PIP – Findings

Focus

The overall focus question for this inquiry project was:

“What communication strategies will best ensure understanding of content for EAL students
in order to minimise my instructional time in a PE learning environment?”

This focus links to AITSL Standards 1.4 (students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious
and socioeconomic backgrounds) and 3.3 (using teaching strategies). There were a number
of specific communication strategies I implemented that changed my teaching practice and
behaviour when teaching throughout my placement. The specific methods of action I took
were using gestures, having pictures and illustrations that depicted the lesson’s activities
(Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 2014, p. 11) and incorporating
cultural references, as well as phrases from their first language, so that students were able
to make connections between their cultural and language background within an English
context (Travers & Heap 2002, p. 17). I had never used communication strategies such as
these where they significantly changed my teaching practice.

Justification of teaching behaviour and curriculum area focus

This focus was chosen as it become apparent through the “Pre-service teacher self-review”
that I had limited experience with EAL students and that it was an area in need of
improvement. Furthermore, after researching the school it was identified that more than
half of the students enrolled at the school come from a language background other than
English. This key feature of the school meant that I had a number of EAL students in my
classes, therefore, it was important that I became familiar with, developed and
implemented appropriate communication strategies.

Our society is growing in its ethnic and linguistic diversity where there is a higher percentage
of EAL students in Australian schools demanding an appropriate response from schools, and
therefore, teachers (Schneider & Arnot 2017, p. 245). Teachers are now being expected to
take specific actions to develop a level of communication appropriate to EAL students
(Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 2014, p. 11). The increasing
number of EAL students in schools suggests that the majority of teachers, no matter what
their specialisation is, will work with EAL students at some point throughout their careers
(Hammond 2012, p. 224). Therefore, teachers need to develop an understanding of the
diverse linguistic and cultural background of EAL students, their educational needs and
appropriate communication strategies that can be implemented (Hammond 2012, p. 224).

Context and curriculum area

The placement context is a category 2 school whose population is just under 300 students.
Within this population of students 14% are Indigenous and 58% come from a language

Name: Stasha Andrews Student ID: 110169165

background other than English. The school has an Intensive English Language Centre with
five classes ranging from reception to year seven. These intensive classes fluctuate in
numbers as the classes are prone to rapid enrolments as well as students transitioning into
mainstream classes once their English language skills have been developed to a stage which
allows them to do so. The class that was the focus of this inquiry project was the year 5/6/7
intensive English class; during my lead in days I only met a handful of classes where I
originally chose to focus on the year one class, however, after meeting this intensive class it
became apparent that this class would make for a greater focus. While the initial main focus
was within the PE curriculum area I had to extend the focus to my Health lessons due to
unforeseen circumstances, such as, assemblies and pupil free days, which significantly
reduced the number of PE lessons I had with this class as well as with the other EAL classes.
In PE the focus was on invasion games, in particular European Handball, and the skills and
game sense associated with this sport. In Health, the students learnt about Health and
Nutrition.

Design and data collection techniques

The three methods of data collection used were a ‘Thumbs Up System’ to check for
understanding, students had to explain to another student or to me what the activity was,
how we were to be engaging with the activity and what was expected of them and I
conducted informal interviews with the students and my mentor teacher around the
communication strategies I implemented, how effective they perceived them to be and
which they wanted more/less of.

The first method involved students giving a ‘thumbs up’ if they understood the
instructions/explanations/expectations, pointing their thumbs out to the side if they ‘sort of’
understood where they were then directed to speak to a friend to gain further clarification
or a ‘thumbs down’ if the students did not understand at all where I needed to repeat or
modify my instructions. The data was collected through the use of a frequency chart which
recorded how many thumbs ‘up’, ‘out to the side’ and ‘down’ the students gave; this
frequency chart can be found in Appendix 1.

The second method was recorded through journal entries which allowed me to record what
took place, the accuracy and quality of the explanations given by students, as well as myself,
and provided me with an opportunity to record my thoughts, reactions and reflections at
the end of each lesson; these journal entries can be found in Appendix 2.

The final method was a written transcript of the interviews conducted which provided me
with feedback on how effective the communication strategies implemented were; these
written transcripts can be found in Appendix 3.

Name: Stasha Andrews Student ID: 110169165

Data results and analysis

The results revealed from the ‘thumbs up’ frequency chart (Appendix 1) can be observed in
the table below.

