Meeting the Needs of ESL Students
The acronym ESL stands for ‘English as a Second Language’. In today’s multicultural society, it is inevitable that you will have students in your classroom from ESL backgrounds. As Gibbons (2009) explains, ESL students are a diverse group; they may be refugees or second-generation migrants, they may speak English but not be literate in English or they may speak no English at all. Such students may face many and diverse challenges in today’s education system, and as such, require additional assistance and support.
When considering the needs of ESL students, one cannot ignore that our educational system is predominately based on a white middle class culture (Habibis & Walter 2009). Thus it is important to acknowledge that students from ESL backgrounds may not necessarily be familiar with the culture upon which our education system is based, and are thus may be further disadvantaged, for as Henry et al. (1988, cited in Keddie, Mills & Mills 2008, p199) explain, they may not be aware of the ‘explicit and implicit values, knowledge, attitudes to and the relationship with academic culture required for success in school’. This is something that you need to be aware of and acknowledge when teaching ESL students.
Yet moving into a classroom context, there are strategies and techniques that you can implement to meet the needs of ESL students, and enable them to maximise both their English language learning and their learning outcomes. First and foremost, whilst isolated English language lessons may play a role in many ESL students English language learning, the most effective English language learning happens within the classroom through the provision of opportunities for ESL students to learn and use English language in an authentic context (Gibbons 2009). This is in keeping with the NSW DEC (2012) approach to ESL education, which identifies the importance of ESL teaching that‘focuses on students learning English in the context of the curriculum’.
Developing Spoken English
In integrating opportunities for ESL to learn English within the classroom and within the curriculum, it is critical
that you provide opportunities for students to both listen to and speak English. Gibbons (2009) refers to this opportunity for students to listen to and understand the English language as input, and the opportunity to
speak English as output. In supporting ESL students’ input (Gibbons 2009) development and their understanding of what is being said, you can use pictures, diagrams, gestures and symbols in conjunction with spoken English to further assist them (Gibbons 2009). It is also important that you model and demonstrate correct spoken English yourself. Yet with both teacher-student and student-student interactions playing a role in developing ESL students language development (Gibbons 2009), you may also need to consider who you sit and/or pair an ESL student with, as you do not want to put them next to a student that has poor spoken language skills themselves.
In developing ESL students language output (Gibbons 2009), it is critical that you provide them with opportunities in which they need to use the English language. As Gibbons (2009, p133) explains, ESL students ‘need opportunities for take part in extended interactions’. This involves going beyond the often standard teacher-student interaction, in which the teacher asks a question which requires a one word answer. This notion of participating in extended communication is in keeping with the NSW Quality Teaching Model, which links opportunities for students to participate in ‘substantive communication’ (NSW DEC 2003, p9) with pedagogy that is of a high intellectual quality. Yet as LeLoup and Ponterio (2005) explain, the development of ESL students spoken language does not occur in
isolation, for it is inextricably interconnected with their reading and writing skills.
Developing Written English
Scaffolding, as Michell and Sharpe (2005) explain, is crucial to meeting the needs of and improving the academic outcomes of ESL students. Yet so to is the gradual reduction of this scaffolding (Gibbons 2009), and thus the use of the Teaching and Learning Cycle in ESL education becomes apparent. In developing ESL students’ written language, and in keeping with the Teaching and Learning Cycle, it is imperative that teachers progress through four stages, as Gibbons (2009) details:
1. Build up students’ knowledge of the topic
2. Model the structure and language features of the text type under focus
3. Jointly construct a text with students
4. Allow students to independently construct their own text.
Developing Reading Skills
There are many approaches to teach reading, but as Gibbons (2009) explains, teaching ESL students to read requires an interactive approach in which both bottom-up and top-down approaches are used.
Bottom-up approaches to reading are based on the understanding that students need to firstly develop their phonemic and phonological awareness by learning the individual letters and sounds of the English language, before then progressing to reading individual words, then sentences (Gibbons 2009). Thus from a teaching perspective, it is important to focus on ESL students phonetic and phonological development through explicit teaching of phonics. Yet this approach alone, is not effective in teaching ESL students to read effectively, for as Gibbons (2009) explains, it does not provide students with the opportunity to draw on their semantic knowledge to make meaning from text.
This is where top-down approaches to reading come in. In contrast to bottom-up approaches, top-down approaches focus on understanding the text as a whole, and emphasise the importance of readers drawing on their semantic knowledge to predict and comprehend text (Gibbons 2009). Thus it is important that you provide opportunities for ESL students to authentically engage with and read texts as a whole.
The importance of providing opportunities for ESL students to use their first language cannot be overlooked, for as
Gibbons (2009, p135) explains, ‘a well-developed first language supports the development of a second, particularly when the first language development includes literacy’. Shore (2001) backs up this claim, and suggests that ESL students should be provided with opportunities to read and write in their first language. Shore (2001) also stresses the importance of providing opportunities for ESL students to use their first language so that they experience success, through for example, reading a story to the class in their first language. Such success, as you would have learnt throughout your teacher training, is critical to engaging and motivating students in their learning, and so too applies to ESL students.
