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A School Language Profile is an invaluable tool!
In the previous article we looked at the thorny issue of EAL learners with specific learning differences (SpLD). We discussed how identification of SpLD in EAL learners could be a long and frustrating process. We looked at some possible, non-language based assessments. At the end of the article we discussed the possibility of using a ‘language profile’ to help identify possible concerns at an early stage.
What is a language profile? A language profile is basically ‘a picture’ of a new student’s language learning history. The profile can be used with all students (not just EAL students), and provides valuable information to inform good teaching practice.
The profile builds a picture of the student’s:
Crucially for EAL student’s, it contradicts that notion that a student is arriving with ‘no language’. This profile is an invaluable tool for teachers and TA’s to determine where a student fits in a learning continuum and which teaching strategies to use.
There is a second use for a language profile. Increasingly data is being used to guide our teaching as well as to guide ‘effective’ resource allocation and interventions. The onus is on schools to set up data collection that is useful and insightful. Creating a ‘School Language Profile’ is one such activity that provides teachers with information to directly guide their teaching, but also provides statistical data for the school to monitor it’s student body. The school where this approach was trialed was able to collect data on all of its students. This data was used to inform teaching and learning and it was also used to draw up statistical data to identify the need for additional EAL support in the school. Attached is an example of the data collected.
How does one set up a School Language Profile?
The following example was an effective ‘rolling’ programme to build up a language profile in a school.
(The attached ‘Language Profile’ template is an example that schools can use to build a more relevant profile for their individual situation.)
N.B. It was found to be more effective to collect this data after admission as sometimes it was creatively filled in prior to admission.
For those of us who are EAL teachers in school, selecting our language learning outcomes is only one consideration in our planning. Our students attend our lessons primarily to be able to access the language they are facing in their mainstream classes. This means that we need to be very clear about our context, and about what vocabulary and language structures are relevant to that context.
We are all faced with very different learning situations at the moment and home learning has become the current norm. The challenges it poses are significant. Parents often have limited time available to support learners, limited understanding of where to start, sometimes a lack of technological know-how in accessing online classrooms - or even a lack of access to an online environment altogether. These issues are exacerbated amongst parents with limited understanding of the school language.
Last week I saw a film called 'Shadow in Baghdad', it was a film that pulled my heart strings. I was brought up in Manchester, both my parents spoke Arabic at home, both were from Baghdad. What struck me the most after I watched the film was how much I missed hearing that particular dialect of Arabic, the familiarity and warmth of the Middle Eastern people, the sense of security that came with it as well as a sense of longing and regret for a disappearing culture.