Technology-Enhanced, Sustained Content Study and
The Development of Multiliterate
ESL Learners
Loretta F. Kasper
Kingsborough Community
College/CUNY
Research (see for example, Kasper, 2000a; Pally, 2000) has
demonstrated content-based instruction, especially sustained content study,
to be effective in improving ESL students' linguistic skills, more quickly
enabling them to pass institutional assessments and enter the college
mainstream. I have been researching the effects of sustained content study for
a number of years (Kasper, 1994; 1997), and my most recent work has
concentrated on how the Internet could be used to facilitate and enhance an
activity that I call focus discipline
research (Kasper, 1998a, 2000a, 2000b). In this activity, students
choose a focus discipline from among several content areas studied in the ESL
course, and using the Internet as an informational resource, pursue sustained
and independent study of that discipline over the semester, reading a variety
of print (see Kasper, 1998b) and hypertexts and articulating knowledge gained
through a series of written work of various lengths. The focus discipline
activity has yielded a number of educational benefits to my students, including
higher pass rates on reading and writing assessments, increased motivation, and
greater confidence in their ability to handle academic tasks (as evinced by
responses to feedback
questionnaires).
This paper
describes a high intermediate1 level
content-based course that follows a sustained content curriculum of technology-enhanced
focus discipline research to support the development of multiliterate ESL
learners2. Students work both individually and
as members of collaborative learning communities to complete a range of
assignments of progressive complexity. Information technology use is key to the
process because the extended research that is integral to sustained and focused
content study is more effectively carried out when an extensive body of
instructional and informational resources is available. As they carry out
focus discipline research, ESL students learn to use information technology
resources as they become familiar with the discourse patterns, rhetorical
conventions, and conceptual content of their chosen fields of study and further
their knowledge by networking with peers and experts in those fields.
TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR SUSTAINED CONTENT STUDY
My ESL students honed English language skills,
built their overall knowledge base, and developed multiliteracies through their
use of text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), intensive
reading and research using Internet hypertext documents, and their production
of written essays and individual and group research projects based on their
research efforts. General class activities were
designed to teach students vocabulary and language structures and to provide
them with day-to-day practice in complex interdisciplinary texts. These general
class lessons provided guided instruction on how to dissect a text, search for
clues to meaning, and compose cogent responses to inferential questions and
essay prompts.
Both
general course and focus discipline research activities were structured to help
students develop research and argumentation skills. A guided research activity
provided students with a series of questions that taught them not only how to
search for information on the Internet, but also how to evaluate the resources they found there. After completing their search, students
shared the resources found and their responses to them with the instructor and
the peer group, and received feedback from both sources.
As these
students conducted research in their focus disciplines, they made extensive use of hypertext documents available on the
Internet. This Internet hypertext provided easy access to multiple
cross-references on related topics across several documents, or screens.
Research by Tierney, et al. (1997) suggests that hypertext may be useful in
developing ESL students’ reading skills because it enables a natural
juxtaposition of ideas and allows students a flexible means of exploring those
ideas. According to Warschauer (1999),
this process can help to facilitate the acquisition of complex knowledge. Moreover, Chun and Plass (1997) advise that
students' acquisition of knowledge may be further facilitated through the graphic
illustrations found on Web pages (e.g., http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/),
which by encouraging multi-modal processing of both
visual and verbal cues, helps to consolidate and concretize abstract
content-based concepts.
I designed the focus discipline research
topics so that they were progressively structured into a series of several
short (i.e., two to three page) papers and two research projects of five to
seven pages each. The short papers were designed to develop language and
literacy skills as students gradually built a base of knowledge in their focus
discipline. This developing base of knowledge was further expanded as students
worked in collaboration with classmates who were studying the same focus
discipline. These focus discipline groups met in class or corresponded online
to discuss salient issues under study.
To encourage communication and facilitate collaboration among the
students, I created a course email discussion list, called CBESL. I required all students in
the project to post a minimum of one message per week to this list. These postings often took the form of
requests for information about topics studied, suggestions for how to search
for information, descriptions of resources found and responses to posts from
other students.
Students’ growing base of knowledge provided the foundation
for the two longer research assignments. For the first assignment, each
individual student was responsible for writing a five to seven page research
project on an assigned topic within the focus discipline. The second research
project was a group
effort; each member of the focus discipline group was required to research
and write about one aspect related to the assigned topic. Working together, the
group then synthesized these writings into a coherent group report. My students
produced multiple drafts of each piece of writing, both long and short.
Students received both peer and instructor feedback, and with each subsequent
revision, worked to express themselves more fluently, clearly and correctly.
