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Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
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Go-along language teaching: a pedagogical approach for older learners in ESL contexts
Yingqiu Chen & Louisa Buckingham
To cite this article: Yingqiu Chen & Louisa Buckingham (22 Jan 2024): Go-along language teaching: a pedagogical approach for older learners in ESL contexts, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2023.2296641
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2023.2296641
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Published online: 22 Jan 2024.
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Go-along language teaching: a pedagogical approach for older learners in ESL contexts
Yingqiu Chen and Louisa Buckingham
School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
ABSTRACT
Older learners of English in ESL contexts are an underserved learner type.
Courses typically do not cater to their age-related cognitive and physiological needs and link curriculum content with their typical everyday life activities. This study presents go-along teaching (GAT) as a pedagogical approach for older migrant learners of English by demonstrating the implementation of GAT with an intact class. We describe the sequenced instructional procedures from the initial identification of learning objectives and the subsequent design of suitable go-along routes, venues, and tasks to the practical implementation of GAT in the curriculum, and the assessment of learning outcomes. We demonstrate that by participating in go-along learning procedures, older learners improve their ability to operate in their local environment, engage in real-life language use, and develop practical transferable knowledge. According to course feedback, learners believed they were more confident in their ability to function independently in everyday social contexts.
ARTICLE HISTORY Received 31 October 2023 Accepted 14 December 2023 KEYWORDS
Go-along teaching; older learners of English; older migrants; social inclusion;
ESL
Introduction
For older migrants, the motivation to learn a foreign language is mostly related to their communi- cation needs in the host country, which include daily functioning, cognitive improvement, and obtaining social support (Pot, Keijzer, and de Bot 2017; Xu and Buckingham 2024). Low proficiency in the dominant language can hinder social integration, result in social isolation, have a negative effect on well-being, and impede access to important social services (Treas and Mazumdar 2002;
Park et al. 2020; Wright-St Clair et al. 2017). Previous research has shown that older migrants with low proficiency in the dominant language of the host country experience a lower quality of life due to their difficulty in initiating and maintaining social contact and their limited participation in public life (Pot, Keijzer, and De Bot 2020).
In countries such as New Zealand, a specific visa category, the Parent Resident Visa, facilitates the migration of the parents of New Zealand citizens and residents. This creates a migration path- way for older (usually retired) individuals sponsored by their children. From 2019-2022, for example, family members (including parents and spouses) were the second largest group granted a resident visa (Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment 2020, 2022). The majority of the sponsored parents are older migrants from non-English-speaking countries (Park et al.
2019), in particular from the People’s Republic of China (Ran and Liu 2021). If they do not have
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
CONTACT Louisa Buckingham [email protected] https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2023.2296641
‘an English-speaking background,’ Parent Resident Visa applicants are required to pre-pay for Eng- lish-language courses which they then attend once they arrive (New Zealand Immigration n.d.).
However, these courses are not tailored for specific age groups, ethnicities, or learner needs (Ter- tiary Education Commission 2021).
In this article, we present the results from an empirical study on the pedagogical approach of ‘go- along teaching’ (GAT) with older learners of English as a second language (ESL). We describe how GAT was integrated into an ESL course for older Mandarin-speaking learners and we present a comprehensive set of procedures for the practical implementation of GAT in ESL contexts. Our results demonstrate that GAT is effective in supporting older migrant learners with their specific needs for basic communication and social functioning in a range of daily life contexts. We argue that the opportunity for situated, experiential learning that this teaching method offers has advan- tages for learners of this particular profile.
Go-along interviews and go-along teaching
Go-along is a form of in-depth interview employed in research that involves a place-based focus on everyday life activities, which was originally designed to study health and well-being (Carpiano 2009). It involves the researcher accompanying participants in their familiar environments and daily routines and engaging in social activities in their usual real-life context (Carpiano 2009;
Kusenbach 2003, 2018). The interview experience is dynamic, multimodal and has a spatial-corpor- eal dimension. While participating in a go-along, researchers investigate the participants’ percep- tions of their real-time movements and activities while also observing the unfolding event and the participant’s conduct (Kusenbach 2018).
