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A very interesting discussion, I think I was guilty of
starting a similar one a few years back in this group.
It appears the horse has bolted re. the use of the term
"Pre-Entry" in Esol. It does appear to be the preferred term nowadays
for "learners who aren't going to achieve E1 reading and writing any time
soon". I guess I'd rather see a class labelled "pre-Entry" with
effective teaching than labelled "Entry 1 with additional literacy
needs" with ineffective teaching
(In reference to Dot Powell's post): Learners with literacy
in L1 and no spoken English whatsoever never seem to get labelled pre-Entry -
it does seem to be the literacy factor that tips learners over into the world
of pre-Entry.
(In reference to Jo Luff's post): I would imagine the Job
Centre Plus definition of pre-Entry corresponds to "emerging E1
skills"/"not yet competent at E1", especially if literacy is a
factor. I recall a similar problem a few years ago with the BSA
Literacy/Numeracy Initial Assessment whereby a low score gave a diagnosis of
"Below Entry 1" - learners were sometimes wrongly given a label of
pre-Entry, where in fact they were working towards Entry 1 competency.
(In reference to Jo Luff's post): I looked at the BSB
pre-Entry info. These appear to be "certificates of encouragement in
survival English" for Esol learners with literacy needs. However, they're
really nothing to do with pre-Entry speaking & listening. The fact that
there are "pre-Entry 2" and "pre-Entry 3" awards is a
giveaway!
For me, an Esol learner who was genuinely pre-Entry in
speaking and listening would be someone who had additional barriers to Entry 1
speaking/listening achievement of an "global learning difficulty/learning
disability" nature. The learner would likely to have similar issues in L1.
We might refer to the Adult Literacy pre-Entry curriculum milestones to see
some of these - e.g.
Milestone 3a Contexts for Communication: "Indicate the
wish to communicate";
Milestone 6 Speaking and Listening: "Use phrases with
up to three key words to communicate simple ideas".
In my experience the vast majority of learners in
"pre-Entry" Esol do not have these issues in L1.
My advice is that if you do want to use the pre-Entry label,
at least take the time to read through the Adult Literacy pre-Entry curriculum.
Think about why this was devised, and who it's for. Are your
"pre-Entry" Esol learners working towards the same speaking &
listening pre-Entry milestones in their L1? I imagine not. Can you match any of
the reading and writing milestones in the Adult Literacy pre-Entry curriculum
to your Esol beginner reader/writers? I imagine some may appear similar.
However, you should think about why an English speaker in LLDD provision would
have a different learning journey in English literacy from an Esol learner
learning roman script for the first time. Think about why first language
English speaking adults in non-LLDD Literacy provision are not labelled
pre-Entry, no matter how low their literacy level.
John Howard Centre