A selection of Australian TESOL resources
Resources
ACTA is the national professional body representing teachers of English to speakers of other languages in Australia. Our website provides links to resources for EAL/D in all sectors, many of which ACTA has contributed to creating.
EAL/D Elaborations of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
Education authorities around the country are now expecting teachers to plan professional learning, carry out performance management and apply for re-registration using the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). This is a generic document for teachers in any setting, and consequently needs some interpretation to appreciate its implications when working with learners of English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D).
Interpretation is now available in the EAL/D Elaborations, produced by the Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA) in consultation with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). AITSL acknowledges the work and expertise ACTA has provided in producing this document to support teachers working in EAL/D settings. The EAL/D Elaborations have direct relevance for all such teachers, not just those in EAL/D (or ESL) positions.
There is a full version and a short version of the EAL/D Elaborations. The full version provides a range of ideas and guidance for working with EAL/D learners; the short version provides just a single elaboration for each of the Focus Area Descriptors, and is useful mainly as an introductory tool for people who are not yet very familiar with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
- EAL/D Elaborations (Overview) - PDF 58 Kb
- EAL/D Elaborations (Short version) - PDF 1.52 Mb
- EAL/D Elaborations (Full version) - PDF 1.57 Mb
Feedback from trialling shows that people are finding the EAL/D Elaborations very useful in a variety of ways, including for:
- reflecting on and improving their teaching and support of EAL/D learners
- planning whole school and individual professional learning,
- performance management
- job applications
- making staff selections.
TESOL Resources
Early Childhood Sector
The VicTESOL Early Childhood Education Series focuses on growing and strengthening the development of bi/multilingual children.
It engages with key Australian early childhood documents. These include
- Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)
- Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF)
- Supporting Bilingualism, Multilingualism and Language Learning in the Early Years.
You can read more about this series at the VicTESOL web site.
School Sector
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) EAL/D Teacher Resource
ACARA has developed the English as an Additional Language or Dialect Teacher Resource to support teachers as they develop teaching and learning programs in the Australian Curriculum: Foundation to Year 10 with EAL/D students.
The EAL/D Teacher Resource includes several related publications:
- EAL/D Overview and Advice
- EAL/D Learning Progression
- EAL/D annotated content descriptions:
- English Foundation to Year 10
- Mathematics Foundation to Year 10
- Science Foundation to Year 10
- History Foundation to Year 10
The EAL/D Teacher Resource has been developed to:
- advise teachers about areas of the Australian Curriculum that EAL/D students may find challenging and why
- assist classroom teachers to identify where their EAL/D students are broadly positioned on a progression of English language learning
- help teachers understand students’ cultural and linguistic diversity and how this diversity can be used in the classroom
- provide examples of teaching strategies supportive of EAL/D students
- complement existing state and territory resources for teaching EAL/D
- provide an overview for teachers who may not have specialist training in the area of EAL/D or access to specialist EAL/D teachers.
The ACARA Meeting the Needs of Students for whom English is an Additional Language or Dialect page also includes resources on:
- Who are EAL/D students?
- Personalised learning
- General capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities
- English as an additional language or dialect references
- Illustration of Practice
Grammar Online: Levels of Delicacy - Association of Independent Schools of NSW
This self-paced online course was developed in order to support teachers in both learning about grammar themselves and learning about teaching it. While developed initially for the NSW context, there are clear links to the Australian Curriculum and to wider English language-learning contexts. Links to other sites give teachers an opportunity to brush up on identifying simple language features, and well as more complex aspects. The course is accredited with the NSW Institute of teachers.
Scan is a peer-refereed online journal offering articles about quality learning, teaching ideas, research and emerging trends. This edition features some wonderful writers in the field of EAL/D!
Language and Literacy Levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students - South Australia
The Language and Literacy Levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students describes the development of Standard Australian English required to meet the increasing demands of the Australian Curriculum across the years of schooling from Foundation (Reception) to Year 10.
The TEAL project is an online resource for teachers of primary and secondary level students who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Australia. It brings together a range of tools and advice for the assessment and reporting of the English language proficiency and progress of students within an ‘assessment for learning’ framework.
