Riley Lathrop

Personal Statement

I was barely through the door to my first college prep meeting when my guidance counselor told me
my SAT scores were in the “red zone,” below all the national, state, and school averages. The color red
on her screen radiated inside me, deflating any confidence I may have had. She told me I had to get my
scores up, or college may not be an option. At that moment, I believed that one strictly timed
multiple-choice test determined my future success. I wish I knew the other side to the disempowering
wall I built for myself that day. I wish I could tell my guidance counselor how I am flourishing in
college because of the capacity for dance to empower me to engage in curiosity and achieve
accomplishments I never thought possible.
I discovered dance to be a challenging and multimodal major that has revolutionized my perception
of dance and my diverse abilities within it. In my dance methodology class, I submerged myself into an
advocacy research project entitled, “​Teaching English Through Embodied Practices: Improving
Cognition and Building Cultural Identity for Children Learning English as a Foreign Language Abroad​.”
When I needed to choose a population for this project, my friend was looking into teaching abroad as a
way to travel. I questioned her fiercely, as she has never taken an education course. I questioned the
advertising image she showed me, where the teacher was standing in front of the room while students sat
at desks. Dance education prepared me to identify the image quickly as a teacher-centered classroom
lacking kinesthetic/movement learning. I wondered if teaching English through dance concepts could
support both English skills and an empowering student-centered classroom. I immediately wanted to
experience teaching myself and empower students to discover a complexity within themselves I did not
discover until a my quality dance education classes.
I put focus, dedication, and motivation into every challenge in my dance major. I maintained a 4.0
in my major and was inducted into the National Honors Society for Dance Arts honors program while
conducting multiple events as the event coordinator for the National Dance Education Student Chapter;
taking on the role of Vice President of Dance Company; and, working a job two hours away almost
every weekend. When previously abroad, I took classes for six hours daily with hours of homework
which I completed thoroughly, even completing it in the hospital after an unexpected surgery. Based
upon these accomplishments and others, I am certain that I can maintain the same focus and work ethic
on this research when abroad. I learned that I am smart and valuable beyond the limited ways my
guidance counselor told me I needed to be to succeed. I have been taught in ways that inspire me to
learn for the sake of learning and have found my own self-identity through dance.
I presented my dance methodology project at the BSU mid-year symposium which I developed into
my honors advanced individual project, will extend into my departmental honors thesis, and will
hopefully present at the National Dance Education Organization Conference (2019). I not only found an
interest I want to pursue during my senior year of college, but into my life post-graduation. I plan to be a
dance educator, advocate, and program coordinator for teaching English abroad, changing the ways it is
currently being done. This grant will help me utilize my dance education to preserve diversity rather
than dismantle it, empowering children internationally to build strong self-identities.

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Title
Utilizing Dance Concepts for Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language in Ubud,
Bali

Research Question
How does teaching and learning through dance concepts impact Balinese children’s (ages 8-12)
learning English as a foreign language in Ubud, Bali?

Abstract
Educators in the U.S teach English learners through movement and problem-solving which research
shows improves students’ cognition and self-expression. In contrast, English teaching through volunteer
tourism has few requirements, leading to a curriculum with ambiguous goals and teacher-centered
classrooms. This can create passive learning and a lack of self-identity (knowledge of one's own abilities
and expression). The goal of this project is to examine the impact of teaching and learning English
through dance concepts in the context of students ages 8-12 in Ubud, Bali. I expect both English
acquisition and self-identity to improve. I will analyze data from student assessments and my pedagogic
choices through reflective action research. The research results will connect dance to verbal
communication, cognition, and self-identity. This will contribute to dance and education fields because
scant research exists connecting these areas. This research could provide vital curricular information to
volunteer tourism companies.

