ACARA EAL/D Learning Progression

ACARA EAL/D Learning Progression

Most EAL/D students in Australia are expected to achieve a reasonable level of success within mainstream classrooms after attending only a short intensive language-learning course. Meanwhile, the students still require extensive ongoing assistance with their English language (Alford, 2001). Therefore, EAL/D teachers and mainstream teachers in schools are required to be aware of eminent theories or approaches and a new ACARA document which the can apply to practical teaching.

In order to cater for EAL/D students’ English needs, EAL/D teachers used to utilize a document called ESL bandscale to identify students’ English level in four macro skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, the new document EAL/D Learning Progression, designed by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), replaces the ESL bandscale. Nevertheless, as an EAL/D teacher, I strongly recommend you to briefly go through both the ESL bandscale and the learning progression to form a clear idea of EAL/D students’ capabilities and the challenges they face in each level, from primary to secondary.

In the learning progression document, EAL/D students are divided into four different levels, and each level includes a brief description of students’ characteristics in relation to students’ age.

•     Beginning English
•     Emerging English
•     Developing English
•     Consolidating English

Each phase portrays typical characteristics of EAL/D students, and the progression of students is often related to the period of time of their English language learning. Nonetheless, each individual student learns and progress as at a different rate, and their four macro skills are not necessarily at the same phase.

Beginning English

The lowest level of the four stages is Beginning English. Students from Limited Literacy Background (LLB) are also included in this phase. Learners in this phase are mostly learning English language for the first time, and thus they have very limited knowledge of English or none at all. Most refugee students who are illiterate in their first language fall under the Beginning English stage in the EAL/D learning progression. For some students, being at school to learn and study can be a very unfamiliar setting and therefore very challenging, since they do not have any experience in a school learning environment prior to their arrival in Australia. In terms of their English language proficiency, taken for granted aspects of English language such as reading left to right or colloquial English expressions can be challenging for those students. Students at this phase require great assistance to comprehend the content of the year level requirements, and this causes high levels of frustration. Hence, scaffolding both English language items and the content is crucial. In addition, using visual aids will help students to understand the content more easily. If students are fully literate or developing literacy in their first language, understanding and producing English language will focus heavily on use of their first language dictionary. 

Emerging English

EAL/D students at the Emerging stage are starting to understand and become familiarized with the Australian school setting and classroom behaviours. Their English is still very limited; however, using first language with peers and with the assistance of a teacher, they will be able to produce simple written or spoken English. Students understand everyday conversations on familiar topics, but will show limited comprehension of subject-specific vocabulary or academic English in general. To assist students at this phase, explicit teaching of subject-specific vocabulary as a pre-learning activity will extend their knowledge of both English vocabulary as well as the subject content.

Developing English

In comparison to the two precious phases, students at this stage show a much more extended level of English across the four macro skills. Since their English is functional, there is a marked increase in the participation of students and in their reactions to classroom instructions. Knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary is developing and students attempt to identify unfamiliar topics within the given text. However, EAL/D students still need explicit language support, especially within academic language and subject-specific knowledge. 

Consolidating English

The last phase of the learning progression is the Consolidating English stage, where students have sufficient English language skills to achieve the standard result for their year level. They have standard comprehension level in a range of different texts. However, in order to assist students to achieve successfully across the curriculum, they still require EAL/D support as well as assistance in acquiring the cultural and historical background knowledge which mainstream Australian students have.

It is very important to observe and assess students continuously, to identify their levels across each of the four macro skills, rather than assume the level based on one piece of work (ACARA, 2011).