Li (Jerry) Xie Dimensions of Diversity Capstone Project

Dimensions of Diversity:
Capstone Project
Li (Jerry) Xie
Team 3
Format Credit: Heather Smiles

Contents
Part 1: Preface
Part 2: Instructional Portfolio
Part 3: Reflection of Concepts Learned
A Chinese painting dated to the Song Dynasty

Course Goals: Teachers will effectively carry out their responsibility for
the teaching and learning of ELLs through
1. Understanding the policies and social and cultural issues that contribute to
and impact the schooling of ELLs.
2. Expanding their knowledge of how language functions within academic
content teaching and learning, and how children and adolescents acquire a
second language.
3. Exploring the relationships among languages and cultures.
4. Implementing with students practical, research-based protocols, methods,
and strategies to integrate subject-area content, language, and literacy
development—per the expectations of the World Class Instructional Design
and Assessment (WIDA) English Language Development Standards
(ELDS)—and thus support ELLs’ success with all state academic standards.

Capstone Project Reflection
“The purpose of this assessment is to demonstrate your mastery of the course goals.”
Here is the link to the Word document.
1. Due to China’s language planning with only one official language, most EFL students in China do not enjoy
adequate English input. For them, living and learning in such an input-poor environment entails especial effort
on their part, as well as teacher support with both comprehensible input and explicit instruction. China is not
without its advantages, however. For one thing, China’s long-standing tradition of education propels students
to achieve academic success with diligence and perseverance. Many of the traditional practices now
overlooked in the West, such as grammar drills and memorizing vocabulary lists and passages, are still popular
among Chinese students and teachers. Such policy, social, and cultural issues dictate that Chinese EFL
teachers of today are in especial need of creative solutions that build on existing traditions and practices.
2. Today’s Chinese EFL teacher need to gain access to cutting-edge research and synthesize them with existing
approaches long found to work for Chinese students. Stephen Krashen’s Comprehensible Input Hypothesis
tells us that language is, or at least can be, acquired rather than learned. That means that Chinese EFL teachers
have reason to boldly experiment with modern pedagogies such as task-based, student-centered, and
communicative approaches to help students learn through social relationships and acquire “group
membership” as second-language speakers, so as to lower their affective and output filters.

At the same time, teachers need to be circumspect when examining traditional approaches dismissed by
Western scholars as “rote memorization,” keeping in mind China’s reality as an input-poor environment.
Chinese students will never likely hear and read enough English to “make out” all the rules without devoting
considerable time to intentional learning, and teachers, in explicit instruction. In fact, more recent research in
the West such as that by Irina Elgort has shown again that intentional learning and explicit teaching are still a
big part of the foreign language learning experience.
Apart from keeping the curriculum rigorous and engaging, teachers also need to learn modern science so as to
cater to students’ learning styles and not to hamper their development Great traditions need to be interpreted in
new and creative ways to accomodate to today’s needs. For example, the advent of technology dictates that
memorization and drills alone no longer suffice. Students will learn to think creatively and innovatively, and
learn to cooperate and keep competitions healthy. Chinese students are known to be talented individuals but
inept collaborators. Chinese educators must spend some time in their professional life abroad to keep up with
the leading edge in their field. While honouring the Confucian tradition of respect for elders and wisdom,
students of today are increasingly encouraged to challenge their teachers’ ideas and to innovate based on their
professors’ achievements. These are promising signs of Chinese teachers and students taking a step forward.

3. Students learn through interactions with their surroundings as members of different communities. In this
sense, language can be viewed as a social construct with practical functions. Krashen, in conjecturing about a
possible “output filter,” recalls his own experience of speaking French with his friend, and later with a stranger
whom he suspected to be a native French speaker. In the latter case, his accent deteriorated. From this and
other observations he infers that we learn language as social members. In this sense language is related to
identity. Language is also closely related to cultures as a carrier of values and thought patterns. Therefore, to
learning a language, we must also learn its culture.
4. Through the Personalized Tasks I put myself vicariously in the classrooms and got hands-on experience in
lesson planning based on research. To be able to construct class materials in a scaffolded way is satisfying. I
was at first daunted by jargons such as “scaffolding” and “sheltered,” but later began to understand what are
behind the words.
I chose to work on vocabulary, culture, and writing, mainly because these are what I felt most comfortable to
start with. I chose them also because they were what I was most interested in, had some prior experience with.
For example, I have written one academic paper on intentional and incidental vocabulary learning. I am
myself a lover of words, and a former Spelling Bee champion at my college.

Capstone Reflection #2: Family Conference
Based on what I have read in class (especially Stephen Krashen’s hypothesis on Comprehensible Input), as your son
and daughter’s teacher I believe that language and content are two sides of the same coin. They cannot be without
one another. Therefore, it is important to teach language through content, and teach content through comprehensible
input. Sheltered instruction prior to subject-area instruction would be the answer to this question. The teacher and
student need to work within the latter’s Zone of Proximal Development to maximize learning. Language objectives
must be clear and scalable, such as to be able to read graded readers at a certain level, write composition meriting
certain scores, and be able to fully participate and learn effectively in a subject-area class with native speakers.
Assessments include tests and quizzes. I prefer a synthesis of traditional approaches with modern ones. While I will
care for your child’s emotional needs, I believe that classroom discipline (so long as it is not too strict) is key to
academic success. Take social studies for example. Your child is expected to preview the vocabulary before class,
and memorize them after class. During class we will go over them, but we would like to leave out time for
communicative instruction, where students can participate in teacher-led discussions. For homework, I will assign
drills in the textbook, and your child is expected to complete them. I will grade them and deduct points for incorrect
answers, but if your child corrects them and brings them back to me, I will still give them half of the lost points. I
will strive to ensure that every students learns in a rigourous yet engaging and hopefully fun setting.

Add your identity map here
Jerry’s
Identity
Map

First Class: Communicating with Families
An explanation to a family of how their student will learn both academic content and develop their English language
skills referencing a specific unit. Give specific examples of objectives, assessments, and class activities from a
particular unit in a content area (can use examples from your personalized task submissions).
Must Haves Amazing Help
Explain your teaching of:
❏ Language
❏ Specific Content
❏ Culture
Cite a:
❏ specific routine
❏ policy
❏ theory - (e.g. Krashen)
Key Ideas
❏ Assessment
❏ Policy
❏ Reading
❏ Developing language
❏ Help
❏ Friends
❏ Contacting You

Scholars believe that there are three stages of learning a word, namely, “(a) initially identifying and handling a
new word, (b) committing the word to memory, and (c) attempting to use the newly learned word” (Gu, 2003). It is
to my understanding that in a successive order, these three stages complete the learning path from passive to active
vocabulary, representing exposure, memorization, and reproduction.
Gu thus describes a typical intensive reading session, that “the teacher goes over the text (normally around
1,000 words in length) sentence by sentence, explains the meaning, clarifies the grammar, pinpoints important and
difficult vocabulary items, and shows how to use them. Conscientious students preview the text and locate
difficulties of textual understanding and vocabulary usage before class, listen to the teacher’s explanations in class,
and review the text after class by rereading it and revisiting new words” (Gu, 2003).
It seems to me, based on limited readings, that Western scholars tend to overlook the traditional vocabulary
acquisition practice of Chinese students, which is often pejoratively called “rote memorization.” Sayings such as
“Meaning reveals itself after a hundred times of reading” are well-known among Chinese students, many of whom,
according to Gu, are pragmatic learners; “the dichotomy of intrinsic versus extrinsic perhaps does not apply to them
the way it applies to their Western counterparts” (Gu, 2003).
[1] Gu, P. Y. (2003). Fine Brush and Freehand 1: The Vocabulary‐Learning Art of Two Successful Chinese EFL
Learners. Tesol Quarterly, 37(1), 73-104.

