Australia is a culturally and linguistically diverse nation with many students for whom English is an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) accessing the Australian Curriculum. Many are learning English as a third or fourth language and come from varied backgrounds, experiences and English language proficiencies. This group includes First Nations Australian learners who may have rich language experiences and who do not use Standard Australian English (SAE).
EAL/D students are those whose first language is a language or dialect other than English and who require additional support to develop proficiency in Standard Australian English (SAE).
These students may include:
- First Nations Australian learners
- immigrants to Australia and temporary visa holders from countries where English is not the first language
- students of refugee backgrounds
- children born in Australia of migrant heritage where English is not spoken at home
- English-speaking students returning to Australia after extended periods in non-English speaking settings
- children of Deaf adults who use Australian Sign Language (Auslan) as their first language
- international students from countries where English is not the first language.
Purpose
This resource is designed to assist teachers who may not have specialist training or experience in supporting students who are learning English as a second or additional language or dialect. It helps teachers to understand the language teaching and scaffolding that students need, so they can learn Standard Australian English (SAE) and learning area content. It also helps teachers to understand students’ linguistic and cultural diversity. Where available, teachers should also engage the expertise of specialist EAL/D teachers, who can build knowledge in second language acquisition, and give teaching and learning advice through collaborative planning.
Introduction
The Shape of the Australian Curriculum Version 5.0 describes ACARA’s commitment to supporting equity of access to the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 for all students. The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration https://www.education.gov.au/alice-springs-mparntwe-education-declaration/resources/alice-springs-mparntwe-education-declaration outlines 2 goals:
- The Australian education system promotes excellence and equity.
- All young Australians become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active and informed members of the community.
ACARA’s commitment to these goals includes the English as an Additional Language or Dialect teacher resource, which supports teachers as they develop teaching and learning programs to implement the Australian Curriculum Foundation to Year 10 with students for whom English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D).
Throughout this resource, English refers to Standard Australian English (SAE).
The English as an Additional Language or Dialect teacher resource includes:
- EAL/D overview
- EAL/D elaborations for the English Curriculum F–10 Version 9.0, which are published as downloads
- the English as an Additional Language or Dialect: Teacher Resource EAL/D Learning Progression: Foundation to Year 10 (2015) on the Australian Curriculum Version 8.4 https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/EALD_Learning_Progression.pdf
In most Australian schools, EAL/D students are simultaneously learning the English language and the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 content, taught in English. They need learning programs that make learning area content comprehensible and meaningful to them, while also supporting the development of their English language skills. These skills are developed through immersion in the language and explicit teaching using the Australian Curriculum as the context.
In the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0, each learning area has particular language structures, types of texts and vocabulary, and these are best taught in the context in which they are used. All teachers are responsible for teaching the language and literacy demands of their learning areas. EAL/D students require explicit language instruction, tailored to their level of English proficiency, to build the English language skills needed to access learning area–specific language and literacy.
The EAL/D teacher resource complements but does not take the place of existing state and territory resources (see EAL/D students learning English section below).
EAL/D students
For the purposes of these guidelines, EAL/D learners are students whose first or home language(s) or dialect(s) is/are not Standard Australian English (SAE) and who may require differentiated teaching and learning programs to develop the English language proficiency they need to access the Australian Curriculum V 9.0. EAL/D students are a diverse cohort of learners who require different instructional supports based on their proficiency in SAE as an additional language or dialect.
EAL/D students come from diverse, multilingual backgrounds and include:
- First Nations Australian students whose first language is an Indigenous Australian language, including traditional languages, creoles or Aboriginal English. A separate, complementary resource will be developed to guide teachers with developing the language skills of these students https://www.firstlanguages.org.au/terminology
- students born overseas and in Australia whose home language is a language other than English, including migrants, refugees and international students
EAL/D students:
- have diverse educational backgrounds and a range of experiences of formal schooling
- may have limited experience of formal schooling but will have skills and knowledge that may be harnessed to support their English language acquisition
- may have experienced informal schooling in settings such as refugee camps or detention centres
- may have educational and life experiences that do not correlate with those of their peers in Australian schools; for example, due to displacement, trauma or lack of formal schooling
- have varying levels of proficiency in their first or home languages
- are generally placed in Australian schools at the year level appropriate for their age. Their educational and life experiences may differ from those of their peers in Australian schools
- may have well developed language or literacy skills in one mode but may need support in others. For example, they may have learnt English as a foreign language, focusing on written language and more formal communication, and need additional support with everyday oral language
- may have language knowledge that is an advantage when learning English as an additional language
- may have life experiences and diverse cultural knowledge that provide them with resources to build their English language and literacy skills.
