Weekly Memos

Name:

Date:

Topic:

Memo #1

Maybe it was naïve of me, never thought finding participants would be this hard…Friday was

discouraging.

1st place I went to – STL – met the ESL conversation group, but tutor said they don’t allow

people to canvass for anything – I get that though, only it was discouraging at first. One good

thing that came out of it though is:

– I know where to find participants in that location

– I found one willing person – Flavia – need to follow up to the next level

Went to Harper College – lessons learned:

– Don’t go looking at institutions on Fridays

– Coordinator said I’ll have to do a fresh IRB. This is ridiculous because I’m already approved by Judson

It at least leads me to find out about other places:

– Oakton doesn’t care as long as you are not using a wide body of students

– I think CLC wants you to, but it’s a much simpler process. I may need to call both places to find out the policy before I set out

Name:

Date:

Topic:

Memo #2

I found willing participants – follow up needed

– Farida

– Yunior’s wife – Cruz

– Christine

– I know I’m forgetting somebody – so I need to get a list going

– NB: Flavia…

My plan is as soon as Schaumburg location group is formed, I can coordinate a schedule and get

that done, so the transcription can start

Thins needed:

– Figure out location for Schaumburg meeting

– The audio recorder (libraries do not lend out. Judson either)

– The smart pen

– I need an assistant – day – needs to train with IRB – ask Joe, do I need to submit the certificate too?

– Kind of organization for materials

– Storage plan

– Back up plans for hardcopy materials – electronic filing

Name:

Date:

Topic:

Memo #3

The article says that there are 3 types of Memoing – operational, coding and analytic. I wonder if

I should make mind that too, but the other research I was reading says that you don’t need to do

that….I’ll see how this gets, I definitely don’t want to unnecessarily complicate things if it’s not

going to serve that much purpose..

One other thing that I wonder about is that most of the participants I am approaching right now

are by word of mouth, people that I know and have a relationship with. I’m however wary that

could this be seen as if I’m handpicking my participants? Although I know I’m not, I’m simply

approaching people who fit into my participant research category and asking – some have said

yes, a few have declined, so I guess that’s ok, right?

Thinking more about this, I did say that my participants will be got by word of mouth and

personal contact, so this may be a way that the general way my proposal is phrased could be

advantageous.

I’m also wondering if it is better to take the participants that I have, so far as I’m speaking, I

have about 3 for Schaumburg area, and I need between 2 and 4 more. As soon as I have enough

participants for this location, I will go ahead with the FG meeting for that venue and get it on

with. One thing I wonder at is that what if I can’t get students in that area, especially considering

the possible complications I may have with Harper situation…

What if?…

I find more students with Harper and Oakton? What if one center is mad of mostly working

adults, while the other is more of students? Like I may have as things are beginning to unfold?

As in the situation above too, nothing in my proposal says each center has to consist of specific

numbers of each category. I am hopeful to get a nice mix of both, but may not be able to get

them together…I wonder if that will be a problem…

Contacts to follow up:

CLC African students’ reception – September 21

Harper College – finish the IFRB contact

Oakton contact

I need to contact Dr. Rani about her contact

I need to reach out to the Judson student I did the project with also

Name:

Date:

Topic:

Memo #4

• Went to Flavia’s to talk about getting her paperwork done

• Thought I would be able to waylay people on the way to conversation class, but she said

class doesn’t meet, which is a bummer

• Struggled with what to buy – where do I draw the line between a bribe and establishing a

relationship

• Settled with buying stuff for the kids

• Flavia promised to ask Robison (her husband), and her friend. I have to call her this

weekend to follow up

• I’m so glad that the benchmark is going to be checked up soon…

• Also went to the Catholic church, said the sister will call me back

• sunny lee sent back an email to say she’s in South Carolina – that’s out for now, except if

Questions to ask Joe:

• Women alone? How do I tackle that?

o To address it again in C3 – generalizability at the end

o I think I like it better if I have a broad range of participants, and so far, I think

I may be having that…

• Can I have students apart and then more adult people separate?

• Assistant IRB – IRB certified form – the training better….

Name:

Date:

Topic:

Memo #5

I’m glad I was able to get the needed clarifications yesterday. It frees me from the funk I’ve been

in about going about this. So, I approached the Spanish and the Filipino groups in church today. I

was not that prepared for that; I need to get a lot more prepared and together going forward…

• Always have extra copies of the forms in the car like I did initially.