While
designing and composing the group project, students had to simultaneously apply
and revise what they had learned about their focus discipline to accommodate
the interpretation of information contributed by others in the group. Then in
the process of synthesizing knowledge gathered by each member of the group, they
needed to put this understanding to work to enable them to reach their personal
and group goals in a way consistent with their own values. This was not an easy
task for students, as their responses to feedback questionnaires indicated.
Although 95% of students said they believed that this writing assignment had
been a valuable experience (specifically because it had taught them how to work
with other people), they also said that dealing with so many different
viewpoints was difficult. However, they indicated that writing in a
group had taught them the necessity of listening to and respecting one
another's opinions and of working out compromises when there was disagreement
among the group members.
With
students' permission, their written work was published on the course web site so that all students
in the project could learn from each other. To
provide each of the students in the course with a foundation in the focus
disciplines chosen for study by individuals, the class was assigned a reader response activity
that required them to read and respond to other student essays published on the
course web page. Technology here provided the student authors not only with the
means for having their work read by a wide audience, but also with the
opportunity to discuss it with that same audience. The reader responses exposed
the student authors to various perspectives on their writing and research. The
responses gave student writers a chance to rethink their positions as they
opened up an electronic dialogue with a variety of readers, other than the
instructor. Composing the responses also forced students to view writing from
the perspective of a reader and helped to make them aware of the elements that
make writing clear or confusing.
The
final versions of the focus discipline essays and research projects produced by
students in this study were extremely thoughtful and coherent examples of
strong academic writing that demonstrated not only improved literacy skills,
but also a growing ability to critically frame and analyze intra- and
extra-systematic relationships. For example, in a focus
discipline project on eating disorders, a young woman from Poland, who had
chosen diet and nutrition as her focus discipline, presented a detailed
analysis of the causes and effects of anorexia and bulimia. In her analysis,
she analyzed cross-disciplinary relationships as she articulated the social,
biological, and psychological factors involved in eating disorders. She also
explained how she had applied her newly gained knowledge of eating disorders to
events in her own life. She expressed how her research had led her to a greater
awareness of the possibility that one of her friends might be suffering from an
eating disorder and how she was able to help this friend recognize her problem.
In
the context of the focus discipline research pedagogy described here, as the
instructor, I became both a knowledge sharer and a resident expert in the
subject areas studied in the course. I structured the activities, guided the
students in carrying them out, and was a facilitator of the learning process.
For example, the focus discipline research topics used in this study were
instructor-generated; the prompts were designed to provide students with a
clear direction for their research. In keeping with the goal of using
technology to support and facilitate curricular objectives, each focus
discipline assignment was posted to the
course Web page and students were encouraged to post their questions
to CBESL. In addition, weekly
assignments were e-mailed to the class. Because some students were not familiar with Web browsers when they began the course,
these e-mails often contained hyperlinks. This made it easier for all students
to access the online course materials.
My
role as instructor went beyond that of a knowledge provider; rather I also
regularly joined each focus discipline group as a "colleague" who
listened and posed questions within the context of discussions begun by the
students. Therefore, as the instructor, I became "a sage who guided both
on the stage and on the side." In the focus discipline research model, the
instructor is "a sage" in that he or she has background in the
subject areas studied, has researched and gathered references in each
discipline, and therefore is able to offer students both structure and
guidance. Yet, rather than creating knowledge for students in a
teacher-centered model, here I joined students as they discussed and worked
through readings, encouraging them to discover and expand knowledge through
their own efforts and providing them with constructive feedback throughout the
process.
Like
the instructor, the students assumed multiple roles through their participation
in focus discipline groups. The focus discipline group offered ESL students the
opportunity to become part of a diverse community of learners who worked
together to construct knowledge. Students began by researching topics on their
own and then joined with the group to summarize and evaluate each of the
sources found. The learning environment created through collaborative focus
discipline research encouraged students to view their peers as additional
knowledge resources, each of whom brought his or her own unique perspective on
the issues and topics studied (as well as his or her own personal reason for
studying them). As students engaged in social and academic discourse with focus
discipline group members, elaborating and reflecting on both their own ideas
and those of their peers, they developed a range of literacies, including
functional, academic, critical, and electronic skills.
ASSESSING STUDENTS' ACQUISITION OF
MULTILITERACIES
Assessment
of Writing Skills
At KCC, students' writing skills are
assessed through a portfolio of revised essays produced over the course of the
semester. Portfolios are cross-graded by another instructor of ESL 91, and this
instructor's rating determines the portfolio grade. All instructors' ratings
are normed to a departmental standard of what constitutes a passing portfolio.
