Bilingual Creative Writing Clubs: Supporting Bilingual Children’s Writing Skills, Raising their Confidence, Self-esteem and Overall Well-being.

Author(s):

Maja Jankowska(presenting / submitting)Jon Rainford Sarah Coleman Aneta Pac Ana Christian

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments

Format:

Paper (Copy for Joint Session)

Session Information

20 SES 04 B JS, Reading and Writing Competencies in Bilingual Perspectives and Consequences for Self-esteem and Identity

Joint Paper Session NW 20 and NW 31

Time:

2016-08-24

09:00-10:30

Room:

OB-Theatre C

Chair:

Irina Usanova

Contribution

Although children who use a language other than English are not a minority population (especially in urban areas) in the UK, it can be argued that English classrooms remain largely monolingual and (to a lesser extent) also monocultural. Monolingualism is still perceived as a norm and there seems to be an expectation of children to acquire English as fast as possible and assimilate into the English system of education. The underlying assumption for this seems to be that ‘other languages and cultures interfere with successful learning of [English] and with achievement in the curriculum’ (Levine, 1990, p.1) and therefore the learners should focus mainly on English. As Dakin (2012) explains this English dominance is driven by a high-stakes testing regime. Hence a child’s other languages are often left outside of the school gates, positioned as separate from school education and the responsibility of parents and the community. This presentation will focus on the project which looked at a problem of separateness of languages and the lack of acknowledgement and appreciation for languages other than English. Children for whom English is not their first language are often seen as ‘problematic’ (requiring additional support) and at risk of underachieving – therefore the focus tends to be on remedial work, focused on improving their English. This means that EAL children are often seen through the lenses of deficit and their skills and talents are left untapped (Jankowska, 2015).

This project moved away from the traditional focus on English and instead focuses on bilingual children’s strengths and abilities, providing a safe forum for showcasing their language skills and validating their home languages, which, in turn, may lead to an increased sense of inclusion and self-worth (Dakin, 2012).

The rationale for this project came from the body of literature which shows that educational policy and public opinion often discourage the use of children’s home languages in the classroom (Safford & Drury, 2013), without realising that there is great potential for the transfer of literacy, numeracy and other skills between the languages (Nag et al., 2014). Many teachers may also be unaware of the impact of the first language on a child’s identity, self-esteem and confidence (Krashen & McField, 2005).

The project aimed to focus specifically on the ways in which recognising and supporting the use of mother tongues within the school environment can have positive effects on learners’ identity, self-esteem and confidence, therefore enhancing children’s sense of well-being as well as increasing their ‘visibility’ within schools through celebrating their bilingual achievements.

The key research question was: ‘What impact does the celebration of literacy and linguistic skills of bilingual learners have on their overall confidence, self-esteem and well-being?’ This question lent itself to several other sub-questions – this presentation will focus only on 3 sub-questions, as follows:

Can participating in the ‘bilingual creative writing club’ increase bilingual learners’ confidence, self-esteem (and, more specifically, academic self-esteem) and overall well-being?
Can participating in the ‘bilingual creative writing club’ increase bilingual learners’ ‘visibility’ within schools? (Would teachers and other learners become more aware of bilingual learners’ skills and talents?)
Can participating in the ‘bilingual creative writing club’ affect teachers’ perception and knowledge of bilingualism?