• I should have created a sign-up sheet – for both groups. I was able to rally the Filipino

group well enough – 6 participants already – but I still have to follow up with Rafael for

the Spanish group. I have to seek him out tonight to see if anybody showed interest.

• I also need to figure out how to coordinate the times. I already have a participant who can

only commit if it’s on Friday, so I’m praying that more people will sign up for Friday

I’m going to follow up with the Catholic church ESL group, and Flavia’s leads

I also need to take the form to work tomorrow for the Indian lady – that will be for the Judson

group. So far too, my Judson leads are not productive. I’ve reached out to Dr. Rani, no response

yet. The lady I reached out to from BBH’s class has moved to SC, so that that about that.

I also need to locate the venue. A classroom in SCS should do, I feel that providing refreshments

in a room in the library might be awkward – since I have willing rooms at SCS, why not just go

for that?

****I still need perspectives from the younger adults…have to think that through this week

Name:

Date:

Topic:

Memo #6

I’m still recruiting. A few dead leads, but that’s ok. I have to get proactive about getting

paperwork back from the Filipino group on Sunday. What’s best to do is to send a text reminder

on Saturday night, so they all remember to bring them to church on Sunday.

I also need to track Cruz down to collect the paperwork from her

Big one is that Dr. Sam agreed to participate. I’ll have to follow up with his secretary to pick up

the forms, or have her scan it to me, so I can get him in a group. He can belong to the Elgin

group…

Eleni also agreed to join, but won’t be available until November, I’m hoping that by then, I

would have finished all the meetings…that’s two months from now-almost

I also haven’t been able to track down Mairin….

So far, Christine is my only Nigerian participant. I might need to recruit a few more to balance it

out. I just want to be as diversified as possible for the sake of objectivity.

I still haven’t been able to track down the Indian lady from Triton. If I can have her join the

Elgin group too, it will be fantastic!

Anytime next week, I need to consolidate the entries, and then figure how to group them all

Transcript of Focus Group 1

Saturday, September 30, 2017 at 4:00 p.m.

Participants:

Bisi (Moderator)

Dayo (Logistics)

Rommel

Neil

Yinka

Lotis

Lola

Rali

Seminar Discussion points:

• Page set-up decisions

• Transcription issues

• Verbatim or no?

• Hums and fillers

• Symbols – create your own

• Time markers (settled for about every minute)

• Protocols and Questions – insecurity about adequacy?

• Handling diversions

• Feeling of what’s this got to do with everything?

• Initial coding attempts

• Fieldnotes and memos…blurring lines

• Punctuation????

00:35 Start

Bisi: So by way of introduction, my name is Bisi Adenekan. I’m a student at Judson

University. I’ve told my story before to (inaudible) individual. My study is based

on immigrants and language use. I want to look into how does being an

immigrant help us or hinder us as we use language, as we try to acclimatize in

the American society, and that’s what this focus group is about. So I just want

to thank everybody for coming here today to honor this occasion, to just to

support me in this study. We’re going to do a very quick general introduction.

I’ll start, and each person will go. We just want to know four things from each

person. Who you are, your name, what country you’re from, maybe three things,

how long you’ve been here. Alright, so I’m Bisi. I’m from Nigeria and I've been

here 17 years (background noise) 17 years (laugh)(01:49)

Lotis: My name is Lotis and I've been here 15 years. Hum, what else again (laugh)?

Bisi: it's just the three

Lotis: Oh that's it

Yinka: Ok my name is Yinka and um I’m Nigerian by birth and I've been (02:06) here

for ‘about 16 years

Bisi: Oh Lotis we wanted to know where you're from

Lotis: Philippines, yeah (background noise)

Neil: Um my name is Neil I’m from the Philippines since 12 years here in the US

Rommel: I’m Rommel I’m from Philippines I’m/I’ve been here 12 years (02:24)

Rali: I’m Rali from Nigeria and I've been here 16 years

Lola: I’m Lola I’m

from Nigeria and been here um it's gonna be 12 years next month

Bisi: Mmm nice and everybody knows Dayo. I don't know why he didn't introduce

himself (background noise)

Dayo: I’m not a subject (laugh)

Bisi: It's ok to introduce yourself

Dayo: Ok I’m Dayo, ‘Bisi’s husband. I’m from Nigeria originally and I've been here

about for 12 years as well. 12 seems to be the average number here yeah

(laugh)

Bisi: And Dayo is not a participant he’s my research assistant so he's just going to

be here um as quiet as possible

Dayo…in the background

Bisi…in the background do whatever work that he needs to do to run this smoothly.