Student Thumbs Up Thumbs Out to Side Thumbs Down

Student A 11 3 -
Student B 9 3 2
Student C 10 4 -
Approx. 76% of the Approx. 23% of the Approx. 0.04% of the
students’ tallies students’ tallies students’ tallies
combined combined combined

This shows that the communication strategies I implemented were effective majority of the
time as there were few instances where the students did not understand the instructions at
all. The journal entries (Appendix 2) from each lesson showed that the students were mostly
able to provide adequate explanations to some extent using a mixture of words and
gestures; explanations may have been lacking, not due to poor understanding of the
instructions, but due to lower level English skills. The interviews (Appendix 3) revealed that
the students loved that I incorporated their first languages into my lessons and
acknowledged their language/cultural backgrounds with Student C saying ‘I loved you said
xin chao (hello in Vietnamese) to me when say hello at start of lesson’. Although this
strategy was received well I do not believe it was the most useful strategy as it did not
always clarify understanding but simply made the students feel more comfortable and
connected in my lessons. The students enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with their
peers to clarify their understanding without having to admit their uncertainty in a ‘class
forum’. The students found my gestures, for example, listing numbers using my fingers,
accentuating throwing techniques, emphasising the notions of short and long, and using my
body to indicate ‘no go zones’ during games to be most useful in terms of understanding
instructions/explanations. While the students appreciated the pictures/illustrations I
provided during PE lessons (found in Appendix 4) they found some pictures difficult to
understand/read leaving them more unsure than from when they began. However, they
found the pictures I provided in Health far more beneficial, for example, they had not heard
of the word legumes but knew exactly what they were when I showed a picture with many
saying they eat them regularly. Although it was not a listed communication strategy the
students found my demonstrations to be extremely helpful as I coupled them up with verbal
cues, for example, while I said ‘I write on my sticky note and then I stick it on the board’ I
was also demonstrating this. Interviews with my mentor teacher also highlighted the
importance of proximity when giving instructions, for example, when I drew closer to
Student B to reiterate a rule of a game and to help him feel less overwhelmed; the use of
proximity was an unintended strategy but one I found incredibly useful and continued to
use. Overall I have found that the planned communication strategy which was most
effective in ensuring understanding of content for EAL students in order to minimise my

Name: Stasha Andrews Student ID: 110169165

instructional time was gestures along with the unintended strategy of proximity and
demonstrations which are always an integral component of PE teaching.

Reflection

The inquiry project highlighted communication strategies that are efficient and effective –
gestures, demonstrations and proximity – which I will continue to incorporate within my
teaching practice. I feel that providing pictures/illustrations is a positive communication
strategy, however, they should only be used in the most appropriate of activities where they
smoothly accompany or reinforce the activity, for example, in a gymnastics unit to represent
various movements. I identified the strategy of incorporating the students’ first languages as
more of a relationship building strategy than a communication strategy where the students
felt much more comfortable and accepted in my class, as well as more willing to participate;
this is a strategy I will take away with me to assist me in building positive relationships with
future EAL students.

Conclusion

Through improving the AITSL Standards of 1.4 and 3.3 I was able to develop, evaluate and
gain an understanding, as well as a catalogue, of different communication strategies that are
efficient and effective in communicating with EAL students to minimise instructional time in
a PE learning environment, as well as in the classroom. Communication strategies should be
chosen based on the individual students and be culturally inclusive as students tend to feel
more welcome and comfortable when their culture/language is recognised and appreciated
(Schneider & Arnot 2017, p. 259). Effective communication strategies lie at the heart of
working with and teaching EAL students to ensure that these students understand the
content minimising teacher instructional time.

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Name: Stasha Andrews Student ID: 110169165

Reference List

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 2011, Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers, Education Services Australia, viewed 15 July 2018,
<https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/apst-
resources/australian_professional_standard_for_teachers_final.pdf>

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 2014, No English Don’t Panic,
State Government of Victoria, viewed 22 July 2018,
<https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/diversit
y/eal/no_english_dont_panic.pdf>

Hammond, J 2012, ‘Hope and challenge in The Australian Curriculum: Implications for EAL
students and their teachers’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 35, no. 1, pp.
223-240.

Travers, P & Heap, A 2002, Access and engagement in physical education, Department for
education and skills, viewed 22 July 2018,
<https://www.naldic.org.uk/Resources/NALDIC/Teaching%20and
%20Learning/sec_pe_eal_access_engag.pdf>

Schneider, C & Arnot, M 2017, ‘An exploration of school communication approaches for
newly arrived EAL students: applying three dimensions of organisation communication
theory’, Cambridge Journal of Education, vol. 48, no, 2, pp. 245-262.

Name: Stasha Andrews Student ID: 110169165