Learning and Change: A Phase Two North Carolina ESOL Framework Inquiry Project

Beth Brockman
Durham, NC

In the spring of 1999 I participated in Literacy South's Phase Two of the North Carolina ESOL Curriculum Framework Inquiry Project. The purpose of this project was to discuss and analyze the draft form of the North Carolina ESOL Curriculum Framework, developed in a year long process by a group of 15 adult ESOL practitioners.

Following our initial meeting, I focused my part of the inquiry project on one of the eight guiding principles developed by Phase One participants that asserted that language learning is a change process, both cognitive and affective. Further, that ESOL learners make non-language gains such as increased self-confidence and self-esteem. I specifically wanted to explore the non-language gains learners make in the ESOL classroom. I spent two months reading any literature I could get my hands on regarding the subject, talking to my colleagues about the changes they saw in their learners, and conducting an inquiry with my ESOL learners. In this article I share the findings of my inquiry and what I see as some implications for ESOL practitioners.

MY INQUIRY
I decided to ask the ESOL learners in my intermediate level class at Wake Technical Community College what changes they have experienced while studying English.

I designed a survey entitled, "Are you changing?" based on a tool from East End Literacy (Hemmindinger, 1988). I taught this class on Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 6:30 to 9:30. Students also attended class on Tuesday and Thursday, same time, but with a different teacher.

I began class by telling the learners I was part of a research project and that I was interested in finding out the kinds of changes students had made in the process of learning English other than gains in language ability. We brainstormed a list of non-language gains students had made, which I wrote on the board. Then I gave out the assessment tool, "Are you changing?" and briefly went through it to make sure the students understood all the vocabulary. The survey also included the request, "If you can, draw a picture of how you looked when you first started to speak English and how you look now when you speak English." The students then completed the survey individually. Finally, students got together with a partner and each person shared what she or he had written.

The list of non-language outcomes the students brainstormed consisted of:
• More confidence to go shopping
• Ability to go out and make friends
• Confidence to express feelings
• Improved relationships--found love [!]
• Come to class regularly, even every day
• Travel more
• Changed appearance, clothing
• Better understanding of formal situations
• Able to give help to family
• Got driver's license.

We discussed the changes as we brainstormed this list. Sometimes I asked clarifying questions. At other times I asked students to expound on what they had said, or to give an example.

All the students agreed that they had changed. They also agreed that the amount of time they had spent in the U.S. and studying English influenced the changes they had made in their lives. They felt, generally, that they had made significant language gains after they had come to the U.S. and had studied in class.

The answers on the survey varied. All the students listed language as well as non-language gains they had made in the process of learning English. The categories of non-language outcomes the students'responses fell into were: Confidence, Learning Skills, Cultural Awareness, Knowledge of Social Institutions, Access and Entry into Further Study, and Support in the Learning Environment.

Top

IMPLICATIONS FOR ESOL EDUCATORS
I was struck by three things in the survey results. First, I noticed that students had difficulty separating non-language and language outcomes. Second, I was amazed at the level of excitement students exhibited in talking about how they had changed. Last, it was interesting to me that so many students were eager to draw a picture to show how they had changed.

Of course it is understandable that students have difficulty separating language and non-language outcomes. It is difficult to talk about change without describing it holistically. The recommendations here for ESOL educators are twofold, I believe. First, non-language outcomes should be included in our objectives, right alongside our objectives for gains in language proficiency. Second, the methods used in our classroom should promote non-language, as well as language gains.

Australia's Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) shows its high regard for non-language outcomes in English language and literacy programs by incorporating them within a Certificate in Spoken and Written English Competencies (Jackson, 1994). "By doing this, full recognition is also given to the fact that non-language outcomes are amenable to... expression... within a competency-based training" (p. 19). Non-language gains are not merely by-products; they are consciously addressed in the curriculum. AMEP recognizes that language and non-language outcomes are intertwined.

An Australian study lists numerous achievements by incorporating non-language outcomes as an integral part of the development of language and literacy competencies (Jackson, 1994):
• It makes these outcomes apparent within the framework of other educational accomplishments.
• It acknowledges the skills development in this area as part of an ongoing educational process.
• It encourages closer examination of the content of these outcomes.
• It allows similar continuity of development in this area of skill as in others.
• It fully appreciates the value of these outcomes to the proposed education both within and outside the context of the classroom.
• It promotes the development of teaching practices specifically targeting these outcomes.

This leads very well into the second recommendation I have for ESOL educators: use methods in our classroom that promote non-language, as well as language gains. I found that the Australian study seemed to place great emphasis on the methods used in an ESOL classroom.
Specifically, the study mentioned that applying the principles of adult learning increased students'confidence and self-esteem (Jackson, 1994).

