English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision for resettled Arabic speaking refugees in North East mainstream secondary schools...

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...challenges and opportunities for teachers and learners.This is an ethnographic study of Arabic-speaking EAL refugee learners in North East mainstream secondary schools. These learners, who come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, are required to learn through English in order to access the mainstream curriculum. The study aims to advance current knowledge and fill a gap in literature by examining the challenges confronting Arabic- speaking EAL learners and their teachers, in terms of language, literacy and cultures, and in so doing make a contribution to British society in its efforts to accommodate these learners. The research will also investigate the preparedness of teachers in meeting the needs of these learners in secondary mainstream schools. This might be a challenge and an opportunity for teachers as they work to find new strategies to support EAL learners enabling pupils to fully integrate and achieve academic and social progress. The study also addresses the implications of findings on curriculum design and teachers' use of language pedagogy. As large numbers of EAL learners enter mainstream schools, the study argues that there is an urgent need to rethink minority language children's needs and provide an analytical framework to understand and investigate this.