Introducing Multimodal Literacy to Young Children Learning English as a Second Language (ESL)

Abstract

Increasingly, young children are developing their experience in English as a second language (ESL) in the context of their regular classroom learning in a range of curriculum areas. This is consistent with recent developments in communicative language teaching (CLT) focusing on content-based instruction (CBI) and is typical of the school language-learning context for many young children in Australia whose first language is not English. This chapter is based on the experience of one of the authors, Robyn Bush, working in one such context in a primary (elementary) school in the south-western suburbs of Sydney.