Download - mini ethnography
2009
Authority And Its Impact On The Performance Of The Students In Writing Classroom Qi Ding
[MINI ETHNOGRAPHY]
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
1
Authority And Its Impact On The Performance
Of The Students In Writing Classroom
I am a graduate student in Ball State University.
In one course I take Eng 605 – Foundations for
Teaching Writing, I am required to do a
mini-ethnographic research, studying cultures in a
writing classroom by observing classes. Since I just
did a research on teachers’ authority, I desire to apply
it in my mini-ethnography. What I am concerned about
is how a writing teacher manifests his authority and
its impact on the performance of the students in the
writing classroom.
What I observe is the Eng 103 composition class
of Dr. Holbrook, who has been teaching writing for
more than 40 years, but he prefers to be called Bill,
even by his students. His class is from 11:00 am to
12:15 am each Tuesday and Thursday in RM 106 RB
Building. The classroom where he teaches is not a
computer classroom so all the students registered in
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
2
this class bring their own laptops.
Bill presents less authority in his class through his
attire, his attempt to keep close to his students, the
salutation his students call him and his interaction
with his students.
Each time I observe the class, Bill wears the same
style clothes: shirts but without a tie, jeans, sneakers,
sometimes a cap, and carries a school satchel for his
laptop and teaching materials. These are not formal
dresses that will pose much authority of a professor.
The students have no formal books but each of them
has a black folder, a packet of all the teaching
materials compiled by Bill himself with a page number
on each sheet. Therefore, I speculate though Bill
shows less authority through his attire, his experience
– more than forty years in teaching, and his profession
showed in the self-compiled textbook are ways
presenting his authority implicitly.
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
3
The first time I attend his class, I notice that the
seats arrangement in the classroom is a bit strange.
There are three rows of desks and seats along each
side except the last row against the wall. Therefore,
all the students either sit face to face or sit facing
the wall. This may be a factor that I think will affect
Bill’s authority, since the location of teachers in this
classroom is not right in front of the students, then
the students feel less power of the instructor. As for
the students, they can sit wherever they like, but it
seems most of them will sit in fixed seats.
Bill does not seem to like the position behind the
teacher’s desk, which is located at the left corner of
the classroom and not far away from the students but
Bill will not stay there except when he needs to control
his computer. Most of the time, I see him give
instructions either in front of the students back and
forth or walk in different rows among them. When the
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
4
students have questions, he prefers to approach or sit
beside the one who has questions. If there is no seat
beside the student, he will kneel down, trying to keep
eye contact with the student. Obviously, he is prone to
be a member among the students.
In his class, all the students call him Bill directly.
And the interaction between the students and Bill
features Bill’s authority. Before the class, they greet
each other, “Morning, Bill”. “Bill, I have a question.”
“Bill, I need you.”… That is the language the students
use when they have questions. It makes me feel they
are more familiar and equal friends than the teacher
and the students.
The students make jokes of him in class, which
surprises me. Bill asks,” Listen to me. If you have the
time, would you listen to me?” One of the boys answers,
smiling, “I have no time.” Once, Bill jokes to the class,
“Am I all in charge of the class?” One student answers,”
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
5
No, somewhat.” These interactions that the teacher
and the students make fun of each other
bidirectionally leave me an impression that this is a
mutual respect classroom, where the students are
granted power to express themselves freely.
Bill asks for permission when organizing groups. In
peer editing class, he tries to divide the students into
groups. He asks,” Can I get … and … together?” “Would
you guys sit next to each other?” He leans against the
wall when he assigns the group members and after
they move, he says “Thank you” to them. When a
student answers “No”, he doesn’t mind and just
rearranges it. There is no command. And the student
will answer no, so it seems there is really not much
authority in the classroom.
The languages he uses when he gives advice and
instructions are different. Here is a dialogue when he
is offering help to a student.
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
6
S, “Do you like me to…?”
Bill, “No, I will hope….”
S, “My third question is…”
Bill, “What I might do is…”
That’s a dialogue in his class. From the language he
uses “I will hope” “What I might do”, the equality to
the student can be seen here. It seems to me that he
just offers an option. Though he is the instructor,
there is no need for his students to follow him. That’s
why I find when giving advice he even gives up his
authority since he is not forcing or depositing his idea
to the student as an authoritarian but to consult,sort
of equal communication.
