Sample Solution

Bilingual learners can become isolated in school for many different reasons: there could be a lack of support coming from adults or peers; stress reactions could be common for newly arrived students; they could be reluctant to show their cultural and religious views for fear of embarrassment, therefore leading them to view themselves negatively as learners; the focus on spoken language could result in gaps in written language; the focus on assessment could be too important; the transition between schools and countries; and whether the pupil is diagnosed with having difficulties or not (Statham, 2008:7). Another reason for bilingual learners to become isolated is racism.

The Swann Report was put in place for bilingual learners to join mainstream schools because the government felt that educating them in separate centres could lead to racism, however it did not anticipate that the students would expe
rience it within the school setting as well. Sarah Coles conducted two case studies in two different secondary schools in Hampshire – one in the more socio-economically deprived area – to see what the students understood of racism and how the schools dealt with the different cases (Coles, 2008:89). The schools she chose were mainly white British schools which had a small number of bilingual learners (10%) from different ethnic backgrounds. The pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds were already isolated because of their language, so did not feel that they could speak to a member of staff about the low level racist bullying they were experiencing. Coles goes on to mention that the EAL pupils will choose to suffer in silence, to endure the bullying, as to not become marginalised: