Differing expectations: an account of home and school factors affecting EAL learners from Arabic-speaking backgrounds

Abstract

This article considers research from a preliminary study of Libyan children’s accounts of their experience learning English as an additional language (EAL) within mainstream schools in the LJK. The analysis of interviews and classroom observations suggests that for equal opportunity to take place, local education authorities need to place greater emphasis on language and educational provision for newcomers to UK primary schools. In addition, there is still a communication barrier as well as a language barrier between home and school which needs to be addressed in order for children to adjust to and meet school requirements. In a similar way, parents of newly arrived children need to have clear expectations. The implications of this piece of research are extremely relevant for additional language acquisition in British schools and, in particular, for the education of newcomers whose circumstances are similar to those of the children in this study. This research also enables the voice of Arab children, as learners of the English language, to reach educators and policy makers, and empower them further in the research processes which inform British education policy.