Salt Lake Community College

Service Learning Paper Tutoring for the Academic Literacy Center

Morgan Wongsuwan

Communications 2150 Professor Phillips 4 May 2013

Wongsuwan 1 Community Partner For my service learning project, I offered my time at the Academic Literacy Center here at Salt Lake Community College. ALC Contact Information Lidya Gonzalez Salt Lake Community College Academic Literacy Center Coordinator ALC Lab TB 430 Phone: 801.957.4026

Project The Academic Literacy Center is one of Salt Lake Community Colleges Learning Center Programs. These programs provide free tutoring to students enrolled at SLCC for the purpose of promot[ing] student success (Learning Center Programs). The Academic Literacy Center shares that goal but specifically aims to help English language learners in developing their English language skills. The Academic Literacy Center works toward that goal by pairing native English speaking volunteers and English language learning students in such contexts as group conversation and one-on-one tutoring. After first meeting with Lydia, the Academic Literacy Center coordinator, about volunteering for her organization she assigned me to attend an ESL conversation classroom twice a week. These ESL conversation classrooms are made up of one teacher, about 12 ESL students, and however many native English speaking volunteers show up. The purpose of these classes is to give ESL students a chance to converse in English with a native English speaker. The native English speakers act as models of good English for ESL students and are also expected to correct ESL students when their meaning is not clear. I spent about three hours

Wongsuwan 2 serving in conversation classrooms. The rest of my service, about 35 hours, went towards tutoring ESL students one-on-one in the Academic Literacy Center. In this context I would assist ESL students with homework mostly involving reading, writing and vocabulary. While increasing conversational fluency was one goal of tutoring, reading proficiency and comprehension along with basic writing tended to steal the focus (along with completing assignments!). The majority of my service was dedicated to tutoring one woman. Samira was born in Afghanistan and lived there until moving to Pakistan at age 8. She is a single mother with a daughter, 8, and a younger son; the three of them live with Samiras mother. Samiras goal throughout the semester was to do well in her English classes and to improve her English proficiency. I also regularly helped Alex, a refugee from South Sudan, with her rather difficult Dance and Culture class and politically themed readings. There are a number of students I only had the chance to work with for 1hr, they are not listed here. Culture Groups Samira was born in Afghanistan and spent her adolescence in Pakistan. According to Hofstedes Dimension of Culture Scales, Arab countries are slightly collectivist and maintain a high power distance. Samira is a single mother in her late 20s or early 30s. She lives with her mother, goes to school, works at Sears on the weekends, and is Muslim. Alex is a young woman and refugee from South Sudan, a country racked by civil war that has only gained independence in the last two years. She is also a student. Challenges Some of my initial challenges were as much interpersonal as they were intercultural. When I was given the assignment to help in a conversation class, I was immediately concerned

Wongsuwan 3 that I might not be up to the task of facilitating an hour long conversation. My time in the conversation class went about as well as expected (though maybe I should raise my expectation next time?); there were frequent and awkward lulls. I decided to shift gears and volunteer solely as a tutor once the pool of native English speakers volunteering in the conversation class had grown enough. The unstructured and freeform nature of the conversation class was, for me, more burdensome than freeing, but tutoring came with a different set of challenges. Whereas before I had been tasked with making students spoken English more understandable to us (native speakers), tutoring asked me to make English more understandable to them. My incomplete grasp of the workings of English grammar occasionally led to some pre-explanation floundering, but its not as if you learn a language by learning its grammar in any context outside of school. Samira seemed more receptive to relevant examples and usage in context than grammar rules anyway. A more daunting challenge has been picking up on whether or not the tutee really understands the meaning of the text. Always in a hurry, Samira likes to guess on multiple-choice questions. After a few series of guesses clearly not influenced by the questions or the answers I stopped telling her when she was right or wrong and asked her to explain every answer or point it out in the text. This and other checks of understanding, such as asking questions and requesting summaries, were invaluable to me in gauging their understanding and my effectiveness at explaining concepts. Which leads to the greatest challenge of all: repackaging something bouncing around my head in such a way that the person sitting next to me can use it. Building off what the student already knows and using variable approaches (rewording, analogy, gestures, drawings, real world examples and hypotheticals, etcetera) seemed to work. I have an example of using varying approaches to great effect: after telling Samira that I hope to become an ASL-

