ABSTRACT

Students from refugee background enter Australian schools to pursue their educational goal. Though most do well academically, a few encounter educational difficulties and struggle to acquire English language. An exploratory qualitative case study approach was used to investigate factors contributing to poor development of English language and academic progress and challenges associated with the assessment process. Samir, a 14 year old grade nine student from Syria, who has resettled in Australia took part in the study. The method involved generating hypotheses and collecting data from multiple sources. Samir, his teachers and parents were interviewed. A battery consisting of a receptive vocabulary screener, verbal and non-verbal cognitive tests and a phonological processing measure, was administered. Results indicated that Samir had an average nonverbal cognitive ability and emerged as a socially skilled student with good English language conversational skills. Nevertheless, he lacked academic-level English skills and had difficulties learning this language due to multiple factors, including a possible underlying Developmental Language difficulty and/or Specific Learning Disorder. These difficulties coupled with underlying stress led him to disengage with his studies, resulting in poor academic performance. The findings highlighted challenges associated with the assessment of a student with cultural and language barriers. Potential options for flexible assessment and teaching are discussed.

摘要

来自难民背景的学生进入澳大利亚学校追求他们的教育目标。尽管大多数人在学业上表现良好，但也有少数人遇到教育困难并努力学习英语。使用探索性的定性案例研究方法来调查导致英语语言发展不良和学术进步以及与评估过程相关的挑战的因素。来自叙利亚的 14 岁九年级学生 Samir 已在澳大利亚重新定居，他参与了这项研究。该方法涉及生成假设并从多个来源收集数据。萨米尔、他的老师和父母接受了采访。管理由接受性词汇筛选器、语言和非语言认知测试以及语音处理测量组成的电池组。结果表明，萨米尔具有平均的非语言认知能力，并成为具有良好英语语言会话技能的社交技能学生。然而，他缺乏学术水平的英语技能，并且由于多种因素（包括可能的潜在发展性语言困难和/或特定学习障碍）而难以学习这门语言。这些困难加上潜在的压力导致他脱离了学习，导致学习成绩不佳。调查结果突出了与评估具有文化和语言障碍的学生相关的挑战。讨论了灵活评估和教学的潜在选择。他缺乏学术水平的英语技能，并且由于多种因素（包括可能的潜在发展性语言困难和/或特定学习障碍）而难以学习这门语言。这些困难加上潜在的压力导致他脱离了学习，导致学习成绩不佳。调查结果突出了与评估具有文化和语言障碍的学生相关的挑战。讨论了灵活评估和教学的潜在选择。他缺乏学术水平的英语技能，并且由于多种因素（包括可能的潜在发展性语言困难和/或特定学习障碍）而难以学习这门语言。这些困难加上潜在的压力导致他脱离了学习，导致学习成绩不佳。调查结果突出了与评估具有文化和语言障碍的学生相关的挑战。讨论了灵活评估和教学的潜在选择。调查结果突出了与评估具有文化和语言障碍的学生相关的挑战。讨论了灵活评估和教学的潜在选择。调查结果突出了与评估具有文化和语言障碍的学生相关的挑战。讨论了灵活评估和教学的潜在选择。