English Home Language Research Articles

A Feedback Tool for the Implementation of Assessment for Learning and Process Writing in English Home Language Writing Lessons

A Feedback Tool for the Implementation of Assessment for Learning and Process Writing in English Home Language Writing Lessons

COVID-19 and the Mental Health of Adolescents in British Columbia

Les auteurs ont relié les données individuelles sur les inscriptions scolaires, les services reçus de médecins et les médicaments sur ordonnance entre septembre 2016 et mars 2022 pour mesurer l'effet de la pandémie de COVID-19 et les perturbations s'y rapportant sur la fréquence mensuelle de traitements en santé mentale prodigués aux adolescents britanno-colombiens. Selon les résultats des augmentations importantes de traitement de la dépression et de l'anxiété, du trouble de déficit de l'attention/hyperactivité, des troubles des conduites alimentaires et d'autres troubles de santé mentale ont été observés chez les filles non autochtones dont la langue maternelle était l'anglais. Les filles dont la langue maternelle n’était pas l'anglais ont également reçu plus de traitements de la dépression et de l'anxiété, et les filles autochtones ont reçu plus de traitement du TDA/H. En revanche, les traitements pour les garçons n'ont pas changé et ont même diminué à l’égard de la plupart des troubles de santé mentale, sauf les troubles des conduites, qui ont augmenté chez les garçons dont la langue maternelle était l'anglais. Le traitement des troubles liés à une substance a diminué chez ces garçons, de même que chez les garçons et les filles autochtones. Les effets varient quelque peu en fonction de la situation socioéconomique, mais les auteurs n'ont observé aucune preuve de variation considérable selon le mode d'enseignement.

Language Matters: Comparisons of Concussion Assessments Among English- and Spanish-Speaking Middle School Athletes.

The Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, fifth edition (Child SCAT5), is among the most widely used international pediatric concussion evaluation tools. However, the tool's English-only aspect may limit its use for patients who speak different languages. Prior researchers have suggested one's preferred language (ie, home language) could be associated with concussion assessments in adults, yet how this might affect pediatric athletes is not well understood. To compare baseline Child SCAT5 assessment outcomes between middle school athletes whose home language was Spanish and matched control athletes whose home language was English. Case-control study. Middle school athletics. Athletes self-reported their home language (ie, language spoken at home). Those indicating their home language was Spanish were individually matched to athletes who spoke English at home on age, sex, sport, school, and pertinent comorbidities (eg, concussion history). The final sample consisted of 144 athletes (Spanish home language = 72, English home language = 72). We used Mann-Whitney U tests to compare the Child SCAT5 component scores of the home language groups (ie, Spanish versus English). Athletes in the Spanish home language group scored lower on the Standardized Assessment of Concussion-Child version (P < .01, r = -0.25), Immediate Memory (P < .01, r = -0.45), and total modified Balance Error Scoring System scores (P < .01, r = -0.25) than the English home language group. Matched athletes whose home language was Spanish versus English scored differently on baseline Child SCAT5 assessment components. Those with the home language of Spanish scored lower on cognitive and balance tasks than those whose home language was English. These findings may serve as a rationale for the development of future concussion assessment tools to properly capture clinically relevant data regarding language differences among pediatric athletes.

Student Learning Experiences and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic at the University of Free State

South African universities were closed nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic. On-campus learning was suspended, and on-campus student accommodation was closed from March 2020, with phased returns to campus continuing until early 2022. The study intended to identify categories of students whose learning and well-being were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and provide empirical evidence to inform initiatives to support these students better. An online cross-sectional survey completed by 1 562 respondents studying at a South African university explored students’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on students’ learning and well-being, subjective social status, sense of coherence, and future anxiety. Multivariable regression models showed younger age (18 to 21 years), female gender, low subjective social status, and isiZulu and English home language were significantly associated with lower well-being. Regression analysis also showed a significant association between the dimensions of manageability and meaningfulness of sense of coherence and well-being and that high levels of future anxiety were associated with lower well-being. Half of the respondents (49.6%) reported that the pandemic has negatively impacted their overall student experience. However, more than half (51.2%) prefer online to face-to-face learning and found it less time-consuming (63.5%). The results could assist universities in introducing appropriate support services targeting young female students with low subjective social status to support the mental health and well-being of those most affected by the pandemic

