ReadingWise for pupils who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL)
ReadingWise is a complete, evidence-based online literacy intervention solution for EAL pupils and the teachers who support them. Over 300,000 pupils across every age group have used ReadingWise to improve their reading abilities. It’s proven to increase reading ages by as much as 9.5 months in one term.
A Complete Online Literacy Programme for Pupils who Speak English as an Addditional Language (EAL)
Pupils who speak English as an Additional language (EAL) account for 22% of primary school children and 18% of secondary school students. According to The Bell Foundation:
“There are more than 1.7 million pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools in England who are EAL. In 2022/2023, 22% of primary pupils and 18.1% of secondary school pupils are EAL.”
It can be challenging for students to access the full curriculum when their first language is not English. Schools can and do make necessary provisions to support EAL students, and with literacy intervention programmes such as ReadingWise, the right support can make a huge difference.
ReadingWise can equip your school, teachers, TAs, and pupil support teachers with highly targeted and tailored literacy intervention modules that can help EAL pupils to improve their literacy and achieve higher levels of reading attainment.
ReadingWise results for pupils who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL)
“As a school, we ended the year 22-23 with an outstanding 90%+ fluent readers across year groups 7-11. We made a remarkable 18% impact in reading following the launch of Star’s World Class Book Culture Programme.”
“Raising attainment and progress through reading is a priority at TIBHS, and our collaboration with ReadingWise has had a considerable impact on the progression of pupils’ reading ages. We have been offered invaluable support to deliver bespoke targeted interventions for pupils identified as reading below their chronological reading age.”
Improve Phonics, Decoding, Comprehension, and Vocabulary for EAL Pupils
Our programmes cover Phonics (Zip), Decoding, Comprehension, and Vocabulary. ReadingWise is a viable 'one stop shop' for literacy intervention for EAL pupils. This streamlines delivery for your school's literacy leads. ReadingWise can deliver significant reading improvement for each pupil falling behind, whichever area of reading they are struggling with. ReadingWise often delivers disproportionate gains for disadvantaged and EAL learners.
For Primary, Secondary Schools, Multi-Academy Trusts
ReadingWise programmes are effective in both primary and secondary settings, for pupils who are struggling with literacy because English isn’t their first language. For over a decade, we've worked closely with primary and secondary literacy leads and teachers to improve reading for EAL pupils.
Our team has vast experience supporting schools and training teachers in every type of school from the smallest rural primary to the largest inner-city secondary and from small multi-academy trusts with 4 schools to larger groups with over 50 schools.
Evidence-based Literacy Interventions
Our programmes have been evidenced by the Department for Education ('gold standard' RCT) and by Cambridge University. Since 2015, the impact we deliver has been consistent for over 300,000 pupils across the UK.
The government-funded study showed that ReadingWise accelerated pupils' reading ages almost twice as fast as traditional classes. An average reading age increase of almost 10 months was achieved in under one term. The quantitative analysis was conducted by the widely respected Professor Rebecca Allen. The report can be read here.
More than a Literacy Intervention
EAL pupils can have a wide range of reading and literacy challenges. One reason schools with EAL pupils choose to work with ReadingWise over other literacy interventions is our deep experience across a vast range of schools in the UK.
Our team has experience with every reading assessment, and many different school reading projects, and has delivered many thousands of hours of training to school staff at every level. Our capacity to align your staff and your reading intervention policy is a powerful factor in delivering success.
"X is a student who had no English whatsoever. Since using Readingwise, he has become confident and has even started to speak. I know how powerful Readingwise is, hence, I have pushed this with SEND/EAL. It makes me so happy that he is top of the leader board across other schools too. What an achievement, which we will most definitely celebrate."
Using your assessment to ensure pupils get the right support
With every school, ReadingWise supports teachers, TAs, and literacy leads in conducting a pre-launch assessment programme. Depending on your focus - Decoding, Comprehension, Vocabulary ⏤ English teachers, literacy leads, TAs, and SENDCos receive in-depth training on how to deliver the modules effectively. They can then target the appropriate cohort of pupils depending on their needs.
Staff up and running after two hours of online training
Staff at every level, including teachers, TAs, Literacy Leads, and SENDcos, are then trained in Zip, Vocab, Comprehension, and Decoding, the four modules available to raise reading levels for EAL pupils in both primary and secondary schools.
Our training is highly effective yet streamlined, recognising the value of your staff's time. ReadingWise pioneered online training in 2015 and can deliver to large groups of staff in 2-hour sessions remotely. Our training is extremely efficient and your staff will be ready to deliver the programmes and will make an impact quickly with minimal time lost.
Our training is always highly rated by staff. The DfE-funded study found that 82% of staff found our training very good or excellent.
Integration with other school systems
ReadingWise is an online programme. Similar to many programmes used in schools, pupils have their own logins. Schools have a range of MiS (Management Information System) in place. These include SIMS, Arbor, Bromcom and many others. We have experience with all of them, and work with integrations such as Wonde to eliminate administrative tasks for your staff.
Find out more about our:
Boost Your School's Literacy Results for EAL Pupils: Arrange Your 20-Minute Demo at a Time to Suit You.
Find out everything you need to know about ReadingWise with our friendly, knowledgeable team.