Catherine Snow lists “nine proven approaches to teaching vocabulary” as (1) pick generative words, (2) ensure
recurrent exposures, (3) provide opportunities to use the words, (4) expand each word’s semantic mapping, (5)
cultivate “word awareness,” (6) encourage experimentation, expect mistakes, (7) present words in semantically-rich
contexts, (8) teach word-learning strategies, and (9) provide learner-friendly definitions.
For Chinese EFL students, vocabulary drills (and grammar drills, for that matter) are also part of the learning
routine, and English textbooks in China typically include them in each lesson. As learning strategies they must not be
overlooked, nor must word memorization be. Professor Bondie informed me that “12 exposures is the number early
literacy experts use for the number of times a child must have a meaningful encounter with a word to learn the
word.” When introducing a word, the following information must be made available to the students: the word form,
its pronunciation (International Phonetic Alphabet), part of speech, past tense, past participle, its Chinese equivalents
(definition and/or explanation), and the English definition where necessary.
Word must also be presented in a semantically-rich context at least once, to acquaint the students with its
semantic and pragmatic features, its level of diction, and register. I believe that etymological knowledge, where
possible, is also needed and beneficial for the students’ sake, although I have not researched into this topic. For
generative words, identify roots, stems, and derivatives, as they will deepen the students’ understanding of the words.

Last Class: Communicating with Families
An explanation to a family of how their student will learn both academic content and develop their English language
skills referencing a specific unit. Give specific examples of objectives, assessments, and class activities from a
particular unit in a content area (can use examples from your personalized task submissions).
Must Haves Amazing Help
Explain your teaching of:
❏ Language
❏ Specific Content
❏ Culture
Cite a:
❏ specific routine
❏ policy
❏ theory - (e.g. Krashen)
Key Ideas
❏ Assessment
❏ Policy
❏ Reading
❏ Developing language
❏ Help
❏ Friends
❏ Contacting You

Last Class: Communicating with Families
All in all, I think that EFL instruction in China needs to include three aspects: language, content, and culture.
Stephen Krashen proposed Sheltered Subject Matter Instruction for intermediate students, in which students learn
language through subject-area matter. I think this is a good method to train students in academic thinking while
ensuring that they learn academic content.
Cultural awareness is key. It would be regrettable if Chinese EFL students knows everything about Western
holidays and traditions, but do not know how to discuss their Chinese counterparts to their Western friends. This is
one form which cultural awareness is key. Another aspect of it is that the curriculum and pedagogy must be tailored
to the Chinese cultural setting. For example, due to traditional Confucian values, many Chinese teachers are reluctant
to implement communicative methods thoroughly. And while the traditional teacher-centered method is indeed
helpful, in my opinion Chinese teachers need to be aware of affective factors in learning English, so as to remove the
affective (input) and output filters. Students need a relaxing environment in which they are free to express
themselves. As Dr. Qin Wenjuan (Dr. Uccelli’s former student) said, translanguaging should also be allowed in the
classroom to stimulate deep thinking which might not be possible yet in L2.

Part 2: Instructional Portfolio

Submitted?
Put a ✔ once
completedaa
Date
What is your goal for
when you will turn in the
assignment?
Assignment
Which personalized task
are you completing?
Possible Points
How many points is the
assignment worth?
Feedback?
What kind of feedback
do you want (Teacher,
Peer, Self)?
Link to
Assignment/Slide
✔ 9/5 3P 15 Teacher Link
✔ 9/16 3R 5 Teacher Link
✔ 9/26 2R 5 Self Link
✔ 10/8 3A 10 Self Link
✔ 10/9 3C 10 Self Link
✔ 10/11 6A 10 Self Link
✔ 10/12 6C 10 Self Link
✔ 10/13 6P 15 Self Link

Submitted?
Put a ✔ once
completedaa
Date
What is your goal for
when you will turn in the
assignment?
Assignment
Which personalized task
are you completing?
Possible Points
How many points is the
assignment worth?
Feedback?
What kind of feedback
do you want (Teacher,
Peer, Self)?
Link to
Assignment/Slide
✔ 9/13 5A 5 Self Link

Name of the Task (ie. 1R, 5A, 4P, etc.)
1. Name of the Assignment (1R, 2T, 3C, etc) as the title of the slide and answers to the following questions:
a. What you learned or your most significant take away from the assignment.
b. To learn more, what might your next steps be?

2R. Discussion/Speaking/Listening - Read Research
Practical Tips for Small Group Discussions
i. What you learned or your most significant take away from the assignment.
Discussion engenders learning among students by saving their wait time, in turn easing the teacher’s burden. The
Elbow Partner Exchange helps students discover what they already know about a problem, saving time and effort on
the teacher’s part, for the teacher can then address the problem in a more targeted way instead of reteaching what the
students already know. It also gives each student a chance to engage in discussion, instead of centering the discussion
on only a few students picked to answer questions before the whole class.
Many students do not go over the teacher’s corrections of their homework. Homework rounds redresses the problem
by requiring the students to discuss and correct their homework with each other. It helps the teacher to be flexible
and targeted with instructional goals.
Students benefit greatly from being grouped with students with different aptitudes, and learning is consolidated when
students teach what they have learned to one another.

Routines work best when they are simple. Time limits keep students focused on the task on hand. Student input as to
how to improve the routines need to be valued. With the “confirm or contribute” rule, student participation will be
ensured. Adhere to routines for maximum effect, and use formative assessment to track progress. Students’ sense of
ownership over the discussions is important for fostering academic performance.
ii. To learn more, what might your next steps be?
Since I am not a teacher now, I cannot apply the routines to any real classroom scenarios. So for me, the most
practical next steps is to review the routine approach, to remember them for my possible future teaching. One
specific approach which strikes me as fresh is homework rounds. In my opinion, homework round not only saves
time for the teacher, but also helps them to target instruction to problems with which students are struggling. This is
innovative, because along with the Elbow Partner Exchange, it saves time for both the students and the teacher.
I tried to raise a question on this topic, but found that the routine approach has been described in great detail, so there
is not much room for further inquiry. Perhaps my task, then, is to remember this approach as well as I could for
future reference.

2. Explain what you found interesting and useful in this article.
I have never heard of homework round before, though for my Personalized Task 3P Rhonda did recommend me to
have the students annotate their own writing for quality and use of the vocabulary, and star their most meaningful use
of one of the new words, so that students would recognize their own use of the words, on which I can then provide
additional feedback.
Homework round, together with Elbow Partner Exchange, serve to foster student autonomy and sense of ownership
over their own study. This engages the students and increases the level of involvement in the task, the mental
processing, and can potentially help to aid student learning.
i. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges.
As much as I like 21st century approaches, I still cannot let go the traditional approach, which is not only Chinese,
but also traditionally Western. From my own experience, I feel that I have learned the most information from
teachers who read off the textbook and assigned drills to students. I wonder if the results of this new approach are
measurable, and how they compare with the more traditional approaches.

