What do we mean when we refer to students as 'English as an Additional Language (EAL)'?

English as an Additional Language (EAL) refers to students whose first language is not English. When planning EAL provision within schools, it’s important to recognise that EAL learners are at different stages of English language acquisition, ranging from complete beginners to fluent bilinguals.

In 2025, schools continue to adapt their teaching and support strategies to meet the needs of this diverse group of learners. Teaching Assistants and education support staff play a crucial role in helping EAL students build confidence, develop language skills, and fully participate in classroom learning.

It’s also essential to remember that EAL students come from a wide range of educational backgrounds. Their academic ability in their first language can vary greatly, and their proficiency in English should not be used as the sole indicator of their overall capability. Understanding this distinction helps ensure that every student receives fair and appropriate support tailored to their individual learning journey.

EAL Data and Trends

The number of pupils in English schools identified as having English as an Additional Language continues to grow. According to the Department for Education’s most recent data (2024), around 20% of pupils in England’s primary and secondary schools are now recorded as EAL learners. This represents a significant increase from 16.2% in 2013 (Education Endowment Foundation, 2013).

Regional differences also remain notable – with inner London schools reporting EAL student populations of over 55%, while regions such as the South West and North East still report figures closer to 8–10%.

These figures highlight the ongoing need for inclusive teaching strategies and well-trained support staff. Teaching Assistants and teachers must work collaboratively to ensure that EAL provision is effective, equitable, and responsive to the unique needs of every learner in the classroom.

What teachers are doing to support EAL students

“In order to support the EAL children in my class (particularly those at the beginning stages of language acquisition), I like to find texts with multiple different versions so that we can be reading the same story but in a way that is accessible to all. During our Myths and Legends literacy unit, we were studying the text “Odysseys”. The EAL group’s work mirrored this by studying the same myth but in comic book form. This ensured that there were no feelings of alienation and the links to our history learning were maintained. The whole class then completed the same outcome-differentiated task of re-writing the story in their own words to create their own comic page for “Odysseus and the Cyclops”. – Miss McGuinness

“Children who were new to English would have a beginner English lesson once a week, as well as access to Learning Village. They would be given time in the school day at least once a week to practise on Learning Village, as well as being able to attend a weekly after-school club. All teachers were trained to use Communicate in Print so that we could provide visual vocabulary banks to support EAL children during lessons.” – Miss Wilson

“To support EAL students who are completely new to English I make picture cards with the English words and sentences, the included; can I go to the toilet, I need help, key words for topics and days of the week. I expand these cards over time to support with the growing vocabulary of the students whilst encouraging the students to say the phrases to build confidence. I also find that giving EAL students who are new to English a ‘buddy’ as I have found that this helps the progression of English Language as the EAL student is able to listen and learn from their ‘buddy’ and build confidence in speaking English.” – Mrs Foster

What you can do to support EAL students

Use visual Learning

The use of images to support students learning is a simple way to increase the vocabulary of students, this could be using images on your PowerPoints, labelling items around the room or providing picture cards for students.

Let students use their first language

If another student speaks the same language, allow the students to sit next to each other, they will be able to discuss ideas and build confidence through this. You can also use aids such as dictionaries and Google translate, but do not let students rely on these aids.

Provide clear instructions and non-verbal prompts

Providing clear, short instructions will help students understand some of the words and will help them to understand sentence structure. Whilst doing this you can provide non verbal prompts for example if you say “I want you to write a story” use a non-verbal prompt that helps the student understand they need to be writing.

Provide 1:1 support

As an EAL student it may be intimidating to speak in front of the whole class, by going to the student to check understanding will help you build a relationship so they know you are there to help and support them. For a student who is new to English you may want to ask closed questions and eventually you can progress to higher order questions such as “how does…?” “What would happen if…?”

Provide additional resources

These can include word banks with different types of language e.g. personal language, questions, everyday verbs, everyday nouns, assertions and proportions. You can also prepare key words supported by visuals for students to take home to look at with parents and create displays to reinforce key words. You can involve the students when making these resources.

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