A language policy that confidently describes your school’s identity and clearly articulates what that means to staff (and students) can be a powerful foundation for building an inclusive school culture that allows plurilingual pupils to thrive. This workshop will provide practical guidance for creating, revising, and evaluating a school language policy as a tool for developing more inclusive and effective English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision. We will examine what types of information a language policy could include and explore how each area might help address academic, social, linguistic, and attitudinal inclusivity. Lastly, we will introduce a framework for evaluating a language policy in terms of inclusion and ensuring that it acts as an effective means to achieving impactful EAL provision in your setting.
The session will focus on:
- The rationale for having a language policy;
- Practical suggestions for areas to cover in an inclusive policy;
- The four dimensions of inclusion for EAL (as per Evans et al., 2020); Evaluating the inclusivity and effectiveness of a language policy;
- Ideas for applying this information and taking action in your own setting.
