Faculty of Education - Theses

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Author: Ciuffetelli, Patrizia Silla × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2000 × Type: Masters Coursework thesis × Subject: English language ×

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    An investigation into one experienced mainstream classroom teacher's implementation of the early years literacy program
    Ciuffetelli, Patrizia Silla ( 2004)
    Within the last decade in Australia, there has been an increased commitment to improving literacy standards with subsequent focus towards enhancing literacy education in the early years of schooling. This has led to the development of classroom-based literacy programs designed to meet the needs of all learners, including ESL learners. The Early Years Literacy Program (EYLP), a Victorian literacy initiative, was developed and is currently used by early years educators in all Victorian Government Primary Schools as a resource to plan for a strategic and comprehensive approach to early literacy achievement in the first five years of schooling (DET 2002). The study reported in this thesis investigates how one experienced mainstream classroom teacher, who does not have ESL training or receive ESL support, caters for the needs of a group of ESL learners within the Early Years writing program. An aim of this study is to build on the existing limited body of scholarship and identify areas of future research concerning the ways in which the writing component of the EYLP can be implemented to cater for the learning needs of primary ESL learners. As such, this research investigation is significant as it specifically examines the implementation of the writing component of the EYLP and explores the needs of Year One and Two primary ESL learners who entered school with limited English. This is in contrast to recent research that has focussed attention primarily on the reading component of the EYLP and young ESL learners in the early years of schooling. This investigation adopts a case study approach that allows for an in-depth exploration of one mainstream classroom teacher's implementation of the writing component of the EYLP and the detailed investigation of the needs of a group of ESL learners. As part of this study, the mainstream classroom teacher's teaching practice was observed during ten one-hour writing sessions. Other sources of data included a semi- structured interview, stimulated recall notes and samples of ESL students' written texts produced over a ten week data collection period. The findings of the study suggest that while the teacher was able to identify her ESL students areas of weakness in relation to writing, and whilst she recognised some of her students' needs, she often struggled to cater fully and effectively for her ESL students' learning requirements within the daily one hour writing program of the EYLP.