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Bilingual learners: bilingualism, learning and inclusion

Maggie Gravelle (2005)

Current debates about the importance of multiculturalism derive, in part, from the factthat an increasing number of our classrooms are both multicultural and multilingual.Indeed Cline et al (2002:2) suggested that, ‘The great majority of teachers across thecountry may now expect to work with minority ethnic pupils at some point in theircareer, and mainly white schools in almost all areas may expect to admit minorityethnic pupils more frequently than in the past’. The policy of inclusion as set out inthe National Curriculum reinforces the value of diversity and the responsibility on allteachers to make high achievement a reality for all our pupils.

And yet an alarmingly high number of students leaving teacher training express lackof confidence in teaching and meeting the needs of bilingual learners. Some of theseNQTs will be fortunate to work in schools where there is a tradition and anunderstanding of multilingualism, but many more of them are likely to hear commentssuch as:

‘They have no language’‘Won’t they become confused?’‘How will they understand what I’m trying to teach?’‘What do they know?’‘How will I understand them?’

Each of these statements carries embedded perceptions and theories which it isworthwhile to explore, since doing so may endow trainee teachers with a deeperunderstanding of some of the principles and practices behind the teaching of bilinguallearners.

Bilingual learners and bilingualismWe have become used to using acronyms and shorthand terms for groups of pupils inan effort to make sense of the diversity in all schools and classrooms. Children aregrouped according to ability in many situations, partly in order to facilitatedifferentiation. Sometimes the ascribed ability in one area of the curriculum serves asa device for labelling them in all, or most, other areas. So ‘red’ table, who are thehighest ability in literacy, may invariably sit together in other subjects too, therebylimiting social and educational interaction and possibly inhibiting their ‘potential’.Those who are SEN may be separately identified and more finely divided in terms oftheir level of need. Pupils whose first language may not be English and who are stillat the early stages of developing English, are termed EAL, as if this was their definingcharacteristic, although those who are fluent in English often have their skills inanother language ignored.

But all these labels, useful though they may be on some occasions, disguise adiversity within the groups which is often greater than that between groups. Theytend to de-personalise. They also carry the danger of creating artificial divisions and

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expectations which can inhibit rather than enhance learning. They can lead tosimplistic and damaging notions of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Far from having ‘no language’ all children, with very few exceptions, have varied andoften extensive experiences of using language in a range of social and educationalcontexts. Many bilingual learners are already fluent and may also be literate in one ormore languages. Indeed, as Miller (1983), Kenner (2000), Gregory (1997),Blackledge (1994) and others have shown, they often demonstrate, even from an earlyage, an awareness of language use and diversity that takes monolingual speakerslonger to acquire.

Robertson (2004) describes the three different language contexts within which Ikramconfidently operates in a single day. Similarly Blackledge (1994) discusses theawareness that Sylheti speakers have of telling their stories in English or Sylheti.Fahima explains that, ‘In Sylheti there’s more sentences that we need for our story’and Amin adds ‘because they’re Bengali stories.’ During a lesson in a Year 3 classwhen children were re-writing the story of Cinderella in their own words and, ifpossible, languages, Anna suddenly remarked that in Portuguese there were differentwords for ‘two’ depending on whether the subject was male or female (Gravelle,2000). These young children already display a remarkable awareness of differentlanguage systems and have the metalanguage to discuss them.

Collier and Thomas (2002) have completed a ten year study in the United Stateswhich investigated the achievements of a very large cohort of bilingual pupils. Theyconcluded that those who had bilingual education outperformed their monolingualpeers as well as bilingual pupils who had other forms of language support such aswithdrawal or traditional ESL classes. While their recommendations may not beappropriate in a UK context their study nevertheless highlights the significance of firstlanguage maintenance to children’s academic achievement.

Not only are there linguistic aspects to bilingualism that need to be considered, but thepupils also have social and cognitive competencies that are connected with their useof different languages in different contexts.

We are all more or less skilled at using a range of registers according to socialcircumstances. We speak to our grandparents with different vocabulary and perhapsgrammar and accent, than to our colleagues and friends. We read a story book to ourown, or relatives’ children, in a different way and with different expectations to thosewe hold of shared reading in the Literacy Hour. Heath (1983), Martin-Jones (2000)and Street (1994) are among those who have shown how social contexts impact onlanguage and literacy.

