EAL (English as an Additional Language) students are an extremely heterogeneous group with second and third generation families, well-settled economic migrants mainly from the European Union countries, and some newly arrived students, refugees and asylum seekers. They have varied life, and consequently educational, experiences. According to Department of Education (2020) ‘a pupil is recorded as having English as an additional language (EAL) if they are exposed to language at home that is known or believed to be other than English. It is not a measure of English language proficiency or a good proxy for recent immigration.’

The term ‘multilingualism’ describes the use or co-existence of several languages in one place – whether that’s a country, a school, a classroom or a home. By contrast, the term ‘plurilingual’ describes a person who speaks several languages. Although a plurilingual person may or may not have equal fluency in each language, what is clear is that the use of two or more languages brings a range of benefits – both social and academic.

Almost – if not all – schools in England are multilingual contexts: see link.

With more than 1.6 million pupils using further languages (or ‘first languages’) in addition to English: see link.

The DfE requires all schools to capture information on their multilingual contexts by identifying pupils as having ‘EAL’ or ‘English as an Additional Language’ in the January school census. Whilst the DfE ‘EAL’ descriptor tells us nothing about fluency levels in English nor in first languages (e.g. Pashto, Somali, French or Twi), it is a useful initial way of positively acknowledging the diversity of languages represented by our plurilingual children and young people in our multilingual schools.

Language and identity are inextricably linked; therefore, promoting the attainment of pupils learning through EAL is an equality duty for schools with reference to the Protected Characteristic of ‘Race’. It is a legal duty to ensure that there are opportunities for all pupils learning through EAL (irrespective of their current proficiency in English or of their first language) to thrive and succeed academically in school.