EAL

In designing this MESHGuide for EAL the authors drew on the thinking and feedback of teachers and learning support assistants (LSAs) in schools where numbers of EAL pupils were relatively low but where practice for EAL was recognised as well-informed by Hampshire EMTAS. The process of design involved the teachers in trialling aspects of the guide as part of the their active practice with their EAL learners; the resulting action research projects form the case studies in this section.

It is important that schools find ways to proactively acknowledge and celebrate the languages spoken by pupils and staff alike; this helps to create an ethos whereby multilingualism is valued and pupils/parents feel more included. This will enhance a sense of school belonging and opportunities for greater cross-cultural understanding.  In keeping with this, the print environment, including the stock of books in the library, should reflect the linguistic diversity of the school community.

‘The physical environment plays an important role in how valued children from diverse backgrounds feel in school. Children are more likely to feel valued and develop a sense of belonging when their ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic background is reflected positively in the displays in their classroom and around the school.’  DfES (2006) 

Ideas for making the school and classroom environment more inclusive:

Practitioners may notice that pupils for whom English is an additional language may continue to make grammatical errors in their written English long after they have achieved conversational fluency in English. 

In planning for multilingual learners it is important to pre-identify the language demands of any task you are setting in relation to a given learning objective. This is the same for children at any level of English proficiency and might relate to specific vocabulary, to particular concepts or to unfamiliar expression (idiomatic or technical phrases). The difficulties might relate to the need to understand spoken or written language and to the need to use spoken or written language.

In conjunction with this section, you will find it helpful to read the sections on both Spoken English development and Reading because the development of each of these areas is crucial to successful writing in English for EAL learners. 

The numbers of multilingual learners and the range of languages spoken in UK schools have risen substantially in the past 15 – 20 years. In England, in 2023, 22% of primary and 18% of secondary pupils have EAL, meaning that at least one in five pupils is multilingual. However, their language learning backgrounds are by no means the same; in fact this group is extremely heterogeneous.   

It is generally accepted among researchers that a first language is ‘developed’ while a second or subsequent language is ‘acquired’. This would be different for children who are raised by parents with two languages and who develop full bilingualism in two languages from birth. However, for most practitioners using this guide we assume that the pupils with whom they are working are acquiring English, or other target language, while at school. There are a number of different theories related to second language acquisition, and we acknowledge that there is some disagreement in this field.

Adesope, O., Lavin, T., Thompson, T., & Ungerleider, C. (2010). A Systematic Review and MetaAnalysis of the Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 207 - 245

August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006) Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on language-minority children and youth, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Baker, C (2011) Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Birmingham

Accessible technology to support bilingualism, speaking listening, reading/viewing and writing 

Harnessing the power of technology. Technology Enhanced Learning, Pim, C. NALDIC Journal. Spring 2020. 

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