Bilingual pupils have and are developing a particularly rich repertoire to draw on indifferent situations. It may take them a little time to become familiar and comfortablewith the classroom context for language use. Playgrounds present different, andperhaps no less formidable, social circumstances in which the rules of socialinteraction as well as appropriate language need to be learnt. At first many childrenmay remain silent and learn through watching and imitation. Later they will find thesecurity of pairs or a small group can give opportunities for rehearsal beforeattempting to contribute in the whole class context.

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Not only do bilingual learners, like all pupils, bring their varied social and linguisticexperiences to their learning, they also have rich and varied cognitive abilities. Abduland his brother were the most fluent English speakers in the family and took it in turnsto take their ailing father to his hospital appointments and to accompany their motherto the Housing Office. They knew more about the workings of the Housing, SocialSecurity and Health Services, than most of their Year 7 and 8 peers. Shakila, newlyarrived from Bangladesh, may have had limited access to computers, but had vastexperience of sand and water play. Many children, whether born in the UK or not,visit and communicate regularly with family overseas. They know about agriculture,sources of food and forms of transport that many indigenous children have neverexperienced.

In addition some of the bilingual learners who are new to our schools come from adifferent educational system and may be very knowledgeable about certain areas ofthe curriculum. Virani-Roper (2000) describes how Yoko, although unfamiliar withsome of the European conventions of laying out arithmetic problems, was very skilledat solving them once the symbols had been explained.

Trainee teachers already have many tasks and activities to complete while on schoolexperience, but it is worth taking time to observe children in different social andlearning contexts and to note their behaviour and their language use. Even in caseswhere there are no bilingual learners, students will usually learn a great deal aboutlinguistic diversity.Hawkins (2004) suggests a number of areas of language and literacy developmentwhich contribute to the complexity of linguistic skills and give insight into language,culture and identity. Below are some suggestions for systematic observation.

With the guidance of the class teacher select one child to observe over the course of aday, preferably a child who is bilingual and/or relatively new to the class or school,but observations of any child will prove interesting. As far as possible make notes ofactual language used. (If it is not possible to do this for a whole day then pre-selectkey times during the day e.g on arrival, going to assembly, in a literacy lesson, duringplay/lunch-time, in group work.)What evidence is there of him/her: learning class language routines? e.g putting their hand up, remaining quiet,

joining in group discussion, answering questions. developing understanding through working with others? e.g copying behaviours

and expressions, holding discussions, asking and answering direct questionsrelated to understanding, collaborating on a task

using language in a variety of ways in different contexts? e.g in the playground,talking one-to-one with an adult, with a group of peers in the classroom, in awhole class situation, with family.

taking on different roles? e.g taking guidance from a particular pupil, leading agroup activity, drawing attention to themselves, following behaviour of the classor group, volunteering.

engaging in a range of literacy practices? e.g reading quietly alone, talking abouta text with other pupil(s), following a text read aloud, using a book/poster/display/computer text for reference, writing notes for personal use, distinguishingpictures/charts/diagrams/text.

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An alternative approach is to use the pupil portraits in NALDIC Quarterly as the basisfor discussion.

Monolinguals, or those who have struggled to learn a foreign language at school,often express concern that children who are exposed to two or more languages willbecome confused. Those who have experience of multingualism are aware that this isuncommon. While there is some evidence of what has been called interference, (seeEdwards, 1994) or interlingual errors (Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982) these arerarely significant or permanent. Indeed it has been suggested that such assumptionsare based on a misconceived view of the brain and of language learning. Cummins(1984) developed a model that suggested both a surface and a deeper level oflanguage proficiency. He suggested the dual iceberg metaphor which illustrates theinterdependence of language proficiency whereby ‘experience in either language canpromote development of the proficiency underlying both languages….’ (Cummins1984:143)

There are many aspects of language that are common. For example all languageshave ways of denoting time, of forming plurals, of indicating actions and actors. Alllanguages do this with different vocabularies and in many cases different grammars,but all languages are rule governed and part of the acquisition process involves thediscovery and application of these rules. (see Pinker, 1994) Indeed many linguists gofurther and suggest that there is much in common between the rules of differentlanguages. So far from being confused bilingual learners may well have a ‘headstart’when it comes to language use and development. Indeed error analysis appears tosuggest that the majority of interlingual errors are developmental and a sign ofprogress.