Translanguaging as Transformative Pedagogy of Shakespeare in South African Secondary Schools

Despite the historical tendency to use the teaching of Shakespeare to perpetuate British colonial educational objectives, the study of a Shakespeare play remains a prerequisite for obtaining a school-leaving certificate, with English Home Language as a subject, from each of the three largest examination bodies in South Africa. Against this background, I propose the implementation of translanguaging as a transformative pedagogy of Shakespeare in South African secondary schools. This proposal is based on the results of practitioner-based research I conducted with a class of Johannesburg-based, multilingual, Grade 10 learners during the study of Macbeth. My research showed that translanguaging facilitated learners’ comprehension of Macbeth, while simultaneously empowering them to interpret the play from their own linguistic and cultural perspectives. Although the study was limited in participant numbers and duration and needs verification by further research, its results suggest the potential of translanguaging to transform the pedagogy of Shakespeare in South African schools by equipping learners to contribute to global discourses on Shakespeare with authentic and uniquely (South) African interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays.

Possessive pronouns in Welsh: Stylistic variation and the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence

Abstract This paper examines possessive pronoun forms in Welsh, a feature thought to be undergoing change (Davies, 2016). First, we seek to add to the understanding about how and in which stylistic contexts these forms are used. Second, we examine whether students in Welsh-medium schools with different home language backgrounds show the same sociolinguistic competence. In contrast to what is prescribed in many grammar books, the colloquial form mam fi ‘my mum’ is used at much higher rates than the traditional literary fy mam and sandwich variants fy mam i. This is particularly the case in more casual styles. We also find differences between north and south Wales in overall rates of use, but within the two schools studied, the English home language students broadly show the same patterns and constraints as the Welsh home language students, underlining that language background does not affect the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence.

Third space of the home: transnational Chinese families’ English home literacy and language learning

ABSTRACT Chinese speakers are the second largest language minority group in the U.S., and transnational migration redefines their lives in many ways, including families’ educational practices. This case study examined the English home literacy and language learning (EHLLL) practices of two transnational Chinese families during their year abroad while working and studying in the U.S. Research methods included observations, interviews, and discourse analysis. Our analysis uses Third Space theory to highlight the significance of participants’ culturally hybrid literacy and learning practices. Influenced by their transnationalism, these families’ homes – and namely their EHLLL practices – become an educational Third Space. Analysis focuses on three aspects of their EHLLL: (a) a parent–child shared-reading practice valued by this transnational Chinese community, which involved English-language storybooks and ‘listen and repeat’ (gen du) activity, (b) parents’ new roles in children’s EHLLL, through which they navigated major differences in Chinese versus American education systems, and (c) parent–child interactions that showed how home was a ‘pedagogical safe house’ for children facing the challenges of transnational education. This timely study illuminates the distinctive educational goals of transnational families who definitively plan to repatriate. It also provides needed insights into a large and growing, but poorly understood, population – transnational Chinese families.

Merging English Home Language and First Additional Language curricula: Implications for future quality assurance practices

South Africa has a uniquely differentiated English curriculum in a bid to cater for diverse proficiency levels prevalent among its learner population. While this stride made sense in a population with one of the highest inequalities in the world, it is equally important to reflect on whether the differentiated systems do serve the purpose of equal access in relation to the quality of provision. Surprisingly, very little research has been carried out to validate the merits of this curriculum and assessment differentiation to date. In this paper, I report on Umalusi’s commissioned study on English curriculum benchmarking with three countries: Kenya, Singapore and Canada. This four-country case analysis focuses on curriculum goals and the depth and breadth of English Home Language (EHL) and English First Additional Language (EFAL). The results of the analysis show that the objectives of EFAL and EHL are largely similar and that both compare favourably with these subjects taught in the three other countries under investigation. However, framing the study within theories of language acquisition and language variation, I argue that the EFAL/EHL differentiation at both curriculum and assessment levels is unmerited and serves the opposite intent: deepening inequalities and access to the English language. In the end, useful recommendations for repackaging an assessment of English into one that takes account of its diverse learner population are advanced and further research opportunities are highlighted.

