Getting to grips with the EAL proficiency stages
There are currently over a million learners of EAL in UK schools.
Last year, for the first time in England, and continuing in Wales, all schools were required to send in details of pupils’ EAL proficiency stage as part of the annual school census. The initial data collection was be in the autumn (October) 2016 census and this will continue annually from the spring (January 2017) census. The data collected will become part of the pupil characteristics data set used for analysis of national and regional attainment and progress outcomes.

Numbers of EAL learners in UK schools
There are currently over a million learners of EAL in UK maintained schools and many more in independent schools. In 2016, over 20% of the primary population of England and nearly 16% of the secondary population has EAL. These proportions will continue to grow year-on-year. For example, in one local authority area which has experienced high EU migration since 2004, 25% of Year 11 has EAL as well as 40% of Year 12.
The proportions are lower in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but have also grown rapidly in the last ten years. In 2013 there were 29,000 EAL learners in Scottish schools. In Wales in 2013, 42,000 pupils were eligible for support from the Minority Ethnic Achievement Grant. In 2015/16 Northern Ireland had over 12,000 ‘newcomer’ pupils in its schools, an increase of over 8% since 2014.
The Department of Education’s definition of an EAL learner includes anyone
‘who has been exposed to a language other than English during early childhood and continues to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community’. (School Census 2016–2017)
This definition includes, for example:
- newly arrived children from abroad who speak, read or write little or no English
- children or young people from other countries, who may have been educated in an English-medium or bilingual school abroad and are able to read and write fluently in two or more languages
- children who were born in the UK and were brought up speaking and understanding another language at home or in the community. They may now use English most of the time at home and school.
The new EAL proficiency stages
Schools are asked to assess their EAL pupils against a five point scale of reading, writing and spoken language proficiency outlined below and make a ‘best fit’ judgement. For this purpose, detailed assessment is not required and there are no specified resources. In most cases, the class teacher or English teacher will be able to use their overall knowledge of the child to give a best fit stage. However, some school improvement services also have produced more detailed, formative assessment scales which are aligned to the new EAL Proficiency Stages (For example, Solihull, NASSEA and Lambeth).
A New to English
May use first language for learning and other purposes. May remain completely silent in the classroom. May be copying/repeating some words or phrases. May understand some everyday expressions in English but may have minimal or no literacy in English. Needs a considerable amount of EAL support.
B Early acquisition
May follow day-to-day social communication in English and participate in learning activities with support. Beginning to use spoken English for social purposes. May understand simple instructions and can follow narrative/accounts with visual support. May have developed some skills in reading and writing. May have become familiar with some subject specific vocabulary. Still needs a significant amount of EAL support to access the curriculum.
C Developing competence
May participate in learning activities with increasing independence. Able to express self orally in English, but structural inaccuracies are still apparent. Literacy will require ongoing support, particularly for understanding text and writing. May be able to follow abstract concepts and more complex written English. Requires ongoing EAL support to access the curriculum fully.
D Competent
Oral English will be developing well, enabling successful engagement in activities across the curriculum. Can read and understand a wide variety of texts. Written English may lack complexity and contain occasional evidence of errors in structure. Needs some support to access subtle nuances of meaning, to refine English usage, and to develop abstract vocabulary. Needs some/occasional EAL support to access complex curriculum material and tasks.
E Fluent
Can operate across the curriculum to the level of competence equivalent to that of a pupil who uses English as his/her first language. Operates without support across the curriculum.
N Not yet assessed
Some consideration needs to be given to the age of the child and expected literacy competence of a monolingual child of a similar age. For children with EAL in Reception and KS1 who have not fully developed literacy in any language, the best fit judgement should be based on their oral competence and rate of progress in developing literacy as hardly any children in that phase of education would be expected to fit into the literacy statements of Codes D or E.
Similarly, careful consideration should be made of young people with EAL in KS4 who appear to be fluent when their language proficiency is assessed in English lessons, but may demonstrate a need for further support to access or produce complex texts in other subject areas, in which case Code D would be appropriate.
Secondary schools may find the task of assigning codes particularly challenging this term, and can use the Not Yet Assessed (Code N) until they have completed the whole school. By January 2017, all EAL pupils should have been assigned the relevant proficiency codes.
Originally published at www.literacytrust.org.uk.
