Addressing the Needs of EAL/D Students in English Education

This essay examines the critical need to address English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) students' unique requirements within the Australian English education system, particularly in Stage 1. It emphasizes the importance of inclusive curriculum planning, highlighting the selection of texts like 'Mirror' by Jeannie Baker and 'Pearl Barley and Charlie Barley' by Aaron Blabey for their cultural relevance and child-friendly themes. The essay identifies potential barriers to understanding these texts, such as linguistic differences and the complexity of wordless picture books, and suggests pre-reading activities, including questioning about the cover, writing descriptive pieces, and prediction exercises, to engage students and prepare them for the reading experience. These activities aim to improve language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking while aligning with the K-10 syllabus objectives for speaking, listening, reading, and creative expression.

Running head: ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS .1
Addressing the Needs of EAL/D Students.
Student’s Name:
Institution’s Name:

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 2
Introduction.
Teachers are often instructed to modify their lessons to accommodate students with
special needs. Over the years it has been proved that it is critical and paramount for teachers to
develop a lesson plan and activities that engage students in very important subjects. A good
number of students in Australian schools are learning English as their second language and hence
the name EAL/D. EAL/D stands for English as an additional language or dialect. EAL/D
students are students whose first language is not Standard Australian English and require
additional support and assistance so that they can perfect their English language. This is the very
reason that makes this group of students special. They all come from different backgrounds and
most of them are motivated to improve their English proficiency. It has been noted that over the
years the numbers of EAL/D students keep on increasing meaning there is dire need to develop a
curriculum that is inclusive and appropriately caters for the needs of these particular group of
students. The EAL/D students are concurrently acquiring a new language and getting to
understand the knowledge and the skills of that new language using the same language that they
know little or nothing about it. Learning English may be an uphill task for the students and hence
they require extra time and targeted assistance coupled with conversant instructions from the
teachers that addresses their needs categorically(Bulloch, 2018) .Assessment is a paramount
exercise in the teaching of EAL/D students.
The K-10 syllabus used in the Australian English schools, has a specific aim and
objective. The aim is to assist students to comprehend the English language and communicate
effectively and eloquently. K-10 syllabus also aims at ensuring the EAL/D students appreciate
the language, and to enjoy the language making it possible for the students to use the language

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 3
confidently and enjoy while they are at it. Certain books have been selected to be used in the
teaching of English in Stage on of reading. The selected books are Mirror by Jeannie Baker and
Pearl Barley and Charlie Barley by Aaron Blabey. Mirror is a picture book that gives students a
positive look at a day in the life of two families from very different parts of the world. It is an
appropriate book because it explains and describes the similarities and differences that exist in
different the cultures of different people. Pearl Barley and Charlie Barley on the hand is a
children’s literature that magically illustrates believing in self, courage and draws attention to the
positive implications of friendship. The two books were selected to be used students in stage one
because they both are child friendly and motivate the students to understand more.
Planning EAL/D curriculum and support.
Planning is the best remedy for all sorts of confusion that may be witnessed and felt when
undertaking a specific activity. (Madeleine Arnot, 2014) Planning has had many positive
implications in various fields and applies to everything. Planning in teaching is critical because it
ensures that the set educational objectives are met. Planning makes it possible for teachers to
think what they would like their students to achieve and understand at the end of the course, and
how the students will go about the learning and the kind of activities they are going to engage
themselves in so as to reap the full benefits of the sessions. Appropriate planning leads to
automatic success in the given area of specialization. In the EAL/D curriculum planning for the
development of the inclusion curriculum has been of great importance to the lives of the EAL/D
students. (Yvonne Foley , Pauline Sangster , Charles Anderson, 2013) Over the years education
has been understood as a means of improving people’s lives as well as changing societies for the

