Children learning to read in Urdu, Turkish and French using dual language books Raymonde Sneddon University of East London
This is an ongoing pilot study which begun in July 2006 to consider how children, who have no opportunity to learn their community language in complementary or mainstream schools, use dual language books provided by the school to learn to read it.
Key findings:
The following issues emerged from the pilot which a more substantial study could explore:
Where books in the community language are difficult to obtain, the role of the school and of the class teacher is crucial.
Learning to read in the family language encouraged children to use the family language more in the home.
The children and their parents used very different strategies at different stages of reading and in situations where the relationship between languages and scripts was different.
Parents less fluent in English improved their English.
Parents encouraged by the school to develop their child’s biliteracy became more involved in their child’s education.
Further information:
The study will be published in book form when completed. Currently more details can be obtained from Raymonde Sneddon at r.m.sneddon@uel.ac.uk
Developing bilingual learning strategies in mainstream and community contexts
Charmian Kenner, Eve Gregory and Mahera Ruby, Goldsmiths University of London
This is an action research project based in two primary schools in Tower Hamlets. It examines how second and third generation British Bangladeshi children learn bilingually in after-school community language classes and investigates the benefits that can be gained if children use Sylheti/Bengali alongside English in the mainstream classroom. Key Findings:
Analysis is still in progress, but early findings include the following:
Children found it difficult to use Sylheti/ Bengali in the classroom, although they were accustomed to using it in the playground and at community class, where they switched between languages.
Children wanted to be able to use Bangla for learning in school and felt it was an important part of their identity.
Working in both languages can enhance children’s learning, through conceptual transfer, use of translation, developing metalinguistic awareness and drawing on cultural knowledge.
Second and third generation children still have bilingual skills, but are in danger of losing them unless they have sufficient support to develop their mother tongue.
In addition to community language classes, children need to do academic work bilingually in mainstream school in order to fully develop concepts and skills in mother tongue as well as English. Only then will they achieve the full benefits of bilingual learning.
Research project on Complementary Schools and their Communities
in Leicester
Arvind Bhatt (University of
Leiceter) , Nirmala Bhojani (University of Leicester) ,
Angela Creese (University of Birmingham) , Peter
Martin (University of Leicester)
The School of Education at the University
of Leicester has recently been awarded a grant from the Economic
and Social Research Council to carry out an investigation on
Complementary Schools and their Communities in Leicester. Complementary
schools, also known as supplementary schools or community schools,
are voluntary schools that aim to maintain ethnic cultures, languages
and literacies.
The study will be in two phases. The first
phase will survey all complementary schools in Leicester in order
to understand the nature and scope of provision in supporting
minority linguistic and ethnic communities. In the second phase,
a small number of schools will be studied in greater depth.
The second phase of the study will look at
how diverse ways of learning in complementary schools supportand are sustained by their communities. Further we look at how
the schools relate to other sectors of statutory education in
order to inform wider social and educational debates at the local
and national level. We also look at how complementary schools
contribute to the political, social and economic life in the
wider community, and to the changing nature of identities of
young people.
The potential impacts of this research are
to build an awareness of how complementary schools serve their
communities. It will identify participants' beliefs in and attitudes
to their languages, literacies and cultures, and how these contribute
to processes of social inclusion and forming of identities. The
study will provide a basis for stronger links within communities,
between communities and with the mainstream sector. By gaining
an understanding of how complementary schools can add value to
the mainstream sector, we will engender local and national debates
on educational and social policies and practices.
Learning
to read in three languages at the age of 5: A very common practice
in Britain today - A large number of British children learn
to read in more than one language at the same time as they learn
to read in English, according to a Watford-based Ph.D. study, and
for the children this results in social, emotional and cognitive
advantages more
Children’s experiences in multilingual environments Raymonde Sneddon University of East London
The study investigates the language use and literacy practices of 6 children (aged three, seven and ) from a Gujerati and Urdu-speaking Muslim community in North-East London. These experiences are explored in the children’s three generation families, in the community and in school through interviews,recordings and observations.
research question:
Key findings:
Children who have access to the culture and leisure facilities of a community centre maintain a higher level of linguistic vitality in Gujerati and are more creative story tellers in both Gujerati and English than children who do not have these opportunities.
Support for Gujerati in the home is oral rather than literacy-based and does not have a significant direct impact on children’s achievement in literacy.
Support for literacy in English is related to books, and does have a positive impact.
Overall, by age 11, children are performing above the norms for monolingual English-speaking children of a similar background, are fluent speakers of a dialect of Gujerati and are becoming literate in Urdu for religious purposes.
Further information:
The text is available on www.multilingual-matters.net/beb/003/0265/beb0030265.pdf ;
international Journal of Bilingual education and Bilingualism, Vol. 3:4, pp265–382
Portuguese
students who attend mother tongue classes attain higher GCSE results
A research study at Goldsmiths College, University of London,
indicates that Portuguese students who attend mother tongue classes
have a much higher probability of obtaining grades A*-C more
Children’s views on identity and language Ana Souza, Goldsmiths, University of London
This study was conducted between 1999 and 2006. It focused on mixed-heritage, children attending a Brazilian Portuguese community language school in London. The children, who had Brazilian mothers and fathers of other nationalities, were interviewed and observed in their community school.
Key findings:
Children’s reasons for selecting between the use of English and Portuguese are related to identity issues and to the way they wanted to be perceived by their classmates and teachers.
Having information about facts in the children’s lives and how they feel in relation to these facts enables proper judgement to be made of the reasons, intentions and meanings for their language choices and of the identitiesthey intend to portray in different interactions.
This knowledge is relevant in enabling teachers to reinforce positive factors of the children’s identities, and thus contribute to the full development of multilingual and multicultural learners.
Further information:more or
Souza, A.B.B. (2005) ‘Language and Identity in Brazilian Portuguese Schools’
Bosnian
parents in Britain try to maintain children's bilingualism but receive
no support from mainstream education - Bosnian parents living
in Britain regard it as essential for their children to maintain
the Bosnian language as well as learning English according to a
study at the Institute of Education more
A
large number of Portuguese students abandon school during compulsory
education - A high number of Portuguese students in Lambeth
drop out of compulsory education during Key Stage 4, according to
a research study at Goldsmiths College, University of London, funded
by the Economic and Social Research Council more
Recently-arrived
Chinese pupils face isolation and bullying in the primary classroom-
Chinese children aged 8-10 who have recently entered British
primary schools feel isolated, are bullied and suffer academically
due to lack of support in learning English, according to a new ORS
funded research study from Goldsmiths College more
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