Supporting EAL Learners through Planning
Inclusive Language, Literacy and Numeracy, Semester 3 - June 2021
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EAL/D LEARNER
Wei is a newly settled EAL/D student originally from Shanghai in China. His family migrated to Australia through official immigration channels in search of better air quality and education systems, and since settling have encouraged other members of their family to migrate here too. Wei attended an international school while in Shanghai, where English was commonly used for instruction, however he also speaks and writes in Mandarin - the common language of China.
Based on Wei’s previous education, he fits into either the ‘Emerging English’ or ‘Developing English’ stages of the EAL/D learning progression (ACARA, 2015), however this can differ based on the language modes of listening, speaking, reading/viewing and writing. He may, however, have a limited understanding of Standard Australian English (SAE) as his previous International school would have used either American or British English. Additionally, Wei would likely be highly proficient in his first language of Mandarin due to having lived in China’s biggest city for the majority of his life. These developed literacy skills would allow Wei to benefit from clarifying and consolidating his understanding of English within his first language.
Wei, along with other EAL/D learners, presents a multiplicity of opportunities within the Visual Arts classroom. Wei has unique cultural knowledge and experiences that other students may not have. Sharing these experiences and knowledge allow for students to develop their world views and reflect on their positionality (Takacs, 2003). Additionally, linking to Wei’s prior knowledge allows for culturally relevant examples to be used within the classroom, therefore promoting a culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) - a student-centred approach that nurtures students’ cultural strengths to promote student achievement.
In order to fully support Wei’s learning within the classroom, a number of challenges need to be considered. Due to his position on the EAL/D learning progression, Wei has to be able to learn English while also learning through and about English. This requires intense concentration, and as such, Wei may easily tire or become disengaged during periods of prolonged listening or reading where relevant scaffolding is not provided. Wei may also be wary of participating in activities. ‘Face’ is an important concept in Chinese society that translates loosely to mean ‘honour’ or ‘good reputation’ (Hu, 1944), and losing ‘face’ is highly shunned and avoided. In particular, ‘mianzi’ relates to status and intelligence, and is developed by avoiding mistakes and showing wisdom. Therefore, Wei may become anxious about participating in fear of revealing his lack of English skills or making a mistake.
LANGUAGE DEMANDS OF THE TEXTUAL RESOURCE
The textual resource is a worksheet developed by the National Gallery of Victoria to accompany their ‘Keith Haring / Jean-Michel Basquiat Crossing Lines’ exhibition (NGV, 2020). The textual resource relates to the following content descriptions in levels 9 and 10 of the Visual Arts Victorian Curriculum (VCAA, 2021):
Explore and Express Ideas: Explore how artists manipulate materials, techniques, technologies and processes to develop and express their intentions in art works (VCAVAE041)
Respond and Interpret: Analyse and interpret artworks to explore the different forms of expression, intentions and viewpoints of artists and how they are viewed by audiences (VCAVAR045)
The demands of the textual resource require students to read the given information and questions while finding the relevant artworks within the physical exhibition space. Students need to be able to write short answers, including recognising and listing materials and methods. Lastly, students must be able to write annotations around their own drawings.
The textual resource uses simple language to explain topics. Words / phrases such as ‘historical and cultural references’ are underlined to indicate that they are key ideas relevant to the topic. Additionally, the textual resource is broken into clear sections with titles in different colours to create clear signposts. The interactive nature of this textual resource may present a challenge for Wei. While decoding the textual resource, Wei must multi-task by also interacting with the exhibition in order to find the relevant information. Without support or scaffolding, Wei may tire or become disengaged. In particular, the textual resource uses subject specific language such as ‘juxtaposition’ and ‘appropriation’ which Wei may not have been exposed to in this context before. Specific language such as this requires contextual scaffolding for Wei to be able to understand the content.
ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT LEARNER IN ACCESSING THE TEXTUAL RESOURCE
Listening
The listening activity would begin in the engagement stage of the learning and teaching cycle (Love, Baker & Quinn, 2008). Watching a short video on Jean-Michel Basquiat (TED-Ed, 2019) allows Wei to develop comprehensive input (Krashen, 1982). This allows Wei to acquire knowledge by understanding the language in context, rather than focusing on the language itself. By including subtitles, Wei is able to see the language he is hearing, and make connections in his head between oral and written language (Loftus, 2016). He is also able to understand how challenging words and names like ‘Basquiat’ are pronounced, therefore reducing some of his anxiety about saying them out loud and making a mistake.