A comparative study of National Senior Certificate summative assessments of poetry for four South African official languages at Home Language proficiency

Over the centuries, summative assessment has entrenched itself as a powerful socio-political and educational tool for determining success, or a lack thereof, and is thus critical for shaping a learner’s life. This was particularly prevalent during the apartheid era in South Africa when racially differentiated curricula were crafted. This led to severely dysfunctional assessment practices. However, in recognition of the diversity of the nation, with its 11 official languages, and in an attempt to afford all languages equal status, at its inception in 2009, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) established a common language curriculum and guidelines for the high-stakes Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. This so-called ‘equality’, however, is scrutinised in this paper, with specific reference to the assessment of poetry, a literary genre that is generally thought to be cognitively demanding. This paper investigates the similarities and dissimilarities in the Grade 12 NSC summative examination practices of four selected dominant languages studied at the Home Language (HL) level of proficiency, i.e., English HL, Afrikaans HL, isiZulu HL and Sesotho HL. Drawing on Moodley’s (2018) skills-specific knowledge for validity in the assessment of poetry, Barrett’s Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension for cognitive levels, and Umalusi’s (Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training) criteria for determining the comparability of NSC examination papers, this paper analyses the poetry component of Paper 2 (Literature) from three sets of examinations: October/November 2019, 2020 and 2021. The paper concludes on the degree of comparability and incomparability among the four languages regarding structural and technical presentation; mark allocation and cognitive weighting; cognitive levels and scaffolding of questions; instructional verbs and degree of difficulty; validity; and the washback effect.

Teaching English home language to foundation phase learners from diverse backgrounds

Background: Teaching English as home language (EHL) could be a complicated process in a country like South Africa, where there are eleven official languages operating in a multicultural society. This requires capacitating teachers with appropriate and relevant strategies to strengthen their teaching, especially in the foundation phase.Aim: This paper examines the appropriateness and relevance of the extant strategies for teaching EHL comprehension skills to foundation phase learners from diverse language backgrounds.Setting: This study was conducted in King Cetshwayo District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Methods: This was a qualitative case study involving four purposively selected grade one teachers in one urban primary in South Africa. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews, field observations and document analysis. Content analysis was used to analyse the data.Results: The two main findings were that (a) the teaching of EHL comprehensions skills lacked the appropriate strategies, and (b) the teachers faced several challenges – including operating under an unclear policy framework, the paucity of strategies in phonological awareness, and the lack of appropriate reflection images to which the learners could be exposed to improve their skills.Conclusion: The study concludes that adequate and regular professional teacher development programmes and activities are needed to enable teachers to do their work more effectively.Contribution: By closely and systematically examining the strategies used by teachers who were non-native English speakers, to teach EHL to leaners who were also non-native English speakers, this study has made important contributions to both attendant theory and classroom practice.

Remixing storytelling across modes

Background: Using storytelling in a classroom context can be a powerful tool, but how can English language educators use storytelling in ways that are beneficial to their learners?Objectives: In this paper, we simultaneously engage with the concept of storytelling, multimodality and creativity to show how these three concepts can work in tandem theoretically and in practice. The research is based on a collaborative multimodal storytelling intervention in a Grade 7 English Home Language classroom which entailed transducing the same story from a print-based mode to a performative mode. We work with the concept of storytelling across modes, rather than multimodal composition to highlight the fluid possibilities that our cross-pollination approach offers.Methodology: The study is qualitative, and we thematically analyse data produced by one group of five learners. The research questions are as follows: (1) What are the different affordances of print-based and performative storytelling? (2) How do these two modes enable students to collaboratively draw on their linguistic, creative and social resources and repertoires?Results: Collaborative storytelling created multiple access points in the English classroom which enabled the learners to draw on a wide range of modes, realities and resources in accessible and meaningful ways. The intervention created a space for the learners to reflect on past experiences, re-imagine their sense of self and future, and use their stories as a form of social action.Conclusion: Each mode offered different pathways and distinct affordances to crafting and producing stories.

