a“Writing in EAL”

Writing in English as an additional language in UK schools

Lynne Cameron University of Leeds

The research projects

aKS4 and post-16: OFSTED funded (2003) aKS2: DfES funded (2004)

a“Writing in EAL”

aAims:

`to identify in detail features of written English that bilingual students find difficult, and thus enable teachers to address them more systematically in their teaching.

Research procedures

aScripts and writer details provided by schools.

aClose analysis of scripts.

aComparison of results across three groups:

`EAL students achieving at average or below

`English mother tongue (EMT) peer group

`High achieving EAL students

Key Stage 4

aYear 11 students

aMock GSCE exams - English and other subjects.

aFocus group (N=103)

`EAL, at least 5 years in UK, C/D borderline or below in English GCSE

`Gujerati, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu + others

`Time in UK education: 10 years 4 months.

Comparison groups

aEMT: peers with English as first language (N = 16)

aHigh EAL: predicted A or B in English GCSE. (N = 20)

`First languages:Bengali, Gujerati + others

`Time in UK education: 10 years 10 mths

Key Stage 2

aYear 6 pupils.

aKS2 English National Curriculum Tests, Writing. Levels 3, 4, 5.

aEAL: (N=138)

`at least 5 years in UK (mean = 7 years 2 months)

`First languages: Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujerati + others

a EMT: (N = 126)

An integrated framework for writing

The text as a whole

within the text Content

ideas and topics composition purpose Language resources genre paragraphs linking

Content

the development of sub-topics, storyline..

Language resources sentence grammar words and phrases punctuation figurative language

within the text

Evaluating the whole text: Genre Genres as socially conventionalised ways of

writing: a letter to a newspaper (KS4) a story, a radio advert (KS2)

`format

`style

`voice and purpose

`stance

Does the writer consistently and effectively use the genre required?

Format

aLetter openings and closings

ØExplicit teaching of format seemed to help

EAL students.

KS4 Findings - style

ØEAL students need support in developing

their awareness of degrees of formality and the language typical of different genres (rhetorical adaptability).

Ø

High EAL students need more advanced awareness to judge nuances of style.

Ø

EMT students need more familiarity with written genres and their language.

Style

- EAL errors of language choice

`formality Hope you are fine

I thank you extremely for your patience

`talk / writing I mean just look at

`relationship to reader don’t just sit there - get moving

`overly explicit / academic essay genre I think I have given some good reasons as to why...

KS 4 Findings - voice and purpose

aWriting in specific genres requires students to adopt and use multiple layers of voices.

This seemed to lead to confusion about the writer’s role and purpose, audience, and how to address the audience.

KS4 Findings - Content and Linking Ideas

aTexts were too short.

aFocus EAL group had most problems with content.

aSome had ideas but did not express them clearly.

aIdeas were not developed into detail.

aParagraphing was not used well, by all writers.

To produce extended writing on a topic needs...

aa range of connected ideas about the topic

adevelopment of each idea

aconnections made between the ideas as the writing progresses

alinking the sequence of ideas to the topic and to the purpose of the writing.

Finding ideas to write about

ayour experience ayour world knowledge atask materials

`reading demands

`unfamiliar contexts

`different genre and register

`KS2: pictures

Developing an idea

aget more precise agive examples aexplain connections

Developing ideas

Riding bikes is a good exercise for life.

It is a way of keeping fit and healthy…

An easly simple quick way of keeping fit is by just riding the bike for about an hour each week…

Riding bikes …also makes sure that you have lower risk of getting a heart

…helped me loose weight …3 stones ...

Generating ideas to write about

aThink yourself into the writer’s role in the genre and situation.

aUse of drama to clarify voice and purpose.

aPractise changing voice and style.

aBrainstorm, mind-map around key words.

aBreak topics down into sub-topics.

aExtract key words from task materials and use for ideas.

