Across the world, educators in many countries choose to teach speaking, reading and writing in the English language when it is not the ‘home language’ (also known as ‘the mother tongue’ or ‘the first language’). Teachers may ‘have to’ teach English if it is the school’s or country’s approach – or it may simply be the parents’ wishes.
[ Please note: We provide a free webinar with full course notes here – this features research-findings particularly the ‘Simple View of Reading’ (Gough and Tunmer 1986), and my practical resource design with the underpinning rationale of ‘Two-pronged systematic AND incidental phonics teaching and learning‘ and a ‘Parallel Approach‘ for developing spoken English language for bilingual and multilingual learners whilst also introducing a systematic phonics body of work (programme), and adaptions you can make when learners are not fully English-speakers. What can this LOOK LIKE? ]
English is a language with a very rich vocabulary because of its history of adopting and utilising words and their meanings from other countries (near and far) – and this still happens to this day with many new words added every year to English dictionaries.
There is a wide range of issues, however, to take into consideration when teaching English as an additional language. The circumstances, or context, will vary enormously. Here are some examples:
1) Are the teachers and learners already competent speakers of the English language? Can they talk and think in English even when this is not the home language? Thus, it may be a case of teaching the written code for reading and spelling that is required – that is, the letter/s-sound correspondences of the alphabetic code and the requisite phonics skills of decoding for reading, encoding for spelling, and handwriting.
2) Are the teachers knowledgeable about teaching reading and spelling in the English language informed by both the findings of science – and best practice? Considering that there have been ‘reading wars’ even in mainly English-speaking countries, and to some extent this continues to this day, it is highly unlikely that teachers ‘share a common understanding’ in how best to teach reading and spelling – especially in different countries and contexts. One of the most helpful findings from research is the Simple View of Reading (Gough and Tunmer, 1986) with the diagram of this model recommended by Sir Jim Rose in his independent review of the teaching of early reading in 2006. The Simple View of Reading illustrates that it takes two main processes to be a reader in the full sense: the technical capacity to lift new printed words off the page, and the (spoken) language comprehension (sometimes called ‘listening comprehension’) to understand the words that have been lifted.
3) What is the age of the learners when they are taught to speak, read and spell in the English language? This can make a significant difference in the details of provision and the speed at which they are taught English. Learning a completely new spoken language will always be a challenge, but can being taught the technicalities of the English spelling system (the alphabetic code) for reading and spelling actually assist in teaching the speech and comprehension of the English language? Which comes first, or can one aspect (phonics) help in the other aspect (speech)? The experiences of teaching both the spoken language of English, in effect alongside early phonics introduction, can be very successful – especially if there is no pressure on the participants and for young learners, this can be like teaching them anything about the world, whether in the home or in the school. When learners are ‘older’ and beginners, the resources that can support teaching and learning can be used sensibly – as required – as long as they are not totally ‘babyish’ such that they present as very patronising to older learners. So, what might be suitable with regard to ‘difficulty’ for English-speaking learners, can be used for older learners when the context is learning English as an additional language. This is the case with our Phonics International programme and our No Nonsense Phonics programme and our ‘Phonics and vocabulary books‘ reading series.
4) Is English completely new to the learners, or do they already have some spoken language in English? Some learners, for example, may already be exposed to two main spoken languages in their home and so they may be bi-lingual – or in some cases, even multi-lingual. In this case, how, and how well, can the English alphabetic code, and the decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) phonics skills be taught – and at what pace with what materials?
5) If attending a school, what is the approach to teaching English in the school? In some cases, for example, English may be taught simply once a week to introduce learners to the very basics, or beginnings, of speaking, reading and writing. In other cases, English may be taught every day for beginners, or even for ‘half the timetable’ in some schools. In other words, there is simply more serious intent in teaching English for speaking, reading and writing in a school that devotes a great deal of time and attention to this aim – even for half of the curriculum including other subjects. The ever-present, overview Alphabetic Code Chart can provide ‘incidental’ phonics support – as required – for any age learners.
6) If learners attend a state school, what is the approach of the prevailing region or Government? This may influence the degree and seriousness of the teaching of English. Again, how often is English taught and in what way – including the ‘technicalities’ of teaching reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding) and/or being steeped in the spoken English language?
