My Name Is… Never Mind.

During my placement when I was working as a classroom assistant, one of my tasks was to work alongside a pupil that only knew how to speak Tetum and I will confirm that this was a very challenging task as my knowledge of language only extends as far as English. For this blog post, I will address the ways in which I conquered this language barrier with the guidance of Donald A. Schon’s model of reflection (2016) and David A. Kolb’s theory on unique learning styles (1976).  

To begin, it is important to outline Donald A. Schon’s theory on reflection as he differentiates the meaning of ‘reflecting in action’ and ‘reflecting on action’, to reflect in action when given a challenge, you are thinking on your feet and deciding on what you should do next in response to the given task and then carrying out your choice of route straight away. Whereas to think on action is usually carried out once the task is completed and you reflect back on how you completed this task, the initial result and how you might have readjusted your decision for a better outcome. This was an important structure for my case as it helped me to determine the best route for me to help the non-English speaking pupil in preparation for their GCSE exam.

On the first day when I was introducing myself to the pupil, I first told them my name and that I was going to help them prepare for their exam however, this pupil had little understanding of the English language and struggled to comprehend what I was telling them, so I communicated this to the teacher, and we worked together to construct a plan that we believed was most beneficial for the student’s education. My objective was to teach the pupil the basic vocabulary of the English language, and to accomplish this I had found a booklet that contained words such as ‘hello’, ‘dog’, and ‘sun’, and the pupil had to translate the English words to Tetum. However, it was shortly after this set task that I had realised the pupil appeared to struggle, but due to the language barrier I found it difficult to understand what it was that the pupil was struggling with. This is where Schon’s theory of reflecting in action helped me to redirect my method of teaching, as I imagined myself in the pupil’s position and questioned where I might have struggled if I was in a similar instance and it was this, that then allowed me to realise that were was a lack of visual guidance such as images. Thus, I realised that the pupil was only learning the letters and spelling of each word but not the actual meaning as there was no indication of what each word was.

With this knowledge, I researched an alternative method into teaching the English language, which was guided by Schon’s theory of reflecting on action. Schon argues that in order to succeed, the practitioner must remind themselves first on what the source of the issue is which in my case was the lack of imagery in the resources that I had been providing the pupil. With this, I redirected my method of teaching so that it was more beneficial for the student who I had discovered to be a visual learner, which drew me to the conclusion that it would be best to use booklets that are more visually supported. I had also read a quote by Janice Bland, “The ability of students to create mental images while reading in a foreign language needs to be trained in order for them to achieve fluency and pleasure,” (Bland 2013: 5). Thus, it was my responsibility to provide both written and visual-based tasks.

During this challenging time, I often reminded myself of Schon’s argument that when reflecting on a challenging task, it is best to slow down and reflect at a manageable pace as he believes that when a practitioner is faced with surprise, puzzlement, or confusion that he is not familiar with, he must reflect on the phenomena and carry out experiments that generates both a deeper understanding and also alternative situation, and with this, the practitioner is best to go at a slower pace for the benefit of his own knowledge and overall outcome (Schon 1991: 68). With this, I took as much time as necessary to research the different methods that I could incorporate into my teaching and with this time, I was able to find booklets that were similar to the original however they contained more images which as a result, allowed the pupil to learn the words at a faster rate.

 In Management and the Learning Process, David A. Kolb implements the theory that each person has their unique style of learning and Kolb exemplifies this by writing, “A mathematician may come to place great emphasis on abstract concepts, while a poet may value concrete experience more highly. A manager may be primarily concerned with the active application of ideas, while a naturalist may develop his observational skills highly.” (Kolb 1976: 23). This concept holds great significance in consideration of my role to teach a new language as I learned that the best way to educate the pupil was through the use of imagery which was guided by Kolb’s concept of unique learning styles as I had previously learned that the learning style of the student was more visual rather than written. With this, I was able to overcome the challenge and educate the student more effectively.

To conclude, I believe this challenge has allowed me to progress with greater knowledge as I am now capable of thorough reflection both in and on action which is an essential skill to have as a teacher and with Kolb’s concept of unique learning styles, I now have a more advanced understanding of how I might overcome any future challenges in the classroom.

https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/ael3001-2022/2023/04/04/my-name-is-never-mind/.

– Bland, Janice (Stevick. E & Tomlinson. B), Children’s Literature In Second Language Education, ‘Introduction’, (2013), p. 5, Continuum, Online, Available at: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17444836W/Childrens_Literature_In_Second_Language_Education?edition=key%3A/books/OL26028919M#edition-overview

– Kolb. David A, Management, and the Learning Process, ‘Individual Learning Styles’, (1976), p. 23, Vol. 18, No. 3, (Spring) University of California Press, Online, Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40051782

– Schön. Donald A, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, (2016), Routledge, Also available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat02616a&AN=qub.b21826171&site=eds-live&scope=site