Reading and the EAL Learner

1. Reading and the EAL Learner Anne Hamilton March 2013

2. Overview • Who are the EAL learners? • What do EAL students bring to their reading of English • How is reading different for EAL learners? • Meaning and structural cueing systems • Strategies which support EAL students

3. Who are EAL learners? • EAL students are those whose first language is a language or dialect other than English and who require additional support to assist them to develop proficiency in English. • EAL students come from diverse, multilingual backgrounds and may include: • overseas and Australian-born students whose first language is a language other than English • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students whose first language is an Indigenous language, including traditional languages, creoles and related varieties, or Aboriginal English.

4. EAL students • have diverse educational backgrounds. • They may have • schooling equivalent to their age peers in Australia • limited or no previous education • little or no literacy experience in their first language (or in any language) • excellent literacy skills in their first language (or another language) • good academic language skills, but struggle with the social registers of English.

5. EAL students may • live in remote, rural or metropolitan Australia • live in advantaged or disadvantaged socioeconomic situations • have experienced emotional or physical trauma that will affect their learning

6. Considering First Language • Home language is what is heard and responded to from birth • Language first used for expressing feelings and emotions • Using first language supports additional languages and contributes to child’s self esteem

7. First language knowledge is an advantage when learning an additional language and, along with their life experiences and diverse cultural knowledge, provides learners with resources upon which to build their English language, literacy and educational development.

8. Language learning is a social activity • Acknowledgement of bilingualism enhances self esteem and confidence • Best not to mix languages while speaking: children benefit from learning to speak each language well • Do staff have adequate information about the languages spoken by the parents? • (enrolment forms, language surveys, interpreters)

9. Welcome in Armenian, Hindi, Thai and Japanese languages

10. In your table groups: • Look at the scripts of languages other than English on your table and discuss the differences/similarities between these scripts and English. • Share any experience you have had in learning to read in a language other than English.

11. Language Resource • Language of the month http://www. newburypark.redbridge.sch.uk/langofmonth/

12. Learning to read only happens once • Students who know how to read understand the concepts of print: Speech can be written down Print is constant and carries the message’ Letters and numbers are different

13. When English is an additional language … EAL students are concurrently • Learning English • Learning through English • Learning about English

14. When English is an additional language , students may learn … • another set of sounds and sound groupings • other intonation patterns • another script and alphabet • another system of spelling • another grammar • other non-verbal signs • another set of rules about appropriate use of language • other ways of relating to people and expressing feelings

15. Ability to read in first language contributes to reading development in another language • Cultural experiences influence a reader’s understanding and interpretation of texts • Cultural differences constitute a vital resource and social strength rather than an educational disadvantage

16. EAL students who are not familiar with structures and meaning of texts, may rely more heavily on grapho-phonic and visual cueing systems

17. Cohesion in English • Reference items • Ellipsis • Connectives/conjunctions • Word order • Tense • Noun groups • prepositions • Questions • Vocab

18. Reference items Tracking pronouns through a text Sally peeled a banana. She ate it and put the peel in the bin. There, it turned soft and black during the day.

19. Ellipsis • Words or phrases are left out because meaning can be inferred. ‘There are 12 pieces of pizza. When you take away 4, how many are left?’ There are 12 pieces of pizza. When you take away 4 (pieces of pizza), how many (pieces of pizza) are left?’

20. Word Order • For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers • 3 year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred • Wanted. Person to take care of dog that does not drink or smoke

21. Noun Groups • She has a beautiful , big, red balloon with a long blue string. Order of adjectives in English noun groups Opinion Size Age Shape Colour

22. Tense • English has 9 tenses which each make subtle distinctions in meaning • Some languages mark tense with a word before the verb • Some languages have no tenses

23. Prepositions • Look up • Look at • Look over • Look around • Look into • Look after • My birthday is in January • My birthday is on 2nd (of) January

24. Questions • Formed in various ways in English • Require change in word order Can I …….? Why can’t I …….? I can………, can’t I?

25. Conjunctions/Connectives • To contrast: while, but, • To explain: because, if, when, so • To sequence: First… Next….. Later…..

26. Vocabulary • Unfamiliar (wobble) • Used in unfamiliar ways (legs of a ladder) • Culturally specific (vegemite, football) • Idioms • Sarcasm

27. Build on student’s oral language • Wait time • Elaborate on student’s language • Expand student’s ideas • Extend the conversation • Use prompts to help reconstruction • Rephrase using more complex grammar • Reinforce new vocab through repetition • Request clarification • Model self-talk From Spotlight Research into Practice

28. General Strategies • Book introduction is very important • Check student comprehension • Ask predicting and inferring questions • Books with simple repetitive structure • Everyday themes

29. Provide vocabulary and discussion of word meanings • ‘What do you think this means? can be rephrased as • ‘In English this is called……. • Does it sound right? can be rephrased as • In English we say it this way….

30. Meaning cueing system • Choose texts inclusive of student background experiences • Build key field vocab through discussion • Draw attention to pictures. Encourage predicting. Eg write/say 5 words you think will be in the text • Teach how to infer character feelings (look at how red her face is and how her hands are like fists)

31. Structural cueing system • Choose books that reinforce simple sentence structures (I can….. I went to ……) • Sight words are often grammatical rather than content or meaning words. Need to teach explicit usage. Eg pronouns, articles • Word endings ….s, ..ed, ….ing need explicit teaching

32. Letter identification • Learning to hear and produce English sounds is very important • Vowel sounds can be difficult (ship/sheep) • Need practice in hearing, identifying and producing vowel sounds (tin/ten/tan) • Teach to stretch words and hear sounds in words (mirror to see position of tongue, candle to see difference between b and p)

33. Running Records • EAL students may transfer EAL features of their oral language to their reading, which leads to structural errors • Give 2 scores. Students can then progress through levels, while EAL features can be dealt with through explicit, ongoing teaching

34. Conclusion While all students may benefit from explicit teaching strategies, they are essential for EAL students to access and participate in the mainstream curriculum. • Reference: ACARA EAL/D Teacher Resource: http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/eald_teacher_resource/eald_teacher_resource.html