Social Justice and Policies for Children Learning English - Essay Example

Social Justice and Policies for Children Learning English as Additional Language in the UK Introduction Social justice is an important notion in numerous educational discourses nowadays. In an ideal society everybody has equal access to resources and opportunities so as to prosper and become successful, in spite of any drawbacks that could emerge as an outcome of their language, socio-economic status, racial affiliation, or gender. In scholarly discourses, social justice is regarded a diverse and multidimensional notion, which is viewed in different ways in different settings (Gardner, Holmes, & Leitch, 2015). Nevertheless, social justice in its broadest essence is vital with regard to children and adolescents who do not have much power over their situations or surroundings. Supporters of social justice like Nancy Fraser and John Rawls have formulated various approaches or theoretical perspectives of the core ideologies and processes of what comprises social justice. As regards to the relevance of social justice theories to education, Cribb and Gewirtz (2003) have developed one of the most valuable theoretical models, which explain three types of social justice—associational, cultural, and distributive. This paper focuses on the cultural aspect of social justice, particularly in relation to social inclusion policies for linguistic minority children learning English as an additional language in the UK. Cultural justice supports respect for or consideration of cultural diversity. Cribb and Gewirtz (2003) argue that this is an effective way to eliminate hindrances to social justice. Social Justice and Policies for English Education in the UK Societies act in response to cultural differences in distinctive ways. Educational policies for the needs and demands of children belonging to cultural minority groups in the UK have changed since the immigration from earlier British colonial states in the 1950s. Language became the emphasis for educational policies for this progressing culturally diverse society in the UK with the Department of Education and Science’s (DES) (1963) English for Immigrants. This was the earliest key government programme into the English language instruction for children whose mother tongue was not English. The language requirements of the schools’ immigrant students were dealt with as regards the observed necessity to guarantee that their being there did not interrupt learning for the majority population who are white monolingual. The immigrant students’ cultural requirements were not tackled in official policy, a phenomenon that is experienced until now. Educational policies for children whose mother tongue was not English have been wide-ranging with the earliest policies for the education of children who are non-native English speakers in the UK being centred on rapid integration into the purported ‘host community’, disregarding the individual language requirements of these children. As attention was increasingly paid to the poor performance of non-native English speakers in UK schools, policies transformed into measures ranging from providing instruction to bilingual students in special language facilities to taking out these children from mainstream classrooms so as to facilitate English language teaching, which frequently held little or no relevance to the children’s academic subjects and all such educational policies disregarded the presence of the children’s mother tongue. Ever since the 1980s, the favoured technique has been to instruct English to children as a second language within the perspective of other instructional and learning features within mainstream classes. This pressures teachers to thoroughly take into consideration the language requirements of bilingual children with regard to the curriculum or nature of classroom instruction. As asserted by Stubbs (1994), “schools have always been the most powerful mechanism in assimilating minority children into mainstream cultures” (as cited in Smyth, 2012, p. 4). His examination of the efforts of the agencies which have published reports on language in the education programme for the UK shows that this flourishing of unplanned language programmes has formed a “sophisticated control which recognises ethnic diversity but confines it to the home, which pays lip-service to multilingualism but is empty liberal rhetoric” (Smyth, 2012, p. 4). An enduring concern of several of those interested in children education and language learning is the incongruity between the language dominant in schools and how children apply the language at home. The growing attention paid to genuine spoken language in the 20th century, and progress in terms of interpreting and documenting it, have contributed to the observed gaps between school language’ and ‘home language’ getting considerable focus. A specific series of studies, associated directly with educational policies, tackles a supposed ‘insufficiency’ in some children’s language. The American model of ‘compensatory education’ aimed at improving and expanding the language of ‘disadvantaged’ children, and the same principles were espoused in Britain. At first, a psycholinguistic standpoint was prevailing, and studies took into consideration the success of various remedial measures to raise the achievement of children. As revealed by Blank and Solomon (1972, p. 178) (as cited in Sealey, 2014, p. 86): An eclectic approach to the teaching of language is usual in most preschool programmes for disadvantaged children. Since their language deficiencies are extensive, it is hoped that the presentation of a massive array of possibly fruitful techniques is bound to lead to learning. In contrast, the present authors… have presented the hypothesis that the deprived child’s verbal weakness is so overwhelming that it blinds one to his more subtle but basic deficiency. This deficiency is the lack of a symbolic system for thinking. Such assertions confirm the idea, at times stated in primary school organisations, that some children ‘have no language’. Talking about