Effective AfL is ‘informed feedback to pupils about their work’ (Shaw, 1998). As Broadfoot et al discuss, there are five key ways that we can enhance learning by assessment. These steps can be universally applied to all learning and all learners, and thus address the learning needs of EAL learners. They are:
- Ensuring effective systems of assessment are set up throughout the school. For instance, is there consistency in assessment procedures across the school? (Black, P. J. and Wiliam, D., 1998)
- Ensuring that teachers use their assessment findings to inform the next stage of their teaching. What and where are the best assessment types for EAL learners?
- An understanding of how feedback affects learners in terms of their motivation and self-esteem.
- The need for pupils to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.
- Ensuring learners have ownership over their learning and are taking charge of it.
As we can see, these five key ways to enhance learning are multifaceted and no single teacher can tackle all five alone. There must be a whole-school approach, with teachers working consistently, with the aim of providing the best assessment opportunities for their learners. Needless to say, it is vitally important for EAL learners to feel included, whatever their stage of English learning.
However, individual teachers can go some way towards creating useful AfL opportunities in their own classrooms for their learners. Creating a really effective environment for AfL definitely has its challenges, and these can be heightened when providing AfL for learners with EAL. How can learners have ownership over their own learning, assess themselves and understand how to improve if they have limited proficiency in the language of instruction?
How can EAL learners assess themselves?
Many EAL teachers use the Learning Village to help with the assessment of EAL learners, while other educators make their own resources for assessment. The Learning Village (learningvillage.net) is a blended learning platform for EAL teaching and learning. It works through a combination of independent and small-group teaching and has a range of learning and assessment options, with many tools to support educators and learners in AfL.
A great starting point to empower the learner is to give them language structures for self-assessment: key phrases like ‘I don’t understand’, ‘I partly understand’ or ‘I understand really well.’ Learners are then able to communicate shades of understanding and can begin to assess their own learning. The use of images is useful here, so that all learners, no matter what their level of English language competence, can gain access to ideas, concepts and language structures. When learners can communicate their understanding, what they say can then inform the teacher’s next steps in the teaching and learning cycle. The learners are then able to apply these key phrases across the curriculum in all of their lessons. (See additional resources for lesson plan on ‘Language Structures for Self-assessment’ and associated resources that can be used or adapted for use.) Other self-assessment methods to demonstrate understanding could be to use a 1-5 scale using their fingers (1 being ‘I don’t understand’ and 5 being ‘I understand really well’) or the use of self-drawn faces to communicate understanding.
How do we help EAL learners know how to improve?
Knowing how to improve is knowing what can be done better. In order to know this, learners must know and understand what they are learning in the first place, which can be a challenge for an EAL learner in a mainstream classroom. Teachers can provide EAL learners with a number of tools to help support and scaffold their learning. Once again, the use of images is important here: giving learners images associated with key language structures can hook them into the lesson, providing them with a starting point for learning and therefore for improvement. Language models are also vital. These could take the form of simple sentences presented in a substitution table, so that learners can demonstrate the variety of alternative vocabulary or language structures they know. (See sample substitution table in the additional resources.)
How do we give EAL learners ownership over their own learning?
Depending on the language competency of the learner, it may be useful to place them on an individual learning programme, such as the Learning Village, where they have ownership over variants such as the pace at which they work, the amount of content they cover in a session, the length of time spent learning and the amount of repetition they require, to name a few.
Other options could be to give learners a choice over the medium in which they work. For instance, if a learner feels more comfortable speaking than writing, could the learner record their ideas/findings/conclusion via audio or video software? To support learners in this, provide language prompts like sentence starters and substitution tables, modelled answers (providing structure and setting standards of expectation) and frames for speaking and writing. Graphic organisers, provided by the teacher or developed with the learners, enable learners to write or speak according to a specific frame. They are useful for supporting the understanding of the text as a whole. Furthermore, learners benefit from paired discussion, preferably in their first language, before beginning written work or work that will be recorded using another medium. This might feel counterintuitive, but researchers such as Cummins (2001) highlight the benefits of EAL learners continuing to learn in their own language alongside English.
Another option is to use a bilingual resource, such as the ‘Sentence Visualiser’ on the Learning Village, or to adapt another bilingual resource. The Sentence Visualiser is a supportive tool providing images and translation that learners can use in their journey towards lesson outcomes.
Furthermore, it could be useful to let learners know about future topics or areas for learning, so that they can participate in topic pre-learning. Again, the learner could take ownership of the way in which this occurs. For instance, pre-learning in their own language could mean that they have a solid understanding of key concepts that they will meet in their future learning, whereas pre-learning in English could mean that they will be familiar with upcoming key vocabulary and language structures. Both pathways lead to the learner feeling more confident and knowledgeable in their lessons.
To summarise, AfL has the potential to make a real impact on learning. A whole-school approach is required to ensure consistency for all, but individual teachers are in a unique position to use AfL to make a difference to the EAL learners in their own classrooms. The key, as ever, is to know your learners, so that you can add value to their learning experience every step of the way.
Additional resources:
The Learning Village
Language of Self-assessment Lesson Plan
References:
Assessment Reform Group, 2002, Assessment for Learning: 10 principles. Research-based principles to guide classroom practice. London: Assessment Reform Group.
Black, P. J. and Wiliam, D., 1998, Assessment and Classroom Learning. Assessment in Education, 5(1), 7-74. Page 5 T.
Broadfoot et al, 1999, Assessment for Learning: beyond the black box. Cambridge: University of Cambridge School of Education. Viewed 27 Feb. 2020, Link
Cummins, J., 2001, Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual pupils in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Avon.
National Curriculum Task Group on Assessment and Testing (TGAT), 1988, A Report. Viewed 27 Feb. 2020, Link
Shaw T., 1998, Chief Inspector for Northern Ireland, when launching the School Improvement Plan for Northern Ireland
