English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Spoken English for beginner EAL learners

Pupils with a developing fluency in spoken English are likely to be beginning to read and write in English, but a continuing focus on the development of spoken language remains crucial in order that explicit knowledge about the way that English works is introduced (Krashen, 1986; Swain 2000).

Teachers supporting beginner EAL learners need to know:

• How the structures and sounds in the pupil’s first language are different from those in English
• Continued teaching of phonics is necessary to build up pupils’ sensitivity to the English sound system which will support correct articulation of phonemes (and therefore support later spelling for writing)
• Pupils will need explicit grammar-related targets to accelerate correct language use

Beginner EAL learners’ spoken language use may have the following characteristics:

• Able to communicate with some confidence with peers and adults but makes grammatical errors and has some problems with word order
• Has limited control over tenses and often uses present tense
• Makes errors in using pronouns (he/she)
• May leave out determiners if these are not present in first language (the/a/an)
• Has limited vocabulary and may substitute known words/phrases in order to communicate meaning when vocabulary is unknown
• Able to retell a simple story using a structure and visual aids

Spoken language activities for beginner EAL learners:

• Speaking frames which focus on individual language needs e.g. development of correct use of past tense; understanding use of determiners
• Opportunities for meaningful interaction and collaborative dialogue with peers and adults within a clear learning context (Swain, 2000; Lucas, Villegas and Freedson-Gonzalez, 2008)
• Opportunities to speak about aspects of home and school that particularly interest them
• Use of picture books for oral story re-telling
• Word games that focus on specific aspects of language and literacy development (Cameron and Besser, 2004)
• Using talking pens and talking books (see section on Hardware)
• Pre-teaching of vocabulary to support new concept learning
• Role play that asks pupils to assume a particular character
• Playing board games

The following sites are useful for resources: http://www.racingtoenglish.co.uk/about.html

and https://ealresources.bell-foundation.org.uk/teachers/great-ideas-speaking-and-writing-frames