There are several challenges present for the EAL students. One of them is the literacy challenge in content knowledge and applications of the knowledge. In biology learning, students are not only required to understand and describe the biology content and different process, but they also required to be able to demonstrate their think processes and apply these knowledges in various context such as answering complex structured questions and complete scientific reports. It really tests the students’ high-level of cognitive ability. This provides more difficulties for EAL students to achieve as they need to learn and perform in an unfamiliar language. Because for EAL students it is often found hard for them to learn the content and express their thoughts in English which would results in a poor learning outcome. 

 

Moreover, the challenges also lie on the teachers’ shoulder. As education providers, it is our responsibility to create a positive and inclusive environment for all learners and allow them to access the curriculum equally in class without any barrier that impede them from learning (Keddie, 2011). EAL students are sometimes easier disengaged from learning because of the difficulties they face and how little they achieve. Therefore, understand the diversity of EAL students in terms of their cultural and linguistic background provides great significance in promoting inclusive education (Hammond, 2012). 

 

Other than creating an inclusive learning environment for EAL students, it is also important to recognize that the EAL students might have different learning styles. For example, Chinese students prefer quiet listening while the teacher lecturing in the front which is due to the deep Confucian cultural influenced (Chen, Bennet, & Maton, 2008). So as teachers we need to make adjustments in our teaching practice to meet their learning needs and improving their learning which results in a better academic achievement. Also, it is of great importance to know that EAL students might have different learning experience during their study period in their country. So knowing your students plays an critical role in improving teaching pedagogies to better suit their learning needs. 

 

Fernando, P., & Cooper, R. (2017). Teaching Strategies: Supporting EAL Students in Learning Biology Terminology. Teaching Science, 63(1), 34-40.

 

Hammond, J. (2012). Hope and challenge in the Australian Curriculum: Implications for EAL students and their teachers. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 35(2), 223-240.

 

Keddie, A. (2011). Chapter 2: Removing Barriers in Students’ Lives: An international perspective on issues of justice and cultural diversity. In Educating for Diversity and Social Justice, pp.13-37. Taylor and Francis.

 

Taplin, A. (2017). Accounting for the needs of EAL/D students in the mainstream classroom. Metaphor, 1, 48-50. 

EAL students tend to take longer to process and digest the readings. It is a good idea to provide these materials before the lesson for EAL students to access so that they could have more time to get familiarize and understand the content and maybe annotate what they understand and what they don’t. during the teaching in class it allows teacher to emphasis (Fernando & Cooper, 2017) .  

2.     Double talk (Brown & Spang, 2008)

In biology learning, terminologies often are a big challenge for EAL students. the teacher could first describe the concept or biological term using everyday language which is easy to understand, then follow by the proper term using scientific language. So, the students can create links between the term and description which makes easier for them to understand and memorize. 

3.     Multi-modal representations 

To benefit different types of learner and promote better understanding of content for EAL students, it is useful to use multiple representations when explaining a concept. For example, using images, visual simulations and subtitled videos to illustrate the same concept of process.