7) In some countries, the home language ‘script’ (writing system and symbols) is very different from the Roman alphabet letters used in the English language, whereas some countries with a different language from English still utilise alphabet letters in a similar way – perhaps with some additional symbols, some slight differences, or fewer symbols than the 26 upper and 26 lower case alphabet letter symbols used for English writing.
8) Equally, how similar, or different, is the spoken home language compared to English? In other words, it could be particularly challenging teaching English when there is little or no similarity in the written symbols and the spoken language.
9) What language or languages do the teachers themselves speak? There are many cases, for example, when the teacher of English doesn’t really have a grasp of the home language of the learners much or at all. In England, for example, many schools include children with a wide range of home languages – some of whom don’t yet speak English at all, some who are already managing or even competent in English as well as their home language – but the teachers aren’t! Also, many tutors of English as an additional or second language speak only English – or at least not the home language of their variety of learners. Teachers and tutors in this scenario cannot support the learners with the home-language for any explanations. They have to augment their work a great deal with drawings, acting, reference to wider literature – and explain meanings as well as they can. In such cases, the teachers and tutors themselves will benefit from well-designed, cumulative content to teach the phonics and language acquisition.
10) Some settings or schools have very little by way of funding for resources – whether to pay teachers and teaching assistants – or actual materials such as books (whether phonics workbooks, exercise books, suitable reading books and a variety of rich literature). Even class sizes and the challenges posed by sheer numbers of children, then, can vary enormously. But even in these circumstances, the teachers will benefit from being supplied with the requisite code, words, sentences, texts, reading books content which they can write on their whiteboard or chalk boards, all the children can ‘copy’ the writing into their own exercise books, then apply themselves to decode the words, and THEN the teacher can go through the content collectively with the children and focus on the meaning-making as required. Our free Phonics International programme can provide content for teachers, and our eBookshelf can provide reading-book content much cheaper than hard-copy books if the internet is available in the school setting.
So, you can see from the above list of variables, it could be a case of there is ‘no one size fits all’ – but that’s not entirely the case… READ ON:
In spite of all these variables above (and probably more that I have not listed), there are some features of teaching English for the spoken language aspect, and the technicalities of lifting new printed words off the page (decoding) and how to ‘comprehend’ the words, sentences and texts, and how to spell for writing, that teaching shares IN COMMON.
The ADAPTATIONS for teachers to consider include the need to ‘make allowances’ for learners’ ages, for their existing (or non-existent) SPOKEN language, for the time available for the teaching and learning, and for the resources that teachers are able to call upon to assist with their teaching and learning. BUT, it’s still the SAME language the learners need to be able to understand, and the SAME alphabetic code and phonics skills that they ALL need for reading and writing!
There are some other considerations. In England, for example, there is some time pressure placed on early years and infant teachers (of the four to six year old children) for the children to reach or exceed the 32 out of 40 words ‘benchmark’ of words read correctly (or ‘plausibly’ in the case of the 20 ‘psuedo-words’) of the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) undertaken near the end of Year One. In England’s context, then, there are nearly two years of formally-planned ‘Systematic Synthetic Phonics’ (SSP) provision expected by the Department for Education (DfE) and the schools’ inspectorate, Ofsted. To encourage good phonics provision, the DfE has actually ‘validated’ a number of phonics programmes, and keeps an eye on year-on-year PSC results. Unfortunately, there are measures that the DfE could do better, differently and more transparently, but that’s another topic not really relevant to this post.
If teachers in their contexts across the world are not under time-pressures, they still need to ensure that they are providing the best possible teaching of BOTH the spoken English language and the technicalities for reading and spelling words as competently and effortlessly as possible.
It is not necessary to master ‘phonological awareness’ or ‘phonemic awareness’ BEFORE starting some phonics provision (that is, awareness of the smallest sounds in speech that can change ‘meaning’ of the word). You see, phonemic awareness is developed as part of a good, systematic synthetic phonics teaching – but neither does it harm children at tender ages to have lots of experience of rhyming, alliteration, language-play of English words. This is just good nursery or pre-school provision – but not ‘pre-requisites’ to phonics teaching and learning. I describe a possible approach to early years ‘nursery’ provision with a wide range of FREE resources that may be especially useful in settings where English is an additional or new language – and where children are very young – and especially when the home country’s ‘script’ (writing symbols) are not Roman alphabet letters. Plenty of ‘exposure’ and ‘experience’ but with ‘no expectations’ (pressures) are key.