In the context of teaching, go-along refers to teachers accompanying students in their everyday life settings to help them improve their use of English for specific functions. This approach allows teachers to observe students’ language use at specific locations and interact with students to address their confusion or facilitate language acquisition. The teaching and learning process is motivated by the practical needs of social functioning and has the objective of preparing students to operate in real-life situations.
The go-along teaching method we employed in this study entails four key components: routes, places, venues, and tasks. Firstly, a go-along involves walking along a designed route; the route can be predominantly controlled by researchers (tour) or a random route in everyday natural setting where the participants take the initiative (trail) (Kusenbach 2018). In GAT, teachers design the route based on learners’ daily routine and needs, and they are typically a combination of tour and trail. These routes usually lead to (or involve) one or more places (e.g. a shopping centre, a transport station, an institution). Each place comprises different venues (e.g. a supermarket, a bank, a bus/train, a school) where communication tasks can take place.
Teachers assign learners tasks during the go-along. Tasks are defined as ‘a piece of work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language to function individually, socially, or interpersonally in daily contexts’ (Nunan 2004, 19). Tasks can be planned (premeditated) or unplanned (spontaneous). Planned tasks are determined before the go-along teaching begins, while unplanned tasks occur spontaneously during the go-along experi- ence. For example, the go-along route might lead down a street or through a shopping centre (place), and the learner visits the bank (venue) to perform banking transactions or make enquiries (tasks). Unexpected spontaneous interaction may occur between the learner and other customers or staff, or with passersby (unplanned tasks). A go-along route can involve multiple venues.
Comparison with other teaching methods
GAT draws upon existing teaching methods such as English Literacy Walks (ELW), Situational Language Teaching (SLT), and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). ELW, proposed by
Chern and Dooley (2014), involves out-of-class English-language learning using the linguistic land- scape. In SLT, simulated (life-like) situations are used in the classroom for (principally oral) language practice (Smith and Loewen 2018). In TBLT, learners undertake various sorts of specifi- cally-designed tasks in the classroom to develop their ability to process input, formulate output and interact with others (East 2017, 2021; Ellis et al. 2019).
GAT differs from the aforementioned methods in several ways. Firstly, GAT typically engages learners in the four skills. Both during the walking route, and while orienting themselves at specific venues and undertaking tasks, learners employ aural and oral skills necessary for interpersonal communication and social functioning, and literacy skills to identify and process written infor- mation, follow instructions, and to fill out forms.
Secondly, GAT extends beyond specific situational settings. The teaching and learning activities occur throughout the entire route trajectory, and they incorporate holistically different aspects of language use. These activities may include reading road signs, identifying information on transport schedules, or engaging in spontaneous interactions with randomly encountered interlocutors.
Lastly, GAT takes place in real-world settings, thereby transcending simulated activities in con- trolled classroom contexts. The real-life environment is unpredictable and uncertain; learners need to adapt their routes and their excursion plans in light of the information they receive and process along the way. Their relative success in fulfilling the planned excursion’s objectives, and in coping with unexpected challenges, depends on the learner’s ability to notice, process and respond to per- tinent information.
Methods
We implemented GAT accompanied by additional in-class instructional procedures in a course at the Asian Migrant Foundation (hereafter the Foundation). The Foundation receives government funding to run English language courses for recent migrants and has the objective of assisting new migrants integrate socially by helping them acquire sufficient English to participate effectively in everyday life activities. The course had four students (M = 1, F = 3).1 Learners were aged between 61 and 69 (M = 66.25; SD = 3.59) and had been residing in New Zealand for between 4 and 12 years (M = 7.25; SD = 3.11) years and had been learning English in New Zealand for between 2 and 4 years (M = 3; SD = 0.7).2 Their English was at Level 1 of New Zealand Certificate in English Language (NZCEL) system.3
Four types of data were employed for this study: questionnaires, a learning journal, interviews, and go-alongs. The first author was a teacher at the Foundation and was responsible for teaching older learners, including the course reported on here. The 21-week course (between February and June 2023) involved 136 teaching hours, of which 96 h were allocated to go-along-related teaching.