Um just so you know, I've put water um round (03:15) the tables for everybody

and there are snacks here, feel free. Um unfortunately, this bathroom is locked,

if you need to use the bathroom there's um one just way down the hallway there,

there’s a male and a female bathrooms down there. I need to let you know that

this session is being recorded just like I told these (inaudible) audio recorded

just like um I discussed with you at the beginning and the reason we’re doing

this audio recording is just so that, because, I’ll be taking notes while I talk and

Dayo is also taking as many, as many as much notes a possible, so that I don't

miss any significant um things that people are saying, but at the same time too

I might not be able to write as fast as um people are talking and that's why we’re

recording so that I can listen back to this while I transcribe I can get all um the

um things that I need to get I also want to reiterate that privacy confidentiality

(04:14) is something that I take very seriously um like I said in the forms that

we filled earlier on if I’m going to publish the report of this this research in any

avenue I’m going to use pseudonyms I’m not going to mention names um

peoples identifiers, I’m going to make sure that your privacy is protected. Apart

from the people in my research team and my immediate supervisor and

whoever is um part of the people transcribing this for us apart from that I respect

everyone’s um confidentiality. And um there are additional forms I am passing

around just so we go through that and the only reason that I’m giving this is just

so that after 2 weeks when we disband this team, if I do need additional

information, just additional data that I want to collect that’s why I designed these

other forms just so we can have it alright um 1 other thing that I gave round are

the group rules and I just want us to take a minute or two to look around it if

your cell phone is on or other device please if you can turn that off (5:20) there

still on so that we can have um a meaningful conversation or meaningful

conversations. We’re going to end this session at 6 so I’m gunning for just so

that I don't waste we don't waste people’s time and commitment in other places.

And um like I said in the second group rules, I’m keeping note so um you can

allow just one person to speak, I know sometimes enthusiasm to talk that's fine,

but at least, just so that um we can um have that courtesy for each other. And

um, I want to appeal to us as much as possible to avoid sidebar conversations,

like side conversations, I just want us to be an integral group so that we can um

have as much productivity as possible. And sometimes if I may interrupt your

speech, it's not because I’m trying to be rude it's just because I’m trying to clarify

or I want to hear um somebody else's perspective (06:15) and that’s the reason

um if any questions or comments are off the topic we can discuss those right

after um the focus group um and then we’ll and it and it I do know that the

caliber of the people that are here, and I’m just saying that we should be

respectful and courteous to one another, alright… so any questions so far? any

questions I’m sorry I’m not running this as a classroom it sounds kind of like that

right (laughing)? if you’re done filling the forms we can give those to Dayo.

Thank you thank you (indistinct chatter) that’s fine I can collect yours

Neil: this looks different

Bisi: they’re kind of different

Neil: oh I have a oh I have the other one (muttering) at home (laughter) at home

(laughter)

Bisi: what are you trying to say?…And by the way we’re also going to be on first

name basis (07:23) you know just for convenience for ease of um

communication so we’re just all going to be first name basis for everybody just

so that um this can flow easily. So we ready for the discussion? this um where

the focus group questions start now um and um this question is not directed to

anybody specifically anybody can start the discussion and the first question

is How did your language experience before coming to the United States shape

your experience here? Was it helpful? Share your story. What the kind of

language your (inaudible) experience the level of English experience that you

had in your home country, how did it shape your experience here in the Unites

States was it helpful, was it not? share your story (08:10) anybody ready that

needs to

Yinka: um for me well, I’m in I’m from Nigeria and um English was taught in most

schools so I so you had to learn at some point the uh English, it was our official

language so for me the foundation was there. But when I came in to the US as

a teenager um what I found different was the phonetics because back home um

back in Nigeria we were (inaudible) more of the Queen’s English so the

phonetics was different the some of the spellings some words were different but

overall um the foundation was there we had the basic building block that was

given to us from, you know, from the very beginning so that helped so I wasn't

learning English as a first-timer that had that was helpful not having to um to

pronounce words differently was what I kind of struggled through especially as

a teenager in high school so that’s my experience (09:14) (inaudible)

