It’s easier to be what you can see: Supporting EAL learners in multilingual classrooms

Johanna Thomson, Primary Link Tutor, The Tommy Flowers SCITT, UK; EAL Content Writer, Twinkl Educational Publishing Ltd, UK One and a half million students in England are English as an additional language (EAL) learners (The Bell Foundation, 2020a). Yet too often in school, being multilingual can be viewed as a barrier to making academic progress because English is ultimately the language of instruction and assessment (Crisfield, 2020). Conversely, in adulthood, multilingualism is frequently considered a skill to be celebrated (Gallagher, 2020), with many adults often expressing regret at being monolingual. If students are, or indeed become, embarrassed or reluctant to use their home language(s) in school, then as educators we have a critical role to play in inviting, welcoming and encouraging them to do so with confidence and pride. This article argues that valuing, sharing and encouraging the use of multiple languages should be a must in all classrooms – not solely because it