England: policy developments impacting on ESOL basic literacy Pauline Moon Helen Sunderland London South Bank University

Government departments concerned with ESOL Innovation, Universities and Skills Children, Families and Schools Home Office Communities and local government Work and Pensions

The invisible student

Policy re LESLLA learners Provision Very little specific to learners with little ed. Funding Prioritises higher levels (targets) Teacher education No requirement to train to teach this level Curriculum Previously hidden, will be explicit Quality assurance Ofsted report doesn’t mention this work

follow a short narrative on a familiar topic or experience For basic literacy learners, who do not read in another language, and are starting to work towards Entry 1: follow a short narrative on a familiar topic or experience At Entry 1:  respond to print as a source of meaning  be aware that words on the page represent words that can be spoken  read texts for information and enjoyment Example A language experience text the learner has composed themselves and the teacher has written down, a very simple notice or one simplified by the teacher.  read texts for information and enjoyment Example A very simple book, notices, maps, biographies, e.g. Nelson Mandela is from a village in South Africa. He was president of South Africa for five years – from 1994 to Revised ESOL Adult Core Curriculum

Current policy drivers Leitch review of skills (2006) and government response By % adults functionally literate Social cohesion agenda & consultation on ESOL Local areas decide priority groups Immigration fears and new regulations Difficult for unskilled migrants to enter UK

High status literacy ancient Greek Oxford & Cambridge Universities – some for learners who don’t read and write Greek Classics, Greats some learners: fewer languages than English language learners prospectuses: “knowledge”

Low status literacy English language courses in post-16 – some courses are for learners who don’t read and write English basic literacy some learners: more languages than ancient Greek learners prospectuses: “skills”

Conceptualising courses ancient Greek: an achievement English language: to become ordinary issues: status, prestige, ideology, discourses, hegemony, identity theory: Gramsci, Foucault, Labov, Trudgill...

Naming practices illiterate ? basic skills ? pre- beginners ? Can’t read, can’t write (recent British TV programme) Identity: did anyone ask us? pre-entry ?

Conceptualising the learners: not beginner thinkers “…two little four year old girls, one Arabic and the other American doing ‘scribble’ writing. When asked what it said, the Arabic child replied “you can’t read it – it’s in Arabic”. Hall (1987) quoted in Spiegel and Sunderland (2006)

Route to resolution: what is literacy? social & cultural practices: involvement – not solitary (New Literacy Studies: Brice-Heath, Street, Barton, Hamilton...) involvement in literacy practices – not necessarily doing the reading and writing (Brice-Heath, Barton...)

ESOL Curriculum curriculum takes a position: –negotiate relevant learning contexts (not prescribed – example contexts) –integrate text, sentence & word level (curriculum divides – guidance for integration) teachers take positions: –may or may not contextualise learning –may or may not integrate text, sentence & word

A policy for LESLLA learners? What are the pros and con? What could go in such a policy? Should LESLLA be lobbying for policy development? Should LESLLA be collecting information on policies in different countries?

References Barton, D. Hamilton, M. and Ivanic, R. (2000) (eds) Situated Literacies. Routledge. Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: an introduction to the ecology of written language. Blackwell. Brice Heath, S. (1983). Ways with words. Cambridge University Press. Coffield, F (2007) Running ever faster down the wrong road Labov, W. (2006). The social stratification of English in New York City. 2 nd edition. Cambridge University Press. Street, B. (1985). Literacy in Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press. Trudgill, P. (1975). Accent, dialect and the school. Hodder Arnold. Foucault on discourse, power and knowledge. Gramsci on hegemony.

Contact us Pauline Moon Helen Sunderland