While I am open to the student-centered approaches, I believe that human nature is inertial, and discipline and
teacher’s encouragement are still important to student progress.
ii. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I think…
so next I will (question or next step action)
I began thinking that small group discussions should be carried out after the teacher’s instruction for the students to
absorb the course content. And now I think that such discussions can also take place prior to instruction, as a way to
help the teacher target instruction and be more economical with time. So next I will remember these approaches, and
try to combine them with the more traditional approaches to instruction, to maximize the effect of teaching on
students.

3R. Vocabulary - Read Research
Choosing Words to Teach
My biggest takeaway from this assignment is knowing that familiarity is not the main principle for selecting
words to teach. Instead, importance and usefulness are key considerations. Words that are useful in oral or
written discourse are likely to be of high priority. In choosing which words to teach, language should be
considered in different levels of utility, borrowing the notion of “tiers.” Tier One includes the most basic
words barely in need of instruction; Tier Three would be words of relatively low frequency, dedicated to
special purposes; whereas Tier Two consists of words most suitable for teaching – high-frequency words for
mature language users. Thus economy or utility is a consideration when choosing what words to teach.
To identify such Tier Two words, we must follow the following criteria, namely which words will appear most
frequently in a wide variety of texts and in the oral and written language of mature users, and whether the
students already have ways to express the concepts represented by the words.
The choice of words must also be considered in conjunction with the number of words to teach in any given
text or lesson, and how many words students of an age group can handle.

To learn more, next I might recall my past lessons received in schools and university, to see whether the choice
and number of words fitted these criteria
One thing that I found interesting in this article is that Tier Two words must be new to the students, but not too
much above his level of comprehension. Ideally, students should already possess the lexical and conceptual
resources to comprehend the new words. This confirmed my previously-held beliefs about learning and
teaching. One thing I found useful in the article is the criteria to consider when selecting the words for the
lesson. It is good to have such a concrete, measurable standard.

2. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges.
I had some trouble determining the discretion and liberty a teachers needs and has when adapting this set of
criteria to students of different age groups, how to expand or contract the number of the words, and how to
determine the cognitive levels of students without prior experience in teaching.
3. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I
think… so next I will (question or next step action)
I began thinking that any words extracted from a passage can be taught, as long as they are new to the
students. And now I think that discretion needs to be made when selecting words. So next I will put this
standard into practice, to test if it is valid.

3A. Vocabulary - Analyze Work
Determine Tier 1, 2, and 3 Vocabulary Words
Learning to teach is not easy. It is an art that needs practice. In choosing what words to teach, one must first divide
teachable terms into three tiers. Tier 2 words are most appropriate for teaching because they appear in a wide variety
of texts and in the written and oral language of mature language users. One "test" of identifying Tier 2 words is
whether the students already have ways to express the concept they represent. Then, given the constraint on the
students’ memory load, one must follow a set of criteria in choosing which words to keep, and which to eliminate
from the pool. Words should be selected based on their importance to text comprehension, to the students’
appreciation of the theme, setting, plot, and key contents of the passage. Certainly, there can be words beyond Tier 2
but which nevertheless require attention, and teachers should exercise her best judgment in choosing them. It is truly
an arbitrary process, and choices should be made based on the teaching objectives and student needs.

b. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges.
While I see a difference between EFL students and native speakers, I have not done enough research on how
teaching strategies should be differentiated for these groups. David Paul’s Language Teaching Professionals website
(https://ltprofessionals.com/efl-vs-native-speaker-materials) compares EFL and native speaker materials as follows:
At Dave and Amy English School, we develop our own games and texts: Dave and Amy Games . Why? Materials
for native speakers are often unsuitable for EFL students.
Materials for native speakers often contain:
1. Complex vocabulary. For the EFL student, the vocabulary in these games can be overwhelming and reduce
interest in English. At Dave and Amy Games, we keep things simple and clear. Using appropriate vocabulary and
grammar.

While I see a difference between EFL students and native speakers, I have not done enough research on how
teaching strategies should be differentiated for these groups. David Paul’s Language Teaching Professionals website
(https://ltprofessionals.com/efl-vs-native-speaker-materials) compares EFL and native speaker materials as follows:
At Dave and Amy English School, we develop our own games and texts: Dave and Amy Games . Why? Materials
for native speakers are often unsuitable for EFL students.
Materials for native speakers often contain:
1. Complex vocabulary. For the EFL student, the vocabulary in these games can be overwhelming and reduce
interest in English. At Dave and Amy Games, we keep things simple and clear. Using appropriate vocabulary and
grammar.
2. Irrelevant vocabulary: Do our students need to know what a wheelbarrow is? Materials for native speakers often
have unnecessary vocabulary for a child learning English once a week. At Dave and Amy Games, we use words
that are EFL appropriate and child friendly.

2. Irrelevant vocabulary: Do our students need to know what a wheelbarrow is? Materials for native speakers often
have unnecessary vocabulary for a child learning English once a week. At Dave and Amy Games, we use words
that are EFL appropriate and child friendly.
3. A mixture of easy and difficult vocabulary. A game we bought in America has the words boy, caterpillar, frog.
leaf, hat. The aim of the game is to read and match the word with the picture. Beginners lose confidence trying to
read the longer words and higher levels find the game too easy.
At Dave and Amy Games, games progress in difficulty. Kids are motivated to move to the next level.
4. Empty spaces to pad out the text into very thick textbooks. These enlarged books take some time to finish. The
My English Book and Me series (1 – 6) My English Book and Me are simple, clear and packed with child friendly
vocabulary. Students learn phonics, vocabulary, questions and answers accompanied by fun, clear images.
We have wasted lots of money buying texts and games from abroad. Choose your games carefully.
Dave and Amy

c. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I think…
I began thinking that the more words to teach to EFL students per lesson, the better… Now I think that in the just
pursuit rigour, we should not overwhelm the students’ memory load. So next I will learn to exercise discretion when
choosing words to teach, and go over the habit of trying to include too much content at once.

3C. Vocabulary - Create Materials
Buzzwords and Other Games
3. Identify the WIDA Standard that this activity would promote mastery towards. Explain in your Google
Slideshow Capstone how the activity would enable the teacher to measure student progress toward this
standard.
Buzzwords is designed to promote mastery towards WIDA Standard AS1 Arguing, at Level 4 in the Speaking
Domain, described as connecting ideas with supporting details or evidence. I think that the activity would
enable the teacher to measure student progress towards this standard by eliciting and evaluating student
response using designated vocabulary.
5. Attach your activity and explain the activity and relationship to WIDA standard in your post in our online
discussion. ✔ (see online discussion Capstone Link Share)

6.
a.
i. What you learned or your most significant take away from the assignment. ✔
My biggest takeaway from this assignment is that with the help of explicit instruction through L2-L1 pairs,
EFL vocabulary should be taught and learned through use. This is a crucial step in turning passive vocabulary
into active vocabulary. Buzzword implements the principle that students should always strive to use words
they have just learned to fully explore their meanings in breadth and in depth. My personal experience has
shown L2-L1 pairs to be inadequate for me to understand the different nuances of words, which may not be
fully and accurately represented by their L1 equivalents (in many cases, there are no equivalents at all). I
believe that words are best acquired in meaningful context.

i. To learn more, what might your next steps be? ✔
For personal practice, I will keep trying to utilize new words in my writing (except on major assignments, for which
I need to strive for higher grades and hence less risk-taking). As the old saying goes, no pain, no gain. Learners
should not be afraid of making mistakes.
8.
a. Explain how the lesson materials support students in monitoring their growth in learning language and
content. Connect your explanation to examples in the work you are uploading or linking to. ✔
Since my activity is for EFL students, I assume that many of them already have learned the L1 meanings and
knowledge behind these buzzwords. So all I need to do is to have them transfer this knowledge into the L2. Of
course, using words in writing goes beyond that. It also touches upon aspects of language use such as semantics,
syntax, and pragmatics. From my own experience with learning L2, I would even make the risky claim that for
reasons I cannot explain, phonological considerations are also essential in producing native-like discourse.
Remember that language is first heard and spoken before written and read.

