Mode of Use of the Vignette - Assignment Example

? VIGNETTE Table of Contents The Chosen “M”- The Vignette 3 Reason for Choosing the Vignette 3 Mode of Use of the Vignette 4 Sample of Collected Data4 The Vignette- Teaching Arabic 5 References 8 The Chosen “M”- The Vignette My choice is the vignette. This is M22. The text tells us that the vignette is a kind of story, relating in this case to a happening during my time teaching Arabic as a second language. This teaching is the focus of my action research. The vignette is supposed to surface insights into an aspect or aspects of that narration that yields surprises, or that appears to me as striking or out of the ordinary. It may also refer, it seems to instances that are out of the box or the mold of what I would normally expect in such events or circumstances. Reason for Choosing the Vignette I find from my experience teaching Arabic that the daily circumstances of that has yielded a lot of surprising twists and turns, especially when it comes to how my students actually react to the lessons, and to the way their attitudes and energy for the class seem so different from my expectations, but in a positive way. Their reactions sometimes get me thinking about just how much Arabic can mean to students, and just how the teaching has also taught me a lot. Far from being a monotonous chore, teaching Arabic is a daily source of surprise and insight for me. As such, it seems to me the vignette is the best way to represent these everyday startling things. Also, I have had this startling exchange with some students in my mind that I wanted to share. It seems from the texts the vignette is the best way to capture these exchanges. The vignette is essentially story-telling, and I do have this story to tell, one of many actually. The vignette is supposed to capture the essence of something that strikes me, and this indeed is what I want to convey. There is something striking about what really motivates some of my students to study Arabic intently. It is not for the reasons that I thought they had. Moreover, from where I am coming from, it is the opposite of what I expected from students coming from a wealthy country. The vignette is the perfect vehicle to transmit this sense of being surprised that things are not what they seem as far as my students are concerned and what motivates them. Mode of Use of the Vignette The text prescribes a way to go about writing and sharing experiences via the form of the vignette. This paper follows that prescription in a series of steps. The mode of use is the application of the instructions to narrate some classroom exchanges between me and my students. The focus is on the reasons that students choose to apply themselves very hard in order to learn Arabic. The vignette is sued to be able to bring out the insights into the motivations of the students. The texts describe vignette-writing as a process with specific elements. The important thing here is that this current paper made use of the commentary feature of the vignette, so that I may share my insights into the surprising responses of my students regarding what motivates them to learn Arabic and attend my class. Sample of Collected Data This exercise made use of data collected from responses to the questions on motivation that were administered to members of another class. For this I was able to get the good cooperation of the teacher of the other class, Qassem. The objective was to gauge what motivated the members of that other class to study Arabic. I then compared their responses to the questions on motivation with my own observations in my class. The Vignette- Teaching Arabic My vignette is a story that I want to share relating to some interesting experiences during my time teaching Arabic as secondary language for Americans and immigrants of Arabian descent. This has been the focus of my action research so far, and I find it to be a very fulfilling experience. Everyday I learn something new and surprising. Moreover, I can see a little of myself and my struggles in the struggles of my own students learning Arabic. Here the shoe is on the other foot, because I am proficient in Arabic while at the same time I am a student of the English language. You can say that I am learning from my students too, the same way that they learn from me. The class is teaching me as much as I am teaching the class about Arabic. It is my bridge between my Arabic and my own learnings of the English language. My difficulties with English allow me to understand where my students are coming from. On the other hand, my command of Arabic means that I am able to help my students master the language as well. To the extent that I master my English skills, I am able to impart knowledge and mastery of the Arabic language to my students in turn. What is startling is that I am also learning more about the English language in the process of teaching Arabic to my students. A large part of my action research is not just teaching Arabic as a foreign language, but also trying to understand where my students are coming from. My research is also about what motivates my students to apply themselves and to learn the language. Wouldn't it be easier for my students to just make the most of their English? After all, they are already in America, the land of opportunity. This is where the action is for many people, so why bother to learn Arabic at all? Aside from the sincere scholar who wants to learn Arabic for more spiritual and academic reasons, Arabic seems to hold very little to students. On the other hand I am amazed at some of the responses that I got when I asked my class their reasons for wanting to learn the language. These are people who may have better things to do with their time, and yet there they were, willing to sit down and to learn from me about the language. There must be some hidden motivations that are not obvious at first glance, I said to myself. It turns out, from the survey that I conducted in class, that the motivations are way beyond what I was expecting to gather from the students. For instance, an overriding motivation for the students is to gain material wealth from learning Arabic. To me this response is very unique and a bit startling. The reason is that it is very extreme. I can understand if students want to earn the skills for some stable career, or some short-term opportunities. What is startling is that some students expect to become rich from studying Arabic. This is to be accomplished via practicing a trade, or a profession. It can also be had from gaining a job and an entry ticket to higher salaries and more prosperity in the material sense. Equally surprising that so few expressed interest in Arabic for its own sake, to know more about the country of their origins, to know Arabic literature and language as arts, and things like that. The reason students want to learn, it turns out, is tied to pragmatic ambitions. It surprises me that those who answered in this way did not think it a hurdle that the dividends from learning Arabic may take a long time to harvest. To gain material wealth from learning the Arabic language seems to me a far-fetched idea. It is a response that I did not expect to hear from a class that is composed of people who are supposed to be happy and prosperous in America. Yet there they were, very ambitious, and expecting to use Arabic to advance themselves. These ambitions have formed the basis of my own planning for my classes. I have to align my teaching so that my students are able to develop pragmatic Arabic language skills useful in work settings and business settings. References Notes Read More