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TEACHING the BIOGRAPHY of PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES for MULTILINGUAL WRITERS Nichole S

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TEACHING the BIOGRAPHY of PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES for MULTILINGUAL WRITERS Nichole S Eastern Washington University EWU Digital Commons EWU Masters Thesis Collection Student Research and Creative Works Spring 2017 TEACHING THE BIOGRAPHY OF PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS Nichole S. La Torre Eastern Washington University Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.ewu.edu/theses Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation La Torre, Nichole S., "TEACHING THE BIOGRAPHY OF PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS" (2017). EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 411. http://dc.ewu.edu/theses/411 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research and Creative Works at EWU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in EWU Masters Thesis Collection by an authorized administrator of EWU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TEACHING THE BIOGRAPHY OF PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS ______________________________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to Eastern Washington University Cheney, Washington ________________________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in English Teaching English as a Second Language ________________________________________________________________________ By Nichole S. La Torre Spring 2017 ii THESIS OF NICHOLE LA TORRE APPROVED BY _____________________________________________________ DATE __________ LAVONA L. REEVES, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES CHAIR, GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE ______________________________________________________ DATE __________ TRACEY MCHENRY, PH.D. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH MEMBER, GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE ______________________________________________________ DATE __________ KAYLEEN ISLAM-ZWART, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY MEMBER, GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE iii Abstract The present study is action research with a narrative inquiry approach, and seeks to determine the benefits and challenges of using a collaborative method to teach reading comprehension strategies in English 112: Composition for Multilingual Students. As Kenneth Bruffee (1984; 1991), Margaret Mount (2014), Chiu-Hsin Lin (2007) and others have determined, there are many challenges English language learners face when reading college-level texts. This study sought to determine whether the use of collaboration would facilitate the learning of reading strategies and self-monitoring of reading skills. Ten students participated in this study, including nine undergraduate students and one graduate-level Saudi teaching assistant. Students in the English 112 class received direct instruction on a number of reading strategies and worked collaboratively to break down complex texts. The research for this course was completed over 11 weeks during the 2017 winter quarter at EWU. Throughout the course, journals and essays related to reading strategies were assigned. 54 responses were collected to determine: a) challenges multilingual students face when encountering intermediate to advanced-level texts used in the college writing classroom, b) what students have already been taught about reading strategies, and c) how well multilingual students apply what they have been taught about reading strategies—both prior to and during English 112, as well as d) information about the value and usefulness of collaboration in English classrooms across cultures. Direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies provided several benefits for learners who were anxious about reading college-level texts. This approach encouraged self-awareness, self-assessment of reading skills, and plans for self-study. In addition, the use of collaboration fostered community, engagement, and cross-cultural exchanges. iv Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who have contributed to this research project and sparked my passion for teaching and languages. I will be forever grateful to Dr. LaVona Reeves for giving me the opportunity to work with wonderful students, staff and colleagues at Eastern Washington University, and for giving me the chance to expand my knowledge and practice of English language teaching methodologies. I would also like to thank Dr. McHenry and Dr. Islam-Zwart for their time and valuable input on this project. Their contributions and participation in my thesis committee are much appreciated. All of my teachers, family members, and friends have contributed to my journey in many ways, and so I would also like to express my gratitude to those who have offered guidance throughout my life. Special thanks to my father, mother, brother, and fiancé, for their support and encouragement. v Preface Language Learning and Teaching Experience “My name is Nichole La Torre, and I am from the United States…” Whenever I give this speech on the first day of class, I have to stop myself from explaining that I did not learn to read, write or speak in the United States, but in England. My American accent only confuses the matter to students who have not yet become accustomed to my voice or intonation. The next question is usually something along the lines of: “So, are you British? You don’t sound British.” I am not, but I spent the first five years of my life in England while my father was stationed at a now decommissioned Air Force base in Little Rissington. My parents are American, but my teachers and peers were British, so I learned to read and write with British English spelling and spoke with a British accent. Now that I no longer have a British accent, few people would guess that I ever lived there. However, this formative experience shaped my methods, views, and perceptions of language learning in ways that I am only beginning to understand. I have always loved learning and school. At four years old most children in England begin pre-K or kindergarten, and so my parents decided to enroll me in school early. Kempsford Primary School was my first school. The school itself was very old and had a distinctive smell of wet earth that I still remember to this day. I made many friends there and began imitating the sounds my teachers and peers made. Within a few short months, my British accent had become more pronounced. I also learned to read and write the alphabet at Kempsford. During our first week of classes, the teachers sent each of us home with a tin full of little papers. Each little paper had the name of a color printed on it, with the corresponding color underlining the word. We were taught to read the words vi by sight and memorize the shape. At school we underlined the color words with a matching color, then traced the letters until we could identify the word and color together. This method of memorizing the shapes of words would be beneficial to me in later years, as I began the arduous process of memorizing Chinese characters by rote. Although I spent several formative years in England, I also learned the sounds of American English by listening to my parents. My peers and teachers spoke British English, and when we reviewed reading and phonics in school we used British English spellings. Listening to my parents helped me to adjust to the accent of peers and teachers when we moved back to the United States. By the time we left England for our next assignment in Colorado, I was just learning to write. My parents wanted to enroll me in school, but since kindergarteners are on average six years old when they start school in the U.S., my parents decided to wait so that I could attend kindergarten for the second time and would fit in better with my peers. At home my mother and father tutored me in reading and writing, and that extra practice helped me immensely when I did finally begin school. The spelling was very different from what I had learned, but it was so early in my development that the switch was easier to make. However, adjusting to a new school wasn’t easy. I still remember the first time someone asked me if I had to use the restroom. “A whole room, just for resting?! Wow, American schools are really neat,” I thought. Imagine my surprise when I was directed to a bathroom. Confused, I went into a stall and wondered why Americans would rest on a toilet. When I didn’t come out, my teacher came and scolded me for taking too long. At first, the other students had trouble understanding me. I used “back garden” instead of “backyard”, “crisps” instead of “chips”, and “trainers” instead of “sneakers”. Some things vii were just downright confusing or embarrassing to a six-year-old girl, for example, “pants” meant “underwear” in England. However, with each passing year my accent became more Americanized and I gradually made the switch to American English. After three years in Colorado, we moved to Connecticut where my parents were raised. Students at my new school had never heard me speak with a British accent, and I began to feel like I fit in. As I grew older, this new environment shaped my speaking abilities, and as an avid reader my vocabulary continued to grow. Later, at a new school in a new town, I received several creative writing awards for short stories I wrote. I took AP English my junior year of high school, and petitioned to take AP English and Honors English during the last semester of my senior year. By this point in my life, my love of languages was apparent to all who knew me. When it came time to look at colleges, my father and I visited a few but I had my heart set on Bennington College. After listening to a professor describe Bennington’s philosophy of “designing your own education” and classrooms as “open forums for discussion” I knew I had found what I was looking for in a college. At Bennington, students decide which courses they will take and meet with a panel of advisors to discuss how each individual course of study fits into their overall plan and future goals.
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