Prior to the commencement of the course, students submitted their study journals in which they described their previous English language learning experience, and they completed a questionnaire which focused on their current perceived English language learning needs. We conducted a semi- structured interview with the leader and the coordinator of the programme to gain additional infor- mation of the programme’s goal. Upon completing the course, learners completed a questionnaire which inquired into their perceptions of their experience with GAT.
We undertook ten go-alongs (each lasting around 2.5 h) on four different routes with specific venue-related tasks that included banking using an ATM, shopping in different stores, ordering and paying in restaurants, responding in spontaneous interactions, and reading road signs. In addition to teaching, during the go-alongs the teacher interacted with the students on topics related to the teaching scenarios to gain insights into the students’ learning processes, including their points of confusion and language acquisition. This exchange of information provided supplemen- tary data regarding students’ general attitudes toward the teaching approach and their learning per- formance, which informed the teaching approach and the assessment of learning outcomes.
Termed ‘member checking’, this step is described further in section 5.4.
The implementation of GAT with older migrant learners
In this section, we report on our experience implementing GAT with this group of older ESL lear- ners. The GAT curriculum we implemented comprised six procedures (see Figure 1): needs analy- sis, route design, implementation, observation and member-checking, documentation and follow- up teaching, and evaluation. We elaborate on our approach to each procedure in the following subsections.
Needs analysis
Needs analysis is defined as ‘the systematic collection and analysis of all information necessary for defining and validating a defensible curriculum’ (Brown 2016, 4), which is subject modification dependent on the specific context. The textbooks for the course were chosen by the Foundation and they accorded with the curriculum requirements of NZCEL, but they were not tailored specifically for older migrants. This meant we needed to undertake a comprehensive needs analysis prior to the commencement of the course to ensure the suitability of teaching materials. The main information sources we consulted were domain experts (the leader and coordinator of the course programme), the learners, and the teacher and applied linguists (the authors), and we compiled information using learners’ learning journals, class discussion, questionnaires, and interviews (Long 2005).
First, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the leader and coordinator of the pro- gramme to further understand the objectives of the programme for older learners. Second, students submitted their study journals and filled out a questionnaire on their needs. The journals and the questionnaire showed that the learners’ principal needs involved the development of language skills for social functioning, such as undertaking shopping and banking-related tasks, and the ability to carry out basic communicative exchanges with individuals of different ethnolinguistic backgrounds.
These needs are central to these older learners’ daily life and are quite different from those of inter- national students who need strengthen their academic language proficiency or younger migrants whose language learning objectives are primarily related to employment opportunities and social integration (Kim, Ehrich, and Ficorilli 2012; Kuo 2011).
We drew on the information compiled from the needs analysis to design the GAT materials and procedures that we believed were appropriate for this learner group.
Design of routes, venues, and tasks
The GAT involves the design of routes, places, venues, and planned tasks. As previously described, teachers design routes based on learners routines and needs, and they can also be designed in
Figure 1. GAT Procedures.
collaboration with the class (e.g. a joint brainstorming session), as this allows for the sharing of experiences of visiting various venues and completing different tasks.
The planning of a task involves developing initial scripts. As outlined in Schank and Ableson (1977), scripts encompass a structured sequence of events (involving both actions and dialogues) within specific situations. Scripts require situation-specific language skills to successfully accom- plish tasks of the venues along the routes. For instance, we design a route from the classroom build- ing to a shopping mall (a place), wherein the mall comprises various venues such as stores, a food court, a supermarket, and banks (refer to Figure 2). The designed scripts encompass relevant voca- bulary, dialogic interaction, and task completion sequences. For example, in a class that prepared learners for a GAT session, we devised a dialogue script between the customer and cashier for the task of making a purchase at a shop (venue):
A: How much is it?
B: It’s $9.35. Do you need a bag?
