As an EAL (English as an Additional Language) coordinator, you play a pivotal role in supporting students in their journey of acquiring English. However, there is an important distinction that must be made: while you are a critical support in this process, you are not solely responsible for a student’s English acquisition. This responsibility must be shared by all teachers, with guidance and support from senior management teams (SMTs). In this post, we’ll delve into how EAL coordinators can advocate for a whole-school approach to language acquisition and ensure that classroom teachers take ownership of this important task.
1. Shared Responsibility in Language Acquisition
English language acquisition is not a task that can be achieved in isolation, nor is it something that can be offloaded entirely onto the shoulders of the EAL department. Every teacher, regardless of the subject they teach, plays an important part in helping students grasp English. Whether it’s through well-structured lesson planning, incorporating scaffolding techniques, or providing visual aids, language acquisition should be embedded in every aspect of teaching and learning.
It’s essential to advocate the message that language acquisition is a shared responsibility. EAL students must have consistent exposure to English in varied contexts, not just in specialist lessons but in every subject area. For this reason, EAL Coordinators should be there to support teachers, guiding them to incorporate techniques that benefit EAL learners within their lessons—ultimately helping all pupils, not just those learning English.
2. Equipping Classroom Teachers with Tools for Success
Effective teaching strategies for EAL students can have wide-reaching benefits for all pupils. Using key visuals, scaffolding, and differentiated instruction helps to make learning accessible and achievable for a broader range of students. What is helpful for EAL learners often translates into inclusive teaching practices that support all abilities and learning styles.
Classroom teachers are not expected to be language specialists, but it is their role to adapt their teaching to ensure that all students can engage and make progress. EAL coordinators are uniquely positioned to provide teachers with these practical strategies. By offering training, workshops, or providing examples of adapted lesson plans, you can empower classroom teachers to feel more confident in their ability to support EAL students. (Or if you don’t feel confident enough to do this yourself, suggest they have a look at the Enriching EAL course)
Key tools you can encourage them to incorporate include:
- Visuals and Key Vocabulary: Helping students understand concepts by pairing them with images or diagrams.
- Scaffolding: Providing additional support, such as sentence starters, that are gradually removed as the student’s confidence grows.
- Collaborative Learning: Encouraging peer interaction and group work so that EAL learners can practice language in a social context.
- Differentiated Learning Goals: Recognizing that EAL students might need to work towards different objectives within the same lesson to accommodate their language proficiency levels.
3. The Role of Senior Management Teams (SMT)
For a whole-school approach to language acquisition to be effective, the involvement and leadership of the SMT are vital. SMTs need to recognize that EAL is not a ‘bolt-on’ service or something that happens in isolation from the rest of the school’s curriculum. Instead, it should be embedded into the fabric of the school’s ethos, ensuring every teacher understands their role in language development.
As an EAL coordinator, advocating for structured SMT-led initiatives can create a school-wide culture of inclusivity and accountability. This may include:
- Regular training on effective EAL strategies for all staff.
- Incorporating language acquisition objectives into school improvement plans.
- Ensuring that monitoring and evaluation processes reflect how well EAL students are being supported in every classroom.
- Creating opportunities for collaboration between EAL coordinators and classroom teachers, such as regular meetings or co-planning sessions.
With SMT’s backing, the expectation that all teachers are responsible for language acquisition can be firmly established. (Enriching ELT also provides CPD courses for schools)
4. Language Acquisition is a Continuous Process
It’s important to recognize that language acquisition is not an overnight process. For EAL learners, the journey to fluency can take many years. The process is ongoing, and teachers must provide consistent support across all subjects. Regular, high-quality interaction with language across different contexts is key to this development.
EAL coordinators can help manage expectations, both for teachers and students, by emphasizing that language learning is continuous and incremental. It’s crucial to provide guidance on realistic progress goals while also celebrating smaller achievements to keep students motivated.
5. Fostering a Collaborative Environment
Ultimately, your role as an EAL coordinator is to foster a collaborative learning environment—one where students, teachers, and leadership teams all work together to support language acquisition. Your expertise can drive this effort, but it’s the collective responsibility of the entire school to ensure that EAL learners are fully supported.
Encouraging collaboration between subject teachers and providing clear, practical advice can help make this shared responsibility feel manageable for staff. By emphasizing that supporting EAL students supports all students, you can help to shift the mindset from seeing language acquisition as an “extra” task to understanding it as an integral part of teaching.
Conclusion
As an EAL coordinator, your role is crucial, but it’s not about shouldering the full responsibility of a student’s English acquisition. Instead, you are there to guide, support, and empower classroom teachers, equipping them with the tools they need to make learning accessible for all students. With the SMT’s leadership and a collaborative, whole-school approach, EAL students can thrive alongside their peers, as language learning becomes an integrated part of every lesson. Language acquisition is everyone’s responsibility, and by working together, we can ensure that all students make meaningful progress.