Shaping L2 and literacy acquisition: Teachers’ strategies for low-literacy background learners

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Shaping L2 and literacy acquisition Teachers
strategies for low-literacy background learners

• Alan Williams

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The context

• ESL/EAL in Australia (Melbourne), over 30 years
  of working with different groups of low literacy
  ESL learners, in schools and in adult education
• Research has focused on needs and experiences
  of particular groups, eg Oliver, Haig Grote
  (2009), Miller, Mitchell Brown (2005),
• This has found mismatches in expectations
  between schools, and families and students
• Some specialist teachers within ESL programs
  with accumulated experience
• Some teaching materials, but never enough!
• How do successful and experienced teachers work
  with low literacy students? What are their
  insights that inform their work with these
  learners?

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The study

• Investigate the teaching strategies used by
  experienced teachers of ESL low-literacy
  background students
• See how these teachers see low literacy
  students compared to regular ESL students, and
  how their needs compare
• What has informed these teachers, and how have
  they learned to work with these students?
• What are the teachers doing? as the classroom
  is the most significant second language
  environment for these learners
• - How may this shape the learners SLA and
  literacy development?

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Data Classes

• Teachers selected through knowledge of schools
  with experience teaching low literacy ESL
  learners approach school, provider/ teacher
  recommended by principal or curriculum leader
• Secondary, long-term not yet collected
• Adult recent arrival learner group based
  analysis of PD video (AMES 2006)

Recent arrivals Longer term residents
Primary (elementary) NAP English language school (ESL VELS Companion stages BL B1) Composite grade 3/4 in low SES high immigrant community (VELS Stage 2 and ESL Companion stage B2)
Secondary New Arrivals English Language school (ESL Stages SL - S1) Not yet collected
Adult Video of AMEP class, and comments of teacher (Pre-CSWE- CSWE1) Community-based, neighbourhood learning centre, in Inner urban area (ESL Framework, Certificate 1)
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Data collected

• Observation of one class (1-2 hours), notes of
  class activities in terms of focus on
• language learning,
• literacy learning,
• other learning.
• Content of learning more than learning
  processes
• Interview with each teacher
• - their view of the needs of low literacy
  background learners ,
• - the teaching strategies they use,
• - how the lesson observed compares to other
  lessons
• - how teachers learned about working with low
  literacy students

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Observations Focus of the classes
Recent Arrivals Long-term residents
States and Territories of Australia, Capital cities Literacy block - Vocabulary - Reading a text on Puffer fish - Strategies to use in reading and writing
Recent excursion to the central city Reading a story about a disabled student joining a basketball team
Health and illnesses, a sick student, writing a note to a teacher Addresses, and completing an address on an envelope
1 2 A
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Observations language focus
Recent arrivals Long-term residents
Question structures for asking about factual information eg Are there..? Sentences for providing factual information eg There are Yes/No answers Prefixes and suffixes eg dis-.. un-..
S-V order, and use of adverbials eg We went to.on Friday, On Friday we went to Past tense marking of verbs Adverbials of time
Greetings Vocabulary of parts of the body Narrative about someone who is ill and unable to attend school Text note to teacher about an absence from class Numbers eg 140 said as one hundred and forty, local postcode (3065) as three-oh-six-five Pronunciations of envelope Word stress patterns / pronounced as slash
1 2 A
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Observations Literacy focus
Recent arrivals
Long term residents
Nothing explicit Word recognition Attention to stages and strategies in writing (writing as a process) Reviewing and revising the mechanics of your own writing Strategies to use in reading especially relating prior knowledge to what you read Parts of books, especially non-fiction sections, and contents page and what it shows Drawing gist from a complex text
Nothing explicit
Using and identifying initial consonants in word recognition Grapho-phonic relationships f /f/ ch /t?/ Letters and words, copying accurately Format and layout of a formal note /letter to a teacher Copying activities, Repetition Recognizing words beginning with (letter) a Students following text read by teacher Recognizing consonant cluster sounds (blends) eg /str/ in street, /st/ in state Graphophonic awareness number of syllables in written words Awareness of upper and lower case letters
A 2A
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Observations Other learning
Recent arrivals
Long-Term residents
Classroom rules (one person talking at a time, hands up to answer, no calling out) Speaking to whole class from front of the room Features of Australian capital cities Collaborative and team work Puffer fish
School routines and behaviour (eg student not to sit right next to heater!, hands up, no calling out ) Explanation when one student leaves class to fulfill duty as school roll monitor for the day How to speak to the whole class-projection of voice, eye contact etc
Learning as fun Physical basis to learning Personal basis of stories and written texts Explicit instruction on classroom activities, eg reporting to the class (where to stand, eye contact, volume of speech) Conventions related to addresses in Australia marking different house types, eg houses and apartments L1 forms of words students have been learning in English Stamps and costs of postage in Australia eg 60 cents standard item anywhere, international depends on size, weight , destination
1 2 A
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Observations Summary

• A lot of attention to expectations of classroom
  routines and behaviour in recent arrivals,
  especially in the school sector (strong emphasis
  on doing school, statement and re-statement of
  expectations)
• Personalisation of learning for adults
• Attending to processes of learning organising,
  relating learning to prior knowledge
• Language and literacy focus around
  non-linguistic meanings/content
• Long term primary teacher juggling several
  levels of literacy development, low-literacy
  background ESL one of a number (less sharp focus
  on this group)
• Language focus less explicit in school group
  than in language programs
• Often slow pace to complete tasks for
  low-literacy background classes

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Interviews What the teachers say about learning
needs

• Slow pace of learning of low-literacy
  background learners, need for constant repetition
• Different prior knowledge to schooled ESL
  learners less congruent with the prior knowledge
  assumed in schooling
• Learning needs are centred on learning-to-learn
  skills and development of self-awareness of
  themselves as learners
• Need for concrete, activity base for learning
  activities
• Need to learn important assumed content
  knowledge and skills for participation in
  mainstream school
• Low-literacy background students need to
  experience success
• Huge perceived gap between current skills and
  mainstream expectations

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Interviews teaching strategies

• Extensive modelling of classroom and learning
  activities
• Need for students to achieve and be challenged
• Highly structured activities and texts,
  frequent repetition, revision
• Spend a lot of time working with a limited
  amount of learning material
• Control of texts, which are kept basic, in
  order to focus on essential features (less
  naturalistic texts)

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Conclusions

• Low literacy ESL learners exposed to limited
  range of input, in highly structured activities
  with strong visual support, and mostly meanings
  related to experience and needs
• Non-linguistic content learning sets context
  for explicit focus/noticing of elements of the
  language-literacy system
• Strong emphasis on learning about learning
  (including thinking about themselves as learners)
  and school/classroom routines.

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References

• AMES Victoria (2006) Into Learning, Melbourne,
  Australia (Video).
• Miller, J., Mitchell, J. Brown, J (2005)
  African refugees with interrupted schooling in
  the high school mainstream Dilemmas for
  teachers, Prospect 20(2), p19 to33.
• Oliver, R., Y Haig E. Grote (2009) Addressing
  the educational needs of African refugee
  background students Perceptions of West
  Australian Stakeholders, TESOL in Context,19(1)
  p23 to 38.