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 4
better. It is important to provide an inclusive education for all the students as this will lead to the
betterment of the country as a whole.
The development of an inclusion curriculum is a process intended to strengthen the capacity of
EAL/D teaching so as to reach out to all the students and meet their unique needs. The inclusion
curriculum has made it possible for the instructors to be proactive in identifying the barriers that
be met while teaching the English language and also coming up with strategies and appropriate
resources required to overcome the barriers along the way. Inclusion curriculum has shifted the
attention from the curriculum developed for the students to the process of responding to the
needs of the students and understanding that students are different and that they require different
support as their abilities are different. It is important to note that the selection of the two books
Mirror and Pearl Barley and Charlie Barley was a great milestone in the development of an
inclusive curriculum. The books are very appropriate and useful in the teaching of the students in
stage on of reading. These two important texts cover a great percentage of the provided K-10
syllabus. The study of these books will lead to the set lesson objectives. This is because the two
texts enables students to be creative and think imaginatively, it also improves the students’
vocabulary and enables them to express themselves appropriately.
Potential barriers to understanding the texts.
EAL/D students are vulnerable to a number of challenges during the course of their
study. Scholars define barriers as anything that stands on the way of a person preventing that
individual from achieving the set goals and objectives. EAL/D students may experience a lot of
challenges and barriers along the way as they try to perfect and even learn English. The barriers
that may be experiences while covering the book Mirror may be experienced because the book is
a wordless picture book that may be a bit complex for young children to understand and draw the

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 5
appropriate conclusions from the text. Difference in linguistic structures is another potential
barrier to learning English. EAL/D students may experience a great challenge trying to
pronounce the English words correctly and for this very reason most of the students may take a
lot of time before they actually start communicating in English. (Dobinson and Buchori,
2016).The barrier makes it difficult for the students to even express their ideas and pass the
required message.
The barriers may however be overcome if the students and teachers will come together
and cooperate .Students should be willing to go an extra mile to achieve what they so much
desire, this will be possible if they are taught how to do it.
Texts selected to be used in the stage 1 of learning.
The K-10 syllabus has provision for the texts to be used in the different stages of
learning. The kind of provision is important because it outlines what should be done in a
particular stage and the reason why that strategy is applicable to that stage (Gebril, 2010). The
texts are formulated in a way that it stimulates the interpretation of the students, helps to develop
their critical thinking and analysis. They learning texts are also developed to promote
understanding and make the learning process as lively as possible. The texts are always in line
with the students’ interests and abilities. The texts have been selected to suit a specific group of
students, to mean that every text has a specific role it plays in that stage of learning. They are
selected to meet the needs of the students and to invoke the required response to the text.
The aim of English in stage one of learning is to ensure that the language is appropriately
used by the student, they get to appreciate it as a language and have fun while studying the

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 6
language and to stimulate the imagination of the students, challenge them to be creative, make
appropriate interpretations and to also make them think critically and in a powerful manner.
The two texts selected in this stage are the two books that is, Mirror by Jeannie Baker
and Pearl Barley and Charlie Barley. The two texts are appropriate and important for this stage
because of the way they are written meeting the styles that would achieve the best outcome for
stage one students.
Pearl Barley and Charlie Barley is a fiction book. Fiction is a category whose texts are
appropriate to be used in stage 1 of learning. It is appropriate to use texts that are fictions
because they have different styles, themes and different means of passing the message across.
The variety of styles in such texts are intended to be beneficial to the student in the sense
that it may promote the reading, writing and even the speaking skills of such a student. Most of
the texts used in stage 1 of learning are picture books that give the students the visual
representations of what the text is taking about. A good example of such a text is The Mirror
Which is a picture book. Picture books address the needs of students in stage 1 of learning
English.
Pre-reading activities.
Pre-reading activities involve a broad array of possibilities, all channeled to make the learners
feel ready to study the text and to obtain and learn the best from the text. Pre-reading is in
important stage in the learning process, because the pre-reading activities assist students and
adequately prepare them for the reading activity (McAlinden, 2013). It appropriately prepares the
students minds and also motivate them to read. The pre-reading activities play a significant role
in the reading stage of the EAL/D student. The activities capture the attention and concentration

