Dermot BerginD.Ed.Psych Programme 2007-2010

Cardiff University

Introduction - TermsBilingualism: use of two or more languages day-to-

dayIn Wales: Welsh/English and EAL pupils;English as an Additional Language (EAL) also

referred to as ESL (English as a Second Language) and ELL (English Language Learner) in the literature;

SEN: alternatives Additional Learning Needs (Wales) and Additional Support for Learning (Scotland);

Specialist Teachers in EAL (EALSTs) and SEN (SENCos).

Why is this area important to Educational Psychology?Professional relevanceRelevance to legislation concerning children and young people:Every Child Matters (HM Gov, 2003)Children and Young People: Rights to Action

(WAG, 2004)

Relevance to the question of equality in society

Relevance to equal rightsHistoric disproportionality

(overrepresentation)Disproportionality: educational composition

20% above or below the population composition.

e.g. Mexican-Amercian pupils in the U.S.West-Indian immigrant children in the U.K.Diana v. California (1970) led to retesting of all

minority ethnic pupils in Special Ed., 1,000s reintegrated.

Has enough changed?“...since the case of Diana v. California, the

profession of school psychology ha[s] not made sufficient progress in addressing and improving training pertaining to assessment practices with [EAL] students...” (Ochoa, Rivera & Ford, 1997, p. 341)

Bursztyn (2007) proposes psychologists in schools become agents for social change, to “challenge the status quo and expose the injustices created by societal arrangements [to] bring about change in society” (Burstyn, 2007, p.648)

Bursztyn (2007)

Humanism Structuralism

Interpretivism Positivism

Conflict (macrosocial)

Order (microsocial)

Qu

an

titative

Bursztyn (2007)

Humanism Structuralism

Interpretivism Positivism

Conflict (macrosocial)

Order (microsocial)

Qu

an

titative

Evidence based interventions

The current study

Attainment among bilingualsEquivocal findings:Strand (2005): At end KS2 only those fluent in L1

and English performed as well as peers.Demie & Strand (2006): at end of KS3 English fluent

EAL pupils’ outperformance indigenous but the difference could be explained by other factors than EAL status;

Mouw & Xie (1999): second generation immigrants only

Portes & Hao (2004): Mexican pupils fare worseGarcia-Vazquez et al. (1997): greater level of

Spanish and English beneficial to academic success.Thomas & Collier (2002): bilingually schooled pupils

outperform in all subjects after 4-7 years.

Can SEN be affected by language?One possibility? DyslexiaDyslexics may simply have difficulty with a writing

system based on phonemes...they may do better with one based on syllabary instead, e.g. Chinese (Blackmore & Frith, 2005)

Dyslexics experience milder difficulties in languages with more transparent orthographies (Caravolas, 2005);

E.g. Hindi-English bilinguals have more errors in a test of English compared with Hindi (Gupta & Jamal, 2007);

Exposure to e.g. Italian may enhance phonological skills in English (D’Angiulli & Siegel, 2001).

Can SEN be affected by language?SEN unlikely to be affected by bilingualism: ASD“It is now well established that autism is a

neurodevelopmental disorder with a biological basis in which genetic factors are strongly implicated (Medical Research Council, 2001) . Hereditability estimates greater than 0.90 have been obtained from twin studies” (Frederickson, Miller & Cline, 2008, p.144);

“One puzzle is the rapid increase in prevalence...” (ibid, p. 144) from 4-5 per 10,000 in 1979 to 16 in 2006.

Disproportionality: possible factorsInappropriate assessment practices;Prevalence of pupils with EAL within an

LEA;Prejudice; restriction of services to

indigenous pupilsSocial and environmental situation (e.g. deprivation);

Social constructions surrounding SEN.

Social ConstructionismInterpretation plays a role in SEN assessment.“...a concept or practice that may appear to be

natural, objective and valid to those who accept it, but which, in reality, is an invention or artefact of a particular culture or society” (Kelly, 2008, pp. 20-21);

Micro level: Cummins (1984) noted change in definition of term ‘mentally retarded’ in USA from <IQ 85 to <IQ 70;

Macro-social constructionism/deconstructionism: move from SEN to ALN (WAG, 2007)

Social ConstructionismFour pre-requisites appear necessary for social

constructionism (Burr, 2003):1.A critical stance towards taken-for-granted knowledge;2.Acceptance of historical and cultural specificity;3.Acceptance that knowledge is sustained by social

processes; and4.Acceptance that knowledge and social action go

together.

Criticism: binary ‘yes-no’ style perspectives of essentialism and realism are of limited utility (Hacking, 2000).

