I'm also very interested to read the views on this thread. Thank you everyone for sharing.
My question would be - what evidence/research base do colleagues have for the various approaches discussed in terms of their impact on different aspects of learner progress?
I am most familiar with the current research into EAL learners (at school) which identifies both social/emotional benefits in a viewing learners and their identities holistically as well as increased meta cognition enabled when L1 use is encouraged in a structured and systematic way.
It would be interesting for me to read links to research for adults in this area, particularly any which support Shaun's view that monolingual classrooms promote a deeper and more accelerated impact on English language acquisition in adults. I'm less familiar with the evidence for this. International research in schools suggests that the quality of English of English experienced is more important than quantity.
I agree that every teacher has a position on these issues whether explicit or implicit, so perhaps the question is less about personal preference but what is demonstrably most beneficial/effective for the learners in any given context, allowing for the possibility that this may vary from group to group.
Best wishes
Di
-----Original Message-----
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Shaun Gurmin
Sent: 02 February 2017 18:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fw: ESOL-RESEARCH Digest - 1 Feb 2017 (#2017-27)
Hello Kamila,
Thanks for your addition to the thread.
I think that there are contributors to this email group who hold strong views of various topics e.g. LGBT, history, foreign cultures, multilingualism etc. and that is all well and good, but this notion of "promoting x, y and z to the students" as far as I am concerned is best left to the advertisers. Do students want you marketing, or worse, imposing your ideological views upon them?
Since when did the role of English language teacher become: politician, philosopher, marketer, LGBT consultant, historian, civil rights activist etc... Are we not in danger of promoting so many political and social values that we lose track of why the student entered into the classroom to begin with?
When someone goes to a physics class, they study physics; so why do you believe that when someone goes to an English class and studies English that this "can create barriers and even tension"? You are right about exclusion, which is arrogant, but there is a big gap between not promoting multilingualism and exclusion of foreign languages.
I could really sympathise with this perspective if you were arguing for multilingual classes in themselves, but a multilingual English class is an oxymoron. If I go to a Spanish class, I don´t expect to spend the time describing the Spanish language in Italian, I´d go to an Italian class for that.
Best regards,
Shaun.
***********************************
ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html
To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
***********************************
ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html
To contact the list owner, send an email to
[log in to unmask]
|