ConstraintsonEffectiveInteractionwhenEnglishisan.doc

Constraints on Effective Interaction when English is an Additional Language Bushra Connors Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 11-13 September 2003 Introduction: This is a small-scale exploratory study into the perceptions and experiences of three teachers of students for whom English is a second language. The key question addressed is: How do teachers’ ideological assumptions constrain their ability to open up a mutually constructed learning space in teacher pupil interactions? The study focused on aspects of the teachers’ relationship with the pupils and the space in which learning actually occurs. Such a space can be created when teachers scaffold the active learning of pupils (Vygotsky 1994). To create such spaces requires teachers to experiment boldly and be innovative. It would appear that, within this space, constraining ideological assumptions, held by a teacher, are sometimes negated by the teacher’s drive to assist a student to overcome problems. At other times ideological assumptions can prevent teachers and pupils from creating this space at all. For this reason, just how teacher perceptions about their EAL students affect the learning space between pupils and teachers is at the centre of the study. Rationale: I have taught in and managed Science faculties in English schools over seventeen years. Often in inner city schools, I have been interested by the way some teachers succeed in creating exciting environments for EAL students. They have created spaces in which even children at very early stages of learning English are able to make outstanding progress. At the same time other teachers do not even begin to attempt to study the pedagogic problems involved. I became interested in mainstream subject teachers’ ability to innovate successfully in their attempts to develop English language learning within the context of their subject area. June to September 2002 saw