Improving students' descriptive language skills

1. Improving students’ descriptive writing skills

2. A bit about us….
 Teresita Alano
 Cassie O’Boyle
 Donna McGufficke

3. Evans context
 A co-educational secondary school
located in South Blacktown.
 An IEC is located on site.
 2011 enrolments of 606, 160 in the IEC.
 62% of the school population is LBOTE.
 ESL students are mainly
from, Sudan, Afghanistan, Philippines, Sri
Lanka, India. some of these are refugees.
 Growing population of Nepali and Burmese
refugees.

4. Class context - meet 7V
HSIE

5. Student context 4
3 3 3 3
2
Write down what it was like on your first day at Evans High
School.
Onmy first day of my schoolBut the room because we
In my first day it was nice I’m a little bit nervous but
dont know the room.. my nervous went down, when
when I see my friends
the bells go we all to hall to set our groups, lucky I
have some friends in my groups

6. Action inquiry focus
 How does the use of ESL
pedagogy improve ESL students’
ability to write descriptive texts?

7. Focus for today
Building the noun group
&
Cohesive devices –
referencing and
connectives.

8. Phase 1:
Metalinguistic &
metacognitive
awareness

9. Clause and Phrase
 T1 – Investigating the World
 Designed to show students the
difference between a clause and a
phrase.
 This was required for their
assessment task on a World
Heritage site

10. Simple and Complex
Sentences
•Built
upon knowledge of clause
and phrase
•Demonstrated how to find clauses
•Built
upon knowledge of clauses
•Demonstrated how independent
and dependent clauses functioned
together to make a complex
sentence

11. Phase 2:
Metalinguistic &
metacognitive
awareness

12. Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives
(Adnounials)
 In Term 3 students were introduced to a
proforma to help them build their noun group to
write a descriptive sentence about housing in
ancient Egypt
 This was built upon in Term 4 with a proforma
on Rights and Freedoms in Medieval Europe
 Communication in the classroom was balanced
between talk about language and talk about
historical terminology
 Rossbridge and Rushton (2010), Conversations about Text, p28

14. Assessment for Learning
 Term 3 ‘Rich task’
 Based on the key characteristics of
Assessment for learning – Davison
2007, as quoted in the Assessment reform group
1999, pg 7.
 Teacher activities
 Program – Feedback – Hattie .72
 Student samples

15. Contingent scaffolding
 Extending the IRF
 Linking to prior experiences
 Recapping and meta comment

16. Cohesive devices
 Talking about language and not just
content
 This led to students being confident in
writing in the first and third person in
their rich task
 Teaching and learning activities were
structured to achieve this.

17. Significance

18. ESL scales results
4 5
3 4 3 4 3 4
3 4
2 4

19. Pre test Post test
If their natural life is destroyed, the first and If their natural habitat is destroyed, the
1 2 3 + may become extinct. animal and plant may become extinct.
If their natural homes are destroyed… If their natural habitats are destroyed…
Also, people of the future will not be able to Also, people of the future will not be able to
see these plants and animals in their own see these plants and animals in their
environment. natural environment.
…. In their houses environment. … in their natural environment.
Another thing why National Parks are Another reason…
important is that native animals and plants
will be safe and survive.
In conclusion, we try and keep National In conclusion, we must…
Parks…
In conclusion, we have keep National In conclusion, we must keep National
Parks why they are … Parks because they are…
Firstly, is who live in cities … Firstly, people who live in cities…
Firstly, why who live in cities… Firstly, people who live in cities…
As we all know, because they are used for As we all know, they ____ are used for
playing, picnics and bushwalking. playing, picnics and bushwalking.

20. Significance
 Professional Learning
 Teacher practice has changed dramatically.
We have shifted in our approach to
pedagogy from teacher centred, content
focused lessons to pedagogy that is focused
on metalinguistic and metacognitive
awareness.
 Future directions
 Programs, AFL, ‘rolling out’