This project is the first comparative sociolinguistic investigation of multilingual practices in complementary schools in Britain. The focus is to investigate how complementary schools extend or restrict the performance of young people’s multilingual repertoires. The ethno-linguistic groups concerned are Bangladeshi, Chinese, Gujarati and Turkish in Birmingham, Newcastle and London. The project aims to explore the social, cultural and linguistic significance of complementary schools both within their communities and in wider society, and to investigate how linguistic practices of students and teachers in complementary schools are used to negotiate their multilingual and multicultural identities. The project will observe students and teachers for ten weeks in two schools in each of the four communities, using participant observation, field notes and video-recording. Two children from each school will be selected for more detailed observation and audio-recording. Analysis will enable us to understand how young people are using the full range of their linguistic resources and how these language practices relate to their developing identities. The study will identify similarities and differences between the four cultural, religious and linguistic contexts, developing new knowledge of previously under-researched educational and linguistic settings, to inform policy and practice for the future of complementary schools.

The project runs for 18 months from March 1, 2006 until August 31st, 2007.

The Research Project

The principal focus of the research is to investigate the broad range of linguistic practices occurring in the multilingual setting of complementary schools. We will investigate how complementary schools extend or restrict the performance of young people’s multilingual repertoires.

The ethno-linguistic groups concerned are Bangladeshi in Birmingham, Chinese in Newcastle, Gujarati in London and Turkish in London. The research will be primarily ethnographic in nature, combining ethnography with discourse analysis and semiotic analysis and it will be carried out in complementary schools and their classrooms.

The project aims to explore the social, cultural and linguistic significance of complementary schools both within their communities and in wider society, and to investigate how linguistic practices of students and teachers in complementary schools are used to negotiate their multilingual and multicultural identities. Analysis will enable us to understand how young people are using the full range of their linguistic resources and how these language practices relate to their developing identities. The study will identify similarities and differences between the four cultural, religious and linguistic contexts, developing new knowledge of previously under-researched educational and linguistic settings, to inform policy and practice for the future of complementary schools.

Research aims

There are five aims to the research:

• To explore the social, cultural and linguistic significance of complementary schools both within their communities and in wider society.
• To investigate the range of linguistic practices used in different contexts in the complementary schools.
• To investigate how the linguistic practices of students and teachers in complementary schools are used to negotiate young people’s multilingual and multicultural identities.
• To develop innovative ethnographic team methodologies using interlocking case studies across diverse social, cultural, religious and linguistic contexts.
• To contribute to policy and practice in the inclusion of complementary schools in the wider educational agenda.

Research Design

The research project will be managed as four interlocking case studies with two researchers working in two complementary schools in each case-community. At least one of the researchers in each case study site will be bilingual. Research outcomes will describe the ecology, linguistic practices and identity negotiation processes in two complementary schools in the Bangladeshi, Chinese, Gujarati and Turkish communities.

The Research Team

We are a team of nine researchers spread across four universities.

School of Education, University of Birmingham

Researchers: Drs. Adrian Blackledge (a.j.blackledge@bham.ac.uk) and Angela Creese (Project Director) (a.creese@bham.ac.uk).

School of Education, University of East London

Researcher: Professor Peter Martin (p.w.martin@uel.ac.uk) and Arvind Bhatt

Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, Kings College London

Researcher: Drs. Vally Lytra (Vally.Lytra@pobox.com) and Dilek Yacioglu-Ali (dilek.ali@mac.com)

School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne

Researcher: Professor Li Wei (li.wei@ncl.ac.uk) and Dr. Chao-jung Wu (cjwu5@yahoo.com)

Each of the universities above will collect data in two complementary schools serving the following linguistic communities.

• Bangladeshi community in Birmingham.
• Chinese community in Manchester.
• Gujarati community in London.
• Turkish community in London.

Across and within these communities, we expect to see the following languages in use in complementary schools to negotiate multilingual and multicultural identities: Arabic (Qur'anic), Bengali, Cantonese, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kurdish, Mandarin, Sylheti, Turkish. We will collect linguistic data in a range of settings including classrooms, break-times and other formal and informal school contexts. We will also record the discursive comings and goings of young people as they enter and leave their complementary schools at the beginning and end of classes, to understand how the schools might represent multilingual spaces into which pupils cross.