The Linguist

Children who speak English as an additional language (EAL) performed better in maths, English and science tests at the end of primary school than those whose first language is English. While the data reveals that school closures during the pandemic have impacted all pupils in England and Wales, 60% of EAL students met expected levels in the SATs compared with 58% of mother-tongue speakers. The figures confirm that bilingualism can no longer be seen through a 'deficit' lens. Both groups fell short of the Department for Education's (DfE) target for 90% of 11-year- olds to reach set standards. Accepting it has "more to do" to support disadvantaged pupils, the DfE said it had not adapted the assessments as it had for GCSEs and A levels. 6 The Linguist Vol/61 No/5 thelinguist.uberflip.com NEWS & EDITORIAL In the media PHILIP HARDING-ESCH Five Education Secretaries in four months! The sector will be hoping for more stability under Gillian Keegan. Speculation about what her leadership will bring included talk of a 'British Baccalaureate' to age 18, which may – or may not – include languages. Schoolsweek noted that Keegan left school at 16 to do an apprenticeship, but contrasted this with the return of Nick Gibb as Schools Minister – who was supportive of languages when previously in the role – calling him a "traditional education advocate". There were some interesting features appraising the UK curriculum as part of Black History Month. Nki Osamo-Wright, in The Independent, re-evaluated what "decolonising the curriculum" might mean, starting with the observation that "we hold [French and Spanish] in higher regard than the 'community languages' that many of our… students speak at home." Meanwhile, in the Huffington Post, Rachel Mantock explored the influence of Black British language and culture on the "British Language", citing research predicting that "Multicultural London English (MLE)… will become dominant in the South East of England by 2066". Translators and interpreters made the news in a variety of contexts. It was good to see youth-oriented website BBC Bite Size feature "James's story" on becoming a translator, as part of their careers series. Less happily, the BBC reported that "the government is being taken to court today by 276 deaf people over the lack of British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation at the televised coronavirus briefings". And several papers reported on the "thousands of Afghans still waiting to be relocated" to the UK, including many interpreters. In more positive news, The National Geographic ran a feature on a movement in Belize which seeks to revitalise the Garifuna language through music, culture and song. There is even a burgeoning group of New Yorkers learning the language online. Philip Harding-Esch is a freelance languages project manager and consultant. This year's GCSE results showed a dramatic rebound in 'less taught languages' following the pandemic. Exam entries in languages that are most commonly studied in after-school and supplementary education fell sharply as a result of lockdown restrictions. However, this summer entries were up 47% from 2021 with 36,445 people sitting exams in these languages, including 6,003 in Polish, 5,504 in Chinese, 4,931 in Arabic and 4,897 in Italian. This contrasted with a further decline in all of the more widely taught languages. Research has revealed that language skills do not diminish over time. When people who had taken a French GCSE or A level 50 years ago were tested in the language, they performed just as well as recent students, even if they had not used their language skills in the intervening years. The study from the University of York tested the vocabulary and grammar of 500 people who had taken a French exam between the 1970s and 2020, and found that language proficiency was just as good among those who hadn't used their skills in five decades. In emergency scenarios, all participants could remember the relevant French phrases. "We often say if you don't use a language, you will lose it, but this doesn't seem to be the case," said Monika Schmid, Head of Language and Linguistics at York. "The knowledge of language is astonishingly stable over long periods of time, compared to other subjects such as maths, history or sciences. This is likely because of the way language is stored in memory." The researchers suggested that small cues could enable words and grammar to come "flooding back", meaning that people could refresh their skills with a little effort. "Many people are put off revisiting languages they once learnt as they fear they will be forced to relive some of the more 'boring' elements of the courses, such as grammar, but our work suggests that this would not be necessary," Schmid explained. tinyurl.com/LangsLast4Life Bilingual kids excel in tests Language skills are 'never lost' GCSE boost © SHUTTERSTOCK

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