the process I took in conducting my research and all the things that
went wrong; in doing so I will attempt to help others prepare themselves in
writing a research paper while being aware of the possible things that can go
wrong.
Research Question/Why?
What I did first was pick a topic. I tried to pick something that would
be useful to me and relates to my career choice. Since I have been observing a
kindergarten class for my junior field experience, I decided I would 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 in the classroom? This research question is one that
educators, students, parents, basically everyone could benefit from. Many
people from other countries who come to America are affected by this. I believe
that finding out what influences ELL students socially and academically could
determine how they learn. We have so many
students who are ELL students and they have a difficult time adapting to
the social and academic environment. They have a difficult time and
transitioning into an academic environment because of their language barrier.
It’s important to know 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 be effective citizens since they will be
part of our community. Educators need to make sure that students will overcome
those barriers. This is why this topic is important to writing research
studies. What 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 more less opportunities for things to go wrong.
The Research Out There
In looking for research to support what I was looking for, 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 it
came to the part of the article that would actually help me out, the findings
of the data, I realized I had to purchase the 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 par that I would really help me out, 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 somewhere else. 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
gather my own data first and then find the research to support it, so that is
what I decided to do.
What I Did
For starters, I decided to conduct an interview with a kindergarten
teacher whom I only meet with once a week. Mind you, I meet with her the day
after I have the class that I am doing this project. I can tell you right now
that this could have been a place where I put into consideration my timing since
it is very limited. I also planned on observing a child from whose first
language is Portuguese. He transferred into
the class at the beginning of the year and not at the beginning of the school
year; when he transferred he didn’t speak any English. I asked his 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 had my interview with the teacher
the following, I realized she didn’t open up as much; she didn’t give me enough
feedback to complete my data. I also realized that it’s difficult to ask
questions based off of the interviewee’s answers. Even with practice, I must
admit it is a tough skill. The end result was that the interview didn’t give
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. My teacher suggested I give the paper to the boy’s aunt to have
his mother sign in 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 knew 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 so 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 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 again.
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? First of
all being aware of the time you have is of major importance.
Planning before implementing
Rehearsing/ Practice
Have a plan B and C... maybe even D
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