In the article “’Then I Stop Coming to School’:
Understanding Absenteeism in an Adult English as a Second Language Program” by
Susan Schalge and Kay Soga, they tried to see the reason behind absenteeism in
English as a Second Language (ESL) class through their “ethnographic research on
attrition and assesses the contribution of anthropology to a practical
understanding of this case.” (151). Through this research, they can see the
factors of the absentees of the students and come up with solutions for it.
The first factor that they found is the dissatisfaction
of the students that came from their anxiety about the topics or goals of the
class that are unpredictable for them. They became bored and frustrated as they
did not meet their expectation. They give a real example that one of ESL students
wanted to ask questions but the teacher seems to be busy, and his willingness
to ask started fading away as the time went by. This is one of the problems
that leads to the absent of the students. Schalge and Soga mention that when
the students were asked about what they learn on the class, “the typical first
response was silence” or “many things. (157). There is no specific detail about
what they learn. And then, the next factor is the uncertainty of the student
population that leads to the unpredictable learning topics and goals. Because
of it, the students have hard time to follow the subject matter in the class.
Moreover, a problem like miscommunication of the classroom management styles
appears, and increases the frustration of the students. Schalge and Soga give
some example like a student want to learn about grammar but the students only
got a lot of vocabularies.
Based on those reasons, they both come out with two
solutions for the two factors. Teachers need to make a better curriculum
structure and make more effective communication among staff and students about
their goals and expectation for the students. Also, teachers need to estimate
the students’ abilities to facilitate their communication in order to develop
their interest toward learning English.
As a student from other country, I can see what the
points of Schalge and Soga are. I can relate it with my own school life back in
my college. It’s also because of the different culture where the curriculum of
learning English is different with the curriculum in my own country. It took
time to me for adapting with the new system in here, so I had a hard time to
learn. And then, it leads to some absents in the class.
Do you think there are other factors that can cause
absents in ESL class?
What also some advises that you can give to the teachers?
Do you think the curriculum is already good enough?
What the students should do or say in order to avoid all
those problems?
Link: http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b88854af-2d61-442e-a42b-7f865a0f8600%40sessionmgr10&vid=2&hid=12
I actually really enjoyed this article and found it very interesting. This probably has to do with the fact I am a Chinese major and have studied languages my whole life and so I understand being in the environment of a "learning a second language" classroom. It is hard to see fast results and improvement when learning a language because it takes a lot of time and dedication and so it can become very frustrating and discouraging at times. This can be a reason for not wanting to come to the classes, feeling as though you are not improving. I think it is important for the teachers to constantly remind their students of their hard work and to not set unrealistic goals.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that students are eager at first to learn, but then become discouraged when the teachers seem too busy to answer their questions. I think that if teachers put in a little more effort to make sure that all students understand the concepts and show that they care, the students will want to go to class and learn. I also think that the students should put in more effort and push the teachers to help them in every way that they can.
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