Other factors to consider

Factors to consdier - What affects EAL/D students in learning?

There are other non-linguistic factors that will have an influence on our students. In many cases, these factors are exacerbated because of the assumptions that teachers make, based on western cultures and values.

Based on my previous EAL/D teaching experience the general features are:

•     Limited access to resources
•     Students’ using their first language (L1) at home
•     Cultural differences and assumed body language, such as students’ silence in the classroom
•     Students’ prior schooling experience – most refugee students have none at all
•     Any emotional and psychological trauma prior to their arrival in Australia 

Limited access to resources

Limited access to resources is not the issue for only EAL/D students. Students from low socio-economic backgrounds are often affected by this as well. We can choose a certain day and extend the time of the school library so students can stay behind and use school computers or any other resources for their study. It is important to not to assume that every students have access to Internet or even television. Another suggestion that I would like to make is to have a fortnightly or monthly bookclub to share books between students and staff which creates a great library as a whole school. For EAL/D students it can be helpful to be exposed as much English as they can. The bookclub creates opportunities for the EAL/D students choose and read variety English books. 

Ethnicity / Cultural differences

Depending on the cultural or language background of EAL/D students, their learning needs can be very different. An example of this is the distinctiveness between different ethnic groups of students in EAL/D unit. European students show a greater understanding of vocabulary due to similar origins of language. Like English, many European languages have their roots in Latin and Greek. In contrast, Middle Eastern students seem to struggle with English language learning because their first language is completely unrelated to the English language. For those students who come from Islamic countries, a mixed gender class will be a very strange environment. In their own countries they are educated in a separate class because of religious or cultural beliefs. Another point to consider is that Asian students, especially Korean and Japanese, perform better in listening and grammar. This is due to the heavy focus on those aspects in their school English education programs. Pursuing this further, their attitude during lessons is typically passive. Listening to what the teacher says is a way of showing courtesy in most Asian countries. Thus, in general, Asian students are not familiar with participating in classroom discussions or asking questions. Bear in mind that silence is expected in lessons in Asian countries. Do not be disappointed if Asian students are reluctant to communicate verbally in the classroom.

Choosing Resources

With regard to refugee students, teachers often do not have enough experience or knowledge of the emotional or psychological trauma that students might have suffered. The best suggestion is to choose resources carefully if you have any refugee students in your classroom. Such items as newspaper articles on refugee boats or war movie scenes might trigger the refugee students’ traumatized memories. Furthermore, we can direct them to a school counsellor. 

Arousing the interest of EAL/D parents in our school community

In spite of the large numbers of EAL/D students in the school population, it is rare to find their parents at school events or at teacher and parent interviews. EAL/D students’ parents are isolated from the school community due to their language inability and also to cultural differences concerning communication between home and school. Many EAL/D parents neither expect nor practise a relationship with the school, which in Australia can include volunteering at school functions or attending parent-teacher meetings. The consequences to students are enormous. Many parents are ignorant of what their child learns at school and leave school and academic matters to their children, whereas in their home country they would have been closely involved with their children’s education(Guo, 2010). As a result, our EAL/D students often feel alienated and isolated from school. As a high school with a huge EAL/D unit, we need to involve those EAL/D parents in the school community. To achieve such participation, a twice yearly newsletter or unit overview translated into the students’ languages is a good approach. Another excellent way is to hire interpreters for the teacher and parent interviews if it is necessary. Moreover, a written feedback on students’ performance in the form of a short letter to the parents could be another way of facilitating the relationship between EAL/D parents and the school community. In addition, the Australian government (Department of immigration and citizenship, 2012) usually has an adult immigrant English class at local TAFE colleges, but not many immigrants are aware of this amazing program. As a school with a significant number of EAL/D students, we might inform parents of this so they can study English if they wish to.