Who is a learner with English as an Additional Language?
Learners who speak English as an additional language come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The pupil could be one who is
- born in Britain but who does not start learning English until he/she starts school
- brought up as bilingual and fluent in English and the mother tongue. Some may be bi-literate
- new arrival to this country but is bi-literate with some years of learning English as a foreign language
- new arrival, with little knowledge of English, but literate in the mother tongue
- new arrival who have no previous experience in English and/or with very basic literacy skills in the mother tongue
Many children use two or three languages including English with different members of their families. They may also use a different language in religious contexts.
It has often been the case that parents have not provided complete information about home languages on the admission forms and school staff later become aware that a language other than English is spoken at home. The school may record that information and use that knowledge of the child effectively to help engage better with his/her parents, the language needs of the EAL learner and to recognise and value the heritage of the EAL learnerl.