Introduction
The expectation of mastery in the English language is intensifying internationally. English teaching
as a form of tourism is a primary exchange the U.S has with other countries. Since most volunteering
does not require educator credentials or teaching experience, children can be taught English at school in
a culturally insensitive, submissive way (Jakubiak 2016, 245). The “native speaker fallacy” says that any
English speaker is an effective English teacher. Teachers often utilize methods in which the teacher has
total authority, neglecting to provide the opportunity for critical thinking, problem-solving, or the
exploration of individuality. English language volunteer tourism has ambiguous goals for student
learning (Jakubiak 2016, 245). A study on volunteer tourists in Costa Rica revealed only 29 percent of
volunteers said that volunteer teaching can provide critical thinking skills while the rest saw
volunteering as spreading American culture, access to the global economy, or providing people with an
“understanding of what is going on” (Jakubiak 2016, 252). The majority of teachers in just this case
study held ethnocentric views with little regard for students’ self-identities or cognitive growth (ibid.).
Since many teach as they were taught, an endless cycle of teacher-centered classrooms can emerge. A
teacher-centered classroom is one where the teacher holds all knowledge, and students are empty
containers where teachers put information (Freire, 1970). Historically, pedagogy in the colonial context
of imperialism was tied to lessons in submission. Recitation and repetition seen in a teacher-centered
classroom can be a strategy for control (Jakubiak 2016, 254). All students need to be actively engaged in
their own learning to build strong self-identities. Changing pedagogic goals can empower individuality
and clarify the aim of English teaching through volunteer tourism.
Dance concepts are a powerful method to build problem-solving skills, improve cognition, and
empower individuality amongst worldwide standardization. When English speakers teach in a
teacher-centered way, the passivity created may cause cultural assimilation in the host community.
Cultural assimilation is when one culture comes to resemble that of another culture. While assimilation

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is most often seen in immigrants, the growing force of English speakers abroad can cause cultural
assimilation in one’s home country, which is often overlooked (Jakubiak 2016, 253). In the U.S, many
classes for English language learning are taught in student-centered ways with movement involved. One
example is the TAP (Teaching Artist Project) in California, in which movement dramatization has aided
cognition and confidence in students (Greenfader et. al. 2013). Practices and research in the effects of
teaching methods for students learning English abroad by volunteer tourists is rather untouched.
Teaching through dance concepts in an inquiry-based (problem-solving) and student-centered classroom
can empower the individual’s self-identity which can work towards negotiating cultural assimilation.
I will teach English through dance concepts in an inquiry-based, and student-centered class. Inquiry
(asking questions and problem-posing) elicits active engagement in learning, as problems are being
solved through questions asked and the exploration of dance concepts. Dance is comprised of
encompassing concepts that provide choice in learning. Concepts in dance can be broken into large
categories of body, space, time, energy, and relationships. At a basic level, students could learn about
quick and sustained time in movement, which could translate to the embodiment of shorter and longer
English words, or even short and long vowel sounds. Students can embody the movement concept and
vocalize the English concept simultaneously. Concepts provide opportunities for students to incorporate
individuality, since each individual can perform a concept uniquely. For example, all students can
successfully create a curved shape in their bodies while no two students look identical. Inquiry through
dance concepts can consist of multiple modalities from asking students how to initiate movement with
different body parts, to asking students to collaborate and create a movement phrase similar to a
sentence phrase. A student-centered class is one where inquiry is a method of discovery. The answers
come from the students, rather than solely the teacher. This can lead to autonomy in learning, and the
encouragement of a self-identity. With this, the engagement of the entire self in a mind-body connection
can help students discover their identities.
Through dance concepts, English speakers can teach English in ways that can enhance cognition by
engaging the self holistically. Movement can aid memory and understanding of a language. Based in
Rene Descartes’ idea called Cartesian duality, educators and humans often see the brain and body as
dichotic (Giguere 2011, 6). An overwhelming contradiction to this is shown through research in
movement and dance. Biologically, the parts of the brain that control gesture and speech develop
alongside one another (Hanna 2008, 494). With this, the “enactment effect” was created in the 1980s
through laboratory evidence proving that if verbal phrases are encoded by self-performed actions, their
retrieval is faster and more accurate than if those same phrases were only heard or read (Macedonia et.
al. 2011, 196). Listening and reading words induces activity in the brain’s motor area. To fulfill this
stimulus, students can translate English words and concepts both literally and abstractly. Students can
embody the word “monkey,” and also embody their feelings or associations with a “monkey,” which
furthers their understanding because the self engaging holistically and the personal associations being
performed by the individual can help build a strong basis for the comprehension of the word. This
abstract translation gives the power to the student to build their own individual meaning and
problem-solving skills.
Through the International Volunteer Headquarters (IVHQ), I will teach English through dance
concepts to students ages 8-12 for three hours each day, five days a week in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.
Indonesia has faced a history of imperialism and grappled with ways to adapt to the ever growing
commodity of the English language. ​In 2003, the pressure of globalization in Indonesia caused the
government to upgrade public schools to the International Standard School program (ISS) in which
English would be the means of instruction, yet this caused controversy as there was a threat to the