Speaking
Following the video, the speaking activity will move into the building knowledge stage of the learning and teaching cycle. Students will be presented with an artwork by Basquiat and participate in a joint deconstruction / analysis. Prompted by the teacher, students will be encouraged to describe what they see and explore different interpretations. This encourages students to use dialogic language (Alexander, 2008) to organise and develop their thoughts, while the teacher uses talk moves (Edwards-Groves, 2014) such as revoicing and repeating to model new language by rephrasing student responses in correct subject specific language and academic register. This further develops Wei’s comprehensive input (Krashen, 1982) through repeated exposure to key language and demonstrations of how it is used. Therefore, the subject specific language within the textual resource will become more familiar to Wei. Additionally, through establishing ground rules such that everyone is encouraged to participate, and there are no wrong ideas, as well as slowing down dialogue and providing sufficient thinking time before students are expected to answer, Wei can prepare his answers and further reduce his anxiety about speaking in English.
Reading
The reading activity will take place within the exhibition space also during the building knowledge stage of the learning and teaching cycle. Before entering the exhibition space, a conversation will be facilitated about students' presumptions and what they expect to see, drawing upon their prior knowledge from previous activities. This allows students to create connections in their mind (Christen & Murphy, 1991) and therefore create an understanding that is more relevant to themselves. Students will then explore the exhibition and complete the textual resource in pairs. By utilising collaborative pair work with a more proficient peer, Wei is able to construct and practice the target language through code-breaking strategies such as deciphering words and purpose (Cross, 2018; Hertzber, 2012), while his partner guides him through the exhibition and helps him find the relevant content, therefore decreasing his chances of disengagement. Additionally, Wei can repeat words or paraphrase sentences from the didactic information within the exhibition back to his partner with a focus on phonology and graphophonics, while his partner can provide corrections on his pronunciation and sentence structure.
Writing
The final writing activity will take place after viewing the exhibition within the transformation stage of the learning and teaching cycle. Students will be given a series of formative short answer comprehension questions, similar to what was included in the textual resource. This allows Wei to consolidate his learning from the previous modes of literacy through comprehensive output (Swain, 1985), using language to develop meaning for himself. Writing may be Wei’s most challenging mode, due to the differences in written English and Mandarin symbols and structures. Therefore, the questions given need to be similar to what was included within the textual resource. Repeated practice (Brabeck, Jeffrey & Fry, 2010) allows Wei to further concentrate on his spelling, grammar, punctuation and structure of his answers, as the content within will remain the same.
REFERENCES
Alexander, R. J. (2008). Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk (4th ed.). Dialogos.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2015). English as an Additional Language or Dialect Teacher Resource. https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/EALD_Learning_Progression.pdf
Brabeck, M., Jeffrey, J. & Fry, S. (2010). Practice for Knowledge Acquision (Not Drill and Kill). American Phsychological Association. https://www.apa.org/education/k12/practice-acquisition
Christen, W. L. & Murphy, T. J. (1991). Increasing Comprehension by Activating Prior Knowledge. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED328885.pdf
Cross, R. (2018). A Holistic Approach for Supporting Written Literacy Skills. Teaching Literacies in the Middle Years (2nd ed.).Oxford University Press.
Edwards-Groves, C. (2014). Talk moves: A Repertoire of Practices for Productive Classroom Dialogue. PETAA Paper 195, 1–12.
Hertzber, M. (2012). Focus on Reading. Teaching English Language Learners in Mainstream Classes (76-107). Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
Hu, C. H. (1994). The Chinese Concept of “Face”. American Anthropologist, 46(1), 45-64. https://www.jstor.org/stable/662926?seq=1
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Acquiring a Second Language. World Language English, 1(2), 97-101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1982.tb00476.x
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465
Loftus, P. (2016). What Are the Benefits of Captions for ESL Students? 3Play Media. https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/how-captions-help-esl-learners-improve-their-english/
Love, K., Baker, G., & Quinn, M. (2008). Literacy Across the School Subjects: a multimedia resource for middle & senior years. University of Melbourne.
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). (2020). Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat Crossing Lines. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/school_resource/keith-haring-jean-michel-basquiat/
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative Competence: Some Roles of Comprehensible Input and Comprehensible Output in its Development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in Second Language Acquisition. Newbury House.
Takacs, D. (2003). How Does Your Positionality Bias Your Epistemology? The NEA Higher Education Journal: Thought & Action, Summer 2003, 27-38. https://repository.uchastings.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2260&context=faculty_scholarship
TED Education. [TED-Ed]. (2019, March 1). The chaotic brilliance of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat [YouTube Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX02QQXfb_o&ab_channel=TED-Ed
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). (2021). Visual Arts Levels 9 and 10. https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/the-arts/visual-arts/curriculum/f-10#level=9-10