Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T10:59:41.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

26 - Education, England and Users of Languages Other than English

from Part V - Applied Sociolinguistic Issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2024

By
Ben Rampton ,
Constant Leung  and
Melanie Cooke
Edited by
Susan Fox
Susan Fox
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
Get access

Summary

Over c. 50 years, language education has been a significant site of ideological struggle over England’s position in the world, and the last two decades have seen intensification in the assertion of English nationalism in central government. Our analysis of this history starts with the development of multicultural language education in the 1970s and 1980s, highlighting the factors that contributed to this: activist pressure from minority communities, educational philosophies valuing the ‘whole child’, educational decision-making embedded in local democratic structures, and a legislative strategy that promotied good community relations. This started to change in the 1990s, with the curriculum centralisation and the side-lining of LEAs initiated by the Thatcher government. Efforts to regulate increased population movement also made borders and immigration status more of a priority than multiculturalism, and after 2001, security, social cohesion and the suspicion of Muslims started to dominate public discourse. These developments are analysed in six areas of language education policy: standard English, English as an additional language for school students, English for adult speakers of other languages, modern languages, and community languages in mainstream and supplementary schools. Finally, we consider the role of universities in these processes.

Keywords

language educationlanguage policymultilingualismmigrationnationalismEALESOLcommunity languagessociolinguistics
Type
Chapter
Information
Language in Britain and Ireland , pp. 568 - 594
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdelrazak, M. (2001). Towards More Effective Supplementary and Mother-tongue Schools (in England), 2nd ed. London: Resource Unit for Supplementary and Mother-tongue Schools.Google Scholar
Alleyne, B. (2002). Radicals against Race: Black Activism and Cultural Politics. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Anderson, J., Macleroy, V. and Chung, Y.-C. (2014). Critical Connections: Multilingual Digital Storytelling Project. Handbook for Teachers. London: Goldsmiths. At https://goldsmithsmdst.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/critical-connections-handbook_web.pdf (retrieved 21 August 2020).Google Scholar
Arnaut, K., Blommaert, J., Rampton, B. and Spotti, M. (eds.) (2015). Language and Superdiversity. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnot, M., Schneider, C., Evans, M., Liu, Y., Welply, O. and Davies-Tutt, D. (2014). School Approaches to the Education of EAL Students. Cambridge: The Bell Foundation.Google Scholar
Ashcroft, R. and Bevir, M. (2019). British multiculturalism after Empire: Immigration, nationality and citizenship. In Ashcroft, R. and Bevir, M. (eds.), Multiculturalism in the British Commonwealth. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 25–45.Google Scholar
Audit Commission. (2000). Money Matters: School Funding and Resource Management. London: Audit Office.Google Scholar
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M. and Braun, A. (2012). How Schools Do Policy: Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Baynham, M., Roberts, C., Cooke, M., Simpson, J., Ananiadou, K., Callaghan, J., McGoldrick, J. and Wallace, C. (2007). Effective Teaching and Learning: ESOL. London: NRDC.Google Scholar
Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogizing knowledge: Studies in recontextualisation. In Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity. London: Taylor & Francis, pp. 54–81.Google Scholar
Blackledge, A. (2005). Discourse and Power in a Multilingual World. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Blackledge, A. and Creese, A. (eds.) (2014). Heteroglossia as Practice and Pedagogy. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. and Backus, A. (2011). Repertoires revisited: ‘Knowing language’ in Superdiversity. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 67. www.academia.edu/6365319/WP67_Blommaert_and_Backus_2011._Repertoires_revisited_Knowing_language_in_superdiversity.Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. and Rampton, B. (2011). Language and superdiversity: A position paper. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 70. www.academia.edu/6356809/WP70_Blommaert_and_Rampton_2011_Language_and_superdiversity_A_position_paper.Google Scholar
British Academy. (2013). London for Words: The Needs for Languages in UK Diplomacy and Security. London: British Academy.Google Scholar
British Academy. (2019a). Languages in the UK: A Call for Action. London: British Academy.Google Scholar
British Academy. (2019b). On Languages. London: British Academy.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
British Council. (2019). Language Trends: Language Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools in England. www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/language-trends-2019.pdf (retrieved 21 August 2020).Google Scholar
Broadbent, J. (1984). Towards a programme of in-service teacher training for community language teachers. In Reid, E. (ed.), Minority Community Languages in School. London: CILT, pp. 83–113.Google Scholar
