Part 1 Written Response

Brendan is fifteen years old and is currently in year 9. Brendan migrated here with his family
when he was twelve and started high school the following year. He is from Syria and is a
student whose second language is English or has English an additional language or dialect
(EAL/D). EAL/D is an increasingly common occurrence in students, as the 2011 census
revealed that over a quarter (26%) of Australians were born overseas and roughly one in five
(18%) spoke a language or languages other than English (Dobinson & Buchori, 2016). As
children learning English as an additional language often experience lower academic
achievements than their peers, it is important to develop strategies and practices to aid
Brendan’s education (Whiteside, Gooch & Norbury, 2016). EAL/D learners have also
somewhat become ‘invisible’ in the current education sphere as there is less financial aid for
students with EAL/D as the government is focussing on broader areas such as literacy and
numeracy (Dobinson & Buchori, 2016). In 2011 the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
reporting Authority (ACARA) stated that teachers had to adapt certain pedagogical practices
to aid in the education of EAL/D students, regardless of any formal language training (Alfrod
& Windeyer, 2014). Implementing the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework into
schools will ensure students with EAL/D are appropriately catered for and given a greater
chance to succeed in school.

Brendan has several areas of need that to be addressed to ensure his education is effectively
and appropriately provided for. Whilst Brendan’s speech and ability to communicate
verbally are sufficient and adequate, he has trouble in classes such as English where he is
required to write written responses. His teachers have discussed this with him and
discovered it is not his lack of knowledge or ability to think of ideas or concepts, it’s his
ability to coherently write his ideas down in a logical or articulate way. As a result of this,
during activities in class where students are instructed to individual respond to a text or
write a short piece of work, Brendan becomes very disruptive and causes distractions to
those around him whilst failing to make any real attempt at the work himself. Brendan does
also have several strengths as well. He excels in sports (particularly soccer) and enjoys
activities which are energetic and has an interest in history (particularly the world wars).

Students who arrive in a foreign country before they reach high school are on average more
likely to perform better academical to students who arrive between the ages of eleven and
fifteen (Hutchinson, 2018). As Brendan falls within this second category of students (who

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arrived between the ages of eleven and fifteen) there becomes a pressing need to identify
language interventions that are capable of improving his education (Oxley & Cat, 2019).
Oxley & Cat (2019) outline several interventions which have beneficial implications for
students with EAL/D, the two most beneficial included a vocabulary intervention and
targeted instruction. Vocabulary interventions seemed to have the greatest impact on
students who had somewhat lacking or impoverished vocabularies which utilized the use of
software to improve reading fluency and vocabulary (Greenfader, Broulilette, & Farkas,
2015). In the short term, targeted instruction - which included adult-led reading and one on
one interaction – proved to have the greatest impact on students, leading to significant
language gains over the course of instruction (Oxley & Cat, 2019). However, it is also worth
noting that these studies failed to record any long term benefits and lack the ability to
recommend patterns of improvements for the long term. A focus on vocabulary is a
common trend amongst approaches in education students with EAL/D, this may be because
typical students whose first language isn’t English show poorer performance when
compared to monolingual peers in language measures such as expressive vocabulary,
receptive grammar and narrative comprehension (Whiteside & Norbury, 2017). Additionally
to vocabulary improvement, is the need for skills such as setence repitition and narrative
comprhension. Whiteside & Norbury (2017) found that students with EAL/D struggled in
these areas and largely benefitted from targetting instruction particuarly foccused on these
concepts. Using these literature findings as a basis, creating a strategy to improve
Brendand’s education can be focussed on specific areas that can aim to include him in
mainstream education in the following years.

Furthermore, combining the strategies previously mentioned within the framework of a

UDL, students with EAL/D can be educated to a standard that sees them thrive in schools. A
UDL framework is a concept that is based around the idea of creating an environment where
the needs of all students can be met. McGuire, Scott & Shaw (2006) show how is it an
increasingly prevalent discussion to enhance educational access for all students, including
those with disabilities. As the education of students with disabilities has faced a rising
scrutiny in the past decades, frameworks and strategies such as the UDL have begun to
surface and implement designs for learning that caters to the needs of all students (Finn,
Rotherham, & Hokanson, 2001). Specifically, the UDL framework focusses on the classroom
environment, activities used throughout the lesson, equipment used in the lesson and how
the lesson can especially focus on or benefit learners with cognitive or behavioral difficulties