Meeting the needs of ESL student and maximising their learning outcomes requires a collaborative effort. As the NSW DEC (2012) states in their ESL Guidelines for Schools Policy, class teachers have a responsibility to‘collaborate with ESL teachers, counsellors and other personnel to ensure appropriate support’ is provided for ESL students. In keeping with the holistic approach underpinning education today, and the responsibility of teachers to attend to not only students’ academic needs, but also their social and emotional needs, this notion of teachers working with counsellors to support ESL students is an important one. It is especially important when working with students who have fled war-torn countries and have come to Australia as refugees, for they may require additional levels of emotional support. In such cases, the provision of additional levels of emotional support is critical to ESL students learning, for as we know from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, students cannot learn until their physical and emotional needs are first met (McLeod 2007).
Further Information and Resources to Effectively Cater for ESL Students
- NSW DEC ESL Guidelines
Website: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/learning/yrk12focusareas/esleducation/index.php.
- NSW DEC Telephone Interpreting Service (As the NSW DEC (2012) details, ‘Parents, carers, community
members and schools can use the Telephone Interpreting Service where appropriate and ask for the required
language. The operator will call the requested number and get an interpreter on the line to assist with the
conversation’).
Phone: 131 450.
- NSW DEC ESL Scales
Website: http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/primary/english/crosscurriculum/esl/index.htm.
- A list of some Do's and Dont's that you may find helpful for teaching ESL students
Website: http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/guide.htm.
References:
Gibbons, P 2009, English Learners Academic Literacy and Thinking, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.
Habibis, D & Walter, M 2009, Social Inequality in Australia: Discourses, Realities & Futures, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.
Keddie, A, Mills, C & Mills, M 2008, ‘Struggles to subvert the gendered field: issues of masculinity, rurality and class’, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, vol.16, no.2, pp193-205.
LeLoup, JW & Ponterio, R 2005,‘First, You Have to Hear It! ESL Oral Language Practice’, Language Learning &
Technology, vol.9, no.3, pp4-8.
McLeod, SA 2007, ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’, Simply Psychology, accessed 27/03/2012, http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
Michell, M & Sharpe, T 2005, Collective instructional scaffolding in English as a Second Language classrooms’, Prospect, vol.20, no.1, pp31-58.
NSW DEC (New South Wales Department of Education and Communities) 2012, accessed 7/10/2012,
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au.
NSW DET (New South Wales Department of Education and Training) 2003, Quality Teaching in NSW Public
Schools: Discussion Paper, NSW Department of Education and Training Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate, Sydney, NSW.
Shore, K 2001, ‘Success for ESL Students’, Instructor, vol.110, no.6, pp30-32.
When considering the needs of ESL students, one cannot ignore that our educational system is predominately based on a white middle class culture (Habibis & Walter 2009). Thus it is important to acknowledge that students from ESL backgrounds may not necessarily be familiar with the culture upon which our education system is based, and are thus may be further disadvantaged, for as Henry et al. (1988, cited in Keddie, Mills & Mills 2008, p199) explain, they may not be aware of the ‘explicit and implicit values, knowledge, attitudes to and the relationship with academic culture required for success in school’. This is something that you need to be aware of and acknowledge when teaching ESL students.
Yet moving into a classroom context, there are strategies and techniques that you can implement to meet the needs of ESL students, and enable them to maximise both their English language learning and their learning outcomes. First and foremost, whilst isolated English language lessons may play a role in many ESL students English language learning, the most effective English language learning happens within the classroom through the provision of opportunities for ESL students to learn and use English language in an authentic context (Gibbons 2009). This is in keeping with the NSW DEC (2012) approach to ESL education, which identifies the importance of ESL teaching that‘focuses on students learning English in the context of the curriculum’.
Developing Spoken English
In integrating opportunities for ESL to learn English within the classroom and within the curriculum, it is critical
that you provide opportunities for students to both listen to and speak English. Gibbons (2009) refers to this opportunity for students to listen to and understand the English language as input, and the opportunity to
speak English as output. In supporting ESL students’ input (Gibbons 2009) development and their understanding of what is being said, you can use pictures, diagrams, gestures and symbols in conjunction with spoken English to further assist them (Gibbons 2009). It is also important that you model and demonstrate correct spoken English yourself. Yet with both teacher-student and student-student interactions playing a role in developing ESL students language development (Gibbons 2009), you may also need to consider who you sit and/or pair an ESL student with, as you do not want to put them next to a student that has poor spoken language skills themselves.
In developing ESL students language output (Gibbons 2009), it is critical that you provide them with opportunities in which they need to use the English language. As Gibbons (2009, p133) explains, ESL students ‘need opportunities for take part in extended interactions’. This involves going beyond the often standard teacher-student interaction, in which the teacher asks a question which requires a one word answer. This notion of participating in extended communication is in keeping with the NSW Quality Teaching Model, which links opportunities for students to participate in ‘substantive communication’ (NSW DEC 2003, p9) with pedagogy that is of a high intellectual quality. Yet as LeLoup and Ponterio (2005) explain, the development of ESL students spoken language does not occur in
isolation, for it is inextricably interconnected with their reading and writing skills.
