Creating an EAL conscious school: recommendations for how international schools can develop collaborative practices between English as an Additional Language and the mainstream to best support English language learners.

This thesis aims to develop a better understanding of how international schools can create a more integrated culture of language conscious teaching and learning through collaboration between English as an Additional Language (EAL) and mainstream subject teachers. The research in this thesis comprises three interrelated journal articles from research conducted at an international school in a major city in Ukraine. The research focussed on the importance of the need for a better understanding of EAL and the mainstream, the importance of the need for better understanding of EAL learners, and an understanding of how EAL and mainstream collaboration help to support EAL learners in the mainstream classroom. The first article drew on quantitative and qualitative data collected from a questionnaire sent to secondary teachers in the school where the study took place, as well as to other international schools in the Eastern European region. The questionnaire investigated English language training in education, attitudes to EAL in mainstream subjects and participants’ collaboration with EAL teachers. Further follow up qualitative data collected from a focus group in the school in Ukraine investigated the topics of competencies, responsibilities and collaboration with respect to EAL in the mainstream classroom. The second article drew on qualitative data from interviews with individual EAL learners. The interviews investigated how EAL learners see themselves in terms of an EAL identity, how social status and community influence EAL learners, and how the home language and culture are influential in the language classroom. The third article drew on qualitative data from interviews and field notes with language & literature, science and EAL teachers. The interviews investigated how EAL and mainstream collaboration help support EAL learners in the mainstream classroom, which co-planning strategies most effectively encourage collaboration, and EAL and mainstream teachers’ opinions and experiences about co-planning and working collaboratively. Building on these data, the conclusion of this thesis ultimately sets out a set of six recommendations for how international schools can develop effective collaborative practices between EAL and the mainstream to best support English language learners.