‘A Survey of the Way ICT is Presented in Education Documents and Articles: Some Contemporary Sources Relevant to Year 7 and 8 Subject English Teachers of EAL Students’

Abstract

<p>The proposed study takes the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and institutional factors framework (Buabeng-Andoh, 2012) as its theoretical starting points and poses the question: ‘What institutional factors influence the use of information communication technologies in Years 7 and 8 subject English teachers’ decision making when designing units of work to support EAL learners?’ The study will use content analysis (Babbie, 2016) as the method for analysing documents published by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA, 2015) and the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA, 2012) alongside relevant documents published by professional teaching associations to establish what is required of Years 7 and 8 subject English teachers when using ICT to support EAL learners. It will also review literature related to the use of technology to support EAL learners in order to identify gaps in this literature. The study will seek to isolate institutional factors encouraging and discouraging the use of ICT when Years 7 and 8 subject English teachers design units of work that will support EAL students. It is anticipated that the findings of the study will assist Australian teachers to develop more effective classroom teaching for Years 7 and Year 8 EAL students in mainstream subject English classrooms, and that in doing so the study will hopefully contribute to their successful language learning. It is anticipated that knowledge generated by this research will form a practical and useful resource for subject English Years 7 and 8 teachers as they strive to support EAL students in their classrooms. </p>