Reflective diary – 22 June 2014
Today I’ve been writing up research diary entries and documenting the process undertaken so far, especially since formulating the precise nature of the topic as this had been done primarily, verbally with my tutor. I documented these in chronological order from 27 January to the present day, whilst away in Perugia, Italy, post-conference. Additional reflections already documented will be edited in during the typing up process.
Since going through the process of documenting thoughts, ideas, concerns and decisions following conversations with peers and my tutor, I must admit that the action research project is starting to make much more sense to me than it did in the beginning when it was first discussed. At that time I had absolutely no idea what I could improve on, make more effective, or what gap there was in ESOL provision or how I could improve the learner experience. It is only after going through a long process of having interactions with my learners, peers and my tutor and discussing what problems I had in my lessons that barriers to learning and the fluctuating nature of access to English lessons and retention really seemed to be a possible area in which to focus for my research project. Barriers to learning is a particular problem for some learners especially after school, in the evenings, weekends and during vacation time if learners have family to care for and they have no access to reliable support and/or affordable child care provision.
I now have clarity of thought in terms of the general focus of my project and what it is I want to improve – helping to improve barriers to learning by way of offering an online component to my teaching course, therefore adopting a blended learning approach, which may be a completely new way of learning for some learners, but it could potentially be life changing.
I will need to ensure that computer access is available for those taking part in the online course that I run, whether at the venue where my current courses have taken place, or by way of a local library, but that is easily sorted. I will comment more about this in my research project, but briefly, research findings by Bynner et al (2008, p. 7) suggest that ICT has wide ranging benefits, including aiding second language learning and long-term employability. This really has the potential to be life changing for ESOL learners, with benefits far exceeding their second language acquisition.
References
Bynner, J., Reder, S., Parsons, S., and Strawn, C., 2008. ‘Research Summary. The Digital Divide: Computer Use, Basic Skills and Employment: A Comparative Study in Portland, USA and London, England’. London: National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy. Available at: http://www.nrdc.org.uk . [Article supplied as materials on the PTLLS extension course, by the University of Sheffield, English Language Teaching Centre, 01 February 2012].
English (ELT) - learning, teaching and beyond... 