Community languages research at CILT
CILT is committed to supporting research, particularly by relating it ever more closely to the information and training side of our work.
For full details of CILT’s research work visit the research pages of the CILT website.
CILT offers numerous web-based information pages. The FAQ page Languages spoken in the UK population contains statistics, surveys and information regarding community languages spoken in the UK.
Articles on-line
A number of community languages research articles and reports are available
from this website:
Multilingual
Britain: implications for MFL teaching in secondary school
(rtf, 101kB)
Dr Sonia Slattery (University of Manchester) 2004.
Language
Trends 2005: Community language learning in England, Wales and Scotland
The Language Trends survey results revealed that ethnic minority communities
make provision for teaching 61 different languages across the UK. Mainstream
primary and secondary schools offer at least 35 languages, either as part
of the curriculum or as after-hours provision.
While nearly 40,000 students gained a qualification in a community language
this year (the largest numbers in Urdu, Chinese, Irish and Arabic) few
providers considered these skills as valuable for students’ future
careers.
The study found that the linguistic map of Britain is changing, with multilingualism
spreading beyond typically multi-ethnic areas: over 100 languages are
now spoken in Scotland and nearly as many in Wales.
Joanna McPake of Stirling University who led the research study said:
'There is a huge body of research testifying to the benefits bilingualism
for educational development. Yet our survey has shown that schools do
not always appreciate the value of maintaining and developing language
skills other than English. In addition, both mainstream and complementary
schools underestimate the practical value of other languages for students'
future careers.'
The report, which was published to co-incide with the European Day of
Languages on 26 September 2005 seeks to stimulate further debate about
the place of community languages and ways in which providers could work
together to encourage learners to see their bilingualism as an asset.
To read the survey results click
here.
Leicester:
Complementary schools and their communities (rtf,
4,115kB)
Peter Martin, Arvind Bhatt, Nirmala Bhojani (all
University of Leicester)
and Angela Creese (University of Birmingham).
Liverpool:
An ethnographic project focusing on Somali (rtf, 21kB)
Jo Arthur, Edge Hill College of Higher Education
Multilingual London and its Literatures
Prof Reinier Salverda, Department of Dutch, University College London
Professor Reinier Salverda developed an interest in multilingualism when teaching Dutch and Linguistics at the University of Indonesia in the 1980s. His interest was reinforced in London, when he came to work in the Dutch Department of UCL. Professor Salverda has now published four articles on various aspects of London multilingualism. This is the most recent addition to the series.