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Bahasa traditional language and culture. The Constitutional Court officially decided to put an end to the
ISS program in 2013, as one argument made by the Coalition was that the utilization of English as a
means of instruction (EMI) in these schools could diminish a national identity among students (Manara).
The controversy in the country and complex relationship it has to the English language makes it a prime
location of research, to further investigate how a dance teaching methodology could affect students’,
parents’, and teachers’ ideas of English teaching.
Prior to teaching, in my honors course, I will utilize the backwards design lesson planning system.
The first stage in backwards design planning is to create student learning outcomes for both the English
language and dance concepts, covering the child’s cognitive, affective (emotional), and psychomotor
(movement) skills. I will create “the evidence plan” by designing assessments for students and then will
create “the learning plan” which includes the experiences that will lead to the desired results. I will
create an annotated bibliography examining sources that have pertinent information about the culture
and customs of Ubud, Bali to analyze a set of contextual factors to develop implications for instruction.

Methods/ Process
​ I will teach for five weeks, collecting quantitative and qualitative data through action research
methodology. I will gather and analyze data from student learning assessments in both English and
dance, implement my lesson plans, and analyze teaching effectiveness through critical reflective
practice. I will also examine literature in the fields of dance and education to affect my pedagogic
decisions.
Key factors to action research in dance include self-critique, and privileging the voices of the
students; the research is about change and improvement (Giguere 2014, 18). The data sources of action
research the will come from observations, work samples, and self-reflective comments (Giguere 2014,
18). The types of action research I will utilize are first-person and second-person research.
First-person action research involves a deep, systematic examination of my practices through
critical self-reflection. Reflective practices are ethically necessary in research in dance and education, in
order to make the heuristic process accountable and valid (Mortari 2015, 2). The
teacher/observer/participant shapes all pedagogic choices (how and what is taught and assessed) and is
responsible for each inquiry act—“the mental experience of the researcher conditions the research”
(ibid.). Therefore, the researcher must assume a self-reflective stance to ascertain how her personal
perspectives impact the research process (ibid.) Through reflection, I will discover the effects of specific
choices in methodology (for example, use of movement, inquiry, and self-reflection practices in the
classroom) to refine and modify my practice to identify the impact on student learning experiences. Each
week, I will examine challenges in my content, methods, and assessments as well as identify my greatest
successes in these areas.
Second-person action research involves an examination of the student population in their growth
and skills. I will utilize a variety of assessment and teaching methods to obtain quantitative data. One
way I will gather data is through formative embedded assessments given daily for feedback on students’
learning and comprehension of English and dance concepts. A formative assessment may be writing
down a shape learned that day as an exit ticket, or collaborating to create a movement based on body
relationships. I will utilize pre and post assessments to obtain data on linguistic growth, and a summative
assessment to analyze cumulative knowledge. I will introduce self-assessments for students (such as
asking students to explain one of their strengths or challenges), to build self-reflection skills and
self-identity. I will utilize a variety of assessment and teaching methods using Howard Gardner’s

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multiple intelligences of kinesthetic, musical, visual, naturalistic, linguistic, logical, interpersonal, and
intrapersonal (Gardner, 1993).
Action research has the goal of improving processes, especially in areas of teaching which need
exploration as well as settings which focus on continual improvement. The ambiguity of the volunteer
teaching program’s curriculum makes it a crucial population for action research, as offering clarifying
goals and methods may be a result. I will create a weebly website for my collection of data, reflections
and research to add to continuously as I adapt my project throughout time.
My final product for the summer research will be a completed weebly website including student
assessments, lesson plans, self-reflections, an analysis of the assessment data, a series of essays
analyzing the effects of my teaching methods, and a discussion on implications for future. As dance is
seen as nonverbal communication, this research explores dance as a form of both nonverbal and verbal
communication. It delves into the intercultural relationships dance can build and works to mend a
worldwide crisis that many do not even recognize as a problem. In the midst of linguistic oppression that
can create passive children, learning through dance in an inquiry-based classroom could empower
children, preserve diversity, and cultivate leaders.

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Bibliography

Freire, Paulo. ​Pedagogy of the Oppressed.​ , 1970. Print.

Gardner, Howard. ​Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.​ New York, NY:
BasicBooks, 1993. Print.

Giguere, Miriam. “Dance Education Action Research: A Twin Study.” ​Research in

Dance Education​. 16 September 2014.

Greenfader, Mulker Christa et al. “Boosting Language Skills of English Language Learners
through Dramatization and Movement.” The Reading Teacher Journal, Volume 62, Issue
3, 2013.

