EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ESOL

1 ESOLEFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNINGMike Baynham, Celia RobertsMelanie Cooke, James Simpson, Katerina Ananiadou John Callaghan, James McGoldrick and Catherine WallaceESOL Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page 1 Published by the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and NumeracyThis document is also available in pdf and text-only format fromthe NRDC's website, For information on alternative formats, please contact:Emily BrewerMarketing and Publications OfficerInstitute of EducationUniversity of LondonTel: 020 7911 5501 Email: welcome feedback on the content and accessibility of this publication. This should be sent to:PublicationsNRDCI nstitute of Education20 Bedford WayLondon WC1H 0 ALTelephone: +44 (0)20 7612 6476 Fax: +44 (0)20 7612 6671email: ISBN 1-905188-27-7 Crown Copyright 2007 Extracts from this publication may be used or reproduced for non-commercial, research, TEACHING or training purposes oncondition that the source is is a consortium of partners led by the Institute of Education,University of London (see back cover for a list of members) and ispart of the Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies atthe IoE.

2 Design: : RedlinESOL Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page 2 ESOLEFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNINGRESEARCH TEAMMike Baynham, Celia Roberts, Melanie Cooke, James Simpson, KaterinaAnaniadou, John Callaghan, James McGoldrick and Catherine WallaceSERIES EDITORJohn VorhausCONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS5 PREFACE61 EXECUTIVE The EFFECTIVE Practice The ESOL Main findings Limitations to this research 112 CONTEXTS, AIMS AND of Aims of the Scope and Criteria for assessing what is EFFECTIVE in ESOL TEACHING and learning143 A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE: LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROVIDERSAND THE range of ESOL range of students backgrounds in and of findings174 THE LEARNERS AND THEIR Data Themes from the on their ESOL classrooms and their progress275 LEARNERS and learners progress30 ESOL Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page variables: Correlations with variables: Correlations with TAKE 40 TEACHERS: ESOL TEACHERS WORKING The teachers: Facts and Changing contexts for ESOL TEACHING and and juggling competing teachers stance life histories, professional LEARNING safe environment for and and Professional vision407 TAKE 40 CLASSROOMS.

3 TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES IN THE CLASSROOMS General TEACHING Strategies for Learner Combining General TEACHING Strategies and Strategies for LearnerInvolvement Specific TEACHING Strategies Discussion518 TELLING CASES: TEN CLASSROOM CASE STUDIES Introduction: The ten case Balancing conflicting Classroom Learners voices and classroom Planning, sequencing and Materials, activities and contextualisation: 509 students in search of Collaborative What is not done Professional vision (Goodwin, 1994)639 CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND Learners and their ESOL provision and outside What ESOL classes look ESOL pedagogy and Implications and recommendations69 REFERENCES72 GLOSSARY76 ESOL Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page 4 EFFECTIVE TEACHING and LEARNING : ESOL5 AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Cathy Friel, Yulia Zarubinska, Claire Wigfall, Martin Bygate,Catherine Haworth, Juup Stelma, the bilingual interviewers, the 40 teachers and over 500 learners who participated in the project.

4 Peer reviewThis report was peer reviewed. The critical reviewers were:Anne Burns, Macquarie University; Larry Condelli, American Institutes for Research; TimDeignan, researcher and consultant; Hermine Scheeres, the Australian Research Centre forOrganisational, Vocational and Adult LEARNING , University of Technology, Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page 5 Research Report6 PrefaceThe Skills for LifeStrategy in England has led to unprecedented investment in adult literacy,language and numeracy (LLN), major reforms of teacher education and training, and theintroduction of national standards, core curricula and assessment to inform TEACHING andlearning. We have a unique opportunity to make a step change in improving levels of adultskills. But until recently too little was known about EFFECTIVE TEACHING and LEARNING practices,and reports from Ofsted and the Adult LEARNING Inspectorate repeatedly drew attention to thequality of TEACHING , and the need for standards to has been a strategic priority at the National Research and Development Centre for AdultLiteracy and Numeracy (NRDC) to investigate TEACHING and LEARNING practices in all thesubject areas and settings inSkills for Life,to report on the most promising and effectivepractices, and to provide teachers and trainers, along with policy-makers and researchers,with an unparalleled evidence base on which to build on the progress already made.

