Dermot Bergin
D.Ed.Psych Programme 2007-2010
Cardiff University
Introduction - Terms
 Bilingualism: use of two or more languages day-to-day
 In 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 relevance
 Relevance 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 rights
 Historic 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
Interpretivism
Structuralism
Positivism
Order (microsocial)
Quantitative
Qualitative
Conflict (macrosocial)
Bursztyn (2007)
Conflict (macrosocial)
Qualitative
Interpretivism
The current study
Structuralism
Quantitative
Humanism
Positivism
Order (microsocial)
Evidence based
interventions
Attainment among bilinguals
Equivocal 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 worse
 Garcia-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? Dyslexia
 Dyslexics 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 factors
 Inappropriate assessment practices;
 Prevalence of pupils with EAL within an
LEA;
 Prejudice; restriction of services to
indigenous pupils
 Social and environmental situation (e.g.
deprivation);
 Social constructions surrounding SEN.
Social Constructionism
 Interpretation 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 Constructionism
Four 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; and
4. Acceptance that knowledge and social action go together.
 Criticism: binary ‘yes-no’ style perspectives of essentialism
and realism are of limited utility (Hacking, 2000).
Methods
 Qualitative approach appropriate
 Theoretical sampling: (SENCos & EALSTs)
 Participants: six SENCos and six EALSTs from seven
schools (four primary), all female.
 Interviews transcribed
 Transcripts analysed according to IPA procedure
 Data stored and analysed using Nvivo programme
 On-going process of theme interpretation.
Interview Schedule
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What experience have you had of working with bilingual pupils and
their Special Educational Needs (SEN)?
What have been the common SEN that you have noted in relation to
bilingual pupils?
Have you noticed any types of SEN that seem to be relatively rarely
found among bilingual pupils?
How do you feel a child’s bilingualism effects his/her education?
What would be helpful to reduce the difficulties experienced by
bilingual children?
How can bilingualism be greater utilised to help overcome SEN?
How do you decide whether or not a suspected SEN is due to some
aspect of bilingualism?
What might help to distinguish whether a given learning difficulty
was due to some aspect of bilingualism or not?
Transcript – Interview I
DB 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 tables
S
1
Master Theme
Theme
Dominance switch to I26) Effect of dominance
English
switch-over on education
Time
19:5519:58
Brief Quote
‘very hard to tell what effect
it’s got’
1
Value of bilingualism
questioned
I29) Idea of using English
only to reduce challenges
I22) Pecking order of
languages
24:5624:58
14:4514:49
‘reduce some of the things
can be reduced’
‘the children don't think (it)
is an important language’
1
EAL and Education
I27) EAL pupils better at
Welsh
I16) EAL pupils good at
spelling-possibly due to
intervention
21:5722:06
10:4510:50
‘learning Welsh…they’ll
have far more of a got at it’
‘outstanding ability to
understand phonics, which
we try and push at them’
1
Understanding
concepts first
I44) Light up when they
realize they know
I43) Previous education can
lead to rapid progress
41:4941:52
41:2241:26
‘I do know all this stuff I just
know it in another language’
‘passed the lower end…
within a very short time’
4
Current strategies and I42) Promoting the best fit for
interventions
EAL pupils
I41) Benefit of EAL
accessing SEN intervention
39:1539:20
37:1737:20
‘keep them with…the child’s
equivalent’
‘I’m going to be very
unpopular and say yes’
Results -Descriptive statistics
Number of Years in post
20
18
16
14
12
10
SENCos
8
EALSTs
6
4
2
0
P1
P2
P3
P4
C1
C2
C3
Schools (P = Primary, C = Comprehensive)
Results - IPA
Super-ordinate themes
1. 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
Super-ordinate themes
1. 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
Super-ordinate themes
1. 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.
1. EAL status and education
 Early years characteristics of EAL pupils
 EAL and Education
 Dominance switch to English
 Value of bilingualism questioned
 Characteristics of English language development
 Considerations of possible disadvantages of
bilingualism
1. EAL status and education
 Early years characteristics of EAL pupils
 EAL and Education
 Dominance switch to English
 Value of bilingualism questioned
 Characteristics of English language development
 Considerations of possible disadvantages of
bilingualism
EAL and education
 One 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
 Early years characteristics of EAL pupils;
 EAL and Education
 Dominance switch to English
 Value of bilingualism questioned
 Characteristics of English language development
 Considerations of possible disadvantages of
bilingualism
Value of bilingualism questioned
Bilingualism 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
 In relation to theory
 Against linking bilingualism with SEN
 Stance of school on SEN
 Resistance to placing EAL on the SEN register
 The prevalence and perception of SEN among EAL
pupils
Theory not supported
 Schools 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
 In relation to theory
 Against linking bilingualism with SEN
 Stance of school on SEN
 Resistance to placing EAL on the SEN register
 The prevalence and perception of SEN among EAL
pupils
Resistance to SEN
Placing 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 SEN
EALSTs 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'sthat'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 SEN
One 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 SEN
DB: “…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 SEN
Conversely, 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
 In relation to theory
 Against linking bilingualism with SEN
 Stance of school on SEN
 Resistance to placing EAL on the SEN register
 The prevalence and perception of SEN among EAL
pupils
Perceptions of SEN among EAL
EALSTs 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 EAL
One 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 EAL
EAL 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)
Discussion
1. 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 bilingualism
 No 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.
Disproportionality
Primary Schools
Secondary Schools
All 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
100.0
Source: DCSF (2007) Schools and pupils in England.
Disproportionality
Primary Schools
Secondary Schools
All special schools
N
%
N
%
N
%
Indian
78,720
2.4
78,600
2.4
1,300
1.5
Bangladeshi
48,170
1.5
33,370
1.0
700
0.8
Other
ethnic
40,110
1.2
31,250
1.0
690
0.8
Asian
Source: DCSF (2007) Schools and pupils in England.
Social constructionism
 EALSTs 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 supported
Theory
BICS and CALP
Reference
(Cummins 1984)
Supported?
Yes
The quadrant
(Cummins 1984)
Yes
Iceberg analogy
(Cummins 1984)
Yes
Threshold Theory
(Cummins 1976)
Unclear
The Developmental
Interdependence Hypothesis
Bilingual attainment initially
lower
Bilingual attainment catches
up/can perform slightly better
Bilingual cognitive advantage
(Cummins 1979)
Yes
(Strand & Demie, 2005)
Yes
(Demie & Strand 2006)
Yes
(Baker, 2006; Bialystok,
2008)
Baker (2006)
Neither supported nor
rejected
Yes
Bilingual ability to learn other
languages
Multidisciplinary
collaboration
Informal
• Feelings, hunches, experience
• Knowing the child
• Gathering background info
• Level of English
More formal • Home language assessment
‘Formal’
• Normative testing
• Hypothesis testing framework
Knowledge of L2
development
Awareness of cultural
differences
Good role
models of
English
Multisensory
approaches
Differentiation Teacher
for EAL
training
Current
strategies and
interventions
Misdiagnosis
Caution
Encourage- Home against
ment of L1 support malpractice
Confounding common
EAL errors
Application of
monolingual norms
Omission of EAL
status in reports
Additional
support
Maximising
existing
resources
Greater home
language
education
Solutions
Raising
awareness of
EAL issues
Better assessment
for every child
Increased
knowledge
Training, e.g.
on SEN for
EAL staff
Reliance on
bilingual
support staff
Availability of
specialist Ed Psych
BTA for every
language?
Enough BTAs?
Adequate
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 studies
 An examination of disproportionality among Indian
and Bengali populations in the U.K.
 Bilingualism and literacy difficulties:
 cognitive psychological experiments
 examination 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
Interpretivism
Structuralism
Quantitative
Qualitative
Conflict (macrosocial)
Positivism
Future Studies
Order (microsocial)
The current study
Evidence based
interventions
Selected references
 Baker, 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 references
 Kelly, 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.