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Curriculum and assessment for EAL learners: Seven practical steps for secondary teachers

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Students using English as an additional language risk underachievement – especially those arriving late in our school system. Katherine Solomon sets out seven curriculum and assessment practices for the secondary classroom to support EAL students
EAL numbers: According to government statistics, in England’s secondary schools, around one-fifth of students speak a first language other than English (18.6%) - Adobe Stock

The Department for Education’s (DfE) Curriculum and Assessment Review presents a significant opportunity to improve outcomes for secondary school students who use English as an additional language (EAL).

With more than 1.7 million students in England speaking a first language other than English – including 18.6% of all secondary students (DfE, 2024) – it is imperative that the needs of these learners are fully considered in any forthcoming reforms.

The need for action is particularly urgent for students who arrive late to the education system and are new to English or at the early stages of English acquisition.

Research by Strand and Lindorff (2021) highlights that without significant additional support, these learners are likely to struggle to access the curriculum, as English is the medium of instruction in schools.

Students who are new to English may require more than six years of targeted support to develop the academic language needed for success. Without intervention, late arrivals risk persistent underachievement, widening the attainment gap even further.

The Bell Foundation responded to the government’s call for evidence by highlighting areas where the current system supports EAL learners and where urgent improvements are needed.

Drawing insights from more than 100 partner schools, we identified simple and practical changes required across curriculum and assessment systems.

 

Strengths of the current system

The following aspects of the current curriculum and assessment systems are particularly beneficial for those EAL learners learning English alongside the curriculum:

  • The inclusion of creative and practical subjects such as music, art, design and technology, PE, and computing. These subjects provide students with opportunities to engage in learning that is less language-dependent, allowing them to observe demonstrations, listen, and absorb social norms more effectively. This helps bridge the language barrier and enables students to demonstrate understanding and learning through practical application.
  • The teaching of heritage and modern foreign languages. Home-language skills not only provide a strong foundation for learning additional languages but also help maintain linguistic and cultural connections. Ensuring language maintenance is crucial for staying in touch with family, preserving cultural identity, and fostering a sense of belonging.
  • The explicit emphasis on spoken language and literacy development ensures that students build a robust vocabulary, which is essential for their social integration and academic success.
  • Exam-access arrangements, as set by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), help level the playing field by providing resources such as bilingual translation dictionaries and translators. Additionally, the provision of extra time ensures that EAL learners have adequate opportunity to process and translate information into English.

 

Areas for development

There are several limitations of the current curriculum and assessment system that need to be addressed as part of the review to ensure EAL learners can achieve according to their potential and ambitions.

The current curriculum is overloaded with content, making it particularly challenging to access for those who are still acquiring English proficiency.

More flexibility in content is needed to cater to the diverse experiences of EAL learners. The current structure does not always align with students’ prior educational backgrounds, making it difficult for them to engage with certain topics.

For example, the English curriculum needs to be more representative of England’s multilingual society. At present, literature selections are dominated by British authors, limiting exposure to texts that reflect the cultural diversity of the student population. Introducing a broader range of authors would create a more inclusive learning environment.

Other ways in which the curriculum could better support EAL learners includes facilitating more explicit opportunities to build academic vocabulary across all subjects and ensuring that language development is integrated into the learning process.

Assessment remains a significant barrier for EAL learners, particularly because standardised tests rely heavily on proficiency in English. The current exam-heavy approach at the end of key stage 4 does not always accommodate late-arriving students, many of whom are unable to sit these exams and subsequently become invisible in national data sets.

 

Practical strategies for teachers

While we await the final report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (and then the government’s response), there are plenty of actionable steps that schools and teachers can take immediately to better support EAL learners. Here are seven ideas:

 

1, Adapt curriculum delivery to meet EAL needs

To ensure your EAL learners fully engage with the curriculum, consider small adjustments that support both language and subject learning. Simple strategies, like encouraging spoken language development, explicitly teaching key vocabulary, and embracing multilingual approaches, can make a big difference and will boost not only comprehension but also your students’ confidence in using English.

 

2, Integrate oracy development across all subjects

Teach spoken language skills to support EAL learners in developing linguistic competence, confidence, and academic discourse. Structured speaking activities enhance language acquisition, comprehension, retention, critical thinking, and social interaction.

By incorporating purposeful oral communication opportunities, teachers create an environment where EAL learners can practise new vocabulary, sentence structures, and subject-specific discussions in meaningful ways.

