4.1. The First Stage: “I Am awesome.”
4.1.1. Enjoying the New Environment
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employs the same material, the teaching focus and evaluating method are not the same. Shelly reports her point of views by sharing her expectation of Chinese
learning and expressing her dissatisfaction with the L1 learning. Descriptions related to Shelly’s feelings about her L1 development in the international school will be dealt with in the third section: Unresolved conflicts－Concerns for L1 development.
4.1. The First Stage: “I Am Awesome”
During the first month in the international school, Shelly is full of joy, excitement, and confidence. This honeymoon like stage, according to the diary, is more revealing from the beginning few weeks and fades out a little on particular courses later. Analysis of the data reveals that there are three factors influencing Shelly’s learning experiences. Firstly, she enjoys some of the classes. Secondly, she soon fits in the communities naturally because of her familiarity with the
environment. Thirdly, due to having a high level of English proficiency, she does not struggle too much to position herself in the English-medium-instruction
environment.
4.1.1. Enjoying the New Environment
The learner accepts the new environment before long and seems to respond to it with excitement about the new and interesting classes, such as Social Studies
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and Science. In her second diary entries, she wrote:
Everything in the international school is conducted in English, including Math, Science, and Social Studies. Fortunately, I have studied in the secondary school
for a year, so I am ok with Math. As for Science and Social Studies, the teachers are really interesting. I am attracted to those classes indeed….The teachers in the international school are kind to me, and they are amiable. I’m happy. (The second diary of Shelly, September 6, 2013)
Some of the excitement turns into consistent interests toward the subjects throughout the first semester. For example, Shelly expresses that she has grown fond of the way the science teacher gives lectures. The teacher incorporates fun videos that are related or not related to class materials, such as a cartoon, the Simpson, and hands-on activities and jokes into the class. Further discussion of the learner’s responses to the curriculum will be addressed in the next section.
4.1.2. Fitting in the Community
Secondly, the learner soon finds harmony between her and the people around her and regards herself as a member of the environment, a new academic community to her. She not only holds positive attitude to the teachers but also to her peers in the
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international school. She almost blends in the social groups on the first day by making new friends, knowing what to do and not missing anything in school. Shelly is satisfied with her adjusting ability.
I can blend in with the environment on my first day in the international school, and I do not miss anything. I am proud of myself. It’s also nice to meet good friends on the first day. (The first diary of Shelly, August 6, 2013)
Shelly’s remark presents her enjoyable and exciting experiences in the
international school. The facts that she feels welcomed by the teachers and peers and finds the classes are interesting appear to facilitate her enjoyment in learning. In addition, Shelly’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, even wrote an email to her mother to compliment on how well Shelly adapts to the new environment. In the interview with Mr. Chen, his impression of Shelly is vivacious, active, and extrovert. It is not the only reason that explains how soon the adaptation is; the other reasons that help Shelly to feel at home in the new environment is the fact that the learner still stayed in K school and attends the English courses for all students in K school. These courses include English Literature and Language Art, which Shelly has been
enrolled in since grade one in elementary school, so she is familiar with the contents, the teachers, and the classmates. In other words, the transferring experience is not
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full of new things, but with some familiar English courses and classmates. As pointed out in Mr. Chen’s interview.
…Shelly has an active personality. When I asked some of her classmates who go to the same English classes with her to take care of her…. It turns out that there is no need to do so. She is extrovert enough, and she only transfers from one program to another in the same school. Her ability to adapt is better than other transfer students. (The interview with Mr. Chen, January, 22, 2014)
4.1.3. Shelly’s English Proficiency
Thirdly, in order to fully explore what roles Shelly’s English proficiency plays, the discussion about the learner’s English proficiency will be described through two perspectives—Shelly’s contact with English before the transfer and her language using experiences during the first semester in the international school.
The delineation of Shelly’s previous exposure to English covers three aspects:
attitude toward English, English using experiences, and English learning path. To begin with her attitude toward English, it is more about a tool to communicate than a subject to learn. This concept has been rooted before Shelly receives schooling.
Shelly spent her early childhood with her parents in Canada when her parents were in pursuit of their master degree there. Shelly recalled the experiences of listening to
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English songs and watching English cartoons when she was two years old in Canada.
I learned a little English….like listening to the songs for many times, and I could sing along; watching TV, I knew how to say thank you…. (The first interview with Shelly, August, 31, 2013)
Shelly’s first contact with English happens in an authentic context. However, Shelly and her parents move back to Taiwan after her parents completed their studies.
Then she continues such exposure to natural English annually by taking trips and visiting relatives with her parents during winter and summer vacations in the U.S.
Shelly explains that “you have to use English for everything, such as buying things.”
These English using experiences make Shelly believes that “English is a language she must learn and use for communication” either in the situation of overseas travelling or future job hunting.
