Dermot Bergin D.Ed.Psych Programme 2007-2010 Cardiff University.
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Transcript of Dermot Bergin D.Ed.Psych Programme 2007-2010 Cardiff University.
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.