Using the Resource and Feedback

 

Procedures and Principles for using the resource in a K-6 school setting

For the resources in Gibbons' (2015) book to be used effectively in a classroom setting, there are several procedures that would need to be in place. When viewing curriculum design, Nation & Macalister (2009, p. 138) suggest that "curriculum design is best viewed as a process like writing where the curriculum design could begin at any of several places - needs analysis, materials writing, selection of principles, goals... etc." For most teachers a needs analysis of the students cannot be made first until they have time to know the students. Nation & Macalister (2009) acknowledge that problems with curriculum design include having limited preparation time for a largely unknown environment. Nation & Macalister (2009) suggest models of curriculum design that can be used to help teachers decide what to include. In Table 9.1 Nation & Macalister (2009, p. 137) compare the Language Design Model and Graves's model of curriculum design. 


Table 9.1 

A comparative analysis of Graves's model of curriculum design (2000)

From Nation, I.S., & Macalister, J. Language curriculum design, 2009, p. 137
Nation, I.S., & Macalister, J. (2009). Language curriculum design. Routledge.


Although the models differ, included in the two models are analysing the context or environment needs analysis, principles or goals, content, developing materials or presentation, assessment and evaluation.


Nation and Macalister (2009) analyse a further curriculum design model by Murdoch (1989, as cited in Nation & Macalister, 2009). Murdoch takes a sociocultural approach and also includes analysing resource limitations. Murdoch (1989, as cited in Nation and Macalister, 2009) believes that sociocultural factors of the learner need to be taken into account such as the learners' age and interests and the target culture and the reasons for studying English. Course objectives, language and procedures and methodology should also be considered.


Table 9.2

A comparative analysis of Murdoch's model of curriculum design (1989)

From Nation, I.S., & Macalister, J. Language curriculum design, 2009, p. 139

Nation, I.S., & Macalister, J. (2009). Language curriculum design. Routledge.


If  Gibbons; (2015) resource is used in a classroom setting the teacher will need to analyse the content of the curriculum that the activities will be integrated into, the context, the needs of the students, including their learning abilities and their sociocultural needs and select appropriate activities from the resource to include in the program. Appropriate texts need to be chosen by the teacher. Assessment of the students' language needs will need to occur before and during the teaching of the program. The design of the program, including the content should  be made in collaboration between the EAL/D teacher and the classroom teacher. 

The activities in Gibbons' (2015) book can be used flexibly, where appropriate in the curriculum. Gibbons' (2015) book can also be used by the EAL/D teacher in a small withdrawal group capacity.  Macalister and Sou (2006, in Nation & Macalister, 2009) describes a possible sequence of steps when designing a course which particularly suits the small group withdrawal mode of EAL/D teaching. The steps include listing the objectives for the lesson, deciding on the language content and sequence, such as beginning with the most useful language items. Next, decide on suitable activities, including the proportions of the four strands of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the format of the lesson and sequence of activities. Finally, according to Macalister and Sou (2006, as cited in Nation & Macalister, 2009), the teacher needs to decide how to assess each objective, how to monitor progress and how to evaluate the course.

It is acknowledged by Nation and Macalister (2009, p. 144) that "most teachers however do not have this luxury and have to design and teach courses without the chance to have fully planned and researched them." The reality for most teachers is the time pressure. If time and resources are limited Nation and Macalister (2009, p. 145) suggest using a 'layers of necessity model', where the teacher decides on the most urgent environment constraints, and the urgent language needs of the learners using available resources and simple assessments. 

For teachers in a NSW Department of Education primary school, they need to follow the outcomes of the curriculum and will need to embed the activities from such a book as Gibbons' (2015) to support the EAL/D students in their class, with the support of the EAL/D teacher. The amount of support provided by the EAL/D teacher is also limited depending on available school funding.

Nation and Macalister (2009) describe how as a professional, the teacher needs to make curriculum design decisions about how to provide the curriculum material to learners using the most suitable method. Nation and Macalister (2009, p. 141) continue that this is dependent on "the resources available, the skill and teaching style of the teachers, and the time available."


Feedback:

The EAL/D teacher at my current school has used the activities in Gibbons' (2015) book in a small group withdrawal capacity.The EAL/D teacher has stated that when she has used the activities, they are effective for language learning and the students enjoy them. Furthermore the EAL/D teacher noted that the activities are generally easy to implement, flexible and require few resources to administer.

The feedback from students could be collected by conducting an online survey such as SurveyMonkey, regarding their experience engaging in the activities, their feelings regarding the activities and how helpful they were with the acquisition of their language skills. Data from the survey on the positive and negative aspects of the activities could be gathered. 

Feedback from the EAL/D students' classroom teacher could also be collected through SurveyMonkey, including ease of use, issues with implementation such as time constraints and the effectiveness of the. resources' activities and strategies. The students' progress in the language skills reading, writing, speaking and listening could also be assessed by the classroom teacher through incidental and formal testing, to track the effectiveness of the activities.

Feedback from parents of EAL/D students could be collected through a survey regarding the progress in the language skills of their children and how they feel about the content of the activities regarding their cultural, spiritual and social background. 

As a whole school approach, all staff could also be surveyed to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the EAL/D intervention and what areas could be improved.


In Summary

A teaching resource according to Locke (2013, p. 25) should guide teachers in “what to teach, when to teach it, how to teach it and how to assess children’s development and progress…embody the expertise that teachers need to teach spoken language… and be easy to implement and manage in a mainstream classroom.”

According to Locke (2013, p. 32-33) "an effective teaching program must also be manageable in the mainstream classroom:

  • easy to implement and to use
  • adaptable to the different needs of different schools, different teachers and different children
  • easy to integrate into existing classroom practices and activities and the current curriculum
  • requiring a minimum of additional teaching time, lesson preparation, extra activities or special materials
  • and a minimum of additional training, staffing or other resources."

Gibbons' (2015) resource book does guide teachers of EAL/D students in what to teach and provides ideas on how to teach and assess them. Gibbons' (2015) book is easy to use, adaptable and can be integrated into existing classroom practices. Gibbons' (2015) book provides relevant ideas for how to support EAL/D students in the classroom and includes practical and research based activities for the classroom teacher and EAL/D teacher to implement. In an ideal situation where time, resources and curriculum policies were not a hindrance, the activities in this book would be an essential part of  the regular classroom curriculum for the teaching of EAL/D students. 

Due to these restrictions however, Gibbons' (2015) activities for EAL/D students, are more suitable in a small group ,withdrawal capacity, or within a regular classroom with the EAL/D teacher's support. 


Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom (2nd ed.). Heinemann.

Locke, A. (2013). Teaching speaking and listening: One step at a time. Bloomsbury.

Nation, I.S., & Macalister, J. (2009). Language curriculum design. Routledge.


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