Regarding the English learning experiences, Shelly’s family moved back to Taiwan when she is about the age of kindergartener, and then the parents registered Shelly at K school in Taiwan. Thus, Shelly receives her formal education, including the learning of English since then. Yet, Shelly’s English learning takes place not only in the school but also at home. Shelly’s father asked her to memorize every word in
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a children’s English dictionary before elementary school, and this activity stopped when she had acquired all the vocabulary. English is never a difficult language to learn for Shelly. There is almost no obstacle that Shelly encounters during
kindergarten and elementary school. Shelly described in the interview,
….English (courses) is easy because I have learned it since little, and I have been to Canada. But I just hate doing homework. It makes me really tired….As for English learning, I can pick it up quickly. Teachers always love me because I get good grades (mostly in English classes)…. (The first interview with Shelly, August, 31, 2013)
When the researcher asks Shelly about her feeling for English courses, she always responds that “It’s just as usual.” When she says that, it means the grades are as good as usual. This excerpt also represents a typical attitude that Shelly has toward schooling－considering homework as a tiresome routine but still being able to keep top scores. Again, more discussion concerning her responses to the
curriculum will be found in the second section.
Shelly continues her academic path in K school. Students in this school receive English education from a specialized English program, offering two courses for students from grade one to grade twelve. In general, the students in this program are
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equipped with four skills through student-centered practice. It is their aims to develop each individual as critical thinker, independent life-long learner, and effective communicators. More specifically, one of the courses, English Literature, purports to foster students’ ability in appreciating and understanding a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts, and the other, Language Art, intends to enhance students’ ability in grammar construction, various form of writing, oral fluency, vocabulary acquisition, and reading comprehension skills. All English courses are divided into four levels: intermediate, advanced, mainstream, and honors. Currently, Shelly attends the mainstream English classes. Immersing in an English learning environment like this, there is no doubt that Shelly possesses a high level of English ability. Evidence is also shown in the interview with Mr. Chen.
….Shelly does not have difficulties in learning. I did not find any. Other
students who transfer from the other programs in K school or other school have an adjustment period. However, Shelly’s adjustment period is relatively short because she has the tool. This adjustment period is more about adopting English as a medium of instruction. For those students, English was a subject, but now a tool. If you do not have this tool, you might fail…. (The interview with Mr. Chen, January, 22, 2014)
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Mr. Chen’s evaluation of Shelly’s English proficiency is in agreement with Shelly’s own evaluation. Shelly regards English as a tool she had already mastered;
transferring to an English-medium environment does not cause her any anxiety.
Besides, according to the research notes taken from conversations with Shelly during the break of tutoring hours, Shelly appears to be a good language learner and she is good at using the language to learn new content. For example, Shelly thinks Biology is a little challenging when she was in the secondary school; yet, she is quite engaged in the Science class in the international school. She compares the two courses under different course titles and considers they are actually similar on the content level. She described,
….Explaining these concepts in Chinese are more complicated in English. For example, when I see the English word “corrosion”, I know it contains the meaning that something is destroyed slowly. On the other hand, I did not see this meaning by just looking at the Chinese character. (An informal interview with Shelly on the eighteenth week, January, 8, 2014)
This excerpt manifests that Shelly takes advantage of her tool, English, in acquiring content knowledge. On another occasion, the researcher/tutor reviews the school work with Shelly, and there is a new term that is unknown to both of them.
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When the researcher/tutor is about to check the dictionary to translate the unknown word into her native language, Chinese, for better comprehension, the attempt is stopped by Shelly. She says, “You’ll know the meaning if you keep reading. The following paragraph will explain it.” From this example, it is clear that Shelly did not rely on her native language to learn things; rather she is certain that the meaning of unknown word exists in the larger context, so she decides to adopt a
“whole-context strategy” for reading comprehension instead of a “dictionary strategy”.
What is more, Shelly is now viewing both Chinese and English as major tools to communicate. When it comes to casual conversations with peers on smart phone or iPad, she chooses the most convenient typing system to convey the message rather than deciding a language that she is more familiar with to use.
Furthermore, concerning Shelly’s language use during the first semester in the international school, the researcher analyzes the language choices in the diary reports, it is found that Shelly uses an English term to indicate the new knowledge she learned from the Science class. The following excerpt presents the original language in the diary entry (cf. p50).
Science class lǎo shī gěi wǒ men mián huā táng zuò model，gěi lǎo shī jiǎn chá wán jiù kě yǐ chī diào，rán hòu zài huà yì zhāng tú，gěi tóng xué cāi nǐ zuò de
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shì na ge element. (The thirteenth diary of Shelly, December, 6, 2013)
According to the above descriptions of Shelly’s English learning and using experiences, she is undoubtedly equipped with optimal English proficiency to learn in an English-medium environment. Bedsides, K school has its own evaluating method to make sure that the English proficiency of the students they are recruiting are qualified to acquire content knowledge through English as a medium of
instruction.
For Shelly, in a nut shell, her high English proficiency, satisfaction of her own education, and good social relationship create a smooth start of her first semester in the international school, which is enough for her to sense accomplishment as a student.
4.2. The Second Stage: “Not Backing off, I Am Still Awesome”
In this section, the researcher will elaborate on Shelly’s attitude toward academic learning in the international school and her responses to the curriculum.
