Student language learning needs in red dirt communities
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This document discusses the language learning needs of English as an additional language learners (EAL) in remote communities. It notes that EAL students have multilingual repertoires and highlights approaches like translanguaging and acknowledging existing languages. Research identified key needs like supporting first language use, developing English language awareness, understanding language demands of content, and planning instruction based on the language of content delivery. The document also discusses a lack of EALD policy and implementation strategies in the Northern Territory. It provides some open educational resources to help address remote student language needs.
Student language learning needs in red dirt communities
- 1. Samantha Disbray, CRC- REP Remote Education Systems Project, Charles Darwin University Student language learning needs in red dirt communities Northern Institute presents… People*Policy*Place 2015 SEMINAR SERIES
- 2. EAL/D Elaborations of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
- 3. What do we know about the language learning needs of English as an Additional Language Learners? From the Australian Council of ATESOL Associations Elaborations of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
- 5. What do we know about the language learning needs of English as an Additional Language Learners? Second Language Acquisition research
- 6. ‘Turns’ in Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism Theory & Research • Cognitive task of languages learning has been respecified through sociocultural phenomenon in Vygotskian theory (Ortega, 2013) • Embodied sociocognitive adaptation in the usage-based family of SLA approaches • Centrality of learner identity and learner motivation (May 2011; Garcia & Sylvan 2011) • Socio-political nature of languages status; heritage and minority languages • Acknowledgement of existing bi/multilingual repertoires of language learners “all the languages in the multilinguals’ repertoire complement ‘one another to produce the type of composite language competence that suits their needs’ (Kachru, 1994, also Cummins 2007). • Attention to language use, not missed targets. New formulations of practice - translanguaging, plurilingual practices (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2010)
- 7. Multilingual repertoires – dynamic, uneven (Local) Wumpurrarni English Warumungu Standard Australian English Regional (Alice Springs) Aboriginal English Arrernte Active (Productive) versus Passive (Receptive) Language knowledge Literate versus Oral language knowledge Language types & language status
- 8. Remote Student Languages Learning Needs – 3 Ways Strong Adapted from Angelo and Carter 2015. p 130)
- 9. Remote Education Systems Project - Research Questions RQ1 What is education for in remote Australia and what can/should it achieve? RQ2 What are ‘successful’ educational outcomes? RQ3 How does teaching need to change in order to achieve ‘success’? RQ4 What would an effective education system in remote Australia look like?
- 10. Data Sources Community surveys in 10 remote communities; Observations from site visits in 3 jurisdictions (WA, SA, NT); 35 Individual or small group semi-structured interviews, each lasting generally between 1 and hours Engagement of over 200 remote education stakeholders in formal focus group discussions (20 Thinking Outside The Tank sessions); Dare to Lead Snapshots in 31 Very Remote schools; Reading of the relevant research literature; and Publicly available datasets (my school and Census)
- 11. Overview Of Document Sources Document source All Sources All coding references* Remote Aboriginal references* Number of unique participants Interviews and focus groups 45 2501 523 250 Field notes and observations 12 111 0 0 Secondary sources/reports created by or for RES 10 856 603 ~800 Butchers papers and whiteboards 20 197 0 0 Total 87 3665 1126
- 12. What do we know about the language learning needs of English as an Additional Language Learners? Remote Education Systems Project research
- 13. 13 34% 11% 5% 13% 14% 5% 15% 36% 10% 12% 11% 23% 2% 8% Non-remote (n=546) Remote Aboriginal (n=217) Contextualised curriculum, culturally & contexually responsive pedagogy, 'two-way' Relationships, health, well-being & safety Local teachers Teacher qualities & classroom management ESL /ML teaching & learning School leadership Range of less represented Successful Teaching
- 14. Learning to speak English, learning the sounds by learning a lot of words, meaningful words, having a vocabulary, understanding that when you learn a word like ‘to jump’, the actual like ‘to jump a queue’ or ‘jump in the car’ or ‘jump straight to page 3’ and all of those extended meanings, you’ve got all of that additional knowledge that if we don’t really build that up… (Teacher, NT ) Until you learn a second language, you really don’t understand language. I know when I learnt English right through, went through university whatever and it was only when I started learning Pitjantjatjara that I kind of understood how languages work. You don’t really understand your own language, you absorb it (Teacher on the Pit Lands) ESL and ML Teaching and Learning
- 15. I think with the literacy acquisition as well, I think it’s really important to acknowledge the place that literacy should play in first language first. What we ask students on a daily basis is to skip multiple developmental levels in having to acquire the understanding of a concept, different phonology, orthography, all of these different things by trying to teach them English literacy without really doing any of the other work that could give them a firmer foundation in the literate understanding (Teacher, APY Lands) Teachers don’t have knowledge of English grammar let alone grammar for kids who might come into school not speaking English. Teachers in general and I know some teachers have a meta language to talk about and understand the grammar of English but the majority don’t. That’s a big gap in our capacity as teachers of EALD learners. Systemically, that’s the biggest gap (NT Curriculum Officer). ESL and ML Teaching and Learning
- 16. They're always repeating, they're not always being pushed. It’s like language classes and doing language teaching. You have all these new ones coming in and you have to go back to the start. Some children go through our language programs in primary school and can still only speak a few sentences. It’s not a skill we do very well at (Teacher, NARIS meeting) If you look at the kids, we’re working with students who have English as a second language. I’m probably cutting some people’s throats here but I think it’s sad that we’re looking at uplifting aboriginal kids who are in this as a second language and we’ve got kids who don’t know the first thing about teaching them (Teacher, Kimberly) ESL and ML Teaching and Learning
