An Update on Transformational Learning

In my experience teaching at ALCC, I have encountered many students who have had a profound sense of change that ties into the principle of transformational learning. In talking with students and their motivations for learning English, some have been very clearly influenced by external motivations, such as job placement, the TOEFL exam and a desire to help their children with school studies. Other students have experienced a kind of shift in perception and personal views. This kind of shift can be described as a “disorienting dilemma.” The idea is that some kind of event, or series of events trigger a change in how one normally views certain precepts. This transformational learning process doesn’t happen all at once; it takes time and can occur over a period of many years. One of my students, Amandeep, describes how his perception of learning English changed from being purely functional (related to his workplace environment) to having broader views on learning English as a way to understand the culture and “broaden his horizons.” He saw the importance of learning English, of learning any language in particular as a way to connect people and create communities. For Amandeep, learning English is part of a broader tapestry that is ongoing and not necessarily fixed on one point.

"It Changed Something Inside of Me": English Language Learning, Structural Barriers to Employment, and Workers' Goals in a Workplace Literacy Program

As part of President Obama’s Workforce Investment Act, workplace literacy has been the focus of adult ESL institutions. The connection between literacy and the work environment is made explicit in this article. Many of my students want to learn English to get a better position at their job, or to become more comfortable at their job to better help their customers or clientele. For many of my students who work full time and learn English, a delicate balancing act has to be maintained in order to successfully accomplish their desired goals. Oftentimes, work trumps school and my students who came into my class with a high level of motivation inevitably end up dropping out due to the increased pressure of work. This is even more exacerbated by the fact that I-20 students who are required by the guidelines of their visa, to attend a minimum of 18 hours of class hours. It is also important that students keep track of their attendance: If they arrive 30 minutes after class starts they are marked late, and 2 lates equals an absence. I-20 students need to keep a minimum attendance rate of 70%. Keeping all of this in mind, I often wonder how much help and insight they get from classroom and if they apply that to their place of work.

Informal and Incidental Learning

There are many opportunities for informal and incidental learning to take place at ALCC. I believe the most salient observation comes from the perceptions that students have on the teachers at our school. At the end of a student’s contract students have the opportunity to rate the teachers via a survey. However, the surveys are all in English and for many of the beginner students whose language skills are not yet proficient, it is difficult to fill out the form and get an accurate assessment of the teacher’s skills in the classroom. Therefore, most of real assessment of teachers comes from students’ own experiences with the teacher. However the outcome of the class, whether they had a positive experience or a negative experience, the teacher’s attitudes and values and skills are relayed to new and incoming students. There can of course be misconceptions of teachers from this method. A student can have a particular negative experience with a teacher but it many not necessarily reflect what is actually happening in the classroom, and what the specific set of circumstances are that led to the negative experience.

Running Shoes, Auto Workers, and Labor: Business Writing Pedagogy in the Working Class College

This article provided a great way to potentially use in the classroom. Part of my job teaching at ALCC requires that I engage my students in issues that might challenge them to think about issues that are happening around the world. As students living in a global world, they need to be critically aware and be able to formulate their thoughts and opinions. This is especially true for my upper level classes. The challenge is in bringing up potentially controversial topics that might cause discomfort in the classroom. I also have to think about setting up a comfortable atmosphere so that my students don’t feel like their opinions will be judged harshly. Our students come from all over the world and in many parts of the world right now there are things like political unrest and economic unrest that are deeply unsettling for my students that come from such unstable parts of the world such as Venezuela and Yemen.