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Kamil Trzebiatowski, University of the West of Scotland EAL Coordinator & EAL Academy Associate Languages in the Globalized World conference, Samuel Beckett University, Leeds, 28 May 2015 EAL pupils and classroom teachers’ attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming http://valuediversity- teacher.co.uk/

MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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Page 1: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Kamil Trzebiatowski, University of the West of ScotlandEAL Coordinator & EAL Academy Associate

Languages in the Globalized World conference, Samuel Beckett University, Leeds, 28 May 2015

EAL pupils and classroom teachers’ attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

http://valuediversity-teacher.co.uk/

Page 2: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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 Do subject (mainstream) teachers and EAL pupils have different views on whether or not they should be mainstreamed or withdrawn for EAL support?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

Page 3: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

England and EAL: National background

• The Calderdale Report (CRE, 1986) = mainstreamed approach now expected (Green, 2012)

• OFSTED (2014): subject teachers have the responsibility to plan for language and content and collaborate with EAL staff

• EAL is not a subject: Leung (2001): EAL is “supra-subject” phenomenon and “diffused curriculum concern”

• Chen (2007): “children are treated the same despite their differences” – their linguistic needs ignored• Often placed with little in-class support, teachers are not EAL aware

and resources are minimal

Page 4: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

• 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

Page 5: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Ainscow and Booth (2002): Index for Inclusion: listen to all pupils’ voices

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.

Page 6: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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

Page 7: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

• 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

Page 8: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Findings

Mainstream or withdrawal preferences

Number of preferred EAL

withdrawal sessions (out of 15 lessons per

week)

Page 9: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Pupils’

reasons

Teachers’ reaso

ns

EAL PUPILS TEACHERS

PREFERENCE: Mainstreaming

Page 10: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Teachers: Emotions teaching EAL learners

“Help me!” (Teacher C)

Page 11: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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)

Page 12: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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

Page 13: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Negative emotions

• Guilt and feeling overwhelmed

• Pleading for help

And…

• Language of uncertainty

• Not grounded in EAL pedagogy

• Only most basic strategies used

• No EAL CPD

Thus…

• Unfounded assumptions of teachers

• Little consideration of what English language needs teaching

Page 14: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Teachers: Benefits from participating in the

mainstream“Also, the longer you have a student withdrawn, for whatever reason, the

less a bond they have with their peer group, and also the less up to date they are with their learning as it happens in the classroom, so I would always say

the priority for a student is to be absorbed in that learning, the

mainstream learning, as much as possible.” (Teacher A)

“I think that would help them develop their communication even more because they're in with peers”

(Teacher E)

“I think sometimes students can be overwhelmed, so it depends on the student as

well.” (Teacher A)

“I think for a lot of these students, if they're coming in, they genuinely are gonna be shell

shocked.” (Teacher B)

“So they are – they are very scared, I think.” (Teacher C)

“because it must also be quite scary for them” (Teacher E)

Teachers: Perception of pupils’ stress in the mainstream

Page 15: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Social benefits

• Interaction with native speaking peers

• Less interaction in EAL withdrawals

But…

• Elevated levels of stress in mainstream classrooms

• Krashen (1982): Affective Filter Hypothesis

Thus…

• Language confidence and social confidence less likely due to stress

“low anxiety appears to be conducive to second language acquisition, whether measured as personal

or classroom anxiety” (p.32)

Page 16: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Pupils: Struggling with the English language in

the mainstream

“reading I don’t understand” (Pupil A)

Because sometimes I understand what the teacher says, but

sometimes–they–they talk very quickly–and sometimes I don't

understand. (Pupil E)

“It’s a bit difficult, because I don’t know many– words and such.”

(Pupil E)

Pupils: On being differentiated for by mainstream teachers

Interviewer: “Ok, uh–Do you ever get something from them–like a piece of paper–something–”Pupil D: “No.”

Interviewer: Do you get any additional materials, for instance, from teachers?Pupil E: “No, I never get any.”

