I was very interested to read the report summary, having attended your
session on this subject at last summerıs NATECLA conference. I would like
to add some reflections from my experience of teaching ESOL in the adult and
community sector and latterly in the FE sector in SW London since the 80s.
Iıd like to focus on what happens to ESOL students with literacy needs
before they reach an Entry 3 level in oral skills, as this seems to me to be
very relevant. In the past I was well aware that the ESOL department I
worked in was ignoring literacy needs of students. There was no extra
provision for students and little training for teachers in this area. Since
joining Lambeth College in 2000 following amalgamation of the community
sector with FE I saw an introduction of more ESOL with Literacy classes, but
more recently a reduction of these classes, not for lack of need but largely
because of funding priorities.
This year in Lambeth saw cuts in ESOL Literacy at Entry levels 1 and 2, and
the total cut of ESOL Literacy at Entry 3. The longest waiting lists of the
whole ESOL sector are for ESOL Literacy Entry 2, where we could not even
accommodate existing students who were ready to progress, let alone new
students. Some students have been on a waiting list for several years.
Also, while conducting a piece of research last year into local provision
for parents with young families, I found that one of the most established
providers of ESOL for women in the Community sector, which had received many
women with little or no literacy, had been forced to cut its pre-entryı
ESOL class, catering for the most needy, due to funding pressures.
One response of the college to meeting targets has been to reduce the
criteria for passingı at a particular level to oral skills only, thus
postponing the need to confront literacy needs. Inevitably given the
shortage of ESOL/Literacy places many students with less basic literacy
needs join general ESOL classes. Tutors work hard to differentiate in class
for students with weaker literacy, but what many students really need is
more focussed and intensive literacy teaching to compensate for their lack
of primary education.
Women are particularly affected because in countries where there is no
universal education, whether through war or poverty, men are generally given
priority over women. Also, once they are in the UK, childcare
responsibilities are more likely to impinge on a womanıs opportunity to
learn English. My study also revealed that there is virtually no
accommodation for women with children in primary school in terms of course
hours in the FE sector in Lambeth, which is far and away the largest
provider of ESOL in the area. The fact that the spread of provision in terms
of location has gradually been reduced to only two centres in the whole of
central and south Lambeth has added to difficulties of access, as has the
introduction of fees for ESOL.
Schools are well aware of the need for parents to have basic skills in ESOL
and in Literacy to support their children through education, but offer
little, not always for lack of will. The new programmes for family
learningı are not really offering what these parents want and need most,
which is intensive literacy where they have missed out on earlier
educational opportunities.
No wonder then that many ESOL students arrive at an intermediate level of
oral skills in English without their literacy needs having been properly
addressed.
On 17/3/08 2:01 pm, "James Simpson" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello
> In late 2006-early 2007 I, along with Melanie Cooke and Mike Baynham, carried
> out an NRDC research project on placement in ESOL and Literacy classes. Here's
> the summary from the report:
> This study set out to answer the question: How do ESOL or bilingual learners
> get placed or place themselves in literacy and/or ESOL classes? While colleges
> or centres in multilingual cities or neighbourhoods might have well-developed
> ESOL provision, their literacy classes also show huge linguistic diversity. At
> around Entry 3 and Level 1 in the National Qualifications Framework, bilingual
> learners might end up studying in either. The study has found that the
> boundary between ESOL and literacy is not clear-cut, and that the range of
> learning needs encompassed by the two subject areas is more complex than a
> rigid distinction can allow for. The findings and implications expressed here
> stem from this overall conclusion.
>
> The work has now been published as 'The Right Course? An exploratory study of
> learner placement practices in Adult ESOL and Literacy'. You can download the
> report of the project, or order it from the NRDC:
> http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=136
> James
>
> ***********************************
> 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
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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
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