CASE STUDIES 7 - 11 YEARS OLD

TEACHER’S NAME:          ROB BAKER-GALL, Harrison Primary, Fareham         

YEAR GROUP OF PUPILS: Y5 (9 - 10 years)

TOPIC OF ENQUIRY

Developing language for writing

TARGETING (what specifically are you seeking as outcomes?)

Growth in breath of vocabulary and in understanding of the grammatical structure of written English.

Exploring the possible impact of child having opportunities to think in first language.

ANALYSING BEST PRACTICE (summary of research supporting your practice in this area)

Cummins (1999) identified the need for explicit teaching of academic vocabulary to support EAL learners’ conceptual understanding and use of academic language in speaking and writing English.

Krashen (1981) and Cameron and Besser (2004) identify the need for EAL learners to be taught the conventions of written English explicitly.

Lucas, Villegas and Freedson Gonzalez (2008) summarise research identifying the need for EAL learners to have a language for thinking.

MESH guide sections most relevant to this project: Theories of Language Additional Language Learning; Spoken English for New to English and Beginner English Learners; Writing for New to English and Beginner English Learners; Planning and Assessment for EAL lessons.

CLARIFYING (What is the context for your research? How many pupils? Related class and school targets? Your own existing strengths?)

Working with one EAL learner from Mexico who arrived in Year 5 in September 2014. He is literate in his first language (Spanish) and has had some opportunity to work in Spanish with our SENCO who is Spanish speaking. He has support from EMTAS one afternoon a week. I am already using pre-teaching of vocabulary with him and I plan together with the SENCO who is currently focussing on grammar with him.

The child attended a dual-language school shortly before leaving Mexico and has a good understanding of conversational English. When assessed, shortly after arrival, he was writing at a 2C national curriculum level. Issues identified at this time included:

·         Variety in sentence structures

·         Accurate demarcation of sentences

·         Maintaining consistent tense

·         Maintaining consistent ‘person’ – 1st, 2nd or 3rd

 

When speaking, the child struggles with the irregularities between the two languages, such as possession (In Spanish, one would say “The car of my mother,” rather than “my mother’s car”) and structure of past tense sentences. He also struggles with homonyms/homophones.

His complete level breakdown:

  Date Speaking Listening Reading Writing
Initial Levels 09.12.14 2 2 2 2

 

TRANSLATING BEST PRACTICE (what will you do? How many times? How long?)

Working for 6 weeks until Easter 2015

Working with the SENCO we will try giving him weekly opportunities to work in his first language as a language for thinking and writing in order to develop his knowledge about particular classroom concepts in one subject area and to support his understanding of the difference in grammatical structure between Spanish and English.

In class I will trial working with one strategy (oral rehearsal or use of visual cues) for work in one subject area in order to support growth of his vocabulary.

INTERPRETING RESULTS (what happened ?– outcomes may be numerical or described in words)

The child was very reluctant to engage with his work with the Spanish-speaking SENCO as he felt that it was a ‘step backwards’ and that all his work should be in English. However, when he engaged with these sessions, it allowed real insight into his understanding of the subject matter – be it debating the existence of aliens or looking at the poetic features used in Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man. The result of these sessions was that it became clear that the focus child’s understanding of the learning happening in class was excellent and this reassured the teacher and support staff that the mechanics of writing could be the primary focus of additional support time.

At the end of the spring term, the child’s writing was assessed again, this time at a national curriculum level 2B – meaning that he has made one sublevel of progress during the spring term.

COMMENTING ON TRANSFORMATIONS (what might this mean for your practice and for the pupils as learners?)

The use of visual prompts in the class (including pictures, checklists, modelled writing, key vocabulary (with definitions)) has proven helpful when the focus child (and others) are engaging with a new context and this continues to be a part of the classroom environment. Linked to this, topic specific and general word-banks (and magpie books) are used to ensure more sophisticated vocabulary is being used and understood. Reminder checklists (ADDSPICE & punctuation) are also being used to encourage variety in language choices.

