The ENRICH Handbook
Available for download here
What exactly is the ENRICH Handbook and what will it contain?
The Handbook to English as a Lingua Franca Practices for Inclusive Multilingual Classrooms constitutes one of the most important intellectual outputs of ENRICH. It contains all new knowledge generated in the framework of ENRICH and it is addressed to all interested parties, including English language teachers and teacher educators, educational policy-makers and researchers in the areas of multilingualism, English as a lingua franca, teacher education and language pedagogy. Besides the printed version, the Handbook has been published in a digital format as well, which is freely available in the ENRICH website.
How can the Handbook be useful to teachers and teacher educators?
- The Handbook contains the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) materials and activities employed in the ENRICH Course but also good practices gathered during the implementation of the CPD Course in 2020 in the framework of the ENRICH Project. Particular guidelines, suggestions and pieces of advice are integrated therein addressed to:
English language teachers who, either individually or in the context of a teacher education programme, may wish to draw on the experience of the participants of the ENRICH CPD Course to improve their own teaching practices; - English language teacher educators who wish to implement the ENRICH CPD Course in their own context, with teachers working in similar or different teaching situations, and even in programmes belonging to a different phase of the teacher education continuum (i.e. Initial Teacher Education and Induction).
How can the Handbook be useful to educational policy-makers and researchers?
Besides the information addressed to teachers and teacher educators, the Handbook also integrates reflections and lessons learned by the ENRICH researchers throughout the whole ENRICH endeavour as well as suggestions for improvement. This information could be employed by educational policy-makers and researchers as a source of inspiration and as data which may inform their own studies and educational and research practices.
The learners’ voices
What kind of study has been carried out as regards the learners’ needs and requirements?
Besides identifying English language teachers’ professional development needs, the multi-level mixed methods exploratory study conducted in the framework of ENRICH involved English language learners as well. Quantitative research methodology has been adopted to identify adolescent learners’ views and practices as regards English while qualitative focus groups have taken place to explore the views and practices of younger learners. 505 learners aged 14 to 17 and 80 learners aged 11-13 attending multilingual classrooms in Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Turkey participated in the ENRICH study.
What do the learners say about the way they use English outside the classroom?
The vast majority of the learners, including young ones aged 11 to 13, report that they are exposed to and employ English in their personal lives to a surprisingly large extent. They use it, for example, while playing interactive games online (most frequently with other non-native users), using social media, communicating with friends, watching and/or producing YouTube videos, watching films and so forth. In fact, the vast majority also claim that they learn more English outside school than in class.
How do the learners view English teaching and learning inside the classroom?
In general, the learners, including young ones, recognize the significance of school in terms of learning English and do value the education they are provided with. However, most of them report that they would like their teacher to use authentic materials more frequently (such as videos illustrating communication between non-native speakers) as well as more interactive activities (such as activities engaging them in communication with each other) which would enhance their motivation levels.
Are there any differences between the views and practices of learners with migrant and non-migrant backgrounds?
No significant differences have been identified between the views and practices of learners who did not have a migrant background and the views and practices of the learners who did have a migrant background (such as first- or second-generation immigrants and refugees). In the case of refugee learners who could not yet communicate in the language of schooling (for instance, Greek, if located in Greece), English, as they report, also plays a significant role in communicating with locals, including their teacher and classmates. This way, English serves for them as a ‘bridge’ to host communities, as well.
* Pseudonyms have been employed to protect the respondents’ personal information.
Teachers’ perspectives
What kind of study has been carried out in the framework of ENRICH and why?
In order to develop the Continuous Professional Development materials and activities of the ENRICH Course in a way that is compatible to teachers’ and learners’ needs and requirements, a multi-level mixed methods exploratory study has been conducted. Regarding teachers, quantitative research methodology has been adopted to identify their professional development needs. 620 in-service teachers who teach English to Speakers of Other Languages in multilingual classroom settings participated in this study, coming from Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Turkey.
(Maria*, teacher of 14-17 year old learners).
What do teachers report about school policies and the integration of learners with migrant backgrounds?
In general, most teachers seem to be aware that nowadays English is employed around the world, and even by learners themselves, as a lingua franca, that is, as a medium of communication among users with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The vast majority of them, in fact, argue that it is important that they integrate in their teaching the ways that non-native speakers use English to interact with one another, which, as they report, are currently very rarely taken into account.
How do teachers view the fact that English is used as a lingua franca?
Most teachers argue that the school where they teach does indeed support the smooth integration of learners with migrant backgrounds (for instance, through special activities such as festivals). At the same time, however, teaching practices do not always take into account the actual needs of those learners or the needs of all learners in multilingual classrooms in general. For example, most teachers report that the coursebooks they employ are not particularly relevant to the cultures of all learners.
(Pablo*, teacher of 11-13 year old learners)
What do teachers say they need as regards their professional development?
Most teachers report that they prefer participating in Continuous Professional Development courses which adopt a blended-learning approach, involving online self-study and face-to-face (or online) meetings with a tutor or, preferably, a mentor. They also highlight the significance of experiential and peer-learning as well as the need for professional development on issues relevant to English as a lingua franca, intercultural communication and integration of learners with migrant backgrounds, which, according to their experience, are not sufficiently covered in teacher education programmes and seminars.
Research aims
What are the aims of ENRICH as regards research?
Along with establishing an effective, efficient and sustainable Continuous Professional Development (CPD) infrastructure which can help English language teachers develop the necessary competences for integrating English as a lingua franca (ELF) in multilingual classrooms, ENRICH aims at contributing to the enhancement of research in the fields of English as an international language and as a lingua franca, multilingualism, teacher education and language pedagogy. This includes making available research-based information as regards:
- The perspectives of English language teachers concerning their teaching practices in multilingual classrooms, as well as their views and attitudes regarding the role and function of ELF in multilingual contexts;
- The perspectives of English language learners, including learners with migrant backgrounds, concerning the ways they currently employ ELF in multilingual contexts, as well as their own views and attitudes about teaching and learning practices in multilingual classrooms;
- The integration of ELF in multilingual classrooms, as well as the processes involved in developing teacher competences that are necessary to this end.
Where exactly does the innovation of ENRICH research lie?
Drawing on current thinking about multilingualism and ELF, ENRICH defies the traditional approach to English as a monolithic entity which is devoid of any relevance to other languages and cultures. Instead, it promotes the innovative, research-based, view of the English classroom as an inherently multilingual environment. The ENRICH Course and the ENRICH research in general break new ground in this respect by focusing, at a transnational level, on teachers competences that are necessary in helping the learners achieve their potential as effective users of ELF in today’s highly demanding globalised world.
Where can the findings of ENRICH research be found?
In the framework of ENRICH, a range of research materials are and will be available for all interested parties. These include ENRICH executive reports as regards the English language teachers’ and learners’ needs analysis studies and the development and implementation of the ENRICH Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Course, as well as other publications, including articles in printed and/or online media of educational content and research papers in scientific peer-reviewed scientific journals. These will be freely accessible at the Library of the ENRICH website.