Blog 16

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover): 

1.      From my data, the purpose that I am able to focus on is how an ESL teacher develops strategies to overcome the challenges that he or she faces with their students learning academics. 

2.      I will be exploring the perspective of a kindergarten ESL teacher. She has been a teacher for 16 years and an ESL teacher for 12 years. 

3.      My participant will give me her insight on how she deals with her students and the language barrier as well as the learning barrier. 

4.      Given that she has many years of experience as an ESL teacher, i found that she was the best candidate and she also works in a diverse area. Having the perspective of a teacher who teachers kids of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds gives me more data to collect and a greater overview.

Detailed statement of your research question(s): you should write questions that you can "ask" of your data.  What does the data show about. . .?  How does my participant describe. . .?  What language patterns occur when my participant talks about. . .?  What connections do I see between the way my participant talks about. . . and cultural stories/assumptions about. . .?  Where does my participant directly state here ideas about. . . ?  Where does s/he imply her ideas about . . .?  What does it mean that she is direct sometimes and indirect other times when she talks about. . .? And so on.

·         Professor, I am not sure how to answer this question.

·         My data showed that the teacher has great control over her students and how effective she is when teaching them. However, she does allow her students to be independent and allows them to build strategies when they are faced with an issue. She has strategies for dealing with her students, the parents, and other teachers. My participant shows that she is active and passive throughout the interview. 

List of the information you need to gather:

·          I do not think a follow up interview is necessary as I have gather great data. However, I would like to do an observation while the ESL teacher is teaching. I would like to see how she implements her strategies when she is faced with a problem.

A preliminary list of sources (if you need a research essay => let me know.  Send what you have found so far and give me a detailed idea of what you are looking for)

Discussion of any additional data you will need to collect + how you will collect it

• ·         Professor, we have talked about finding a research essay for my topic but we have not yet done so. I am not quit sure where I would go to find a research essay to use for my paper.