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

1. Shaping L2 and literacy acquisition: Teachers’ strategies for low-literacy background learners Alan Williams

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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)

5. 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

6. Observations: Focus of the classes Recent Arrivals Long-term residents 1 2 A

7. Observations: language focus Recent arrivals Long-term residents 1 2 A

8. Observations: Literacy focus Recent arrivals Long term residents A 2A

9. Observations: Other learning Recent arrivals Long-Term residents 1 2 A

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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)

13. 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.

14. 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.