Levels of Proficiency in English

Knowledge about the English language proficiency of learners using EAL is important for schools and teachers in informing the most appropriate support.

The Bell Foundation’s award-winning EAL Assessment Framework for Schools provides a set of standards to assist schools in establishing English language proficiency and has been designed to support teaching and learning by enabling practitioners to generate targets to guide individual learner progress.

The following levels of proficiency in English are used both within the EAL Assessment Framework for School and on all teaching resources.

New to English

Pupils in the English education system who are New to English will progress at very different rates according to their educational background and the effectiveness of the support they receive. New to English learners can be described as working at band A on The Bell Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework. As a general rule, New to English learners tend to be in their first two years of learning.

Learners who are New to English (working at band A):

Engage in highly scaffolded listening activities, learning basic classroom language and linking sounds to actions and meanings
Show emerging competence in basic oral expression
Demonstrate little or no knowledge of written English; taking first steps to engage with written and digital texts in English
Demonstrate competence in managing basic, simple and isolated phrases

Learners working at band A will require considerable support to access curriculum content.

Early Acquisition

Pupils in the English education system who are in the Early Acquisition stage of learning can be described as working at band B on the Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework. As with New to English learners, those at the Early Acquisition stage tend to be in their first two years of learning.

Learners who are at the Early Acquisition stage (working at band B):

Show a developing autonomy in processing speech
Show emerging competence in the ability to respond verbally in interactions with others
Make sense of written text at word and phrase/sentence level, using visual information to help decipher meaning
Demonstrate competence in producing simple sentences and paragraphs on familiar topics conforming to taught expectations

Learners working at band B will still needs a significant amount of EAL support to access the curriculum.

During the New to English and Early Acquisition stages, the focus for teaching and support should be on effective communication and ‘meaning making’. At these stages fluency and building confidence is more important than accuracy.

Developing Competence

Pupils in the English education system who are Developing Competence, have typically been learning English for between two and five years. In the Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework for Schools, these learners can be described as working at band C.

At this stage learners would typically be confident in communicating in English and would be starting to develop more control of functional language. Their spoken English, however, may not be particularly accurate, with surface errors sometimes continuing for a number of years.

Learners who are at the Developing Competence stage (working at band C):

Show developing independence in the use of basic listening skills needed to engage with learning
Demonstrate emerging competence in spontaneous expression and communication
Draw on growing knowledge of vocabulary and grammar to engage with curriculum-related texts and tasks
Demonstrate competence in describing and narrating personal experiences with greater accuracy and beginning to experiment with more sophisticated writing in a variety of genres in different curriculum contexts

Learners working at band C will require on-going EAL support to access the curriculum fully.

At this stage, the focus for teaching and support should be about increasing range and accuracy of language use. EAL learners who are Developing Competence need to be encouraged to notice key features of English and self-correct.

Competent

Pupils in the English education system who are Competent users of EAL would be described as working at band D on the Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework for Schools.

Learners who are at the Competent stage (working at band D):

Apply listening skills over an increasing range of contexts and functions
Demonstrate competence in producing more varied and complex speech in a wider range of contexts
Engage with curriculum related reading activities independently and productively in different subject areas
Demonstrate competence in controlling the content and structure of writing with greater accuracy and with a fuller range of vocabulary and grammar

Fluent

Pupils in the English education system who are Fluent users of EAL would be described as working at band E on the Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework for Schools.

Learners who are at the Fluent stage (working at band E)

Demonstrate confidence in writing accurately and independently in a variety of genres
Engage with curriculum-related reading activities independently and productively in different subject areas
Show competence in fluent, creative use of spoken English
Show an ability to understand and respond to spoken communication in classroom and school contexts with little or no hindrance

At the Competent and Fluent stages, the focus for teaching and support should be about promoting more sophisticated uses of language, exploring how to control of genre and register, and varying style and format to adapt to different requirements and contexts.

Learners working at both the Competent and Fluent stages may still need some/occasional support to access complex curriculum material and tasks.

To find out more about how to support EAL learners who are working in each band of proficiency in English please see the Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework for Schools and accompanying classroom support strategies.