Best Practice

Supporting late arrivals who use English as an additional language

Transition Curriculum Pedagogy Pupil wellbeing Key stage 4 Lesson planning EAL
Supporting EAL students who arrive ‘late’ – specifically during key stage 4 – is a particular challenge for secondary schools. Kamil Trzebiatowski offers his advice, resources, and ideas

 

A Thai speaker who is new to English arrives in year 10 in May, leaving her only about a year before she needs to take GCSE exams. Little time remains to develop English language proficiency and learn the academic content, some of which her school in Thailand had not covered. How can schools support such learners?

For learners who use English as an additional language (EAL), the major factor influencing their educational achievement and attainment is their proficiency in English (PiE).

Research shows that it takes more than six years on average for multilingual learners to progress from being new to English to becoming a fluent user of the English language (Strand & Lindorff, 2020) and that time of arrival within the English state school system systematically predicts attainment levels for children with EAL, with a severe attainment penalty for children arriving closest to the time of the exams (Hutchinson, 2018).

For the purposes of this article, “late arrivals” are defined as those learners using EAL who enter the school system in England for the first time in key stage 4.

A late arrival may have had no gaps in their education, but their prior schooling may have been different to the one provided in England – for example, certain aspects of the English curriculum might not have been covered in their previous school.

Other children may have had their education disrupted; or they may not have been able to attend school at all. Some children might have gone through traumatic experiences, both in their country of origin (e.g. leaving their family behind) and on arrival in England (having to navigate a hostile asylum system or housing issues).

Upon arrival, some learners may be new to English, others may be developing competence in English, and some will be fluent in English. Given their late arrival, these pupils have limited time to develop fluency in English and the academic language required to access the curriculum and demonstrate learning, which means that there is an urgent need to provide intensive support.

These challenges may have an adverse impact on late arrivals’ ability to attain “good” GCSEs and thus have a knock-on effect on their further life and career opportunities.

Once in the English education system, some learners may experience systemic barriers which can compound their settlement experience and impact on their attainment. For example, some schools do not have the necessary EAL support on offer for these learners who will need good exam results to be admitted to college or sixth form, and for whom exam papers might be impenetrable due to the language barrier.

Class sizes in option subjects which are relevant to the learner might be an issue. A learner might have studied geography in their previous school, but geography classes in their new school may have more than 30 students meaning the learner is offered arts instead.

Understandably, supporting these learners can represent a significant challenge for schools, particularly given the short time available between a late arrival joining the school and GCSE examinations. Each school is different and will have varying levels of prior experience, knowledge, systems, and resources on which to draw upon when embedding provision for these learners.

This article offers guidance to schools and teachers to support late arrivals as effectively as possible. Even if a learner arriving late is unable to develop fluency in English by the time they finish year 11, there is still plenty that schools can do to support them and improve their life opportunities.

 

 

Supporting learners in schools

Late arrivals who are new to English are a specific subgroup of the wider new arrivals group, which means that the same EAL teaching approaches will apply to this group of learners. That said, because of the limited time available to support these learners, it is even more important to accelerate their progress by implementing these approaches across the curriculum and to plan interventions to meet their specific support and learning needs.

 

 

EAL induction

 

When learners are new to English, it may be helpful in some cases to place them in EAL induction classes. EAL induction is part of the wider process of inducting learners using EAL and their parents/carers into the school.

Such programmes will need to include survival English language lessons such as words and phrases related to school life, as that is the learners’ immediate concern, as well as days of the week, months of the year and numbers vocabulary. But it is equally crucial that subject-based lessons are provided, around the language of science, maths, geography, music, etc. For a good example, see the Bristol Secondary Schools EAL Induction Pack (see further information).

These lessons should be limited regarding the number of classes per week, not interfere with curriculum learning, and not last for longer than 12 weeks. A good time to have these classes might be during the learner’s “free” periods due to them not taking certain subjects in key stage 4.

While the activities and materials provided in induction classes will always be linked to the curriculum, English language support specific to late arrivals should also be designed around themes such as careers, sixth forms/colleges and tertiary education.

 

 

Interventions

 

Interventions are different from EAL induction classes; their aim is to offer intensive EAL support related to one aspect of the curriculum or focusing on one language skill. For instance, an intervention programme can prepare a late arrival for GCSE English or focus on speaking skills and persuasive language.

These interventions should not take place in a SEND context, where the focus is not on English as an additional language.

  • The main focus of intervention sessions is on developing English language skills. Since the focus is on language, cognitive, curricular demands of lessons should not be lowered for late arrivals; lower English language proficiency does not imply lower overall cognitive ability.
  • It is important that learners are not withdrawn from other lessons for interventions. Some schools offer EAL option classes in years 10 and 11, which are timetabled, and focused language support is provided during this time. There are, of course, exceptions: it would be appropriate to take learners out of a classroom if other learners are writing an exam, the content of which the late arrival had not covered in class.
  • Digital technology interventions may accelerate language development and could be used for self-study, but it should be borne in mind that they should not substitute integrated classroom learning.
  • The number of GCSEs taken can be reduced to allow more time to catch up with the English language skills and any missed subject content teaching. Teachers can speak to subject leaders to discuss if this is a possibility and consider when the dropped subject can be resumed. For instance, an exam in a subject could be taken in year 11, instead of 10, to allow time to catch up on English.