Burman, E. and Miles, S. (2020). Deconstructing supplementary education: From the pedagogy of the supplement to the unsettling of the mainstream. Educational Review 72(1): 3–22.Google Scholar
Carby, H. (1982). Schooling in Babylon. In Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (eds.), The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in 70s Britain. London: Hutchinson, pp. 183–211.Google Scholar
Casey, L. (2016). The Casey Review: A Review into Opportunity and Integration. London: Department for Communities and Local Government.Google Scholar
Coard, B. (1971). How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System. London: New Beacon Books.Google Scholar
Coard, B. (2005). Why I wrote the ‘ESN book’. The Guardian, 5 February.Google Scholar
Coffey, S. (2018). Choosing to study modern foreign languages: Discourses of value as forms of capital. Applied Linguistics 39(4): 462–80.Google Scholar
Cooke, M. and Peutrell, R. (eds.) (2019). Brokering Britain, Education Citizens: Exploring ESOL and Citizenship. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cooke, M. and Simpson, J. (2008). ESOL: A Critical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cooke, M. and Simpson, J. (2012). Discourses about linguistic diversity. In Martin-Jones, M., Blackledge, A. and Creese, A. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism. London: Routledge, pp. 116–30.Google Scholar
Cooke, M., Bryers, D. and Winstanley, B. (2018). ‘Our Languages’: Sociolinguistics in multilingual participatory ESOL. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 234. www.academia.edu/35839204/WP234_Cooke_Bryers_and_Winstanley_2018_Our_Languages_Sociolinguistics_in_multilingual_participatory_ESOL_classes.Google Scholar
Cox, B. (1991). Cox on Cox: An English Curriculum for the 1990’s. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Cox, B. (1992). The Great Betrayal. London: Chapmans.Google Scholar
Cox, C. and Dyson, A. (eds.) (1969). Black Paper One. London: Critical Quarterly Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creese, A. and Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching. The Modern Language Journal 94: 103–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department for Education and Science (DES). (1975). A Language for Life. (Chair: A. Bullock Report) London: HMSO.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Education and Science (DES). (1981). West Indian Children in Our Schools: Interim Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups. (Chair: A. Rampton) London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Department of Education and Science (DES). (1985). Education for All: The Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups. (Chair: L. Swann) London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Derrick, J. (1977). Language Needs of Minority Group Children. Slough: NFER.Google Scholar
Department of Education (DfE). (2014). National Curriculum in England: Framework for Key Stages 1 to 4. London: Department for Education. www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4 (retrieved 21 August 2020).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Education (DfE). (2019a). English for Speakers of Other Languages: Access and Progression. London: Department for Education.Google Scholar
Department of Education (DfE). (2019b). Schools, Pupils and Their Characteristics: January 2019. London: Department for Education.Google Scholar
Department of Education (DfE). (2020). English Proficiency of Pupils with English as an Additional Language. London: Department for Education.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department for Employment and Education (DfEE). (1998). Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools: Final Report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship. (Chair: B. Crick). London: Department for Employment and Education.Google Scholar
Department for Employment and Education (DfEE). (1999). A Fresh Start: Improving Literacy and Numeracy (The Moser Report). London: Basic Skills Agency.Google Scholar
Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2001). Adult ESOL Core Curriculum. London: Basic Skills Agency.Google Scholar
Dorling, D. and Tomlinson, S. (2019). Rule Britannia: Brexit and the End of Empire. London: Biteback Publishing.Google Scholar
Evans, D. and Gillan-Thomas, K. (2015). Descriptive Analysis of Supplementary School Pupils’ Characteristics and Attainment in Seven Local Authorities in England. London: Paul Hamlyn Foundation.Google Scholar
Foster, D. and Bolton, P. (2018). Adult ESOL in England. London: House of Commons Library.Google Scholar
Garcia, O. and Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging. Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Gerrard, J. (2013). Self help and protest: The emergence of black supplementary schooling in England. Race Ethnicity and Education 16(1): 32–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilroy, P. (2006). Multiculture in times of war: An inaugural lecture given at the London School of Economics. Critical Quarterly 48(4): 27–45.Google Scholar
Goddard, J. and Puukka, J. (2008). The engagement of higher education institutions in regional development: An overview of the opportunities and challenges. Higher Education Management and Policy 20(2): 11–41.Google Scholar
Gooch, B. and Stevenson, A. (2020). Volunteers, English Language Learners and Conversation Clubs: Research Report. London: Learning and Work Institute.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gumperz, J., Jupp, T. and Roberts, C. (1979). Crosstalk. Southall, UK: BBC/National Centre for Industrial Language Training.Google Scholar