MethodsQualitative approach appropriateTheoretical sampling: (SENCos & EALSTs)Participants: six SENCos and six EALSTs

from seven schools (four primary), all female.Interviews transcribedTranscripts analysed according to IPA

procedureData stored and analysed using Nvivo

programmeOn-going process of theme interpretation.

Interview Schedule1. What experience have you had of working with bilingual

pupils and their Special Educational Needs (SEN)?2. What have been the common SEN that you have noted in

relation to bilingual pupils?3. Have you noticed any types of SEN that seem to be

relatively rarely found among bilingual pupils?4. How do you feel a child’s bilingualism effects his/her

education? 5. What would be helpful to reduce the difficulties

experienced by bilingual children?6. How can bilingualism be greater utilised to help

overcome SEN? 7. How do you decide whether or not a suspected SEN is

due to some aspect of bilingualism?8. What might help to distinguish whether a given learning

difficulty was due to some aspect of bilingualism or not?

Transcript – Interview IDB The phonics training the school, I remember speaking with A ((school

SENCo)) about eh Working with Words//I Yes.DB Em, would that phonics intervention//I They try and keep the EAL children out of it!DB Yeah?I Yes.DB Is that designed for children with Special Educational Needs?I Yes. Yes. That's more for//DB Do you find that- do you find that EAL pupils also benefit from it?I Yes. In fact, most definitely, because they're sitting down with the

same person in a group of about five, isn't it, five maximum I think.DB Are there cases where EAL is- is of benefit for EAL to be also in with

SEN children in some respect like with that Working with Words?I Well I'm going to be very unpopular and say yes…

Summary master tablesS Master Theme Theme Time Brief Quote1 Dominance switch to

EnglishI26) Effect of dominance switch-over on education

19:55-19:58

‘very hard to tell what effect it’s got’

1 Value of bilingualism questioned

I29) Idea of using English only to reduce challenges

24:56-24:58

‘reduce some of the things can be reduced’

I22) Pecking order of languages

14:45-14:49

‘the children don't think (it) is an important language’

1 EAL and Education I27) EAL pupils better at Welsh

21:57-22:06

‘learning Welsh…they’ll have far more of a got at it’

I16) EAL pupils good at spelling-possibly due to intervention

10:45-10:50

‘outstanding ability to understand phonics, which we try and push at them’

1 Understanding concepts first

I44) Light up when they realize they know

41:49-41:52

‘I do know all this stuff I just know it in another language’

I43) Previous education can lead to rapid progress

41:22-41:26

‘passed the lower end… within a very short time’

4 Current strategies and interventions

I42) Promoting the best fit for EAL pupils

39:15-39:20

‘keep them with…the child’s equivalent’

I41) Benefit of EAL accessing SEN intervention

37:17-37:20

‘I’m going to be very unpopular and say yes’

Results -Descriptive statistics

Schools (P = Primary, C = Comprehensive)

Results - IPASuper-ordinate themes1.How EAL status may affect education.2.Experiences and perceptions of SEN among

EAL pupils.3.Issues and methods in identifying SEN

among EAL pupils.4.Solutions: current strategies and potential

areas for future development.

Results - IPA

Results - IPA

1. EAL status and educationEarly years characteristics of EAL pupilsEAL and EducationDominance switch to English Value of bilingualism questionedCharacteristics of English language

developmentConsiderations of possible disadvantages of

bilingualism

1. EAL status and education

EAL and educationOne SENCo noted that many EAL pupils are

behind their indigenous peers when they first start school.

“I find in the Nursery particularly em, I know our baseline assessments may be down…” (SENCo H)

Conversely, EAL pupils were reported to often outperform indigenous pupils after several years.

“…even if they've come as a stage A, which is no language at all, you know, by the time they get to Year 4 or Year 5, they are outperforming the indigenous pupils, who would have come to school with English.” (SENCo A)

1. EAL status and education

Value of bilingualism questionedBilingualism seen as demanding/confusing

“…but I can understand why people could think that it wasn't the best idea for the child to be speaking two languages you know, that they would have thought that they are coping with so much that it you know, just trying you know kind of- reduce some of the things can be reduced so that it would be easier for the child to learn…” (EALST I)

Disadvantages of bilingualism?Mentally harder to do work

“…if your brain is working in one language and you're translating constantly not only are you- you've got that challenge on top- but you're already- your brain's working hard on the translating without trying to take in the curriculum as well and if you happen to have a bit of a literacy difficulty as well that's going to be another layer on top em, and there's only so much one small developing brain can do, isn't there?” (SENCO K)

2. Experiences and perceptions

Theory not supportedSchools with low % EAL status pupils having

overrepresentation of such pupils in SEN.No support for differences in rates of literacy

difficulties between groups noted.

