Teaching EAL students the art of the craft: Tried and tested activities that work! Part 2b

Participating teachers of the Teaching Excellence Program offered by the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership dove head-first into mini and maxi inquiry projects to learn how they might improve their practice. The mini inquiry practice that I completed has validated what I always suspected to be key for successful teaching of EAL students. The importance of dedicated lessons for the explicit teaching of grammar, syntax, and punctuation cannot be underscored strongly enough.

?Part 2a of this article posted a few weeks ago introduced the inquiry question that was the focus of my project along with the four steps that were part of the action plan. The goal was to?facilitate the improvement of specific grammar and/or syntactical structures that my students keep stumbling upon, while focusing on the pressing need to cover key content and skills, even as they use the EAL classroom as a much-needed brave space. In this second part, the findings of this project will reveal how significant it is for EAL students to have a clear awareness at the every least, if not a strong grasp, of grammatical structures of the target language. It will also reveal the vital role of using first language grammatical structures as a tool to aid in the teaching and learning of English grammar; Ann Marit Danbolt, in her paper for the Journal of Teacher Education and Teachers’ Work (2011) states that “building bridges between home and school literacies is thus of great importance in lifting literacy levels among all children and especially those of a language minority background”. This deliberate use of multilingualism as an inclusive tool to aid language acquisition is beneficial not just for the EAL learners but also for the EAL teacher. EAL teachers can be provided with valuable insight into how first language systems of their students operate, serving, in equal measure, as stepping stones and as barriers to the mastery of the target language.

?EAL teachers of Victoria, this one is for you! Here's hoping the findings of my mini-inquiry project resonates with you in some way.

As a quick recap of the essence of the action plan, here are the 4 steps that were mapped out at the start of this inquiry:

Step 1: Identification of?particular foci areas of grammar/syntax that students need to improve upon, as the starting point. Looking through the work submitted by one class group of EAL students, oft-repeated errors?in writing?will be identified and one?critical difficulty area?will be chosen. The identification of one problematic area in students’ writing will highlight where to direct planning, preparation and teaching processes, and work out strategies to address them.?It will also allow for, at the end of this project, to have a?clear focus to?pinpoint impact on students’ progress in their learning.

?Step 2:?Once this area is?identified, a sequence of lessons will be created where this grammatical aspect is?unpacked, using examples that are directly connected to the content being?presented?to the students. This will help in time management, as grammar and content are combined to address student needs - two birds with one stone, so to speak.

?Step 3:?To ensure that students are engaged, connections need to be made to their prior learning experiences. Student?representatives of the different first languages?in the audience group will take the lead in?explaining?the?same grammar structure?that is posing problems for them in English,?using equivalent grammatical rules of their first language as compare-and-contrast examples. Having students?explain to the class the?chosen grammatical structure while comparing and contrasting to their mother tongues?will be an?initial opportunity to gauge students’ understanding of this aspect in their own first language.These student-led sessions will be video?recorded, after seeking student permission to do so.

?Step 4:?Students will then complete an independent writing task, connected to the content of the unit,?with explicit instruction to pay careful attention to the grammatical structure that we have focused upon. This is an opportunity for the students to?demonstrate their understanding and ability to use this structure independently and (hopefully!) successfully.?This?individual written task will also serve as an artefact to demonstrate their understanding, learning and progress they have made?in the understanding of this particular grammatical structure.

As stated in the first part of this article, when carrying out Step 1 of the project, student writing revealed many grammatical areas that needed teaching, support and scaffolding. For the purposes of this project of no more than 5 lessons, the area of prepositional usage was selected as the focus - an area that could be tackled within the given time frame. The EAL students of my Year 10 cohort have such complex and sophisticated ideas to share, as a closer look at the images of their writing (see Part 2a of this series) will reveal. Yet, this complexity and sophistication of thought is jarringly damaged by their lack of understanding of the mechanics of the English language.

Examples of Step 2: The image attached shows the activity that was created using students’ sentences from their writing task. This kind of creation of “grammar worksheets” using student writing can be laborious?for the teacher, the pay-off through student engagement is worth the time and effort invested in this kind of task creation. Needless to say, students’ work needs to remain anonymous and time needs to be spent at the start of the year to lay out respectful behaviour in the classroom when engaging with such tasks. For instance, I let my students know that it would be disrespectful and hence, inappropriate to mock or make jokes of other students’ language abilities and that we are all in this learning moment together, and that the aim is to always support each other to become better than what we are at present. Making explicit that the learning journey is never completed and that everyone’s language ability level is different are significant aspects to keep at the forefront of both student and teacher minds, especially in an EAL class setting.

Going through this activity sheet is a great way to raise awareness of the grammatical aspect that is in focus; the ‘what sounds?right’ can be a great way to attune the EAL ear to the sounds of English. However, once this awareness is created, it is vital to then go to the next step of ‘what is?right’ to reinforce the grammatical rule. At times, what sounds right may be completely incorrect, grammatically speaking, and this is a distinction that is often left unaddressed in even mainstream English classes with students for whom English is their first language! But that is a topic for another article - so coming back to the topic at hand, it is essential to back up the awareness of grammar with a clear explanation of the rule. To start with, labeling the grammatical aspect, in this case, ‘prepositions’, is vital so that EAL students learn the correct terminology right at the outset and use it to identify accurately the different parts of the target language in?the target language. Towards the end of this project, it was gratifying to see some of the advanced level students be able to differentiate between adjective-dependent prepositions and verb-dependent ones. Important, too, in an EAL setting is to encourage students who are ready to go further down the language acquisition track to do so, so that they are advancing at a rate for which they are already equipped. Activities such as these lend themselves to a multi-level EAL classroom, ensuring that everyone is progressing albeit on their own language pathways.

