Trig?simo Congreso Internacional sobre Aprendizaje

Abstract

There is no more powerful transformative force than education (UNESCO, 2015) and no greater conduit for learning in schools than language. With approximately one in five pupils in the UK speaking English as an additional language (EAL), there is a growing need to adopt a linguistically-informed pedagogy across the curriculum to support the development of pupils’ cognitive academic language proficiency (Cummins, 1984) or academic literacies. Our study responds to this civic need by providing language pedagogy training to enhance the quality and impact of a “Students into Schools” scheme at the University of Leeds. The scheme sends students into local schools to provide literacy, numeracy and discipline-specific support on a voluntary basis or as a credit-bearing module. We deliver EAL training both to the students taking part in the scheme and for local teachers (as a CPD opportunity). Data collected from individual teacher interviews, along with online teacher and student surveys, are being used to inform the development of this training. We present initial findings that highlight the need to promote an inclusive, multicultural approach; prioritize language for learning across the curriculum; and provide strategies that develop metalinguistic awareness, facilitate communicative activities and scaffold learning through visual and contextual support. These strategies appear to benefit all pupils, including not only EAL pupils but also monolingual English-speaking pupils from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds who lack the academic literacies to succeed in mainstream schooling.