Find out more:
QCAA video describes EAL/D learners:
http://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/p-10/student-diversity/eald/identifying
Read more …
Students with limited or interrupted schooling are those students who, for a variety of reasons, have been unable to access ongoing and continuous schooling. Within this group of EAL/D students there is a wide range of understanding of language and culture and proficiency in English. These students may:
- require high levels of support socially, emotionally and culturally as social and cultural expectations may vary greatly. For example, they may not understand accepted interactions between teachers and students, or they may have experienced situations of torture and/or trauma, which may impact interactions between teachers and students
- have been impacted by trauma, which may affect their language development and academic progress
- be unfamiliar with classroom routines and the organisational aspects of learning, such as deadlines, dates and divisions of time
- benefit greatly from bilingual support and use of home language, where available
- take more time to understand the concepts, language and processes required in the classroom and to complete classroom tasks
- be unfamiliar with the purposes for reading and writing, and rely on visual cues
- be unfamiliar with some digital technologies or subject-specific equipment commonly used in Australian classrooms.
Key considerations
Understanding Standard Australian English
Standard Australian English is one of the many languages spoken in homes and communities around Australia. These languages include the many traditional and contact First Nations Australian languages, including creoles, and dialects, including Aboriginal English. Standard Australian English is recognised as the “common language” of Australians. It is the dynamic and evolving spoken and written English used for official or public purposes, and recorded in dictionaries, style guides and grammars (ACARA 2022).
Standard Australian English has different registers – that is, the level of formality of English according to audience, purpose and context. These registers include the social language of the playground and informal classroom interactions, and the academic language required for learning area–specific tasks such as essays, reports and formal oral presentations. EAL/D students will demonstrate a diverse range of skills in both their interpersonal communication and their use of academic language. Cummins (2021) describes these skills as “Basic Interpersonal Skills (BICS)” and “Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)”.
Cultural understanding and EAL/D students
EAL/D students have their own rich cultural knowledge, world views and experiences. They may need support to understand the cultural knowledge and perspectives required for success in schooling, which are embedded in the Australian Curriculum. As well as providing guidance on how to support English language development, this EAL/D resource advises teachers on how to value and incorporate their students’ cultural knowledge and perspectives.
Understanding the culture/s of their students helps teachers to:
- provide learning experiences that acknowledge the identities, home languages and experiences of all students in the classroom
- provide an inclusive, culturally safe and responsive learning environment for EAL/D students
- broaden the intercultural understandings of all students in the classroom
- understand and make explicit the assumed knowledge implicit in the Australian Curriculum.
EAL/D students learning English
Most EAL/D students need to learn English, learn through (or in) English and learn about English (Halliday 2016). In general, it takes about 2–3 years to develop BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills). This is the social and interpersonal language needed for everyday communication. It takes around 5–7 years to develop CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). This is the language of the curriculum, required for learning experiences such as writing essays or participating in class discussions and is critical for student academic success (Cummins 2008).
Language learning involves the acquisition of a complex communication system, composed of the interrelating linguistic elements of communicating, social usage, meanings, structures, vocabulary, word formation and sounds. Ensuring appropriate support and good language models at the school, classroom and individual student level will promote language development. Supporting students to understand the need to develop academic language, to access the curriculum requires a sensitive understanding of learning that is valued in their own culture and how intercultural understanding can enhance language learning. A knowledge of additional language acquisition is useful for classroom teachers to inform the way they plan to teach curriculum content.
