Best Practice

Challenge and opportunity: Supporting transition for year 7 learners using EAL

EAL
Transition to year 7 is a challenging time for all pupils, especially for those using English as an additional language. Sarah Moodie offers ideas, tips, resources and advice for secondary schools welcoming EAL learners this September

 

Each September a new cohort begins year 7. Some arrive feeling positive, relatively confident, and excited about a new, bigger environment, new subjects, making new friends.

For others, transition is daunting. They are anxious about getting lost, finding the work difficult, feeling lonely. And for many it is a mixture of all these feelings.

Teachers, of course, must seek to harness the excitement and allay the doubts and fears.

Researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Lancaster have explored the linguistic challenges faced by all pupils at transition from key stage 2 to 3 (Deignan et al, 2023). They highlight the explosion of vocabulary as the curriculum splinters into disciplines taught by multiple, specialist teachers.

There is a sudden change of tone from the narrative to the abstract, more complex grammar structures are routinely used, and patterns of interaction change too, with secondary school students spending longer listening to teacher input.

Research has yet to prove that these linguistic challenges are behind the much reported “dip” in attainment in year 7, but it seems possible that they are a contributing factor.

 

 

Transition considerations for pupils using EAL

Pupils using English as an additional language (EAL) are a very diverse group, including among others those who grew up in the UK, those arriving as children of migrants, pupils seeking asylum, pupils from the full spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds, and pupils with a variety of SEND and none. What they do have in common is the need to continue developing their English language at the same time as acquiring curriculum content.

As well as moving from key stage 2 to 3, learners using EAL are at various stages of transitioning from using another language as their primary vehicle for education, to learning through English. For this reason, the linguistic challenges highlighted in the research cited above are likely to be intensified.

It may also take longer to adjust to a range of subject teachers, each with their own mannerisms and accents, and polysemic words which may cause miscomprehension. With the right mindset and support, learners can embrace the changes as an opportunity to further develop their English language proficiency alongside their curriculum learning.

 

 

Considerations for learners seeking asylum

Refugees and those seeking asylum are another heterogeneous group. Some may have had full, age-appropriate education before relocating.

Others may have had highly disrupted education or periods of time in which they could not attend school at all. Some may have prior experience of learning English while the language may be completely new to others. All of them, though, were forced to leave their homes and homelands and seek safety elsewhere and, as such, have endured plenty of unwanted transitions.

Having to change schools at age 11 may be culturally unfamiliar and the need for new uniforms and so on could be another unwelcome expense. For recently arrived families, it might be a challenge to navigate the physical journey to the secondary school, which is often farther from the family home.

Considering these factors, schools should ensure there is information about school buses, uniform shops, and any funding options, translated if possible.

Bear in mind that exposure to traumatic events can result in post-traumatic stress disorder, which has been shown to have a detrimental effect on language learning (Furneaux, 2018). While it should not be assumed that all learners seeking asylum will suffer from this, a heightened focus on wellbeing and fostering a sense of security and belonging in the new school is advisable.

 

 

The impact of Covid

School closures and lockdowns during the pandemic meant that many learners using EAL were denied the experience of hearing and speaking English in social situations.

Research by The Bell Foundation has found that school-aged children using EAL suffered from “language loss” in English, particularly in the productive skills of writing and speaking, while the level of curriculum content engaged with by learners varied according to factors such as access to technology and quiet study spaces (Scott, 2021).

The year 7 of September 2023 were in year 4 or 5 during lockdowns and partial school closures of 2020/21. Therefore, teachers should provide as many opportunities as possible to develop oracy and build writing skills through scaffolding and modelling. The Bell Foundation has useful resources on oracy, scaffolding and modelling (see resources).

 

What can schools do before transition?

 

Connect EAL specialists from key stage 2 and 3 and give them time to liaise and discuss the following:

  • The proficiency in English of learners (you can use an EAL assessment framework such as that developed by The Bell Foundation).
  • Length of time in school and in the UK.
  • Home languages, literacies, and preferred language(s) of communication with parents/carers.
  • Strengths and talents the learners may have.
  • Curriculum areas they find more challenging.
  • Any known SEND.
  • Extra-curricular activities and sports clubs attended at primary school and what might be on offer at secondary.
  • The nature of the language support that learners currently receive and how this might continue.

Multi-academy trusts and secondaries with established feeder primaries will already have established contacts, but it is important not to neglect those learners who are coming from primary schools outside regular feeders.

Elsewhere, meet with any external services, such as family liaison officers or educational welfare officers who may have been working with the learner and/or family.

And consider drawing up your own EAL database or pupil profile system for collecting and collating useful data on learners who use EAL and sharing it with staff, to sit alongside or be integrated into systems the school already has.

