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Having spent the last couple of months supervising several literacy teachers who have been required to teach ESOL due to a lack of demand in their 'specialism', I am now more sure than ever that these are two entirely separate disciplines, lumped together because of very broad (demographic?) similarities between their client groups and the various political imperatives which drive the current SfL agenda. ]
 
A key issue, though not the only one by any means, seems to me to be the accepted model of learning in ESOL. While it's not really addressed within the curriculum and related literature, the fundamentally communicative approach to language teaching which is suggested is richly (if not conclusively) served by a body of research investigating learning from a psycho-linguistic perspective. Many of the theories resulting from this propose that language is learnt using unique mechanisms, separate from other types of learning. Doesn't that make a fairly strong case for ESOL to remain separate, just to be on the safe side?


[log in to unmask]> 28/11/2007 10:29 >>>
Hi all

I notice James has a paper out soon on the NRDC website following his research into learner placement in literacy or ESOL courses (The Right Course?). It got me thinking about new teaching standards in FE produced by LLUK, in which literacy and ESOL have been lumped together as a general 'English' teacher training qualification: the 'LLUK is to consider in what ways literacy and ESOL cohorts could usefully and appropriately train together.'

This is new to me so I'd like to know if others have more information. I'd also like to hear what other people think with regard to the introduction of a single subject specialism (English) rather than the existing two (Literacy and ESOL). Benefits? Negatives?

The new standards to be used for teacher training of 'English', can be dowloaded here: http://www.lifelonglearninguk.org/documents/nrp/app_prof_standards_literacy_esol_2nd_version.pdf

Note in particular the justification on page 3.


Literacy and ESOL teaching have different traditions of theory,

principle and practice. These have given us areas of specialism

and teaching professionals with their own distinctive identities and

approaches. In recent years there has been a growing convergence

of experience and practice. Many literacy teachers work with

multilingual learners in their groups. Many ESOL teachers work with

learners with literacy needs. Learners do not always fit easily into

discrete categories of literacy and ESOL, although at either end of

the spectrum this may be clear. A recent arrival to the UK may be

categorised as an ESOL learner, while an indigenous monolingual

English speaker is categorised as an adult literacy learner. However,

! within the spectrum, particularly in urban areas, there are increasing

numbers of multilingual people with literacy and language learning

needs who do not fit neatly into either category. These learners, who

fit neither ESOL or literacy labels easily, need teachers

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*********************************** 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 A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]