Read more …
As EAL/D students in Australian schools learn through (or in) English, they:
- learn curriculum content, including new concepts and skills, through immersion in English
- may use relevant concepts and skills developed in their first language or dialect. The focus of their learning is transferring these understandings into English
- may be learning concepts and skills for the first time through the medium of English. Many EAL/D students have to acquire curriculum knowledge and English language proficiency simultaneously to achieve curriculum outcomes. Those who are beginning English learners in the later stages of schooling will require considerable support to access the curriculum, due to the language demands of the curriculum at this stage.
As EAL/D students in Australian schools learn about English, they:
- learn how to use and respond to the different language registers of school to ensure their academic success and successful socialisation in the Australian school environment
- need to learn sounds and language features specific to English. For example, students need to be taught the intonation, grammatical structures and language usage specific to the English language and how these are applied in different contexts
- need to develop an understanding of the relationship between culture and language
- may use translanguaging (Ollerhead 2019), which involves students resourcefully using their language knowledge and skills, including words, gestures and digital tools from all the languages they know, to make meaning.
For more information about typical pathways of language development, these resources may be helpful:
As well as the ACARA English as an Additional Language or Dialect: Teacher Resource EAL/D Learning Progression: Foundation to Year 10 (2015), https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/EALD_Learning_Progression.pdf teachers can also refer to:
Northern Territory: EAL/D Learning Progressions can be used to identify students’ English proficiency levels and determine the level of support needed to progress learning in and through English.
Queensland: Bandscales for EAL Learners provides a map of EAL/D learner progress in learning the English language in the school context.
https://education.qld.gov.au/student/Documents/bandscales-state-schools-qld.pdf
South Australia: the LEAP English as an Additional Language or Dialect program helps to provide an effective pathway for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who are learning English as an additional language/dialect.
Victoria: Victorian EAL Curriculum – through the EAL curriculum pathways, students develop English language competence in the modes of Speaking and Listening, Reading and Viewing, and Writing.
Western Australia: EAL/D Progress map gives teachers a tool to plan for, monitor and assess student achievement (Early childhood; Middle childhood; Secondary).
https://myresources.education.wa.edu.au/programs/eal-d-progress-map
For articles about translanguaging refer to:
Ollerhead S (2019) Teaching across semiotic modes with multilingual learners: translanguaging in an Australian classroom, Language and Education, 33(2), pp. 106–122.
Assessment and the EAL/D student
When working with EAL/D students, teachers need to understand students’ English language development and identify where explicit teaching and differentiated assessment are required. Proficiency in English directly impacts student achievement in all learning areas.
EAL/D students who do not meet year level benchmarks when assessed against learning area achievement standards are not necessarily “underperforming”, but rather they may be achieving at levels commensurate with their phase of English language learning. A student’s language skills can vary across the modes of English – listening, speaking, reading/viewing and writing – and even across different learning areas. Assessment strategies that rely less on language and more on content knowledge can be used to assess EAL/D students against the achievement standards.
Diagnostic assessments can provide teachers with information to determine which aspects of language students need the most explicit teaching to develop.
Formative and summative assessment should focus on students’ skills and understandings in each of the language modes as well as their performance in relation to learning area achievement standards. The English as an Additional Language or Dialect: Teacher Resource EAL/D Learning Progression: Foundation to Year 10 (2015) located on the Australian Curriculum Version 8.4 website provides detailed information to enable teachers to locate students’ speaking, listening, reading and viewing, and writing skills, and consider next steps in their learning.
https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/EALD_Learning_Progression.pdf
Assessment activities and tasks
Assessment activities and tasks, differentiated through adjustments to the language demands, allow EAL/D students to demonstrate understanding of curriculum content while they are developing their English language skills. Reading and writing at each year level assumes a cumulative knowledge of English language and literacy skills, including spoken English, which many EAL/D students are yet to acquire.
To enable students to demonstrate their understanding of learning area content and learning area language, assessment activities and tasks may need to be adapted to cater for their levels of English proficiency. For example, a Beginning EAL/D student could demonstrate understanding of a scientific concept through a drawing or diagram, and comprehension of a narrative in English through illustrations or performance.
