SP 2: New to ESOL Languages Grid
KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
KK&S 1: The languages grid
This table gives some information about some of the languages spoken by new ESOL
learners at the time of writing. It includes languages such as Arabic which do not use a
Roman script as well as languages such as Somali where learners may have different
traditions of literacy. It also includes some of the languages spoken by the learners
who are profiled in these materials. It is not intended to be representative but rather to
give an indication of the kinds of language you may encounter in the classroom.
We encourage you to add notes to the table, and additional languages, as you find out
more about each of the main languages your learners speak. It can be very useful for
practitioners to know something about the language(s) a learner has been exposed to
from birth, often referred to as their ‘first’ language or ‘L1’. For ESOL learners with little
or no literacy in English it is especially useful to know a something about the script of
their L1 (assuming it is a language that has a written form) - especially the direction
the language is written in, and the category of script, which are both shown by the
table below.
It is also worth noting that the terminology ‘first language’ or ‘L1’ is not entirely
unproblematic and represents a rather monolingual worldview. In fact, a majority of
people worldwide are multilingual (i.e. speak and use more than one language) and
many will not necessarily identify a single language as their L1.
34
Types of Explanation
literacy
Non-literate Learners have had no access to literacy instruction, but they live in a
literate society.
Pre-literate The learner’s first language has no written form or is in the process of
developing a written form (e.g. some American indigenous, African,
Australian, and Pacific languages have no written form).
Semi-literate Learners have limited access to literacy instruction, or have some
reading and writing skills in their first language but are not functionally
literate.
Non-alphabet Learners are literate in a language written in a non-alphabetic script
literate (e.g. Mandarin Chinese).
Non-Roman Learners are literate in a language written in a non-Roman alphabet
alphabet (e.g. Arabic, Greek, Korean, Russian, and Thai). Direction of reading
literate varies.
Roman Learners are literate in a language written in a Roman alphabet script
alphabet (e.g. French, German, and Spanish). They read from left to right and
literate recognise letter shapes and fonts. 1
1
(ref. EU-Speak-3 European Speakers of Other Languages: Teaching Adult Immigrants and Training
Their Teachers (2018), Young-Scholten, M. Naeb, R, Ritchie, Y, & Musa, R.)
35
Language Direction Name of script Type of script Hello in chosen language Other notes
family
Albanian Left to right Latin / Roman Alphabet
Përshëndetje
Amharic Left to right Amharic Abugida
Arabic Right to left Arabic Abjad-- this means No indefinite articles
the system uses Reversed question
(mainly) symbols for marks and commas
consonants- the
reader supplies vowel
sounds
Aramaic Right to left Syriac Abjad
Bengali Left to right Bengali Abugida -Consonant-
vowels combinations
written as a unit
(vowels dependent on
consonants)
Bulgarian Left to right Cyrillic Alphabet Most users will also
Здравейте know the Roman
alphabet
Language Direction Name of script Type of script Hello in chosen language Other notes
family
Chinese Columns: Chinese Logographic: written No definite articles
languages (for Top to (or drawn) character
example bottom, read represents a word or
Cantonese or from right to phrase.
Mandarin) left- but lots
of variation is
possible
Fula Left to right Latin/Roman Alphabet Jam waali (Good morning) Expanded version of
Latin/Roman alphabet,
variation between
countries. Also uses
Arabic script, especially
Guinea, Cameroon.
Many Arabic
loanwords.
Gujarati Left to right Gujarati Abugida No horizontal line
Phonetic
Not case sensitive
No definite article
Hindi Left to right Devanagari Abugida Phonemic
37
Language Direction Name of script Type of script Hello in chosen language Other notes
family
Urdu / Lakshari Right to left Perso-Arabic / Abjad Reversed question
Arabic marks and commas
Igbo Right to left Latin/Roman Alphabet Expanded version of
Nnọọ Latin alphabet, non-
standardised so
variation between
users.
Kurdish-Sorani Right to left Arabic Abjad
سهالم
Lithuanian Left to right Roman but does Alphabet Pitch language
not use Q, W or Z Sveiki (meaning of words
and has additional changes according to
letters Ą, Ę, Ė, Į, stress)
Ų, Ū, Č, Š, Ž
Persian / Farsi Right to left Perso -Arabic Abjad No definite articles
Reversed question
marks and commas
38
Language Direction Name of script Type of script Hello in chosen language Other notes
family
Punjabi Two scripts Perso-Arabic / Abjad (Shahmuki) No definite article
used: Arabic Abugida (Gurmukui) -
Shahmukhi -
right to left /
Gurmukhi left
to right
Romani Left to right Roman but with Alphabet Shares many features
some additions Sastipe! with other Indo-Aryan
from Slavic languages such as
alphabets Hindi and Bengali
Sanskrit Left to right Bengali Abugida
namaste
Somali Left to right Latin/Roman Alphabet
Salaam
alaykum
Tamil Left to right Tamil Abugida No definite articles
Tigrinya Left to right Ge’ez / Ethiopic Abugida
39
Language Direction Name of script Type of script Hello in chosen language Other notes
family
Tonal language (the
meaning of words
changes according to
Twi left to right Roman Alphabet Agoo tone)
Ukrainian Left to right Cyrillic Alphabet Most users will also
Здрастуйте know the Roman
alphabet
Majority language in
Senegal,
the written form was
Wolof Roman left to right Salaamaalekum! standardised in 1971
40
