Supporting EAL Learners through Critical Language Awareness
EAL students bring a rich diversity beyond language itself. According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, language shapes thought and perception—meaning each student’s first language reflects their attitudes and identities and influences how they understand and engage with the world.
In my last blog post, we explored the unique challenges that English as an Additional Language (EAL) students face in STEM classrooms and some strategies science teachers can use to support them. It’s easy to focus on language barriers when thinking about EAL students, especially in subjects with complex concepts and specialised terminology. But there’s more to their experience than just language. These students bring diverse educational backgrounds, academic conventions, and cultural perspectives that can shape how they understand and interact with STEM content. Before we dive into specific teaching strategies, let’s start by recognising and appreciating who our students really are beyond their use of English as an additional language. By understanding the cultural and educational lenses they bring, we’ll be better equipped to connect with and support them effectively in the classroom.
Who are my students?
We may think we know our students pretty well—but understanding their language backgrounds can reveal so much more. It gives us insights into their academic norms and expectations, learning preferences, and what they might be hoping to get from us as teachers. One foundational framework that can help STEM educators appreciate the global diversity of English users is Kachru's concentric circles model. Developed by linguist Braj Kachru in the 1980s, this model categorises English speakers into three distinct groups.
Inner Circle: This includes countries where English is the native language—such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In these nations, English is the primary language of communication, culture, and education. For students from Inner Circle countries, English is an integral part of daily life and education, so they’re typically comfortable with Western academic conventions that emphasise active participation, critical thinking, and open debate. These students often expect to be encouraged to share their opinions freely, engage in discussions, and think independently.
Outer Circle: This group represents countries where English holds an official or secondary language status, often due to historical colonial influences. Examples include India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore. In these places, English plays a crucial role in government, education, and business, coexisting with a variety of local languages. Outer Circle students, on the other hand, may have a strong command of English due to its official status in their countries, but they often come from educational systems that emphasise structure, respect for authority, and less spontaneous debate. They may expect a clear hierarchy in the classroom, valuing well-defined instructions and guidance from the teacher over open-ended discussions.
Expanding Circle: Countries in this circle recognise English as a foreign language, such as China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan, Korea, as well as countries in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where English is commonly taught in schools but doesn’t hold official status as it does in the Inner and Outer Circles. Here, students typically learn English for academic or professional purposes and may come from backgrounds that prioritise memorisation and teacher-led instruction. In their education systems, success often relies on absorbing information rather than challenging it, so they may feel less comfortable with the Western focus on collaboration and independent exploration. As a result, these students might expect a more direct teaching style, with explicit guidance on what to learn and how to apply it.
I can personally resonate with the experience of being an EAL student. I grew up in an Expanding Circle country, where my education was very much teacher-led. We were taught to respect everything in our textbooks and to take in information as it was presented—no questions asked. Respecting the teacher often meant not questioning or challenging what was taught. Group work and classroom discussions were rare, and “teacher talk time” was essentially 100%. Our main focus was preparing for exams, with little emphasis on exploring or challenging ideas. Then life took me halfway around the world to England, where I found myself in a classroom that felt completely different. I was shocked by how much I was expected to speak in class! The teacher seemed to want us to share our thoughts constantly, to discuss and debate. There were many times I felt like crying in class when my teacher encouraged me (though to me, it felt like pressure!) to share or contribute. It wasn’t that I couldn’t speak English—I just wasn’t familiar with what was happening in class. I suddenly realised that language was actually not the problem but I wasn’t used to expressing my own ideas in that way. In fact, I hadn’t developed any real “critical thinking” skills. It was a learning curve, to say the least, but also an eye-opening experience that changed how I understood learning and engagement in the classroom. As a young girl in an English-medium classroom, I remember that I didn’t need my teacher to focus on helping me with the language itself but I needed them to understand my academic background and the conventions I was used to, and to help me navigate those differences smoothly.
The Importance of Critical Language Awareness
At this point, I hope it’s clear that effectively teaching STEM to EAL students also requires Critical Language Awareness (CLA). Language shapes not only how students express themselves but also how they see themselves and interact with learning. For EAL students, especially those from Outer and Expanding Circle countries, language is deeply tied to identity, impacting their learning styles, classroom behaviour, and comfort with participation. Often, when teaching a subject to EAL learners, teachers focus heavily on the language elements—such as vocabulary or grammar—while overlooking the importance of first understanding their students’ language background and what these students carry to the class. In reality, recognising this background is the key to preparing the most effective lessons and activities. By appreciating the linguistic and cultural influences on the students, teachers can create a more inclusive environment that fosters meaningful engagement, boosts confidence, and encourages critical thinking in STEM subjects.
In the next blog, I’ll dive into the first strategy for teaching STEM to EAL learners: allowing the use of their first language (L1) in the classroom. This approach can play a crucial role in helping students bridge the gap between their existing knowledge and the new concepts they’re learning in STEM. Stay tuned as we explore how this simple yet powerful strategy can support both comprehension and confidence in our EAL students!