A: Is the bag free/ Is there a charge?
B: Yes, it is free/ No, 20 cents each.
A: OK, please give me a bag/ No, thank you! I don’t need a bag.
This illustrative script aims to teach learners to ask for prices and offers a possible model sequence of customer-cashier interaction. These situational scripts possess practical utility in daily contexts and can be easily rehearsed in both GAT and real-life scenarios.
Route design can also be conducted through a two-way brainstorming session within the class.
Teachers who have personal experiences of visiting various venues and completing different tasks
Figure 2. A GAT route from the classroom building to a nearby mall (image from Google Maps).
can share their insights with the older learners. The learners are also encouraged to contribute by sharing their own experiences of visiting different venues and how they successfully accomplished tasks or failed. Instances of task failures can serve as points of reference. For instance, in a post-GAT class, a learner shared an experience of requesting the number plate from a driver who was sup- posed to pick her up, in order to locate the car. She recalled asking the driver for his ‘car number’, to which he responded with a sequence of numbers that did not match the number plate. Conse- quently, it took her some time to eventually locate the car. In response to such scenarios, we equipped the learners with appropriate phrases to elicit the number plate and provided additional scripts for verifying the car, such as asking about car colour or describing the learner’s attire. On another occasion, when faced with a similar situation, the learner successfully coped with the situ- ation by drawing upon the scripts learned in the classroom. Teachers can incorporate these shared materials and insights into the route designs, ensuring that the teaching and learning activities align closely with the learners’ real-life experiences and needs. This collaborative approach enhances the relevance and authenticity of the route designs and fosters a sense of shared learning within the class.
Teaching implementation
When the route is designed, teachers can implement GAT with their learners; this can happen in small groups of between one and four students. The route taken during GAT can yield many learn- ing opportunities from the linguistic landscape environment. The teacher can draw learners’ atten- tion to road signs and written information found along the route as these can serve as valuable learning materials (see Figures 3 and 4). This not only facilitates contextualised vocabulary acqui- sition but also encourages learners to notice information that they may otherwise typically overlook in their daily lives.
During the GAT of the route that we implemented, learners in the class acknowledged their ten- dency to disregard written information in their environment, perceiving it as irrelevant. To address this, we planned spontaneous tasks that required students to read and display their understanding of information in the go-along environment. For instance, during the go-along, the teacher referred to the signs in Figures 3 and 4, and asked learners to identify the appropriate action to be taken when seeing a ‘Watch for vehicles’ sign or the opening hours of the mall on Mondays. Such mini tasks should be devised in situ, as the teacher usually does not know in advance what learning opportunities will arise from the linguistic landscape en route.
Planned tasks should be incorporated into the route design and these can be assigned to learners at different venues visited along the route. In our GAT practice, one of the go-along routes included
Figure 3. A directive road sign. Figure 4. Information for customers on shop door.
venues such as a bank, a chemist, a supermarket, and various shops. We assigned the learners a task specific to a particular venue. The tasks included conducting banking transactions at an ATM, selecting necessary medicine at the chemist, making purchases at the supermarket, or finding a par- ticular product in a store. We conceptualised the tasks so they would involve social interaction and the processing of information (written or aural), and an objective relevant to the learners’ daily lives.
For instance, we assigned learners the task of withdrawing or depositing money using the ATM.
This required learners to comprehend the instructions displayed on the ATM screen (see Figure 5), which they initially struggled with. Although learners needed teacher guidance to undertake the transaction, the experience served as a guided rehearsal for future instances where they would need to use an ATM independently.
This task inevitably involved concerns of personal safety and confidentiality, and we integrated into this task a review of safety concerns related to ATM use. As part of the task procedure, we required participants to first check that no one was standing close to them and to cover the keypad with their hand. This information is also provided (in shortened form) by the ATM machine itself. In class, when reviewing the ATM procedure, we would also activate students’ prior knowledge of using ATMs in their home country, and the safety issues that they considered in that context. This was used to reinforce the importance of continuing with the same safety considerations in their current context.
