Hello all
A reminder of the forthcoming seminar at the Lifelong Learning Institute
James

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Seminar title:  How do teachers make a difference?  Findings from the NRDC ESOL Effective Practice Project
Speakers:  James Simpson and Mike Baynham, School of Education, University of Leeds
           Tim Deignan, freelance researcher and consultant
           Mary Weir, Park Lane College, Leeds
Time:      Tuesday 10 October, 1.30 - 4.00 pm, Room 7.70 E C Stoner Building, University of Leeds
Cost:      FREE for members of Lifelong Learning Institute, and also free for staff, and research students at University of Leeds
           £25.00 for non-members (this amount can be paid as an annual membership fee and all other seminars can then be attended free of charge)

To book a place:  either email Jaswant Bhavra ([log in to unmask])   or download a booking form and sent to Jaswant (address at the end of email)
Booking form:  http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~aedjb/bookingform10oct2006.pdf    
Please note booking a place as early as possible is important - 
(a) to avoid disappointment if you are turned away due to the seminar being oversubscribed
(b) to help Jas prepare enough seminar packs for the day 

Seminar details: The ESOL Effective Practice Project is a groundbreaking project instigated by the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC). It is the first major classroom-based study of the teaching of English to immigrant and refugee adults in England. This seminar allows the opportunity to report and discuss findings from the project and their implications for ESOL pedagogy and policy. 

The project employed a multi-method approach to the research, combining correlational work with analysis of classroom discourse and in-depth interviews with learners and tutors. 257 students were pre- and post-tested using a test of spoken proficiency. 120 observations of 40 different ESOL classrooms were carried out, and their teachers interviewed. 78 ESOL students were interviewed using a bilingual methodology.   The study shows that what happens in ESOL classrooms is highly contingent and there is no uniform recipe for effective practice. What is effective for some may not be for others. Yet it also indicates that in order to be effective ESOL practitioners need to develop what Goodwin calls 'professional vision' (Goodwin, 1994). There are implications for both policy and practice. ESOL teaching in England comes under the umbrella of the Skills for Life policy. The research demonstrates the distinctiveness of ESOL in the Skills for Life agenda; a one-size-fits-all policy does not adequately discriminate or fine tune provision for particular groups of learners. What is more, encouraging and sustaining professionalism amongst ESOL practitioners requires the right conditions to be in place in terms of support, training and professional recognition. 

James Simpson will introduce the seminar with an overview of the project, sketching in outline the methodology and the processes of the research. 
Mike Baynham will present and discuss the project findings.  
Tim Deignan and Mary Weir will contribute responses to the project from Skills for Life practitioners' points of view. 

James Simpson has worked in language education for 15 years, first as a teacher of EFL and ESOL in the UK and abroad, and more recently as a researcher. He joined the School of Education at Leeds as a Research Fellow in 2003 to work on the NRDC ESOL Effective Practice Project. He is currently involved in a number of other ESOL-related research projects.  

Mike Baynham is Professor of TESOL in the School of Education in the University of Leeds. His professional background is in Adult ESOL and Literacy. Before he came to Leeds, Mike spent ten years in Sydney at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he was Director of the Centre for Language and Literacy and before that worked in London in Adult and Higher Education. Since coming to Leeds in 2000, he has been actively involved in promoting an Adult ESOL research agenda in the UK, working on and directing a number of NRDC projects with an ESOL focus.  

Tim Deignan has a background in learning support in post-compulsory education and training. He has worked in FE as a lecturer and manager providing basic skills, ESOL and academic literacy support. He now works as a freelance researcher and consultant, tutors university students with dyslexia, and acts as an external examiner for Adult Literacy Specialists and Cert Ed / PGCE Adult Literacy / ESOL teacher training programmes.  

Mary Weir is an ESOL practitioner and trainer at Park Lane College, Leeds. She also has experience of teaching EFL, EAP and French in a range of contexts including schools, university and the FE sector. She is particularly interested in the nature and role of oral work in the language classroom and in how the needs of individual students can be addressed in group teaching. She researched aspects of differentiation in oral work as part of her studies for an MA in Language Teaching at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Regards
Jas

Jaswant Bhavra (Mrs)
Institute Secretary
Lifelong Learning Institute
Room 7.51, E C Stoner Building
University of Leeds
Leeds  LS2 9JT

Telephone: 0113 343 3417
Fax: 0113 343 3246
Email: [log in to unmask] 

Visit the Lifelong Learning Institute web site http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/research/lifelong/

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