High Quality, Equity, and Assessment: An Analysis of Variables Impacting English Learner Standardized Science Test Performance and Implications for Construct Validity

In the United States, assessment is seen as a lever that can facilitate high-quality education. This study on English learners, students whose native language is not English, was based on data from eighth-grade English learners’ performance on science general and content-specific (physical, life, and earth science) standardized exams and an English language proficiency exam. The researchers utilized regression analysis to examine factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, home language, English language proficiency, and receptive and productive elements of language) that are predictive of English learner performance in general and content-specific science standardized assessments to identify implications for construct validity of high-stakes science assessments. The research question is as follows: What factors influence the performance of English learners on a standardized science assessment, including overall performance and content-specific domains? Three main findings emerged from this research study. First, this study confirms previous research indicating that socioeconomic status and English language proficiency are predictive of English learners’ achievement on content-based standardized tests. Second, this study adds to current research by providing evidence that productive language scores are the most significant predictors of English learner science achievement, in comparison to receptive language scores, overall English language proficiency scores, home language, and socioeconomic status. Third, this study adds to the body of evidence needed to challenge the validity of standardized science tests for English learner populations. The findings of this study challenge the construct validity of science content-based assessments for English learners, emphasizing the importance of productive language in academic performance.

“Mending Bridges”: English Teachers Teaching for Social Cohesion

This article explores English Home and First Additional Language (English HL/FAL) teachers’ insights into social cohesion and what their understandings imply for teaching the language in diverse secondary schools in South Africa. Twenty-seven years into democracy, South African society remains beset with social challenges, such as increasing inequalities, poverty, and violence indicating intolerance and a general decline of moral fibre in society. Guided by the theory of social justice in education and supported by the notion that critical pedagogy has the potential to transform society, this qualitative case study explored English teachers’ perceptions of a cohesive society, and the way they teach for such a society. This study explored whether their theoretical understanding of the concept improves teachers’ positioning of education in diverse secondary schools, to achieve the broader objectives outlined in the national curriculum, and successfully foster social change in post-apartheid South African society. Conducted through the method a qualitative exploratory case study, data were elicited through semi-structured interviews and lesson observations of seven English HL/FAL teachers from three diverse secondary schools in Merafong City, in the Gauteng Province, in South Africa. Using content analysis to analyse data, this study found that teachers perceived a cohesive society as one of solidarity, respect, peace, humanity, and equal treatment. Interestingly, some teachers could not clearly link the concept with formal education, or in fact, English teaching, something which indicated that their pedagogic knowledge is limited, thus impeding the process of improving social cohesion in society.

Play to Learn: Shakespeare games as decolonial praxis in South African schools

The place of Shakespeare in South African secondary education has become highly contested in light of calls to decolonise the English Home Language curriculum through intentional inclusion of indigenous authors and knowledge systems, and the removal of colonial impositions such as Shakespeare. Yet removing Shakespeare from the curriculum is not the only or even the best solution for countering the violent legacies of colonialism and apartheid. This article argues that a more effective decolonial approach would be to change the way Shakespeare is taught in schools by cultivating horizontal, instead of hierarchical, dialogue within classrooms and between secondary educators and Shakespeare scholars. The authors describe their own horizontal collaboration to produce “Blood will have Blood”, a series of lesson plans and assignments centred on scenes of violence in the Shakespeare set works. Using the digital theatre game Play the Knave, the programme engages secondary school students in creative experimentation and embodied play with Shakespeare’s texts. As learners access the curriculum from their own epistemological standpoints and through their own bodies, they come to understand gendered and racial forms of violence represented in the plays and manifested in their personal and historical contexts. The article contextualises the project in terms of Practice as Research (PAR) methodology while offering preliminary findings from the programme’s implementation in Cape Town schools.

Training multilingual English language teachers: challenges for higher education

Abstract In South Africa, English is used as a language of learning and teaching for most students from Grade 4 onwards. National policies have requirements for all teachers regarding language proficiency in English, and they also require all teachers from Grades R (pre-school) to 6 to be English language teachers. Because most teachers are not English home language speakers, it is necessary to build academic language proficiency across school subjects along the lines of multilingual content and language integrated learning (MCLIL). National policy documents show little awareness of this and constrain teacher education for multilingual contexts.

How English teachers’ corrective feedback practices can promote second language acquisition in Intermediate Phase classrooms in South Africa: A case study

In South Africa, many non-native Englishspeaking learners experience a variety of language challenges in classrooms and, as a result, underperform in national and international assessment opportunities. Teachers need to assist these learners with sufficient and effective feedback. The purpose of this qualitative study was, firstly, to explore the relationship between Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) model for effective feedback and the Interactionist Theory of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) (Gass &amp; Mackey, 2006) and, secondly, to explore the corrective feedback practices of Intermediate Phase English Home Language teachers that promote SLA. Observations and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 15 purposively selected teachers from five different schools. The research findings indicate that the participants experienced various language-related challenges in their teaching of Intermediate Phase English Home Language. Mostly, the participants utilised transmission teaching approaches to provide formative, oral, written, descriptive, and self- feedback. Feedback in terms of Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) model on the task level was mostly applied as opposed to feedback on the process, self-regulation, and the self-level.

