Phase 2 Action Plan

Individual one-on-one discussions continued through phase two because they provided

participants with an opportunity to develop and explore an intimate relationship with a native

speaker, encouraged a safe learning environment, and offered me insight into student identity.

The remaining portions of Phase Two were based upon differentiated instruction. Because of

participants vastly different experiences, language and writing levels, differentiated teaching

tactics were employed to meet individual student needs (Wu, 2013).

Roman

Roman continued journal writing throughout phase 2 because it provided him with

extensive and authentic writing experience, and an opportunity to negotiate meaning between

Russian and English with the allowance of code switching discussed in phase one. Roman

reported writing frequently and at length in his personal journal throughout phase one. This

journaling provided him the opportunity to intimately explore self in English.

The writing prompts explored in phase one were replaced with a one-on-one creative

writing workshop during which Roman and I met, discussed, and developed creative writings

focused upon character development to address his desire for a creative writing outlet in phase

one and to prevent over exposure to personal narratives that risked defining him as cultural

outsider (Harklau, 2006, p. 114) if overused. With six years of extensive formal ESL classes in

Russia, he had the skill, language, and interest in developing alternative writing styles.
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Research suggested that excelling at a hobby, such as creative writing practice in L2 could

positively affect adaptation into a new culture. Assessment looked for 1)noticeable enthusiasm

for writing prompts, 2)Prompt length, and 3) increased detail in writing.

Patricia

Patricias phase two followed the extensive writing model to bridge the gap between

her English speaking and writing. Like Roman, Patricia received sufficient academic writing

practice, so phase two was a complimentary creative and personal exploration of English to

encourage creative expression and to offer her more balanced writing exposure. Assessment

focused on 1)the originality of writing, 2)freedom from structure and 3)depth of discussions.

Madrona

Madronas need was shortening the gap between her exposure to speaking and writing.

To compensate for Madronas lack of formal academic English instruction, phase two for this

participant incorporated lessons in punctuation. Madrona instinctively has a basic storytelling

and paragraph structure competence. Because Madrona lacked experience in a formal academic

setting, exhibited extreme caution regarding errors, and showed a strong interest and ability in

storytelling, grammar lessons were be implicit and secondary to storytelling exploration focusing

on strengths to build confidence and encourage progress.

Listening to Madronas stories proved to me that the most important thing to her was

her relationship with her granddaughter. To make the journaling process more personal than a

daily logging of events, her phase two daily journaling shaped into a written dialogue with her

granddaughter. It acted as a written conversation between her, and a key figure in her life story,

her granddaughter.
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Madronas strong family ties, and a theme of legacy during our discussions inspired the

third component of her phase two action. Madrona continued to write first person stories about

her personal experiences, but within the grander context of creating an autobiography that she

plans to neatly compile to pass on to her granddaughter. By developing her writing assignments

around familial ties and her interests, I encouraged positive and deep learning. Phase two

assessment focused on 1)the depth and length of writing compared to phase one writing

2)progress of written drafts 3) More confidence/ less hesitation in writing.