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LearningThe National Curriculum sets out an entitlement for all pupils and as teachers ourmain concern must be to ensure that concepts are understood, knowledge extendedand skills are developed. So the question of how bilingual learners understand whatwe teach is central.

There are a number of now familiar strategies that teachers use to promote cognitivedevelopment. We know from the work on multiple intelligences that people learn in avariety of ways. There may be disputes about the identification of Gardner’sintelligences (Gardner, H, 1993) and some of the applications appear to be ill-informed, but the underlying principle of using diverse ways of explaining andillustrating concepts is widely accepted and long practised. Krashen used the term ‘comprehensible input’ and Lunzer and Gardner (1984) developed approaches whichbecame known as ‘DARTS’ (Directed Activities Related to Texts). They have beenfurther developed into ‘key visuals’, ‘writing frames’ and ‘knowledge structures’(Mohan, Leung and Davison, 2001 for example). What they all have in common is anunderstanding that pupils need a range of ways of making sense of concepts. Theseinclude:

Illustrations, pictures, video Charts, diagrams Use of gesture, expression, intonation etc Role play, drama Use of familiar contexts, real objects Practical activities Story props, puppets Memorable and repetitive language including rhyme and rhythm Translation Key word/phrase lists

Les EsclavesIt is useful for students to gain first hand experience of the strategies that are availableto them when developing understanding of concepts. This example was developedwith a colleague several years ago. It is in a language, French, that many people havesome knowledge of and is therefore not too daunting for tutors. It does not replacethe many excellent examples of sessions conducted in a community language whichserve a different purpose.

It is advisable to use as much spoken French as possible when introducing the subject,but colleagues who have very little confidence in French have demonstrated therequirements and used single words as well as gestures etc to explain and encourage.Students should work in groups to look at the map and complete the response sheet. Igive out one copy between two or three to encourage collaboration and discussion.Groups progress at different rates and the activity usually lasts 15 or 20 minutes, withsome groups completing the written task. This is followed by a full and sometimeslengthy discussion of what strategies were used. It can be helpful to organise these as;social, linguistic and cognitive.

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LE COMMERCE DES ESCLAVES EN AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE

Vrai ou Faux?A deux;Regardez la carte et faites vos decisions ou x

En 1790;

vrai faux

1. Les Européens ont trouvé beaucoup de leurs esclaves en AfriqueOccidentale

2. Les principaux marchands d'esclaves ont été les britanniques, lesfrançais et les hollandais

3. Les francais ont capturé la plupart (la majorité) des esclavesafricains.

4. La plupart des esclaves sont venus de l'interieur de l'AfriqueOccidentale.

5. Les Européens ont fait le commerce sur la côte.

6. Divers peuples africains ont été pris comme esclaves.

7. Les Européens ont capturé 71,000 esclaves en tout.

8. Les Européens ont forcé leurs esclaves de faire des longs voyagespour aller a la côte.

9. Le peuple Asante est venu de la Volta jusqu'a la Côte d'Ivoire.

10. Ceci a representé un voyage de 100 kilometres

Avez-vous trouvé des erreurs?Pouvez-vous les corriger?Par exemple, le numero 2, c'est faux!2. Les principaux marchands d'esclaves ont été les britanniques, les français et les portugais

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A key feature of almost all the strategies, and certainly central to effective pedagogyfor bilingual learners, is the use of talk.

There are powerful social and cognitive as well as linguistic arguments for a focus ontalk for bilingual learners. Vygotsky recognised that from an early age all childrenare involved in talk as speakers as well as listeners and it is through this activeengagement that their skills, as language users and as thinkers, are developed. We usetalk to clarify our thinking, even if for adults this often takes place internally. And wealso use talk to exchange and therefore to extend our ideas, knowledge andunderstanding. Even the most ordinary conversations can provide us with newinformation or challenge existing perceptions. Most of us also use talk to shareproblems and possibly to arrive at solutions.

