English as an additional language, policy and the teaching and learning of English in England

“Here to Support Anybody Who Needs to Come?” An Investigation of the Provision for EAL Pupils in Secondary School Libraries in England

“…Safford and Drury (2013), meanwhile, have suggested EAL students are hindered by the 'strongly centralised' and 'monolingual' nature of the curriculum and assessment process (73). Similarly, Costley (2014) argues that despite rhetoric about diversity and equality, policy disregards the differences in EAL needs and hence places EAL students at a disadvantage, a view which echoes the findings of the abovementioned Swann report (DES 1985). It appears that full-scale and successful mainstreaming is restricted by limited training and resources, and that EAL provision across England is inconsistent and ad hoc (Costley 2014;Safford & Drury 2013;Franson 1999).…”

“…Similarly, Costley (2014) argues that despite rhetoric about diversity and equality, policy disregards the differences in EAL needs and hence places EAL students at a disadvantage, a view which echoes the findings of the abovementioned Swann report (DES 1985). It appears that full-scale and successful mainstreaming is restricted by limited training and resources, and that EAL provision across England is inconsistent and ad hoc (Costley 2014;Safford & Drury 2013;Franson 1999). This does mean that provision can be tailored to meet the particular needs of EAL learners present in an individual school, but it can also result in EAL pupils across England failing to receive the level of consistent teaching and support their native English speaking peers enjoy.…”

“…Case studies of 10 English schools found that withdrawing EAL pupils was common practice, whilst interviews with primary school teachers found that they lacked confidence in how to support EAL learners in the classroom and tended to see EAL provision as someone else's responsibility (Franson 1999 (Costley, 2014;Foley et al, 2013). Safford and Drury (2013), meanwhile, have suggested EAL students are hindered by the 'strongly centralised' and 'monolingual' nature of the curriculum and assessment process (73).…”

“…Within this pedagogy, linguistic diversity is perceived as a positive asset that can enrich the classroom by promoting cultural awareness (Costley 2014;DES 1985). Indeed, a recent briefing paper from German economic research institute IZA, the German Institute for the Study of Labor, comments on the potential impact of 'a high concentration of immigrant children on the educational outcomes of native children', and suggests that in fact these effects vary 'from negative to zero, depending on the country'.…”

Dynamic Bilingualism as the Norm: Envisioning a Heteroglossic Approach to Standards‐Based Reform

“…These policies surrounding the standards-based movement in England emphasize that content teaching in mainstream classrooms is made accessible to all students without any specific attention paid to the unique needs of emergent bilingual students (Leung, 2005;Menken et al, 2014). The result has been that the needs of emergent bilinguals have been ignored by policymakers, with teachers left to navigate their increasingly diverse classrooms with little support (Costley, 2014). As in the United States, mainstreaming practices render emergent bilingual students in England all but invisible, leaving their bilingualism unacknowledged.…”