The portfolio may be rated as either S (satisfactory) or U
(unsatisfactory) in each of three categories: Finding and Organizing
Material, Developing and Refining Ideas, and Mechanical Accuracy. To
pass, a portfolio must be rated as Satisfactory in each of these three
categories. In terms of their
performance on the portfolio assessment of writing skill, the pass rate for
students who engaged in technology-enhanced focus discipline research was significantly
higher than the pass rate for all other ESL 91 students enrolled during the
same semester of instruction (83% vs. 54%; chi-square = 6.14; p<
.02).
Assessment of Reading Skills
Each
student's reading skill is assessed through a timed departmental final examination that
requires them to read and interpret an academic text, and to compose short
written answers to various types of open-ended questions. Students have two
hours to complete the reading examination and must answer a minimum of 65% of
the questions correctly to pass it. Like the portfolio, the reading examination
is cross-graded by another instructor of ESL 91, whose rating determines the
reading grade. All instructors' ratings are normed to a department standard of
what constitutes a correct answer. According to English department policy, the
same instructor may not grade both the reading examination and the portfolio.
In terms of their performance on the assessment of reading skill, the pass rate
for students who engaged in technology-enhanced focus discipline research was
also significantly higher than the pass rate for all other ESL 91 students
enrolled during the same semester of instruction (69% vs. 46%; chi-square = 4.6;
p< .05).
STUDENT FEEDBACK
The foundations of the pedagogical
method described here require that students themselves play an active role in
both the learning process itself and assessing the efficacy of that process.
Therefore, at the end of the semester, students were asked to complete an online feedback
questionnaire that asked them to share their perceptions of the benefits of
technology-enhanced focus discipline research on their acquisition of literacy
skills. This feedback questionnaire asked students to evaluate the usefulness
of doing focus discipline research, the value of working with the focus
discipline group and to provide their insights on the experience of writing the
individual and group projects. In addition, the questionnaire asked students to
describe what they believed to be the most helpful aspect of the course.
In their responses, ESL students
indicated a belief that participating in focus discipline research helped them
develop linguistic, academic, social, and technological skills. Specifically,
98% of these students mentioned a greater awareness of their own ability to
conduct research and report findings; 90% noted the confidence that comes from
being able to map out a project and see it come to fruition; 80% expressed the
pride in gaining important knowledge and insights, the enthusiasm generated by
mastering new technologies, and the excitement of sharing newly-gained
knowledge with peers and teachers.
Students also appreciated being
given the responsibility of becoming the assessors of learning as they
discussed and critiqued both their own and others' interpretations of
resources. They believed that the classroom methodology and the focus
discipline group provided them with a supportive context in which to build the
skills they needed to monitor learning and effectively articulate the results
of their research. Finally, many students noted that teamwork is a part of many
jobs, and they said that learning how to work with other people would be very
helpful when they entered the workforce.
Students also extolled the value
of using technology in support of their focus discipline research. They
mentioned the ease with which they could find information from a variety of
sources; they were also cognizant of the necessity of evaluating Internet
resources carefully. Seventy-five percent of students indicated that they now
viewed all information more critically than they had before; they were less
likely to accept something as fact just because it was published, either in
print or online. They all believed that the skills they had learned in this
class would serve them well in their future classes as well as in the
workforce.
Ninety-eight percent of the
students stated that the most helpful aspects of the course were having the
opportunity to do focus discipline projects and to learn how to use the
Internet for research. They said that the experience of conducting and writing
up the results of extended research would help them in their future college
classes. Ninety-eight percent of the students noted that experience with
technology is now a required skill for college courses and for most jobs. Even
students who entered the course with little experience with technology said
that completing the various activities in this course made them feel confident
in their ability to use technology for a variety of tasks and purposes.
CONCLUSION
The results of my
technology-enhanced, focus discipline research curriculum of sustained content
study have shown it to be effective in enabling students to develop and hone
the multiliteracies they need to participate and succeed not only in ESL
learning communities, but also in academic, social, and professional contexts
beyond the ESL classroom. From the viewpoint of the instructor and the
institution, the quality of their projects and their scores on final
examinations support these ESL students' increased literacy skills. As evinced
by the body of written work they produced, students were able to present the
results of their research efforts in a coherent, well-organized format that
articulated and explained complex intra- and interdisciplinary relationships. This ability, as
well as their performance on institutionally mandated reading and writing
examinations, clearly demonstrates their growing literacy skills.
NOTES
1 For the purposes of this paper,
the high intermediate level is defined as an entry TOEFL score of 425.
2 A multiliterate learner is one who
has acquired competence in a range of functional, academic, critical, and
electronic skills.
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