Back to Introduction

Rationale

The ESL Companion to the English CSF is an adjunct to the English Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF), providing a framework for the development of appropriate programs for the many students in Victorian schools who are learning English as a second language (ESL). These students are a diverse group, being of different ages, at all stages of learning English, and from differing first-language backgrounds.

The study of English, and the broader concept of literacy, as it is described in the English CSF, is about the appropriate and effective use of language, the use of language as a means of learning and the development of knowledge about language. Through language use, students convey and discover information, work through ideas and express feelings. Students learn how language works and how to use it well. Students learning English as a second language need targeted English language teaching and extra time, support and exposure to English before they can attain the learning outcomes described in the English CSF. The ESL Companion describes effective teaching contexts in which students who are learning English as a second language develop their language skills and communicative abilities for social and personal interactions as well as for school-based work across the curriculum. It emphasises that teachers need to teach these students English language skills systematically and explicitly until a point is reached where the outcomes of the English CSF are appropriate for them. No time frame is prescribed for this development, which is influenced by age, previous education, literacy, and the kinds of specialist ESL programs students have been involved in.

Although principally written for teachers working in the range of ESL programs in primary and secondary settings, the ESL Companion also acquaints mainstream teachers with the type of curriculum and learning outcomes appropriate for ESL learners. Teachers will, therefore, need to use the ESL Companion according to their particular teaching context. The ESL Course Advice and ESL annotations to the Course Advice for the various key learning areas (KLAs) are further sources of assistance for teachers with ESL learners in their classes.