The effects of standards-based reforms on indigenous students’ access to english as a second language curriculum and opportunities to learn

The effects OF standards-based reforms to schooling on opportunities to learn for students from non-English speaking backgrounds are of current concern within a number of developed countries. Research into the ways in which standards-based reforms affect curriculum options and learning opportunities for English language learners (ELLs) is only just beginning. This qualitative study provides insight into how one instance of standards-based reform in the Northern Territory of Australia affected learning opportunities for Indigenous ELLs in the senior secondary years of schooling. Two methods of data collection were used. Analyses were made of the official curriculum that developed for ELLs during the reform process. Interviews were then conducted with educators within three schools in the Northern Territory as the reforms were implemented. The research reveals that standards-based reforms resulted in Indigenous ELLs being streamed into low-level general literacy subjects, rather than a specialised English as a Second Language (ESL) subject. The findings of this study suggest that attempts to improve the outcomes of schooling can limit rather than extend opportu­nities for English language learners (ELLs) to learn and achieve when the specialised needs of ELLs are not well understood and concerns about minimum literacy standards dominate reform processes.