ENG 525 semester project poster presentation

QnA from canvas :

Hi Dwi, 

Your poster was very interesting! It was fascinating to read the interviewee's direct responses to your interview questions -- it made me feel as if I was the one sitting across from them in the interview. It was particularly interesting to read that the interviewee felt less pedagogically prepared as a university instructor as compared to a middle or high school teacher, reportedly due to the fact that grade school teachers are trained to reach while university instructors might not get such training, or their expertise may be in their field but not necessarily in how to teach the information in their field to others. It was also interesting to read that the approaches to teaching English writing in the US and Indonesia are so different, with the focus in the US being more on critical thinking and the focus in Indonesia being more on grammar and proficiency. I wonder how, as a person from Indonesia, the interviewee's teaching practices in the US have been influenced by their Indonesian upbringing. Thank you for your poster!

Hi Hunter,

Yes, there are definitely influences from prior teaching experiences during Andy's process of navigating his new and current teaching context. It is really fascinating to hear Andy’s stories to make sense of his pedagogical practices. With that said, some pedagogical experience can be transferred but some others cannot. To be honest, I’m interested in how Andy’s future pedagogical journey will be when he’s going back to Indonesia then bringing back or compromising some of new pedagogical experiences.

Hi Dwi, 

This is a really interesting topic especially since you bring the research about teacher identity in language learning classrooms. As I explore,  research on peripheral world teachers who teach in inner-circle countries is very limited and you bring that story to the table.  

Hi Ben,

I couldn’t agree more with your observation. I also believe that we need to facilitate and give rooms for these teachers with diverse backgrounds to speak their voice.

Hello Dwi, 

I'm really impressed with your data collection about the teachers' experiences in teaching L1 writers in the U.S and teaching L2 writers in Indonesia. Teachers' experiences in the context of teaching writing are very interesting in the way that stories are valuable to be shared. The teaching strategies that a writing teacher used is reflected on their values, beliefs, and their cultural shifts in different environment. And, these experiences really bring the attention to the community of pre-service teachers, new writing teachers, or teachers of different backgrounds and languages. I have a question. Why did you choose this particular participant in this study, but not any other teachers?

Hi Nhi,

I think GTA studies need to cover more IGTA, in other words bringing voices from teachers with diverse multilingual and multicultural backgrounds. Also, I’m particularly interested in Indonesian studies by carefully selecting Indonesian participants. Fortunately, I have access to this Indonesian GTA as he’s willing to share the story.

Hi Dwi,

I appreciate you doing this narrative inquiry. I myself am really fond of this research method because it obviously helps us, especially novice researchers/scholars to gain and dig deeper into the participant's experience and it allows us to see not only what is being conveyed but what is not conveyed by the participant. As I read your poster (which is really fascinating), I kinda reflected to my own experience - though I was not a L2 writing teacher back in Indonesia, but as L2 learner and writer, the feeling of that significant differences is real. I was so overwhelmed once I participated to write for class assignments or anything because back in Indonesia, I think we do not have a specific L2 writing class, right? the classes are more into grammar because it aims as building foundation. but I think the teachers emphasize too much on the grammar lesson and activities and they forget that the outcomes are not only necessarily about grammar. So what do you think? based on your conversation with your participant, do you have any takeaways or what do you think we should change with L2 writing class in Indonesia?

Hi Biaz,

Personally I would love to do a pedagogical revolution on how L2 writing is being taught in Indonesia but then again it is not as easy it sounds. Therefore, pedagogically speaking there needs to be a collective awareness coming from scholars, teachers, and students to do a major shift in the Indonesian educational system. However, I think we need more work in defining and understanding the problems before taking any actions. More importantly, I’ve also learned that contextual learning is important, therefore we may or may not encounter the problem by changing everything, but rather there might be a possibility that we can recontextualize the learning instead. In conclusion, it takes a lot of work and a lot of time but I believe that Indonesian scholars are doing their best to come up with possible solutions for the Indonesian future educational system.

Hi Dwi,

Your research was really interesting maybe because I had a similar experience. I had the experience of teaching for a couple of years at the university level in my own country when I joined ASU and for no reason, I thought that none of those experiences would help when I began teaching here. Having said that, I was not confident at all when I began teaching ENG 101 last year. Nevertheless, it only took me a few weeks to situate myself in the US academic context, and I began to feel that my past experiences are useful in many ways. Of course, I needed to reflect on my beliefs and attitudes and adjust them to the new environment. I also remember moments of regret that I thought I wished I could do what I do here back home. I really enjoyed your work and I had never thought that my own experiences could be a good example for a case study.

Hi Mohadeseh,

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your story in the comment section here. And I totally agree with you that your prior teaching experience may resonate with your current teaching position now just like what Andy has shared during the interview.

Hi Dwi,

This is a great study - your poster is so in depth! We definitely have some overlap in our projects, in terms of studying GTAs. It’s a really interesting finding that the influence of his beliefs and attitudes stemmed from his interactions with peers, more so than theory or formal training. Do you think this finding has any implications for GTA training? How can the instructors of GTA training foster this peer-to-peer learning?

Hi Stephanie,

I also found Andy’s answer particularly interesting that he has been influenced a lot by his peers. I think this finding definitely can have great potential implications towards GTA training in the future. Moreover, I personally think that GTA instructors can compare and contrast the learning opportunities on how peer-review among students within composition courses is similar to peer-to-peer learning among GTA in practicum class. I’m sorry if my answer sounds oversimplifying this complex and dynamic situation.

Hi Dwi!

I really like the way you juxtaposed your findings with the literature review. Although I am sure there isn’t a ‘correct’ way to read it, if you prefer to have the audience read the lit review in tandem with the findings, do you think color coordination might strengthen the association?

I would really like to learn more about the methods you utilized to design your study. Did you use a specific type of interview format? What made you focus on the three topics you included in the literature review?

Did you discover any additional themes about GTA education from your interviews that you would thought were interesting and anything that you think requires further research?

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you for your very specific observation, I definitely agree with you about the possible use of color coordination to present the lit review with the findings. I think I was more focused on the boxes placement rather than the colors but thank you anyways.

I use three semi-structured interviews which are common for narrative study. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure and I only have a long , messy list of questions. But then the more I read previous studies the more I started to catch the themes and then decided to go with these three focuses eventually.

Yes, definitely there were a lot of new themes coming up during the interviews but I cannot really think of any specific ones for now. But what I can say is that open ending questions and improvised follow up questions can really help in terms of accidentally inviting new themes. I hope my answers make sense.