Chalsie Kennedy

FL 694

November 17, 2014

Summative Report

The past 3 months has been trying to say the least, but as a whole my practicum class
has been extremely rewarding and beneficial. Through twenty reflective journal entries, four
self-observations, and an action research report, I have learned so much about myself as a
professional. I am more familiar with the way I teach, my views on education, my capabilities,
and my strengths and weaknesses. Along with learning more about myself, I have gained
new ideas and ways of teaching. There is no doubt that my journey through this last
semester of my MATL has made me a better teacher in many ways.
Reflecting on our reading assignments and my own classroom experiences helped me
develop professionally. Teacher reflection is a key part of teacher growth and is important for
every teacher to do on a regular basis. During these reflections, I was able to consider what
went right or wrong in my classroom, or think through my thoughts on a specific chapter in
our book: Classroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning by Cazden. If
something went well in my classroom, I tried to think of ways to build on those successes.
When I read a new suggestion in our textbook, I tried to come up with a plan to implement it
in my own lessons. On the days that something went wrong or not according to plan, I tried
to create a plan for improvement through the process of reflecting. All of these processes
have helped me become a more effective teacher by giving me an idea on how to adjust
future lessons and procedures to better reach the goals of my courses and the needs of my
students.
The textbook for this course was full of valuable information. I learned a lot and was
provided with great ideas on how to increase and improve the quality of discourse in my
classroom. Before starting the practicum, I knew the importance of communicative language
teaching and discourse in teaching a second language, but I dont think I had done a very

good job implementing this method in my lessons. Since reading this book and focusing my
action research project around increasing TL use in my classroom, I have more ideas on how
to create a learning environment where TL use flourishes. This is an essential part of ones
language learning journey because students need comprehensible input and opportunities to
use the language themselves. Discourse is an essential part of language acquisition and I
want my students to be confident in their speaking abilities since it is one of the main forms of
communication.
The other assignment that was very useful and valuable was the four classroom
analyses that we had to complete. Video recording my lessons and then watching them
from a third partys viewpoint, was very beneficial. Through this process, I examined the
spatial aspects of my classroom, student involvement, turn-taking, time on task, error
feedback, and classroom dialogue. Without recording a lesson, it is difficult to get an
accurate feel for the impact each of these characteristics has on language learning. By
analyzing each of these components, I was able to see where my strengths and weaknesses
are and develop a plan to improve them if needed.
During my time in the MATL program, and especially throughout this semester, I have
had to re-examine and reflect on the way I teach my students. In the beginning of my career,
I acknowledge that the majority of my lessons took a deductive approach. Normally my
classes tended to start with a lecture that was followed by some sort of practice for the
students. I was the main facilitator of discourse in the classroom. When I questioned
students, I normally initiated the questions, the students responded, and then I followed with
some sort of feedback or evaluation. This is primarily because it was the way I had been
taught most of my life. I believe the deductive approach throughout my language learning
journey gave me a strong foundation to build upon, but considering that I am not extremely

satisfied with where my own language skills are today, I couldnt help but question whether
other theories and methods may be a better approach.
During my Practicum in Second or Foreign Languages class, I read a chapter written
by Kumaracadivelu on post-method pedagogy. This chapter was a breath of fresh. For
years, I have been learning about conventional methods of teaching that fall under the three
principal views: structural methods, functional methods, and interactive methods. The postmethod pedagogy was finally a new way of looking at second language teaching and learning
that made sense to me and fits my views on education.
The frameworks explained in this reading section, were good alternatives to the
shortages of conventional methods. One of the worse things about the conventional methods
was their rigidities. Each time I learned about a specific method in my previous classes, I felt
like I was being told why this is the best and only way to teach a second language
successfully, which automatically made me uninterested. I always walked away from those
lessons feeling like I was a failure as a teacher if I didnt follow that exact method in my
lessons.
The fact that Sterns strategy concept is flexible, rather than rigid and narrow-minded
like previous concepts, is what made it so appealing to me. Instead of leaning towards a
specific strategy in each dimension, Sterns strategy seems to take a middle seat and
acknowledges the positives and negatives of each one. For example, when dealing with the
use of a students native language in the learning process, Stern noted the benefits of the
intralingual and intracultural strategies as well as the advantages of the crosslingual and
crosscultural strategies. He didnt advocate for either side. Instead, he explains the
importance of using both ends of the continuum and believes that the teacher needs to
decide what is best in his or her given circumstance. He recognizes that every class has
different dynamics. The best strategy cant just be decided for all classes, a teacher has to

