Presented By Yvonne Foley

Session Details

One way that globalisation has impacted the UK is in its growing
immigrant population. One emerging change that has been noted by many
local education authorities is that mainstream classrooms have a
growing number of EAL learners. EAL learners cannot be described as one
homogeneous group, but as a diverse population of learners who come
from a variety of linguistic and social backgrounds. Leung (2001:178)
asks whether the methods, materials and tasks used in mainstream
contexts are developed with an understanding and knowledge of the
reading needs second language learners have.

This presentation will look at research questions that have
been posed in relation to this challenge and will briefly outline the
research methods used to collect the data. It will also introduce a
small amount of collected data in terms of teachers' beliefs in
relation to the reading needs EAL pupils have and the methods these
teachers use to meet the needs in actual classroom practice. I will
divide the participants of this workshop into small discussion groups
for a short time where they can draw on their own teaching experience,
background and pedagogical knowledge in relation to the questions
emerging from this study. Following this, I will invite audience
participation in the form of plenary feedback that will focus on the
beliefs and views expressed within the small group discussions. The
session will end with a brief summary of possible recommendations that
may be applicable to EAL teaching contexts in Scottish schools.

Copyright: The content of this presentation is owned by the presenter and may not be used without her permission.

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