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 7
of the students making it possible for the students to look forward to the vocabulary and vital
grammar structures in the text.
There are several pre-reading activities identified applicable to the stage 1 of learning. Since
most of the reading in stage one is done with the aid of pictures then the pre-reading activities are
also in the form of pictures.
Activity 1. Questioning about the cover.
This is a pre-reading activity where the teacher questions the students about the book cover and
what their opinions are. The cover is an illustration that conveys a million words and meanings.
This activity may assist in identifying what students believe in and also their understanding on
specific themes.
Activity 2. Writing a short descripting piece.
The activity introduces learners to the world of reading and writing and also telling stories. The
students are given an outline and are asked to write a small piece from the outline. The activity
develops the understanding of learners on important aspects, improves their language skills, and
singles out their cultural awareness as well as their critical thinking and creativity.
Activity 3. Complete a Think Pair and share sheets on Prediction.
This reading activity focuses the attention of the students to the cover page. That is in the case of
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley. The student’s attention is focused on the body language of the
two characters on the cover and also the teacher reads what is written to encourage ideas from
the group. This activity includes pairing the students and making them give their predictions and
to share and compare the predictions. The predictions are recorded to be referred back after

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 8
reading has been done. The activity will prepare the students for what they are about to
encounter and to also relate it to their own experiences.
Activity 4.Creating a vocabulary map on the Word friendship.
The teacher groups the students and picks the topic friendship which is a key theme in the book
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley. Then writes the word on the board giving the students an
opportunity to write all the words they know concerning that topic and also giving them an
opportunity to exhaust everything they know, afterwards the whole group is given the chance to
read what they have been writing. The group with the correct words and appropriate spelling as
well as pronunciation take the lead (Byrnes and Wasik, 2013)
Pre-reading activities play an important role in the lives of the students learning to read. It boots
the confidence of a lot of students and through discussion they share ideas and are proud of the
other person’s ideas.
Post reading Activities.
Post-reading activities are activities intended to improve the student’s comprehension of the text
and boost a better understanding.
Activity 1.Venn Diagram to show difference and similarities between Morocco and Sydney.
(Reading and Viewing 2.)
Asking students to highlight the similarities between morocco and Sydney will show how the
students have understood the text. The ability to single out similarities is a clear indication that
they accept that people are similar though they may be living miles away from each other.

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 9
Activity 2. Sequencing using pictures and writing description.
Book 1 is a wordless picture book and the only way to get the message the Author is trying to
pass is by critically assessing and analyzing the pictures. Pairing students and asking them to
discuss the images and try to put them in a way they understand. They may choose to write it
down or do it by forming collages that they can explain. This helps to foster their reading skills
and make reading lively.
Activity 3. Write or draw an image of an experience they have had with a sibling or close
relative.
The intention of this activity is to assess whether the students understood that friendship was the
dominant theme in the book Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsely it will also help the teacher to
know whether the students really understood the book and how they could apply it to their own
lives.
Activity 4. Write a postcard to a friend in Morocco or Sydney.
This kind of activity is very critical in the sense that, it analyzes the students’ knowledge of the
two course books. It shows how they have grown in the course of the study and have a better
understanding of the different places as they have read. Writing a postcard is a way of merging
the reading and writing skills, coupling it to the understanding of the books studied before.
Post reading activities are of great significance because it analyses the progress of the students
throughout the course.
Principle underpinning the across the curriculum activities.

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 10
Human beings are wired to be naturally purposeful in this life. The activities that are undertaken
are aligned to achieving specific set goals and objectives. (Brown and Friedrichsen, 2011) To
important achievements, specific activities and directions are taken to reach the top. What stands
out in the curriculum of EAL/D is that it is important for the teachers to familiarize themselves
with the cultural and linguistic background of their students. Through this, it shall be possible to
understand the needs of the students and attend to them appropriately. Teachers play a very
important role in the implementation of the curriculum and hence they form the solid foundation
for the achievements of the curriculum.
The teachers are to passionately work towards a specific goal which has been set by the
educational system of the country and the specific objectives set for the different schools. Their
goal is to ensure they have achieved these goals using the available resources and giving the
students the best that they can.
Conclusion.
EAL/D students need centered, organized and clear teachings grounded on their needs and their
prior knowledge on the English language. When the students are granted an all-encompassing
and a suitable environment for learning, suitable and appropriate learning experiences and the
dedication of teachers, the students seen as weak can perform extremely well just as their peers
whose native language is English.
The above discussion illustrates how instructors single out the needs of EAL/D students and
using the developed curriculum they strive to meet the needs of the students and the results
produced in the end are amazing.

ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF EAL/D STUDENTS. 11
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