Pupils engage in all of these functions and in the classroom experience several whichare perhaps less familiar to adults, but are particularly beneficial to bilingual learners.We sometimes notice children rehearsing explanations or descriptions through talk.This can help to organise ideas and experiences and to re-evaluate them wherenecessary. It also gives them an opportunity to practice the language, through tryingout the vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation in a secure context before presentingmore publicly.

Barnes (1992), Mercer (2000) and many others have explored and analysed the use oftalk for learning in the classroom. While they emphasise the importance of talk fordeveloping understanding they also identify remarkably little of this talk going on inclassrooms. In many cases conversations are directed and largely monopolised byteachers who have a tendency to ask closed or semi-closed questions which engagefew of the children for a limited time. Even where group talk does take place it canbe dominated by disputation rather than collaboration and exploration. Alexander(2003) suggests that dialogic talk, which involves more extended exchanges maymake greater contributions to learning. This can all provide valuable modelling forbilingual learners, even those who do not yet have the confidence to participateactively.

Krashen stressed the importance of comprehensible input but although he dealt withthe cognitive and linguistic aspects of learning he placed less emphasis on the socialaspects. Language develops in a social context and pupils who simply listen, albeitwith understanding, may get limited opportunities to apply their learning to other

First hand experience, followed by reflection, of a collaborative activity isvaluable for students who can then plan ways of adapting it for their owncontexts and with bilingual learners in mind.

Groups can be provided with different resources on a topic and asked aseries of relevant questions which they have to agree as a group. Through‘jig-sawing’ they then compare the answers and discuss discrepancies. Aplenary discussion raises issues of organisation, learning, use of talk andeffective planning.

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contexts. Swain (1995) argued that learners should be encouraged to produce, notsimply receive, language in order to promote their linguistic awareness and to developtheir understanding. This implies that as well as planning for comprehensible inputteachers need to enable pupils to practice their language skills in supportive contexts.There are ways of supporting language use which benefit all pupils and offer bilinguallearners some security in which to make errors and extend attempts.

Small group and pair work often provide an appropriate social context and may offeropportunities for using first language. Group work also gives bilingual learners achance to hear and rehearse the relevant language, as well as to try out their ideas.For those who still lack confidence in English there need to be alternative ways ofrepresenting understanding alongside the developing language. So, for example,pupils can be asked to construct posters, maps, diagrams and charts to indicate theirideas and to gradually add the spoken and written language to these. Tasks need to begenuinely exploratory with a chance for pupils to build on their previous knowledgeand for this to be acknowledged as relevant. These strategies make communicationbetween the teachers, other pupils and the bilingual learner more effective.

InclusionThe concept of inclusion is perhaps the most complex of all. We need to be clearabout what we want to include pupils into before we can begin to address issues ofhow to achieve this. This discussion is set in the context of multiculturalism which isitself being debated and some of the values questioned. The National Curriculum, asthe statutory basis for education, lays down a set of principles for inclusion within anuncontested description of curriculum content.

Linguistically there is a growing understanding of the special place that schooledlanguage has in a child’s repertoire and that this may or may not be congruent withtheir experiences and competencies outside the school gates. It is a language whichhas to be learned and for some children, including bilingual learners, this may not beeasy. But teachers may need to spend time and be more explicit than they have beenin the past about the nature of the language they use and expect.

In an age of rapidly developing technologies there will be pupils who are able tocommunicate fluently in ways that their teachers find strange and difficult. There is agrowing understanding of multimodality and a recognition that approaches to thecurriculum may need to adapt. (see Kress et al, 2005). The place of first languagemay also need to be re-evaluated. Teachers are understandably wary of the use oflanguage to which they have no access, but the value of first language goes beyondthe linguistic and its use signals recognition of the cultural and cognitiveassociations.(see Bourne, 2002)

There is space within the National Curriculum and the Strategies to select andemphasise some areas of knowledge, skills and understanding at the expense ofothers. Some of the disaffection that certain pupils feel relates to their perception thatthe curriculum is largely irrelevant to their interests and needs. Black students andcommentators in particular express dissatisfaction with a curriculum that often fails torecognise their history, literature and contribution, with the exception of the negativeexperiences of slavery. Bilingual learners may be among the group of pupils forwhom the curriculum has limited resonance. Inclusion in a cognitive sense means

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recognising the knowledge that children bring to the classroom and using this as afoundation for development. This needs to be done sensitively, with agreement andwithout making individuals serve as representatives for a group.