expressions like ‘disadvantaged children’ are probably regardless less appropriate today, and the expressions suggestive of physical corruption—‘lack’, ‘deficiency’, ‘weakness’— bear an indication of the practice of ‘blaming the victim’. Scholars with a greater sociological knowledge on linguistic matters gave more importance on social perspective in explaining and recommending techniques to associate with the linguistic diversity related to various linguistic groups. Labov (1972), for instance, conveyed great interest in the techniques and ideologies of the educational psychologists involved in the Operation Headstart (Labov, 1972, p. 208): The essential fallacy of the verbal deprivation theory lies in tracing the educational failure of the child to his personal deficiencies. At present, these deficiencies are said to be caused by his home environment. It is tradition to explain a child’s failure in school by his inadequacy; but when failure reaches such massive proportions, it seems to us necessary to look at the social and cultural obstacles to learning, and the inability of the school to adjust to the social situation. Instead of theorising language as absolute or inflexible, and learners as either ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘privileged’, numerous scholars in education and language in the 1970s and 1980s tried to place emphasis on the complete array of sociolinguistic aspects included in speakers’ ranges, recognising the possible extent of contexts, functions, and form of language use observed in various settings and communities. Pedagogy of English as an Additional Language Foreign language learning is currently one of the most debated issues in several English-speaking countries. As English gradually becomes universal, some school administrators and educators have difficulty realizing the importance of learning a foreign language, further than that of a requirement to graduate. They often reason with that learning a foreign language will just be worthless if the students are not even planning to use their acquired second language after graduation. It’s a compelling argument. Students do not often hold on to a foreign language if they have been coerced to learn it, though that does not rub out the advantages of its accessibility and ease of use; as the demand for higher skills in exact sciences such as mathematics and those of the natural sciences is definitely tremendous, so too is the demand for a higher understanding of not merely a language of a particular culture, but the culture per se. While foreign language develops within the school systems, it has evolved to include extensive studies of the cultures that use the concerned language. These studies operate dissimilarly from a history course; apart from concentrating on certain events in periods of the remote past, studies in cultural language explore every day, contemporary lives. And at this point rests possibly the utmost benefit of learning a foreign language in English-speaking countries: the prospect to promote broadmindedness and diversity through education and understanding (Crystal 2003). Those who understand the core functioning of a society and culture are far less probable to show prejudice against this, and they can even be encouraged to endorse cultural heterogeneity as the extremely valid menace of globalization flouncing the globe. One of the means to encourage young people to learn a foreign language is through using computer-mediated communication which has a considerable potential to expand classroom interaction alternatives through introducing students to social milieus and relationships which is thus far unusual in classroom settings. This is a ground-breaking change in foreign language learning because of the various technological alternatives s available such as videoconferencing, email and collaborative activities to foster interest among students to learn a one or more foreign languages. A new form of social relationship, concerning both the awareness and expression of cohesion, may be anticipated to bring about transformations in the students’ sociolinguistic proficiency, which had already been hampered in its progress by the constraints on social diversity in foreign language classrooms (Kecskes & Papp 2000). Obviously, teachers should remind the students and parents as well should tell their children that learning a foreign language apart from their English native tongue is in itself a benefit which surpasses that of cultural diversity. Even though English is turning out to be a form of global language, it is still essential in several circumstances, personal and professional alike, to use the native tongue of another country. In the business world, it is an indication of respect and duty to not always think that your foreign counterparts speak crude or proficient English. Furthermore, numerous governmental posts oblige you to be proficient in at least one foreign language, more than ever if you will be collaborating with societies incapable to afford the luxury of foreign language education. Professionals or specialists, as well, learn foreign languages in order to deal with numerous documents not written or translated into English (Kecskes & Papp 2000). Foreign language learning is in addition imperative to those who regularly travel. You can normally get along with English, but you will discover your familiarity and awareness expanded through learning the language of a country wherein you have already travelled. Take into account all the places you might travel, all the kinds of people you might encounter, if you were given the opportunity to ensure you’re English at the entrance and go travelling the places not intended exclusively for tourists (Eco 1995). You will be able to intermingle with a culture apart from observing and witnessing it. And perhaps, through this, you could even establish some enduring social relationships. Successfully acquiring a foreign language is the decisive achievement. It is indeed very hard work, frequently requiring a considerable number of years to master, yet being able to intermingle