Misconceptions about pupils who use English as an Additional Language (EAL) are widespread and enduring. In England, there are more than 1.6 million EAL pupils in primary and secondary schools. Much discussion focuses on EAL learners as one homogenous group, but behind the headlines of “average statistics” lies a huge level of complexity.
“EAL learners” include pupils ranging from British citizens who may speak another language at home (i.e., advanced bilingual learners) to newly arrived EAL learners with little or no prior knowledge of speaking English.
Making assumptions based on averages can be misleading, verging on meaningless. We know that English proficiency explains up to 22% of the variation in EAL pupils’ achievement. Aggregate data, however, masks the considerable variation in performance within this group of learners.
As we head into another school year, we have curated five simple but effective things you can do to support all EAL learners in your school.
