Theories and Pedagogy

Theories and pedagogy for EAL/D

The new ACARA EAL/D learning progression document is supported by another document called Advice for teachers of EAL/D students (ACARA, 2011).  It advises teachers to be aware of linguistic and cultural factors that might affect an EAL/D student’s learning. Some of the factors are from the document are:

     English vocabulary items that pose particular problems for EAL/D students (ACARA, 2011)

•     EAL/D students’ prior schooling
•     Intercultural understanding
•     English vocabulary for EAL/D students
•     EAL/D students’ expectations of schooling

The table is from Levine and McCloskey’s Language Acquisition and Language Learning in the Classroom (2009, p.13) creates a clear outline of the differences between first language and second language acquisition. Since the acquisition of each language takes place in different environment, as teachers we need to consider such characteristics in our classroom teaching.

	First language (L1) Acquisition	L2 Classroom Learning Environment
Opportunities for Interaction	Constant and continuous     Focus on meaningful communication     Interaction promotes cognitive growth	May  be limited by large classes and restricted opportunities for interaction     Teacher-directed lessons     Limited time available for language practice
Language Input	Highly redundant     Semantically concrete	May be limited by lack of exposure to target language in the community
Language Context	Highly meaningful to the child	May be limited by lack of pictorial resources, gestural cues, and explanatory devices
Topic Selection	Adults adjust language topics to those that capture the child’s interest     Focus on communication of meaning	Topics are decided by curriculum or textbook, not by the learners
Language Output	Output is used for hypothesis testing and patterning     Characterized by grammatical errors initially but still communicative     “Authentic”	May be extremely limited     Large classes with full group instruction limit opportunities for output     Output errors are discouraged

Table Language-Learning Environment (Levine & McCloskey, 2009, p.13)

English language teacher (n.d.)

 

In the ESL classroom in particular, interaction is one of the most important factors in successful English language learning. Sociocultural perspective theory, proposed by the psychologist Vygotsky, extends the way of approach in second language acquisition. His theory is from a psychological point of view, and he says that the learning of language is focused on social and cultural forces (Snowman at al., 2009). This theory emphasizes the fact that students learn and develop their language through collaboration with their peers, as well as with the assistance of an interlocutor. In a classroom situation, the interlocutor will be the teacher. Vygotsky’s point of view has much in common with the interaction hypothesis, which is another theory that stresses social interaction in second language acquisition. However, the latter differs from the sociocultural perspective theory, because it does not require an interlocutor. The essential point of the sociocultural theory is Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). It is the distance between actual development level and level of potential development (Peter, 2010). This concept is similar to Krashen’s input hypothesis, “i+1”. The ideal implication of this theory is well represented in Tappan’s four-component model (1998). Out of those four components, one suggestion seems perfect for English language teaching. The first method is to create a dialogue with students. Creating dialogues is limited to English or Drama subjects. However, as an alternative approach, writing an example or practise script for their presentation or report is a good way to apply this theory to practical teaching. As Vygotsky emphasizes the importance of interaction with peers, it is important to have a classroom discussion during the lesson. Nevertheless, speaking in English in front of the whole class can be very frustrating to EAL/D students. Therefore dividing students into a small group is crucial in creating a low anxiety learning environment (Krashen, 1987).

This video summrises main second language theories.

Vocabulary is the most important aspect of English language, and thus it has an enormous impact on EAL/D students and their learning experience. As Hammond (2012) states, EAL students develop everyday conversational English very quickly compared to their level of Academic English. Therefore, Academic English across the curriculum is a very important approach to English language teaching. According to Cummins (1999), there are two different types of English: Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). He describes CALP as “the extent to which an individual has command of the oral and written academic register of schooling” (2000, p.67). EAL/D teachers in Australian high schools are expected to teach not only everyday English, but also academic English across the curriculum, to help EAL/D students achieve the best academic results. EAL/D students frequently face language problems in subject areas such as Science, Maths, Arts or History. A number of students who have already experienced secondary education in their home country often fail in those subjects, due to lack of language background. However, according to Nunan (1989), this failure does not necessarily mean students’ lack of English proficiency. It is often related to their lack of assumed background knowledge, such as the historical relationship between white and Indigenous Australians.

 EAL/D students have limited access to academic English and a particular problem is that students in secondary school are expected to know as much as mainstream students, but have less time to catch up on both content and the English language itself. To assist those students, teachers of EAL/D classes and other subject areas can use different worksheets or activities to activate students’ prior knowledge as well as to implant new terminology and content. The following activities can be utilized: K-W-L charts, visual support, vocabulary cards to show words in different contexts and a timeline or drawing chart (Weaver, 1994). As an example of the use of vocabulary cards, if the word ‘illustrate’ appears in the text, teachers should teach not only the meaning from the context, but also give other examples to show how the word is used in different situations. This is a very effective way of teaching (Snow and Brinton, 1997.) This method has connections with another second language acquisition theory, the competition model. Second language learners often misuse words due to lack of knowledge of the different meanings of a single word. In this way, you can help EAL/D students to overcome the English vocabulary issue, which was listed in the ACARA documents as one of the factors that affect students’ learning. 

Another good approach to English language teaching is scaffolding (Hammond, 2001). As mentioned above, secondary school EAL/D students in particular are expected to possess a reasonable level of academic knowledge. The teaching of English language across the subjects through different text types is one of the most important factors of the scaffolding method. EAL/D students are often asked to perform a written task in many different subjects. The written task might be a scientific report, a Home Economics procedural recount or a factual essay for music. However, students who still struggle with academic English usually become confused in the production of a written piece. In order to apply this approach to teaching practice, different text genres should be taught at the beginning of a specific unit. Teachers can then show the structural elements of each different genre (Hyland, 2008). A teacher’s good written example can be deconstructed thoroughly with students who are looking at typical text patterns in a particular genre. At the beginning, this activity can be run in a small group of students and end up with individual work, so that the teacher can check students’ achievement (Adoniou and Macken-Horaic, 2007).