1.

• An ESL Classroom Study

• Holly Nelson 11/3/11 Comm 156I

2.

Taking a First Glance at a Second Language Teacher in an English-Speaking Society: Impacts on Student Perception

Research Question: How is a student's perception of an instructor impacted by that instructor's command of English?

3.

Inspirations!

I decided to do this project for two reasons:

1. I have been told that SJSU is one of the most diverse campuses in California. 2. People who I did not know kept talking about this class in a critical way.

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An Answer to the Question?

So how is a student's perception impacted to an ESL instructor versus an EFL instructor? Well...

1. Less likely to be accepting. 2. Students lacked knowledge of instructor's cultural background. 3. Less likely to volunteer when asked a question in the classroom. 4. Increase in impatience.

5.

Getting That Data!

I chose to do 2 interviews. Both interviewees currently had an ESL instructor and an EFL instructor. 10 Questions, most of which were open ended.

6. Participant Observation: 6 total. 3 from ESL site and 3 from EFL site. Wrote in a journal every 5 minutes. Didn't get caught! 7. The ESL site took place outside of SJSU. 8. 1 Interviewee emphasized lack of command. 9. Other interview emphasized lack of interest. 10. Map! 11.

Challenges

There was one day in ESL class that I could not gather data because it was a response to the prompt day.

12. ESL site was supposed to meet on campus and off campus, which I thought would yield interesting results. 13. Lack of data for student perceptions, but a lot on teacher perceptions. 14. A lot of data on student ESL challenges as well. 15.

What Did I Learn?

There is an emphasis on organizational needs in an ESL classroom.

16. There is a lack of cultural knowledge in ESL classroom. Even when ESL instructor shared experiences, there was a lack of interest. 17. Interesting: Lack of respect in ESL classroom was overwhelming. 18. Interesting: The instructor must have been aware of this, because she had 1 on 1's with us. Few things were changed. 19.

Results

Increase of media distraction in ESL vs. EFL

20. Increase in lack of participation in ESL vs. EFL 21. Consent=EFL vs. Impatience=ESL 22. When interviewing, students seemed defeated. 23. Lack of mindfulness. 24.

Suggestions?

Making students more culturally aware, therefore resulting in being mindful.

25. More studies on student perceptions. 26. Having an assistant for ESL instructors to help organize classroom. 27. Implementing programs that close the cultural gap.