In the Australian Curriculum, students for whom English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) are defined in the following way:
EAL/D students are those whose first language is a language or dialect other than English and who require additional support to develop proficiency in Standard Australian English (SAE). (ACARA, 2010 to present)
EAL/D students are also described as learning English as a second language (ESL) or as English language learners (ELLs). The term EAL/D is an acknowledgement that, while these students may not have yet learnt SAE, they nevertheless bring to school a wealth of
linguistic and cultural resources. SAE may, in fact, be their third or fourth language or dialect.
According to the Australian Curriculum, those for whom SAE is an additional language or dialect may include:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
- immigrants to Australia and temporary visa holders from non-English speaking countries
- students with a refugee background
- children born in Australia of migrant heritage where English is not spoken at home
- English-speaking students returning to Australia after extended periods in non-English speaking settings
- children of deaf adults who use AUSLAN as their first language
- international students from non-English speaking countries.
Recent figures release by the NSW Department of Education, and reported on by AERO (2025), showed that students starting in NSW public schools with Beginning levels of English, can, on average, expect to equitably participate in curriculum learning after at least 6 years of schooling. This finding aligns with international research that indicates that it takes approximately 5 to 7 years to learn English from beginner levels.
It is absolutely critical that our teaching of EAL/D students takes this into consideration, with AERO noting 3 key implications:
- the length and continuity of language and literacy support
- teacher and school expectations for EAL/D student learning
- allocation of EAL/D resources in response to students’ needs.