In such activities, students not only transfer knowledge content into a new language, but from sharing and
comparing, also acquire a first-hand understanding of the logical patterns typical in that language. This is important,
because in my opinion, sole instruction on vocabulary and grammar does not guarantee the student’s competence in
rhetoric. For example, as a hypotactic language written English abounds with link words and logical connectors,
while written Chinese as a paratactic language generally does not. In Chinese, a sentence usually makes sense
through the meanings of characters, it being possible to have multiple subjects in a single sentence, and sentence
structure is more flexible (this does not mean that Chinese is not evolving, however, as we can see with the influx of
and translation of modern science texts). Remember that “mature English writing is heavily subordinated in multiple
layers; coordination is thought of as the sentence pattern of the child and the poorly educated,” writes American
teacher Dorine S. Houston who has taught in China.
We should remember that language is best learned with comprehensible content. By drawing upon familiar
knowledge in L2, students are expected to gradually go beyond L1-L2 translation to explore differences in two
modes of thinking. This is especially important for morphologically distinct languages such as Chinese and English.
Studies in contrastive rhetoric have found that while typical English speakers’ reasoning is linear, direct, and
to-the-point, i.e., Deductive Reasoning (Kaplan, 1966, as cited in Qi and Zhang, 2015),

Chinese speakers’ reasoning is more circumspect, as in the Circular Pattern according to Kaplan (1966, as cited in Qi
and Zhang, 2015)(of course, this is not always true with spoken Chinese (Tan, as cited in in Shin, 2013). Kaplan also
found that unlike those of native English speakers, Asian students’ writings tend to be vague in the thesis statements
and topic sentences, demonstrate weaker clarity in reasoning, do not approach the main topic directly, and are
hampered in rhetoric and organization by limited English proficiency. Such differences warrant explicit instruction
on language form, with their differences and similarities laid out clearly to the students.
As for monitoring, I think that in-group comparison and teacher evaluation will serve the purpose.
b. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges. ✔
One minor challenge I encountered was in the choice of the subject. I initially wanted to go with English poetry, but
then realized that it is perhaps more helpful for students to relate to something as “universal” as science, which they
are likely familiar with. This suits the principle of learning language through comprehensible content. As well, a
teacher in China once reminded me that the lack of reading of Western nonfiction text has resulted in many Chinese
people’s lack of interest in the hard sciences (especially astronomy).

China is the land of poetry, with a great humanist tradition, but I think that today’s young Chinese should be
acquainted with hard facts, on which logical reasoning must be based.
c. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I
I began thinking that Buzzword is a simple activity equally applicable to all topics in all situations. Now I think that
it must be used with sensitivity to the learning context. So next I will try to apply the principles I learned from this
assignment in my own writing.

3P. Vocabulary - Plan Lessons Reflection
Use Total Physical Response in a Lesson Plan
Here is a link to the Word document.
1. Explain how Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) strategies are used in this lesson plan. Connect your
explanation to examples in the work you are uploading or linking to. Specifically elaborate on SEI in: TPR
I need more guidance from Rhonda or my peers on the first point, “Explain how Sheltered English Immersion
(SEI) strategies are used in this lesson plan.” I did not find much information on SEI, WIDA, or SIOP, though
I did include in my work the bits of related information which I did come across.
As for Total Physical Response (TPR), at first I was not so sure as how to incorporate TPR in my pedagogy, as
1) it is usually used only at the beginner level (Mühren, 2003), not the secondary level which I am working on,
and 2) I am rather inclined towards a traditional Chinese pedagogy which focuses on memorization instead of
a more progressive one. Then I somehow decided to take an eclectic path, by combining the two in one. Since
I decided to adopt as my framework Professor Catherine Snow’s “nine proven approaches to teaching
vocabulary,” I thought I had to incorporate TPR in one of the nine. The only place I found fitting was (1)
recurrent exposures, under which heading I wrote “lead the students to recite the word list while standing, each
word repeated 3 times, accompanied by physical gestures (TPR).”

What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges.
The only time I have seen TPR in action was at the English First language school in Shenzhen, China, where
international teachers asked young children to go up to them, hit the vocabulary cards with both of their hands, while
saying the words out loud. I had doubts as to how this could be done with high school students. I got some
inspiration from this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR37oAnUVvE&feature=youtu.be) in Action Step 2
in the Personalized Task website, a recording of a newcomers’ English vocabulary lesson incorporating TPR. If it
would work for adult beginners, I thought, then it should also work for high school students, though the latter are
more advanced in proficiency. Then this video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfe0iFbDplQ&feature=youtu.be) cleared my doubts as to whether TPR could
be used for words expressing abstract ideas.

1. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I think…
I began thinking “I would like to teach vocabulary, but I don’t know how I can use TPR (nor do I want to)
since I’m more of a traditional guy, and am not very good with Western pedagogy.” And now I think “there is
a way to incorporate the two, get the most out of them, without compromising my personal inclinations which
are difficult to change.” So next I will ask my Chinese teachers if they have used TPR in the classroom
setting, to see if I can extract from them any best practices.
Mühren, A., & ODE, M. (2003). TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) An effective language learning method at
beginner/intermediate levels. Retrieved on April, 2, 2013.

6R. Language, Culture, and Identity - Read Research
American Culture and Identity
1.
a. What you learned or your most significant take away from the assignment.
I learned from this assignment, by reading Junsuk and Junhyuck: Adolescent Immigrants’Educational Journey to
Success and Identity Negotiation by Bogum Yoon, that immigrant students should be viewed as assets instead of
“free-riders” or “intruders” in mainstream Western culture. Their home cultures need to be give due respect in order
for them to become contributing members of the new community. Not only does this help with the immigrant
students’ identity development, it also enlightens the local-born students’ worldview with a global perspective. By
studying her two sons, Yoon demonstrated that adaptation to American culture, not assimilation, and accomodation
of other cultures promote immigrant students’ success. In addition, neither “oppositional” nor “nonoppositional,” but
shifting concepts of identity explains the siblings’ “identities to become active immigrant students through dynamic
positioning and repositioning” (Yoon, 2012:993). They negotiate their “identities by selecting the references based
on different situations.” In a macro sense, it is necessary to reexamine the view of Asians as a “model minority,”
given the great diversity of Asian immigrant students’ experiences in and outside the educational system. It is also
erroneous to treat immigrant population as a homogeneous community, due to their vast diversity in culture,
socioeconomic status, etc.

