english teachers are (not) teachers of english
TRANSCRIPT
Kamil TrzebiatowskiEAL Coordinator & EAL Academy Associate
ResearchEd Swindon Conference – 7 November 2015
“English teachers are (not) teachers of English”: language focus in the English classroom
http://valuediversity-teacher.co.uk/
RESEARCH QUESTIONTo what extent do the attitudes and opinions of EAL pupils and classroom teachers to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming differ?
1. Do subject (mainstream) teachers and EAL pupils have different views on whether or not they should be mainstreamed or withdrawn for EAL support?
2. Establish the ratio of preferred number of withdrawal sessions to the time spent in mainstream classrooms
3. Reasons for both parties’ opinions
• Mainstream: problematic = EAL peripheral? (Reeves, 2006)• Mainstream teachers “better” and EAL teachers not “proper”
(Creese, 2005)• Mainstream teachers found unprepared to teach language and
grammar to EAL learners (Cajkler and Hall, 2009)• Creese (2005): metalinguistic function of language vs
referential function of language in English schools• Places of submersion with little focus on form
England and EAL: National background
Are EAL pupils’ opinions on mainstreaming vs withdrawals the same or divergent?
Is EAL pupils’ education done for them or to them?
Research gap: scarcity of research investigating the views that pupils themselves hold
regarding EAL withdrawalsChen (2007) appears to be the only one conducted in England.
Research Context• Conducted in spring 2015• Comprehensive mainstream secondary school for girls in north-east
England• Attended by approx. 700 pupils• 21.7% EAL pupils• Social/economically deprived area• EAL Coordinator + 2 EAL Teaching Assistants with no formal qualifications• EAL pupils on short withdrawal course, combining English Language,
English, Literacy and Maths)• Pupils leave for the mainstream upon achieving satisfactory level of SLA
• 5 EAL learners and 5 mainstream teachers involved• EAL learners: Poland, Portugal, Chad, Lithuania and Latvia• Learners in the mainstream – not higher than EAL(QCA) level 2• Teachers: all white British (English, Arts, Food, MFL)• Semi-structured interviews with all participants
Design
Findings
Mainstream or withdrawal preferences
Number of preferred EAL
withdrawal sessions (out of 15 lessons per
week)
Teachers: language of uncertainty
“I try to pre-plan” (Teacher A)
“I think I'd be able to do – I mean, I – some of the standard procedures. So, things like having bilingual dictionaries. Things like having perhaps a list of key terms, maybe some word ((shifts)) and some picture associations.” (Teacher B)
“I think as a language teacher, I could probably say, yes. I think I c- +could–you know, quite easily, because if we deliver, which we do as majority, the language–the lessons in the foreign language, we're almost teaching EAL learners anyway.” (Teacher E)
Teachers: EAL training
“No.” (Teacher A)
“Apart from the stuff that you have done, no. Not that I remember but that’s 21 years.” (Teacher B)
“No. None.” (Teacher C)
“Only that coming into our graphic organizer–our own in-house training; but as training to be a teacher, no. Not at all.” (Teacher E)
Interviewer: What did your teacher do for you to learn English language? Did they--?
Pupil D: Uh–They–{NS}
“Yes, I have help. Yes, if I ask for it myself.” (Pupil E)
”If I call them I don't understand something, they help me.” (Pupil B)
“the teacher help me to find in tablet.” (Pupil D)
“for example, sometimes he gives me an iPad, and it’s easier somehow.” (Pupil E)
“She writing–writing–and I am copy what she writing.” (Pupil C)
Pupils: Support from teachers
Pupil D: Because–in lessons, we do English, but not English like vocabulary and listening–We do English like tests, we–
Interviewer: So you do everything in English.
Pupil D: Yeah.
“English teachers are not teachers of English.”
(Teacher E)
3 out 5 students: believe they learned more English in the mainstream
Teachers: What language is to be taught?“I want to say you would be covering the sort of the
basics of English language and understanding: comprehension, grammar, spelling and things like that.
