ABSTRACT
Linguistic diversity in the school populations across the member states in the European Union has long been recognised by educationalists and policymakers (e.g. Baetens Beardsmore, 1993; European Commission, 2004; Tosi and Leung, 1999). In England, a country with extensive experience of inward migration in the past fi fty years, the school curriculum authorities have explicitly recognised the educational needs of linguistic minority students and acknowledged the learning and use of English as an Additional Language (EAL) as an important issue. It is understood that there is a strongly articulated set of pedagogic principles and curriculum preferences underpinning the policy-sponsored EAL practice in school, and the central purpose of this discussion is to explore how far the theoretical and conceptual bases that inform policy-sponsored practice are equipped to address issues of EAL pedagogy with reference to classroom interaction. More specifi cally, I will examine (a) the analytic purchase of the policyrendered theories on classroom interaction between pupils and teachers, and (b) the possible need to extend theoretical and conceptual discussions. I will examine these issues with reference to empirical data.