Story genre: format

asetting acharacters aproblem aresolution a(moral)

KS2 Storyline: Findings

a68% did what they were asked

a32% changed the storyline in some way

`they fight over a poster, not the game

`Problem - boy does not have enough money to buy the game

aEAL level 5 scripts were surprisingly likely to change the storyline (35%, EMT level 5 - 10%)

Why, and does it matter?

aDo EAL students interpret the pictures in the same way as EMT / as intended?

aDo EAL students attach less importance to sticking close to the storyline?

aDo they change because of difficulties finding the language to describe the given storyline?

aDoes it matter in NC tests?

Narrative development strategies

aDescription aDirect Speech

aFigurative language - metaphors and similes.

Narrative development:

Findings

aLevel 3: EAL and EMT similar amounts of development; Level 4: mixed

aLevel 5: EMT did more development than EAL in all components except Setting aBest scripts (level 5 / a lot) did most

development of Character, then Setting.

Least development of Problem.

Narrative development strategies: Findings

aDescription most used. Then Direct Speech, then Figurative Language.

aFigurative language used more by EAL and more by higher levels.

aLevels 3 and 5 EAL used more Direct Speech than EMT.

aLevel 5 scripts used more variety of development.

aLevel 5: EMT used more of each strategy than EAL, except for Figurative Language to develop Character.

Story endings: completeness

aEAL level 3 had highest number of incomplete endings

aLevel 5: EAL much higher number than EMT

aLevel 4: EMT higher than EAL, and EMT level 3.

Story endings: originality

aJust over 10% had interesting or original endings.

aSteady increase across levels.

aEMT stories consistently more than EAL.

Helping with endings

aListen to and read stories with different types of endings.

aNotice how writers end their stories and the effect on the reader of a satisfying ending.

aWork out how a story will end before starting to write.

aWrite a story with a given ending.

Paragraphing: Findings

aUse varied by level, rather than language.

aLevel 3: 20% of stories showed no use of paragraphs.

aOverall use of paragraphing better than in

Key Stage 4 project.

Evaluating language use within the text

aSentence level language

`What use is made of the possibilities of English clauses and sentence grammar?

aWords and Phrases

`What use is made of the possibilities of phrases within clauses?

`Range of vocabulary used.

aAccuracy

`How accurate is the use of language?

The basic structure of an English clause

{the government} {should allow}

S V {more space} {in trains} {for bikes}

O A A

S V O/C A

Subject

Object/Complement

Joining clauses

aCo-ordination and, but, or

aSub-ordination

when, if, because, who, that

KS 4 Findings - sentence and clause grammar

aHigh EAL make most use of grammar resources

aHigh EAL show most variety in clause and sentence types.

aFocus EAL use simple clause and sentence structure.

Sub-ordinators

aBasic sub-ordinators:

that, because, if, so, as, when, who

aAdvanced sub-ordinators:

which, where, although, after, until, unless etc.

aHigh EAL made twice as much use of

‘advanced sub-ordinators’ as Focus and EMT.

Sub-ordination at KS4

• High EAL used lowest number of sub- ordinators.

• EMT used most.

• High EAL used most variety of sentence

types.

Subordination at KS2

• Different pattern from KS 4.

• EMT use more subordination than EAL.

• For both groups, the amount of subordination increases from level 3 to level 4 to level 5.

• Does the use of variety of clause types come with maturity?

aAt KS4, very little use of Subject relative clauses:

the people (who) I talked to all agreed … aAt KS2, EAL use more Subject relative

clauses than EMT.

aNot much use of Adverbial clauses:

As you may already know, there are ...

Filling the Adverbial slot:

non-finite clauses

aHigh EAL used more non-finite clauses,

I have written this letter to tell you my reasons

By Burning body fat and raising your metabolic rate, youcan looseweight

abut there were very few of the more advanced types of non-finite clause:

after listing the reasons,… in agreeing to this, …

Filling the Adverbial slot

aMore Adverbials could be used.

aMore phrases could be extended into clauses.