In addition to the aforementioned task which has a strong procedural element, other tasks pri- marily involve verbal communication. Verbal tasks typically occur at venues where learners (in their role as potential customers) need to seek clarification about products. For instance, at venues selling clothing and footwear, tasks can entail asking about sizes, colours, and the availability of a changing room or mirror. For one GAT practice to a shopping mall, we prepared participants to approach a retail assistant and request information by following a structured pattern previously imparted in class: drawing attention (excuse me), formulating requests (Could you please tell me
… ), and expressing appreciation (thank you).
It is important to note that while undertaking tasks, unexpected events may require learners to respond spontaneously, and these may present additional linguistic challenges. For instance, during a visit to the bank, one learner encountered a situation where her card was retained by the ATM (see Figure 6). In this circumstance, we encouraged the learner to refer to the relevant script for request- ing assistance and to approach the bank assistant. The teacher and the entire class accompanied the learner during the interaction and observed how the learner and the bank assistant conversed. This collective experience allowed all students to experience the situation albeit vicariously. The learner was required to provide her personal information (ie., name and address), upon the bank assistant’s
Figure 5. Options on an ATM screen. Figure 6. An unexpected event at the ATM.
request, which offered an opportunity for learners to practice writing skills pertinent to their needs.
In this manner, the unexpected event provided an opportunity for the learner to test (and develop) their coping strategies and interaction skills, abilities that can be transferred to other real-life situations.
Observation and member-checking
During the implementation of GAT, it is imperative that the teacher undertake close observation of learners and conduct member-checking; these are essential components of the GAT teaching pro- cess. Teachers should closely observe learners’ reactions and performance as they engage in the assigned tasks, taking note of their progress, challenges, and the language points that require further attention. Photographs of written materials encountered during the go-along routes can be used in follow-up classroom teaching (explained further in section 5.5). Teachers should also take notes of unexpected events that occur at venues and during tasks, including how the learners react and the questions and responses of the interlocutors. This enables teachers to analyze the communicative event and, where needed, identify teachable strategies so that learners can better approach similar situations in the future. This documentation can also serve to develop communicative tasks (or materials) for the classroom, which are based on real-life experiences in the community.
During our GAT practice, our observations centred on the manner in which learners executed assigned tasks, with a primary emphasis on identifying areas of difficulty, evaluating learners’ per- formance, and recognising potential areas for improvement. For instance, we identified two unex- pected difficulties: the ATM retaining the learner’s card (as previously reported), and a case of unsuccessful electronic payment at a restaurant.
The member-checking component of GAT serves as a form of brief informal interview (Harvey 2015), whereby teachers verify their observations with learners and elicit learners’ feedback on their experiences. Teachers interact with learners during the walk, checking their perspectives on the tasks, and identifying the difficulties encountered, areas of weakness, and connections to similar tasks or situations. For instance, during one of our GAT routes learners had problems recognising known words when written in capitals (such as the words in Figure 7) and failed to complete the unplanned task of reading the sign. Upon conducting member-checking, we learned that learners perceived words in uppercase letters as challenging to read. In response to this feedback, we reinforced the focus on recognising capital letters in subsequent teaching sessions. These in situ interviews provide valuable insights into learners’ perceptions of GAT and their learning experi- ences and, together with the teachers’ observation notes, can help teachers to make informed decisions regarding the design and implementation of subsequent GAT. With these different forms of feedback, teachers can refine the route design, task assignments, and instructional pro- cedures in order to better meet the needs of the learners and to enhance their language learning outcomes, and their confidence in undertaking real-life tasks.
Documentation and follow-up teaching
Where feasible, teachers should document the go-along by compiling the materials encountered en route. These materials encompass a wide range of elements, such as written information, photo- graphs, unexpected events, dialogues, personal notes, learners’ feedback, and reflective obser- vations. This documentation becomes a resource file that can support the design of materials for follow-up classroom teaching post-GAT (e.g. a review of key language, or role-playing with scripts typical for specific venues and tasks), and for pre-GAT warm-up materials to use with subsequent student groups. In our case, the materials we compiled were used to develop additional venue- and task-specific scripts. These scripts served as teaching materials for learners to review.