When he reminds the students who miss the class
to hand in their assignments, Bill presents it on the
screen “If you miss Thursday’s class, send all material
for WP3 to Bill in attachment or copy paste. Here Bill
uses to “Bill” so that it makes me feel he is an equal
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
7
counterpart to the students.
When some students ask for a direct answer for
their classroom tasks, Bill just encourages them to
find it out on their own. There is one group asking what
if they cannot find detailed information in what they
are required to read in Bill’s handouts. Bill answers,”
You are clever enough, try to find”. He joins in the
group and when the students find out what to do, he
gives them a thumbs up. He does assign challenging
tasks and will not give students answers directly, but
encourage them to discover by themselves.
However, I find Bill uses different languages in
giving instructions, which shows more authority. When
giving instructions, he uses imperative sentences.
“Should be on your second essay.” “Control time spent
on the essay.” “Need to give your classmates ideas on
how to make the essay expanded.” “Should post survey
result”. Sometimes it contradicts when I see him sit on
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
8
a table, swinging his feet, which I think is a signal that
the teacher wants to pose less formality and less
authority, but meanwhile gives instruction with
imperative sentences, which is more similar to building
up authority by giving commands.
Comparing the languages he uses, I find a rule
that when he gives instructions on the tasks the
students need to do, he uses imperative sentences to
give commands, while if it is advice on students’
writings, he expresses in an equal, collaborative way.
Baffled in the change of his languages, I am wondering
whether this shift is a coincidence or a purposeful
behavior. In a later interview with him, I try to seek
an answer. As he states in the interview himself he
wants his classroom to be relaxed but professional.
Students are always absent-minded, caring about their
own business like text message in their cellphones in
classroom, so the instructor has the responsibility to
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
9
convey his requirements clearly so that the students
can bear them in mind. I think that is why he uses two
different languages. If the requirements are not
expressed in an authoritative way, they may be easily
ignored by the students.
He would prefer to share his private life with the
students, which I do not think an authoritative
instructor will do. In his class, he often takes himself
or his own family life as examples. When we talked
about that point, he explained that was because he
was not a teaching robot and he was delighted that his
life experience could offer the students some
guidance. He mentions himself to give the students
instructions on how to give detailed description of a
skinny person in their draft. He talks about the life of
him and his wife to instruct the students to write and
understand some expression in the stories they read.
When he begins to introduce short stories and their
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
10
authors, again he takes himself as an example, saying
he would divorce his wife and marry one author if she
were at BSU to express his appreciation of the author.
After class, after all leave, except one or two
students, he chats with them for a while, like “How are
you doing?” and exchange their plans for weekends.
For me, I do not prefer to share my private life with
my students because in most cases, if an instructor
even shares his personal life with his students, the
relationship between the instructor and the student
will be too close to lose the authority of the instructor.
It will cause trouble in controlling the class and giving
instructions. But maybe age and experience really
mean something. Bill himself also thinks that his age
and experience make him unique and the students will
not challenge his words in the interview.
Less authority does bring a relaxing, equal and
free classroom. In Bill’s class, I find the students
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
11
needn’t ask for permission when they need to leave
their seats or move in class time. In some cases,
several students leave their seats to approach Bill,
asking questions they meet in group work or go to the
restroom.
Bill even dances, jumps or poses some dance
gestures in front of the class. He is really enjoying
himself and relaxed. However, I am wondering
whether this kind of relaxing classroom sometimes
causes problems as well.
There seem loose rules in Bill’s classroom, maybe
as Bill mentions this class is one little family. Bill does
not comment when the students are late for class. It
is normal that around four students will be late each
time. Searching in his syllabus, though there is a
regulation about attendance, I have not found any rule
related to being late. I think that is why the students
come late since the teacher’s authority has not been
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
12
demonstrated by regulations in the syllabus and Bill’s
silence when he is faced with the situation just
strengthens the students’ impression that being late is
nothing serious.
