International Journal of Bilingual Education and

Bilingualism

ISSN: 1367-0050 (Print) 1747-7522 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbeb20

Managing diversity in education. Language,

policies, pedagogies
Fiona S. Baker
To cite this article: Fiona S. Baker (2015) Managing diversity in education. Language, policies,
pedagogies, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18:1, 127-130, DOI:
10.1080/13670050.2014.928102
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2014.928102

Published online: 30 Jun 2014.

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BOOK REVIEW
Managing diversity in education. Language, policies, pedagogies, edited by David
Little, Constant Leung and Piet Van Avermaet, Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto, Multilingual
Matters, 2014, 300 pp., 29.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-78309-079-2
Managing Diversity in Education. Languages, Policies, Pedagogies is a welcome
addition to the New Perspectives on Language and Education series which features
critical and interpretive, disciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives on teaching and
learning, and language and literacy. It is an important text for linguists, theorists,
academics, undergraduate and graduate students, professionals, and researchers involved
in working in diverse linguistic educational contexts. Edited and authored by experienced
linguists, authors and researchers from eight countries, the book originated in the
language strand of New Migrations, New Challenges, an international conference held at
Trinity College Dublin in the summer of 2010. The conference reflected on the
unprecedented levels of immigration Ireland had experienced since the mid-1990s; so
while many contributions concern Ireland, international contributions confirm that
Irelands emerging experience is not dissimilar from that of other countries. The book
is motivated by research designed to close the achievement gap of immigrant students
reflected in several consecutive PISA studies (program for international student assessment) carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD). Research had found the relative lack of success in responding to the diversity
of school-going populations (xvii) and examines the variability across countries
regarding the extent to which immigrant students succeed academically. It reveals an
impressive picture of research, policies and praxis which take account of the challenge of
diversity and supports the transfer of plurilingual abilities into linguistic capital.
The introduction to the book provides a welcome summary of its three parts so the
book can be easily dipped into. Each chapter opens with a highlighted abstract of the
chapters contents. Chapters range from analyses to empirical studies. The first part
(six chapters) addresses policy and its implications; the second, pedagogical practice
(four chapters) with the third part exploring the responses to the challenge of diversity to
ensure that children and adolescents from migrant backgrounds develop adequate
language proficiency in the language of schooling while enhancing the language
awareness of all pupils, and creating new opportunities for informal learning.
The first part of the book starts with a telling state-of-the-art chapter written by Jim
Cummins. It analyzes ways in which Canada and the USA have incorporated the PISA
data and other research findings into their educational policy, but have given little
consideration to the role of the first language as a cognitive tool and as a reflection of
immigrant identity, or to the importance of reading engagement as a major factor
determining reading achievement. The chapter outlines an empirically based theoretical
framework that explicitly addresses the roles of literacy engagement and identity
negotiations of student achievement. Chapter 2, by Tracey Costley and Constant Leung,

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Book review

considers how policy is used to manage diversity in state-funded education in England

and how it shapes and informs local schooling practices. The chapter draws on
ethnographic data to provide an account of the ways in which a London primary school
conceptualizes and organizes EAL provision. The authors conclude that a pedagogic and
curricular vacuum has been engendered by a symbolic policy on EAL (xix). In effect,
this means that teaching practices are commensurate with educational segregation on the
basis of students language and cultural backgrounds. The third chapter, authored by
Daniel Fass, draws on interviews with seven educational policy-makers, triangulated with
curriculum documents for History, Geography, and Citizenship, to discuss the challenges
and transformations that followed the PISA shock in 2001 in Germany, and presents
their views on how to balance cultural diversity and social cohesion in post-PISA
Germany. The chapter reveals that despite the efforts at educational reform that followed
PISA there is still a way to go to close the gap between ethnic majority and migrant
minority students, especially those from Turkish communities. In Chapter 4, by Rachael
Fionda, her small-scale research, informed by a broadly Gramscian perspective, supports
the view that education systems reproduce dominant cultural ideology and in doing so
maintain the disadvantage of cultural minorities. The key argument is a gap between the
knowledge presented by the school system and the knowledge and experience that
marginalized students bring to school. Kearneys Chapter 5, set in Ireland, presents the
findings of a questionnaire survey and semi-structured follow-up interviews to investigate
the attitudes of Irish post-primary teachers to the presence of migrant students in their
classrooms. The chapter concludes that teacher attitudes are mediated by ideological and
structural factors and offers suggestions for the importance of training and support in
moderating teacher resistance to including children with diverse languages in the
classroom. The chapter reminds us that teachers play a critically important role in any
attempt to address issues of diversity in education. Chapter 6, authored by NiChonaill,
focuses on higher education and concludes that the question of academic language
support for migrants, and indeed all non-native speakers of English, needs to be
addressed as of 27 designated institutions of Irelands Higher Education Authority
(HEA), only 10 offer English language classes or other forms of language support to
students with English as an additional language.
The second part focuses on pedagogy. Chapter 7, by Bronagh Catibusic, reports on
research into English L2 acquisition among immigrant pupils in three Irish primary
schools. The chapter focuses on the development or oral skills and it compares empirical
evidence of L2 development with the L2 learning outcomes in the English Language
Proficiency Benchmarks of non-English speaking pupils at primary level. The results
show that a clear relation exists between the learning outcomes defined by the
benchmarks and actual patterns of L2 acquisition evident among the participating pupils.
The benchmarks were said to offer a flexible map of L2 proficiency development
appropriate to the individual language learning needs of EAL pupils. The chapter points
to the need for empirical validation of transnational language proficiency scales.
Chapter 8, by Patrick Grommes, researches migrant students language development
and general language competence, concluding that they lack skills in Bildungssprache
(academic language) and suggests that conflicting goals may be built into the system. In
Chapter 9, Stergiani Kostopoulou reports on a corpus linguistic analysis of textbooks in
six curriculum subjects: English, Geography, History, CSPE (Civic, Social, and Political
Education), Mathematics, and Science. The chapter outlines the rationale for the research
and summarizes the aims of the corpus analysis. It then describes the six textbooks
derived from corpora and the methodological procedures employed to analyze them with