with a society, take the helm in the boulevards of a foreign city or just go to watch a foreign movie without translations or subtitles makes all of that hardships absolutely worth it. Constantly reminding the young people of these obvious benefits of learning a foreign language accompanied with the use of computer-mediated instructions will definitely draw out enduring interests in them. Based on the testimonies of teachers who have taught students in special schools, foreign language instruction, far from getting in the way of language development as predominantly believed before, encourages its development and benefits can be identified right across the program of study. Teachers reveal that there can occasionally be confusion, if a child provides a foreign term or spelling as a substitute of English, yet they specify that all students of all competencies do that at times. It belongs to the learning experience. Examining the confusion provides the teacher the chance to explain points not merely about the intended language but also regarding the source language (Kecskes & Papp 2000). Together with linguistic progress goes recognition of terms and concepts. Going back to the fundamentals of language instruction provides the student a chance to return to concepts which, for one explanations or another, may have been overlooked or inadequately recognized up to that point. The chance to practice fundamental skills in a foreign language makes them appear more grown up and refined and hence more suitable to developing young people who may dislike being obliged to work on what they think are childish materials (Kecskes & Papp 2000). Articulation and pronunciation can be practiced well through the foreign language medium as in the case of the native tongue. Attentive listening, simulation and reiteration which can appear dull or corrupting in the English mother tongue turn out to be more striking in the foreign language in which students have the feeling of being involved in something novel and thrilling, and where everyone looks forward in experiencing difficulty in pronunciation. Interaction with others is an exceptionally important element of communication (Mesthrie 1992). Collaborating with others in group speaking assignments or activities in the foreign language furnishes chances to practice alternate-speaking and other social aptitudes in new surroundings. Students are frequently less uncomfortable about greeting someone or shaking hands with someone formally, for instance, than they would be if requested to carry out the same task in English. It is fairly common for individuals to take on a new character when conversing in a foreign language and the learning environment facilitates young people to investigate with identity and behaviour patterns in an unremarkable manner (Mesthrie 1992). The experiences connected with gaining knowledge about other societies and cultures can contribute an element of the unusual to constricted lives. Young people with individualized educational requirements are more probable than most young people to experience constraints on their activities and relationships with other people. Gaining knowledge about other peoples, their way of life and their language, regardless of the location, can be an enlightening experience for many young people whose perspectives have already been constricted by a predisposition on the part of those rearing and caring for them to concentrate on the realization of their immediate demands (Crystal 2003). Becoming knowledgeable that conscious that life is dissimilar in other cultures results into an understanding that things are not static, that things are dynamic and constantly changes. Conclusions Why should we bear the difficulty of learning a foreign language? In any case, all people know how to speak English. However, English as a global language is still being debated and the fact is we cannot just depend on English, particularly those living in English-speaking countries. Hence, learning a foreign language besides your mother tongue English is imperative, as unquestionably it is in numerous other occupations and professions. Learning a foreign language early in life, and by that I am trying to say that from between 5 and 6 years old, opens up an entirely new realm for these very young children: it profoundly enhances their reading and writing proficiencies in their mother tongue; there is substantiation that, akin to musical instruction, it contributes remarkably to the growth of individual acumen; and apparently it advances general outcomes at school. Foreign language learning introduces a new culture. A foreign language provides young people access to an unfamiliar culture, and their existences assume a new breadth. John Wolfgang von Goethe, the renowned German poet, stated that: “Whoever is not acquainted with foreign languages knows nothing of his own” (Large 1983, 20). Perceived in this manner, learning a foreign language is nearly akin to a voyage of discovery, and if we bear in mind the courageous explorers, you could almost think of it as an English innovation. Alternatively, to misplace a foreign language is to misplace an entire culture. This awareness has resulted in to resolute attempts to protect and preserve ethnic languages in English-speaking countries. It is an inherent reality that cultures characterize themselves through languages. References Cribb, A & Gewirtz, S (2003) Towards a sociology of just practices: an analysis of plural conceptions of justice. In C. Vincent (ed), Social Justice Education and Identity. London: Routledge. Crystal, D. (2003) English as a Global Language, Cambridge. England: Cambridge University Press. Eco, Umberto. (1995) The search for the perfect language, Oxford: Blackwell. Gardner, J, Holmes, B, & Leitch, R (2015) Assessment and Social Justice. UK: Futurelab. Graddol, David. (1998) The future of English, London: The British Council. Kecskes, I. & Papp, T. (2000) Foreign Language and Mother Tongue, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Graddol, David. 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