Communities and forums
NATECLA volunteers facilitate a range of community spaces that you can get involved in for free. These communities are available to both members and non-members.
NATECLA members also have access to a new members area which includes a variety of online forums based on area, subject and need. To access this area LOG IN above.
Volunteers
We are starting a new community of volunteers working with ESOL learners. Perhaps you are fairly new to this role and would like to meet others in a similar situation to share experiences and ideas? Or you may have been volunteering for a long time. Or maybe you're a retired teacher of ESOL or another subject now working voluntarily? We would love for you to join our community to discuss topics that interest you, issues, ideas for training etc.
Please contact NATECLA if you are interested in finding out more.
Read more about resources for volunteer ESOL teachers (including the NATECLA Framework shown opposite).
Managers group
Some years ago, NATECLA set up an ESOL Managers’ Network to provide a forum for ESOL managers and coordinators to share ideas, seek assistance with queries and understand how policy and funding landscapes apply to ESOL provision within their respective jurisdictions and localities. As well as holding termly meetings, the Managers’ Network also has a WhatsApp group to facilitate ‘real time’ networking and peer-to-peer support and there’s a Padlet containing information and resources shared at previous Network meetings.
The ESOL Managers’ Network is open to NATECLA members (individual or institutional) with management or coordination role that involves ESOL and/or community languages provision. To join the mailing list and WhatsApp group, simply contact us.
ESOL research
Applied linguistics, as a research field, is wide-ranging and aims to inform the teaching and learning of languages on a global scale (Schmitt & Celce-Murcia, 2019), but the extent to which teachers engage with research remains low (Hall, 2023). This is particularly acute in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) sector, where relevant research is scarce (Plonsky, 2023) and it is therefore difficult for practitioners to find research they can use in their classrooms with forced and voluntary migrant students. Following the call by Borg (2010) for academics to facilitate forums where teachers are encouraged to engage in research and with researchers, the ‘ESOL Research Community’ was formed in 2021. This online group, run by Cathy Clarkson and Kathryn Sidaway, meets four times a year and provides a space for research to be shared in a variety of formats with teachers, teacher-researchers, academics, former service users and a range of other stakeholders. We particularly encourage ESOL practitioners to share their research in this space but also welcome talks from researchers working outside of the sector.
To join our mailing list, please email either kathryn.sidaway@beds.ac.uk or Cathy.clarkson2@hud.ac.uk
Information on our past and future events can be found on our Padlet.
References
Borg, S. (2010). Language teacher research engagement. Language Teaching, 43(4), 391-429. doi:10.1017/S0261444810000170
Hall, G. (2023). Teachers’ engagement with published research: how do teachers who read research navigate the field, what do they read, and why? British Council. Available online: doi.org/10.57884/B04W-E417
Plonsky, L. (2023). Sampling and generalizability in Lx research: A second-order synthesis. Languages, 8(1), 75.
Schmitt, N., & Celce-Murcia, M. (2019). An overview of applied linguistics. An introduction to applied linguistics, 1-16.
The images opposite show the annual Research Poster Exhibition which first took place in 2021 as part of the OTLA project. The exhibition is open to anyone who would like to share their work at the NATECLA National Conference. If you’re interested in exhibiting next year, contact Chloë FEtapestry@gmail.com.
The membership body for ESOL professionals working in the UK, Ireland and beyond.