1.
a. To learn more, what might your next steps be?
This study resonates with my own experience as an immigrant student in Canada, which can be best described as
bittersweet. While it has overall been a rewarding experience for me, my Canadian experiences were not without
trauma, such as being discriminated against and bullied, some of which lasted many years. I feel very grateful for
this opportunity to study Language and Literacy at HGSE, not only for its academic and career-related rewards, but
also for its therapeutic effect on me. Some of the theories I have learned about bilingualism and learning were
helpful in sorting out my thoughts and emotions pent-up over the years.
I see myself as an aspiring scholar-practitioner whose best strength lies perhaps in the ability to synthesize theories
and applying them to practice. While I do not know what my next steps might be exactly, I have read through Yoon’s
(2012) paper word-by-word, out loud. This paper struck a chord with what I have been through, and though long and
convoluted at places, it was a very satisfying experience. It always helps to see myself in other, to know that I was
not the only one, and thereby stop taking things personally.

I found it interesting that both siblings were not aware of their Korean identity until they had left South Korean for
the United States. This was similar to my experience. My explanation, if an analogy may be used, is that a fish would
never know what water is, until one day being taken out of the water. Only after this would it realize its identity as a
fish, and the necessity of water. This was my own experience too, having always admired Western culture and saw
myself as Westernized, until I had come to Canada. Strangely, only in this authentic Western environment did I start
knowing myself as a Chinese, treasure my Chinese cultural identity, and draw upon it as a resource when negotiating
(successfully or unsuccessfully) my new immigrant Canadian identity. This is why I have once remarked to two
friends that ironically, I became more Chinese after going to Canada.
2. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges.
Several academic terms were unfamiliar to me, such as essentialist, nonessentialist, oppositional identity, and
nonoppositional identity.

3. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I think…
I began thinking that I was only one who experience so much trauma in a host country. And now I think that I am not
the only one, nor do I need to take things personally, for they are just normal human experiences, human thoughts,
and human emotions. So next I will learn to forgive many hurtful people and memories lodged in my psyche.

6A. Language, Culture, and Identity - Analyze Work
Error Correction Approaches
3. Post an approach to error correction for your setting. Explain how cultural and language differences will
impact your approach. Be clear on the WIDA levels of the students you are imagining in the class. ✔
WIDA has five levels, namely Entering, Emerging, Developing, Expanding, and Bridging. Here I would like to
roughly focus on the Developing and Expanding stages of English learners in the Chinese EFL setting.
I think that teachers in China face the unique situation of usually large class size. This means that there are many
activities (such as the one we see in the video) are unfeasible due to small classroom space. Traditionally, as I know
from my own experience, Chinese teachers mark students’ homework, naming the mistakes (the degree of detailed
varies), and students are responsible for correcting them on their own. Discipline is a key aspect of Chinese school
culture, and good students are especially very keen on scoring well on the exams, which in turn will guarantee their
academic success. For them, being tested is an incentive for hard work.
As far as I see, this traditional method works well for both teachers and students. So I would like to stick with this
method. As for cultural and language differences, I do not think that they play a big role in the way error correction
should be conducted.

On the Japan Association for Language Teaching website, Tensai (2017) proposes two ways of error correction for
writing. They are: (1) to have students reproduce their short composition from memory and subtract points for each
mistake, and (2) to assess writing using an analytic rating rubric. The former test format puts grammar accuracy at a
premium. It challenges students to prepare thoroughly by writing out their composition again and again until they get
it right. It also requires students to pay attention to grammar studies in class because they know they will be tested on
it. The latter rubric format, if the teacher shares the rubric with students, will set expectations for students about their
writings. To me, both ways work well. I think that the first one probably focuses more on grammar, and therefore is
more usable for Entering, Emerging, and Developing students, whereas the second one is probably better for
Developing, Expanding, and Bridging students, who have gone beyond basic grammar and needs to pay attention to
the content of their writing.
Ideas for Error Correction and Assessment of Academic Writing. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from
https://jalt-publications.org/node/5104/articles/5859-ideas-error-correction-and-assessment-academic-writing

3.
a. Name of the Assignment (1R, 2T, 3C, etc) as the title of the slide and answers to the following
questions:
From this assignment, I have learned that error correction can be conducted in different ways, some more traditional
and some more creative, each with different focuses. Corrections can either be general, or specific. Teachers can
either take out their red pens to fix each mistake, or they can fix none of them and just provide hints as to where
mistakes are by adding some red circles or coded marks to the papers so that students will attend to these errors in
rewriting. They can also work down the middle, to correct the most egregious mistakes and do some hinting at minor
ones. I like this varied approach, because it is time-efficient, but still compels students to correct big mistakes before
they become habits (Tensai, 2017).
I will keep these methods in mind and hopefully apply them in my future teaching.

6.
a. Explain how the features of this work that shows equity for all students in completing/understanding the
lesson.
Error correction is important for students, who are bound to mistakes and ought to be corrected on them so that they
learn better. While classroom time and teachers’ attention are sometimes unevenly distributed (for example, stronger
students may take up more discussion time, and weaker students may need more help to catch up), error correction is
a time when teachers spend equal amounts of time on each student’s homework. This shows equity for all students,
and if the teacher is good at correcting errors, he or she will help them to complete and understand the lesson.
On Question 3, I encountered some challenges in coming up with creative ways to correct errors, such as the one I
saw in the video. From the video I learned that teachers have to be creative, and creativity can help to save money for
schools that cannot afford expensive equipment.

I began thinking that error correction is simple and there is only one way of doing it – the traditional way, with a red
pen. And now I think that error correction can be done in various ways, with various emphases such as grammar,
rhetorical devices, and content organizations (for writing tasks). So next I will keep what I learned in mind, and
hopefully apply them in my future teaching.

6C. Language, Culture, and Identity - Create Materials
Learn About and From Your Students
1.
a.
By exploring Options 1 and 2, I noticed the word translanguaging, and am reminded of Dr. Paola Uccelli’s former
PhD student Wenjuan Qin who also talked about this in an interview in Chinese. She said that translanguaging
should be encouraged in deep discussions, and mother tongue should not be seen as a “distraction” from second
language acquisition. She said that in English-as-Foreign-Language classes, students can first discuss deeper, more
technical concepts in their mother tongue, then discuss with the EFL teacher on how to express them in English, or
learn this through reading, so that their English speech or written content would be deeper. Qin quoted Dr. Catherine
Snow who said that in communication and language learning, the focus should be on how to clearly express one’s
opinions, not what language of expression has been used or how many advanced words. In other words, the objective
of classroom discussions should be to generate valuable viewpoints, not to speak English for its own sake. Of course,
in the end, being able to express these viewpoints in precise and concise English matters. I think that the videos in
this section on bilingual and multilingual schools offered a demonstration of the principle of translanguaging, and

ii. To learn more, what might your next steps be? ✔
I am not teaching yet, but will definitely remember and apply translanguaging in my future teaching career.
6.
a. a. Explain how the lesson materials support students in monitoring their growth in learning
language and content. Connect your explanation to examples in the work you are uploading or linking
to. ✔
The lesson materials support students in monitoring their growth in learning language and content by using mother
tongues as a “springboard” to bring deeper thought into second language writing. I like the example of an Arabic
child in one video who initially wrote only a sentence in Arabic, which lead the teacher to suspect if she was
proficient in her mother tongue. But the teacher encouraged her on and on, and every day her Arabic output
increased in length. Then she finally began to write in English on a Islam-related topic. This shows that mother
tongue can be used to cultivate literacy skills, and can indeed act as a “springboard” to transfer familiar content into
second language. I believe that in the fullness of time, the girl will gradually be able to produce American-related
content in fluent English.

c. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges. ✔
I still do not quite understand how a teacher can work with so many home languages in one classroom. I wonder if
that will compromise academic rigour. But again, given the number of immigrants in America today, it seems to be
the only doable way as far as we can see. I think we have made a lot of progress from seeing home languages as
impediments, to viewing them as rights, and finally to using them as resources.
c. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I think…
so next I will (question or next step action) ✔
I began thinking that to teach translanguaging, home-language-speaking teachers are needed to work with the
English-speaking teacher. And now I think it is possible to have only one teacher in the classroom who does not
suppress home languages. So next I will try to explore in my future studies how exactly translanguaging is used in
the classroom.