Wongsuwan 4 English interpreter, I began sprinkling some especially descriptive, concrete, or obvious signs into my explanations and definitions. Disconnect was not registering for her one day. But the rather illustrative sign helped her make the mental connection between word and meaning. There were also challenges related to cultural differences. There were the usual fleeting anxieties: I hope I dont offend them; I hope they understand me; will we be able to work together given our differences. Stuff like that. Grade school stuff too, hoping they like me. But after getting a few hours and a few students under my belt, meeting new and different people went from being a somewhat intimidating experience to a somewhat exciting one. Samiras initial distance also presented a problem. Not to me so much, but her engagement and comfortability with me definitely had an effect on how well she learned. Theory The communications theory I feel is most applicable to my experience as a tutor, and the theory I will focus on in this paper, is the theory of proxemics. Introduced by E. T. Hall in 1959, proxemics is the study of how people use personal space to communicate (Martin and Nakayama 46). Just as different cultures have different rules when it comes to marriage, power distance, and verbal communication, so to do cultures vary in their rules concerning personal space (Martin and Nakayama 46). Hall does identifies four universal distance zones intimate, personal, social, and public but it is important to note that although the zones may be universal, the actual space each zone takes up is highly variable from one culture to the next (Martin and Nakayama 46). When people are immersed by their native culture they are intuitively able to position themselves at an appropriate distance from those around them based on past experience, trouble arises when people try to apply their rules of space to cultural contexts other than their own (Martin and Nakayama 46).

Wongsuwan 5 Proxemics itself has highly practical origins. The United States rocketed in international prominence following World War II; however, U.S. businessmen and government personnel working abroad did not feel equipped to work and live among such unfamiliar people and cultures (Martin and Nakayama 45). Hall was working for the Foreign Service Institute developing predeparture courses when these problems were first becoming apparent; he decided to observe the cross-cultural interactions going on around him to see if he could discern a specific set of guidelines Americans abroad would do well to follow (Martin and Nakayama 45-46). Proxemics was born of those observations. Proxemics stressed the notion of personal space as a means of communication and the need to respect cultural differences in rules regarding personal space in order to facilitate smooth communication across cultures (Martin and Nakayama 46). 1970 saw O. M. Watson carrying the torch for proxemics by investigating nonverbal communication occurring between Arab and U.S. students following complaints from both (Martin and Nakayama 274). The Arab students saw the U.S. students as being distant and rude while the U.S. students believed the Arab students to be pushy, arrogant, and rude (Martin and Nakayama 274). Watson concluded that it was conflicting sets of rules in regards to personal space that was leading to each groups negative evaluation of the other (Martin and Nakayama 274). Watsons observations led him to distinguish between two main culture groups in the field of proxemics: contact and noncontact cultures (Martin and Nakayama 274). The Arab students fell under contact and the U.S. students under noncontact. The table below details some characteristics of each.

Wongsuwan 6

Relative Characteristics of Contact and Noncontact Cultures (O.M. Watson) Contact Culture Behavior Noncontact Culture Behavior
Standing close together to talk Engaging in direct eye contact Frequent touching Louder voices Standing farther apart to talk Limiting eye contact Infrequent touching

(Martin and Nakayama 274) Its definitely true that unexamined regional differences in rules regarding space have the potential to make or break attempts at communication and coexistence, but its worth noting that the appropriate use of space can be highly variable even within a regional group (Martin and Nakayama 274). Martin and Nakayama note that gender, age, ethnicity, context, and topic all influence the use of personal space with some studies showing that regional culture is perhaps the least important factor (274). They point out that the space relationships between unmarried Arab men and women closely resemble noncontact culture space relationships, despite the surrounding, dominant, regional culture following contact culture space rules most of the time (Martin and Nakayama 274). Analysis I dont think there could be a better fit between my experience and a communications theory than the one weve got right here. Samira is Arabic, so we might expect her to most strongly exhibit behavior associated with contact cultures. However, since she is a single woman we might expect noncontact behaviors around the opposite sex. Then again, she hasnt always been single; might this free her from the cultural expectations of distance and aversion that other single women are held to? Also worth noting is how much of her life has been spent away from the Middle East, who knows what culture she most strongly identifies with? With all these battling quirks and qualities coming together in Samira, an interesting application of proxemics theory should follow.

Wongsuwan 7 Again and again, while researching proxemics, I was surprised at all the descriptions of behavior that so closely mirrored Samiras. People of noncontact cultures are described as limiting eye contact, speaking softly, and experiencing discomfort when people enter into their relatively large bubble. This describes Samiras behavior during our first few weeks together to a tee. She kept her eyes on the reading even when one of us was speaking, spoke softly to the point of being inaudible, and seemed tense in general. Martin and Nakayama list the following factors as affecting how a person will use space: regional culture, gender, age, ethnicity, context, and topic. Samiras native culture, and perhaps her ethnicity, would not seem likely to lend itself to the sort of noncontact cultural behavior she exhibited those first few weeks. If no other factors were at play, we might be able to make some pretty good guesses about Samiras acceptance of U.S. culture and her ties to her native land. We cant do that, though; there are other factors at play. I suspect that it was the context of our meeting that contributed most to Samiras noncontact-like behavior (if she is indeed culturally contact). Recall Hofstedes finding that Arab countries generally maintain a high power distance. Had we met as equals, as classmates or coworkers for example, I might have met a completely different person with completely different space, gaze, and kinetic behaviors. I was first introduced as a superior; it would not be surprising for a cultural Arab to maintain some distance. Its also possible that Samira is noncontact by default. Can we rule that out? If Samiras typical behavior is that of a person from a contact culture, we can assume that some other factor, such as power distance, inhibited the expression of her natural behavior patterns during those first few weeks. If that inhibiting factor were to diminish and contact culture qualities began to appear it would be safe to assume that Samira belonged to a contact culture all along.