Strategies to support oracy development might include:

  • Think-pair-share: Structured opportunities for students to articulate their thoughts with a partner before sharing with the whole class allow EAL learners to rehearse language in a low-pressure setting.
  • Sentence frames and talk prompts: Provide structured language support through sentence starters such as “I agree with … because…” or “One example of this is…”. This scaffolding helps learners using EAL to construct grammatically accurate and contextually appropriate responses.

 

3, Embed academic vocabulary instruction

Teach subject-specific terms (e.g., magnet, roots) and cross-disciplinary words (e.g., identify, next) to enhance comprehension and communication across all subjects. Feldman and Kinsella (2008) offer guidelines for prioritising vocabulary in lesson planning:

  • Choose three to four vocabulary items that are important for understanding and discussing the key ideas and details within a unit (i.e. “cell membrane”, “nucleus”, “mitochondria”, “respiration”).
  • Choose three to four high-utility vocabulary that are useful for learners to engage in literate discourse about the unit and across subject areas (i.e. “turns into”, “changes from X to Y”).

To support vocabulary development teachers could draw upon word banks, visual supports, and repetition to reinforce learning of new vocabulary.

 

4, Ensure comprehensible input

Where necessary, simplify the language needed to access curriculum content during lessons without diluting academic challenge. By using clear, structured English for instructions, content delivery, task setting, and feedback, you can create an environment that supports both English language learning and subject development. Strategies might include:

 

5, Utilise multilingual pedagogies

Encouraging EAL learners to use all the languages they know can actively support their learning while validating and celebrating their home languages. This fosters positive attitudes toward multilingualism and boosts learner confidence. In practice, this means encouraging students to speak, write, and translate between their preferred language/s and English to support comprehension by:

  • Providing bilingual and multilingual glossaries to help students build on prior knowledge.
  • Allowing learners to draft extended pieces of writing in their preferred language before translating into English.

 

6, Ensure representation in curriculum content

Select diverse texts and historical perspectives that reflect the backgrounds of learners using EAL. In subjects like geography and science, use global case studies to make learning more relevant to diverse student backgrounds. Where possible, allow students to share personal or cultural perspectives to enrich discussions and promote inclusivity.

 

7, Enhance classroom assessment practices

Enhancing classroom assessment practices in secondary schools requires a balanced approach that acknowledges the diverse linguistic backgrounds of students while maintaining alignment with the UK curriculum. This can create a more inclusive assessment framework that accurately reflects students’ learning and progress.

  • Use formative assessment approaches: Regular low-stakes quizzes and structured peer assessments that use clear guidelines, criteria, or rubrics provided by the teacher can help assess and monitor progress without the pressure of high-stakes testing. Verbal feedback, whether through one-on-one discussions or group reflections, allows students, especially those still developing English proficiency, to demonstrate understanding in a supportive, low-anxiety environment. Project-based assessments can also be integrated into subjects to help students showcase their knowledge through research presentations, model-building, or creative digital story-telling.
  • Assess understanding beyond language ability: Ensure assessments measure content knowledge, not just English language proficiency. For students using EAL, teachers can provide multiple ways for learners to demonstrate understanding beyond written work, for example through oral explanations, labelled diagrams, or multimedia presentations. Across subjects, teachers can design assessments with scaffolding, such as glossaries of key terms or sentence starters, to help students articulate their thinking without being hindered by language barriers.
  • Become familiar with exam access arrangements: Access arrangements are available for students who use EAL and not all of them require approval. By becoming familiar with the rules, you can prepare learners for using arrangements in the most effective way. For instance, students can use bilingual translation dictionaries in certain GCSE exams, regardless of how long they have been in the country, if their first language is not English, Irish or Welsh, and if this reflects their “normal way of working” in their daily school routine.

However, in order to be effective, learners must have good subject vocabulary knowledge in their preferred language and time in class to practise using the dictionary efficiently. Teachers can train learners to make strategic use of a dictionary, by:

  • Identifying key words in an exam question and using the dictionary to confirm the meaning where they need to.
  • Scanning a text and identifying key words to look up.
  • Using knowledge of etymology, including word roots, prefixes and suffixes, to access meaning – for example of a word like decompression, where only compress appears in the dictionary.
  • Using the dictionary strategically as they construct their answers.
  • Information on all the access arrangements available can be found via the JCQ (see further information).

 

Final thoughts

The Curriculum and Assessment Review underscores the urgent need for a more inclusive and flexible approach that considers the linguistic diversity of England’s secondary school population. While systemic reform to secondary curriculum and assessment is essential, teachers, and schools can take immediate steps to embed inclusive strategies, promote equitable and accessible assessment, and create a supportive school environment. By doing so, we not only improve academic outcomes for learners using EAL but also enrich the learning experience for all students.

 

Further information & references

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