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Recent years has seen a concerted shift towards mainstreaming for ESL students in many school situations. This is arguably motivated by the perceived sociopolitical, psychological, pedagogical and academic needs of ESL students entering the schooling system.

Over the years, the placement of NESB learners into mainstream classrooms has significantly increased in Australian schools. Issues of social justice, educational equity and personal and social needs of the learner have taken precedence over more traditional views of the education system as a whole.

NESB learners often struggle with the dilemma of a strong desire for full immersion into mainstream classes, but not being adequately prepared for the language requirements of such a transition. At the secondary school where the research project will be undertaken most of the students in the ESL classes are highly motivated and extremely keen to enter the ‘mainstream’ as soon as possible. This may well be connected to the fact that significant fees are paid out by these student’s families for them to study overseas in an Australian high school. The longer that the students are in what they and perhaps their families perceive to be the “preparation” stage of ESL courses, the longer fees will have to be paid and students will take to graduate from an Australian secondary school. Staff whom have constant contact with these students often remark how competitive and impatient the NESB students are to be in the “real” or mainstream school.

As educational researchers such as Penton (Penton, 2002, CLESOL Conference) state, students from non-English speaking backgrounds are a large and significant group in high schools, and need to be adequately catered for. Penton advises that the issue is indeed of such importance and significance, that school-wide professional development programmes should be considered in order to improve the educational achievement of NESB students in mainstream classes.

Many schools are mainstreaming NESB students and expecting that these students will be able to cope with the usual curriculum across a broad range of subject areas. The subject English often proves particularly demanding for many NESB students at the senior level. As researchers such as Clegg (Clegg, 1996, p.3) point out, ESL learners have the ‘double burden of learning both curricular contents and the medium of instruction’ and the difficulties associated with culture shock, self-esteem and confidence.

A close study of the current Queensland English syllabus – (with its focus on critical literacy, extended writing and analysis of texts) highlights some of the possible problems a student from a non-English speaking background may encounter.

As researchers such as Davison (Davison, 1990, p.15-16) point out, these students are often struggling to decode the actual language or print in a text, struggling to read in English itself – and the added burden of then attempting to cope with the academic demands of the subject English can be overwhelming.

As more and more international students and their families are seeking an education here in Australia, the issue of providing them with a fair and positive learning experience is a highly significant one.
Context of the Investigation:

My study and research paper will be based on a secondary school located in a suburban area of the Go