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(Johnson-Harris & Mundschenk, 2014). However, a UDL does not simply mean a student has
increased access to materials and information, but that they have an increased access to
learning itself. Increasing access sometimes diminishes the opportunity for learning, for
example having a computer read a novel to a student may hinder a student with EAL/D if the
goal is for them to increase their vocabulary and see the text written on the page (Rose,
2000). In this way it is important to focus the learning goals of a student and utilize the
facilities available in a way that meets these goals. This requires the teacher to be malleable
and instead of expecting students to mould into their pedagogical teaching styles, provide
the opportunity for students to excel in their preferred learning environment and way. As
such, a successful implementation of a UDL involves providing students with multiple means
of engagement, multiple means of representation and multiple ways of engagement of
activities through activity and expression (CAST, 2018; Johnson-Harris & Mundschenk, 2014).

Providing multiple means of engagement provides students with various opportunities to

learn, including a recruitment for interest in the given topic, sustaining effort and
persistence of student work and the ability to self-regulate their own work (CAST, 2018).
This means that the teacher provides students with the opportunity to guide their learning
in ways that best suit them, increasing the motivation and purpose of their learning.
Multiple modes of representation require a certain level of preparation from the teacher as
they are required to arrange a variety activities and methods that students may interact with
(CAST, 2018). This essentially focusses on the teacher presenting the same topic to students
in numerous ways. Multiple means of action and expression gives students various options
to respond to topics. Including physical engagement and action, various forms of expression
and communication and executive functions (Johnson-Harris & Mundschenk, 2014). This
process of learning allows students to become strategic and goal-direction (CAST, 2018).
Using these three principles of learning allows the teacher to cater the lesson to multiple
types of students and ensures all types of learners (including those with cognitive disabilities
or language barriers) can comprehend the lesson content and begin to thrive in the
classroom. Additionally, using this strategy can be as equally beneficial to mainstream
students as they are provided with numerous avenues to further learning in ways that best
suit their learning styles (Vitelli, 2015).

Incorporating these designs and strategies for learning will benefits Brendan’s education and
allow him to thrive within his classrooms. Firstly, there are numerous ways in which teachers

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are able to address Brendan’s areas of need. Throughout lessons there needs to be
consideration into how students with EAL/D can be benefitted as well as all within the
classroom. This can be accomplished by strategies such as vocabulary training within the
classroom, which is a simple way to aid in all student’s development. This process is easy for
the teacher to incorporate into the lesson and requires little preparation, when any
substantial words or words that aren’t common appear throughout the lesson, define them
with the class and ask them to use it in a sentence with a peer around them (Whiteside,
Gooch, & Norbury, 2016). For students like Brendan, vocabulary focus within a lesson is a
good strategy to not alienated him from his peers whilst enabaling him within the classroom.
An additional strategy along a similar pattern of pedagogical style is sentence repitition.
Within a classroom setting, sentence repition can be incorporated to a lesson by asking
students to write down a setence numerous times using various words which will benefit
their overall education (Whiteside & Norbury, 2017). This is a way students like Brendan can
practice writing academic pieces of work within a class room setting and not feel like he is
being singled out from his classmates. As Brendans main area of need is in writing coherent
academic pieces of writing, there needs to be a specific focus on aiding him in starting this
process. A strategy that can target this is targetted instruction. This can be incorporated in
lessons by ensuring the teacher takes the time to specifically target certain areas of
instruction to focus on by the students (for example the teacher goes through examples of
how to write out the task with the class). This will improve Brendans ability to particiapte in
work with the class and aid his abilitiy to write academic work along with his peers. Students
with EAL/D benefit from targetted instruction such as this and it helps them learn skills
necessary to particiapte in the class with their peers (Oxley & Cat, 2019).

These strategies outlined which focus on students with EAL/D will be exampled within the
lesson plan provided and the adjustments will demonstrate how to appropriately
incorporate certain pedagogical styles for teachers. Including Brendan and students with
EAL/D into classroom activities and ensuring they are not alienated or ostracized is also
pivotal in their educational process (Greenfader, Broulilette, & Farkas, 2015). The UDL
framework is a prime example of how to structure the learning process, environment and
teaching strategies to ensure the education of students is more than satisfactory. The lesson
plan with utilize the framework of UDL by focusing on learning activities which give students
multiple modes of connection, this will ensure they are able to pursue their own learning in
a way that is best suited to their learning style (CAST, 2018). Additionally, the lesson plans

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will showcase how teachers can give students multiple modes of expression allowing them
to respond to certain activities in multiple ways exploring how to interact with learning
styles in a way that is appropriate.