5 Our findings and recommendations are reported here, and in the four companion reportscovering reading, writing, numeracy and ICT. The five studies, which have been co-ordinatedby NRDC Associate Director John Vorhaus, provide material for improving the quality ofteaching and LEARNING , and for informing developments in initial teacher education andcontinuing professional development (CPD). We are also preparing a range of practitionerguides and development materials, as a major new resource for teachers and teachereducators. They will explore and develop the examples of good and promising practicedocumented in these dynamism and large-scale funding for the Skills for Lifeprogramme have enabled rapidgrowth in the provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in England.

6 Yet thedemand for ESOL far outstrips supply in many regions. The country s demography ischanging, partly as a result of migration from EU accession countries, and, with it, the profileof ESOL learners. What remains constant in ESOL classrooms is the wide range ofbackgrounds, life experiences and levels of education of the learners. This research shedslight on the challenges practitioners face and will help them improve TEACHING and Howard, Director, NRDCESOL Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page 6 EFFECTIVE TEACHING and LEARNING : ESOL71 Executive The EFFECTIVE Practice StudiesThe five NRDC EFFECTIVE Practice Studies explore TEACHING and LEARNING in reading, writing,numeracy, ESOL and ICT, and they set out to answer two questions: can TEACHING , LEARNING and assessing literacy, numeracy, ESOL and ICT be improved?

7 Factors contribute to successful LEARNING ?Even before NRDC was set up it was apparent from reviews of the field (Brooks et al, 2001;Kruidenier, 2002) that there was little reliable research-based evidence to answer thesequestions. Various NRDC reviews showed that progress in amassing such evidence, thoughwelcome where it was occurring, was slow (Coben et al, 2003; Barton and Pitt, 2003;Torgerson et al, 2003, 2004, 2005). Four preliminary studies on reading, writing, ESOL and ICTwere undertaken between 2002 and 2004 (Besser et al, 2004; Kelly et al, 2004; Roberts et al,2004; Mellar et al, 2004). However, we recognised the urgent need to build on these in ordergreatly to increase the research base for the practice of TEACHING these subjects. The inspiration for the design of the five projects was a study in the US of the TEACHING ofliteracy and English language to adult learners for whom English is an additional language(Condelli et al, 2003).

8 This study was the first of its kind, and the lead author, Larry Condelli ofthe American Institutes for Research, has acted as an expert adviser on all five NRDC research began in July 2003 and was completed in March 2006. It set out to recruit andgather information on 500 learners in each study, assess their attainment and attitudes at twopoints during the year in which they were participating in the study, interview both learnersand teachers, observe the strategies the teachers used, and correlate those strategies withchanges in the learners attainment and ICT study differed from the others in that its first phase was developmental, its samplesize was smaller, and it had a shorter timescale, completing in March The ESOL study The socio-economic and political contexts of ESOL are complex, and impact on all aspects ofeffective TEACHING and LEARNING .

9 The super-diversity amongst migrant populations, caused byglobalisation and migration (both voluntary and forced), means that ESOL learners varyhugely in terms of their immigration status, education, background and experiences of warand other strife (Vertovec, 2006). ESOL learners are over-represented amongst theunemployed and low paid. Many are highly motivated to learn English as a route toemployment or further study and to communicate with local populations. However, they oftenhave little opportunity to interact with English speakers outside the classroom, and are stillsubject to negative representations in the media and public discourse, perhaps as a result ofESOL Main Report 17/1/07 16:50 Page 7 Research Report8the tightening of the connection in law between immigration, national security and socialcohesion (Zetter et al, 2006).

10 The dynamism and large-scale funding for the Skills for Lifeprogramme has enabled rapid growth of ESOL provision, which has expanded well beyondexpectations since 2001. Yet the demand for ESOL far outstrips supply in many regions, partlyas a result of migration from EU accession countries. In this context, a study which looks indepth at EFFECTIVE practice in the ESOL classroom is therefore both timely and Main findings The teachers: Facts and figures1. The 40 teachers had a diverse range of experience and duties, including two publishedmaterials writers, several who are experts in ESOL literacy, some with managerial andcurriculum responsibilities and others who are on hourly contracts. Fifty-six per cent of theteachers are part-time, some of these being hourly-paid. 2. The average number of years of professional experience was just over ten, ranging fromunder a year to 30 years.