2. Experiences and perceptions

Resistance to SENPlacing EAL pupils within lower sets had a negative

effect on their educational experience. “…she's ((a class teacher)) put one of my children in

the special needs group and she's [an EAL pupil] told me, if she has to colour in one more time she said she's going to scream in her home language she said because she's so bored. She said she knows that she can't do the work everybody else is doing but she said she can't sit with this group any longer because they're just colouring in and they're writing simple sentences like 'THIS IS AN APPLE' she said, and she said she knows that she can do much more…” (EALST E)

Resistance to SENEALSTs feared that being placed on the SEN

register might become a self-fulfilling prophecy.“I've come across pupils a long time ago, who've

been- that's- that's happened to, they've been put very low down, they just become totally disillusioned and sort of fulfill the prophecy in a way you become an SEN.” (EALST C)

SENCos were cautious and some reported delaying their tendencies to place a child on the SEN register because of their EAL status

“…because of the EAL issue, you delay it, to see if he's going to take off.” (SENCo F)

Resistance to SENOne SENCo was not ready to comment if there was too

much hesitancy in placing pupils with EAL into SEN sessions.

DB: “… in the past the number of children you know with Additional- learning English as an Additional Language have been on SEN registers or in placements//”

J: “Yes, and that's what we're trying not to do.”DB: “Yeah, uhuh, but has it gone too far in the opposite

direction?”J: “Well that's- that's the question. ((laughs)) I'm not

prepared to say…I very rarely do anything without consulting with ((the EAL service)) about any child with EAL, well not very rarely, I would never, that's the truth ((laughs)). (SENCo J)

Resistance to SENDB: “…would be inappropriate to place English as an

Additional Language pupils under a broad category of, which would be broader than SEN in a sense, of Additional language needs?”

L: “Well it is an additional language need, it depends on your definition really//”

DB: “Sorry, Additional Learning Needs, excuse me//”L: “Yeah, it depends on the definition that you would

use, doesn't it, and it doesn't fool the kids, just because you change the title you know, it doesn't fool anybody does it? ((inaudible)) it's still SEN, so I don't know, it would depend very much on what else came under that umbrella as well wouldn't it?”

Resistance to SENConversely, SEN support sessions could be seen as

beneficial by EALSTs when pressed.

DB: Is that designed for children with Special Educational Needs?

I: Yes. Yes. That's more for//DB: Do you find that- do you find that EAL pupils also

benefit from it?I: Yes. In fact, most definitely, because they're sitting

down with the same person in a group of about five, isn't it, five maximum I think.

DB: Are there cases where EAL is- is of benefit for EAL to be also in with SEN children in some respect like with that Working with Words?

I: Well I'm going to be very unpopular and say yes…

2. Experiences and perceptions

Perceptions of SEN among EALEALSTs and SENCos agreed that there was no

difference in or lower prevalence of SEN among EAL pupils in their experience.

“I don't feel that there is any higher percentage of children having SEN who are EAL.” (EALST E)

“I would have said that the incidence actually that I've come across means that they're lower than the main part of the population” (EALST I)

Perceptions of SEN among EALOne specific SEN that specialist teachers noticed less

frequency among EAL pupils was with ASD.“Em…well personally in this school we haven't got any

autistic children, we haven't got any children with Down's, which we have in our other populations…” (SENCo J)

“… when I spoke to a couple of my colleagues, the teachers who support me in my role, they've said that they have never seen Autistic Spectrum in Bengali children, but, we've got a suspected child in year one at the moment, with suspected Autistic Spectrum Disorder-” (SENCO A)

Perceptions of SEN among EALEAL specialist teachers made similar observations.“…just trying to think now, the only one that I- that

I haven't seen in this school…is autism...em, Asperger's, I've never known, never had to cross link with my role in the SEN to discuss anybody as having that” (EALST B)

Conversely, some interviewees had noted ASD among EAL populations.

“…we have had autism, well we think it was within the autism em range, but that wasn't that common, it's got to be said.” (EALST G)

Discussion1. Disproportionality: lower rates than

expected rather than over-representation; ASD in Bengali and Indian populations

2. Social constructionism – EAL not SEN/ALN;

3. SENCos with less experience appeared much more cautious about placing EAL pupils on SEN register.

SEN and bilingualismNo observed link either direction between

bilingualism and literacy difficulties;No link exists?Different methods appropriate?

Bialystok (2008) noted that possible differences in language development among bilinguals that could have been predicted by theory were similarly not borne out in studies;

However, unexpected connection made between ASD and particular ethnic groups.

