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Using Blissymbols to Inject Grammar into EAL Children's Acquisition of English

Data

How EAL children acquire English

In Summary

Using Blissymbolics can have an positive impact on children's acquisition of English language although not necessarily on their understanding of grammatical functions. This research showed that teaching and using Blissymbolics, alongside basic language acquisition support, will help children in developing a stronger, more meaningful relationship between English and their first language. It can enhance a child's use of Standard English in particular and be a valuable aid in their journey towards bilingualism.

Test Group made slightly more progress overall

The Developmental Sequence

Teaching Blissymbols

New to English

'Children are classified at stage one for about a year and a half'

Demie (2011)

  • Bilingual learners who might be able to engage in classroom learning activities using their own mother tongue
  • Need support to operate in English

Revise, Recap, Learn, Test, Link

Using child's first language and Bliss initially before introducing English

Functional use of English

'Typically, children remain in stage 2 for about three years'

Demie (2011)

  • Good 'playground English'
  • Bilingual English learners who can engage in all learning activities but whose spoken and/or written English clearly shows that English is not their first language
  • Their oral English is well developed but they need considerable support to operate successfully in written activities

Developing Bilingual

'Up to two years to acquire fluency in superficial spoken English'

Cummins (1992)

  • Bilingual pupils whose oral and written English is progressing well
  • Can engage successfully in both oral and written activities
  • Need further support for a variety of possible reasons normally in Literacy based subjects

'Three to five years for oral proficiency'

Hakuta et al (2000)

Selecting and Assessing Children

How long does it take?

Competent Bilingual

'Up to seven years to acquire academic English'

The way we teach English language

Cummins (1992)

'Five to seven years to become fully competent in a second language'

  • Bilingual pupils whose use of English and engagement with the curriculum are considered successful
  • Do not require additional language support

pictures

Collier (1992 & 1995)

adults model

English

within context

“It takes on average five to seven years to become fully competent in a second language, although individuals will vary in the speed with which they acquire this competence. Fluency in spoken English is usually achieved with two years, but the ability to read and understand more complex texts containing unfamiliar cultural references and to write the academic English needed for success in examinations takes much longer.”

first language

low pressure opportunities to talk

key words

TEST GROUP

CONTROL GROUP

TEST GROUP

CONTROL GROUP

OFSTED, Inspecting English as an additional language, 2001, p.5

modelled English

from peers

Bilingual resources

pretaught vocabulary

Growing Trend

?

Test Group & Control Group

out of classroom small group environment

2 children

daily

1:1 or 2:1

Building a language bridge

use of first language

New to English

focus on key words within a context

Blissymbolics

The symbols do not correspond at all to the sounds of any spoken language, it is a purely visual, semantic language

Unlike Sign Language, it has grammatical function (tenses, person, plurals, word types)

Could form a semantic bridge between first and second language

My research project

Small group intervention working with children who are new to English in a 1:1 or 2:1 setting

Taught Blissymbols alongside child's first language then continued to attach English language alongside these

Identified if the child's awareness and use of grammar in particular was accelerated beyond that of the control group children based on teacher's assessment (looking at AF4 & AF5) and English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling result

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