Examples of Step 3:?The introduction of prepositions and their usage, through this introductory activity using students’ own writing was then followed by students looking at their first languages and unpacking how prepositions work in Cantonese, Mandarin and Malay. The impact of student-led lessons on prepositional use in their first languages was immediately visible through the robust class discussions during these sessions. The “teacher-students” had well researched and planned their content, and the questions that they elicited from their audience indicated complete engagement of the group.?Students presented usage of prepositions in their first language and their sessions had many light bulb moments for both teacher and students. For example: Mandarin prepositions are not as nuanced as the English ones, so this explains why students from this language background struggle in this area. In Cantonese, the placement of prepositions in a sentence makes a difference to the meaning. Malay sentence structures are very similar to that of English, however, there are no definite articles in Malay.?

?These student-led teaching sessions that not only shed light on how prepositions operated in their first languages but also gave the opportunity to make those key connections to prior knowledge. Accessing prior knowledge is the starting point for the constructivist approach in teaching; this is especially crucial in the EAL classroom. Becoming acquainted with what EAL students know, not only in the area of the target language, but within the realm of their first language systems can offer a treasure trove of knowledge that can be used as the foundation upon which to build target language skills. This kind of connection not only forms the bridge, to use Danbolt’s analogy, but reinforces the simple truth of all language learning journeys: The more connections we make, through similarities and overlaps, through differences and contrasts, the more enjoyable and stronger our grasp of language becomes, that of both first and target.

?This deliberate use of multilingualism as an inclusive tool to aid language acquisition is beneficial not just for the EAL learners but also for the EAL teacher.?EAL teachers can be provided with valuable insight into how first language systems of their students operate, serving, in equal measure, as stepping stones and as barriers to the mastery of the target language. This insight can be a powerful strategy to help bring together, to use a different analogy to that of Danbolt’s, the different instruments of an orchestra, creating symphonic music that celebrates all languages while keeping the focus on the core ‘melody’ - the target language.

?Bringing attention back to the core ‘melody’ of English was done through introducing a cheat sheet of often-used adjectives and their dependent preposition list. See attached image of this cheat sheet that was discussed in detail, as indicated by the annotations and additions done by a student. This in-depth delving into target language grammatical structures is necessary, for in the words of academic and author Beatrice Joy Chute, ‘grammar is to a writer what anatomy is to a sculptor, or the scales to a musician. You may loathe it, it may bore you, but nothing will replace it, and once mastered it will support you like a rock.” I share this quote with my EAL students, so that they know the value of what they are doing, no matter how boring or loathsome it may be!

?Examples of Step 4:?The writing task that immediately followed the lesson indicated new awareness towards prepositional usage almost entirely across the board; all student samples showed?significant improvement in this area when compared to the writing samples of a similar task before the compare-and-contrast-with-first-language lessons. Their short pieces indicated their clear understanding of and their ability to correctly use these particular prepositional phrases. However, the pieces brought out further areas that needed tweaking with regard to the use of prepositional verbs - areas that required more discussions around the importance of context when choosing an appropriate preposition.?For example, what difference was made to meaning when using prepositions ‘to’ or ‘at’ with the verb ‘to swear’? Or when ‘about’, ‘for’ or ‘at’ are used with the verb ‘to scream’ - how do these impact meaning? Without explicit explanations and examples, EAL students will find this area problematic, as it will continue to hinder clarity?while articulating ideas.

?Reflections upon this project and the findings:

The?kind of awareness that was immediately observed in student writing, however,?was only maintained by a handful of the students, a month later, when completing a writing activity for end-of-semester exams.?The important role of personal investment on the part of the student in consistently applying new-found skills and knowledge cannot be underestimated.?This is a student's writing task for the end-of-semester exam, a month AFTER the lesson on prepositions. This student has accurately used prepositions - notice the 6 or 7 times that I have called out?their?accurate use of prepositions within the piece. It is clear that this student has made the awareness of preposition usage a part of their?writing strategies to effectively articulate their?ideas in English. This kind of independent and successful application of grammatical structures in the long-term is what leads to eventual mastery of the target language. Only a handful of students in the group demonstrated this ability. Yet, that small number makes me immensely happy. The?profound impact on these individual students would not have been possible without this inquiry-based mini-project and this is definitely an achievement on a small scale.

?Learning from my students about how other language systems operate was, for me, the highlight of this inquiry project. The insights that I gained reinforced what I always suspected - first language interference during the target language acquisition journey of the EAL student can be minimized through explicit explanation, comparison and contrast of grammatical aspects of both languages. However, I underestimated the impact on the EAL teacher;?knowing that Malay has no definite/indefinite articles and that prepositions in Mandarin change meaning depending on the context will make me prepare grammar lessons for my target audience in a linguistically responsive manner.

Suggested Reading:

• 'Bilingual home-made dictionaries as bridges between home and school' - Anne Marit Vesterhaas Danbolt, Journal of Teacher Education and Teachers' Work, Vol.2, Issue 1, December 2011
• 'Journeys into culturally responsive teaching' - Julie McAdam and Evelyn Arizpe, Journal of Teacher Education and Teachers' Work, Vol.2, Issue 1, December 2011

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