DisproportionalityPrimary Schools Secondary

SchoolsAll special schools

N % N % N %

White 2,666,330

80.7 2,724,100

83.4 69,980 82.6

Mixed 122,450 3.7 89,880 2.8 2,780 3.3

Asian 276,540 8.4 227,270 7.0 5,720 6.7

Black 151,990 4.6 119,210 3.6 3,760 4.4

Chinese 11,040 0.3 13,110 0.4 240 0.3

Other 40,110 1.2 31,250 1.0 690 0.8

All 3,304,370

100.0 3,268,160

100.0 84,680 100.0Source: DCSF (2007) Schools and pupils in England.

DisproportionalityPrimary Schools Secondary

SchoolsAll special schools

N % N % N %

Asian

Indian 78,720 2.4 78,600 2.4 1,300 1.5

Bangla-deshi

48,170 1.5 33,370 1.0 700 0.8

Other ethnic

40,110 1.2 31,250 1.0 690 0.8

Source: DCSF (2007) Schools and pupils in England.

Social constructionismEALSTs against categorising pupils with EAL

under SEN or ALN.SENCos expressed more support for

normative testing.SENCos with less experience were less likely

to place pupils with EAL on SEN register.

Theory supportedTheory Reference Supported?

BICS and CALP (Cummins 1984) Yes

The quadrant (Cummins 1984) Yes

Iceberg analogy (Cummins 1984) Yes

Threshold Theory (Cummins 1976) Unclear

The Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis

(Cummins 1979) Yes

Bilingual attainment initially lower

(Strand & Demie, 2005) Yes

Bilingual attainment catches up/can perform slightly better

(Demie & Strand 2006) Yes

Bilingual cognitive advantage (Baker, 2006; Bialystok, 2008)

Neither supported nor rejected

Bilingual ability to learn other languages

Baker (2006) Yes

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Knowledge of L2 development

Awareness of cultural differences

Encourage-ment of L1

Current strategies and interventions

Home support

Caution against malpractice

Solutions Increased knowledge

Reliance on bilingual support staff

Good role models of English

Multi-sensory approaches

Additional support

Maximising existing resources

Greater home language educationRaising awareness of EAL issues

BTA for every language?Enough BTAs?

Adequate training?

Better assessment for every child

Training, e.g. on SEN for EAL staff

Availability of specialist Ed Psych

Omission of EAL status in reports

Application of monolingual norms

Confounding common EAL errors

MisdiagnosisDifferentiation for EAL

Teacher training

Questions...Bilingualism and SEN: an emerging

paradigm?The central deficit hypothesis vs. the e.g.

script dependent hypothesis in biliteracy.Dissociation in dyslexia between languages :

Wydell & Butterworth (1999) – case of Japanese/English dyslexic;

Dyslexia presenting differently between languages (Karanth, 1992) – Kannada and Hindi scripts.

Further studiesAn examination of disproportionality among

Indian and Bengali populations in the U.K.Bilingualism and literacy difficulties:

cognitive psychological experimentsexamination of LEAs’ SEN registers

A survey of experiences of SEN among pupils with EAL across authorities with high/low rates of EAL and varying levels of EAL support.

Bursztyn (2007)

Humanism Structuralism

Interpretivism Positivism

Conflict (macrosocial)

Order (microsocial)

Qu

an

titative

Evidence based interventions

The current study

Future Studies

Selected referencesBaker, C. (2006). Foundations of Bilingual Education and

Bilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.D’Angiulli, A., Siegel, L.S., & Serra, E. (2001). The

development of reading in English and Italian in bilingual children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 22, 479-507.

Gupta, A., & Jamal, G. (2007). Reading strategies of bilingual normally progressing and dyslexic readers in Hindi and English. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, (1), 47-68.

Hacking, I. (2000). The Social Constrution of what? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Frederickson, N., Miller, A., & Cline, T. (2008). Topics in Applied Psychology: Educational Psychology. London: Hodder Education.

Selected referencesKelly, B. (2008). Frameworks for practice in educational

psychology: coherent perspectives for a developing profession. In B. Kelly, L. Woolfson, & J. Boyle, Frameworks for Practice in Educational Psychology, pp. 15-29. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Ochoa, S.H., Rivera, B., Ford, L. (1997). An investigation of school psychology training pertaining to bilingual psycho-educational assessment of primarily Hispanic students: twenty-five years after Diana v. California. Journal of School Psychology, 35 (4), 329-349.

Smith, J. & Dunworth, F. (2003). Qualitative methodology. In J. Valsiner & K. Connolly (Eds.) Handbook of developmental psychology, pp. 603-621. London: Sage.

Wright, A. (1991). The assessment of bilingual pupils with reported learning difficulties: a hypothesis-testing approach. In Cline, T. and Frederickson, N. (Eds.) Bilingual Pupils and the National Curriculum: Overcoming Difficulties in Teaching and Learning. (pp.185 - 192). London: UCL.