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In my experience, teachers often have quite strong feelings about the use of a pupil’s L1 (first language) in the classroom - it is either encouraged or forbidden. Garcia and Sylvan (2011) describe monolingual education as outdated in our current ‘globalized’ world and discourage the practise of imposing only one language. In fact, they suggest that teachers should support students in developing their awareness of their first language as well as the language of instruction. Although this may not feel entirely practical, as in order to do this, the teacher often feels the need to be competent in all of the languages being used in the classroom. However, it is possible to support L1. Have a look at some strategies recommended by Scott (2016):
The importance of developing the mother tongue is now widely accepted among researchers. Cummins is at the forefront of this discussion as he contends that knowledge in one language helps learners to understand information in another language (2000). Other researchers such as Atkinson (1987) and Kim (2011) advocate the importance of the mother tongue in the classroom and suggest that the L1 is an invaluable tool. In Kim’s (2011) study it was clear that the use of the mother tongue, specifically translation, helped the learners to recognize the importance of accuracy and led them to be more objective about their writing.
The accompanying material devised aims to facilitate vocabulary building through translation. It is considered good practice to provide students with vocabulary lists, and these often come with a definition. However, the definition is often too abstract for the pupils to fully comprehend and they would benefit far more from seeing the word in context. The material combines translation with example sentences.
References:
Atkinson, D. (1987) The mother tongue in the classroom: a neglected resource? ELT Journal, Volume 41, Issue 4, 1 October 1987, Pages 241–247, access here
Cummins, J. (2000) Language, Power and Pedgogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
GARC´IA, O. & SYLVAN, C. (2011) Pedagogies and Practices in Multilingual Classrooms: Singularities in Pluralities, The Modern Language Journal, 95/3
Kim, E. (2011) Using translation exercises in the communicative EFL writing classroom, ELT Journal, Volume 65, Issue 2, 1 April 2011, Pages 154–160
Scott, C (2016) How you can support students’ mother tongue development International School Magazine, Volume 18, Issue 3
Including a useful EAL Progress Review and links to different EAL assessment continua
When teaching EAL, assessment procedures need to be in place in order to have a concrete analysis of student starting points.
This area is a minefield! Without other references or expertise to hand, a new teacher often turns to an expert for help… Google! Results popping up on the first page of a search shows the Oxford placement tests on the first page, but are they the answer?
The Early Career Framework was made compulsory in the UK in September 2021. It replaces the year-long NQT period. It is a two-year programme of support and development for new teachers after they complete initial teacher training. The Framework covers 8 main areas:
Effective assessment for learning (AfL) is ‘informed feedback to pupils about their work’ (Shaw, 1998). As Broadfoot et al (1999) discuss, there are five key ways in which 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 in physical and virtual classrooms. They are: