The literacy learning experiences of struggling bilingual learners

1. The literacy learning experiences of struggling bilingual learners Tony Cline University College London 25 June 2009

2. Plan of the presentation • Development of Morton & Frith’s causal modelling approach • Literacy learning processes for L2 learners • Literacy learning difficulties in an L2 school • Affective factors that impact on the learning process in L2

3. Who are we concerned with? • Primarily minority pupils in a mainly monolingual society who are learning to read and write in their second or third language. • Not children who have established reading skills in L1 and then learn to read in L2 or L3 as part of a modern foreign language curriculum or within an immersion programme in a bilingual society or as a result of immigration.

4. Causal model of dyslexia as a phonological deficit(Frith, 1997)

5. Example of compensation(Frith, 1997)

6. Poor reading due to emotional causes, not dyslexia(Frith, 1995)

7. Interactive factors (IF) framework(Frederickson and Cameron, 1999)

8. Interactive Factors Framework for Haroon (DECPsy Group 2006) Environmental Haroon is learning EAL - home language is Punjabi Father works away from home a lot Biological Motor-coordination difficulties Overweight Mother is worried about his reading and writing, ‘I can’t help him because I can’t speak English very well and find reading and writing hard’ Cognitive Shy character Reading comprehension difficulties Affective Poor development of metacognitive reading strategies Phonological difficulties Low self-esteem Receptive language difficulties Poor working memory Enjoys numeracy Behavioural Very slow progress in reading/spelling and emergent writing very difficult Reads his book to his brother at home Cries a lot in the playground Class teacher believes his progress is slow and is unsure of how to support him Haroon says, ‘I am rubbish at this’ and ‘I can’t do anything’ Contributes more and is making progress in numeracy Can be stubborn and refuse to try Poorly developed secretarial skills LSA provides some support

9. Development of Morton & Frith’s causal modelling approach • Literacy learning processes for L2 learners • Literacy learning difficulties in an L2 school • Affective factors that impact on the learning process in L2

10. Foci of research on L2 literacy learning • Interest in distinct features of L1 and L2 as factors in literacy learning • Studies of literacy competence in L1 and L2 (with a focus on skills and decoding) prioritised over studies of literacy use (with a focus on comprehension and engagement) • Relative neglect of the learner’s voice and of the personal meaning of having access to print

11. Features of L1 & L2 as factors in literacy learning • Extensive studies of psycholinguistic features, e.g. the consistency of orthographic representation of phonology in Grain Size theory (Goswami) • Fewer studies of cultural factors related to L1 and L2, e.g. children’s participation in literacy practices and exposure to print genres that differ markedly between home and school (Gregory, Sneddon)

12. Skill profile in L2 literacy of EAL learners in mainly monolingual societies • Relative strengths in phonological skills and decoding print at the word level • Relative weaknesses in reading comprehension and engagement with texts (Frederickson and Frith, 1998; Cline and Cozens, 1999)

13. The learners’ voice • Hybridity in culture, language……and print (Burck, 2005) • Evaluating learning experiences at school (Fletcher et al, 2009)

14. Quinlan in her parents’ take-away shop “I actually worked on counter for a little while where my parents had a take-away, and uh, a man came in, a Caucasian man came in, and I said, "can I help you there please", cause by that time, I had completely lost my Cantonese accent, and I have a relatively English accent. He took two giant steps back and said, “Oh my God. You're not Chinese". I found that very, I didn't know whether to find that offensive, whether to find that, it was very difficult to take in. Because I guess um there are a lot of preconceptions about Chinese English, they always speak with an accent, they always work in take-away shops and uh, I think this man was, I don't think he was intending to be offensive, it was just pure ignorance. I don't mean it in a derogatory way.”

15. The special identity of a “foreign” accent Estelle: “You see, if I didn’t have an accent, I might feel differently. I might actually forget I’m from France.” Thérèse: “I like the feeling that I’m not completely English, and I see people like thinking, “oh, you have a nice accent, where are you coming from?” And it’s nice. I like the being different but feeling home in it.”

16. The personal meaning of L1 and L2 may be influenced by: • The developmental stage when a need for L2 impinged on the child’s life • The representations of the social significance of each language in family and community (Burck, 2005)

17. Development of Morton & Frith’s causal modelling approach • Literacy learning processes for L2 learners • Literacy learning difficulties in an L2 school • Affective factors that impact on the learning process in L2

18. Pasifika students’ perceptions of factors that inhibited successful learning in literacy(Fletcher et al, 2006) • A lack of Pasifika resources and learning contexts in their schools • Excessive classroom noise • Ineffective classroom management • Bullying by classmates • Lack of parental understanding and support for school-related activities

19. Use of language cues when making word substitution errors(Cline and Cozens, 1999) • Matched readers from White British monolingual and Pakistani/Kashmiri bilingual backgrounds • Both groups made more use of grapho-phonic cues than any other type of cue • The two groups made equal use of grapho-phonic and syntactic cues • L2 learners made less use of semantic cues • Why? Had they learned not to read for meaning?

20. Forms of difficulty in L2 literacy learning(Cline and Shamsi, 2000) • A substantial number of children learning EAL who experience reading difficulties in the early stages because of linguistic and cultural obstacles which they are not always given sufficient help to negotiate print at the sentence and text level. • A much smaller number of L2 learners who will experience severe and continuing difficulties at the word level that may go unrecognised.

21. Development of Morton & Frith’s causal modelling approach • Literacy learning processes for L2 learners • Literacy learning difficulties in an L2 school • Affective factors that impact on the learning process in L2

22. Interactive Factors Framework for Haroon (DECPsy Group 2006) Environmental Haroon is learning EAL - home language is Punjabi Father works away from home a lot Biological Motor-coordination difficulties Overweight Mother is worried about his reading and writing, ‘I can’t help him because I can’t speak English very well and find reading and writing hard’ Cognitive Shy character Reading comprehension difficulties Affective Poor development of metacognitive reading strategies Phonological difficulties Low self-esteem Receptive language difficulties Poor working memory Enjoys numeracy Behavioural Very slow progress in reading/spelling and emergent writing very difficult Reads his book to his brother at home Cries a lot in the playground Class teacher believes his progress is slow and is unsure of how to support him Haroon says, ‘I am rubbish at this’ and ‘I can’t do anything’ Contributes more and is making progress in numeracy Can be stubborn and refuse to try Poorly developed secretarial skills LSA provides some support

23. Interactive Factors Framework for Haroon (DECPsy Group 2006) Environmental Haroon is learning EAL - home language is Punjabi Father works away from home a lot Biological Motor-coordination difficulties Overweight Mother is worried about his reading and writing, ‘I can’t help him because I can’t speak English very well and find reading and writing hard’ Cognitive Shy character Reading comprehension difficulties Affective Poor development of metacognitive reading strategies Phonological difficulties Low self-esteem Receptive language difficulties Poor working memory Enjoys numeracy Behavioural Very slow progress in reading/spelling and emergent writing very difficult Reads his book to his brother at home Cries a lot in the playground Class teacher believes his progress is slow and is unsure of how to support him Haroon says, ‘I am rubbish at this’ and ‘I can’t do anything’ Contributes more and is making progress in numeracy Can be stubborn and refuse to try Poorly developed secretarial skills LSA provides some support

24. Interactive Factors Framework for Haroon (DECPsy Group 2006) Environmental Haroon is learning EAL - home language is Punjabi Father works away from home a lot Biological Motor-coordination difficulties Overweight Mother is worried about his reading and writing, ‘I can’t help him because I can’t speak English very well and find reading and writing hard’ Cognitive Shy character Reading comprehension difficulties Affective Poor development of metacognitive reading strategies Phonological difficulties Low self-esteem Receptive language difficulties Poor working memory Enjoys numeracy Behavioural Very slow progress in reading/spelling and emergent writing very difficult Reads his book to his brother at home Cries a lot in the playground Class teacher believes his progress is slow and is unsure of how to support him Haroon says, ‘I am rubbish at this’ and ‘I can’t do anything’ Contributes more and is making progress in numeracy Can be stubborn and refuse to try Poorly developed secretarial skills LSA provides some support

25. References 1 Burden, R. (2005). Dyslexia and Self-Concept: Seeking a dyslexic identity. London: Whurr. Burck, C. (2005). Multilingual Living: Explorations of Language and Subjectivity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Cline, T. & Cozens, B. (1999) In H. South (ed.) Literacies in Community and School. (pp. 21 – 29). Watford: National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum. Cline, T. & Shamsi, T. (2000) Language Needs or Special Needs? The Assessment of Learning Difficulties in Literacy Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language: A Literature Review (research report RR184). London: DfEE. Fletcher, J., Parkhill, F., Taleni, T., & Fa’afoi, A. (2006). New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 41, (2), 163–182.

26. References 2 Frederickson, N. & Cline, T. (2009). Special Educational Needs, Inclusion and Diversity. 2nd ed. Open University Press. (Chapters 5 & 13) Frederickson, N. & Frith, U. (1998) Identifying dyslexia in bilingual children: a phonological approach with Inner London Sylheti speakers. Dyslexia, 4, 119–31. Hunter-Carsch, M. (2001). Dyslexia: A psycho-social perspective. London: Whurr. Sneddon, R. (2007). In J. Conteh, p. Martin and L.H. Robertson (Eds) Multilingual Learning: Stories from schools and communities in Britain. (pp. 23 – 40). Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.