‘Excellence and Enjoyment’ or Exclusion and Underachievement? A Study of the Issues Facing an Immigrant Russian-Speaking Pupil in an English Primary School

The paper presents the initial findings from a research project into the learning experiences of middle childhood (7-11 years old) English as an additional language (EAL) migrant children with Russian as a first language (L1) in London state primary schools. The aim of this paper is to present the preliminary results from a pilot case study based on a qualitative multiple case study investigation focusing on the following research questions: 1. What experiences/issues does a Russian-speaking migrant child face in a L2 (second language) English school environment in middle childhood? 2. Why does a Russian-speaking pupil have certain experiences? Research into the area of Russian-speaking migrant children with EAL is pertinent to schools given that the percentage of newly-arrived EAL students with Russian as first language in the UK state-funded primary schools has nearly tripled in just 8 years (from 3,511 pupils to 9,722 pupils) (Department for Education, 2016; Makarova and Morgunova, 2009). Research related to this has been undertaken in other European countries such as Finland (Räty et al., 2010; Laihiala-Kankainen, 1998) and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) (Šumskas et al., 2012), but to date there is no known L2 study of this in English primary schools. The methodology comprises an interpretive paradigm employing a qualitative multiple case study research approach with embedded ethnography and interviews with creative techniques. The study’s theoretical framework is constructed by using a combination of overarching and narrower focused theories (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007). The overarching theory is provided by Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural theory which elucidates a broad based social level or macro-substantive dimensions (Ibid., p. 188). The international significance of the study is that it aims at developing an understanding of the place and influence of Russian-speaking migrant pupils which can be compared to other linguistic minority groups in the diverse cultural realities (Holliday, 2011) of the classrooms in other age groups, school settings, and contexts of other countries

“Conline” Teaching: Creative pedagogy as a conduit to EAP practitioners’ agency

Whilst an important 21st century graduate attribute, creativity is difficult to define because of its multi-dimensional nature and variety of epistemological perspectives adopted in scholarly discussions. Some have focused on the subjectivity behind the output as demonstrated in expressivist writing pedagogies (Elbow, 1991), while others have explored collaborative knowledge production and its social context (Montuori, 2006; Goldsmith, 2011; Hafner, 2015). When it comes to EAP, scholarship on how creativity is understood and deployed is fragmented, with studies exploring the use of specific techniques such as gaming, creative arts or object handling for the development of individual competencies (e.g., Saliés, 2002; Carson&Murphy, 2012; Bond, 2018; Richards&Pilcher, 2020), the focus largely remaining text-oriented (Hyland, 2018) and delimited by the “pragmatic” nature of EAP. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of an ongoing multi-methods arts-informed inquiry into EAP practitioners’ creative voices through a snapshot analysis of the findings from one pilot dataset. We will focus on the prominence of the theme of collaboration and co-construction as fundamental to creative practices in EAP, but also consider the extent to which creative pedagogy as a paradigm opens up a fuzzy yet enabling “third space” (Bhabha, 1994) for the enactment of EAP practitioners’ agency. References: Bhabha, H. 1994. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge. Bond, M. 2018. Teaching referencing and plagiarism awareness Using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. International Journal of Management and Applied Research. 5 (4), pp. 232–37. Carson, L. and Murphy, D. 2012. Design and implementation of dramatic tasks in an English for Academic Purposes programme. Language Learning in Higher Education. 1 (1), pp.127–42. Elbow, P. 1991. Some thoughts on “expressive discourse”: A review essay. Journal of Advanced Composition. 11 (1), pp.83–93. Goldsmith, K. 2011. Uncreative Writing. New York: Columbia University Press. Hafner, C. A. 2015. Remix Culture and English Language Teaching: The Expression of Learner Voice in Digital Multimodal Compositions. TESOL Quarterly. 49 (3), pp.486–509. Montuori, A. 2006. The quest for a new education: From oppositional identities to creative inquiry. ReVision. 28(3), pp.4–20. Richards, K. and Pilcher, N. 2020. Using physical objects as a portal to reveal academic subject identity and thought. The Qualitative Report. 25(1), pp.127–44. Saliés, T. G. 2002. Simulation/Gaming in the EAP Writing Class: Benefits and Drawbacks. Simulation & Gaming. 33(3), pp.316–29