6P. Language, Culture, and Identity - Create Materials
Develop a Lesson Plan Aimed at Exploring a Topic in a Global Context or Place
1. Explore lesson plans on the websites:
a. Global Boston
b. Out of Eden ✔ (Special Learning Journey: Stories of Human Migration)
2. 2. Select a WIDA standard that you can imagine a group of students working toward through one of these
lessons. ✔
WIDA_RW2; 1T; Recount; Producing statements related to main ideas on familiar topics in home language and
English; 2; Writing
3. Modify the lesson to ensure that students are supported and develop language skills aligned with the standard
through the activities in the lesson. ✔

Special Learning Journey: Stories of Migration
In this curriculum of 4 footsteps, students explore stories of human migration and reflect on their relationship to the
topic.
Footstep 1: Our Own Stories of Migration
Students listen to and retell the migration story of someone who is close to them or they create a map or diagram to
depict a migration story within their family or community.
(Modification: n/a.)
(Reason: This section is good enough as it is. Students need to collect the materials for their project. Since I intend it
to be a written project only in order to increase its academic rigour, students mainly need to write down or record
what they hear from their interviewees, and any other materials such as timelines and diagrams would only be
supplementary.)

Footstep 2: Everyday Borders
Students take a slow walk in their neighborhoods or everyday contexts, paying specific attention to visible and
invisible borders.
(Modification: Students research on their cities, towns, and neighbourhoods, paying specific attention to museums
and historical monuments related to its immigrant history. After the research, they take slow walks around the area,
and visit these monuments, paying special attention to visible and invisible borders.)
(Reason: I like my students to start with something more concrete to ensure academic rigour. Monuments are
important testaments to a city’s history, so they deserve special attention. Of course, I like the idea of “borders,” so I
kept it, using it only after students have visited those sites.)

Footstep 3: Migration in the Media
Students compare and contrast three different media reports on human migration, critically attending to the ways in
which the authors represent migration and migrants.
(Modification: Students read, briefly summarize, and analyze two academic papers on human migration, one related
to the global context and the other to the local context, critically attending to the ways in which world history
affected and intertwined the local history. At least one of the articles should be in English. To lessen the time burden
on the students, this project will be due in two weeks.)
(Reason: I changed media reports to academic papers, again to ensure academic rigour. I believe that Chinese
students from the better schools have the academic aptitude and dedication to engage in such serious reading.
During an interview in China, Dr. Qin Wenjuan, former PhD student of Dr. Paola Uccelli, said that Chinese EFL
students need to read more scientific, expository, and argumentative articles in order to improve their writing. Such
passages are different in wording and phrasing from colloquial or literary ones, and are important to students’future
academic writing ability.)

Footstep 4: Collecting Our Thoughts on Migration
Using a medium of their choice, students share how their ideas about migration have changed or developed by taking
part in this learning journey.
(Modification: In a well-structured essay of at least 700 words and five paragraphs, students will recount, analyze,
and develop an argument on local history, keeping the global context in consideration. Students are free to include,
or at least choose from, one of the three formats: narrative, expository, and argumentative. Students will be graded
on content (accuracy and amount of historical facts and logical reasoning) and language use (grammar, vocabulary,
rhetoric, organization, coherence, and cohesion)).

(Reason: I limited the medium to writing not only to be more specific and consistent on the grading rubrics, but also
with the consideration that academic writing a skills that Chinese EFL students are in sore need of improvement. I
will not make the essays on the “correctness” of opinions, since for this assignment there is no correct opinion. I
will, however, score them based on the accuracy and amount of historical facts cited, and their intellectual rigour.
The latter is very important for yet lacking in Chinese students, many of whom need to memorize large amounts of
historical facts but do not seem very good at establishing connections and forming opinions based on them. Please
don’t get me wrong: facts are important. They are the basis of judgments. In fact, I feel that Canadian students are
not learning enough facts. But what Western students are good at, is logical reasoning and creative thinking. They
are very important skills to have, especially in post-secondary education. As more and more Chinese students are
applying to Western universities, I thought it is perhaps necessary to prepare them on this track. Language use is
another important consideration, though I place it at a lower priority than content. Dr. Qin Wenjuan said in the same
interview that translanguaging is in fact helpful in L2 learning, because students usually think most deeply in their
mother tongue(s). Students are allowed to discuss their content in Chinese, then consult the teacher, the dictionary,
or other reliable sources on how to express it in English.)

In Stories of Human Migration, students are invited to:
● Explore connections and stories from their own and other people’s lives related to the broad theme of human
migration
(Modification: n/a.)
(Reason: This is good enough as it is.)
● Develop a more nuanced understanding of human migration, including complex factors involved in migration
and the diverse and multi-faceted nature of individual migration experiences
(Modification: Learn hard facts, important theories (such as the push-and-pull theory), and academic positions on
human migration, including complex global historical, social, political, economic, etc. factors causing migration,
and the diverse and multi-faceted nature of individual migration and local histories.)

(Reason: I changed to “a more nuanced understanding” to “hard facts, important theories, and academic positions”
because a teacher of mine told me that reliable judgment has to be based on large amounts of hard facts. I think that
the Western world should pride itself on the exceeding amount of facts and data obtained through centuries of
rigorous research, and I feel it regrettable that today’s Western students are not learning enough. I hope my Chinese
students will learn to love knowledge and facts, but not go down the wrong path which I believe today’s Western
school have taken (this is only a personal opinion), which is to sacrifice academic rigour for creativity. Of course, I
understand that it is necessary to combine historical facts and data with anecdotal accounts (and hence “nuanced
understanding,” if my interpretation is correct), but again, in doing research, it seems to me important that we
survey a large quantity of data in order to find patterns and trends. I do acknowledge that the global context needs to
be viewed in conjunction with local ones so as to give students both a macro and a macro view, and I certainly regret
that many Chinese students are not thinking deeply and creatively enough, but again, I hope that my students will
start from facts and data.)

● Develop a critical awareness of their own perspectives on human migration, including the role of the media
and socio-political contexts in shaping perspectives
(Modification: n/a)
(Reason: This is good enough as it is. I like this approach, which is lacking in Chinese education. I think that in order
for the Chinese economy to transform from a manufacture-based one to a more full-fledged one to include also
service industries and other more creative and profitable industries, Chinese students will need only only to
remember hard facts (which are good), but also learn to think logically, deeply, and creatively.)

