Small word ignites big work

This entry is to capture my feeling when it is most vivid and truthful about my supervisors, since any delay may blur the sharp vividness.

Before this entry can go any further, a few initial words should be devoted for an explanation of the title I have just thought of. The words I got from my supervisors are not small, and the work ignited is not as big as the language may imply. What is meant is the empowerment my supervisors' saying brings to me. A great contrast of the signifier, language, and the signified, content, is found in their saying.

Imagery words speak much to me. Such metaphors used by my supervisors as diet, flavour, planting tree, fishing,etc. convey meanings far richer than they are intended. A wealth of lessons I learnt ranges from things in my research field to communication etiquette. Beyond the sounds of language (the audio signifier), silence, pausing, pacing, and intervals between stretches of utterance do touch my senses and nurture my mind. What if people do not hold a healthy perspective toward life, a rich wealth of knowledge in their expertise and life alike, a beautiful mind and soul, optimistic beliefs, respect to themselves and others, and passion could produce flowery language? Fragrance is not necessarily what all kinds of flowers possess, I believe.

Critical to this kind of empowerment the supervision brings to me is what and how much I can translate the nuance and essence of my supervisors' saying into my behaviour and action, and how I pass the 'fire' in me to my students/participants.

How do people say what they mean and mean what they don't say?

Taking a road

"Taking the road less travelled" speaks much to me. It has been recently that I began to understand layers of meaning of that sentence from Robert Frost. At the end of the day, I have decided the research topic that I can find a strong genuine interest in studying. Reflecting on the 'at the junction' time, when I was not determined where to go, which road to take, I am much pleased now about my choice. I will study about one's self and identity, the development and fluidity of self and identity in L2 motivation, and case study is the research strategy of inquiry. Since humans are mysterious, studying the innermost image of a person to understand why s/he behaves this way not that one is very interesting and challenging.

...
(3 weeks later)

I am continuing this entry for the sake of a complete one because anyway I want to 'celebrate' the moment of being able to 'take the road'.

This entry turns out to be an ugly piece of cake due to the breakdown in the middle. Life is not always a delicious piece of cake if we master the recipe of making the cake and we have a strong belief. Resonating with this fact about life is this very moment, when ideas are flooding in my head but I am struggling with encoding them so that I can communicate with people what the ideas are and how smart (I believe) they are. Eventually, being able to 'take a road' is not something worth celebrating because it is not an end but a beginning.

I am beginning to go on my chosen road...

Just keeping research journalling

It has been three months or so since my studends and I last talked about the research projects. We have been silent for a while due to my slow progress or precisely a change of topic. We haven't done anything for our projects although the students used to be so eager to create accounts on Wikipedia and think of posting something there but I am not sure if there has been something done.

This time is the silence time as I said but it does not mean so in every sense of the word "silence". I believe what has been happening between us may say something for my thesis in the perspective of the teacher's role in L2 motivation. Silence does not mean no work, no communication, no feeling, or no acquisition (I am relating to the "silence period" in first language acquisition). Through Facebook as the major and actually sole means of communication, we are so in touch and more importantly getting a relationship stronger and stronger. Many factors as antecedents of motivation like vision, imagination, trust, hope, fantasy, ideality, and many more I believe, can be somehow achieved through our facebooking. Not intentionally do I communicate for the sake of my research but the communication has come very naturally due to the pleasure and love we have to each other. Exemplifying for this is the adoration they have to me as a superb cook and an academically successful person (as they said)though I am not that excellent and in return the admiration and love I have to them as intelligent and smart youths. Comments I have made in their postings at times add some value and trust to our relationship, which can hardly be obtained overnight.

It matters, in the perspective of motivation, that how to translate motivational factors into motivated behaviours. As a teacher, and possibly a friend of them, I believe all that has been happening in this silence time that counts.

My role

In setting up the learner's motivation (more specificality needed) (e.g.surfing wikis, I'm supposed to:

1. Ask the learner to imagine (see the Role of imagination by Zoltan Dornyei, 2009)
"Throughout history of mankind, humans are driven by their imagination and their ability to see images of the desired future. Leaders, poets, writers, composers, artists, dreamers, athletes have been able to be inspired, stay inspired, and inspire others through such images. These images, once shared, have the power to become a force, and in that sense an inspiration for social development and growth, for intentional change at many levels of social organization, not just for the individual" (Boyatzis & Akrivou, 2006, cited in Dornyei, Z. & Ushima, E., 2009).

"Looking at the apple seed and seeing the tree, playing scales on a piana and envisioning a concert hall" (Wenger, 1998, cited in Dornyei, Z. & Ushima, E., (2009)
3. Praise, appreciate the learner (for their initiatives)
4. Help form hopes, wishes, and fantasies
5. Build up trust and admiration at the learner (FB is a useful tool for me)

(Items here are not in the order of importance but shaped in random according to my memory and reflection)