- 17. We can teach the kids to work in tourism on homelands. The school can teach the children to practice (what to say) in English to the tourists. This is why we need to teach the kids the language for the environment in English and Pitjantjatjara. Schools can do this. This approach prepares students for the money side (business/employment) and builds confidence, particularly in speaking English (Teacher, APY lands). Some of the words from old days are hard but still we want younger ones to learn. There are teenagers and young people who are married with kids who don’t understand and don’t use those words (Warlpiri educator, NT) Anangu have important stories for the children to learn, the dreaming tjukurpa, the land, family connections, culture and other learning. This is our foundation. If we are going to teach this new curriculum we must build it on top of the foundation that is already there. When we bring these two together, we will make it easier for our children to learn. Our children must learn our way first and then later they can learn in the different language. So if we want to close the gaps, we must change the way we teach the curriculum and this will help the children to learn (Katrina Tjitay, Pitjantjatjara educator) Contextualised Curriculum+ Additional language learning
- 18. I think it’s a bit funny as well to imagine you can split your identities and be bi-dialectal or bilingual. You’ve got an English side and you’ve got a creole side and not one, I find that interesting. (RES006) They need AEW there to help teachers - both ways - they listen when you talking in English they know. That's really hard question listening and hearing is hard (Ernabella Survey Responses) “Make sure you tell them to be equal with us because we are equal to them. The government wants us to learn Kardiya (non-Aboriginal) way but they don’t learn Yapa way. 'Two way' learning is about respect, we respect English, they have to respect our language. They say 'two way' but they don’t learn. We all need to learn two way, Kardiya and Yapa because we are both equal.”(Warlpiri educators, message to the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee in 2011, quoted in the Garma presentation) Both-ways and Two-ways + Additional language learning
- 19. I think the teachers need to model more English for the children to learn (Ernabella Survey Responses, SA) Comprehension we struggle with so much because they learn the words and they can power off the sentence but they have no idea what it means (RT Teacher) Going back to your point, it does come back to good pedagogy. I think a lot of good teachers don’t realise how much freedom they do have with working in communities. They could be doing all sorts of exciting things, working with communities. Perhaps it’s in training. (WA educator) Pedagogy + Additional language learning
- 20. Addressing Remote Student Languages Learning Needs 1. Understand bi-/multilingualism, particularly in this context 2. Understand Second Language Acquisition 3. Support first language teaching, learning and use in instruction 4. English language awareness, some awareness of the interface between languages and dialects 5. Analyse the language demands of the curriculum content 6. Plan for and teach the language in which content is delivered
- 21. Policy for Remote Student Languages Learning Needs - NT Indigenous Education Strategy • Plan goal to develop and implement policy and programs for Indigenous Language and Culture programs in two year plan • EALD is absent from two or ten year plans, focus is on English language phonics • Recognition of bi-/multilingualism among student cohort absent from two or ten year plans • In ESL policy document developed 2014-2015 but no implementation strategy, not part of IES
- 22. Addressing Remote Student Languages Learning Needs – Some open resources http://www.tesol.org.au/files/files/531_60238_EALD_elaborations- Full_Version_Complete.pdf https://www.cdu.edu.au/walking_talking_texts/ http://indigenous.education.qld.gov.au/school/language- perspectives/Pages/default.aspx http://leap.tki.org.nz/About-LEAP ESL in Anangu Schools: Teacher Development Course McTaggart, R., & Curro, G. (2009). Book Language as a Foreign Language — ESL Strategies for Indigenous Learners. Brisbane: Queensland College of Teachers.
- 23. Selected References Angelo, D & Carter N (forthcoming) Schooling within shifting langscapes: Educational responses in complex language contact ecologies. In A Yiakoumetti (ed), Multilingualism and Language in Education: Current Sociolinguistic and Pedagogical Perspectives from Commonwealth Countries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Creagh, S. (2014). NAPLaN test data, ESL bandscales and the validity of EAL/D teacher judgement of student performance. TESOL in Context, 24(2), 30-50 Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does It take English learners to attain proficiency? : California Univ, Santa Barbara Linguistic Minority Research Inst. Herbert, J. (2006). Indigenous learners, language and identity: implications for educators. In K. Cadman & K. O’Regan (Eds.) Tales out of School: identity and English language teaching. Hickling-Hudson, A., & Ahlquist, R. (2003).Contesting the curriculum in the schooling of Indigenous children in Australia and the United States: From Eurocentrism to culturally powerful pedagogies. Comparative Education Review, 47(1). Hudson, C., Angelo, D., & Ikeda, N. (2014). Concepts underpinning innovations to second language proficiency scales inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners: a dynamic process in progress. Papers in Language Testing and Assessment, 3(1), 44-83. May, S (2011) The disciplinary constraints of SLA and TESOL: Additive bilingualism and second language acquisition, teaching and learning. Linguistics and Education 22, 233–247. Ortega, L (2013) SLA for the 21st Century: Disciplinary Progress, Transdisciplinary Relevance, and the Bi/multilingual Turn Language Learning 63:Suppl. 1, 1-24. McTaggart, R. (2010). Language needs of Indigenous students: issue and strategy. QTU Professional Magazine, November, 23-27. McTaggart, R., & Curro, G. (2009). Book Language as a Foreign Language — ESL Strategies for Indigenous Learners. Brisbane: Queensland College of Teachers.
- 25. 25 20% 29% 32% 19% 30% 27% 28% 16% Non-remote (n=300) Remote Aboriginal (n=274) Language, land and culture & two-Ways strong Identity, community leadership & meaningful engagement Range of less represented responses Learning, choices & opportunities, employment & economic participation What is education for ?