VicTESOL offers web site visitors a teaching resource developed by Kimberley Smith, Blackburn English Language School, in collaboration with Julie Choi, Senior Lecturer in Education (Additional Languages) in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.
- The Language Portraits task provides learners with opportunites to explore and communicate their linguistic identities and language practices, as well as the role these play in shaping their experiences as language learners.
The VicTESOL Teaching and Learning Cycle project was launched in 2018. VicTESOL co-ordinated the project with the support of Emeritus Professor Beverly Derewianka, an expert in EAL and mainstream language education and literacy. A group of EAL educators from a range of educational settings across Victoria were brought together to work with Beverly Derewianka on the Teaching and Learning cycle. The EAL educators took their new learnings back to their schools creating and implementing a Unit of Work relevant to their specific context.
https://victesol.vic.edu.au/teaching-and-learning-cycle-project
ATESOL NSW presents a selection of activities for teachers of primary EAL learners.
Although Parts 3 to 10 require a log in (i.e. if you are in NSW, your membership login), Parts 1 and 2 are a available to all!
Read more about the primary drama activities here!
The new and enhanced ATESOL NT web site is well worth visiting.
It includes resources galore, and professional reading galore! Many of the offerings are free (with only webinars etc restricted to ATESOL NT members).
Looking for some First Nations texts for use in the classroom?
Click here to read Reading Australia's list of suggested texts.
Adult Sector
The ACSF is a tool which assists both specialist and non-specialist English language, literacy and numeracy practitioners describe an individual’s performance in the five core skills of learning, reading, writing, oral communication and numeracy. The ACSF is used in the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) and the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program.
The EAL Framework of adult EAL certificates is an accredited curriculum designed to be used to develop English language skills of adult learners of English as an additional language. It was developed in Victoria. It has 10 certificates across all levels beginner to advanced and in three streams: Access, Further Study & Employment.
The previous curriculum can be downloaded here: Victorian EAL Framework (accredited for the period: January 1 2019 to December 31 2023).
Additional information about the framework can be found at the VicTESOL web site, in the EAL Roadshow.
AMEP helps eligible migrants learn English so they can participate socially and economically in Australia.
AMEP Online offers online English learning resources for the Adult Migrant English Program.
The Macquarie University task bank for AMEP is no longer online. However, this wonderful treasure trove can still be accessed via the Way Back Machine.
Click here to access an old version of the site. It's still worth visiting!
The page includes links to
ACTA Adult ESOL Interest Group: Professional Conversations Facebook Group
An interest group of the Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA) for professional conversations about teaching English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) to adult learners.
Start or join a conversation about issues that are important to you and your learners. Suggest ways of improving teaching and learning. Highlight resources and professional development activities that have been beneficial.
The Learn English web site features short texts and videos for adult learners.
Clare Harris lists free EAL resources for the adult sector in Englishy Things.
Teacher Education Sector
The AITSL web site provides several EAL/D professional development resources. These resources were developed by our ACTA colleagues in SA and WA.
- Dictogloss for EAL/D students
- Joint Planning for EALD Learners
- ANZAC Day
- EAL/D Reading Strategies
- Student Engagement
- Literacy teaching strategies
- The no-language method
- Sentence structure
- Engaging parents and carers
- Selecting resources
- Engaging students in literature
You can search other Illustrations of Practice using EAL/D as the keyword: https://www.aitsl.edu.au/tools-resources
Research into Practice Conversations
The Foundation for Learning and Literacy has collaborated with the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association, the Primary English Teachers Association Australia, and the Australian Council of TESOL Associations to bring our combined membership, friends, and broader audiences this series of videos that create a space for professional conversations between teachers, school leaders and researchers. Each video demonstrates the high levels of professionalism of our teachers and their commitment to draw on contemporary, valid, rigorously conducted and school-tested research to inform their judgements when targeting their teaching to support all children and young people they work with. The important partnership between those in the classroom and those conducting and drawing together the research is highlighted.
Episode 1
Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA)
Title: Inquiry into teaching spelling
Background: Two teachers at Unley Primary School researched a meaning-based approach to teaching spelling through structured inquiry informed by the work of Peter Bowers, Christine Topfer and Misty Adoniou. The evidence-based approach to teaching spelling has now been adopted across the whole school through a process of practitioner inquiry and sharing good practice.