Due to the cognitive and physical challenges older learners often encounter, such as reduced working memory, slower processing time and other age-related issues (Weintraub 2022), learners
benefit more from GAT if they are adequately prepared for the learning experience, and they have opportunities for multiple reviews of the key language in post-GAT debrief sessions and follow-up classroom teaching. In feedback elicited from the participants in this study, some participants requested additional regular reinforcement of learning content to boost their confidence in their ability to undertake the tasks independently.
Learner assessment
Teachers can assess learners’ learning progress after a post-GAT interval of several weeks. The assessment can occur in class (e.g. using role play in simulated scenarios, and listening exercises, or written language-focused exercises) using the aforementioned documentation resources to develop materials, or it can involve re-walking the route or re-doing the tasks with the teacher accompanying learners to evaluate their task performance.
In our class, learners were assessed in both ways. Drawing on the principles of SLT and TBLT, we created role-play tasks linked to specific venues, informed by the materials collected during the GAT. We also created language-focused tasks based on these materials. For instance, we presented images depicting each step of the ATM procedure and asked learners to make choices for each step to reach a particular objective (e.g. check the account balance).
We also assessed learners by re-waking the route. We repeated the same route at least twice with an interval of two weeks, providing feedback after each performance. The routes involved different venues (bank, shopping centre, restaurant, community building) and a task at each venue. For instance, the first GAT involved a task at a bank which entailed learning the procedures of with- drawing, depositing, and checking balance on the ATM by recognising the words on the screen.
To assess participants, we re-walked this route and asked participants to complete the same banking tasks. Three learners successfully completed the task of using ATM for banking, while the remain- ing learner failed in the last step as she pressed ‘exit’ instead of ‘confirm.’ On the second repetition of the assessment, all learners were able to complete the ATM banking task independently. In later classes, two learners shared their successful experiences of independently withdrawing money from the ATM, which signalled that they were able to transfer the skills acquired during the course to their independent daily life.
Both in class and during GATs, we encouraged learner reflection and self-awareness. We gave homework tasks related to identifying scripts to perform particular tasks or identifying key words in the linguistic landscape of particular venues (e.g. push/pull; no dogs allowed), and for
Figure 7. Public signage with capital letters.
in-class discussion we encouraged learners to photograph language-related challenges in their social environment, and photograph instances of previously learned words in new contexts or different venues. For instance, during one GAT at a supermarket, the teacher introduced learners to the meaning of ‘sugar-free’ drinks. During a post-GAT in-class discussion, one learner shared her photograph of a sign which expressed a similar concept: ‘smokefree’ (see Figure 8). While two stu- dents recalled a similar lexical item at the supermarket and were able to transfer their knowledge, one student did not connect the meaning and interpreted the sign as ‘feel free to smoke.’ In a second follow-up discussion, a teacher presented the photo in Figure 9. This time, all learners understood the intended meaning of ‘free’. Having multiple in-class reflection opportunities helped learners to review and reinforce learning. Excerpts or examples from the local linguistic landscape can also be used in classroom teaching materials (or in homework exercises) to teach and reinforce particular lexemes or phrases, as described in Xie and Buckingham (2021).
Learner perceptions of GAT
We asked learners to complete an anonymous questionnaire (in Chinese) to enable us further insight into their experience. The questionnaire comprised seven questions about their level of sat- isfaction with the GAT course (multiple choice responses), and open-ended questions that asked them compare GAT to their previous experience of language learning in the classroom and inquired into the relevance of the content of the course for their everyday life. From their responses, we learned that all learners experienced a high level of satisfaction (very satisfied) with the course.
They recognised the advantages of GAT in that it integrates the language points into practical life domains to address daily language challenges, thereby motivating them to continue learning and confidently function in their social environment (as reported in Example 1). Additionally, they found that the situated learning experience (and the task repetition) helped them to memorise the learning contents and procedures and retrieve this information as required in when operating independently (see Example 2).