The EAL/D language development sequence provides an initial tool for mapping EAL/D students’ language learning, but the more detailed and nuanced descriptions found in the specialist state and territory documents are recommended to ensure that students receive instruction targeted at their specific needs. Students’ progress should be monitored throughout and checked against these each term. For some examples of modified assessment activity and task design, read more …
- EAL/D students will be able to understand learning expectations and incorporate teacher feedback at levels commensurate with their phases of English language proficiency. The English as an Additional Language or Dialect: Teacher Resource EAL/D Learning Progression: Foundation to Year 10 (2015) helps teachers to identify students’ levels of language proficiency.
- Identifying a point of view requires decoding of the text, and analysis of word choice and rhetorical features and how these affect the reader, viewer or listener. EAL/D students will be able to engage with this type of task at different levels: some will be able to decode; others will be able to analyse; and students with more developed English language proficiency will be able to identify and discuss how the audience has been positioned by the writer or speaker. It is important to realise that EAL/D students are continually developing their English language skills, to check their progress regularly, and to adapt teaching and learning activities accordingly.
- The Beginning and Emerging phases of language learning could focus on literal questions, supported by visuals. Students in the Developing and Consolidating phases should have a strong literal understanding before moving on to inferential questions.
- When asked to retell an event or experience, EAL/D students in the Beginning and Emerging phases of language learning could use visuals to assist them, while Developing students in the early years might write sentences with increased length and accuracy.
Bibliography
ACARA. (2024d) The Australian Curriculum: Version 9.0. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Cummins J (2008) BICS and CALP: Empirical and Theoretical Status of the Distinction in Hornberger NH (ed) Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Springer, Boston, MA.
Cummins J (2021) Rethinking the Education of Multilingual Learners: A Critical Analysis of Theoretical Concepts, Multilingual Matters.
Halliday MAK (2016) Aspects of language and learning, Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg.
Ollerhead S (2019) Teaching across semiotic modes with multilingual learners: translanguaging in an Australian classroom, Language and Education, 33(2), pp. 106–122.
The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration outlines 2 goals:
Goal 1: The Australian education system promotes excellence and equity
Goal 2: All young Australians become:
- confident and creative individuals
- successful lifelong learners
- active and informed members of the community
Documents such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Disability Standards for Education 2005, and a range of relevant state and territory Acts provide appropriate advice to formulate policies and frameworks designed to support EAL/D learners.
The following points should be considered in developing learning plans for EAL/D students:
- EAL/D students need to:
- learn English to access education and participate in all aspects of society
- learn through English
- learn about English.
- learn English to access education and participate in all aspects of society
- EAL/D students’ experiences, understandings and expectations may be different from those that are assumed to be “common knowledge” in Australian classrooms and must therefore be considered. The curriculum often refers to the familiar and the everyday; however, the “everyday” is determined by social and cultural contexts. Students attempt to make connections between new learning at school and what is known from home.
- EAL/D students may have additional or alternative understandings that need to be considered when teaching aspects of the Australian Curriculum. These may include knowledge and understanding of ethical actions, historical viewpoints, family relationships, mathematical problem solving, currencies, and measuring time and temperatures.
- EAL/D students require specific support to learn and build on the English language skills needed to access the curriculum, in addition to learning area–specific language structures and vocabulary. These students have the same capacity to understand the content of the Australian Curriculum as other students; however, they require support with the English language required both to access the curriculum and to demonstrate achievement. Therefore, it is important to identify and address the language requirements of tasks while still maintaining the integrity of learning area content.
- EAL/D students may not require additional support to engage with adjusted curriculum content.
- EAL/D students can achieve educational standards equal with their peers.
- EAL/D students may have different levels of language proficiency across the modes of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
- Many languages are spoken in homes and communities around Australia, including the many First Nations Australian languages and dialects. EAL/D learners start school with spoken and/or written skills in one or more languages. EAL/D students may have already developed relevant concepts and skills in their first language or dialect. Their existing language skills are a rich resource for learning English and for accessing the curriculum.
Refer to jurisdiction and sector specific information for more advice and policy direction.