Schools have unique forms of organisation and hierarchical structures which may feelvery alien to some of the participants. Parents can feel inhibited from discussing, letalone challenging, some of the practices and pupils find it even more difficult. Stafftend to be predominantly white and, at least in primary schools, female. Children areoften expected to behave in ways which are particular to the school context; raising ahand to get permission to speak, sitting in places determined by the teacher, standingin lines, moving from activity to activity and sometimes place to place according to atimetable. All these behaviours can be learned, but those of us who are accustomed tothem seldom regard them as strange or contestable.

Arguments for specialist centres and induction programmes persist. For someteachers this is a way of removing the ‘problem’ and making a ‘specialist’responsible. For many it is an obvious way of giving bilingual pupils the best startpossible. But there have always been difficulties in the practice of removing childrenfrom mainstream provision. One of the main arguments in the case of LanguageCentres is that they simply didn’t work very well for a number of reasons.

Socially separate provision was very divisive and indeed eventually deemed tocontravene the 1976 Race Relations Act. (see Commission for Racial Equality, 1986)It excluded pupil for all or part of the day from their peers and from the social life ofthe school. Linguistically the practice was problematic since children had limitedmodels of fluent and natural English use and communication was often thereforesomewhat restricted. There were difficult decisions to be made about when pupilswere ready to return to the mainstream and their actual return often led to confusionand lack of progress. This was in part due to the fact that they had inevitably missedsignificant parts of the curriculum.

Inclusion implies having an understanding of the pupil and what s/he brings toschooling so that the necessary adjustments can be made. We need to be sensitive tothose aspects of a child’s experience and background that are relevant and not to makeassumptions based on those that are irrelevant. For example, at a time when issues ofreligion may seem important we must avoid simplistic judgements based on dress.There are many interpretations of Islam and whether or not a Muslim girl or woman

One of the best ways of questioning and explaining a system with which one isfamiliar is to experience a different one. Visits or exchanges with students fromanother country, e.g through ETEN (European Teacher Education Network) areexcellent although not always possible. Many schools now have e-mail and web-links with schools in other parts of the country or of the world. Students might beable to access these or to set up similar links of their own. Even within fairlysmall geographical areas there is likely to be some diversity and students could berequired to make visits to educational organisations which complement those theyare familiar with e.g nursery setting for secondary trainees, Special school, Steinerschool, small rural school, supplementary school, selective grammar school, singlesex faith school etc.

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wears the hijab tells us relatively little about her beliefs (see Richardson, 2004).Many children from single parent families are cherished, guided and nurtured.Difficult lives do not necessarily create difficult children.

The assessment of children’s linguistic abilities has always been contentious.Cummins (1984) highlighted an issue, which although less obvious is also stillexpressed today in a slightly different form. He, as Coard (1971) earlier, noticed thatmany bilingual pupils (in Coard’s case the concern was for children of West Indianheritage) after making good progress initially were then identified by schools asfailing to maintain their potential and were therefore deemed to be in need of‘remedial’ or ‘special needs’ support. Cummins argued that the difficulty did not liewith the child but was founded on a misunderstanding of the language acquisitionprocess. There was a failure to recognise that although what Cummins called BasicInterpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) were rapidly acquired theCommunicative Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) which was largely requiredof school based learning, took much longer. So that children who appeared to beoperating well within the social and personal context of the classroom, who weremaking friends, following classroom routines, learning to use spoken English withsome confidence were assumed also to be capable of the more linguisticallydemanding areas of their learning. When they struggled with aspects of literarylanguage, found it hard to give reasons and justifications or misunderstood ways ofmaking deductions at a peer relevant level, they were labelled as under-achievers orpossibly SEN.

Cummins argued that BICS and CALP were two phases of bilingual development. Toreturn to the iceberg metaphor BICS relates to surface features such as basiccomprehension, reasonable pronunciation and control of essential vocabulary andgrammar whereas at a deeper level we use language to analyse and synthesiseinformation and to evaluate, interpret and make deductions.

Students should always be challenged to explain the relevance of personal and socialinformation about the pupils. Ethnicity, linguistic background, religion or country oforigin may be relevant, but if so this must be justified and the information given for allpupils. Clearly, it must also be accurate.

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Cummins went on to suggest that language proficiency could be conceptualised alongtwo continuums. One relates to the extent to which ideas are contextualised and theother to the complexity of those ideas. Concepts which can be illustrated through realand familiar examples or made meaningful through the use of charts, maps anddiagrams, for example, are highly contextualised as opposed to abstract ideas whichare hard to exemplify and may be remote from children’s experiences. Even complexideas can be understood if they are embedded in a familiar situation, whereas simpleconcepts may be harder to grasp if they are written rather than discussed orally.

While this is clearly an over-simplification of the complexities of language in use, itserves as a useful reminder of the considerable demands of school-based language.The model can also be of help in planning appropriate learning opportunities forbilingual pupils.

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It can be seen that Quadrant A relates to BICS-type language whereas at the otherextreme Quadrant D requires skills in CALP. The implications of this are clear.Firstly, it is important that for children in the early stages of developing school-typelanguage attention is given to the context within which the language is introduced andrequired. Children must be given a variety of familiar situations and illustrations inorder to understand the language before being asked to apply it to less familiarcircumstances. Secondly, even when pupils move beyond BICS they still needconsiderable support in order to develop CALP. Research suggests that this can takeup to 7 years – often well into secondary school. Indeed Cameron (2003) foundevidence of errors in the writing of bilingual pupils at Key Stage 4 which weredirectly related to their bilingualism.

A third implication is to recognise that the leap from quadrant A directly to D is toolarge and that teachers need to plan a route via C or B. In other words if pupils arebeing asked to consider ideas which are increasingly complex then the context mustremain firmly embedded in their experience or supported with visuals and examples.If, alternatively, they are being asked to move into more abstract areas then theconcepts need to remain within their understanding. Hall (1995) gives severalexamples of planning using this model.

It may be helpful to consider the planning process in terms of the three aspects whichwe have been considering, namely social, linguistic and cognitive. From aconsideration of what the learners bring to the task we can then move towards theidentification of appropriate support. (Gravelle 2000)

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A Framework for Planning

What do learnersbring to the task?

What does the taskdemand of them?

What support needs tobe planned?

Social

Cognitive

Linguistic

ConclusionWe began by quoting some misconceptions that can still be heard in staff rooms todayand attempted to analyse what lay behind them and to discuss some of the theoreticalunderstanding that might dispel some of the myths.

There are a number of principles that arise from the debate; All pupils need experiences in which they are challenged and supported to

develop social, linguistic and cognitive skills This is more likely to occur in mainstream classrooms The role of talk in learning is of central significance Within this first language has an important place Planning needs to be based on a clear understanding of what pupils already know

and can do and of what the activities demand of them

Students are often worried about the prospect of teaching bilingual learners, chieflythose who are at the early stages of English language development, and declarethemselves ill-prepared to do so. Equally some teacher educators feel they haveneither the knowledge nor the access to direct experiences that would serve theirstudents. This paper has attempted to bring together a number of strands withineducation and to analyse them with regard to their social, linguistic and cognitiveimplications. There is a suggestion within the discussion that bilingualism is part of alanguage continuum and that although this is complex we all have relevantexperiences that can develop our understanding. We need to recognise that there areno simple answers, packs or quick fixes. but that children will respond to our attemptsto make learning interesting, relevant and meaningful. Far from being fearful of thechallenges of diversity we need to relish the excitement and to use our existingunderstanding of inclusion, learning and language development to ensure that weincorporate bilingual learners into every aspect of teaching and learning.

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