In the development of the various sections of the platform, the discourse has fundamentally presented specific inherent themes that saliently allude to my style of teaching the ESL and CLD students. In this regard, the discussions in the platforms are not the only parts of the portfolio that have proffered certain threads. The various artifacts, as well as captions, have also exhibited both substantial and superficial threads and themes that coherently describe and define my teaching technique. In addition, through portfolio interview, I can better comprehend not only why the threads manifest themselves whether directly or indirectly but also why they are significant to my teaching technique.
To this end, a common thread witnessed across all the platform sections is the need and effort to make the CLD students comfortable regardless of their cultural diversity. This has been observed across the platforms through arranging for class instructional activities that involve the children’s parents and subsequently partaking activities pertinent to their cultures. Moreover, the same thread has been observed across the platforms when in the bid to accept and acknowledge all cultures of the students, I have incorporated their cultures in the curriculum through social studies and geography class content. Also, this has been demonstrated in the display of the different cultural artifacts, paintings, books and maps representing most of the cultures represented in the class by the students. Ultimately, the fact that I use their diverse cultures as an implementation strategy for associating language mechanics between the students’ first language and English is an attestation to the incorporation of their cultures into the curriculum.
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Moreover, cross-cultural sensitivity as a theme and a thread has been observed in the artifacts. For instance, the DOTS chart artifact regarding the various festival of the world is a manifestation of this thread and theme. Indeed, the various festivals of the world represented the diverse cultures of the world which students could relate to. The theme is further exhibited and evidenced by My Life in Six Pictures and Words artifact which not only showed their biopsychosocial histories and backgrounds but also cultural backgrounds regarding their origins such as where they were born. Additionally, the theme is expressed in the authentic Student Academic Behavior Rubric assessment that assessed their connections with prior knowledge which is inclusive of second language learning connections with previous language knowledge such as their first language.
From the portfolio interview, I realize that the thread and theme arise from my need as an instructor to make the students comfortable through acknowledging and accepting their cultures; an element that alleviates anxiety and gives the CLD students confidence to learn the second language. An additional theme manifesting itself through the platform discussions and artifacts is group learning. This is evidenced in platform discussions regarding instructional and implementation strategies where techniques and instructional activities such as placing the students in groups are used in a bid to aid the learning process. Regarding authentic assessments, the thread is evidenced in the discourse regarding the implementation of the peer-based learning technique as a formative authentic assessment method. The technique is duly achieved through splitting the students into groups of two where they complete tasks and subsequently assessed by their partners or peers.
The group-learning theme is as well presented in the U-C-ME chart whereby the students were allowed to discuss the content in groups or with their peers and subsequently summarize and document what they had learned in the charts through a relationship-diagram. In one way or the other, group learning has persistently proffered itself as an authentic theme as my teaching technique. The theme is based on the belief and research that students learn best from their peers as opposed to when they are constantly supervised.
Closure Framing Statement
Throughout the portfolio discourse, there have been fundamental theories and concepts that have cropped up. An example of such theory arising from the portfolio discourse is the Think-Pair-Share theory. The theory requires the students to independently think about an assignment or class activity then pair up to discuss the assignment with each student giving their ideas and ultimately sharing their combined ideas regarding their assignments with the class. As a CLD instructor, the theory and concept are salient to the students as it is not only corporative learning but also a positive response to English as the second language.
Due to the cultural diversity of the students, some might feel left out due to their first language influence in learning English as a second language, and as such, they might become introverted. However, through the Think-Pair-Share theory which mandates paring of students, they gain confidence to learn the second language through the help of their peers. In essence, the theory is essential in the sense that the culturally diverse students learn and understand that they are not alone in the struggle to grasp the second language when they observe their partners struggle with the learning process. To this end, the students make each other better through constant correction and inquiry.
In learning the biopsychosocial background of the students, the use of deductive pre-instructional assessment techniques such as My Life in Six Pictures and Words is essential in gathering the cultural context of the students. Indeed, the background knowledge is substantial in determining the type of instructional activities to organize and implement to the students. A further implication is that the knowledge helps identify the kind of authentic assessment to implement. An instance of such evaluation is the verbal scaffolding which in itself is a concept and theory that requires examination of the students’ comprehension and thought processes as they advance through the second language skills. Under this theory and concept, despite the instructor being involved in the learning process such as prompting the students regarding the level of comprehension of the class content, his or her input is minimal and mostly participates through listening.
Listening is a particularly salient implication of the portfolio discourse in the sense that the instructors in this field will be able to better understand the feelings and emotions of the students regarding the second language acquisition. To this end, the instructors can competently intervene and alleviate the learning barriers facing the students. Throughout the portfolio discussion, group learning has been presented as an effective means of not only giving confidence to the CLD students to learn the second language but also transcend cultural barriers and embrace diversity. To this end, the implication to the educators is that they can use this technique to incorporate all the students in the class learning process regardless of their cultural backgrounds. Essentially, they could use the diverse cultural backgrounds as a cohesive principle to foster corporation and learning in the groups. This is evidenced in the DOTS chart artifact regarding the various festivals of the world representing the dynamic cultures. In essence, the universality of the festivals brings the students together, and they can learn through BICS thereby advancing their CALPs.
The fundamentality of incorporating parents in the class instructional activities in the broader objective to assimilate the CLD and ESL students into the second language holistically proffers substantial implications to educators and education as a field. To educators, they will be able to take advantage of the psychosocial relationship between the students and the parents in the learning process thus inducting them into the second language. To the education field, given the success of the phenomenon, it provides a rich platform for educational researchers to study other techniques and facets to incorporate into the education process to maximize the learning outcomes of the students. The portfolio provides evidential potential in terms of assessment techniques, instructional methods, and teaching strategies that exist in the current culturally diverse education system that could be efficacious in imparting English as a second language rather than sticking to the traditional and conventional techniques that are either obsolete or ineffective in language acquisition.
