Adjusting our expectations of bilingual children: Inaugural lecture by Prof. Cécile De Cat

For most of the last century, bilingual children in primary school were relatively rare. In recent decades the school environment has changed enormously. Now a quarter of all children attending primary school are bilingual. The consequences of this profound change to the educational environment are not known, either in terms of the demands it places on school resources, or on how bilinguals can be assessed fairly when they lag in English proficiency.
In this lecture, I will look at a recent Yorkshire-based study of 5-7 year olds that collected some of the evidence we need to start answering questions about the role and performance of bilingual children in British classrooms today. We need to understand the size and nature of the gap (in English proficiency) between bilingual and monolingual children in order to address specific educational needs. Can we predict the size of that gap from the amount of experience in the home language? Are different aspects of English proficiency affected in the same way? Does bilingualism confer a cognitive advantage, as has been claimed in the media? For the answers, and to discuss some practical questions related to the assessment and support of bilingual children in the UK, please come along to the lecture!
The lecture will be followed by a reception in the Linguistics & Phonetics foyer (Michael Sadler Building)
RSVP via before 25 October
https://goo.gl/forms/kznMnEBwkSXXtF1J2