Supporting Students with English as an Additional Language

Overview

This unit is designed to prepare pre-service teachers to plan, teach and assess students with English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) using a strengths-based approach and guided by the Australian Curriculum (or a relevant State/Territory curriculum document). In addition, pre-service teachers will examine and critically analyse theoretical perspectives and research based evidence to provide additional support for students to develop proficiency in Standard Australian English (SAE).

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Examine the theoretical perspectives that help to explain children’s language development, bilingual learning and/or multilingual learning.
• Develop effective visual resources to support the teaching of speaking and listening, reading and viewing, writing and creating for students with English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) in primary education. This includes making relevant links to the Australian Curriculum (or other relevant curriculum documents).
• Report on research based evidence that supports bilingual and multilingual development in primary education.
• Critically analyse English language and literacy assessments in primary education with a focus on language and cultural considerations
• Use comprehensive knowledge of theory and research to apply to practice when supporting students with EAL/D.

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Assessment

Content

• The nature of English and the theory and principles of second language pedagogy
• Factors that impact on EAL teaching and learning
• Sociocultural contexts of learning and understanding linguistic and cultural diversity in schools
• State and national curriculum documents, policy and assessment protocols
• Designing appropriate lessons and adapting materials to maximise educational opportunities for all EAL learners.
• Lesson planning and activities that incorporate ICT