Hagger-Vaughan, L. (2016). Towards ‘languages for all’ in England: The state of the debate. Language Learning Journal 44(3): 358–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, S. (2017). Familiar Stranger. Harmondsworth: Penguin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, R. (1991). John La Rose. In John La Rose Tribute Committee (eds.), Foundations of a Movement. London: John La Rose Tribute Committee, pp. 57–64.Google Scholar
Harris, R. (1996). Openings, absences and omissions: Aspects of the treatment of ‘race’, culture and ethnicity in British Cultural studies. Cultural Studies 10(2): 334–44.Google Scholar
Hawkins, E. (1981). Modern Languages in the Curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, P. (2020). When the statues went up. History Workshop, 12 June, www.historyworkshop.org.uk/when-the-statues-went-up/.Google Scholar
HMG. (2015). Prevent Strategy Duty Guidance. London: HM Government.Google Scholar
Holmes, S. (2015). Promoting multilingual creativity: Key principles from successful project. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 182. www.academia.edu/19401058/WP182_Holmes_2015._Promoting_multilingual_creativity_Key_principles_from_successful_projects.Google Scholar
Home Office. (2002). Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern Britain. London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Honey, J. (1983). The Language Trap: Race, Class and the ‘Standard English’ Issue in British Schools. Kenton, Middlesex: National Council for Educational Standards.Google Scholar
Kempadoo, M. and Abdelrazak, M. (eds.) (2001). Directory of Supplementary and Mother-tongue Classes, 2nd ed. London: Resource Unit for Supplementary and Mother-tongue Schools.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenner, C. and Ruby, M. (2012). Co-constructing bilingual learning: An equal exchange of strategies between complementary and mainstream teachers. Language and Education 26(6): 517–35Google Scholar
Khan, K. (2017). Citizenship, securitisation and suspicion in UK ESOL policy. In Arnaut, K., Karrebæk, M., Spotti, M. and Blommaert, J. (eds.), Engaging Superdiversity: Recombining Spaces, Times and Language Practices. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 303–20. Also available as Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 130 (2014) www.academia.edu/7517562/WP130_Khan_2014._Citizenship_securitization_and_suspicion_in_UK_ESOL_policy.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Rose, J. (1987) (2014). Anti-racism, the new black middle class and British society. In Unending Journey. London: New Beacon Books, pp. 40–3.Google Scholar
Lanvers, U., Doughty, H. and Thompson, A. (2018). Brexit as linguistic symptom of Britain retreating into its shell? Brexit-induced politicization of language learning. Modern Language Journal 102(4): 775–96.Google Scholar
Leung, C. and Lewkowicz, J. (2019). What counts as language proficiency for UK citizenship: The B1 benchmarks? In Ari Huhta, A., Erickson, G. and Figueras, N. (eds.), Developments in Language Education: A Memorial Volume in Honour of Sauli Takala Jyväskylä, Finland: European Association of Language Testing and Assessment, with University of Jyväskylä, pp. 203–25.Google Scholar
Leung, C., Evans, M. and Liu, Y. (2021). EAL Assessment Framework for Schools: Filling a void in policy and provision in England. Language Assessment Quarterly 18(3): 296–315.Google Scholar
Leung, C., Harris, R. and Rampton, B. (1997). The idealised native speaker, reified ethnicities and classroom realities. TESOL Quarterly 31(3): 543–60. Also available as Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 2. www.academia.edu/6477209/WP2_Leung_Harris_and_Rampton_1997._The_Idealised_Native-Speaker_Reified_Ethnicities_and_Classroom_Realities_Contemporary_Issues_in_TESOL.Google Scholar
Levine, J. and McLeod, A. (1975). Children from families of overseas origin. In Rosen, H. (ed.), Language and Literacy in our School: Some Appraisals of the Bullock Report. London: Institute of Education, pp. 35–49.Google Scholar
Li, W. (2006). Complementary schools, past, present and future. Language and Education 20(1): 76–83.Google Scholar
Liberty. (2019). A Guide to the Hostile Environment: The Border Controls Dividing Our Communities. London: Liberty.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, R., Danechi, S. and Loft, P. (2020). Language Teaching in Schools (England). London: House of Commons Library.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lytra, V., Ros i Solé, C., Anderson, J. and Macleroy, V. (eds.) (2022). Liberating Language Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marland, M. (1987). Multilingual Britain: The Educational Challenge. London: CILT.Google Scholar
Martin-Jones, M. (1984). The newer minorities: Literacy and educational issues. In Trudgill, P. (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 425–48.Google Scholar
Matras, Y. (2023). Decolonising language in the city: Multilingual repertoires, institutional practice and civic engagement in a UK urban setting. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 307. https://wpull.org/product/wp307-decolonising-language-in-the-city-multilingual-repertoires-institutional-practice-and-civic-engagement-in-a-uk-urban-setting/.Google Scholar
Meek, M. (ed.) (1996). Developing Pedagogies in the Multilingual Classroom: The Writings of Josie Levine. Stoke: Trentham Books.Google Scholar
Meer, N. and Modood, T. (2019). Accentuating multicultural Britishness: An open or closed activity? In Ashcroft, R. and Bevir, M. (eds.), Multiculturalism in the British Commonwealth. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 46–66.Google Scholar
MHCLG. (2013). New £6 Million Competition Fund for English Language Learning. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. www.gov.uk/government/news/new-6-million-competition-fund-for-english-language-learning (retrieved 21 August 2020).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirza, H. and Reay, M. (2000). Spaces and places of black educational desire: Rethinking black supplementary schools as a new social movement. Sociology 34(3): 521–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, M. and Ramsay, G. (2017). UK Media Coverage of the 2016 EU Referendum Campaign. London: King’s College London.Google Scholar
National Audit Office (NAO). (2018). Converting Maintained Schools to Academies. London: NAO.Google Scholar
NIACE. (2006). More than a Language. Report on the NIACE Committee of Inquiry on English for Speakers of Other Languages. Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE). https://learningandwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/MoreThanALanguage-ExecutiveSummary.pdf.Google Scholar
Ofsted. (2019). The Education Inspection Framework. London: Office for Standards in Education.Google Scholar
Olusoga, D. (2019). The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files. London: BBC. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00068sk/the-unwanted-the-secret-windrush-files (retrieved 21 August 2020).Google Scholar
Peutrell, R. and Cooke, M. (2019). Afterword: ESOL, citizenship and teacher professionalism. In Cooke, M. and Peutrell, R. (eds.), Brokering Britain, Educating Citizens. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 227–33.Google Scholar
Race Today. (1978). Black parents on the move. Race Today, October, pp.196–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rampton, B. (1983). Some flaws in educational discussion of the English of Asian schoolchildren in Britain. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 4(1): 15–28.Google Scholar
Rampton, B. (1988). A non-educational view of ESL in Britain. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 9(6): 503–29.Google Scholar
Rampton, B. (2011). From ‘multi-ethnic adolescent heteroglossia’ to ‘contemporary urban vernaculars’. Language and Communication 31: 276–94.Google Scholar
Rampton, B., Cooke, M. and Holmes, S. (2018). Sociolinguistic citizenship. Journal of Social Science Education 17(4): 68–83. Also available as: Promoting Linguistic Citizenship: Issues, problems and possibilities. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 233. www.academia.edu/35716664/WP233_Rampton_Cooke_and_Holmes_2018_Promoting_Linguistic_Citizenship_Issues_problems_and_possibilities.Google Scholar
Rampton, B., Harris, R. and Leung, C. (2007). Education and languages other than English in the British Isles. In Britain, D. (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 417–35. Also in Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 18 (2002). www.academia.edu/6477041/WP18_Rampton_Harris_and_Leung_2001._Education_in_England_and_Speakers_of_Languages_Other_than_English.Google Scholar
Rampton, B., Charalambous, C., Mangual Figueroa, A., Zakharia, Z., Levon, E. and Jones, R. (2019). Dialogue: Sociolinguistics and everyday (in)securitization. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, 264. www.academia.edu/41210865/WP264_Rampton_Charalambous_Mangual_Figueroa_Zakharia_Levon_and_Jones_2019_Dialogue_Sociolinguistics_and_everyday_in_securitisation.Google Scholar
Roberts, N. and Danechi, S. (2019). FAQs: Academies and Free Schools. London: House of Commons Library.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, S. (2007). A Critical History of ESOL in the UK 1870–2006. Leicester: NIACE.Google Scholar
Sharma, D. (2011). Style repertoire and social change in British Asian English. Journal of Sociolinguistics 15(4): 1–29.Google Scholar
Simpson, J. (2019). Policy and adult migrant language education in the UK. In Cooke, M. and Peutrell, R. (eds.), Brokering Britain, Educating Citizens. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 25–41.Google Scholar
Staufenberg, J. (2020). Incorporation: The end of an experiment or the end of a myth. FE Week, 27 May.Google Scholar
Steer, P. (2015). Why We Can’t Go on Like This – Language Qualifications in the UK. Cambridge: Cambridge Assessment. www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/insights/why-we-cant-go-on-like-this-language-qualifications-in-the-uk/ (retrieved 21 August 2020).Google Scholar
Taylor, M. and Hegarty, S. (1985). The Best of Both Worlds? A Review of Research into the Education of Pupils of South Asian Origin. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.Google Scholar
Tolley, G. (2015). Keynote One: Presentation by Director of Children’s Services at Brent Council. London: London Metropolitan University, 3 July. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkAhEawXZ3A.Google Scholar
UCU. (2015). The Prevent Duty: A Guide for Branches and Managers. London: University and College Union.Google Scholar
Vertovec, S. (2006). The emergence of super-diversity in Britain. COMPAS Working Paper 25. Oxford: University of Oxford Centre on Migration, Policy and Society.Google Scholar
Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024–54. doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465.Google Scholar
von Ahn, M., Lupton, R., Greenwood, C. and Wiggins, D. (2010). Languages, Ethnicity and Education in London. London: UPTAP.Google Scholar
Yuval-Davis, N., Wemyss, G. and Cassidy, K. (2019). Bordering. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×