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International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

129

the empirical findings. Overall, the study reveals the lexical variation that exists across
subjects and provides pedagogically useful information on curriculum language as a
whole. Post-primary subject teachers often report that their students are not maximizing
theoretical learning potential and are unable to engage with subject-specific content at a
level that ensures comprehension. In Chapter 10, Zachary Lyons describes the
development of a website that delivers a large array of learning materials based on the
findings of the corpus analysis presented in Chapter 9. It offers a new approach to
the teaching and learning of subject-specific language across the first four proficiency
levels of CEFR. The second part of the article reports on an empirical study that sought to
measure the impact of these materials on teachers daily practices.
The third part aims to raise awareness of how children and adolescents from migrant
backgrounds develop adequate proficiency in the language of schooling. In Chapter 11,
Deidre Kirwan describes the evolution of policy and practice in Blanchards town, Dublin,
where she is principal. The chapter describes a school-wide approach that emphasizes
amongst other factors, the important of multilingualism with a number of approaches
outlined that can flourish when teachers are committed to valuing all languages equally.
In Chapter 12, Sven Sierens and Piet Can Avermaet respond to the situation in the
Netherlands where, in Flanders in some schools, children are forbidden to speak any
other language at school apart from Dutch. Three strategies for a solution to exploit
childrens plurilingual repertories as didactic capital for learning are presented. A similar
argument emerges in the work of Nathalie Auger, in Chapter 13, who points out that until
2002 the French educational system treated mother tongues other than French as a
handicap. An analysis of the use of migrant languages in the classroom is rare, and leads
to a discussion of how such languages can be used in schools and what benefits such an
approach can bring. In the USA, Nelson Flores and Ofelia Garcia (Chapter 14) propose
an alternative pedagogical approach that embraces the fluid language practices of
bilingual and multilingual students. In the complex multilingual society of Nepal, Shelley
Taylor in Chapter 15 introduces a model of multilingual language education designed to
manage linguistic diversity in Nepal and summarizes the reactions of minority and
dominant group members to the model. A unique set of the Nepali initiative is that there
are some 140 reported languages in the country, which makes L1-based introduction for
all a major undertaking and a multi-layered process. The chapter considers whose
interests the initiative serves, how is has been implemented, and what other countries that
are grappling with diversity management can learn from the Nepali response. In the final
chapter, by Fie Velgheand Jan Blommaert, ways in which mobile phones have acquired
communicational prominence in a township near Cape Town, South Africa, are
investigated. Mobile phones are becoming a resource that has acquired specific functions
by virtue of its ecological insertion into broader local economies and knowledge and
resources. The chapter is an attempt to situate the use of mobile phones as learning
devices within the broader local communicative, social, and cultural framework.
This book is worthy of attention for its coverage of diversity across primary,
adolescent, higher education, and vocational education internationally in eight countries
in Europe, North America, Canada, and Nepal. Each chapter can be easily accessed
through its abstract, highlighted in bold, and the book has a transparent, accessible tone.
The authors make steps toward achieving their goal of creating a text which bridges
theory, research, and practical application, by making sense of research to highlight
realistic, policy and practical concerns with ideas for implementation. Tables, graphical
representations, extracts from interviews, samples of student writing, observational
extracts, and photographs are integrated throughout the chapters to support study

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Book review

findings. Although clearly numbered as figures, there is little consistency in their

presentation though in terms of their font and layout. One illustration, on page 180, has a
font which is almost too small to read. Overall, the book has a crisp, tight, writing style
with clear flow, although at times there are issues with style and clarity of expression. On
page 53, for example, the author makes reference to an immigration country and a
migration background. Such minor errors, though, do not detract from its leaving an
impression on the reader. It draws on a wealth of diverse practical and research
experience in the international field and is an informative book with a balance of research
paradigms and methods. Appendices to some chapters give questionnaires and interview
schedules so studies can be usefully replicated in other contexts. A section: Reflection
and Discussion at the end of each chapter would have been a valuable addition to make a
more powerful book for a university or practitioner audience. To conclude, this book
makes a timely and important contribution to the educational field with its rich and
detailed picture of diversity in its many forms cultural, social, ethnic, and linguistic
and its compelling argument that such diversity be used as a resource to improve learning
for all, to help develop the competences we need to function successfully in our
increasingly globalized and rapidly changing world.
Fiona S. Baker
Emirates College for Advanced Education, UAE
fbaker@ecae.ac.ae
2014, Fiona S. Baker
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2014.928102