The Key for School Leaders Supporting pupils with EAL
Assessing & supporting EAL pupils
Kate O ’ Neill , Babcock Education ’ s EMTAS and EAL Advisory Teacher , offers guidance on assessing and supporting pupils with EAL .
What is EAL ?
The DfE ’ s definition of a pupil ’ s first language is described as any language other than English that a child was exposed to during early development and continues to be exposed to in the home or community . If a child was exposed to more than one language ( which may include English ) during early development , a language other than English should be recorded ( on the census ), irrespective of the child ’ s proficiency in English .
• Support more advanced EAL learners who are not yet fluent to reach their potential . The DfE has advised that teachers continue assessing EAL proficiency until a pupil is fluent . This means that those pupils who may plateau at level C could perform even better given the right kind of support . Ofsted has stated that “ The progress and attainment of all EAL pupils , including those who are advanced bilingual learners , should be closely monitored so they are doing as well as they can .”
There are 5 national EAL proficiency levels divided into 5 sections :
This includes :
• Newly arrived pupils whose first language is not English
• Pupils who have lived in the UK for a long time and may appear to be fluent , but who also use another language at home .
• Pupils who were born in the UK , but for whom the home language is not English
• Simultaneous bilinguals ( those learning 2 + languages from birth )
If parents write on their child ’ s admission form that the child speaks English as a first language , when it is clear that one or both of these parents is a speaker of another language , the child is very likely in fact to have EAL , and it will be necessary to check this .
Assessment and support
As well as assessing EAL learners within the curriculum , teachers need to monitor progress in EAL and set appropriate language learning targets .
Since October 2016 , schools have been required to enter EAL proficiency levels on the school census . This is good news , as using an EAL assessment framework can :
• Provide more accurate national data , giving us a more realistic measure of how much support schools need
• Guide teachers to focus also on the development of the language pupils need to access the curriculum
• Provide teachers with a baseline and assist with monitoring pupil progress
New to English
Early acquisition
Developing Competence
Competent
Teachers should select the “ best fit ”. However , the descriptors of each level are quite limited ; they don ’ t consider levels across the main language skills ( reading , writing , comprehension , speaking ), or the pupil ’ s age and background , or identify the next steps in learning .
Teachers should be using assessment frameworks to help measure a range of aspects of language proficiency relevant to the needs of our pupils with EAL . An effective assessment framework supports :
• Appropriate target setting
• Tracking and monitoring of progress
• Identification of strengths as well as needs
• Putting effective inclusive strategies in place
• Making links with curriculum
• Distinguishing language needs from conceptual / content issues
• Orientation ( Where do we start ? What are we aiming for ?)
View the full article on Babcock ’ s website
Complete with information on home language assessment and the use of interpreters and bilingual support .
Visit : key . sc / babcock _ resources to find out more .
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