Getting Started—Advising Session Reflections

Michelle Jerrems, Kanda University of International Studies

Jerrems, M. (2023). Getting started—Advising session reflections. Relay Journal, 6(2), 150-159. https://doi.org/10.37237/relay/060204

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Abstract

In order to develop language learner autonomy, educators need to take a different approach from the ‘one size fits all’ language classroom (Kato & Mynard, 2016). One key ingredient in fostering autonomy, particularly in the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) setting, is providing students with opportunities for reflective dialogue (Gardner & Miller, 1999), and the practice of advising in language learning (ALL). In this paper, I reflect on my first advising session with a learner. The session focused on three advising strategies (restating, empathy and complimenting). These strategies were chosen in order to reflect on my ability to use them effectively in an advising setting. Reflection was done through the examination of transcribed excerpts of dialogue, and listening back to the recorded session. It is my hope to add to the field of literature on first-time advising sessions and reflective practice.

Keywords: learner autonomy, self-access, advising in language learning, advising strategies, reflection, reflective dialogue

Background and Context

I started working at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in April 2023. Prior to this, I spent 10 years working in a junior and senior high school. At my previous institution, I also had the opportunity to work with students in a small self-access learning center (SALC), mostly for academic support. At this time, I was aware of the role of a learning advisor, but due to the students’ language ability and the rules of the SALC, I was unable to employ advising strategies with the students in this setting. In order to support the success of the SALC, I undertook my own research in learner autonomy, self-access, learner motivation, teacher motivation and learning advising strategies. I also had the opportunity to undertake two intensive learning advisor courses run by lecturers at KUIS. I found the field of learner autonomy and self-access an exciting facet of learning that took my ideas and understanding of language learning far beyond the traditional classroom setting. However, with the constraints of a small school context and homeroom teacher duties it was difficult to put much of what I had learned into practice. From this experience, when I started my current employment at KUIS, I was eager to learn more about the field of advising and reflective dialogue and decided to participate in the online advising courses offered. Although I had tried to employ reflective activities and facilitate autonomous learning as much as possible in my previous and current classrooms, doing this in a one-on-one setting was quite new for me. My experience in an “advisor” role or “facilitator” of the self-directed learning process (Mynard & Carson, 2012) was limited. As I went through the modules in advising course 1, I was also reminded that in the past I have taken more of a directive role in the classroom and my previous SALC. My hope is that I can slowly develop my skills, spending more time in the advisor and facilitator role, and that this reflection will be a useful step in this direction. 

The Advisee

My advisee, Junko (pseudonym), is a student who visits me weekly for academic support sessions at the SALC at KUIS. I had met her approximately three times before the advising session, and although we had mostly focused on her writing skills, I sensed she might want to talk about her learning and motivation too. When I asked her if she would like to do the practice advising session with me, she was very enthusiastic about the idea. Junko has previously had a chance to meet with a learning advisor once or twice, but has not been doing it on a regular basis. I asked Junko to complete a consent form before the session, and we scheduled a time to meet.

Junko is in her second year studying in the Global Liberal Arts (GLA) department at KUIS. I would place Junko somewhere between “getting started” and “going deeper” on the learning trajectory (Kato & Mynard, 2016). She displays some self-awareness as a learner but is not yet reflecting on a deep level with her learning processes and strategies. Junko has shown that she is motivated to improve and makes an appointment for a writing session with me every week. Before each session she writes at least two passages to practice her writing for the Eiken Test in Practical English Proficiency (Nihon Eigo Kentei Kyokai, n.d.). Although Junko has shown dedication to continue this, she is not yet demonstrating many self-reflective skills or thinking deeply about how she may be able to improve her writing skills. Despite gentle suggestions, she has not made a study plan or tried to identify areas that she needs to work on. She tends to repeat the same kinds of mistakes in each session, and it is unclear whether she has adjusted her strategies in regards to the feedback and advice I give her each week.

The Session

Junko and I met for a 30-minute learning advising session in the KUIS8 building, where the SALC is located. I recorded the session and then transcribed it in order to start my reflective process. Before the session, I had decided on three strategies that I wanted to focus on: restating, empathy and complimenting. I did this so that I could have a focus during the dialogue and work on using these strategies to help the advisee feel open to talk more and go deeper in the reflective process. 

