The current paper draws on the findings of two recent research
reports commissioned by the New Zealand Ministry of Education (Alton-Lee,
2003; Franken & McComish, 2003) in order to generate a synthesised
statement of characteristics of quality teaching for students for whom English
is not the first language (referred to from here as NESB students1) in New
Zealand schools. Alton-Lee (2003, see Ministry of Education website,
www.minedu.govt.nz) provides a synthesis of research-based evidence
addressing the nature of quality teaching in schooling for the full range of
diverse students. In this work, diversity encompasses “many characteristics
including ethnicity, socio-economic background, home language, gender,
special needs, disability, and giftedness” (Alton-Lee, 2003, p. v). Because her
synthesis addresses diversity in the student population, she focusses on what is
common to diverse students and thus does not specify particular conditions
that pertain to any one sub-group of diverse students. Franken and
McComish (2003) on the other hand, is a research report into the English
language support for NESB (Non English Speaking Background) students in
New Zealand schools. It includes a literature review of evidence-based
research into second language teaching and learning, particularly classroom
based research. It also reports on observations and analysis of practices in
New Zealand schools, and discusses how these documented practices relate to
the research findings from the literature.
