'Mainstreaming': Issues and Concerns

The mainstreaming of English as a second/additional language (ESL /EAL) speakers within the English state school system is considered in the context of ESL teaching developments. ESL learners, regardless of proficiency level, are put into classrooms with age-appropriate monolingual English-speaking peers, wherein they are supposed to receive help through a "partnership" between a language support teacher & the classroom teacher. This method is felt to provide inadequate support, especially for older learners, because of its focus on the relationship between the two instructors rather than specific language teaching strategies that can aid the ESL learner in the mainstream context. The situation is further hindered by the problems related to the teacher partnership, eg, insufficient time for regular planning or developing interpersonal skills to improve their working relationship, & the absence of an appropriate ESL pedagogical framework in the form of national qualificatory training or a rigorously defined national pedagogy for ESL. 8 References. M. Gordon