Portfolios and Community based project: Students will conduct Participatory Research in the community using the Eastside Project or any other outreach program that meets the basic requirement of having a clientele who speaks Spanish. Instructions for this assignment are attached to this syllabus.

Grading:
Homework 10%
Newspaper reading………. 5%
Spanish television news………..5%
Oral presentations………. 45%
Participatory Research ……….35%

GRADING SCALE
94 – 100A 87 – 89 B+ 77 – 79 C+ 67 – 69 D+
90- 93 A- 84- 86 B 74- 76 C 64- 66 D
~80- 83 B- 70- 73C- 60- 63D-

PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH IN ADVANCED SPANISH CONVERSATION

Why do we do Participatory Research in Advanced Conversation?

First because it is a qualitative research method that helps a person to learn more about himself or herself at the same time that he or she serves the community trying to interpret the reality that surrounds them.
Second, because the technique it uses to collect data consists of dialogues with the people of the community from whom we want to learn something, in this case Spanish speakers from the San Jose and Santa Clara communities.
Third, because this research method responds to the university mission and the teaching philosophy of your professor, which is to form responsible citizens who will achieve social change.

It is important that you understand that doing participatory research in this class is an effective way to practice Spanish with native speakers who have so much to offer.

What do we need to know to start doing Participatory Research?

First it is necessary to know what you would like to research. The entire community opens its doors to you and it is up to everyone to find out what concerns you the most. For example, those people who are in education, this is your opportunity to get into issues that concern bilingual education or multicultural education, those who are in political science, immigration issues might interest you more.
Second, it is necessary to read something about Participatory Research. Unfortunately there are not too many articles in Spanish available to us at the moment, but there is a lot in English under Participatory Research, Action Research, Community Learning, Service Learning, etc. Your first assignment then is to find an article in the library. Read it, summarize it and bring it to class the second day we meet.
Third, it is absolutely necessary to share your ideas with your classmates and professor. It is necessary to clarify doubts, and explore new ideas. Many eyes see better.
Forth, by the second week of classes everyone must have enrolled in one of the agencies the Eastside Project offers. You may use any agency that has mainly Spanish speakers as clients.

Is reading about theory enough to do participatory research?

Definitely not, you cannot do PR only by reading about it; you need to want to do it. The main requirements to do this type of research are: Faith, hope and love, like the cardinal virtues. Faith in that which you are doing is worthwhile. You must be convinced that many people must read what you are researching. You also must have faith that what takes place in the community concerns everyone else and you want all of us to know about it. Hope that every step you are taking, every dialogue you conduct is helping everyone to get closer to give voice to the unheard, at the same time that you are getting closer to becoming a better person. Love is the most important requirement because without it this would be a tedious work. You must love yourself and the people you talk, this is the best way to assure you are doing the right thing.

What do I need to get a good grade in this assignment?

Be always in the site of the program on time, get to know the people there the best you can, keep a journal. You will need to record all your emotions, concerns and also achievements. You're your best developing the following assignments:

Descriptive and Interpretive Phase 5 points
Dialogues 5 points
Dialogue Analysis 5 points
Critical Analysis 5 points
Transformative Phase 5 points
Portfolio 10 points

What do all these things really mean?

I. Descriptive Phase: In this part of your work, you will describe the place where you will be working and the people with whom you will be in contact. This description should be in detail. You also need to describe yourself. The questions you need to answer about everything and everyone is: What? Who? Where? From where? When?

II. Interpretive Phase: In this phase, you have to make the connection between what you are doing and your own life. The questions to answer are: How does my life relate to this? Have I experienced something similar to what I am seen here? What do I feel when I see this reality? Why do I think this is important to research?

Dialogues: they are the conversations you have with the participants, the people who are doing this research with you. It is very important that the people with whom you are working are willing to help. It is your responsibility to earn their trust and to motivate them to talk about their life and their community by sharing with them about your own life.

These dialogues may be taped for later analysis. For this you need a good tape recorder and keep it always close to you. However, many times people from the community do not feel comfortable with a tape recorder, besides, if you are working with children, this device could distract them a great deal. If you consider that using a tape recorder is not possible, please take notes during or once your dialogue has finished. You must record everything you think is important. Don't forget that nonverbal language may be as important as the words you hear.

You must discuss with your professor either personally or through email how you are doing your dialogues. It is important that you do this because if there is something that needs to be clarified, you want to do it before you define your generative themes.

III. Dialogue Analysis: Once you have collected your data through dialogues, you need to read your notes or listen to your tapes carefully. Find what are the things that are mentioned more often and see if you can find a theme that comes up from your dialogues. A theme is like a concern or topic that is repeated many times, it could come up in many ways. Read carefully your notes and journal also to see if these themes have come from the participants or only from you. Make sure that what you find as a theme comes from both the participants and you. If you find a theme that comes only from the participant, make sure you conduct another dialogue to see if you can also see the same thing. Double check your generative themes by asking the participants if they consider those issues important for further analysis.

IV. Critical Phase: Once you have defined your generative themes, it is time to research as much as you can about them. In this phase, you need to find as much information as you can on the issues. Due to time constrains, you will only research two written articles for each generative them you have found. You have to make sure that both articles come from different sources. You also will look for information talking to people about the issues, and also from your own experience.

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself when analyzing your sources:

Who wrote this article?
Why does this person see this issue this way?
Does ethnicity have something to do with his/her point of view?
Would this person write the same thing if he/she were in a different situation?
What would I say about this issue from my own situation?
What would I say about this issue if I belonged to a different social class or race?

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AT LEAST TWO POINTS OF VIEW FOR EACH
GENERATIVE THEME.

V. Transformative Phase: This is the last part of your participatory research project. In order to get to this part, you must draw some conclusions of your work. You are going to base your conclusions on all the other phases. From your conclusions, you will be able to think of an action plan. Remember, this type of research REQUIRES ACTION. From your personal reflections, you will be able to get deep inside of yourself and find those things you need to change to become a better person. Start there, before you start thinking of changing the world. Write an action plan to achieve your personal goals.

Then think of the things that need to be changed at a social level. Write an action plan for this too. Perhaps you will find that there are things to be changed in the agency you worked. Before you start writing a letter or talk to them, please reflect upon these facts: Are you being realistic about the changes you would like to be made? If you were working there, could you do it? Are you being fare with the people from the agency?

VI. Portfolio: Remember, you have been keeping everything you have been doing in this class. Now is the time to put it together making sure you have your first draft, the corrected version of homework and PR and the final draft, which is the version without, mistakes. Here are the sections your portfolio must have:

Homework. First and final drafts.
Vocabulary
News. Your summary and a copy of the article.
Participatory Research. All phases first and final draft. Include here your journal with your personal reflections.
Presentation evaluations. Include your own comments on how to improve your presentations and the material you used whenever possible.

During the last week of classes, formal presentations will take place. You will present your participatory research to the rest of the class. You will have 15 minutes to present a summary of the four phases of your PR emphasizing your personal transformation. You are encouraged to use technology for your presentation. Every presentation will be video taped and you will be able to incorporate your oral presentation to your portfolio.