Findings: Length of Subjects

aAt KS 4 and KS 2 level 4, EAL writing uses more single-word Subjects

aEMT also use short Subjects aKS 4 high EAL use longer Subjects aAt KS 4, high EAL and EMT vary Subject

length with type of writing.

Findings - ‘bare’ noun phrases

aFocus and EMT groups use short and simple phrases:

the school, the adults, a good idea

aKS 4 high EAL use longer phrases with more interesting words

an easly quick simple way a larger number of young people

Findings - Words and phrases

aGreatest differences between EAL and EMT writing was in accuracy at word and phrase level.

aEAL errors

`formulaic phrases and collocations

`‘small’ words

`endings and agreements

`consistency of verb tense and modality

Formulaic phrases

aare words that are ‘bound’ together

after some couple of weeks(a)

aStrong differences between EAL and EMT;

as at KS4. At least twice as many errors.

from KS2 Script 1

a his class girl

a lots of people at the front of him a very amazed

a I am not going to buy you a game any more

‘small’ words

aprepositions e.g. in, with, up help on pollution

regret of what they did

adelexical verbs e.g. make, put, do it will do a really good help to us schools don’t give enough interest

Learning formulaic phrases

aStudents should meet / notice / learn words as parts of phrases, as well as separately.

aErrors in phrases should be corrected, in speech and writing, sensitively and consistently.

aExplicit teaching of thematic sets of phrases may be useful e.g. time phrases

articles

aomitted

aused wrongly

it will decrease (the) traffic aA statistically significant difference

between EAL and EMT at KS4 but not at

KS2

Agreements

aSubject -Verb agreements there are so much traffic Everyone else are looking aNoun-pronoun agreements

I think bike-friendly measures should be introduced.. Because it will

aPlurals

Next times he is going to

Agreements: findings

aAt KS 4, EAL made significantly more errors than EMT writers.

aThis persisted even for High EAL writers.

aAt KS 2, there were very few errors and no significant difference.

aEMT made more errors, largely due to spoken language influence:

in’t they he hurt his self

Verb endings and tenses

aVerb endings

riding bikes doesn’t only helps the girl knewed

aParticular problem for some students at KS4 and for level 3 at KS 2.

consistency in modality

It would be a great idea

if you all make some kind of meeting … and should pay £1

if you can’t ride a bike

you can (should) not go to main Roads because you can (might) have an accident

Verb tenses and narrative

it was the game

everyone was longing for since last month (had been)

Peter was becoming tired… since, he queued up at seven in the morning ( had been queuing from)

All the adults queue at the counter to get ready to pay

(were queuing)

His family were not as wealthy… he did not buy accessories

Nevertheless, he saved up his money since he was seven

(had saved)

aComparatives and superlatives

the most easiest, more oftenly, very less

Metaphors and similes

aIn 70 of 264 stories at KS2.

aMostly similes

glooming eyes like oval pebbles he ran like a bullet

aMostly one-off; some parallel pairs (script 2).

aEAL Level 5 used most (5 per story)

laying under a tree

Animal metaphors and similes

the children rushed in like if loads of elephants saw one little rat

like a group of cheetahs

Errors in figurative language

aComparison doesn’t quite work:

eyes sparkled like fireworks looked like dog’s eyes aInaccurate:

burst into happiness

pouring with tears down their faces

Conclusions

aWritten language makes different demands from spoken language.

`to organise long stretches of text

`to imagine the reader

`to use variety of clause and sentence types

`visible accuracy

aEAL students had learnt what had been taught

Teaching writing

aWe need to teach written English.

aDifferent aspects of written English need different teaching approaches

`awareness raising

`strategy training

`practice

`explicit instruction

`corrective feedback

Research reports:

(1) Writing in EAL at Key Stage 4 and post-16. + Inspection report “More advanced learners of EAL

in secondary schools and colleges.”

www.ofsted.gov.uk (Publications) (2) Writing in EAL at Key Stage 2.

www.dfes.gov.uk/research

+ Inspection report “Could they do better? The writing of advanced bilingual learners at KS2: HMI survey of good practice.”