The loose rule can also been seen when he changes
his lesson plan due to absence of students though we
know his students only use sickness as excuses for
their absence. On Thursday’s class before the Fall
Break, eight students are absent. Bill received the
e-mails from some of them for sick excuses before
class. We know, in fact, they just make up an excuse to
go back home a bit earlier, but given that so many
students are absent, he changes his lesson plan. This is
a bit feminist model to me that the instructor will
change the lesson plan because of his students.
Bill will require the students to take notes, but
obviously, not everyone has formed this good habit.
Some of the students take notes with pen though they
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
13
have laptops, most of them take notes through
computers and some don’t write anything. Thus, I
conclude if Bill does not demonstrate authority in a
way, like using imperative sentences, his requirement
is just ignored to some students. It seems that not all
students possess the ability to sense what they must
do if the instructor does not assign it in a
masculine-authoritarian manner.
To my surprise, students are slow on one hand to
sense the instructor’s authority when there is no
explicit language but on the other hand they are so
sensitive to the authority of the teacher.
Bill will raise his voice when he is mentioning
something important and underscore once in a while
with gestures. He will not directly prevent the
students who try chatting in class when he is giving
instructions but he will implicitly forbid them. Two
students try to chat. Bill says, “Listen”, without
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
14
referring to anyone, just raising his voice as a hint. But
I find the students trying to talk receive the hint
clearly and stop immediately.
I also find though Bill creates such a relaxing
classroom -- one girl is observed to chew bubble gum
and blow a big bubble and put her two feet on the chair
beside her to make herself more comfortable, the
traditional teacher-and-student relation has
somewhat makes students realize teachers’ authority
automatically. Sometimes, when Bill happens to
approach the student browsing on the facebook, he
does not blame but only says,” Good facebook” and
leaves, but the student closes it afterwards quickly.
Obviously the student still senses Bill’s authority in
these situations, though the instructor tries to less
demonstrate his authority. I speculate the student
does not really take Bill’s comment as a compliment but
a euphemistic blame. Maybe there is an implicit
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
15
authority even if the instructor does nothing. The
students will feel the existence of the authority, just
because an instructor is an instructor and students
are students.
Another example is when Bill is walking around,
giving instructions for writing, a cell phone rings.
Because the students are doing group work and move
their seats, the bag with the ringing cellphone is left
unattended. Bill just asks whose it is. When a girl
raises her hand and says sorry, Bill only asks,” Do you
want it?” After he gets a yes answer, he takes the bag
with the cell phone to the girl. However, the girl keeps
saying sorry. Bill even comforts her, saying, “That’s all
right. We are one little family here.” while in his
syllabus, there is a clear regulation concerned with cell
phones: CELL PHONES
If you bring a cell phone, BE SURE that
PHONES/PAGERS ARE TURNED OFF or on vibrate
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
16
Another point that puzzles me is this class seems
a half teacher-centered and half student-centered
classroom. In this class, there are few questions and
answers between the instructor and the student or
discussion between them. Only one question and one
answer in the four classes I observe. Most of the time,
Bill only gives instructions and after giving the
instructions, he will ask students to raise questions to
check whether they understand and accept these
instructions. If the students have understood the
instructions, they will work on their own or collaborate
with their peers according to the instructions.
Therefore, their only question time is when the
students comes across problems and ask for help. In
the later interview with Bill, he explains to me since
there is so much material to cover in one class, his
class has been more teacher-centered. So I judge
that the way he organize the class is more traditional.
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
17
I interviewed 5 students from different majors in
Bill’s class through e-mail. They are volunteers and I
am curious about their impression to Bill’s class, Bill
himself and how this kind of authority will influence
their performance in class and in their writing. It is
such an coincidence that 4 of them refer to the word
“personal” or “real” when they describe their
impression to Bill’s class or Bill himself.
Erika Fancher who recently changed her major from
Telecommunications to Creative Writing thinks Bill is
harsher than her previous writing teacher, which really
surprises me. But she thinks this harshness doesn’t hurt
feelings and pushes her to explore different levels of
writing and to new horizons. She highly comments on the
class and her performance and Bill’s class even influences
her to change her major.
Lawson Heimach thinks Bill is unusually real and
though his performance is adequate, he would like to
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
18
participate more to make it more enjoyable.
