Supporting early oral language skills for preschool ELL in an EFL context, Mauritius: possibilities and challenges

Abstract

In Mauritius, Kreol is the home language of the majority of school children, while English is the main language of literacy and the main written medium of instruction as from the first year of primary schooling. This has had a backwash effect on the preschool sector, where English is introduced. A cross-sectional study of local preschools revealed that while English number names are systematically taught, there is less planning in the teaching of general English vocabulary. This article reports on a comparative study of a ‘regular’ English preschool class and an Oral English Intervention Programme in two local preschools over 2005. The comparison between pre-test and post-test results showed that the children in both programmes improved significantly in receptive English vocabulary, with the experimental subjects unsurprisingly outperforming the ‘regular’ group. However, the implementation of the intervention programme revealed the many potential challenges of teaching English to pre-schoolers in an English-poor environment.

Keywords:

• multilingualism
• English vocabulary learning
• teaching methods

Notes on contributor

A Mooznah Auleear Owodally is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Mauritius. Her studies in Newcastle and Durham made her conscious of the wealth of her language and literacy experiences, and she became interested in the challenges Mauritian children face as they join school. This interest came home with the arrival of her daughters; she thus started a PhD with the University of Cape Town, investigating the emergent literacy practices of preschool children in multilingual Mauritius. After her PhD, she developed a keen interest in religious literacy practices in multi-religious Mauritius. Her publications relate mainly to these issues.

Notes

1. In PSA, there was a little girl, who could still not communicate in her first language, she sometimes could not control her bowel, and her teachers advised that she could not be taken on the outing without parental supervision because of her problems.