Course goals/objectives

[I wish I could’ve found the course objectives on Moodle (if they were there, they were hiding). One reason it took me so long to get to this is I never had time to dig through old papers to find them!]

Elka was outstanding in clearly presenting expectations and objectives, and I never was uncertain about what the assignment was during a given week because she used the multiple tools (Moodle, e-mail, handouts) consistently. Not everyone does. I just reviewed the objectives and believe she met each, except: I thought the class was thin in the area of multilingualism and EIL. We covered it, but it wasn’t until I wrote my paper that I saw those in larger context politically. I know that these are among Elka’s areas of expertise and really wish we could have had more. (I know we had a lot of ground to cover. See my comment below). But I single out this one area because I think it’s central to the work we will be doing in the world, and we need to have a larger view of where ESL fits in the complex web of globalization. I don’t know enough yet to have broad perspective. Teachers are careful not to bring in too much of their own opinion, yet I want to hear more of that (identified as such). What I’m trying to say is that all the SLA course objectives are extremely valuable and essential, but the area of problematizing SLA seems to be the backdrop for all that. I wonder if an SLA class might begin with an overview of the politics of teaching English to speakers of other language, and within that we can place all the other crucial goals. I don’t want to emerge from SIT thinking, “Oh, whoopee! I’m going to teach ESL and be culturally sensitive” and be ignorant of issues such as what the spread of English (or other IL) means to the world. Sorry. I’m on a rant. I just mean to say that Elka is such a valuable resource for us that I want more of her perspective in this broad area of EIL, etc., and think it deserves more attention in the curriculum (not just in SLA). I was delighted that my peers organized a session about that, and that’s a great start. But I’d like something official and structured as well. Is there a chance we can, in the spring, have a few Elka-led, structured sessions/mini-class about this?

Course content/design

Each class was well-organized and there were threads between. So in the moment, concepts became clear. But once we were on to the next issue/topic, I found that past discussions went muddy in my head because so much new content was coming in. For example, I had found the ecological perspective (I just had to look up its name) fascinating, but several weeks later when she mentioned it, I had no idea what she was talking about. However, I acknowledge that may be an issue with my elderly brain. Others probably didn’t have that problem. So I guess I’m saying that tying everything together — which Elka clearly attempted to do in the last couple classes, very creatively — was hard for me. If I wasn’t the only one in the class to have difficulty with this, I wonder if the scope of the class can be honed down, or if it could become less dense by spreading it out over a longer period of time, with plenty of connecting activities to keep early-taught concepts accessible in our poor brains.

In-class activities

I had already taken an SLA class at UC Berkeley just a few months ago, yet still the material was difficult for me. Generally I found our in-class projects highly effective in helping me grasp key concepts that had eluded me in the readings. Most of the small-group projects were also good at lowering my affective filter, which is generally a big impediment for me. Also: while I benefited a great deal from doing our group project on pragmatics, I felt I got less about the topic from the other student presentations. I enjoyed watching the work of my classmates and this comment is no reflection on their capability. But even with Elka’s astute feedback to each presentation, bringing to the fore important issues, I felt I was not learning as much as I needed for that unit. Elka did assign us each one reading from each module on which we were not presenting. Yet I still felt I was missing something — which may not even be true. It may be that the other classes, which dovetail so well with one another, will go over similar ground. All these things said, I still think the peer presentations are a valuable component of the project. Each group did post a summary of their presentation, but I wonder if I’d have felt more grounded if Elka also posted a one-page summary of the topic (grammar, etc.) with key terms.

Course materials

I was grateful for readings that expressed alternative and progressive (e.g. Diana Boxer piece on cross-cultural pragmatics) as well as mainstream views. Some readings were terribly dense, but Elka knew this and constructed class sessions that helped us cut through to the heart. I also appreciated her telling us not to worry if we got confused while reading; that lifted a burden. (I check n/a for “accessible” because some articles were and some not.) Unrelated to this class: I hate that binding. We spend so much money for these things (I understand why) that I would be willing to spend a little more for a binding that let pages turn properly and that I’ll want to keep around for future reference. Sadly, these plastic-bound things will be relegated to distant corners of my house.

Assignments

No additional comments, except that I appreciated our option to choose between a set topic and one of our own. And I was really grateful for the long lead time, which I used effectively for research that I otherwise couldn’t have done. Standards were made extremely clear.

Teaching

Of all my classes so far, Elka’s has been most successful in representing alternative viewpoints, which is essential for us. I think Elka is an outstanding teacher and brilliant mind. There were times when her in-class comments seemed dismissive, when she was aiming for a particular response and we were heading in the wrong direction, but overall she was great at honoring every voice. Her knowledge of the content is unquestionable. I appreciated her flexibility: for one example, on my final paper I ended up wanting to explore a connected thread of topics, rather than an isolated issue. She said I could do that, and I benefited far more as a result than I would have had she been rigid.

Feedback to assignments

I totally understand that it takes a teacher time to read papers and formulate thoughtful, constructive comments, but I wished for feedback a tiny bit sooner. It seemed a long wait. But I also know that Elka had other commitments at that time, so couldn’t devote herself solely to plowing through papers. As far as her feedback: her suggestions of further readings I might enjoy were useful (I’ve ordered one of the books, since we don’t have it in the library). And, yes, I think her comments were thorough, constructive and enlightening. They sure made me feel good about myself and my work (I had worked extremely hard). Being neurotic, I wondered if her lack of negative comments meant that she didn’t notice significant weaknesses, or she was just being. Don’t get me wrong: I was thrilled with her constructive, positive feedback (and felt I deserved it!) and I’m definitely NOT suggesting that Elka go looking for bad things to say! But I did wonder if her not mentioning weaknesses meant she saw none that were significant according to the scope of the assignment. If so, it might have been helpful to have a phrase that said that. If not, I’d prefer to know where I went wrong. Still, that’s probably an unimportant point, because I’m still feeling quite proud about her response to my paper, and would not want to be shot down over something unimportant. Hope that all makes sense.

Strongest aspect of this course

Teacher’s knowledge and sensitivity to students. Organization and consistency in teaching approach (e.g. daily agenda). Rich material. Group work complemented by astute teacher observations.

Changes to improve the course

I’ve already made suggestions in earlier questions.

Suggestions for what the professor could do more of or differently

don’t have anything to add to what I wrote earlier. This survey is too long!

Moodle

Elka is the one professor who uses Moodle consistently so that it becomes an asset rather than a confusing, giant pain in the butt. I knew I could look there for whatever I didn’t have in my notes, and it would be in a predictable place.