Supporting English Proficiency

#English #Communication #Reading

English is undeniably the world’s global language. It is not merely a subject in school education but a cornerstone upon which the edifice of knowledge, opportunity, and progress is built. It's a #language of #connection, a bridge between #cultures and #continents, and a vehicle for social change. #Research consistently highlights the profound impact of English proficiency on academic achievement, cognitive development, and future success for school students. Numerous studies have underscored the critical role of English in shaping educational outcomes and preparing students for the challenges of an increasingly globalized world.

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How do you empower today’s students and teachers towards improving not only their linguistic proficiency, but also critical literacy, cultural awareness, and communicative competence?

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Research findings demonstrate a strong correlation between English proficiency and academic performance across various subjects. Studies have shown that students with higher levels of English language skills tend to outperform their peers in standardized tests, demonstrating greater #comprehension, critical thinking abilities, and academic achievement overall (García & Pearson, 2018). Moreover, longitudinal studies have indicated that English language proficiency in the early years of schooling predicts academic success in later stages of education, highlighting the foundational importance of English acquisition for long-term academic trajectories (Cummins, 2017).

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English in India is, in fact, a conundrum because, despite the value attached to it (children learn it for seven to ten years at school) and the benefits (socially, for employment, leisure and study) that accrue from its mastery, the over-riding sense that persists is that the quality of English teaching and learning across primary and early secondary education is modest, a factor that feeds into low English proficiency at subsequent stages of education, including among university students and in the population more generally (British Council, Borg, Padwad, Nath, 2022).

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To address these issues, we at Seth M. R. Jaipuria Schools emphasise on building English proficiency of not only our students but also support our teachers to make language teaching interesting and insightful.

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Our benchmark assessments for students of grades 3, 5, 8 cover #competencies like:

1. Locate and identify relevant actions (of characters) and information in texts through diagrams and illustrations.

2. Make inferences about relationships (between characters) or provide explanations and predictions.

3. Recognise the meaning of figurative language or word choice in conveying the writer’s point of view.

The Verbal Ability competency in the last cycle of assessment has shown an 11% and 16% improvement in scores for students of grades 5 and 8. Surely, students get an insight to competency-based questions and understand the different levels of #DOK (depth of knowledge) while attempting such questions, which show a gain in achievement.

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We recently finished a 6-month project with Freadom Edu (Stones2Milestones) titled Communicative English Excellence Certification for Teachers (CEECT) where 959 teachers read more than 12,000 books and clocked in collectively 300,000+ reading minutes, resulting in an overall 59L lexile growth. The highest improvement by a school witnessed an increase of 227L amongst the teachers. As part of the programme, teachers were also part of eight masterclasses: Social and Emotional Learning; The Complete Communication Skills Masterclass; Comprehend to Communicate: Mastering Effective English Comprehension Skills; Unleash Imagination—Harnessing the Power of Storytelling; Effective Written Communication; EchoGrow—The Art of Receiving and Actioning Feedback for Educators; and Using Narratives in Teaching.

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Our latest association is with Readers Libration Pvt. Ltd. . By definition, 'libration' is the cyclic variation in the apparent position of the Moon perceived by Earth-bound observers and caused by changes between the orbital and rotational phases of the moon. An insightful name, because for every reader, the subject of a book reveals a different angle, as if it was oscillating and depending on the reader’s point of view. This library revolution intends to inculcate the reading habit and develop a semi-competitive environment revolving around books. As suggested by Kala Williams in her book, Mastery in Reading Comprehension, students should be guided to conduct a RPAF audit! (R stands for Reason of picking a certain read; P stands for what Pleasure benefits it brings; A stands for read Aloud moments; and F stands for Fluency practice).

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In addition to all of these initiatives, we also guide our teachers with monthly teacher resources on topics that can change the lesson transaction in the classrooms. Some of the topics which we have covered in the past few months include: language games, inferential reading, supporting English comprehension, building vocabulary, amongst others.

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These are just a few steps to ensure that our students seamlessly navigate from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’. Which programmes have created an #impact in your institution? Do share in the comments below!

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