First of all, it is not surprised to report that most teenagers go to school only out of their parents’ order and governmental regulations. Shelly is one of such teenager. To a higher degree, Shelly considers going to school a nuisance. Even though the learner continuously express how doing homework and reviewing school subjects
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annoys her, she still spares no effort to achieve academic success, particularly in terms of the grades. In Shelly’s mind, only if she meets up with the teachers’ and her parents’ expectation can she possesses some personal freedom in doing what makes her happy.
As for Shelly’s responses to the curriculum in the international school, her learning experiences are made of either challenging moments or delightful events and obligated routines. Instead of discussing the difficulties, the researcher finds
“challenging” moment is a more suitable expression to describe Shelly’s experiences because she generally believes that there is no difficulty that exists during her first semester in the international school; yet, she does get confused sometimes. In fact, when the researcher plays a torturing role, the learner describes how she strives to understand the lecture of Social Studies and Mathematics and complains about her math and Chinese teachers’ teaching style from time to time. On the other hand, when the researcher acts as an interviewer, the learner disagrees with that she has ever faced any difficulties. Such situation may seem conflicting; yet, both written diary entries and conversations between the tutor and Shelly reveal how she faces challenging events and deals with them.
4.2.1. Challenging Moments: The Social Studies Class and Math Class
As mentioned previously, the discussion of Shelly’s responses to the new
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curriculum will focus on six courses, namely, Chinese, English Literature, Language Art, Math, Science, and Social Studies. The language courses do not cause
difficulties for Shelly because her language proficiency is high and she is familiar with the course content. On the other hand, Social Studies, coupled with Math and Science are courses that Shelly receives education through English as the medium of instruction for the first time. Before she fully fits in, she describes,
The teacher’s (Social Studies) speech is too fast. Sometimes, I couldn’t understand, so I would be off in another world. But I show my perseverance with my opened-ears, and then I get used to the teacher’s voice and teaching speed. I’m awesome. I have already adapted to some of the teachers’ classes. I am proud of myself. (The third diary of Shelly, September 17, 2013)
As a counterbalance to the positive start of the new semester, Shelly finds herself lost in the lecture of Social Studies. Even so, it does not seem to bother her for a long time because she tries her best to listen to the lecture carefully. With more attention to the speech, she gradually regains the thread of what was going on in the classroom. This thought, comprehending the lecture, also results from her
determination that “There is no way to back off since I have made the decision to transfer to the international school.” She expresses it affirmatively because she
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knows that “backing off” is not an option to herself and her mother. Shelly’s mother has always been strict to Shelly’s academic performance, and such an attitude pushes and motivates Shelly to keep her own performance on the level.
However, some of the challenges remain unsolved even with more
concentration. In the Math class with lectures given by a male Taiwanese, Shelly complains that she just never gets used to the intonation that the teacher carries and she cannot understand what the teacher explains in the class. She has experienced such negative feeling since the second week. After that, she strives to solve the problem by keeping herself focused in the class, but this move evokes more frustration. Then she turns to peers for help after class. Shelly explained,
In the Math class, I could not understand (the lecture) all because it was taught in English. So I ask some of my friends in class for help. Luckily, I am smart; I can understand it only with explanations from my friends once or twice. (The fifth diary of Shelly, October, 4, 2013)
For Shelly, putting more focus on the math teacher’s lecture is not helpful at all, rather, peers play a more important role in assisting Shelly to understand the
meaning and steps of certain mathematic formula. In addition to the failure of lecture comprehension, understanding short-answer questions in English is also a
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problem. For instance, Shelly understands the concept of perimeter if it was written in Chinese because what perimeter means has been taught in the Math class when Shelly was in the seventh grade. Nevertheless, she fails to recognize the
correspondence between the English term and the concept she learned before. Not surprisingly, it is the peers, not the teacher, that play the major role helping Shelly to become aware of the meaning of certain English terms and match her existing knowledge with a new language form. In fact, Shelly has tried to concentrate on the lecture in order to comprehend more, but in vain. What is worse, the math teacher has been an annoying existence for her since the second week. In addition to the lecture filled with “wired accent, and lullaby-like intonation”, the teaching techniques of the math teacher in demonstrating formula are labeled tedious.
His explanation (the math teacher) is always too complicated. The formula is actually easy; I can understand it after reading the textbook on my own. He makes it even more complicated. He just keeps saying “Oh, it has many steps to do, so you have to write down these steps in the books, then, so you know the correct answers.” [Shelly was imitating the teacher’s intonation with low pitch and dull voice.] Then I read the book by myself; there is no need to go through so many steps. He insists on writing down so many steps, and this confuses us.
(The second interview of Shelly, January, 20, 2014)
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Moreover, it is killing Shelly to have a “huge amount of” math homework with
“repetitive content,” for she has learned the math content from grade seven before the transfer. During the tutoring hour, the researcher heard Shelly whining about homework several times, and her complains for the math homework is even to the
“repetitive content,” for she has learned the math content from grade seven before the transfer. During the tutoring hour, the researcher heard Shelly whining about homework several times, and her complains for the math homework is even to the