Methodological issues in the research with the (im)migrant children: practical concerns of interviews with creative techniques' development and application

The aim of the paper is to explore the methodological issues in the research with the Russian-speaking immigrant pupils at Key Stage Two (7-11 years old), specifically focusing on the practical concerns of the development (before the data generation) and application (during the data generation) of the creative techniques in the interviews with the children. The paper considers the benefits of the creative techniques as a means of the unique data generation, the disadvantages of the techniques, and possible solutions for these in the course of the study. The following research questions informed the creative techniques' development and application: What issues do Russian-speaking migrant pupils face in Key Stage Two and why? How do they express their Personality Development? What are the features of the relationships between the issues and the personality development levels? Methodology includes an interpretative paradigm using a qualitative research approach: a longitudinal multiple case study with five embedded cases (each case representing a pupil). Methods of data collection include ethnographic participant observations and interviews with creative techniques. I apply the ‘child as a subject’ research approach. The paper demonstrates how the creative techniques are imperative tools in research with the immigrant (linguistic minority) children, which help to uniquely 'unlock' the experiences/issues of the participating children, reaching beyond defenseless ‘incompetent’ migrant positions

Interviews with creative techniques: research with Russian-speaking migrant pupils

This paper explores the use of creative techniques in a study of the experiences of Russian-speaking linguistic-minority migrant children in English state-funded primary schools at Key Stage Two (7-11 years old). The methodology is based on an interpretative paradigm using a qualitative research approach: a longitudinal multiple-case study with four embedded cases (each case representing one pupil). Focusing on specific examples from the research, the paper considers the benefits of using creative techniques within interviews to generate unique data with linguistic-minority pupils, the constraints of the techniques, and possible solutions for these. The cyclic (i.e. rounds of repeated interviews) research design, which focused on the processes of change, called for systematic alternation of the techniques. I demonstrate the unique integration of board games (the ‘interview-through-game’) and the ‘filling-in exercise’ in the interviews. This enabled a continuous adjustment of the techniques by me and by the children, retaining both the systematicity and flexibility (or constraint and emergence) of the creative techniques’ development and application. This design helped to reveal the experiences/issues of the participating children, which would otherwise be challenging to explore using other methods

“I am scared. I am so scared”: Cross-curricular language learning experiences of Russian-speaking pupils in London primary schools

The proposal presents the initial findings from a PhD enquiry into the language learning experiences of English as additional language migrant children with Russian as a first language in London state primary schools in middle childhood (7-11 years old). The following research questions provide the foci for this enquiry – 1. What experiences/issues do Russian-speaking migrant children have in a L2 (second language) English school environment in middle childhood? 2. Why do Russian-speaking pupils have certain experiences? 3. How do the Russian-speaking migrant children’s issues/experiences co-affect their personality development and language learning motivation in the L2 school environment of English schools? Research into the area of Russian-speaking migrant children with English as an additional language (EAL) is pertinent to the schools given that the percentage of newly-arrived EAL students with Russian as first language in the UK state-funded primary schools has nearly tripled in just 8 years (from 3,511 pupils to 9,722 pupils) (Department for Education, 2016; Makarova and Morgunova, 2009). Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory (SCT), purports that children’s personality development, i.e. change of socio-cultural environment, and consequently language, influences overall psychological and personality development process (Lantolf and Poehner, 2014; Vygotsky, 2005). This is particularly significant, given that Russian-speaking children in England with respect to issues associated with their linguistic and pedagogical needs are exacerbated by their reported ‘invisibility’ (Kopnina, 2005). The methodology comprises an interpretive paradigm employing a qualitative multiple case study research approach with embedded ethnography and interviews with creative techniques. The potential outcome of this paper is to contribute to the discussion related to the language learning experiences of migrant pupils, their language learning motivations and personality development related issues. More broadly, the study could contribute to comparative studies with other migrant groups or studies of Russian-speaking pupils in other age groups and school settings