Best Practice

EAL and SEND: Six ways teachers can support students

EAL Lesson planning Inclusion EHCPs SENCOs
A number of EAL students will also have SEND. How can teachers best support these learners and address both their linguistic and special needs? Glynis Lloyd offers guidance, some practical ideas, and six key messages
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Learners who use English as an additional language (EAL) are a diverse group, who come from a range of social, economic, and geographical backgrounds.

As in all learner populations, a small proportion of children using EAL also have SEND. How can teachers support those learners and address both their linguistic and special needs so that they can reach their full potential?

 

Key message 1: Learning EAL is not a SEND

It bears repeating that learning EAL is not a SEND. With accurate and holistic assessment, target-setting, and adaptive teaching with language support, learners using EAL can learn English as they access the full curriculum and achieve academic success.

However, figures tell us that there are almost 230,000 children in schools in England who speak (or are thought to speak) a language other than English who also have SEND (DfE, 2023).

It is vital, therefore, that those children are identified as early as possible and receive targeted and integrated support that addresses both their linguistic challenges and their special learning needs.

This requires schools to have systems and provision in place and for EAL and SEND staff to work together to correctly identify, assess, refer, and design appropriate support.

 

Key message 2: Access information to enable early identification

Because learners who use EAL are such a diverse group, with different backgrounds, educational experiences, and linguistic repertoires, teachers should access any information that has been gathered, for example in a pupil profile, to identify the support that each learner needs to learn English and learn in English.

Information about each new learner’s educational background, what languages they use, and their proficiency in English will help teachers contextualise any SEND concerns they may have within the learner’s current ability in English.

Teachers and other school staff should continue to build this pupil profile by adding up-to-date information as they learn more from working closely with the learner.

Research shows us that learners new to English can take more than six years to become fluent in academic language in English and to access the curriculum fully (Strand & Lindorff, 2020).

There are many reasons why progress in English can be hindered, for example a learner may have had very little or disrupted schooling previously, perhaps as a result of fleeing their country and becoming a refugee. The trauma from dislocation can have a negative impact on learning. Poverty also affects how well families can provide for and support their children.

These and many other factors can hinder progress in achieving learning outcomes. However, if teachers have information about each learner’s circumstances, they can make better informed judgements about why a learner might be struggling and what support, including mental health support and pastoral care, may be required.

 

Key message 3: Remove language barriers and tailor SEND identification processes to meet EAL needs

There is not one overarching test that can determine whether a learner using EAL has SEND. To reach a judgement, schools need to adopt a holistic approach, using different assessments, observations in and outside of the classroom, information-gathering from multiple sources, including the learner’s family, and feedback from all those who work with the learner.

Teachers should be aware that most tests that are available in England could disadvantage learners who are learning EAL. Commonly used tests have a cultural and language bias and contain vocabulary, content, and contexts that are unfamiliar. Translating tests into a language the learner knows may alter intended meanings and will still not provide recognisable content.

But there are strategies that teachers can adopt to enable more reliable assessment and information-gathering:

  1. Where possible use interpreters to conduct reading and writing assessments in the learner’s preferred language (assuming they have had literacy instruction in that language).
  2. Assess a piece of writing to check for indications that a learner is working at age-related expectations.
  3. Use comprehension questions in a reading activity to see if there could be an underlying challenge with learning and cognition.
  4. Recognise that if a learner has language and communication challenges in all the languages they use then this could indicate a speech, language, and communication need.
  5. Learn about how bilingualism works: learners using multiple languages transfer skills from one language to another and use strategies such as translanguaging to make meaning and construct knowledge. Being aware of these helpful strategies will help you to see “bilingualism as an advantage …. (that) does not cause, or contribute to a speech, language, or communication disorder” (RCSLT, 2024).

 

Key message 4: Review language support to ensure early SEND identification

The earlier a learner’s SEND needs are identified and a support plan devised and actioned, the better their chances for success. Teachers can assist in this process by reviewing the language support they have put in place for learners using EAL to assess whether additional language support is required or whether there may be a SEND.

Here are some questions teachers can use as they review the language support they have put in place:

  • Do the EAL plan and related support strategies include multiple opportunities for the learner to draw on the language(s) they know for their learning?
  • Is the language and content presented to the learner in lessons familiar and accessible to them?
  • Does the learner have opportunities to respond using gestures and actions?
  • Does the learner have opportunities to engage with material that is culturally familiar so they can participate in the lesson?
  • Are the teaching staff sensitive to the impact of a new learning culture on new learners – for example those who are not used to expressing their opinion or writing formally in exercise books and on lined paper?
  • Are learners whose home language script is written from right to left (e.g. Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Urdu, and Hebrew) given sufficient support to learn the English script?
  • Are learners whose home or preferred language orthography is different to the English alphabet (e.g. the languages listed above, as well as Cantonese, Tigrinya, and Malay) given sufficient support to learn and use the English alphabet?
  • Have teachers in the higher years created support plans for late arrivals (students who arrive in the school system in key stages 3 to 5) who haven’t developed school literacy practices in their home language?
  • Are new learners who use EAL given multiple opportunities each day to listen to, read, speak, and write in English?

Where teachers have created a thorough support plan and adapted their teaching, and a learner using EAL fails to make the expected progress in developing their proficiency in English, they can refer their concerns to the SENCO.

 

Key message 5: Centre the learner’s voice in planning and provision

Where a learner who uses EAL has been identified as having a SEND, teachers can contribute to the creation of a pupil voice profile. Teachers can collect information from discussions with each learner in which they talk about their goals, challenges, and experiences of learning. Ask them what would help them at school. This information is important for making sure that each learner has a say in the provision arranged for them and that support plans are tailored to their individual needs. These questions could guide your discussions:

  • What is working and what is not working for you at school?
  • What helps you to learn?
  • What do you struggle with in the classroom?
  • What are you good at?
  • What are your interests and hobbies?
  • What are your hopes for the future?

 

Key message 6: Build partnerships with families

In your meetings and consultations with families, be aware that in many countries SEND needs are thought of and treated differently to how they are in England. SEND could be seen as a punishment or something shameful and there can be stigma attached to people who have special needs.

Families may be reluctant to disclose information about their child’s needs. So, make it clear to families from the start that their child will have a place in your school, and that the information they have and share with you will help you design the best support.

These strategies will help your school to build good relationships with families:

  • Provide information about SEND provision in England in the language the family can access best (it may be English).
  • Involve the family in drawing up plans for support.
  • Provide on-going information to the family about their child’s progress.
  • Integrate the family into the life of the school.

 

Final thoughts

With the right information, processes, tools, and support strategies, teachers can play a role in their school to raise the profile of multilingual learners using EAL who have SEND to ensure that they receive the support that the SEND Code of Practice (DfE, 2015) requires.

Teachers can contribute by focusing on the linguistic needs that learners using EAL have, helping to identify the presence of any SEND, and making sure that linguistic and special needs are not conflated or confused.

With reliable assessment and working collaboratively across the school and with families, those learners can be given the best possible chance of reaching their potential.

 

Further information & resources