(Teacher C)
“You'll teach them English, and not worry about Science”(Teacher C)
“the role of the EAL teacher would be more specialised approach” (Teacher A)
“we should start ((encoding)) them into some basic comprehension of what we do.” (Teacher B)
“we have to worry about the rest. “(Teacher C)
“And then from my own point of view, it's then to pick up from there and to help them to be starting to make
progress in my subject” (Teacher D)
“you would want them to focus on the core subjects rather than – the foundation subjects, first of all” (Teacher
C)
“Probably leaving in practical things. Like PE or Food or Textiles where–if–they don't necessarily need to have their language–they can observe and go from there.”
(Teacher E)
EMERGING ISSUES
• EAL as a non-subject• Superiority of the mainstream = little linguistic differentiation• Little differentiation = EAL pupils’ stress = social/linguistic benefits of
the mainstream nullified• EAL difference perceived as a deficit due to lack of teachers’ training• Children think in English = learning English language• Children not aware that not teaching English language has become
normalized in their schools• Choose content over language as metalinguistic function of
language is not required of them
CONCLUSIONS
• Teacher and pupils: hope for very different educational outcomes• Lack of EAL pedagogy awareness leads to pursuit of myths and false
assumptions• urgently needed: professional EAL training to all mainstream teachers
• EAL to become a subject• Establishing criteria for what language is to be taught by mainstream and
EAL teachers alike• Elimination of the confusion that learning in English is the same as
learning English language• The voice of new arrived EAL children to be heard more often
• More research needed to build a more comprehensive picture
• a framework for the study of knowledge and education• The nature of ‘knowledge’: few theories as to what
knowledge actually is• knowledge as homogeneous and neutral, and ignore, for
instance that there are “relations within knowledge”• concrete or abstract• context-dependent or context-independent• based on personal experience or specialist
• ‘knowledge-blindness’
Legitimation Code TheoryAutonomy
Density
SemanticsSpecialisationTemporality
Maton, K. (2015) Knowledge and Knowers. Abingdon: Routledge
http://www.legitimationcodetheory.com/
Semantic Wavessemantic gravity (SG) • how much meaning is related to its context. • SG+ (strong semantic gravity) - meaning more
dependent on context than SG- (weaker semantic gravity)
semantic density (SD)• how highly condensed a meaning is• SD+ is a stronger semantic density whilst SD- is
weaker
SG+
SG-
Naming an animal
Naming types of jobs
An event from history
An event from history
Building a telescope
PhotosynthesisSD
+SD-
Gold (chemistry)
Cell (science)
Head (a director)
Gold (metal)
Cell (a room)
Head (a part of the body)
Semantic flatline: highly abstract, little dependence on context
Semantic flatline: simple meanings, highly dependent on context
Semantic wave: Simple and context-dependent at the beginning, then more abstract, less context-dependent, then falls back to less academic
Several such rises and falls happening over the course of your lesson / talk / writingCan start in a different place and will depend on a lesson
SEMANTIC SCALE Most basic EAL / language strategies (dictionaries, translators, a few
keywords) – not enough!
Deconstruction
Contextualising language Analysing model texts (the structure)
Power composition
Discussion of individual items
Power words Power grammar
The teacher leads – analysis and annotation. Draw attention to the text structure, power words, grammar and composition.
Unpack firstMove down the semantic scale
Use gestures Use analogies
(context)
Then repack
Use Power WordsUse Power Grammar
Use Power Composition
unpacking
repacking
Deconstruction
Power WordsThe words that are absolutely essential to the understanding of the text – key words
Ensure they are relational (cause-effect chains)
Relations can only
be shown through…
Power Grammar• Nominalisation
• Linking words
Rewrite sentences so that nominalisation is used
ConnectivesAND
verbs that link
Substitution tablesSentences with options
allows for, leads to, results in…
Joint Construction - BridgingPreparation stage before text analysis: revising shared knowledge
Use graphic organisers.Show links between keywords.
Joint Construction – Text NegotiationThe teacher leads the construction of text.The teacher makes the text density and gravity explicit.