 

 

Exams and access arrangements

Late arrivals in key stage 4 will typically require exam-specific support. Here are some ideas:

  • GCSEs in the learner’s home languages, e.g. GCSE Polish or GCSE Arabic, often provide a relatively easy way for the learner to achieve a good GCSE, taking advantage of their own language and other languages they know. Some schools enter learners for such GCSEs as early as year 10. To see which languages learners can be entered for, check different examination board websites.
  • International GCSEs (IGCSEs) are equivalent to GCSEs, and they are courses for which learners using EAL can be entered to gain qualifications while developing their English language skills. One such course is Cambridge’s IGCSE English, suitable for learners whose first language is not English, developing their communicative, vocabulary and grammar skills in English.
  • Multilingual learners have the right to have a bilingual translation dictionary with them during an exam. No application needs to be made for this.
  • Where schools request a bilingual dictionary for a learner and 10% extra time, they need to apply to the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Candidates who are eligible for such arrangements are typically pupils who arrived in England less than three years ago with no prior knowledge of the English language. Evidence of need must be provided by either the EAL co-ordinator or the SENCO. This should be regular school practice, backed up by teachers using dictionaries in their lessons, teaching their learners how to use them.

 

 

Preparing for the future

 

Many late arrivals using EAL and their parents/carers may not be able to understand the complex post-16 system both because of the language barrier and the novelty of living in a new country. Schools can support late arrivals and their families by:

  • Explaining to learners and their families that it may be possible to do GCSE English in year 12 at a college and providing them with information about what opportunities are available and who to speak to.
  • Offering careers advice to late arrivals, with the EAL teacher, EAL co-ordinator or an interpreter present, where possible. Any materials used for these purposes should be in simple English and/or translated.
  • Seeking support from other groups such as Into University, which works with schools and colleges to support progression to university, provide impartial university information and activities and programmes supporting students from underrepresented groups.
  • Arranging visits to colleges and/or sixth forms to help prepare late arrivals and their families for their contexts and to support a secondary school to college transition.
  • Schools can also negotiate with colleges so that late arrivals are granted access to relevant programmes, potentially more bespoke programmes to suit their needs and circumstances, allowing them more time to develop their English language skills.

 

 

Working with parents/carers

It is often the case that the parents of EAL learners wish to support their children at home but may be new to English and likely unfamiliar with the education system in England. Schools can support these parents/carers in different ways:

Because of how little time late arrivals have before national exams, some parents might ask about a possibility of deceleration, i.e. that a child be educated in a year below their chronological peers. Deceleration requests should be treated with caution, as evidence points to their negative impact on pupils’ self-esteem (HCC, 2017) and on long-term achievement (EEF, 2016). If, however, it is considered due to the English language barrier affecting performance at national exams, the following needs to borne in mind:

  • Any potential negative impacts of deceleration need to be clearly communicated to parents, so that they can make an informed decision.
  • Since at this age children are capable of forming their own view on their education and future, they need to be involved in these discussions and their opinion given appropriate weight.

 

 

Conclusion

Effective support will require a cross-team whole-school approach to help late arrivals develop English language skills, thrive socially and emotionally and achieve and attain as much as possible.

The Bell Foundation is working with Refugee Education UK (REUK) to further research education access and provision for refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents who arrive in the UK mid-way through an academic year.

Together, we are seeking to understand practices that promote and hinder academic and wellbeing outcomes for these adolescents, with a focus on those aged 13 to 18 (who should be joining peers in years 9 to 13). We hope to use findings from this research to strengthen evidence-based policy influencing work on this issue.

REUK has launched a survey to gather insights from practitioners. So, if you have experience of working with or supporting refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents who have arrived in the middle of an academic year, then please consider responding to this survey (see below).

 

Refugee and asylum-seeking learners survey

  • Refugee Education UK is running a survey to gather insights from practitioners. If you have experience of working with or supporting refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents who have arrived in the middle of an academic year, then you can take part via www.reuk.org/late-arrivals-research. If you have any thoughts or questions about this research or want to share more in-depth good practice examples, contact research@reuk.org

 

Further information & resources

  • Bristol Secondary Schools EAL Induction Pack: Support materials for newly arrived students with English as an additional language: http://bit.ly/3zt0RAi
  • EEF: Repeating a year, 2016: http://bit.ly/3K8IBRN
  • Hampshire County Council (HCC): The placement of children outside their chronological year group, 2017: https://bit.ly/3ZDwX75
  • Hutchinson: Educational outcomes of children with English as an additional language, Education Policy Institute & The Bell Foundation, 2018: https://bit.ly/3GgOT0u
  • Strand & Lindorff: English as an additional language: Proficiency in English, educational achievement, and rate of progression in English language learning, University of Oxford & The Bell Foundation, 2020: https://bit.ly/3ZDOXym