Example 1
Question: What do you think are the biggest advantages of GAT?
Learner: It can help us solve language problems in everyday functioning and it strengthens my ability to mem- orize words and phrases. That’s why it sparks my interest to keep on learning English. Because of this teaching, I’m more confident at finding my way around instead of just staying home.
Figure 8. A sign collected by a learner. Figure 9. A sign presented by the teacher.
Example 2
Question: In what way(s) did GAT help in your real life? Please give examples.
Learner: First, I can now do banking on the ATM. I didn’t learn this skill until I took the course. I didn’t dare do banking on the ATM because I was worried that I would get it wrong. If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to make myself understood. Second, now I can order food and check the bill. I used to struggle with remem- bering those words and failed. Third, I can read various kinds of information when I am shopping.
These examples of learners’ feedback showed that the personalised, experiential approach to learn- ing through GAT strengthened learners’ confidence in their ability to notice, learn and use the basic language needed for everyday social functioning. The approach provided learners with a model for continuous learning in their immediate environment, and most learners mentioned instances in which they had transferred the practical language skills and abilities they had acquired to cope with the communicative demands of everyday errands and routine social interaction.
Discussion and conclusion
Older migrants with low proficiency in English need to be able to operate independently in their everyday life routines. In this study, we proposed a pedagogical approach, GAT, which builds on TBLT and SLT. To date, TBLT and SLT primarily simulate life-like scenarios for classroom- based learning. GAT transcends the focus hitherto on invented scenarios and classroom settings by facilitating language learning in real-life contexts. In his analysis of the learning motivation of older language learners, Derenowski (2021) highlighted the preference for topics and activities rel- evant to everyday life, and the need for teachers to adequately scaffold their teaching approach to cater to the possible cognitive, sensory, psychomotor and mobility challenges that older learners commonly experience (Derenowski 2018).
The GAT curriculum we outline here aligns with recommendations for good practice in older adult learning, as described in Formosa (2014, 15), in that it functions as a ‘channel for social participation and involvement’ and has the objective of enabling older migrants to experience a level of independence and self-confidence in fulfilling their daily needs. Prior to this course, some learners had tended towards a self-imposed reclusive lifestyle, due to their previous lack of knowledge about their environment and low self-confidence. By gaining familiarity with venue-specific scripts, and the language involved in certain procedures, learners were able to view themselves as participants in social life, rather than merely observers. The subsequent requirement for learners to engage in real-life tasks in which these scripts are likely to occur meant that learners naturally tested their resourcefulness (with teacher guidance) in adapting the script to the evolving event.
Our findings from the post-teaching interviews show that the GAT curriculum enabled learners to develop and exercise personal agency. In second language acquisition, agency refers to an indi- vidual’s will and capacity to act (Gao 2010). Effective language learning depends on learners’ aware- ness of themselves as active agents, capable of exerting influence on and of shaping their own language learning experiences (Bown 2009, 580).
In both preparing learners in class and rehearsing tasks in learners’ real-life social environment, the GAT curriculum catered to the two dimensions of agency described by Mercer (2012): learners’
sense of agency and their agentic behaviour. In the preparatory classroom teaching sessions, lear- ners confirmed that they were able to able to undertake particular tasks (i.e. they expressed a sense of agency), and in attending the GAT sessions and performing the tasks at particular venues, they exercised agency. In the interviews, learners referred to their increased confidence in undertaking daily social tasks, and their increased willingness to leave the house to engage with their surround- ing physical and social environment. Overall, we view the GAT approach with older migrants as contributing to reducing their social isolation and enabling them to experience a growing sense of placed-based belonging.
