WFRC #3: Why is this the most important and catalytic issue of learning for this group of learners this year?

Explain why you judge this to be the most important and catalytic issue of learning for this group of learners this year (In chemistry, a catalytic substance is one which increases the rate of reaction, but it also offers an alternate path for the reaction to follow).

As I mentioned in my previous post the struggle is real and ongoing for our learners who do not have the language acquisition and literacy skills needed to make sense of learning at our Year 7/8 level. Assessment results across the board identified that my target group were all achieving well below expected norms. A follow up discussion with these students highlighted the fact they were not able to unpack the language in the questions. Not having the language to be able to unpack the learning or unpack what a question is asking, in my opinion is the most catalytic issue facing these learners.

Image by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay