Rapid Ethnography of ESL Learners

So, What Are We Trying To Do Here?

One of my teammates, an anthropologist, was motivated to understand the experiences of English language learners in the US. He lamented that many immigrants in the US face an uphill personal battle to understand a new culture, the language used in daily life, and the phrases and idioms that form conversations. Acquiring a new language plays a key role in cultural assimilation, job opportunities, and impacts the sense of community. There is an economic, psychological component to it.

In Ames, the place where I live, I’ve observed many international students, spouses of visiting scholars, and working professionals attending language sessions at local libraries, churches, and other community spaces to learn English.

While there are existing technological tools for English language acquisition, we noticed a gap when it comes to learning aids designed for in-context and situated learning.

Research shows that learners demonstrate deeper proficiency when language acquisition occurs in these contextual, lived experiences. Situations that encourage meaningful interaction and practice language in a social and emotional context – such as discussing art or sharing personal stories (just two examples from our observations) – foster stronger cognitive and emotional connections to the material

Who Are We?

My team consisted of:

• An anthropologist

• UX researcher

• A psychologist

• A software developer

Two of them are geographically located in California, while the rest, including myself, are in Ames, Iowa.

We were all geographically dispersed, which provided us with the opportunity and access to people from diverse linguistic backgrounds and ethnic origins.

So, What's the Research Question?

After extensive analysis of existing literature and ethnography studies, we formulated three questions.

How do different educational applications in English language learning contexts compare to each other? (Comparative Analysis)

How do different pedagogies in English language learning contexts incorporate educational apps? If they don’t utilize technology, why not?

How do English language learners perceive the quality of practicing English conversations in spaces specifically designed for language learning, and how does it influence their learning outcomes?

Choosing Our Field Sites

Our cross-functional team worked with diverse field sites to begin our ethnography, located in California and the City of Ames. The field sites were:

• City library (Ames & California)

• Local church (Ames)

• Elementary school (California)

• English learning sessions at the university campus (Ames)

• Participant observation of a Bangladeshi immigrant: One teammate immersed himself in the learner's life

Our Rationale

The choice of these sites was driven by the following factors:

• Cultural diversity of immigrant second language learners

• Immigrants with different levels of education and prior language skills

• Immigrants seeking to build connections

• Influence of family or community support

• Immigrants motivated by the desire to enhance job prospects

• Immigrants joining classes through word of mouth

Learning Concept Map

Why Participant Observation?

We believed that immersing ourselves in the language learning community and its members was the best way to decode emotions, motivations, and understand the bigger picture.

Also, the informal sense of learning and a communal environment allowed the team to establish good rapport with the learners.

My Account of Participant Observation

I conducted Participant Observation at two field sites:

1. A church in Ames

2. English language conversations at the university campus (Ames)

Becoming a Churchgoer: My Participant Observation

What I Observed

• Classes were held twice a week with 7 to 10 language learners

• Welcoming conversational space

• Teacher's gentle and paced teaching strategy

• Teacher facilitating paired conversations during class

• Learning shaped by cultural exchange

• Learning phrases and English used in daily life activities

• Teacher assisted by AI in preparing learning content

• The learning group functioned as a family

THEMED CONVERSATIONS — Each class had a theme to kick things off, like a mini event that kept things interesting. Some themes even mirrored what was happening in the U.S. at the time. For example, during Halloween, we dove into spooky topics—discussing Halloween traditions while learning English. We even watched a short history movie on Halloween, all while trying to master the pronunciation words like 'Samhain' and 'Ghoul'!

New learners are encouraged to give brief presentations about their culture and country, which motivates them to share their cultural identity while also improving their English.

I learned about TAHDIG, the crispy Persian rice delicacy, from an Iranian English learner during her presentation

For many learners, the learning community and teachers served as second family far away from their home.

It wasn’t just about learning English, but also about forging bonds and creating joyful moments, such as making a charcuterie board for Thanksgiving. The teachers had organized a Thanksgiving theme, and we had fun putting together the charcuterie board. By this time, I had become more of a learner than an ethnographer. The board in the center of the picture was created by my English learning group.

My Participant Observation on a University Campus

English conversations at the second field site were organized by a university organization. The gatherings took place once a week for two hours in a large space.

What I Observed

• Gamified learning: Native English speakers always started with a fun game

• Themed conversations: Topics ranged from childhood and food to festivals

• On average, more than 20 English language learners participated

• Opportunity to build new connections

• Learners zeal for learning from native English speakers

"Duolingo is Boring"

One teammate mentioned that Duolingo was not engaging for a certain learner. Similar observations were made by the team in their individual field ethnographic studies.

We identified 10 themes and 13 sub-themes from the compiled field notes and individual accounts.

Design Outcome

The themes we identified guided the design of a virtual chatroom game (MVP) developed in Unity. The game was designed by one of my teammates, Alan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanmtucker/). The game design is still in-progress.

What's in this game?

The game is a virtual chatroom with multiple players learning English in a gamified setting. We plan to incorporate real-world simulations of context-oriented learning and a spaced repetition system at various levels within the game.

Why this game?

We believe that despite technological advancements in language acquisition, there is a lack of targeted and conversational learning tools. The idea was to gamify learning and make it context-oriented.

The game will address the following use-cases:

• Connect geographically dispersed language learners

• Boost learners' self-confidence and reduce anxiety while using the target language

• To improve pronunciation self-image with a realistic and immersive environment that encourages natural conversations and immediate feedback

• Build worlds based on cultural events (such as Halloween, as shown in the video)

  
  

Future Directions

Though the design outcome may not address all themes or age groups identified in the study, we aim to build upon the fertile ground of topical learning, contextual relevance, community, and meaningful connections.

Future directions will explore the relevance of AI for world-building, serving as a conversational partner, and supporting situated learning.