Method

This project adopted an Action Research approach – although there was a plan of 11 weeks delivery of Bilingual Creative Writing Clubs, it continued to be refined and tailored to the needs of the pupils and their teachers. We observed, reflected on every session and planned/designed the following sessions in way that was responsive to the group dynamics, the needs of individual learners and the setting. Bilingual Creative Writing Clubs run as a pilot in two schools in Bedford, England (Lower: years 3 and 4 and Primary: years 5 and 6). In total 28 pupils took part in the clubs. It was supported by Access and Outreach Team team who provided funding, dealt with DBS (criminal record checks) and safeguarding training for 8 students involved in the running of the project. Alongside the practical delivery, the team conducted a mixed-method research study, which was ethically approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee at the University of Bedfordshire. The research comprised of a set of questionnaires (one for pupils participating in the Clubs, one for the University students engaged in the delivery and one for teachers/key school workers). This presentation focuses on the data collected from the children and teachers/key workers only so the data relating to the university students’ engagement will be omitted. The questionnaire for children comprised of questions around children’s proficiency in English and their home language, Youth Quality of Life Instrument and Rosenberg’s Self-Perception Profile for Children – Revised. The questionnaire for teachers/key workers comprised of questions about the children’s proficiency in English and their home language, their academic performance, confidence, social acceptance (by others) and about the teachers’/key workers’ perceptions and attitudes towards bilingualism and EAL (questions were designed based on the literature review). The measures were repeated (at the beginning and at the end of the delivery of the clubs) to ensure any changes were captured. There was also an element of evaluation of the delivery of the project, required by the Access and Outreach team. The qualitative element comprised of short follow-up short interviews with pupils, teachers/ key workers, students and parents in order to gather more in-depth information about their experience of being a part of Bilingual Creative Writing Club. This presentation will focus on both quantitative results of the pupils’ and teachers’/ key workers’ questionnaires and qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews.

Expected Outcomes

At this stage the project data collection is on-going and we are only able to make some early predictions. This project aims to address the pressing educational and social issues, such as the lack of appreciation for languages other than English and separateness of languages (keeping mother tongues outside of the school gates), which contributes to the lack of opportunities for literacy transfer (Safford & Drury, 2013, Dakin, 2012) and disregard for well-acknowledged cognitive and social benefits of bilingualism (Alladi et al., 2013; Bialystok et al., 2007). It emphasises the importance of valuing home languages and drawing on them as educational resource. It addresses the issue of social inequalities and educational disadvantage moving the focus from remedial work to EAL/ bilingual children’s strengths and talents. We hope to see some difference in terms of the pupils’ self-perception (their self-esteem, confidence and overall-wellbeing) captured in the post-programme date collection. We believe that the Bilingual Creative Writing Clubs have a potential to provide children with opportunities to use their hope languages, showcase their talents and experience a sense of achievement and pride. We also hope to increase EAL/ bilingual learner’s visibility in the system of education, therefore contributing to the change in perspective (from a deficient view of EAL to a more positive view, focused on the children’s strengths and abilities). The data from the teachers/ key workers will capture any shifts within this dimension. The stories that the children create will be published (initially in an electronic form) and offered as bilingual resources to schools and local libraries. It is envisaged that lessons will be learned from the first phase of the project to improve the programme for the following years and expand it to other schools within the region.

References

Alladi, S. et al. (2013). Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology, 82(21): 1936-1937. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000436620.33155.a4 Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., & Freedman, M. (2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45: 459–464. Dakin, J. (2012). Writing bilingual stories: developing children’s literacy through home languages. In: D. Mallows (Ed.) Innovations in English language teaching for migrants and refuges, p. 11-22, British Council: London. Available at http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/ec/files/C328_Innovations_book_FINAL%202_web.pdf Flynn, N. (2013). Encountering migration: English primary school teachers’ responses to Polish children. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 8(4): 336-351, DOI: 10.1080/1554480X.2013.829273 Jankowska, M. (2015). On bilingualualism in (monoligual?) English classroom environment - the challenges for Polish-English bilingual children, their parents and schools, Sustainable Multilingualism, 5, 99-131. Krashen, S. and McField, G. (2005). ‘What works? Reviewing the latest evidence on bilingual education’. Language Learner 1(2): 7–10, 34. Levine, J., & Bleach, J. (1990). Bilingual learners and the mainstream curriculum. London: Falmer Press. Multilingual Families. (2014). http://www.multilingual-families.eu/ [Last accessed: 02/06/2015] Murphy, V. & Unthiah, A. (2015). A systematic review of intervention research examining English language and literacy development in children with English as an Additional Language (EAL). London: Educational Endowment Fund. Safford, K. & Drury, R. (2013). The ‘problem’ of bilingual children in educational settings: Policy and research in England. Language and Education, 27(1): 70-81, DOI: 10.1080/09500782.2012.685177