Area of focus: Restating

Restating or “reformulating” can be similar to repeating, but the advisor reformulates a key phrase in their own words (Kato & Mynard, 2016). I chose to focus on restating as I believe it is a simple way to demonstrate to the advisee that you are listening to what they are saying. I feel that I was successful in using the restating strategy. I could tell from the advisee’s body language, leaning towards me and making eye contact, that she felt engaged in the conversation.

Extract 1

A (Advisee): Okay, first I chose KUIS because I want to study English and other cultures.

LA (Learning Advisor): Mmm

A: Because this school has a lot of cultures and I think I will…I can talk with foreign countries’ exchange students.

LA: Exchange students, I see. And so you’re interested in other cultures.

A: Yes, I’m interested.

I found that restating was a useful way to clarify and check meaning, when the advisee was not sure how to articulate what she was trying to say.

Extract 2

A: GLA students very…They…socializing.

LA: So they are very social?

A: Social. Yeah, I thought I’m social, social people because when I was high school student, I did student council. 

I could tell from the advisee’s immediate adoption of the word that I used in my restatement that she was happy she was able to articulate what she wanted to say, in addition to feeling that I understood what she was trying to communicate. Restating was a successful strategy to help the advisee feel comfortable, demonstrate and encourage engagement in the dialogue and check and clarify meaning.

Area of focus: Empathy

Good learning advisors try to put themselves in the position of the learner and try to see the world the way they do (Kato & Mynard, 2016). I hoped that by focusing on the empathy strategy, it would help to build a trust relationship, and the advisee would open up and benefit from the session a little more. In this session, I focused on asking about the advisee’s feelings at key moments. However, after reading the transcript back, I realized that although I had asked about the advisee’s feelings at several points in the session, I missed the opportunity to meaningfully empathize with those feelings. As demonstrated by the following excerpts, I focused on the advisee’s feelings but quickly moved on to the next idea or question, rather than showing I recognized her feelings and creating a moment to share and experience together.

Extract 3

LA: But there are, yeah, more outgoing people in your course. And how does that make you feel?

A: Hmmm…I…I feel…I am not…I’m not knowing other people. Uh…I have to more know about the world or people.

LA: Ohh, I see. So it makes you want to know more…

A: Yeah, before I met…when I met GLA student I. I think I just know…I know just I learned or just I see. But come to the GLA…I feel there are many things which I don’t know.

As I asked about the advisee’s feelings, I noticed that she was going deeper with the topics that she was discussing and opening up about her feelings as well as difficulties she was having with her studies. Here, I could have taken a moment to empathize with the feeling of having so much to learn and not knowing enough about a specific topic. This was the first opportunity I missed. Next, we discussed the advisee’s fear of making mistakes.

Extract 4

LA: And what kind of feeling does that create, do you feel?

A: Mmm…mmm…fear.

LA: Fear. Why do you think you feel afraid?

A: To making a mistake…

LA: Ahhhh.

At this point, I could have made a simple statement like, “That is so hard that you feel that way,” or “It is hard to feel afraid of making a mistake.” I think in my haste to keep the dialogue going, I missed an opportunity to stop and really acknowledge and empathize with the advisee’s feelings. The strategy of empathizing helped me to focus on how the student felt, and it did create the opportunity for her to go deeper about her feelings and motivations to some extent. However, in focusing on the next idea or keeping the conversation going, I failed to truly empathize with the advisee. Next time, I want to focus more on following up and trying to connect more with the advisee on a deeper level.

Area of focus: Complimenting

My final area of focus was complimenting. Complimenting can be used to point out a positive element of a situation that might otherwise be missed and to help the advisee know that she is being noticed (Kato & Mynard, 2016). I also tried using this strategy to acknowledge and encourage effort. In my first attempt to compliment, the advisee actually discovered that she had been improving on her TOEFL test scores, something that she had not noticed on her own.

Extract 5

LA: Ohh okay…(Looks at three TOEFL test scores)…well, you are slowly improving.

A: (laughs)…No.

LA: But each time it’s going up, no?

