Reflecting on the English as Additional Language (EAL) Learning Process of Two Refugee Pupils in the Context of the UK and Turkey: Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Competence in English language literacy can be assumed to be an essential factor for the competitive market in the context of the 21st Century globalization. However, in some cases, pupils learning English as an additional language in same classroom are not homogenous due to their diverse background experiences (Conteh, 2015). For instance, in the UK, there are over 1.5 million EAL learners (The Bell Foundation, 2018); whereas, Cinkara (2017) in Turkey’s context, Turkey welcomed around 2.523.554 Syrian refugees. This study reports the processes of reading English by two Arabic native speaker pupils. Salah (pseudonym) 9-year-old, without prior formal and informal education who was admitted to Year 4 in West of England primary school, UK. Ahmed (pseudonym), 8 years old in Year 3 in a South Turkey school learning English as a subject, possible as his third language, in addition to Arabic and Turkish. The study aims to understand the ways to improve these pupils’ English language reading skills. Action research and structured interviews were used to collect the participants’ data. Thematic analysis was used to identify the themes of the structured interview. It was found that the whole-word approach when reading a word, is the preference for both participants rather than the phonic approach. Further research with larger sample and encouragement of cross-border professional co-operation to improve refugees’ Basic English reading skills is recommended.