The Department for Education’s Common Transfer File (DfE, 2022) does not collect all this information. Bear in mind that some information will materialise gradually as schools and learners become acquainted. The Bell Foundation has some free guidance on building a learner profile (see resources).

 

How can schools reach out to parents?

Like their children, parents of learners using EAL will be a diverse group. Some may not initiate contact because of fear of language barriers, reticence to engage with authorities due to previous negative experiences, or simply due to work commitments. For many it might be their first encounter with secondary school in the UK and there may be misunderstanding or anxiety around the expected role of parents in school life.

Developing positive home-school relationships is likely to have an impact on learner engagement, attendance, and performance. If a good relationship has been developed with the primary school, seek to build on that by instigating a parents’ meeting with key staff from both schools. If it has not, then see this as an opportunity for enhancing parental engagement.

Find out the preferences of families for home-school communication (email, phone call, text message etc) and which language to use for translation. Consider coffee mornings/evenings in which parents can have access to interpreters, meet staff from the new school, and perhaps be shown around.

The Bell Foundation has some useful guidance for parents, translated into 21 languages, including Ukrainian and Dari, explaining how the school system works in England (see resources).

If you run induction camps/summer schools/welcome parties for the year 7 intake, make sure that families of children using EAL are invited, with translated information and ideally an opportunity to ask any questions through their home language(s). These events may be culturally unfamiliar to some parents but can be a useful way of kick-starting social inclusion.

 

 

Ideas for transition

If the learner has received support from an EAL specialist at primary school, consider inviting that specialist to attend the transition days at secondary. If this support will be continued with secondary school specialist staff, make sure they are introduced.

Make use of young interpreters (see further information for a link to an example programme in Hampshire), language ambassadors or other student representatives who share a home language with the new arrivals. This will help facilitate the social inclusion of learners using EAL, especially those who are at the earlier stages of English language acquisition. It also reinforces the school’s positive message around multilingualism.

 

 

When September comes

 

Avoid too many assessments in the early stages. If CAT4-type assessments are used, allow extra time for learners using EAL, make sure that instructions are as clear as possible, or translate them.

Watch out for “spiky profiles” among EAL learners where the non-verbal scores are significantly higher than the verbal, as this suggests that the overall score is indicative of the learner’s level of proficiency in English more than their innate cognitive ability.

Keep groupings flexible. Irrevocable decisions based on short-term assessments do not help EAL learners, many of whom will progress rapidly as their proficiency in English develops.

Ensure teachers receive training to enable them to welcome and provide the best pedagogy for learners using EAL. The Bell Foundation runs a range of CPD on welcoming new arrivals and adaptive teaching.

 

The role of subject teachers

Try to dedicate short slots of lesson time to explicit vocabulary instruction. One useful aspect of vocabulary is polysemy, the association of one word with more than one meaning, which can be a source of confusion for language learners.

For example, year 7 pupils may have encountered the word “concentration” as meaning mental focus in primary school. They may not have encountered the scientific meaning, the geographical term, nor the term “concentration camp”.

If you are aware of a particular polysemic word in your subject, spending a few minutes amplifying this can be beneficial to all learners, but especially for those using EAL (for more see Huntingdon Research School, 2021).

Similarly, it is worth checking that key everyday terms you use in class are understood. A learner may be familiar with the term “take away” in maths, but not with “subtract”, “minus”, or “deduct”.

Furthermore, as learners progress through key stages 3, 4 and 5 they will encounter, and be expected to produce, more academic language. In most subjects their level of attainment will at least partially rest on this competence.

A good way to teach and learn grammar is in context. So when a task requires a particular structure which is complicated (for example, the use of “could have” and “would have” when reflecting or analysing), consider taking the time to highlight this, showing a couple of model sentences, and getting learners to practise by generating their own examples (The Bell Foundation runs courses on language for learning).

 

Tips for form tutors/pastoral staff

  • Make sure you can pronounce the child’s name correctly and share this with other staff. Hearing their name pronounced differently in their new school might add to a feeling of dislocation.
  • Be aware of which learners are refugees or seeking asylum. There is guidance from The Bell Foundation with links and resources.
  • Make it clear that the home languages of learners continue to be valued at secondary school. Signpost supplementary schools which may be available. Development of the home language is not only important for the learner’s sense of identity, it also enables them to build on existing linguistic and curriculum knowledge. Where GCSEs are available in home languages, let learners know about this option.
  • Signpost any special interest clubs or after-school activities which might interest the learner and enable them to grow their friendship networks. A sense of continuity from primary school as well as expansion (for example, still playing in the football team and also taking up trampolining) can help foster a sense of security at the same time as providing new opportunities.

 

  • Sarah Moodie is a trainer with The Bell Foundation, a charity working to overcome exclusion through language education. Visit www.bell-foundation.org.uk

 

 

Further information & resources

 

Resources from The Bell Foundation