Developing Written English
Scaffolding, as Michell and Sharpe (2005) explain, is crucial to meeting the needs of and improving the academic outcomes of ESL students. Yet so to is the gradual reduction of this scaffolding (Gibbons 2009), and thus the use of the Teaching and Learning Cycle in ESL education becomes apparent. In developing ESL students’ written language, and in keeping with the Teaching and Learning Cycle, it is imperative that teachers progress through four stages, as Gibbons (2009) details:
1. Build up students’ knowledge of the topic
2. Model the structure and language features of the text type under focus
3. Jointly construct a text with students
4. Allow students to independently construct their own text.
Developing Reading Skills
There are many approaches to teach reading, but as Gibbons (2009) explains, teaching ESL students to read requires an interactive approach in which both bottom-up and top-down approaches are used.
Bottom-up approaches to reading are based on the understanding that students need to firstly develop their phonemic and phonological awareness by learning the individual letters and sounds of the English language, before then progressing to reading individual words, then sentences (Gibbons 2009). Thus from a teaching perspective, it is important to focus on ESL students phonetic and phonological development through explicit teaching of phonics. Yet this approach alone, is not effective in teaching ESL students to read effectively, for as Gibbons (2009) explains, it does not provide students with the opportunity to draw on their semantic knowledge to make meaning from text.
This is where top-down approaches to reading come in. In contrast to bottom-up approaches, top-down approaches focus on understanding the text as a whole, and emphasise the importance of readers drawing on their semantic knowledge to predict and comprehend text (Gibbons 2009). Thus it is important that you provide opportunities for ESL students to authentically engage with and read texts as a whole.
The importance of providing opportunities for ESL students to use their first language cannot be overlooked, for as
Gibbons (2009, p135) explains, ‘a well-developed first language supports the development of a second, particularly when the first language development includes literacy’. Shore (2001) backs up this claim, and suggests that ESL students should be provided with opportunities to read and write in their first language. Shore (2001) also stresses the importance of providing opportunities for ESL students to use their first language so that they experience success, through for example, reading a story to the class in their first language. Such success, as you would have learnt throughout your teacher training, is critical to engaging and motivating students in their learning, and so too applies to ESL students.
Meeting the needs of ESL student and maximising their learning outcomes requires a collaborative effort. As the NSW DEC (2012) states in their ESL Guidelines for Schools Policy, class teachers have a responsibility to‘collaborate with ESL teachers, counsellors and other personnel to ensure appropriate support’ is provided for ESL students. In keeping with the holistic approach underpinning education today, and the responsibility of teachers to attend to not only students’ academic needs, but also their social and emotional needs, this notion of teachers working with counsellors to support ESL students is an important one. It is especially important when working with students who have fled war-torn countries and have come to Australia as refugees, for they may require additional levels of emotional support. In such cases, the provision of additional levels of emotional support is critical to ESL students learning, for as we know from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, students cannot learn until their physical and emotional needs are first met (McLeod 2007).
Further Information and Resources to Effectively Cater for ESL Students
- NSW DEC ESL Guidelines
Website: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/learning/yrk12focusareas/esleducation/index.php.
- NSW DEC Telephone Interpreting Service (As the NSW DEC (2012) details, ‘Parents, carers, community
members and schools can use the Telephone Interpreting Service where appropriate and ask for the required
language. The operator will call the requested number and get an interpreter on the line to assist with the
conversation’).
Phone: 131 450.
- NSW DEC ESL Scales
Website: http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/primary/english/crosscurriculum/esl/index.htm.
- A list of some Do's and Dont's that you may find helpful for teaching ESL students
Website: http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/guide.htm.
References:
Gibbons, P 2009, English Learners Academic Literacy and Thinking, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.
Habibis, D & Walter, M 2009, Social Inequality in Australia: Discourses, Realities & Futures, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.
Keddie, A, Mills, C & Mills, M 2008, ‘Struggles to subvert the gendered field: issues of masculinity, rurality and class’, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, vol.16, no.2, pp193-205.
LeLoup, JW & Ponterio, R 2005,‘First, You Have to Hear It! ESL Oral Language Practice’, Language Learning &
Technology, vol.9, no.3, pp4-8.
McLeod, SA 2007, ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’, Simply Psychology, accessed 27/03/2012, http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
Michell, M & Sharpe, T 2005, Collective instructional scaffolding in English as a Second Language classrooms’, Prospect, vol.20, no.1, pp31-58.
NSW DEC (New South Wales Department of Education and Communities) 2012, accessed 7/10/2012,
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au.
NSW DET (New South Wales Department of Education and Training) 2003, Quality Teaching in NSW Public
Schools: Discussion Paper, NSW Department of Education and Training Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate, Sydney, NSW.
Shore, K 2001, ‘Success for ESL Students’, Instructor, vol.110, no.6, pp30-32.