Writing Learning Outcomes for English Language Lessons in Multilingual Schools

Abstract

This article proposes a pedagogic innovation in teacher education by articulating a method for writing learning outcomes for English language lessons in multilingual school contexts. The argument for this approach is founded on curriculum studies; however, the practice also draws specifically on applied psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic theories of teaching and learning the English language. Examples support this five‐step process of writing learning outcomes in detailing how to identify a focus, specify language, ensure appropriateness, create coherence, and revise. Although the approach addresses research studies reporting that experienced teachers encounter difficulties in lesson planning, here the practice is offered as a way of educating novice teachers to clarify their ideas about language teaching and assessment through reflection. Additionally, the process serves as a means for teachers to develop greater language awareness as subject content knowledge. This technique of writing learning outcomes for language lessons, therefore, may assist in developing language teacher professionalism.

Making Visible Awareness in Practice: Literacy Educators in Diverse Classrooms

“…While the educators did face structural challenges during the course of the partnership and despite the observation that there remained clear tensions between the authentic vs. standardised approaches to writing instruction in the schools, as highlighted earlier, the successes that were indeed observed with literacy seem to align with previous research, pointing to the usefulness of awareness for developing cultural understanding, enhancing relationships and instruction, differentiating instruction, impacting instruction, and providing diverse populations of students with equitable learning opportunities (e.g. Pedersen, ; Schoorman & Camarillo, ; Klug & Hall, ; Pohan & Adams, ; Jones, ; Rodriguez & Lamm, ; Tucker, ; Pallotta, ). The evidence that awareness was reflected within the context of the RPP suggests that more research is needed to determine if and how structural elements of an RPP can facilitate (or disrupt) awareness and influence literacy educators’ responses to CLDs’ literacy practices.…”

“…The value of awareness of language and culture for changing relationships and instruction has been noted in educational contexts, such as counseling, linguistics, university‐partnerships in teacher education, and in collaborations with school‐based families (e.g. Pedersen, ; Schoorman & Camarillo, ; Jones, ). Specifically, studies examining multilingual and multicultural awareness in school contexts have focused primarily on novice and pre‐service classroom teachers (e.g.…”

“…Specifically, studies examining multilingual and multicultural awareness in school contexts have focused primarily on novice and pre‐service classroom teachers (e.g. Greenfield, ; Jones, ). In these settings, teachers' development and use of such awareness have been shown to influence instruction and provide diverse populations of students with equitable learning opportunities (Klug & Hall, ).…”

“…In these settings, teachers' development and use of such awareness have been shown to influence instruction and provide diverse populations of students with equitable learning opportunities (Klug & Hall, ). Moreover, teachers' years of experience with content‐based language teaching, as well as schools' internal learning communities, have proven useful for maintaining a school campus which not only supports diverse learners but also values students' differences in ways that guide instruction (Klug & Hall, ; Pohan & Adams, ; Jones, ). In turn, classroom teachers involved in such experiences have developed the capacity to differentiate instruction as they took on various learning styles and focused on positive student learning outcomes through their awareness of the students' various cultures (Pohan & Adams, ).…”

“…Teachers also stand to further develop awareness of and an ability to support CLDs' cultures—cultural competence—that positively impacts their learning (Allen, ). Such instruction is possibly shown to be best when language knowledge is used in conjunction with metacognitive awareness as a guide for a teacher’s discipline‐specific knowledge (Jones, ).…”