Many teachers express concern about phonics provision taking precedent over ‘meaning-making’, that is, comprehension of the words, sentences, texts and stories. There are two main points to make here: 1) If a learner already knows the printed word in spoken language, meaning-making is automatic on technically decoding the printed word, and 2) If a learner decodes a new printed word (sentence or text) and does not know the meaning, then the teacher is there to help them with the meaning! That’s what teachers are for!
My view is that much phonics provision is somewhat ‘tinkering around the edges’ of what is possible and truly beneficial. Sometimes, because phonics resources, programmes and provision are not as comprehensive or well-designed as they could be, this results in teachers thinking phonics is only partially helpful – indeed, even some academics still work hard to undermine phonics provision (which I find very dismaying). This was actually at the heart of my GLOW 2025 talk so, if interested, you can find what I mean here.
There are still people who argue that English ‘is not phonetic’ but this is not true. The sounds of the English language do link, or correspond, with the spelling system. The problem is that because of its historic nature, the English spelling system (the alphabetic code) is very complex and needs teachers (and everyone else) to have a good understanding of the complexities of the code – and the ‘everyone’ includes the learners themselves!
When people argue that the English language is only a certain percentage ‘decodable’, I ask them to look at a piece of nearby text – look at my post here for example. How many of the words I have freely typed would you consider that you cannot ‘decode’? Of course the better you KNOW the English alphabetic code, the more DECODABLE the words on this page. So, issues to consider include: if you are a teacher, or indeed a teacher-trainer, how thoroughly are you teaching the code itself? And how content-rich and supportive for ALL stakeholders is the phonics programme and provision?
Important questions!
REMINDER: We provide a free webinar with full course notes here – which features research-findings, and my practical resource design, and adaptions you can make when learners are not fully English-speakers. What can this LOOK LIKE?
Update 27th August 2025: Here is a very interesting research summary provided by the ‘Children’s Equity Project’ via X: ‘THE SCIENCE OF READING AND DUAL LANGUAGE EDUCATION – SUPPORTING MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS’ LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT’ (Aug 2025).
Having read the above report, issues that spring to my mind include a priority for acknowledging the dominant official language of the/a country – is it the English language, or ‘another’ language? If it is the English language, teacher-training, and capacity to identify high-quality phonics programmes and provision in the English language are still major issues as not all ‘systematic phonics programmes’ are the same, or equal – not in their rationale, their design, the design of specific resources, nor who they are designed for (for example, younger or older learners – or both). I’ll remind readers of my ‘partial critique’ of a rapidly-spreading phonics programme in England that has many differences from my phonics programmes as an example of the need to be able to identify and analyse phonics programmes including their content and support for ALL stakeholders and their outcomes. I also featured the theme of paper-based content in contrast to ‘strictly no worksheets or workbooks’ in my June 2025 GLOW talk for SAAR Education in India.
Another issue is comparing the challenges for teachers/schools/guidance in contexts where teachers are not just faced with catering for two languages (a bilingual scenario) but where learners have multiple languages between them. It can be too onerous and unrealistic to place expectations on teachers to assess and cater for all the languages of learners in their setting other than on a basic (humanitarian) and broad level (such as providing examples of different languages’ words and texts). I found some of the suggestions in the paper above bordering on the impractical, and maybe unreasonable or virtually impossible. If English is the main language of a country, however, it is essential that the highest quality of English teaching is provided.
I highly recommend watching the embedded video here (not long) where I actually promote the use of overview English Alphabetic Code Charts to compare with the much simpler Spanish Alphabetic Code Chart – and also where we provide a variety of free charts for your use. This is very relevant to suggestions in the paper by the Children’s Equity Project.
Below is the X thread where I learnt about the Children’s Equity Project report:
https://x.com/ChildrensEquity/status/1960342087410340149