All children are now encouraged to use oral rehearsal during the writing process to ensure that they can hear when sentences are accurate, with no missing words.

Pre-teaching: The child is now receiving additional 1to1 support to work on specific targeted SPaG needs, including tense, ‘person’ and apostrophes for possession work.

SELECTING NEXT STEPS ( what might you do next? More of the same? Try a different approach?)

As above

 

 

 

TEACHER’S NAME:          MELANIE SIMPSON, St Bernadette’s Primary, Farnborough           

YEAR GROUP OF PUPILS:   Y6 (10 - 11 years)

TOPIC OF ENQUIRY

Developing use of language for writing

TARGETTING (what specifically are you seeking as outcomes?)

Group of able English speakers who need support with grammar and vocabulary.

ANALYSING BEST PRACTICE (summary of research supporting your practice in this area)

Cameron and Besser (2004) identify that EAL learners need explicit introduction to the conventions of written English in order to be able to write grammatically and in order to develop an understanding of the appropriate tone and style needed for different genres of writing.

Droop and Verhoeven (1998) identify that EAL learners can only read vocabulary that they know, and that particular introduction to vocab supports reading comprehension. Similarly, making the right choices for vocabulary in writing will be supported by greater  access to reading and by pre-teaching of vocabulary (Schmitt, 2008)

MESHGuide sections that will be useful are: challenges for EAL learners; key principles for EAL learners; writing at al levels; reading for advanced EAL learners, spoken English for advanced EAL learners; interactive activities; integrated literacy activities.

CLARIFYING (What is the context for your research? How many pupils? Related class and school targets? Your own existing strengths?)

A year 6 class with a group of advanced EAL 5 learners who need support with writing. They already receive support from the LSA who has an advanced understanding of EAL learning needs. I am already using a range of support strategies such as pre-teaching and word mats.

TRANSLATING BEST PRACTICE (what will you do? How many times? How long?)

During the six week period between half term and Easter 2015 I will incorporate suggested activities from the advanced EAL for writing section of the MESHGuide in to my planning.

I may involve the LSA in pre-teaching vocabulary.

INTERPRETING RESULTS (what happened ?– outcomes may be numerical or described in words)

I used activities recommended for KS 3 advanced EAL learners in writing and these were useful. In particular I drew on PNS documentation written on Grammar for English at KS 3. I found that a lot of the ideas and activities in the MESHGuide were things we already have in place so it was reassuring to know that we are planning according to research-based recommendations. Literacy starters and additional vocabulary banks are part of our everyday planning and historically our EAL learners do very well in spelling and grammar; we think this is because they have had to learn it explicitly rather than the innate development of each that might be common to our native language speakers. My struggling speller’s group very rarely has any EAL pupils in it.

COMMENTING ON TRANSFORMATIONS (what might this mean for your practice and for the pupils as learners?)

We will continue existing practice such as the literacy starters for each lesson (we draw on Pie Corbett’s Jump Start type activities which allow us to explicitly recap/ drip-feed on grammar rather than teaching discrete grammar lessons). This activity supports both our native speakers and our EAL learners in developing their understanding of English.

Irene (the LSA) and I will continue to liaise over the specific targeted vocabulary our EAL learners might need and she will work with them on this in her sessions with them.

SELECTING NEXT STEPS ( what might you do next? More of the same? Try a different approach?)

I can see where this guide would be very beneficial for teachers new to teaching EAL children. I will keep this guide to use as a support for new teachers who come to our school with limited EAL experience. For myself, I have a child arriving from Nepal in September and I am inexperienced in teaching older new to English speakers because many of the older EAL learners in our school are advanced EAL learners. It’s useful to know that there will be a place I can go to in order to read up on the issues for new to English learners in order to inform my practice. It will be my ‘go-to guide’. The structure according to levels of fluency is valuable in terms of supporting a teacher with children at different levels of experience using English which is not something necessarily related to age.

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