Dana Hernandez thinks Bill lets the class be
individual and encourages newer thoughts, yet still
expects them to be on task, well behaved, and
responsible for work due in class. She is excited about
the class and the various assignments that she is
expected to accomplish. She enjoys the feeling and
mood in the class as well as the feeling and mood she
has when doing work, papers, and other small
assignments.
Nicole Greenboam thinks she has learned a lot
from Professor Holbrook this semester and is doing
well in the class. Because she loves the class so much,
her attendance/participation grade is 100%.
Mark Miller thinks that Bill is more personable and
is more willing to help him with his writing than
previous composition instructors. But Bill’s class is
much more challenging than previous composition
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
19
classes. The grading scale is also stricter than in
other composition classes. He feels that he is doing
fairly well in the class, and could definitely participate
more in the class though.
In light of the interview with the students, I am
surprised at the different impression the students
have on Bill from what I expect. One of the students
Nicole calls Bill “Professor Holbrook” not “Bill”. Though
all of them mention Bill is real, personal and helpful
they think he is harsh and strict which, in my previous
view, are the features of a masculine-authoritative
teacher.
After reading the requirements in the syllabus
made by Bill, I can understand why the students will
comment him in such a way. He sets a high standard
for students’ assignments. As he tells me in the
interview, he would prefer to assign his students
challenging writing tasks, which are relevant to their
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
20
future academic and professional need and to real
world critical thinking. They need to make efforts to
accomplish them, which is not easy. Then, they could
learn and improve. I think it is his high expectations
and requirements in writing to the students that leave
them an impression of harshness and strictness.
He sets a LATE WORK POLICY, which specifically
regulates the due time of in-class and outside
assignments. Failure to turn assignments in on time
without earlier permission will adversely affect grade.
He lists the grading in details, final essay, participation,
attendance included, but even aspects like cover sheets,
essay outlines, email assignments are considered and
granted credit points. His students need to focus on
each step of the writing procedures. In the class I
observe, he happens to hand out the draft of the last
assignment, where he lists the percentage the student
get according to this detailed grading. His harsh grading
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
21
scale is a reason why his students think he is strict but I
think it is the harsh grading scale that improves their
writing.
There is also an important part in his syllabus. He
especially presents the part “Effort Expended” in bold,
from which, I feel he has really a high expectation to the
students and values their efforts. No wonder his
students think his harsh and strict.
Bill sets up a high expectation and requirement to
his students, but meanwhile he focuses on the equal
voice of his students. When looking through the
writing project, I think the content of it promotes the
multivoice of the students. The students can express
exactly what they want. The classes I observe are the
third writing project of the students. They are
required to write an argument on community members
who reinforce their philosophic and moral perspectives.
Though the topic is settled -- a spiritual or moral value,
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
22
the students can express their own voices by
interviewing family and community members,
considering what family or community values are most
valuable in their argument without the interference of
Bill.
Given the interview to the students, all the
students regard that this mode of teaching help them
improve in writing, they like this kind of class and are
almost satisfied with their performance in class. I may
conclude that authority exhibits itself in varied ways
and the students may feel it in a different angle from
the instructor. When an instructor intends to
manifest less authority, he may mostly focus on how to
create a collaborative and relaxing classroom but for
students, they weigh more on their grades and
assignments. If the assignments are easy to finish,
good grades are easy to achieve and the expectation
of the instructor is lower, the teacher is more likely to
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
23
be regarded as a less authoritative one, but the
student are also aware that only challenging task
benefit them in writing.
My cultural background may also influence my
attitude to Bill’s authority. In China, students consider
teachers as absolute authorities in class and most of
the classes are totally teacher-centered. The more
authoritarian teachers are, the more likely their
requirements are to be accepted and satisfied by
students. The dominant American culture is different.
Students have been accustomed to a less authority
educational environment since student-centered,
feminist and collaborative pedagogies are popular. So
for me, Bill poses less authority compared to my
previous experience while his students understand
even if the instructor is so approachable, relaxing in
class, it does not mean he lacks authority. He tells me
in the interview, to push his students to expend more
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
24
efforts on revision, he “threaten” them in a humorous
way but his students understand he is deep and
serious.
From Bill, I realize the less authoritarian and the
more collaborative the classroom is, the assignment or
the requirement on writing given to the students must
impose the instructor’s authority explicitly, then the
students can be pushed to an advancement
AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM
25