● Engage with the topic of migration through discussion on the platform and/or by taking action or engaging
beyond Out of Eden Learn
(Modification: Learn and develop rigorous academic writing skills through summarizing, analyzing, and using hard
facts, and incorporate the local with global contexts to understand complex issues such as migration.)
(Reason: Again, for academic rigour. I always am grateful for my Canadian schooling, which encouraged free
thinking, honed my English skills, and did not smother my creativity. However, I have to say that my Canadian
experience benefited immensely from the rigorous elementary school education I received in China, which somehow
gave me a head start over my Canadian peers despite my disadvantage in language. I regret to say that Canadian
students are not learning enough. Here I would like to synthesize the traditional and modern approaches I have
personally experienced to achieve maximum effect for my Chinese EFL students.)

4. Explain how you modified the lesson and why these modifications will lead to greater and specific language
development in your post to our online discussion.
I modified the lesson to limit its format to EFL writing (instead of any format the students likes). I do want to give
my students a little push, and to ensure that they do not take the easy way out. English writing is a skill sorely
lacking among Chinese students, whose traditional forms of learning do not empower them to do well. I want to free
their thinking and teach them to transfer their ideas and thoughts from Chinese to English. This is why I allow
translanguaging in my classroom.
But again, I have great respect for some of the traditional ways of teaching and learning. I do believe that students
need to accumulate large amounts of hard facts to base their opinions on. It is just that they will learn from their
Western peers how to think logically and analytically, and how not to be afraid of developing personal opinions using
the first-person pronoun as the subject.

6.
a.
My most significant takeaway from the assignment is that I need to trust my personal feelings more. Personally, from
my own educational background I feel somewhat caught in between Chinese and Western cultures. I am a typical
Chinese student (though not as diligent as many), yet at the same time have mastered some aspects of Western-style
thinking. I am naturally not very good at designing projects involving multimedia or in non-traditional forms, nor do
I have to be. Now I think that I can, and probably should, leverage my preference for more traditional approaches to
teaching (I hope my students will also take classes with teachers who are better with 21-century approaches).

6.
a.
My most significant takeaway from the assignment is that I need to trust my personal feelings more. Personally, from
my own educational background I feel somewhat caught in between Chinese and Western cultures. I am a typical
Chinese student (though not as diligent as many), yet at the same time have mastered some aspects of Western-style
thinking. I am naturally not very good at designing projects involving multimedia or in non-traditional forms, nor do
I have to be. Now I think that I can, and probably should, leverage my preference for more traditional approaches to
teaching (I hope my students will also take classes with teachers who are better with 21-century approaches).
I need to read more about teaching Chinese EFL learners in an input-poor setting like China, what should the teacher
do and not do.

7. Write your responses to the reflection questions (listed below and in this template) in an additional slide on
your Capstone Google Slideshow:
a. Explain how Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) strategies are used in this lesson plan. Connect your
explanation to examples in the work you are uploading or linking to. Specifically elaborate on SEI in
your mini-lesson or your explicit instruction.
When I browsed Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) strategies, “adapt the materials to student's language level,
maintain content integrity” comes to mind. I think that teachers and students need to work within the Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD), which means sometimes to simplify the language of instruction and using graded
readers as materials when necessary. Simplified language does not mean compromised content. It is content in counts
in writing, not language itself. When L2 does not suffice, student should be free to think in L1, then translate into L2,
so as to transfer content into L2 output.
In Footstep 4 of my lesson, “students are allowed to discuss their content in Chinese, then consult the teacher, the
dictionary, or other reliable sources on how to express it in English.” This is my application of the SEI principle of
not watering down the content for the sake of language.

I did not encounter any challenges in particular, at least not that I can recall.
think… so next I will (question or next step action) ✔
I began thinking that I will need to change myself and learn to incorporate multimedia (which I am not good at) into
the teaching of history. Now I think that I should trust my intuition and rely on my strengths, plus that writing is a
priority for EFL students. So next I would like to learn more about teaching EFL writing in the Chinese context.

5R. Writing - Read Research
Culture and Writing
3. List implications of these differences for teachers working with students whose first language is the language
that you researched. ✔
Conclusions of Qi: (2011) study:
1. Introductory sentences by college English-majors in China tend to take the form of rhetorical questions; their
body paragraphs tend to lack topic sentences that enable “layered discussions of the topic;” and their
discussions tend to be tangential to the topic, lacking topic-focus, and in directness and forcibility.
2. Their writings tend to be deductive in style; body paragraphs not introduced by topic sentences; arguments and
supporting points lacking in connection; the scope of arguments not defined; supporting points tend to depart
from the periphery and approach the central argument.
Qi’s conclusions partially negate Kaplan’s (1966) conclusion of the digressive and circular patterns in East Asian
students’ writings. English writing From Qi’s conclusions I infer the following implications:

Culture and Writing
1. Chinese EFL students need to be taught the basic format of Western-style writing, which typically contains a
thesis statement and topic sentences. They also need to be taught to be write more precisely and concisely,
using concrete evidence to support their arguments, and avoiding digressions or approaching the topic in an
unnecessarily circumspect way.
2. They need to be taught Chinese-English contrasting rhetoric, and to experiment with both inductive and
deductive reasoning. As well, coherence and cohesion techniques need to be taught explicitly.
3. Chinese and Western reasoning tend to be different. Chinese thought patterns tend to be non-linear. Students
need to be encouraged to use first-person voice and strong arguments, so long as they are backed by strong
supporting points.
Qi, Fang. (2011). Stylistic Modes of English Expository Discourse by L2 Learners and Thoughts on the Teaching of
English Writing. China Foreign Language Education, (4), 11-20.
4. Answer the following questions on your Capstone Google Slideshow (template here if you have not started) in
addition to links to any materials created or used:

Culture and Writing
questions：
I think that since languages are different, there is simply no one-size-fits-all solution for teaching English to speakers
of other languages. EFL teachers need to possess at least some fundamental knowledge of contrastive rhetoric
between English and their students’ L1.
b. To learn more, what might your next steps be?
I want to learn more deeply about English-Chinese contrastive rhetorics and their implications to EFL teaching. ✔
a. Explain what you found interesting and useful in this article. ✔
I found most useful the knowledge that not all EFL writings look alike. And if we dig deeply enough, we will find
that writing is different across cultures. Contrastive rhetoric is the study of such differences.

Culture and Writing
A challenge I encountered was when I read Qi’s (2011) conclusion that the English-majors in China whom he studied
defied Kaplan’s findings of digressive and circular patterns for East Asian students. I was perplexed, because I
wonder that if they weren’t so, then how would they be? And why? While I could not answer the former, I certainly
did find the answer to the latter. Chinese students’ writings are heavily influenced by writings in ancient China.
Which tend to start from small, concrete points, and gradually arrive at the central idea. This is unlike the Western
approach, which tends to be deductive, stating the thesis at the beginning then gradually branching out into details
(Qi, 2011). Students should be aware of such differences.
I began thinking that EFL teachers needs to know contrastive rhetoric. And now I think the same, except by believe
is fortified by research. So next I will keep looking into this aspect of EFL writing.

