hunches, locates meanings, and relates these to specific contexts and experiences’
(Mills et al. 2010 , p. 789).
46.2 Impact of the Global on the Local
EAL teaching and learning is important in all English speaking countries. Current
events like the Syrian crisis have highlighted the high risk thisfleeing segment of
humanity will undertake to escape war, persecution and poverty. This century will
continue to face serious questions about human rights and social justice, as it
witnesses a further rise in the number of school age children in English speaking
countries. Schools are responsible for meeting educational, psychological, social
and cultural needs. Whether they are in Australia or US, refugees and asylum
seeking children have to utilize educational opportunities alongside second and
third generation of once-migrants-now-settlers/citizens. Inclusive education remains
a dream for young people facing exclusion because of learning disabilities, or
ethnicity (Gobbo 2015 ). This raises fundamental questions about the importance of
inclusion and the kind of society we wish to live in (Clough and Corbett 2000 ).
Better EAL teaching can optimize inclusion and educational opportunities for all.
Schools have to educateeveryone. Local authorities in UK‘have a legal duty to
ensure that education is available for all children of compulsory age...irrespective of
a child’s immigration status, country of origin or rights of residence in a particular
area’(Department for Education 2012 , p. 1). This sounds just and egalitarian, but are
schools equipped to handle this diversity and‘super diversity’? Vertovec ( 2007 )
defined super diversity as‘a term intended to underline a level and kind of com-
plexity surpassing anything previously experienced in a particular society’(p. 1024).
Are all teachers fully aware and prepared for these global challenges? They are
expected to be well-informed, innovative and culturally responsive. The reality is
that most teachers in countries like UK and US are monolingual, while a rising
percentage of the student population is bilingual or multilingual. Young people want
to make a positive contribution and not become a burden on their parents or society.
To do so effectively, they must manage well in English. Our research in UK and US
schools looked at how schools support EAL/ESL (English as a second language)^2 in
Henrico County in US and Bristol in UK.
46.3 EAL and the Role of Policy
It takes 5–7 years for EAL learners to become fullyfluent (Demie 2013 ). This
implies a long-term commitment to language provision. It is useful to consider the
role of policy before focusing on classroom-based observations. EAL is treated as a
(^2) ESL is mostly used for bilingual speakers where English is a second language.
682 G. Bhatti and G. McEachron