Running Head: REFLECTION EDUC 606 1

ASTL Reflection Point

Madeline Albrittain

EDUC 606

George Mason University

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Throughout EDUC 606, my perspective on culture continued to develop and strengthen.

My puzzlement, one of many, I chose to explore was low participation in my speaking intensive,

Spanish 3 Honors course. Examining recent literature and completing the literature review chart

helped my organize my data and find assumptions that I had with regard to participation in the

foreign language classroom. This reflection will focus on two developments in my professional

and pedagogical framework. First, I will reflect on my transformation in my concept of

participation. Secondly, I will reflect on the Cultural Inquiry Study and Report and what I

learned from this process.

Prior to delving into the literature, my mindset of participation was one-dimensional. I

wanted my students to feel comfortable speaking and in my pre-action student questionnaire,

they said they were, in fact, comfortable participating in our class. However, even with different

measures taken like increased wait time and different activities to appeal to my students’

multiple intelligences, students did not participate in the ways that I expected. This was very

puzzling and I wrote in one of my initial journal entries, “​Regarding assumptions, I think I

assume that lack of student participation, my main puzzlement, is because students place less

value on participation than quantitative assessments and numeric values on learning. This could

be from parent interactions that I’ve had and students interactions and responses when I ask them

to participate more. Generally, when I wait for more responses, I still get the same students as

volunteers.”

The change in my mindset was prompted specifically by reading literature about

participation in the foreign language classroom and foreign language anxiety. By completing the

literature review table in week six, I was able to examine my assumptions and develop my
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concept of participation. I was able to research foreign language anxiety and willingness to

communicate as factors that contribute to verbal participation in the classroom (Bernales, 2016;

Côté & Gaffney, 2018)​. This supported the ASTL learning outcome, “​Use cultural perspectives

and research literature to help construct and evaluate appropriate interventions for classroom

use.”​ I was able to deepen my understanding of engagement versus verbal participation and

gather student perspectives that furthered my understanding of my puzzlement. While verbal

participation is essential in the foreign language classroom, I was able to gain insight as to why

some students are more hesitant than others (Ewald, 2008; Bernales, 2016). Throughout my

action-based research, I saw positive changes in the levels of participation, specifically when I

asked for student input about what types of changes they would like to see in the classroom with

regard to participation. Post-action, I was able to incorporate activities of strategic competence

and my students responded well to both (Geeslin & Long, 2014).

So, what does this mean for me? In the future, I will begin to include lessons in strategic

competence earlier in the year and ask for student perspectives and suggestions more frequently.

As I said in my three slide executive summary presentation, my students’ suggestions were

actually supported in the literature. I gained valuable knowledge by requesting input from

students and then exploring the research when implementing my action plan. This also supports

the ASTL learning outcomes five and six as I was able to explain to colleagues the critical

importance of considering multiple perspectives and second language learners’ needs.

The Cultural Inquiry Study and Report for this course allowed me to synthesize

knowledge and reflect more in depth on the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy that

began with EDUC 613. The addition of action based research helped me visually see the
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importance of creating a student-centered classroom. In my CIP reflection I write, “​Through

research and student questionnaires, I was better able to respond to participation in the classroom

and view it not only as verbal participation but rather, explore other ways to engage all students.”

I was able to engage in research and read literature that help me see that participation has many

more contributing factors than I assumed or expected to encounter. One of the most impactful

experiences of EDUC 606 was hearing other secondary educators’ experiences from their

cultural inquiry processes. The theme of getting to know your students emerged in each

presentation that I heard. In addition, each one of us commented that we wished we had the

opportunity to engage in this process with our students at the beginning of the year. We each are

excited to engage in a similar process with our new students this coming academic year. Hearing

similar sentiments from my fellow educators was inspiring. After engaging in the CIP, I am

better prepared to examine my classroom, understand student perspectives and use practices that

I learned to enhance the learning process for all students.