Teach Secondary - Issue 13.2

CLOSE-UP ON… ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE MARTHAGIANNAKAKI ISEALSPECIALISTWITHLEARNINGVILLAGEBYACROSSCULTURES; FORMORE INFORMATION ,VISITAXCULTURES.COM/ONLINE-LEARNING EAL is by no means a homogeneous category of learners. It includes children from different linguistic backgrounds with varying needs and levels of exposure to English. With the number of EAL children in UK schools having risen considerably in recent years, many teachers have found themselves faced with the challenge of needing to assess their written work in a way that takes into account their potential disadvantages, compared to their non-EAL peers. So what do those comparisons between EAL and non-EAL learners look like in practice?What will be the likely impacts of these be on their writing? Before adopting fair writing assessment practices for EAL learners, we must first understand the linguistic obstacles they face. Research has shown that the barriers presented to EAL learners include, most obviously, a lower English vocabulary compared to their monolingual peers, which can affect their ability to produce cohesive texts or creatively extend topics with sufficiently developed ideas. Producing a cohesive text, after all, requires a student to effectively coordinate information at word, sentence and text level. Oftentimes, it will be evident in their writing (more so than in their speech) that through drawing on their own linguistic repertoire, EAL learners may structure their sentences according to their first language and struggle to organise their ideas into paragraphs. Certain genres may also prove to be more challenging for them to approach than others, because their texts are governed by culture- specific norms with which they may be unfamiliar. Finally, first language interference and a lack of previous exposure to English can lead to grammatical inaccuracies – perhaps the most frequent challenge of all for EAL learners. MEANING OVER SYNTAX That said, if we’re to be truly inclusive while assessing our EAL learners’ writing, then it’s crucial that we prioritise our evaluation of effective communication of meaning over grammatical accuracy and perfect syntax. We also need to prioritise our assessing of their English proficiency levels over their abilities in other subjects, and frequently acknowledge the progress they’re making in learning English by mapping their written work against an EAL writing development continuum, with clear descriptors of how our learners are expected to perform at each level. This could be used for both summative and ongoing formative assessment of their writing performance in class. Finally, adopting a more scaffolded approach to assessment that draws on visual aids, prompt questions or the breaking down of complex tasks into smaller, more manageable steps will constitute great evidence of differentiation in assessment. If you’re looking for a robust English proficiency assessment tool, AssessEP by Across Cultures will assess all four language skills, while providing you with detailed performance indicators to help assess your learners’ skills at all levels and a way of aligning of the results to other EAL frameworks (e.g. BELL, CEFR). Exercise better class control with these tips fromRobin Launder... Your school’s behaviour policy. Have you read it? Recently? Do you know what it contains? It might not be the most stimulating document, but there’s a good chance it’ll do most, if not all of the following: • Specify what is and isn’t acceptable student behaviour • Explain what to do if misbehaviour happens • Outline what sanctions you can impose (and those you can’t) • Underlines your right to implement said sanctions • Share behaviour management strategies Follow it to the letter, and you’ll be working in solidarity with your colleagues. By following it yourself, it’s more likely that your colleagues will do too, so that they’re working in solidarity with you. Behaviour management is a team business. The closer we teachers follow the behaviour policy, the more likely it is that our students will act in accordance with it. Robin Launder is a behaviour management consultant and speaker; find more tips in his weekly Better Behaviour online course – for more details, visit behaviourbuddy.co.uk DO THIS READTHE RULES 76 teachwire.net/secondary