Hanna, Lynne Judith. “A Nonverbal Language for Imagining and Learning: Dance Education in
K-12 Curriculum.” ​Educational Researcher.​ Volume 37, Issue 8, November 2008, Pp
491-506.
Jakubiak, Cori. “Ambiguous Aims: English-Language Voluntourism As Development.” ​Journal
of Language, Identity, and Education​, vol. 15, no. 4, 2016, pp. 245–258.

Macedonia, Manuela, and Thomas R Knosche. “Body in Mind: How Gestures Empower Foreign
Language Learning.” ​Mind, Brain, and Education,​ vol. 5, no. 4, 2011, pp. 196–211.

Manara, Christine. “‘That's What Worries Me’: Tensions in English Language Education in
Today's Indonesia.” Academia.edu - Share Research.

Mortari, Luigina. “Reflectivity in Research Practice: An Overview of Different Perspectives.”

International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 2​ 015.

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Timeline and Logistics

Preparation​ (Spring 2019): honors advanced individual project creating an annotated

bibliography, online portfolio, lesson planning, and reflection.
Week 1 (June 3-June 9) ​action research through teaching
Week 2 (June 10- June 16) ​action research through teaching
- Submit teaching week one reflections on content and pedagogy, and daily lesson plans
- Submit teaching week one student assessments and analysis
Week 3 (June 17-23) ​action research through teaching
- Submit teaching week two reflections on content and pedagogy, and daily lesson plans
- Submit teaching week two student assessments and analysis
- Upload teaching week one reflections on content and pedagogy, and student assessments
and analysis to online weebly portfolio
Week 4 (June 24-June 30) ​action research through teaching
- Submit teaching week three reflections on content and pedagogy, and daily lesson plans
- Submit teaching week three student assessments and analysis
- Upload teaching week two reflections on content and pedagogy, and student assessments
and analysis to online weebly portfolio
Week 5 (July 1-July 7) ​action research through teaching
- Submit teaching week four reflections on content and pedagogy, and daily lesson plans
- Submit teaching week four student assessments and analysis
- Upload teaching week three reflections on content and pedagogy, and student
assessments and analysis to online weebly portfolio
Week 6 (July 8-July 14)
- Submit teaching week five reflections on content and pedagogy, and daily lesson plans
- Submit teaching week five student assessments and analysis
- Upload teaching week four reflections on content and pedagogy, and student assessments
and analysis to online weebly portfolio
Week 7 (July 15- July 21)
- Upload teaching week five reflections on content and pedagogy, and student assessments
and analysis to online weebly portfolio
Week 8 (July 22- July 28)
- Submit poster slide draft to Dr. Dragon
- Revise poster slide based on feedback and send to Dr. Dragon
- Analytical writing on post-experience (effects, impact, and pedagogy)
Week 9 (July 29-August 4)
- Print poster slide
- Analytical writing on post-experience (effects, impact, and pedagogy)
Week 10 (August 5-August 11)
- Finalize online portfolio and writing pieces, present at summer symposium

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Adrian Tinsley Program Summer Grant for Undergraduate Research & Creative Scholarship

Project Budget Template

ATP Summer Grants include funds for project expenses: up to $500 for individual projects or $350 per group member
(pooled together) for small-group projects. The project budget may include supplies, equipment, software, books/texts,
photocopies, incentives for research participants, and/or travel to off-campus research sites (though not for travel to the BSU
campus or to meetings with the faculty mentor).

Please list specific project expenses and their costs, and explain the purpose of any expenses that might not be obvious to
reviewers.

Amount Requested

Supplies & Equipment $ 41.79

Markers: $14.80 (1.48 per pack, ten packs): from ​pharmapacks
Poster paper: $26.99 (​Pacon Super Value Poster Board, 22"X28", White, 50 Sheets): from ​amazon.com

Research-related travel ​($0.54/mile if driving—not gasoline purchases)Note that travel to and from campus or to meet
with your mentor cannot be reimbursed.

Flight: ​$942.83
Arrive: June 2nd, Depart: July 7th
China Eastern JFK-PVG: MU298
China Eastern PVG-DPS: MU5029
China Eastern DPS-PVG: MU 5030
China Eastern PVG-JFK: MU297
​ $ 942.83

Other (specify) $ 840

IVHQ program fees (Ubud, Bali Teaching Program five weeks): $840

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED $ 1,824.62

If your request exceeds the amount provided by the grant, please explain how the remainder will be funded.

I will be paying for the costs beyond the amount given by the grant.