[EDLING:2435] UK: Bilingual classes 'raise results'

[Francis M Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

> Bilingual classes 'raise results'
> 
> 
> Bilingual children who learn in their family's language as well as English
> do better at school, research suggests.  Even second and third generation
> immigrant children with English as their stronger language could benefit.
> A team from Goldsmiths, University of London, analysed some primary school
> children in England using two languages in maths and English lessons. They
> found that, far from confusing them, having two languages deepened their
> understanding of key concepts.
> 
> Grasping concepts
> 
> Lead researcher Dr Charmian Kenner said children who led bilingual lives
> could access their lessons through both languages. "Learning a
> mathematical concept in Bengali and English, for example, deepens
> understanding as ideas are transferred between languages. "Or children can
> compare how metaphors are constructed in a Bengali poem and its English
> equivalent. "The children in our project expressed a strong desire to use
> their community language in school and teachers were able to tap into
> their pupils' full range of cultural knowledge."
> 
>  It is very important that parents continue to talk to their children in
> their first language and then they can transfer the key ideas they learn
> to their new language Dr Kenner worked with four small groups of children
> aged between six and 10 at two primary schools in the London Borough of
> Tower Hamlets. She watched them learning their mother tongue in community
> language classes, after school or at weekends, and observed them in
> bilingual activities in mainstream classes. When the children were allowed
> to use their mother tongue as well as English they seemed to grasp
> mathematical concepts such as division and multiplication more easily, she
> said. A separate research project carried out by Tower Hamlets community
> language unit found children who attended mother tongue classes did better
> in their national curriculum tests.
> 
> Britishness
> 
> Schools which have a high proportion of children with English as a second
> language are generally expected to do worse than those that do not. But
> this research suggests that bilingual pupils do better than those with
> just one language. Dr Kenner warns that many second and third generation
> children are in danger of losing their bilingual skills if they do not
> have the chance to develop their mother tongue through their schoolwork.
> She now wants multilingual children to be allowed to use their mother
> tongue in mainstream classes. Her call comes soon after the government
> urged schools to ensure Britishness was at the heart of citizenship
> lessons.
> 
> Distortion
> 
> The argument that classes should be only in English is based on
> assumptions that run contrary to all the research findings, Dr Kenner
> said. "The other thing is that people think that, in order to be British,
> children of immigrants have to distort parts of their identity ... but we
> found it was the other way round. "The children wanted to be able to use
> Bengali at school as it was part of them. For them being British included
> being Bangladeshi. They are British Bangladeshi." The Department for
> Education and Skills has recently funded a research project aimed at
> spreading best practice from bilingual schools.
> 
> 'Missed opportunity'
> 
> Dr Kenner said: "The advice has changed quite a lot. When the first wave
> of people arrived in the 1960s and 1970s people were told only to speak
> English to their children. "But we can see that it is very important that
> parents continue to talk to their children in their first language and
> then they can transfer the key ideas they learn to their new language
> which would be English at school." The findings come after the centre for
> languages, Cilt, found bilingual pupils do better at GCSE. Cilt patron Sir
> Trevor McDonald said: "In our haste to ensure they acquire good English,
> we frequently miss the opportunity to ensure they maintain and develop
> their skills in their other languages too. "Rather than thinking in terms
> of an 'English-only' culture, we should be promoting 'English plus'."
> 
> Story from BBC NEWS:
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/6447427.stm
> 
> Published: 2007/03/15 10:26:52 GMT