As part of my own research I have conducted a survey which was designed to address the issue of content or topics and asked learners to rate whether topics were "useful" in helping them to learn English. The survey also asked learners what topics it was "important" to know about to help them settle. The topics provided for the learners were drawn questions on the Life in the UK test and from classroom topics used in some ESOL coursework books . Its important to note here that I'm still analysing the data, so this note is based on eyeballing the results. With that noted, the survey results seem to support Thom Brooks' conclusions from the bottom (as categorsied by Government policy makers !) up. The learners ranked topics such as "how to get a job", "UK education system" "social life" as "very useful" or "useful". They ranked [knowing about ...] "..the rights of women in work", ".....children's education", "...your legal rights and responsibilities" as the most important things (to help settle) and items such as [knowing about..] ".....English kings and queens", ".........English history" as not very important or irrelevant. I should emphasize that the survey was only one research tool in a mixed methods approach and that subsequent interviews with learners indicate (as ESOL professionals will know better than me) that the classroom situation is complex - in interview, the response of some learners was "I want to know everything" or "I love history" , so the message emerging is nuanced.
But the research - including the learner's response to it - even at this early stage, does support the idea that the 'trivial pursuits' approach to 'integration' is not really of interest to learners, and that if you wished to introduce a test that you applied to one 'side' (immigrants) to encourage integration (albeit that this is itself oxymoronic), then a starting point may be to ask the people involved themselves what helps them settle. THe results from my research so far suggest that if a part of the role of ESOL classes is (mandated) to be "information banks" then it is information about the day to day, grounded realities of jobs, health care and education that is preferred by the learners.
Of course, whether the Life in the UK test should exist at all is a matter of debate, but while it does I would suggest that recommendations 11 and 12 from Thom Brooks' report (11. Proper consultations with persons who have sat the test, 12. More evidence found to inform the test ) are vital and that recommendation 12 in particular, which asks 'what evidence is there that the test fulfils its purpose?', remains the salient question.
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