|
Marilyn Abbott's recent presentation at the 20th NALDIC Annual
Conference, November 17, 2012, gave conference goers a wealth of
strategies to draw on when working with EAL and bilingual learners. The
conference, organised in partnership with the National Centre for
Language and Literacy at the University of Reading, gave participants
the opportunity to immerse themselves in aspects of reading, the use of
stories and reading skills, and strategies for bilingual learners.
At a time when Ofsted's (the national schools inspection
service) “outstanding” achievement criteria require schools to ensure
that “pupils read widely and often across all subjects,” reading in all
its richness is firmly back on the agenda. Conference goers were treated
to a wealth of ideas about reading across age groups, subjects, and
settings from Dan Lea's “Feast of Stories” to Eve Gregory's “Becoming
Literate Through Faith Activities in the Home” to Matt Cooley's
immersive approaches to literacy. Charlotte Franson offered conference
attendees a review of approaches to reading in different Anglophone
countries, and Yvonne Foley led an engaging and thought-provoking
workshop on critical literacy and EAL reading,
More About Marilyn Abbotts's Work
Marilyn Abbott and her colleagues research and write about a
number of issues: second language learning, pedagogy, testing and
assessment, and teachers’ professional development, all pertaining to
ESL (EAL) teaching and learning. What is very evident is that although
the geographic context is different—her work is in Canada—many of the
issues regarding ESL provision and teacher education resonate with those
here in England.
Some of her work has focused on the use of story in the ESL
classroom, a study resulting in observations and recommendations that
EAL teachers would recognize the value of story and personal stories as a
means to developing speaking and
writing and the power of personal narratives to motivate learners to
learn. Marilyn Abbott and her colleagues also research teacher education
not only to improve practice but to improve and promote more democratic
and inclusive ways of working with schools and communities to enable
ESL learners’ learning. Developing more effective pedagogy to enable EAL
learners to succeed linguistically and academically is dependent in
part on a foundation of good research that is accessible to and useful
for teachers.
Read more about NALDIC’s 20th annual conference at www.naldic.org.uk.
<need author bios> | 