Susan Imel lists the following adult learning principles to guide our methods in class:
• Involve learners in planning and implementing learning activities;
• Draw upon learners'experiences as a
resource;
• Establish a climate that encourages
and supports learners and enhances self-esteem;
• Encourage self-direction in learners;
• Promote a spirit of collaboration in
the classroom; and
• Use small groups to encourage cooperation and promote teamwork (Rosen, 1999).

Top

I would like to return to my surprise at the level of excitement students exhibited in talking about how they had changed and that so many students were eager to draw a picture to show how they had changed. I believe this has implications specifically in the area of assessment. If students are so eager to talk about and draw the changes they are making while learning English, that tells me this is something worthy of being assessed!

I believe there is a lack of assessment tools that consider non-language outcomes. Certainly standardized measures fail to assess these gains. Thus, it is the responsibility of educators, both instructors and administrators, to come up with tools that assess non-language outcomes. About 88 percent of the teachers interviewed for the research in the Adult Migrant English program in Australia "thought that achievements in the non-language outcome area deserved formal recognition and should be recorded as part of an adequate student profile" (Jackson, 1994, p. 8).

Teachers of ESOL students who want to portray a more authentic picture of their students should foster non-language outcomes in their students by creating assessment tools that give opportunities for students to talk about and reflect on the changes they are going through while studying English. Teachers should encourage students to write about their own experiences of change. For low-level literacy students, a teacher could use the Language Experience Approach (LEA). There are many variations of the LEA and it can easily be adapted to most classroom situations.

For students with higher levels of literacy, teachers can give them a variety of ways to share their stories through writing. Students can write in journals or dialogue journals, compose poetry, develop a student newsletter, and even publish a class newspaper or book. Students who publish their writings, either within or beyond the classroom, experience many benefits. They discover that the realities of their own lives are worth thinking about, getting down on paper, and sharing with other people (Peyton, 1993). These stories can be used to help students think about the changes they are experiencing, and give them an avenue for expressing themselves.

Seeing the students excited about expressing themselves through drawing emphasized to me the importance of acknowledging a variety of ways of knowing and communicating (Schneider & Clarke, 1993). Thus, assessment should rely on an assortment of tools to reflect students'knowing and allow them different ways to express their outcomes. Certainly one assessment tool will not capture it all.

Top

CONCLUSION
Participating in Phase Two of the ESOL Curriculum Framework Inquiry Project was a great learning experience for me. At the end of my project, I concluded that change is an important part of a healthy system. It is an essential and natural part of living, and plays a meaningful role in growth and evolution. Change and continued creation signal new ways of maintaining order and structure. Thus, it is natural to expect ESOL learners in our classrooms to experience all kinds of changes, including those that fall into the realm of non-language outcomes. Instead of merely anticipating these changes, let's do what we can to encourage them by including non-language outcomes in our objectives, addressing them in our classrooms, and designing assessment tools that capture these gains.

Top

REFERENCES
Hemmendinger, A. (1988). A tool kit: Self evaluation exercises for students and literacy workers. Ontario, Canada: East End Literacy.

Jackson, E. (1994). Non-language outcomes in the adult migrant English program. Sydney, Australia: The National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research.

Peyton, J. K. (1993). Listening to students'voices: Publishing students'writing for other students to read. In J. Crandall & J. K. Peyton (Eds.), Approaches to adult ESL
literacy instruction (pp. 59-73). Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Rosen, D. J. (1999). NLA Discussion: The need to improve practice. Posting to NLA list-serve, 13 February 1999.

Schneider, M, & Clarke, M. (1993). Dimensions of change: An authentic assessment guidebook. Durham, NC: Peppercorn Press.

Are you changing?

Are you getting more confident?

• Are there things that you do now that you did not do before coming to English class? What are they?
  EXAMPLE: I go out by myself more often.

• How often did you come to English class when you first started studying English? Please explain.

• How often do you come to class now? Please explain.

• Do you feel less shy with your teacher now? Please explain.

• Do you feel more comfortable participating in class? Please explain.

• When you first came to English class, did you speak English outside class? Yes or No

  If yes, how often? Where? Describe your experiences.
  
  
  
  
  

• Do you speak English more in your every day life now than you did before you started studying English in class? Please explain.
  
  
  
  
  
• Are you more comfortable speaking English with people outside class? Please explain. If you can write an example, please do.
  
  
  
  
  
• Are there any other changes you have made since you started studying English in class? What are they?
  
  
  
  
  
• If you can, draw a picture of how you looked when you first started to speak English and how you look now when you speak English.

Adapted from Hemmendinger, A. (1988). A tool kit: Self evaluation exercises for students and literacy workers. Ontario, Canada: East End Literacy.

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 12 (Winter 2000),
SABES/World Education, Boston, MA, Copyright 2000.

Funding support for the publication of this document on the Web provided in part by the Ohio State Literacy Resource Center as part of the LINCS Assessment Special Collection.