This post focuses more on leadership within this space because decisions have to be made, right at the beginning of the year, on how to establish a supportive approach to meet EAL/D learners.
There is a great deal of literature and discussion on how to address the beginning language learner’s needs. When I first started working within the EAL/D (English as an additional language or dialect) space in Australia, I taught in a segregated setting within a whole school. In this setting, the beginning language learner was supported with explicit teaching of the language and literacy to support development. This enabled fast growth of language acquisition, and confidence building. There were drawbacks though.
Some of these drawbacks were addressed as we moved into the inclusive space and had all students in classrooms with their english speaking peers. The majority of our language learners benefited from this move, especially with the MTSS (multi-tiered system of support) that was established.
The beginning language learner, however needs some very specific supports, especially when they are functioning within a high school setting. It can be very challenging to provide this explicit teaching within an inclusive setting, and yet most schools today are faced with the challenge of doing this with very few supports.
I personally believe that we can meet the needs of these language learner even in an inclusive classroom setting. It requires strong, firm leadership because hard decisions need to be made and you must work within a whole school approach, working with faculty heads to ensure adjustments are made in the classroom, in planning units and building accessible assessments.
The establishment of MTSS ensures that teachers get the support they need when having their students in their classrooms (tier 1 supports) and know how to select the appropriate pedagogical approach to build the rich language learning environment these students require and so many other students can benefit from. Students will require support in the tier 2 space, whether with the support of a teacher aide, or some differentiation planned for by the teacher in the classroom. And finally, these students must have explicit language teaching provided in the tier 3 space of the MTSS.
There are challenges in meeting needs at all these 3 levels of course, but leaders have to address the tier 3 support as it affects whole school planning. I am conscious there are so many variations to school setups. I worked in a school with a very large refugee and EAL/D population and we could establish structures that could not work as well in schools with fewer language learners working at this level. When I supported other schools, there was the necessity of course, to consider variations to their set up, clientele and vision. That said, consider the following when establishing your structure of support for emergent learners.
- In a high school setting, high expectations must be maintained at all times, and students must be exposed to the curriculum even as they acquire language.
- Emergent learners must be provided with the explicit teaching of language. This will require some system of support that necessitates pull out of the classroom at some point. Schools often struggle with this concept and yet the K-12 CARF in Queensland makes it very clear that these supports can be established within the parameters of what a school offers students. Consider how these students can be supported with at least one hour of support each day. This could be done during perhaps 2 electives or at least 1 in their timetable structure. Some students may benefit from even more time with explicit teaching. The key is to ensure the support is targeted and short in duration – I would say, 6 months at the most before peeling back the intense support and exposing students to more work in the age appropriate classroom.
- Also consider how more explicit teaching of language and literacy can occur during the timetabled English lesson. In Queensland, students can be provided with an N rating when within their first year in country, and the comments for assessments will align to their level of language acquisition aligning to the bandscales. I have not seen many schools successfully implement this as a system. The closest is with some schools that have established special ESL classes that align to the age appropriate curriculum, or segregated classes that do not align at all to the curriculum.
And finally, I’d like to touch on RTI or Response to Intervention. It is imperative that the language supports provided for emergent learners are targeted and constantly reviewed against their growing achievement. You may want to establish 10 week cycles or a semester to enable monitoring of growth. Many emergent learners will require a year of support but this support must be highly individualized to ensure students needs are met in a timely manner.
Share your thoughts!