Bisi: doesn’t matter anybody can join well

Lotis: um English is more I would say second language and um it was difficult for me

because for me because um I had my own dialect and I have to learn Tagalog,

and I have to learn (inaudible) and I have to learn English, and both I don’t, not

like it, but (inaudible) like um you know, we had to take it each year, but I think

I got better when I started working because you have to communicate English

and you have to have a written communication also. But when I got here

everything was, I think it was a big adjustment for me because um, my accent,

and (muttering) and plus my um partner, he was white, so it was just um, a

huge, huge adjustment, that I need to adapt but um but I think that foundation

that I had, I think I didn’t you know embrace it well (inaudible) a little more

challenging, that’s it yeah (10:36)

Lola: I would say coming from Nigeria as well, like Yinka said, we had a foundation,

we were taught English in school, and the only difference, the only thing that

made it a bit hard for me was the accent, you know, when you say some things

here in the US, they look at you like…what are you speaking English? (laughing)

and you think ok I've said the word. Like the first time we got here, my husband

and I were trying to get somewhere, and we said ‘route’ (pronounced “root”),

you know, take the route – R O U T E, and they were like ( laughing ) its r-o-u-

t-e ( laughing). OK, that’s how I’ve always said it that's how we've been taught

to pronounce the word, then (inaudible). And then some other things I tell them.

Back at home, we tell them we want to have (inaudible) a soft drink, “Oh I want

some soft drink” because that is what we referred to it as, but here, you say,

pop as in coca cola or as in Pepsi. And then, (11:26) another time I remember

I wanted to go to the um thermos that we um, that container you keep hot things

(background noise). I went to the store like, ok I need a flask, and they were

looking at me like – a flask? I said something you put hot drinks in, and then to

keep it warm and all that. Oh, you mean a thermos (laughing), I was like ok yes,

can you show me what it is, what aisle. I went there (inaudible) ok here it is.

And then another thing I will say is when um I got to school, I did my bio um, I

have bachelors from Nigeria, and I said I didn't want to go back to school and

um come here and start doing bachelors again so I applied to a master's

program. So I got into the program (12:03), I then I noticed in class, I was the

only, I think I was the only, no, there was a couple of African, Africans in the

class in the whole class. And then I noticed um at some point, they called us

aside with some other foreigners, to advise us that they noticed that nursing

program at the school, that foreigners tend to not to do so well in the program

and they they’re trying to do like a research to see what they can do to help us

better – is it the understanding of the language? Is it the reading or whatever?

So…but like I speak English. Don't you understand what I’m saying? And like

give me the chance. I’m here, like every other person? Equal opportunity, and

she was like ok, we’ll let you guys go, but we want you to know that we can give

you all the support you need just let us know. We’re like OK (laughing), I’m good

to go, thank you. All I need to do is just study hard. And I remember the first um

like all of the (inaudible) final exams we did (13:15), the lecture actually came

to me and was asking me so how did you study? because obviously, I did way

better that most of the students in the class, because once you do the test you

have to pass it because if (inaudible) you don't pass it, you have to pass the

program they don't graduate you from the nursing program. I was like ok, so

she was asking me how did I study, and I was thinking to myself how what do

you mean how did I study? (laugh) I opened my books, and I read my books,

that was how I studied. I didn't do anything different. She was like ok, you

passed. So is that why you were asking me how I studied? She was like yes,

you did very well in the test, you passed the test, and all that I was like ok. So

it was a bit um, of a I would say, I didn't allow it to make me lose my self-image

because if someone, if someone is always coming to you like your lecturers and

all that, coming to you, do you do you need more help? Do you? It would, I’m

kind of made me to -being my kind of person, I would have (inaudible) gone

back into my shell because I’m always (inaudible) if anything comes upon me

I tend to go back into my shell. But I didn't allow that to happen. I just focused

on OK, (inaudible) this is what I want. I’m gonna get it. I’m gonna get it, and that

was what happened so in a way the accent and then the impression I got, I can’t

speak for everybody, that I got from people when I first got here. They always

thought OK, she’s from Africa, so she probably doesn't understand English. I

always got that. And then when I speak, they’re like ok, you have a bit of a

British accent in your English (14:53), so where did that come from? And I think

to myself, I was taught in English right from age 4, what are these people talking

about? (laugh) so it’s always very perplexing to me when they say those things,

but after a while, I just develop a thick skin, and told myself it's out of ignorance

that these people say the things that they say to me, or say the things they say

to other foreigners (inaudible(15:21)

Rali: very interesting, I had a very similar experience to yours too, with the flask

(laughter) I think I shared it with, um Bisi um (inaudible) days ago, you know. I

had, I went to Walmart and I was actually looking for the flask, but I was actually

asking for thermos-flask, and they’re like, there’s nothing like that. And I’m sure

they had it. So fortunately, a Mexican guy was passing by, a customer, so he

said, oh I know what you want, just go over there. So I saw it. So I went back to

the lady and that you said you don’t have it. Oh, thermos. I’m like okay, I said

thermos-flask, and least you can cut it to know that, OK (laughter). So, you know

for me um, that was kind of, you know, annoying sometimes because it’s like,

you know, they almost treat you sometimes like you don't know English, like

you don't have the same level of whatever, you know. So sometimes, I find it

you know, annoying, sometimes, you know. There was a time I when I first came

here and I was doing all these temp jobs and all that (16:31,) so this lady called

me, and I was telling her, oh I couldn’t pick my call because I was in the library,

(pronounced “lib’ry”). That’s how we call library – lib’ry. She said she spent so

long trying to understand what I was saying, until later she was like “oh library.”

(laughter) So things like that just make feel like, oh my goodness. You know,

but um overall, I think um for people that have had um English taught to them

(17:00), you know before coming here, I think overall would probably will have

you know easier than people that are just learning it for the first time, cuz

sometimes I just wonder, people that are just coming, to coming here and just

learning it, I think it was a bit even more challenging, that’s my opinion, because

at least, we already um have an understanding of what things, you know ,mean

and all that. Um our pronunciation may be different, because I mean, we were

taught to pronounce it differently, and spellings too, we have to adjust, you

know, but overall, I think for us we probably have a better advantage because

we have that from back then before coming here

Neil: Yeah so uh coming from the Philippines um, English (inaudible) exposed to

English. Um, I went to a public um school, and right on the first grade uh

textbooks and most of the uh materials in the school were written in English,

but um for conversations it’s not English, it’s, so we were taught in English but

it's not conversational so only during let's say and you have uh some meetings

uh at work (inaudible) started working and that’s the only time you really asked

to speak in English during presentation or some meetings, trainings. But most

of the time, you go on the street, you not hear uh English. But we, our textbooks

and um, what else, many of our books were written in English, and that’s it. So

the only problem is that the conversation, there’s not a lot of uh opportunities to

practice um how to speak in um English, that's it (19:13)

Bisi: Another question that I want to ask is what effect did your professional

qualifications have on your language experience, you know whatever

professional qualifications you had back in your country, did it did it help you?

did it hinder you? What are the effects it had when you came in here (muttering)

that's fine

Rommel: it okay

Bisi: I’m sorry. (laughter) so um if we can start with that question now with your story

(inaudible)

Neil: can you repeat your question?

Bisi: what um effect did your professional qualification have on your language

experience when you came in here did your professional qualification

(inaudible) Philippines for example, or in Nigeria did it help, did it hinder? What

difference did it make?

Rommel: yeah I think, aside from the uh from the school where you learn English um

at work as well, you have the opportunity to um you have more opportunities to

learn English um because you have, you have chance to uh like make

presentations um and that’s also the time when you start you know uh making

um writings and sending emails um but for me um personally I had the

opportunity there in the Philippines to learn English but I did not I did not take it

seriously because uh when I was in grade school uh my English teacher was

my mom (21:06) so I know I’m get a pass (laughter). And then when I entered

college um I enrolled in Engineering course, and when you are in Engineering

um, they expect you to you know learn mathematics more than English. So I

again I did not take it seriously (laughter). Um but um when I came here, I uh,

really, I needed to uh make an adjustment especially in the conversation, as

Neil said, uh there’s not opportunity there to uh like speak English um and as

far as experience here, I actually (inaudible) told one of my friend, um when he

asked me where you come from because so I just came from Jewel ( laughing),

I told him this came from uh J-a-w-e-l ( laughing) “Oh Rommel, what is that (

laughing) what is that ?” From that Roselle road, there’s a store there (laughing)

“Oh you mean Jewel?” ( laughing) yeah m(22:34)

Neil: Um let me add to that another strange thing in the Philippines is that when you

go to more remote areas like (inaudible) areas, and you speak English, in the

Philippines it will be very strange for people, they will look at you differently

(laughing) yeah it&apo