Elena: Where are you from, and what are you studying?

Tamara: I am from Southern California, where I earned my BA in English and MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Azusa Pacific University. I taught in the academic English program there for five years and cultivated a love for working with international students. In particular, I discovered a passion for teaching composition courses because I felt so honored to have the opportunity to hear all students’ voices in the writing classroom. I recently lived in Seoul, South Korea for three years and taught English Composition at Sejong University. I returned to the U.S. to pursue my doctorate, and I am a second-year Ph.D. student at the Ohio State University (OSU) in the Department of Teaching and Learning with a specialization in Foreign, Second, Multilingual Language Education.

E: What topics in second language writing research excite you right now?

T: I am particularly excited about researching how teacher reflexivity and critical listening can lead to co-construction of ESL composition course curriculum. I have been conducting classroom-based research rooted in the principles of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) in order to cultivate learning spaces that better sustain international students’ diverse linguistic and cultural identities. During my first year at OSU, while taking a course in CSP under Dr. Timothy San Pedro, I discovered a gap in the literature in that the Asian student experience is largely absent from the conversation, and more specifically, there is minimal research on applying CSP to the international student population, and even less so on the ESL writing context. As I teach ESL Composition courses at the Ohio State University, I continuously seek to listen and learn from my international students as we co-construct the curriculum to bring in more humanizing and culturally sustaining practices (Kinloch & San Pedro, 2014; Paris & Alim, 2017; San Pedro & Kinloch, 2017).

E: Could you share one way describing how research informs your teaching and/or vice versa?

T: During my first year at OSU, I read extensively on transfer of learning in a seminar course under Dr. Alan Hirvela. Although many studies expose a critical gap between teacher’s expectations and students’ ability to apply what they learn to new contexts and tasks, I was drawn to the authors who address specific techniques that can lead to more effective teaching for transfer (James, 2006; Perkins & Salomon, 1988). Throughout my teaching this semester, I have intentionally tried to create a positive transfer climate in my writing classroom (James, 2010) and implemented techniques to lead to more positive application of writing skills, such as through hugging and bridging strategies (James, 2006; Perkins & Salomon, 1988). Since transfer is at the heart of all learning, this research has opened my eyes and challenged me to become more aware of the transfer dilemma and more intentional about supporting my students’ transfer of learning.

E: What have you learned in your graduate courses that, in your opinion, will lead you to accomplishing your professional goals?

T: One of the most challenging and beneficial learning experiences I have had was during my first semester in a course entitled “Theorizing and Researching Teaching and Learning” under Dr. George Newell. In this course, I was exposed to many different conceptual frameworks, and we had to apply one to design and analyze the results of our own pilot study. I used sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1987) to study how the social interaction and talk of the teacher and students in an ESL writing classroom facilitated their procedural knowledge of critical analytical writing (Launspach, 2008; Wilkinson et al., 2016). I think this hands-on learning experience with collecting and analyzing data through the lens of a specific conceptual framework will help me to develop as a researcher and scholar.

References

James, M. A. (2006). Teaching for transfer in ELT. ELT Journal, 60, 151–159.

James, M. A. (2010). Transfer climate and EAP education: Students’ perceptions of challenges to learning transfer. English for Specific Purposes, 29, 133-147.

Kinloch, V., & San Pedro, T. (2014). The space between listening and storying: Foundations for projects in humanization. In Paris, D., Winn, M. (Eds.), Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities (pp. 21-42). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Launspach, S. (2008). The role of talk in small writing groups: Building declarative and procedural knowledge for basic writers. Journal of Basic Writing, 27(2), 56-80.

Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Eds.) (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Perkins, D. N. & Salomon, G. (1988). Teaching for transfer. Educational Leadership, 46, 22-32.

San Pedro, T., & Kinloch, V. (2017). Toward projects in humanization: Research on co-creating and sustaining dialogic relationships. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 373-394.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In R. Rieber & A. Carton (Eds.) The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, vol. 1 (pp. 39-285). New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Wilkinson, I. A G., Reznitskaya, A., Bourdage, K., Oyler, J., Glina, M, Drewry, R. … Nelson, K. (2017). Toward a more dialogic pedagogy: Changing teachers’ beliefs and practices through professional development in language arts classrooms. Language and Education, 31(1), 65-82.

Tamara Roose is a Ph.D. student in the Teaching and Learning department at Ohio State University, specializing in Foreign, Second, and Multilingual Language Education. She currently teaches in the ESL Composition program and works for the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing in the Writing Across the Curriculum program. Her research interests are centered around ESL composition and international student language and culture identity.

Elena Shvidko is an assistant professor at Utah State University. Her research interests include multimodal interaction in language teaching and learning, interpersonal aspects of teaching, second language writing, and teacher professional development.