Why is baselining EAL students important?
Baselining any learner is important because it gives a sense of their individual strengths and challenges and allows teachers to determine the most appropriate next steps – whether that’s making adaptations to universal design for learning, delivering support or providing targeted or specialist interventions.
For learners with English as an additional language (EAL), who may be facing linguistic challenges, baseline data can help to identify the key areas of learning where support might be required and will also show where there may be additional needs.
Baselining any learner is important because it gives a sense of their individual strengths and challenges and allows teachers to determine the most appropriate next steps
For teachers, understanding the way that a student thinks and how they will learn best helps to personalise teaching, adjusted to the needs of the child. For students, they get an idea of what kind of learner they are, giving them ownership of their learning style.
What is CAT4?
The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) provides a broad and rounded view of every student by providing an understanding of reasoning strengths and challenges. This information helps practitioners to personalise teaching adjusted to the needs of the child, and gives students greater ownership of their learning. CAT4 isn’t based on a curriculum or dependent on prior learning, so offers a fair assessment of ability regardless of a student’s previous schooling.
The assessment looks at four key areas or batteries. Verbal reasoning, the ability to reason and express ideas through words – this is very closely linked to the acquisition of English and understanding of English language. Quantitative reasoning which is most closely linked to maths, using numerical skills to solve problems. Non-verbal reasoning, thinking with pictures and diagrams in two dimensions and spatial reasoning, thinking and drawing conclusions in three dimensions.
For those students where English is their second or even third language, we would typically expect them to find greater challenge with reasoning with words in English. The power of the four CAT4 batteries means that we can compare verbal scores with those in other batteries to help distinguish where any difficulty may be EAL-related or where there may be other SEND causes.
What is a verbal deficit?
When you compare results for the verbal and non-verbal abilities, learners may have a discrepancy – with their non-verbal scores often being higher. This can be described as a ‘verbal deficit’ and may indicate that literacy interventions could be required
We would recommend that colleagues explore whether the deficit is due to the influence of EAL and to what degree this might be the case. When we look at a balanced learner, understanding their reasoning with words is just one component of future success. The full individual profile should be reviewed to look at any discrepancies.
For example, here are the CAT4 scores for three learners. Each has a discrepancy, with a lower verbal score, but their needs are distinctly different.
- Student 1 has a verbal score of 70 and non-verbal of 80 – so both are below average
- Student 2 has a verbal score of 90 and non-verbal of 110 – so both are within average ranges
- Student 3 has a verbal score of 110 and a non-verbal of 130 – so both are above average.
Student 1 is probably the learner that we need to prioritise in terms of more urgent and wider support, as there could be additional barriers to learning indicated by both scores being low.
Student 2 could be a learner who is struggling to communicate something that they actually understand, but don't yet have the English language skills to do so.
Student 3 could be a gifted learner that's being held back by their acquisition of English, given that their non-verbal score is 130.
By reviewing all four batteries for these learners we can get a picture of the full profile of relative strength and challenge in order to understand each student’s needs and how they are likely to access the wider curriculum.
So, it's about understanding the nuance of the results from CAT4 alongside other assessments, to match the support that we put in place for the learner. From our three examples of students, the degree to which the discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal reasoning is going to impact their journey could be very different, and the degree to which it might impact the actions that we take to meet their needs on that journey is equally, very different.
The full individual profile should be reviewed to look at any significant discrepancies.
With CAT4 we get insights into the student’s learning preferences and can tailor to their needs, adapting teaching and learning to ensure maximum effectiveness.
How can CAT4 be used to help all school staff support EAL learners?
The conundrum for schools can be around knowing if an issue is EAL or SEND or both. Some SEND requirements can be masked by an EAL need, and likewise the other way.
It’s also important to say that EAL does not automatically mean ‘in need of support’ or that EAL students need an intervention. Many children in international schools can speak multiple languages extremely proficiently, including English!
For those who do require support, looking at any discrepancies can be an important initial step in seeking out SEND provision or targeted interventions in line with the language deficit that has been identified through the process.
Class teachers, SENCOs and Inclusion Support can all look at the CAT4 data and consider students who may require additional support in strengthening their understanding and fluency in English.
With limited language and communication, it can be difficult to know that we're teaching a student in the way that best suits their needs – as they may not be able to verbalise that. With CAT4 we get insights into the student’s learning preferences and can tailor to their needs, adapting teaching and learning to ensure maximum effectiveness. This can accelerate fluency in English and ultimately have a positive impact on attainment and wellbeing and improve outcomes in all subjects.
Talk to our specialists
If you would like to speak to one of our specialists about how we can support your students’ needs, including EAL, SEND, and gifted and talented learners, add your details to our form and we’ll get in touch.