Part 2 Adjusted Lesson Plan

Multiple means of representation
Multiple means of expression
Multiple means of engagement

0-5 Ask students to recall the previous range of text types they have studied throughout
the term and list them on the board. Introduce the topic of speeches and inform the
students that this lesson will be spent looking at the ways in which speeches are
examples of powerful texts that can hold considerable influence.
Students can write their own personal list in their books and share with their peers.
Students can express their responses in a class discussion, or in written lists.
Teacher can show students lists of text types and ask students to comment on them.
Ask if students have written any speeches in the past and if they can remember any
key tools they learnt previously (from this base what needs to be improved upon as a
whole in the students’ knowledge regarding speeches).
Ask if students have students given speeches before, provide students with more
examples of speeches they may be familiar with.
Let students know at the end of the analyse of both speeches they are going to watch,
that they will then be writing their own speech.
Make a vocab list of all the words students will encounter and define them as a class.
5-10 Ask if students have heard of and what they know about Martin Luther King Jr. and
Richard Gill. Students can talk in small groups to discuss knowledge, also participate in
class discussion.
Provide students with a short amount of time to research Martin Luther King Jr. and
Richard Gill, ensuring that everyone in the class has some knowledge of both people.
Ask volunteer students to share their findings so that the whole class has a similar level
of background knowledge. Ensure that there are several key facts listed about both
these people so the classes knowledge it sufficient. Give students ways to research,
web based approaches, more videos, print outs.
10-15 Provide students with the ‘I Have a Dream’ worksheet to look over and give them the
opportunity to ask questions about it or Martin Luther King Jr and his speech. Show the
students specific points of the speech that are particularly relevant in creating
influence. Point out how this might be effective in their own speech writing.
Students can work in pairs, small groups, or individually.
Teacher can
Note: make sure your students know that this is only some of the speech.
15-25 Students then write down their initial thoughts in answer to the questions regarding
King’s speech. Facilitate small group discussions where students can share their
answers. Students can write down their responses in lists, paragraphs, or discuss with
their peers.

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 Help a level of understanding to be met where students can recognise the key points
throughout the speech where he is using specific language to evoke emotions in his
speech.
25-30 Show students part of Richard Gill’s The value of music education.
Once again, students have time to write down their initial thoughts in answer to the
questions regarding Gill’s speech, before discussing these answers in small groups.
Repeat steps included in facilitating group discussion and a similar level of
understanding to be met. As a class define any vocabulary students are unfamiliar
with.
30-35 As a class, contract two lists which describe the types of emotive language used by
both King and Gill. Get students to identify which types of language are most effective
in influencing and motivating people. Compare the list for each King and Gill and draw
any similarities between these two lists. Highlight how despite these speeches are in
vastly different contexts, the effective language used is still very similar.
Students can individually make their own lists as well.
Give students ways to research other forms of language.
35-40 Facilitate a class discussion where students can contribute their ideas about what it is
they liked about either or both of the speeches. This is another way of ensuring that
students are considering the effectiveness of the speeches.
Class discussion for students to interact in.
Further discussion can briefly explore the concept of how written language when
presented to an audience orally, can affect the power of the written word.
Class discussion can be conducted in various ways. Over an interactive web based
program. In smaller groups or pairs.
Ask if what they’ve learnt throughout the lesson has helped them gain a greater
understanding of speeches and if they’ve learnt anything particularly relevant.
40-50 Students then commence writing their own short speech using the ‘Plan Your Own
Speech’ worksheet. Emphasise the importance of students demonstrating that they
have a clear understanding of audience and purpose. Interact with students
throughout this process and answer any questions they may have. Help students get to
a level of understanding and development so that they may be able to write a speech
with influencing factors.
Give students access to resources used in the lesson to write their speech.
Teacher to give specific instruction and example of how to write their speech.
Students can respond by writing a speech in a different context. To other groups of
people or on a different platform (online etc).
Students can work individually or with a peer. Working together to make a speech in a
group.

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