Greater gravitySmaller density
Use gestures Use analogies
(context)
Smaller gravityGreater density
Use Power WordsUse Power Grammar
Use Power Composition
repacking
• Analyse and annotate the text (including its structure)• Point out power words / power grammar that makes up the text • Link to power composition (within paragraphs and in text as a
whole)
Stage 1 - Deconstruction
In The Ruined Maid Hardy uses language to portray the “country girl” as innocent and the “ruined maid” as corrupting. The lady from the country is referred to as a “country girl” highlighting her innocence, whereas the lady from town is titled “the ruined maid” which suggests that she has lost all innocence; she has been “ruined”. Furthermore, the colloquial language used by the country girl “fits ‘ee for high compa-ny” contrasts strongly with the sophisticated tone of the ruined maid “some polish is gained with one’s ruin” which demonstrates the difference in women from the different areas; the country girl is portrayed as humble and simplistic, whereas the ruined maid is shown as sophisticated but sneering. The country girl also uses language such as “bewitched” and “hag” when talking about the maid, suggesting her to be evil and supernatural. However, as the country girl begins to envy the lifestyle of the ruined maid, the language changes: “I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown”. This admiration of the ruined lifestyle, combined with the witch-like imagery, demonstrates the dangerous effect the town women can have on country girls; the ability to lure them away from the safe, simplistic country life.
Stage 1: Deconstruction - annotating Why is she innocent?
How is the sophistication expressed?
What’s the demonstration of the difference?
Who admires this lifestyle?
How do highlighting and suggesting differ in meaning?
What tense is the response written in?Is there a verb that doesn’t end in –s here?
She is in awe of the ruined lifestyle. (ADMIRATION)______________________________________________.She exhibits admiration of the ruined lifestyle.
Because she is called a “country girl”, it shows how innocent she is. (INNOCENCE)___________________________________________.Being referred to as a “country girls” highlights her innocence.
Stage 2 - Bridging - Nominalisation
Both Ozymandias and The River God are poems that create a character for whom power is a major issue. Ozymandias indirectly creates a voice of an Egyptian king, Ramesses II, but does this through the distancing narrative frame of a traveller 'from an antique land.' This sense of distance diminishes and undermines the sense of power given to the subject, Ozymandias. In the River God, Stevie Smith creates the persona of a river who has great and enduring physical power, but feels unappreciated and neglected.
Stage 2 – Bridging - Graphic Organizers
Give your students a list of the words – ask them to link/find connections between them.
Students reverse engineer the text into a graphic organizer.
Ozymandias The River God
Persona of a river
neglected
underappreciated
creates
feelscharacter
power
issue
createcreates
Voice of Ramesses II
Narrative frame
Physical powerPower
diminishes
Character Power Issue Physical power Voice
Narrative frame
Power Persona of a river
Underappreciated neglected
Stage 2 - Text Negotiation: Substitution tables
Stevie Smith creates the persona of a river with enduring physical power.
Stevie SmithThe authorThe writerThe poet
createsforgesconstructsdevises
the personathe personalitythe character
of a river withenduringlastingstrongunyieldingpersistent
physical power.
Context-dependent AcademicThey are poems that have people… The River God and Ozymandias are
poems that create…
… he has less power… … this diminishes his power…
They both have a problem with power Power is a major issue for them…
Time to Repack!
Both Ozymandias and The River God are poems that ______________ (make) a ______________ (person) for whom power (being strong) is a major _______________ (problem). Ozymandias indirectly ____________ (makes) a voice of an Egyptian king, Ramesses II, but does this through the ________________ (far away) __________ (story-telling) frame of a traveller 'from an antique land.' This sense of distance ____________ (makes smaller) and undermines the sense of ___________ (being strong) given to the subject, Ozymandias. In the River God, Stevie Smith _____________ (makes) the ____________ (personality) of a river who has great and enduring ______________ (body) power, but feels __________________ (disliked) and __________________ (ignored).
character Create
Power Issue
Distancing Narrative
Diminishes Persona
Physical Underappreciated
neglected