English as an Additional Language or Dialect (Version 8.4)

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Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Bridging Unit 1
Bridging Unit 2
Bridging Unit 3
Bridging Unit 4

Understand how English as an Additional Language or Dialect works

Rationale/Aims

English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) focuses on language learning and the explicit teaching of the structure, linguistic features and sociolinguistic and sociocultural aspects of Standard Australian English (SAE).

Structure of English as an Additional Language or Dialect

Unit 1 focuses on investigating how language and culture are interrelated and expressed in a range of contexts. A variety of oral, written and multimodal texts are used to develop understanding of text structures and language features.

Texts

Teachers will use an array of material in class. Texts include literary texts, fiction and non-fiction, media texts, everyday texts, and workplace texts, from increasingly complex and unfamiliar settings, ranging from the everyday language of personal experience to more abstract, specialised and technical language drawn from a range of contexts.

Language table

The key language skills described below provide a focus for language instruction in any unit at students’ point of need and should be taught in context and if relevant. Students should be given the opportunity to develop and demonstrate these skills in a variety of contexts.

Representation of General capabilities

General capabilities covered in EAL/D include: Literacy, Numeracy, Information and communication technology (ICT) capability, Critical and creative thinking, Personal and social capability, Ethical understanding and Intercultural understanding.

Achievement standards

Bridging Unit 1

Bridging Unit 1 Description

Bridging Unit 1 is designed for students who are at the Emerging phase of the EAL/D Foundation to Year 10 learning progression and focuses on developing communication skills in a range of contexts across the language modes of SAE. There is a particular focus on developing oral communication skills. Age-appropriate texts are used to develop vocabulary, grammar, language learning strategies and understanding. This includes the comprehension and retrieval of key information from familiar texts. The unit will enable students to apply their knowledge and understanding as they create simple texts that express their needs, opinions and ideas.

Bridging Unit 1 Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, students:

communicate to express their ideas on familiar topics using visual aids, modelled text and/or teacher support
demonstrate an understanding of the main ideas in familiar texts and of literal information at sentence level
respond to familiar texts and begin to articulate opinions
create short, simply structured oral, written and multimodal texts on familiar topics with some accuracy.

Bridging Unit 1 Content Descriptions

Communication skills and strategies including:

communicating needs and ideas to others using visual cues or home language or dialect (ACEEA105)

repeating modelled pronunciation and intonation, patterns of words, phrases, simple clauses, and sentences (ACEEA106)

engaging in group work to promote language learning (ACEEA107)

understanding common cultural gestures and behaviours used by SAE speakers; for example, nods, eye contact, and non-verbal behaviour such as turn-taking and the distance deemed appropriate when engaging in conversation. (ACEEA108)

Comprehension skills and strategies including:

using visual information and home language or dialect to support understanding (ACEEA109)

identifying characters and settings presented in stories (ACEEA110)

keeping charts or lists to organise or classify new vocabulary and knowledge (ACEEA111)

retelling the gist and responding to texts and ideas considered in class (ACEEA112)

identifying familiar vocabulary and morphemes, and using these to determine meaning from texts (ACEEA113)

using dictionaries, picture dictionaries and bilingual resources to understand texts. (ACEEA114)

Language and text analysis skills and strategies including:

understanding the purpose of the various forms of communication (ACEEA115)

using visual cues to predict subject matter and content in literary texts (ACEEA116)

knowing that language choices can influence the success of communication (ACEEA117)

identifying how language and imagery can change according to context (ACEEA118)

articulating different ways that texts can be interpreted. (ACEEA119)

Create a range of texts:

using some written and oral text forms and grammatical structures, including the linear sequencing of events through the use of simple sentences, conjunctions, punctuation and paragraphs (ACEEA120)

using simple first-person recounts and descriptions (ACEEA121)

using graphic representations of information (ACEEA122)

using everyday vocabulary (ACEEA123)

using commonly used logographs, for example $, &, and abbreviations, for example Mr, Mrs (ACEEA124)

using teacher editing and conferencing including editing for word order, articles, prepositions and simple tenses. (ACEEA125)