A: No…

LA: No…ah down…Hmm mm?

A: Ahhh! (Student realizes scores were in reverse order)

LA: You didn’t realize?

A: No (laughs again)

LA: So, maybe between March, March last year and October last year, how many points did it go up?

A: Umm 10? 

LA: 10. And then from October until January, how many points? 

A: 27.

LA: Mmm. Okay…So that’s…that’s very positive…

I could tell from the advisee’s body language that the compliments helped her to relax and create a deeper connection between the two of us. She smiled and relaxed her posture even further. I also tried to use complimenting to encourage the advisee to further reflect on her ongoing progress.

Extract 6

LA: What…what things make you feel like you’re improving?

A: Ummm…when I when I writing sentence I can…I focus on the construction first. I agree that and I have two reasons. First of all, and I know that I should reasons (talking about writing format for Eiken test).

LA: Great…That’s excellent. OK, well, you’re really, I’m really impressed how much you are listening to the advice and working very hard. So I…I think that you’re going to improve a lot. 

Recognizing the advisee’s efforts and the hard work she had put in helped her to refocus on the processes that are leading to improvement and feel more positively about even the smallest of successes. Complimenting was a successful strategy to help the advisee make new discoveries, acknowledge and encourage effort and stimulate further reflection.

Reflections and Conclusion

Advising course 1 has given me the key to a door through to new possibilities in the language learning and autonomy fields. As Sampson (2020) illuminated in his reflection of his first advising session, taking course 1 of the advisor certification course gave a glimpse into a different perspective of understanding language learners. However, before the advising session, I had an image in my mind of how the session may play out, especially as it was not the first time to meet this student. Despite this, after reading the transcript back, and reflecting on my success with each strategy, it was clear that there are still many things I can improve upon. My intent focus on implementing the chosen advising strategies meant that I missed natural opportunities in the conversation. Practicing new skills is important, but attending to the conversation is the most important thing (Brown, 2021). 

Reflection is an insight into how my thoughts mirror or diverge from my actions (Lammons, 2012). The divergence between my ideas and successful action is still vast. As Vye (2021) also reflects, there were many instances that I spoke too much or interrupted the advisee during the session. I would also like to focus more deeply on empathizing with the advisee and not simply asking about feelings. In order to do this more effectively, I think I need to slow down and try and let each moment and interaction with the advisee come at their pace and take time to use empathetic language and mirroring to help the advisee dive deeper into their emotions. In developing my own skills as a facilitator of autonomy and reflection, I hope to encourage more students not only become better language learners but also develop into more responsible and critical members of society (Benson, 2013).

Acknowledgement

This paper is dedicated to my advising mentors Kie Yamamoto, Satoko Kato and Isra Wongsarnpigoon. Without their support and encouragement, I would not have been able to write this paper and venture into the field of advising.

Notes on the Contributor

Michelle Jerrems is a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in the English Language Institute. Michelle has been teaching English in Japan since 2009 and has a wide range of research interests. Currently Michelle is focusing on research into paperless classrooms and teacher wellness, autonomy and reflection.

References

Benson, P. (2013). Teaching and researching: Autonomy in language learning (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833767

Brown, T. (2021). Stressing out about being genuine: Reflections on a first advising session. Relay Journal, 4(2), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.37237/relay/040205

Gardner, D., & Miller, L. (1999). Establishing self-access: From theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.

Kato, S., & Mynard, J. (2016). Reflective dialogue: Advising in language learning. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315739649

Lammons, E. (2012). Transitioning from teaching to advising. Independence, 55, 32–34.

Mynard, J., & Carson, L. (Eds.). (2012). Advising in language learning: Dialogue, tools and context. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833040

Nihon Eigo Kentei Kyokai (n.d.). Overview of the EIKEN tests. https://www.eiken.or.jp/eiken/en/eiken-tests/overview/ 

Sampson, R. (2020). Trying on a new hat: From teacher to advisor. Relay Journal, 3(2), 250–256. https://doi.org/10.37237/relay/030211

Vye, S. (2021). Utilizing advising strategies with grounded theory to support an advisee’s learning goals. Relay Journal, 4(2), 107–115. https://doi.org/10.37237/relay/040206