Wongsuwan 8 If all possible inhibiting factors are reduced and no change in behavior presents itself, it would be safe to assume that Samira has adopted noncontact culture as her own were it not for the possibility of an unconsidered variable. Additionally, it is unlikely that no change in behavior will follow changes to factors affecting behavior. Anyways. My first few sessions with Samira all followed the same basic pattern: she reads and I jump in when needed. Her behavior during this time was as static as our routine. Her eyes gravitate to the page. She doesnt move much. Shes focused solely on the assignment at hand. She does respond to my explanations but seems to prefer using her voice to read. Thankfully, things didnt stay that way. It took a few weeks, but we did eventually turn our attention away from her reading assignments to talk about other things. One of the first personal things she mentioned to me had to do with her worries about her native Afghanistan and its people. I empathized as best I could and, sensing I ought to, told her some little thing about me. I think that day was a turning point in terms of her evaluation of me. After that day we would occasionally break for short (literally 10-seconds-short) chats every now and then. That first little talk wasnt magic or anything, but it did open the door. Over the course of the next couple months or so Samira seemed to become much more physically expressive, confident, and enthusiastic. By the end of the semester she was moving her hands excitedly to answer questions she felt confident in and turning in her chair to face me just about whenever we werent reading. Not only was she looking me in the eye, she had taken to staring me down for clues as well. Her confidence and volume seemed to increase as well; she may even have been too confident at times, talking over my corrections and suggestions. I fear that my description of events is ambiguous or misleading as far as time and progression is concerned. If you were to sit in on a session and return for the next you probably

Wongsuwan 9 wouldnt get the sense anything had changed, but over the course of the semester I was privileged to have Samira open up to me, if only just a bit. Im guessing that Samira belongs, and has always belonged, to the contact cultures of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It would be interesting to see Samira outside of school, somewhere she is comfortable. If my power distance reduction theory is correct and the Samira I tutored at the end of the semester is most like the natural Samira, then I wonder how often that Samira gets to run wild. Reflection At the beginning of the semester, offering 15 hours of service sounded like it could be a very fulfilling experience, if a little bothersome. More than service learning or working with someone from another culture, I was most apprehensive about my ability to provide worthwhile service and engage students (especially when I thought Id have to guide conversations). But its over now and I get to look back without those worries. I think I can say with a high degree of confidence that I definitely helped some people with their English homework. Working with Samira was an awesome experience. Theres this notion thats been going around that says most Americans dont realize were at war right now; its probably true. Its so easy to forget something, even something as big as a war, when it doesnt seem to affect you one way or another. Its not like that for Samira though. Its not like that for a lot of people who dont get to forget. I will admit to doubting the value of applying a theory to my experience, but now that Ive done it I dont think Ill forget about proxemics for a while. Its also interesting to witness firsthand the descriptive power of the social sciences. If I were someone else, someone less trusting, and I read this paper, I would suspect foul play. Samira may as well have been

Wongsuwan 10 carrying around a checklist what with how many behaviors predicted by proxemics she exhibited. Coming into the semester, my definition of civic engagement was to participate in the community around you, be more involved with your world than with yourself, and to expand your area of concern to encompass more than just you. I still think thats pretty good but I might revise it to reflect the importance of doing good for other people. Communities and worlds are kind of hard to pin down, not that they dont need us, which makes doing good for people the surest way to be sure youre doing good. I am glad I was able to take part in service learning this semester. Im not sure the net effect of all my tutoring would even register as a point of improvement on a standardized English test, but thats ok. Good is cumulative. I dont plan on forgetting my service learning experience any time soon. Its probably the best thing Ive done in years but I never would have done it if it werent mandatory, whats wrong with me? Giving an hour to the ALC once or twice a week is so easy I think it might be morally wrong not to. Thats the takeaway right there: making the world a better place doesnt require grand gestures or crippling self-sacrifice, just do good when you get the chance and well all be better for it.

Wongsuwan 11 Works Cited "Academic Literacy Center." SLCC.edu. Salt Lake Community College, n.d. Web. 04 May 2013. Hofstede, Geert. "Hofstedes Dimension of Culture Scales by Country." Ideal-group.org. IDEAL Group, n.d. Web. 4 May 2013. Also found in COMM 2150 course readings. "Learning Center Programs." SLCC.edu. Salt Lake Community College, n.d. Web. 4 May 2013. Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. 5th ed. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.