take into consideration student motivation, background knowledge, context, and teachers
ability.
Stern keeps the same mindset when dealing with the other two dimensions in his
strategy concept. When dealing with form verse message, Stern appreciates the analytic and
experiential strategies. Due to the benefits of both, Stern advocates for a mixture of both
techniques. When discussing whether learning is a conscious or unconscious process, Stern
again claims that it is possible to know some things about a language explicitly, and others
only implicitly, and that there is an interaction between explicit and implicit knowledge
(Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 191).
Sterns strategy concept finally fit my educational philosophy perfectly. It doesnt
advocate for one right way. I can definitely see the benefits of all strategies, which is why I
think it isnt best to stick with just one. Variety is key in my opinion. It makes your class
environment more fun, its appealing to all types of learners, and it gives you an opportunity
to see what strategies work best with your students so you can make your own professional
decision on how to teach. This reading that I was asked to do this semester, finally gave me
the confidence that I am doing the right thing. After eight years of teaching, I am certain that I
have an eclectic set of educational values that will help me meet the needs of all students.
Due to the knowledge I have gained throughout this semester regarding other theories
and methods, I have slowly begun to incorporate a variety of approaches into my lessons. I
feel like changing the way you teach, especially when that is the way you were taught, is not
something that changes over night. It is a slow process that takes a lot of trial and error, but I
am working on it. My action research project is great proof of this.

In the post-method pedagogy, there is also emphasis put on teacher research, which I
think is important. According to the Exploratory Practice Framework by Allwright, teacher
research that is carried out properly, will not only enhance the teachers understanding of
classroom teaching but also contribute to progress in pedagogic research in general
(Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 194). Fortunately for teachers, this is not meant to add more to
teachers; workloads. Instead, through the use of familiar classroom activities as investigative
tools, teachers are asked to follow a series of basic steps to enhance classroom teaching,
professional growth and pedagogic research. I did feel overwhelmed with the work needed
for my action research project, but I believe that is because it was my first time carrying out a
research project in my own classroom. On top of that I am teaching fulltime, Im in my third
trimester of pregnancy, Im trying to wrap up my final portfolio, and I have a very busy toddler
at home. When life calms down a little bit, I plan to do more with teacher research.
The knowledge I gained through my action research project was more valuable than
anything I have done throughout my graduate classes. Although I did a lot of research on TL
use and foreign language anxiety, doing the research on my own and seeing how things truly
work for my students was more beneficial than reading any journal article. This assignment
required me to reflect on what may be factors in a student's development and how to possibly
alter instruction to make sure these aspects do not hinder development. Through this
research project, I have taken responsibility for promoting learners growth and development
by designing and modifying instruction to meet learners needs. I will use the information I
gained from this research project to develop instruction that will enable each learner to
advance and accelerate their language acquisition.
The many things I have learned throughout my practicum experience will stay with me
forever. I havent even had a chance to put in place the majority of the knowledge I have
gained about myself and other teaching strategies, but over the next year or two I think my

classroom environment and lessons will look a lot different due to the things Ive learned
during this semester. I am very grateful for this practicum experience and the things I have
learned not only about myself and my students, but about language learning as a whole. I
have no doubt that I am a better teacher because of it.

References
Cazden, C. (2001). Classroom Discourse: The language of teaching and learning
(2nd ed.). Portsmouth: Courtney B. Cazden.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). Understanding language teaching: From method to postmethod.
Mahway, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.