Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts

The number of Australians born overseas is very high with the last census (2016) reporting 28.5% of the population coming from overseas (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). As indicated in Chapter 1 current estimates are that up to 25% of Australian school children speak English as an additional...

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Main Authors: Dobinson, Toni, Nguyen, Bich
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Routledge 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70135
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author Dobinson, Toni
Nguyen, Bich
author_facet Dobinson, Toni
Nguyen, Bich
author_sort Dobinson, Toni
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The number of Australians born overseas is very high with the last census (2016) reporting 28.5% of the population coming from overseas (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). As indicated in Chapter 1 current estimates are that up to 25% of Australian school children speak English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D). As we will see in Chapter 4 this also includes Australian Aboriginal children. These EAL/D children vary in ages, cultural and socio-economic background, level of English language proficiency, home language literacy and how much access they have had to formal education. Because of these background factors, EAL/D students need on-going general English and academic English language support. Unfortunately the last decade has seen considerable changes made to the funding model for English language programs in Australia. Programs which were previously the responsibility of the federal government have been collapsed into new funding arrangements between the state and federal governments. Money is now channelled into the broader areas of literacy and numeracy for all, low socio-economic communities and mainstream teacher development rather than being directed to specialised educational needs (Lingard, Creagh & Vass, 2012). In fact, some argue that things have been watered down so much EAL/D students’ needs are not being adequately met (Creagh, 2014).
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-701352018-08-08T04:43:42Z Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts Dobinson, Toni Nguyen, Bich The number of Australians born overseas is very high with the last census (2016) reporting 28.5% of the population coming from overseas (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). As indicated in Chapter 1 current estimates are that up to 25% of Australian school children speak English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D). As we will see in Chapter 4 this also includes Australian Aboriginal children. These EAL/D children vary in ages, cultural and socio-economic background, level of English language proficiency, home language literacy and how much access they have had to formal education. Because of these background factors, EAL/D students need on-going general English and academic English language support. Unfortunately the last decade has seen considerable changes made to the funding model for English language programs in Australia. Programs which were previously the responsibility of the federal government have been collapsed into new funding arrangements between the state and federal governments. Money is now channelled into the broader areas of literacy and numeracy for all, low socio-economic communities and mainstream teacher development rather than being directed to specialised educational needs (Lingard, Creagh & Vass, 2012). In fact, some argue that things have been watered down so much EAL/D students’ needs are not being adequately met (Creagh, 2014). 2018 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70135 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Dobinson, Toni
Nguyen, Bich
Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts
title Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts
title_full Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts
title_fullStr Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts
title_full_unstemmed Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts
title_short Teaching Young EAL/D Learners in Mainstream Contexts
title_sort teaching young eal/d learners in mainstream contexts
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70135