Page 17: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Pupils: The value of withdrawal

Pupil B: “There teach you slowly slowly, understand more, but in–”

Interviewer: “the subject lessons–”Pupil B: “Yeah, they talk, like, difficult English. “

“Here, is like more family. “ (Pupil D)

“In here, every time helping me. In other lessons, sometimes.” (Pupil B)

“I think if I don’t understand something, I will learn it here better, and if I have some

problems with writing, I think it would be great to learn it here again.” (Pupil E)

Pupils: Disadvantages of withdrawals

“Because every lesson is different, and in every lesson I learn something different, and here in those EAL I only learn English.” (Pupil

E)

“Yeah, because here we just have PE, English and Maths, and in normal lessons we have all

the subjects.” (Pupil D)

“I found it boring because the same – like easy.” (Pupil B)

Page 18: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Effectiveness for embedding subject knowledge

• Agrees with NALDIC’s distinctive pedagogy and DfE

But…

• Pupils difficulties understanding vocabulary

• No reported differentiation from teachers

Thus…

• Very similar to Chen’s (2007) findings: pupils are lost in mainstream classrooms

Page 19: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

More subject domains available

• EAL is only one subject as opposed to many in the mainstream

But…

• Ignoring difficulties understanding vocabulary and language

Page 20: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Teachers: Planning / time issues

“now you've got 2 EAL students who don't speak any English, and it's that extra thing on top that it's hard to–it

adds to the planning.” (Teacher D)

“because I have her on a Monday, whereas before, Thursday nights, you

get done what you can get done–” (Teacher A)

“So that's probably my weakest area: trying to be firm with them and say no.” (Teacher C)

“Is what's written down legible for them? I don't know. And that unknown worries me, because I don't know if I am expecting too much of them or – if they are–” (Teacher C)

Teachers: expectations of EAL pupils

Page 21: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Low expectations

• EAL last group considered in the lesson planning process

• Language barrier leading to deficit view of EAL learners

And…

• Despite mainstreaming benefits, teachers still want 2x more withdrawals than pupils - counterintuitive

Thus…

• “Integration” talk (vs. “inclusion”)

Page 22: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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

Page 23: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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)

Page 24: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

Teachers: Integration vs inclusion

“to enable and facilitate that child integrate” (Teacher B)

“they could spend some time learning the basics of the language, and then perhaps some integration into lessons” (Teacher C)

“most of the girls I’ve seen coming to my classes, have certainly integrated very quickly” (Teacher D)

“because they would see that these students were making that effort and getting that support to integrate into that system” (Teacher E)

Page 25: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

English language in the mainstream

• Belief pupils learn more English language in the mainstream

But…

• Mistaken belief that learning in English is learning about English

• Not truly provided with English language teaching in the mainstream

Thus…

• “Diffused curriculum concern” (Leung): no discussion of what language should be learned

• Content is primary, EAL is secondary

Page 26: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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

Page 27: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

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

Page 28: MEd: EAL pupils and classroom teachers' attitudes to class withdrawal vs mainstreaming

REFERENCES• C.R.E. (1986) Teaching English as a Second Language: Report of a Formal Investigation in Calderdale Local

Education Authority. London : Commission for Racial Equality• OFSTED (2014) English as an Additional Language: Briefing for Section 5 Inspection. Available at:

http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/20169/5/English%20as%20an%20additional%20language%5B1%5D.doc [Accessed 26 May 2015]

• Leung, C. (2001) 'English as an Additional Language: Distinct Language Focus or Diffused Curriculum Concerns?', Language and Education, Vol. 15(1). Pp.33-55

• Chen, Y. (2007) 'Equality and Inequality of Opportunity in Education: Chinese Emergent Bilingual Children in the English Mainstream Classroom', Culture and Curriculum, Vol. 20(1). Pp. 36-51

• Creese, A. (2005a) Teacher Collaboration and Talk in Multilingual Classrooms. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon• Cajkler, W. and Hall, B. (2009) ''When they first come in what do you do?' English as an additional language

and newly qualified teachers', Language and Education, Vol.23(2). Pp. 153-170• Reeves, J. (2006) 'Secondary teacher attitudes toward including English-language learners in mainstream

classrooms', The Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 99(3). pp. 131—143• Ainscow, M. and Booth, T. (2002) Index for inclusion. 1st ed. Bristol: CSIE