Researcher mentor: Dr Jill Colton, University of South Australia
Teacher researchers: Amy Reid and Tam Jarowyj, Unley Primary School
Guest Researcher: Lyn Wilkinson, Flinders University (retired)
The following are some FFLL resources linked to this conversation:
Episode 2
Foundation for Learning and Literacy (FFLL)
Title: Teaching Writing- High Expectations in the Early Years Classroom
Part 1- Leading Change
Part 2- Implementing Change - The work in the classroom
Background: Associate Professor Misty Adoniou has been working with teachers and leaders at Strathmore North Primary School in Melbourne for 3 years around a focus on improving student’s writing. In these two videos she firstly chats with Assistant Principal Clare Spillane about the strategic planning the leadership team has undertaken to manage the change and improvement process each year and how the staff have been supported and empowered through targeted professional learning and year level PLCs to collaboratively work with new strategies.
In the second video, Misty chats with classroom teacher Emily Dropuljic about the shifts in student writing outcomes that have been achieved using high expectation, high support strategies and quality literature.
Researcher: Associate Professor Misty Adoniou - Adjunct, University of Canberra, Principal Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Teacher: Emily Dropuljic
School Leader: Clare Spillane
Part 1 - Leading Change
Part 2 - Implementing Change - The work in the classroom
The following FFLL resources on Writing support the conversations in these videos:
Episode 3
Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA)
Title: Literacy for climate change science
Background: What happens when you focus as much on the language, as the science of climate change? In this interview, year 6/7 teachers, Michael Cannavan and Louise Kelly talk about working with PETAA researchers to teach students the technical language needed to explain the enhanced greenhouse effect. Understanding the greenhouse effect and how human activity contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect, is central to understanding climate change. Louise and Michael discuss how they strategically develop the language students need to talk and write about what’s happening in the atmosphere and how that’s warming our planet. The discussion highlights the language and literacy demands of the primary science curriculum.
Researcher mentors: Ms Julie Hayes and Dr Bronwyn Parkin PETAA
Teacher researchers: Michael Cannavan and Louise Kelly, Cowandilla Primary School
The following is an FFLL resource linked to this conversation:
Episode 4
Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA)
Title: Learning through languages: Plurilingual pedagogy in the English classroom
Background: The research project developed resources and a professional learning program in order to create capacity for primary school teachers to implement the plurilingual strand of the new EAL curriculum in Victoria. The resources and professional learning were designed to align with the English curriculum. The project supported the learning of a range of students in diverse classrooms ‒ including EAL students and students proficient in English. The approach taken also supported teachers’ and students’ use of digital technologies and literacies. The professional experience teachers brought from different teaching and learning contexts was invaluable in making this initiative a success. In the project, student and teacher engagement was investigated through lesson documentation, teachers’ written reflections, group discussions, students’ work samples and interviews. The project was funded by the Department of Education and Training, Victoria.
Research Team: Dr Marianne Turner, Dr. Anne Keary and Dr. Katrina Tour
Teachers: Michelle Andrews, Dan Thomas, Ryoki Fukaya and Hien Webb
All Sectors
Chat GPT
VicTESOL has published some videos on how EAL teachers can use Chatp GPT to support EAL teaching and planning.
ACARA Resource
ACARA has produced a new resource for teachers, to help teachers to help students to understand AI.
Foundation House, the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture, provides a wealth of resources of great value beyond Victoria.
Their web site includes information on supporting refugees:
There is also an extensive list of publications and resources.
VicTESOL conducted some professional learning on Teaching EALD through the Arts in March 2023.
The facilitators were Jodie Whitehurst, Sally Smith and Carmel Davies.
Their resources can be found on the VicTESOL web site.
Professional Associations
National and International
ACTA has links with the following associations:
- Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) - a national, not-for-profit professional association supporting primary school educators in the teaching and learning of English and literacies across the curriculum.
- The Applied Linguistics Association of Australia - The Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) is the national organisation for applied linguistics in Australia. ALAA aims to provide leadership in applied linguistics and supports the development of teaching, learning and research in the field. ACTA partners with ALAA in awarding the Penny McKay Memorial Award. ALAA's journal Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (ARAL) is available online by subscription.
