"I don't like English; I don't like writing": A case study of EAL learner support in a secondary school in England

Gaipov D., Brownhill S.

ISSUES IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, vol.31, no.3, pp.760-781, 2021 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 31 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Journal Name: ISSUES IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Periodicals Index Online, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Page Numbers: pp.760-781
  • Süleyman Demirel University Affiliated: No

Abstract

The demand for quality practice to support learners with English as an additional language (EAL) in educational settings across the globe remains ever present (Cunningham, 2020). Educators in secondary schools are constantly seeking ways to enable learners with EAL to effectively access their teaching and to succeed in all areas of the curriculum. This paper focuses on the issues that learners with EAL face in the core subject of science. Findings, drawn from original research conducted in an English secondary school, suggest that a suite of practical strategies and professional support is needed to positively address issues associated with vocabulary and writing that learners with EAL encounter. The paper recognises the significance of these findings for international contexts such as Kazakhstan that are adopting a tri-lingual system of education and who seek to embrace the model of English-medium science education in their secondary schools.