This paper examines the ideological underpinnings of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum that drive the practice of secondary teachers in Victoria, Australia, and how students' needs and rights are seen and addressed in and through English discourse and hegemony. Bakhtin's (1986) dialogic approach and van Lier's (1996) AAA principles, namely Awareness, Autonomy, Authenticity, in constructing curriculum as interaction inform this work theoretically and methodologically. These frameworks will unfold in the reflective narrative of an experienced EAL secondary teacher as she interrogates issues related to choice of texts, assessment and inclusion/exclusion of EAL students within/from mainstream classrooms, and how literacy is conceptualised in these contexts. Focus is given to the genre of narrative writing, prevalently taught and used in Australian secondary schools, to examine its affordances as well as potential pitfalls for the futures of English in a plurilingual world in terms of diversity and heterogeneity.