Exploring the learner profile of the English Home Language classroom in select urban secondary schools

In a democratic South Africa, English has increasingly become the preferred medium of instruction despite the majority of South African learners being mother tongue speakers of other languages. Many learners in urban areas are enrolled to take English Home Language and especially novice teachers expect them to have mother tongue proficiency. However, the reality is that learners come from diverse backgrounds and a single class comprises learners with varying levels of English proficiency. This study seeks to establish who is the actual target audience seated in the socalled English Home Language class. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire completed by 642 Grade 8 and 9 respondents at three suburban schools in Gauteng. Cross tabulations were used to compare different variables. Key findings indicate that respondents – although multilingual – do not considerthemselves adequately proficient in English. Secondly, the role of the caregiver as initial source of learning English has been underestimated. Although smallscale, the study highlights the mismatchbetween classroom reality and curriculum requirements. Results suggest that the national education authorities need to adapt policy documents so that what is currently expected of learners might be more easily accomplished in the English class. The questionnaire may serve as a useful resource to determine the linguistic profile of a particular target group.&#x0D;

Cultural-Historical Activity Theory as a Framework for Exploring Pre-service Teachers’ Use of an Intelligent Tutoring System for English Language Proficiency

The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their use of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) as an English language proficiency tool. Pre-service teachers’ perceptions were analysed using Engeström’s second-generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). A qualitative interpretivist paradigm was used. Six pre-service teachers who were learning to be English home language teachers but were not English home language speakers were interviewed. The study’s findings indicated that when the ITS was integrated into an activity system for teaching and learning, participants had a favourable opinion of it. The ITS was perceived to aid pre-service teachers in enhancing their language skills and to be instrumental in achieving goals and objectives as a tool for learning.

Academic and quantitative literacy in higher education: Relationship with cognate school-leaving subjects

Academic and quantitative literacies (AQL) are essential to success in higher education. These literacies are largely not explicitly taught, but acquired indirectly, mostly through practices in various school subjects. The National Benchmark Tests (NBT) Project assesses students’ AQL competencies to assist in identifying students who need support, with placement into appropriate programmes and with curriculum development. We analyse the performance on the NBT AQL test of students who took the school-leaving examinations in Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, English Home Language and English First Additional Language. We use the subject choice as a representation of the level of a candidate’s quantitative competence and language proficiency respectively, and investigate the relative contributions made by these subject choices to a student’s AQL. Students who paired Mathematics with English as Home Language subject had the statistically significant highest mean AQL score and those who took both English First Additional Language and Mathematical Literacy had the lowest. Language competence has a stronger effect than mathematical competence on AQL. Students who took the subject combination Mathematics and English Home Language at school are better prepared for the academic demands of higher education than their counterparts who took the alternate subjects. Treating these subjects as equivalent to English Home Language and Mathematics for admissions purposes ignores the differences in preparedness of these students.

A comparative analysis of the linguistic complexity of Grade 12 English Home Language and English First Additional Language examination papers

It is expected that English Home Language (Eng HL), as a subject, is more complex than English First Additional Language (Eng FAL). This article aims to uncover the reality of this expectation by comparatively investigating the linguistic complexity of texts used for reading comprehension and summaries in the final school exit examinations. The Coh-Metrix online platform was used to analyse a combined total of 24 Grade 12 final examination texts for Eng HL and Eng FAL ranging from 2008 to 2019. Five main indices relating to the word level, sentence, readability, lexical diversity and referential cohesion linguistic complexity were explored. The findings illustrated that the linguistic complexities of the texts used for reading comprehension and summary writing in the two subjects differ significantly, with Eng HL being more linguistically complex than Eng FAL texts. Furthermore, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level measure indicates the Eng FAL texts as two grades below the overall grade for Eng HL texts. Nonetheless, the linguistic complexity measures used in this article confirm the expectation that texts used in Eng HL reading comprehension and summary writing are more complex than those used in Eng FAL.