Norshennadiliana Bte Ibnuputra's Reflection

Topic Selection

Choosing a topic was definitely a challenge because there were various topics that my (then) sitting group came up with that we felt it is important to acknowledge. We decided to have a discussion regarding the topics we came up with, the pros and cons, the importance to us, the interest we have for the topic. After all these discussions, after selecting the topic of “bilingualism”, only one person from the original group decided that the topic was not from them and went to find another group instead. Which, at the end of the entire module, I am thankful because I realized that doing the group component would be a chore if the person is not as passionate with the topic as the rest were.

When we got our topic approved, we worked on our interview questions, forming questions that we felt would be essential to progress in the research. Personally, for me I felt that I could better prepare myself when we actually conducted the interview. While forming the questions, my group already had the answer in mind, which was a small mistake to make (despite being told that we should always be ready if the interview were to go in a totally different direction), hence, I felt that during the interview, there were more questions that can be asked when the answers given were not what we expected. Also, we managed to get answers for questions that were not asked yet, hence we realized that we really need to pay attention to what was being said on the spot as well (even though we had the permission to record and transcribe on the spot). The initial awkwardness between us and the principal eventually dissipates as we got further into the interview and I began to see it as a learning opportunity, rather than something essential for my assignment.

The final part for this part of the process was definitely the trickiest as we then had to categorize the information into different groups and then infer from there. Being so used to reading in between the lines for each statement made, rather than seeing everything as a whole than infer, I had trouble switching that off. Instead of thinking “what does that sentence mean?”, I had to remind myself that I should reread the entire interview again, pick up was being repeated frequently, and then think if they can be labelled under one header. While it was time consuming, it was a relief to have done that at the beginning as this was a skill that I have come to realize was important for the future parts of this module.

Research

This part of the process was definitely the most frustrating for me because it was difficult to find relevant journal articles which actually answers the question I had for bilingualism. Hence, sourcing them out were quite time-consuming. With much hesitation and reluctance, I eventually asked help from my groupmates who were more than willing to share with me what they have in hopes I would find it useful. I realize that that was important because even though it was an individual assignment, this was still very much a group one as well since we eventually collate our findings for the group component of this module. This made more comfortable in asking for help. This discovery for not only essential in terms of assignment but in real life too. I would eventually enter this field upon graduating where I will be working alongside other. While I may not be working with them directly, asking for help would be beneficial to them and the centre because they would benefit from the learning experience they may get from giving a helping hand, and the centre would also be able to develop to be better.

After picking the journal articles, categorizing them was much more of an ease compared to the first time I did it in the research process. I had more of an open mind and was more cautious in framing my thoughts.

Solutions

Being in a group that has genuine interest in the topic, and do want to make improvements, discussion of solutions was definitely fruitful because we all have the same agenda to achieve. But things got a little more strained because this was the first time we are working as a group together, under an assignment and I got to experience working with people who do not have the same working style as me. Throughout my two years of education, I have worked with the same group of people who have similar working style. In this particular group, we were grouped base on interest rather than how well we work together. I was used to people volunteering to contribute base on their expertise and convenience, and updates would constantly be given on the progress of the task. However, delegation had to be done, specific timelines had to be given and progression updates had to be constantly asked. While it was not bad per se, it was something that I needed to get used to, especially since I would not be getting to work with people who works the same way as I do.