- The Association for Language Assessment of Australia and New Zealand The purpose of the Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) is to promote best practice in language assessment in educational and professional settings in these two countries and to foster collaboration between academia, schools and other agencies responsible for language testing or assessment. ALAANZ publishes an open access journal -Studies in Language Assessment.
- The Australian Council for Adult Literacy advocates for adult literacy and numeracy policies and practices.
- The Australian Association for Academic Language and Learning (AALL) is a professional association committed to representing and supporting tertiary academic language and learning educators in Australia, and others with an active interest in the field.
- The Foundation for Learning and Literacy provides evidence, support and expertise about literacy learning for teachers, parents and policy makers.
ACTA is affiliated with two global professional associations, TESOL International and IATEFL.
Membership of your state or territory association also means that you are part of ACTA, an affiliate organisation of two global professional associations, TESOL International and IATEFL.
See the Affiliations page for details
New to TESOL
ACTA receives many enquiries from people who are thinking of becoming ESL teachers and who want to know what employment opportunities there are and what TESOL training courses they should undertake. The following links are suggested starting points.
Please note ACTA does not endorse any particular course or provide employment in TESOL.
Teaching in Australia
- Careers in TESOL - VicTESOL's FAQs
- WATESOL FAQS - from Western Australia
- TESOL Education and Employment in the ACT - from ATESOL ACT
- Frequently Asked Questions about TESOL - from QATESOL
Teaching Internationally
- Beginning a career in TESOL - from the TESOL International website
TESOL Journals
- TESOL in Context
TESOL in Context is the publication of the Australian Council for TESOL Associations (ACTA) for teachers, researchers and others interested in TESOL in Australia and internationally. Normally, two issues are produced each year. - The Australian Review of Applied Linguistics is the preeminent journal of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA). ARAL is a peer reviewed journal that promotes scholarly discussion and contemporary understandings of language-related matters with a view to impacting on real-world problems and debates.
- Studies in Language Assessment (SiLA)
An international journal of the Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand. - Literacy and Numeracy Studies: An international journal in the education and training of adults
Contains articles on adult language, literacy and numeracy in Australia. Available by free subscription through an open source access journal available online. Register and you can access all articles. Includes articles on adult migrant and indigenous learners of English as an additional language. - English Australia Journal
A professional journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, specifically to international students, within and outside Australia. - Journal of Academic Language and Learning
A peer-reviewed scholarly journal which is devoted to the interests of educators who provide academic language and learning development to students and staff in tertiary education settings - from the Australian Association for Academic Language and Learning (AALL).
Migrant and Refugee Associations
These are external links to organisations advocating for and providing services to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Australia.
- Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) is the national umbrella body for refugees and people seeking asylum and those who support them. We have around 200 organisational and over 1,000 individual members. We are a nonprofit organisation which is completely independent of government. You can help us keep fighting for refugees and people seeking asylum by becoming a member, donating, volunteering or taking part in our campaigns.
- Refugee Education Special Interest Group is a group of people from the community, higher education, vocational education and school sectors who have an interest in supporting educational opportunities for students from refugee backgrounds.
- Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (Victoria) (ASRC) is an independent not-for-profit organisation, whose programs support and empower people seeking asylum to maximise their own physical, mental and social well being. As a movement, we mobilise and unite communities to create lasting social and policy change for people seeking asylum in Australia. On the ground programs are in Melbourne.
- United National High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.
- Amnesty International advocates for refugees and asylum seekers, including championing solutions to increase Australia’s humanitarian intake, end offshore detention and bring refugees to safety.
- Red Cross provides help and support to refugees, people seeking asylum, people in immigration detention and other people who are vulnerable as a result of migration.
- Settlement Council of Australia (SCoA) is the national peak body for settlement. SCoA is a network of settlement service providers with an aim to create a cohesive voice to improve collaborative strategic planning processes.
- Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) provides up to 510 hours of English language tuition to eligible migrants and humanitarian entrants to help them learn foundation English language and settlement skills to enable them to participate socially and economically in Australian society.
- Australian Refugee Association (South Australia) supports newly arrived communities and individuals, empowering them to participate actively in all aspects of life in Australia.