The use of the first language (L1) is important for older learners in GAT. This accords with rec- ommendations by Derenowski (2021) to make judicious use of the L1 (and visual aids) to assist comprehension and support learner confidence. The use of the L1 is justified not only by the lear- ners’ low level of proficiency, but also because it provides additional support to learners whose cog- nitive and sensory abilities are declining, and who often experience low confidence in their ability to learn. The use of the L1 during GAT and GAT-related activities was particularly useful for the com- prehension of lexical items and task procedures, and when negotiating GAT routes and venues. We believe strategic L1 use aided learners’ memory and recall and bolstered their confidence in being able to undertake GAT tasks. Teacher guidance (and judicious L1 use) during learners’ in situ per- formance of tasks served as scaffolding to ensure that linguistic and conceptual challenges did not dissuade learners from continuing (and completing) the specific task.
Drawing on this empirical work, we offer five recommendations for future GAT-based course development. First, it is advisable to maintain a relatively small class size to ensure manageable instruction and provide learners with ample opportunities for task practice. This resonates with Derenowski’s (2021) experience that older language learners are more active when groups are no larger than six. This method could also conceivably be implemented as a one-on-one tutoring arrangement and could also involve family or community members in the role of tutor. Derenowski (2018) also notes that older learners often appreciate teachers of their own age group, which aligns with Formosa’s (2014, 16) recommendation of learning opportunities ‘for older people by older people.’
Second, learners should possess a basic level of English proficiency as a prerequisite to participate in GAT; it is not suitable for absolute beginners.
Third, we acknowledge that establishing a GAT curriculum will require an initial investment of time to develop routes, tasks and teaching materials based on authentic resources from the local environment. However, as we discussed previously, older learners require (and desire) repetition of teaching content (see also Derenowski 2021), and once prepared, materials and tasks can (and should be) reviewed on multiple occasions to address the memory-related challenges commonly experienced by older learners.
Fourth, teachers should actively encourage learners to participate in social events and explore various social domains (and provide suitable examples of such opportunities) to alleviate social iso- lation, as socially isolated learners may display lower motivation for outdoor learning engage- ment. By participating in the social environment, learners can generate materials for learning from their own social context that can be used in experience-sharing activities in class. For example, Xu and Buckingham (2024) describe how during the enforced social isolation of a Covid-19 lock- down, older Chinese ESL learners captured and shared photographs of meaningful or newly- encountered written information from signs and products (related to Covid-19 behavioural direc- tives) to facilitate further learning and discussion. In the current study, learners also brought to class for discussion examples of venue- or task-specific scripts that had varied from the previously taught examples. We believe that the act of noting down the script that the learner experienced contributed to their ability to understand and (later) recall the script.
We acknowledge several limitations in this study. The GAT course presented here benefited from having a small number of learners. Future courses implementing GAT with older learners may need to explore how to adapt the recommendations in this study to a larger class size. Second, we acknowledge that the GAT approach is likely to suit learners with a higher level of individual agency. The learners in this study were people who sought to lead an active lifestyle and who were prepared (and able) to undertake measures to avoid social isolation which included partici- pation in a formal learning context. Not all older migrant language learners possess this level of individual agency and not all older learners wish (or are able) to participate in institutionalised learning (see Findsen and Formosa 2011, 125).
Finally, we acknowledge that this teaching experience was facilitated by the fact that the teacher and the learners shared the same language. In linguistically heterogeneous classes, the progress may
be slower (with additional in-class preparation needed), and the teacher might need (on occasion) to use a mobile phone translation app to ensure that students understand and implement the tasks appropriately.
Notes
1. Small class sizes were typical with courses for older learners
2. We obtained ethics approval for this study (UAHPEC22854). All participants provided informed written consent.
3. NZCEL system has nine levels: Foundation, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 General, Level 3 Applied, Level 4 Aca- demic, Level 4 General, Level 4 Employment, and Level 5 Academic (New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2019).
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the Asian Migrant Foundation (a pseudonym for the teaching institution that appeared in this study) and their staff members for their support of this study. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This paper is supported by the funding Yingqiu Chen received from the China Scholarship Council (CSC NO.
202009350026).
ORCID
Yingqiu Chen http://orcid.org/0009-0006-2748-684X Louisa Buckingham http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9423-0664
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