5A. Writing - Analyze Work
Score Student Writing
2. Explain why some features that are more difficult or easiest to score. ✔
For word-form errors, misspellings and invented spellings are the easiest to score because the grader can make out
what the students tried to spell by pronouncing what the student spelled out. Random letters do not merit a score
because they are incomprehensible.
For writings, it is acceptable for comprehensible texts to contain spelling errors. I think that subjective measures such
as language complexity are harder to evaluate than spelling errors, because it involves judgement and contains grey
areas.
Page 33 is a tricky example, because at first glance I thought it deserved a 3 for its length. But the notes pointed out
that since the writing is repetitive, and contains many syntactic and semantic errors, and since the writing is
repetitive, it merits only a 1.

3. Identify your next steps in providing writing supports to students. ✔
I would suggest having them read more, because good writing starts from imitation. I think that graded readers are
ideal because it provides scaffolding and increase in the level as students progress.
5. Answer the following questions on your Capstone Google Slideshow (template here if you have not started) in
addition to links to any materials created or used:
questions:
My most significant takeaway is that grading cannot be subjective. It has to rely on rubrics.
ii. To learn more, what might your next steps be? ✔
My next steps would be to pay more attention to rubrics that I come across.

a. Explain how the features of this work that shows equity for all students in completing/understanding the
lesson. ✔
The rubrics show equity for all students because it does not allow the teacher to make subjective judgments on the
content or opinions expressed in their assignments.
I did not read the rubric at first, so I found it quite difficult to judge what score should be given to each assignment.
So when I realized this problem just now, I went over the rubrics, and now have a clear idea of how the scores were
given.

I began thinking that grading is subjective and because not all Chinese teachers have rubrics (or show them to
students). Now I realize that grading can be an objective process. So next I will pay attention to rubrics each time I
write my essay.

Part 3: Reflection of
Concepts Learned

Part 1: Synthesis of Concepts
A reflection on the most important concepts learned in this course and how you will advocate for and support ELLs
for future academic success (cite examples of tasks completed and class activities/readings/discussions).
Rather than concepts, I would say that I learned a lot of cool approaches to teaching, such as Elbow Partner
Exchange, Total Physical Response (TPR), Tier 2 words, Buzzword game, Shelteed English Immersion (SEI)
strategies, etc. What I will need to do in my future teaching is to suture these gems together and create less plans that
are both rigorous and engaging.
I still have troubles connecting WIDA and SIOP to practice, since to me they are more like abstract benchmarks that
need to be met, rather than concrete steps that can be directly applied. I guess it takes experience and discrection to
convert standards to practice.

I Used to Think… Now I Think… So Next I Will***
I Used to Think Now I Think So Next I will...
I began thinking “I would like
to teach vocabulary, but I don’t
know how I can use TPR (nor
do I want to) since I’m more of
a traditional guy, and am not
very good with Western
pedagogy.” So next I will ask
my Chinese teachers if they
have used TPR in the
classroom setting, to see if I
can extract from them any best
practices.
And now I think “there is a way
to incorporate the two, get the
most out of them, without
compromising my personal
inclinations which are difficult
to change.”
So next I will ask my Chinese
teachers if they have used TPR
in the classroom setting, to see
if I can extract from them any
best practices.
***Optional Slide(s) if it helps you do your Synthesis

Addendum One: Session 3 Preparation: C. Policy Article Aysnc Discussion
1. Name of Policy that you read (can copy link from above)
ELLs with Disabilities
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]
2. Explain why this policy is important for teachers
"English language learning is not a disability and cannot be regarded as such. [...] All too often, when the
environment is not conducive to the linguistic and cultural needs of students, it is more likely that a student will be
referred for a special education evaluation and a disability will be diagnosed. Indeed, approximately 90% of students
with disabilities fall into these socially constructed categories (Baca, 1990)."
This policy is important for teachers because it allows and enables them to explore potential scaffolding practices for
ELLs before prematurely diagnosing them as disabled. ELLs, it is known to me by anecdote, face a complex set of
challenges in the linguistic, social, emotional, psychological, and other aspects of their lives, as they try to adapt to
and integrate into the new environment. During this process, difficulties may arise, leading to learning, cognitive,
emotional and behavioural problems. Schools and educators would be doing ELLs a serious disservice by
overlooking these unique challenges which are difficult for outsiders to understand.

Addendum One: Session 3 Preparation: C. Policy Article Aysnc Discussion (cont’d)
ELLs need to be scaffolded during the integration process, and support from schools and educators is crucial in this
process. As an ELL myself, I have been wrongfully accused by more than one teacher for misbehaving, when I was
merely going through these challenges in the new environment. I still remember one teacher giving me a discipline
for my hyperactive behaviour in class, not knowing that I had Tourette syndrome, and that I was in fact a good
student.
Instead of being stigmatized for such "symptoms" in their growth and development, ELLs need to be treated as
assets for the unique perspectives they can bring to the learning community. At the same time, it is likely that they
will need some help. My high school Vice-Principal and counsellor were there for me, when I experienced bullying
and social pressures due to my Tourette's and my English grades which were exceptionally high for an ELL (the local
students were jealous, and as a result excluded me). To address this problem, these two very supportive educators
kindly put me on homeschooling, helping me to finish high school. I know that without policies like this, such
services would not be possible. Therefore I would say that the policy is important not only to schools and educators,
but also to ELLs and their parents.
3. Identify one take away - what we should remember.

Addendum One: Session 3 Preparation: C. Policy Article Aysnc Discussion (cont’d)
3. Identify one take away - what we should remember.
Too often, individuals who are "different" are treated as "jerks" or "freaks," while in reality they may be
exceptionally talented. History abounds with stories of unique individuals who, despite their suffering in the school
system, succeed in life and make big contributions to humanity. It is important that we avoid being narrow-minded
when addressing the learning difficulties that ELLs face, and that when they exhibit "symptoms" and "abnormal
behaviours," we do not prematurely "diagnose" them with learning disabilities. Rather, we should see the unique
sociocultural and psychological "bundles" that ELLs carry, and ease them of such burdens. For example, an ELL
struggling with her English may exhibit signs of learning difficulty similar to that of mentally disabled students. A
perspicacious educator should see the difference between such two cases, and be wise in implementing the right
measures to address this problem. She should allow for more time to accurately diagnose the learner's real problems,
locate her real needs, and proceed therefrom. An irresponsible educator may, on the other hand, overlook the unique
learning needs of the ELL, therefore failing to provide the right type of resources for her. To give another example,
an ELL who is struggling socially or who experiences bullying at school may demonstrate behaviour problems.

Addendum One: Session 3 Preparation: C. Policy Article Async Discussion (cont’d)
Too often educators hastily impose disciplines for such behaviours, without the least hint of malicious intentions. Yet
their misjudgement of the ELL's behaviour may have lasting traumatic effects upon the ELL, who may simply be
overloaded with negative emotion coming from his local peers. Oftentimes, ELLs in their teenage years are at a loss
for resources to resort to. Their parents may not speak English, and may therefore be unable to consult their teachers
in case of their children being bullied at school. Or else, they may not be familiar with racial tensions in
English-speaking countries, and therefore fail to relieve their children of their emotional problems whatsoever. In
this case, the ELL is left on her own to navigate the usually turbid waters of the teenage social environment. In this
case, some may form regrettable friendships, and others resort to substance abuse. Policies such as IDEA empower
educators to intervene in such cases by legalizing services and intervention measures needed by ELLs. As a Chinese
student, I think that as China globalizes, it will also receive increasing numbers of international students. The
American experience may be worth learning from and emulating.

Li (Jerry) Xie Dimensions of Diversity Capstone Project

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